Drink T

This oolong is spring-like with a brisk astringency and mild spiciness that I’m trying to decide whether I like or not. There is a bit of creaminess and strong floral note, which reminds me of jasmine. There is a mineral quality to the aftertaste.

Steep Information:
Amount: 4 tsp
Water: 1000ml at 212°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: malty, sweet, vegetal
Steeped Tea Smell: malty, hints of vegetal
Flavor: malty, astringent, citrus hints
Body: Full
Aftertaste: astringent, bitter
Liquor: translucent dark red brown

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2013/09/drink-t-loose-leaf-black-tea-assam.html

Light, more sweet than buttery, more floral than vegetal. The second steep is more floral than the first. I’ve neglected this sample for about a year, but it’s still good.

I managed to mess this tea up royally, sigh. It smells amazing dry, very similar to DT’s Honeybee, and the cold brew was just as fragrant. It even looked like liquid honey! Sadly, it tasted like licorice. Bleurgh :( Definitely need to try again!

This is one of the teas I one in the SororiTEA Sisters Blog Contest! Thanks!!!

This tea smells delicious! It also tastes yummy like toffee. Very good. I think this tea might be good with a splash of milk :).I don’t think I steeped it long enough though, it was slightly weak. I am gonna hold off on rating it.

This was also the first tea I have ever used a T-sac to make. It went very well – no roobios in the bottom of my cup = yay!!

Thanks so much Dinosara for sending an awesome package of teas my way! It is definitely appreciated! This one is lovely!

Steep one // 4 min // The steep color is a medium yellow. I can tell just by smelling the cup before I taste it that will have mostly a floral flavor and it does — it’s like a flower shop.. or maybe orchids. There is also a sweetness to it that could rival the milk oolong I had the other day… even though this isn’t a milk oolong. It is so smooth and silky! Definitely one of the better oolongs I’ve tried.

Steep two // 3 min // I think the first cup was better than this one. It is rare that the first cup is the better one! This didn’t have as much of the sweet & floral flavor. It was a bit drying.

Steep three // 4 min // This one oddly tasted more like the first cup, just not as pronounced. I wonder what happened! The longer steep time?

This one is a great oolong!

Thanks TeaEqualsBliss for this one! There is no lack of a peachy scent and flavor here! There is a sweetness from the rooibos that blends well with the sweetness from the peach! Very good. I just kept sipping. It’s very thirst quenching. I also love Drink T’s toffee rooibos that I’ve tried.

This is a nice clean clear tasting oolong. Its a bit basic without a ton of complexity but its good. I feel like it is predictable but sometimes that is just fine, such as when with company, or serving with a meal.
This is a nice one to have on hand and would make an excellent starter oolong.
I got this in a tea trade awhile back I think from Michelle but it may have been someone else.
Regardless it was a nice oolong to try.

Finished this sample off today! I still love the flavors of this tea. Sweet, buttery, creamy, and nutty. Such a nice toffee tea and a lovely rooibos. It will be missed.

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss!!
Mm this tea smells so good! It’s been a lazy morning and this has just added to the awesomeness of it :] It’s sweet and creamy. It has a bit of a nutty taste to it and it’s kind of buttery. The taste is very mellow and it works for this tea and the fact it’s rooibos. This is probably one of the better rooibos teas I’ve had in a minute.

Rachel sent me a nice big sample of this tea! THANK YOU!
:)
Its a really smooth flavorful black!
Its slightly malty – sparkling in the mouth.

You know, Im not really very good at identifying black teas of all things I should be right? But this one could have fooled me for a darjeeling!

I do get some assam smokiness (right assam can be smokey?) GUH I really need to learn how to identify flavor profiles of the black teas better without knowing what they are!
You know its not even smokiness but there is a depth here, but then a light sparkly feel to it, its just really well blended that is for sure.

I am also soooo mind boggled today so words are not coming forth easily.

I do like this tea though.

Thanks again Rachel!

Additional notes: Sad sad sad sipdown. Wish I could find more.

Additional notes: This tea is so old but I’m very glad it ages so well (after all it does have something with ‘milk’ in the description)! It is the PERFECT dessert tea. If I had to have only ten dessert teas in stock forever or something, this would be one of them. It’s so milky, sweet, nutty, definitely like toffee. I’ll miss this when the last couple of teaspoons are gone.

