79 Tasting Notes
This is the first oolong I’ve legit enjoyed. Honestly I started avoiding them because I often get this (for lack of a better word) “plasticky” aftertaste from them. I don’t have that here though, huzzah! Might be that I prefer darker oolongs, since I think my previous ones have all been fairly pale, so I’ll have to try more and see.
Anyway, the dry leaf smells amazing, I stood in the kitchen huffing the bag for perhaps a little longer than I care to admit. Dry leaf also looks very pretty with the bright safflower petals. The tea itself is lightly sweet, not in your face about it, just pleasantly mapley with a slight nuttiness. I added a bit of honey after the initial taste because I’m a honey fiend, but really, it was fine without it.
I had this last night (Happy belated Halloween!) while watching Ash VS Evil Dead. … Side note, loved it. It has scares and was hilarious and, of course, has Bruce Campbell (♥).
Anyway, the tea. Nice and sweet vanilla-y white chocolate, but doesn’t overpower the black tea. I did add a dab of honey as I am wont to. I saw the nice big chunk of white chocolate when I put the tea in, and really expected to see it again when it was done steeping, but it fully melted into the tea. Nice. With other teas I’ve “had to” fish chocolate bits out of the steeped leaves and add them to the tea in hopes of wringing more flavour out of them, so it was nice to see it was completely gone in two minutes. Overall, nice sweet tea, I’ll enjoy it while I have it.
Preparation
This + honey + almond milk = yummo. I found it a bit bitter without additions, which is likely my own fault because if I’m not oversteeping, I’m overleafing. Aside from that I don’t have much to say about this tea, it’s exactly as described, a creamy vanilla earl grey. I quite like it and may have to have a sip-off between it and DT’s Cream of Earl Grey.
Ooo I can’t believe it’s not cocoa. Dry leaf is probably the most cocoa-y smelling tea I’ve encountered. I used the whole sample I got from Verdant in the 5 for $5 deal (which is a fantastic deal and introduction to their tea). Anyway, it looked to be about 1.5 tsp or so and I put it in 8 oz boiling.
Yum! Steeped it still retains that cocoa quality and is very… malty? Still not on board with all the terminology, but it has a very rich break-like quality. I added a tiiiny smidgen of honey because I can’t help myself, and love it even more.
Overall, fantastic! I really like this. I’d love to stock this in the future. But right now I’m trying to downsize my tea stash so I’ll have to refrain for now.
edit: Getting a few more steeps out of this that are equally yummy!
Preparation
As soon as I smelt this in store, I got a full tin. I’d sworn I’d stop doing that, but they were on their last bag, and… pumpkin.
I made this with two perfect spoons to a little over half of 16oz then topped it off with frothed almond milk and a dash of brown sugar. To me, this tastes the most like pumpkin pie out of any pumpkin tea I’ve ever had. Especially the aftertaste, it’s very much like I just finished having a slice of pie rather than a cup of tea. Lots of nutmeg. Yummy! I’m glad I got a tin.
As a black tea fan, I probably prefer DT’s pumpkin chai, but this is especially super for those looking for a caffeine-free option!
Preparation
Nope. I can’t do it.
I was given this… awhile back, from the birth giver, who knows I love my black teas. I opened this up… green. Looks green. Smells black but a bit like dirt and leaves as well. I steeped it for a little less than three minutes and with not-boiling water on account of it looking greener.
Still looks dark green. Smells green. Tastes green and very bitter. Added honey. It didn’t help. I’ll try this again before damning it with a pretty low number for tasting like I’m licking a handful of dirty copper coins.
I had two samples of this, the first of which I had a few weeks ago and it left nary an impression. I’m glad I had another sample to give this another fair shake because boy this turned out great the second time! It was naturally sweet and a bit honey-ish cocoa-y, and I didn’t have to add a thing to it. Sad to see it go, but I’ll be getting more eventually (after culling the cupboard a bit… and landing a full-time job, that would help too).
