379 Tasting Notes
Yum. Cinnamon, apple, french toast, maple, butter. This one is really good. Good reviews on this so that’s all I’m going to say. :P
Thank you, Cameron B. :D
Flavors: Apple, Butter, Cinnamon, Maple, Sweet, Toast
Preparation
I got this as part of their pu’er sampler. It came in one 14g chunk, easy to break up in two. It’s a medium fermented Menghai Te Ji Grade pu’er, “mostly pure bud with some larger leaves mixed in (technically between gong ting and grade 1).”
It’s a super dark reddish brown liquor with a heavy leather aroma after the first infusion of 5s. The taste wasn’t that heavy of leather (thankfully). It was earthy, mushrooms, wet wood, some leather… Fermentation flavors. As I went through the steeps, the aroma changed and I could smell sweetness, cocoa, still very earthy, some leather. The flavors of fruit came out… Black cherry? Plum? with the earth notes, leather notes, mushroom, and mineral notes. I have no idea what merlot tastes like so if it has those notes as the description says, I wouldn’t know :P. It is rich, and it has a creamy viscous mouthfeel while sipping, ending with a bite. It remained very earthy, mushrooms and hints of fruit throughout. It’s a daily drinker type.
Yixing gaiwan (specifically for shou), 7g, 110ml, rinse, 5s, 7s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 30s, 35s, 40s, 45s, 1m.
Flavors: Cocoa, Earth, Fruity, Leather, Mineral, Moss
Preparation
Thank you Cameron B. :D
First pear tea I’ve ever tried. Because I’m so new to flavored teas, after reading some of these reviews/comments, sounds like good pear teas are hard to find. I guess I got lucky since this one tastes like pear, has real pear, and has nice nutmeg and cinnamon notes that blend well with it. It’s smooth, mellow, light-bodied. Yummy. It’s also my first Harney & Sons tea. ^^ If I make an order there, I’ll include this one. :D
Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon, Fruity, Nutmeg, Pear, Spices
Preparation
I would agree that a good pear tea is difficult to find, and especially a good fresh pear tea! I’m glad you like this one too.
Black tea blend of an “Assamica from the JingMai Mountains, a Fujian Black and a Yunnan Gold.” with the addition of organic bananas and “pancake and maple essence.”
I put 3 g in my thermos, added 12 oz of 205°F-ish hot water. The main aroma I noticed was maple syrup. The flavor was of sweet banana, maple syrup, and a pancake-y taste too. I finished my first steep awhile ago, and while I’m typing this I can still smell the banana pancakes in my nose. :) Now I don’t know which one I like better… Their Banana and Cream or this one. Both have a natural banana flavor. Nothing candy-like in here, nothing oversweet. A good balance with the black tea blend.
I like it. ^^
Flavors: Butter, Maple Syrup, Pancake Syrup
Preparation
I still need to try this one from my 52teas order! And the Banana & Cream that you so graciously sent!
So many teas, so little time… #firstworldproblems
I “think” I send you a sample of this one too so you don’t have to open up your 52teas order bag of this. ^^ and yes, yes, yes, So many teas, so little time, and my bladder can only take so much in a day. #firstworldproblems :P
If and when they get the “large” of this in, I’ll grab me a bag. Please let me know how you like their subscription in the future!
Unfortunately, I believe this was only reblended for the 12 Teas of Christmas box, so it’s unlikely to be available again, at least for a while. Which is why it’s important that I send your sample back! ;)
52teas only has a few teas (I think she’s up to 4 now?) that are always available. All other teas are limited release. Luckily one of the permanent teas is a pancake one, so hopefully you like that one too!
Lots and lots of reviews on this. It must have been a happening tea back in the day. hehe Well, I can see why.
The dry leaves are twisted and dark. It smelled good, like a ‘hot cocoa’ mix with a strong vanilla aroma. As soon as the water came in contact with it, I could smell an intense dark chocolate and vanilla aroma. I wondered if it would be too sweet for me.