ETA: Looks like they don’t exist anymore… at least the link on the ‘DrinkT’ Steepster userpage doesn’t work.

Thanks for including this in our trade, TeaEqualsBliss! This is exactly what I expect a toffee tea to smell and taste like. Wow. It’s definitely toffee! The rooibos is the perfect base for these flavors: buttery & sweet. Very silky smooth. It actually reminds me of the tea I had this morning. The red steep in my cup actually had a redder color to it than the usual rooibos. It’s so comforting I’m actually falling asleep right now…

Such a lovely goodnight cup. Thanks again TeaEqualsBliss!

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss! This rooibos is ABSOLUTELY delicious. I feel like the woodsy/sweetness of the rooibos fits perfectly along with the peach. It’s warm and slightly fruity. This is probably one of the best rooibos teas I have had in a while.

I’m finishing up my sample of this courtesy of TeaEqualsBliss! Sorry it took so long for me to review. This is a really different black tea and I have really enjoyed it. The tea is smooth with a really nice, juicy apricot flavor. This is great both with and without additions, but I really enjoy it as a tea latte. Thanks again for this sample!

brandy3392 was generous enough to give me a big ol’ sample of this tea in our recent swap, and I really feel like I made out like a bandit here. The leaves on this are long and very loosely twisted and curled, and they smell nicely floral and green and oolongy. As an aside: I feel like I have a much better handle on the types of tea that are out there and their names, but every once in a while I have a moment where I feel like a total noob for not realizing something, particularly when it comes to the various names for Chinese teas and their English “translations”. Like I totally didn’t realize that Pouchong = Bao Zhong until just the other day… here I am thinking they’re two different kinds of tea, but no.

Anyway, this tea has a very floral aroma when steeped but also a buttery note as well. The flavor is pretty vegetal and buttery, and the floral notes kind of add to the general character but aren’t very distinct on their own. This is one of those teas with it’s own natural sweetness, which is awesome and it’s definitely a character I like to find. Of course just now my nose has decided that it will be unrelentingly sneeze-itchy (you know that feeling right before you sneeze? like that), swollen, and runny, so I’m having a little difficulty with subtle flavors here. I don’t understand why sometimes it’s fine and sometimes it’s not. If it’s going to be sick, I would rather be sick enough that I can at least take the day off, not this miserable half-sick where I can’t justify it. :P

Anyway this is a very tasty tea. Thanks so much, brandy3392!

This is quite a pleasant tea. Not too strong, but flavorful. It’s an interesting blend without any one part standing out from the others. It doesn’t require milk or tea, but I can see how a little agave nectar would do well in it.

I really like this. It has a toasty, nutty quality to it, but what I like best is that hint of sweet cinnamon flavor. So nice. I can taste notes of fuzzy peach too. It reminds me of a “darker” Oolong that’s been slightly roasted, but at the same time, it is quite different from other Oolongs that I’ve tried.

A very pleasant surprise, this Gaba tea!

This brews up dark but not with a strong scent, surprisingly. The scent that is there is slightly malty with a light and slightly spicy “dark tea smell”. Pleasant.

The taste is dark on the front of the tongue with a sense of honey in the top of the mouth when swallowing. It has a bit of bitterness around the sides and under the tongue, but not unpleasantly so. There’s a pleasant burnt taste in the middle of the tongue as the tea starts to cool.

I was worried that a black tea would seem to strong after I’ve been drinking so many whites lately, but not at all. While this isn’t Awesome, it is Good. I’d drink it again, and will, but wouldn’t buy it.

Dry tea smells as I’d expect, rich and woodsy. It’s prettily rolled up into little balls of oolong.

185/3 min. The color of the tea is a very light golden yellow. It’s pretty and smells delicate and floral. The taste is the same. For an oolong, it’s very light, with some floral tones, a touch of sweetness, but not much. It’s a little too light for me as I tend to prefer more robust oolongs, but still, this is a very nice one.

This is a good solid oolong. This oolong leans towards the vegetal flavors of a green tea with very light smokiness. The tea has a nice astringency which would be good for clearing your palette between meal courses. It stands up to multiple steeps. I like this one without a sweetener.

Hmm this is good. I taste hints of honey, floral, and something buttery. The brewed smell is floral and lightly of honey. This is a very nice smooth tea that is perfect plain or with a light sweetening.