1598 Tasting Notes
Nothing too fancy here, folks. Just black current on a smooth base.
Sipdown! (I’m down nearly 20 samples this month!)
Speaking of samples, a friend tested me about one I gave her that was a. (she thinks) green tea with white chocolate. :O I went through all my notes and I have no idea. (You know you drink too much tea when…)
I’m not sure the directions are right on this – steep 3 minutes and then resteep 2-3 more times for more flavor and to allow the leaves to unfurl. I steeped it in my little gongfu pot and those leaves are already unfurled. Maybe I should have tried a minute to start?
(i don’t know how am i supposed to know i need to trust the directions whaaaat)
So my first cup is very strong and malty. It smells really good – earthy! I’m enjoying each sip, except right at the end the flavour kicks up a notch and is nearly too malty.
Second cup: First reaction, “wughh!” Not a great sign. This seems stronger? I am detecting cocoa notes now though, and I’m actually enjoying this now that I made it past the first few sips.
Third cup: Ok. This is more like it! Very smooth. Lots of cocoa notes. It’s very woodsy! I bet I could get another cup out of this!
I love how smooth this tea is. I could have had this with my sore throat!
Looking forward to trying this again sometime!
Preparation
Ozli was right. There’s little to no maple flavour in this. It’s good, with the slightest touch of sweetness, but compared to 52 Teas Pancake Breakfast, or that other maple tea I just had this might as well be a strong black.
I did steep it for an extra minute – will try it for 3 minutes next time and see if that helps.
The base tea is so very smooth and I love it for that. I’m a wimp when it comes to astringency.
Preparation
Mmm. This is nice and sweet, and warm and… toasty?
I’m still sick, but my throat is much improved, and over the past two days I have watched an episode of Sherlock, 1.5 episodes of Doctor Who and half a season of Game of Thrones. Add in a few hours of Guild Wars, a quarter of Northanger Abbey and being able to drink again,and I’m doing pretty good.
Mostly. This baby has been making it extra hard relax lately.
Anyway I was excited to drink tons of tea but didn’t want to drink something I couldn’t appreciate. I’m happy I chose this. It’s comforting, relaxing and good for a treat. I’d probably grab 10g of this next year.
Burn it! Burn it with fire!
… that’s actually what this tea is doing to my throat right now. :| I take back every nice thing I’ve said about it. A tea with chili pepper and a bunch of weird ingredients is not what I want to keep around to soothe a sore throat or help with sinuses. Well maybe that’d help with the sinuses but I’d rather be able to drink something atm. :P
Maybe I’ll put this up for a swap? I think I have 40-50g of it.
So, it’s come to this… Time to break out the I’m sick – feel sorry for me tea. :| I knew it was going to happen though – hard to avoid when the baby has been sick the past few days and has trouble sleeping unless you’re holding her. Hopefully it’ll just hit me hard today and then I can shrug it off.
Hopefully.
This tea is a pretty good start though. Sadly my first thought when I realised I was for sure sinusy/sick was ‘Oooh, time to try out these teas!’. I know you guys understand. I like this though and have tried it when I’m not sick. I’m not a huge ginger fan so the echinacea and mint do a good job covering it up and creating a tea that is remarkably soothing.
I may even want to restock this once I run out, although I hope I never really need to use it.
I’m happy my mom bought this one for me. This way she can take care of me while I’m sick, even from a different city (although I still gotta get up and brew it. :P)