The liquor is a rich-looking copper color. The flavor though wasn’t just the chocolate and vanilla as I had imagined from the aroma. Not even. It wasn’t the simplistic taste I had thought it would be (from the aroma) but had lots of different notes: Toasted bread, dark chocolate, vanilla, malt, and fruity notes. Cherries? Plums? Raisins? At the end of the sip, the creamy vanilla (Kind of like a high-end vanilla ice-cream but warm) and slight sweetness remained in my throat, but then the dark chocolate is there in the background, lingering. It’s complex, and I didn’t detect any artificial flavoring. Just the real deal… Natural vanilla always tastes different than artificial vanilla. This malty, vanilla, dark chocolate, fruits, spices, great black tea base blend isn’t your normal everyday blend. It’s very smooth with a whip-creamy taste without that buttery mouthfeel. I’m glad I took my time with it and I’m glad it was available when I checked their website a few days ago. ^^
Gaiwan, 6g, 205°F, 110ml, rinse, 9 steeps: 10s, 15s, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 65s, 75s, 120s
Flavors: Bread, Cherry, Dark Chocolate, Fruity, Malt, Plum, Toast, Vanilla
Preparation
Yup, tastes like Caramel Monkey Bread to me. :)
4g, 195°F, more than 8 minutes steep.
Cinnamon, biscuits, bread, brown sugar notes. I think this is like the 3rd or 4th time (ever) I’ve tried a Roobios tea. ^^
Update: The second steeping of 10 min. was really good too.
Flavors: Bread, Brown Sugar, Caramel, Cinnamon
Preparation
More notes:
Sipdown… But I’ll probably go order more of this soon. Roasted/oxidized oolongs, especially a good Da Hong Pao, are my current favorites.
This time I noticed more fruity notes to go with the chocolate, roasty, bready, floral, and mineral notes. Loving this rich, comforting, warm cup of tea right now during this gloomy overcast day. Mandala said "This is the finest Da Hong Pao aka “Big Red Robe” oolong we have offered to date." and it is really good.
I wish I wasn’t the only one making notes on this since my thought process while tasting teas goes like this: &*%##@?%^? Yum.
Yixing teapot, 6g, 130ml, 200°F, rinse, 6 steeps, 25s, 35s, 45s, 55s, 60s, 2m
Flavors: Bread, Chocolate, Floral, Fruity, Malt, Mineral, Roasted
Preparation
Cake-y, pineapple-y, hint of floral notes, vanilla notes in a good base of white tea —→ Yummy.
It’s a mild flavor, but the taste is pretty authentic to what a pineapple cake tastes like. So far of the 52Teas sample (the ones I’ve tried anyway^^) have natural flavors which is a big plus when it comes to flavored anything. I also like that the sweetness is very mild. The sweetness and fruit notes hit me at the very end of the sip. It’s good. :)
Flavors: Cake, Floral, Pineapple, Sweet
Preparation
Agreed. I have issues with the orange flavorings often in teas from many companies, but find the one used by 52Teas is always very juicy and natural tasting. They have really nice fruit flavors.
Cameron B., I sent you a sample of this in your package. :D I’ve been thinking of getting a subscription there because their teas disappear so fast. lol
Mastress Alita, I’ll have to try their orange sometime :D.
A lot of reviews on this. I was happy to see it available on their website again. Like many here, it’s been on my wishlist for a long time.
I prepared it by putting 5g in 12 fl oz at 200°F for 3 minutes, the second steep was for 7+ minutes. It’s a malty cherry chocolate black tea with some vanilla notes, some bittersweet dark chocolate notes… Like those dark chocolate covered cherries but mild. The cherry is very natural and it is not an ingredient, it is part of the tea itself which makes it pretty delicious. Next time I’m going to gongfu it to get a more full picture of the profile but for now, I was just so excited to try it (finally).
Flavors: Cherry, Cocoa, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Malt, Vanilla
Preparation
The aroma is nutty heaven. Can really smell the almonds and some sweetness. Smells like cookies.
After 3 minutes, it was still a very mild flavor, so I’m just letting the leaves sit in there as I sip it to try to bring out more flavor. There are biscuit/pastry notes, almond, sweetness, butter, cream… It’s just really mild. It’s pleasant though, and I’ll definitely finish it. :)
Thank you Cameron B.!
Flavors: Almond, Butter, Cookie, Pastries, Sugar, Sweet, Toasty
You’re welcome! This is a yummy one. I think I need to order the Apple Cinnamon Coffeecake version to compare. You know, for science!
lol… And yeah, that one sounds delicious!
The sacrifices we make for tea science!
Both of you… haha :D #Science