69 Tasting Notes
This is such an odd tea. The mint flavor sticks out the most to me, layered on top of fruits (that’s as specific as I can get – I can just taste general fruitiness). I don’t know how well it works weight-wise, but it does make me feel a little bit better about all that Thai food I ate, so that counts for something I guess!
Preparation
One of my favorite greens! It’s a very sweet cup, best made in the biggest strainer you have as the tightly-rolled leaves unfurl to a pretty good size. It smells like dessert but the taste has a tart edge to it. I tend to think that the sea buckthorn makes me feel a bit better when illness threatens, but maybe I’m just a sucker for a good health claim.
Preparation
This is one of the most unique rooibos teas I’ve ever tasted – there’s a tartness to it, but it’s a very full-bodied tartness, the aftertaste of an apricot. It’s a very pretty tea in the canister with all the marigold petals, too. I can’t really taste the cinnamon chips at all. Weird, all in all, but not a bad weird by any means.
Preparation
I really wanted to love this one! I’m a sucker for red velvet cake, but something about the formulation here is just off. There’s a weirdly sour note here, like they isolated that aspect of the recipe so there’s a sour cream tang like cream cheese frosting except not good. I think it must be the beetroot, I can’t figure out what else could be screwing it up.
I have a whole canister of it though, so I just add chocolate soy milk or cut it with another tea with more chocolate flavoring.
Adding chocolate soy milk (or creamer) would be a yes to this. Or maybe white chocolate creamer? White chocolate creamer and cocoa powder? Yum!
This is such a smooth tea! It’s pretty much exactly what I think of when I think of oolong – lightly floral, good through about four steeps, a nice unchallenging tea that does what it’s supposed to. The leaves are curled so tightly that I use my biggest tea strainer so they can really unfurl fully, which I’d recommend if only so you can marvel over how huge these tea leaves are after several cups.
Preparation
This tea neither lived long nor prospered (in my mouth, at least). I barely tasted the peach at all, it was just like a very, very subtle oolong. I ordered it online from Teavana, and though it was only two ounces it’s such a bulky tea that it filled up an entire three and a half ounce tea container. Most of the volume is made up of little freeze-dried peach bits, which I think is the issue – they just don’t impart a whole lot of flavor.
A subtle tea isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but this one was so blah I kept forgetting what I was drinking entirely.
Preparation
I bought this not realizing it was a ku ding tea, which I’ve been put off by in the past. This one’s not bad, though, milder than what I’ve tried before. It’s still pretty bitter, but a three minute steep and a little while to cool off will make it tolerable. Use only two twigs at a time, and I wouldn’t recommend resteeping. Drink it fast and between two sweeter cups and it’s a nice way to clear your head.