82 Tasting Notes
I’ve been bad at updating recently, I caught a cold with the sudden drop in temperature and now my nose is completely congested all the time. And my order from 52teas came, and I’ve been drinking the last of this tea since I have no more free tins.
I really do love this tea. The rooibos adds a great flavor to the white tea, and It’s so perfect to drink before bed. Not a strong flavor, but not still flavorful. I will miss having this tea around when I finish the last of it tomorrow. Even when I forget it’s steeping, it still comes out perfect, no bitterness at all. It has been such a good tea to have around, I will probably have to buy it again at some point!
A long and tiring day. Going for a golden moon sample of oolong.
It seems a bit watery, and I can’t really taste much of a flavor. Maybe the water wasn’t hot enough when I put it in… but the color is rather dark.
When I do get a good sense of the flavor, it tastes awesome. It’s a little nutty, with a flavor very similar to a typical black tea taste, but lighter. It’s so very relaxing and calming, and hopefully it will be enough caffeine to help me get through finishing the last bits of my homework.
I will definitely try a second infusion, but this may very well be a tea I’d want to buy again.
Preparation
Figured I need to get some sleep tonight, so brewed this golden moon sample.
This tea is great. There isn’t really a very distinct smell to it and the taste is obviously white, but at the same time the ginger definitely cancels out the usual odd taste of white tea, making this a very subtle and calming tea. The flavor is not too strong, which is a major plus for white tea in my opinion.
It also seemed to be pretty tolerant of the water temperature, since I didn’t wait too long for the water to cool down from boiling before putting it in, it still steeped to a very nice yellow color and there is no bitterness I can taste. This may very well be a golden moon tea I’ll purchase more of, I can never have enough white teas for light night drinking !
Preparation
I think the heat bubble has finally burst! It was nice and rainy and cool today. Time for some hot oolong! I’ve drank this a few times before but haven’t logged it.
I just love the smell of this tea. It’s got a spicy smell, maybe from the cinnamon, with a hint of fruit in it.
This blend definitely has a cozy and comfortable feel to it. It warms me right up every time. Though I think Sweet Oolong Revolution is a better Teavana oolong blend, I really do like this one.
I really can’t seem to pick out any of the individual flavors in this steep, but it tastes a bit more oolong-y than I expected this time around, the blended flavors definitely add to the tea, but there is definitely oolong flavor coming out. Whatever I did to steep it this time, i hope I do it again next time because this was definitely a huge success!
The flavor is subtle, but definitely there. Very drinkable, in a good way. It’s a really tricky tea to steep though, if the water is too hot or you oversteep, it becomes bitter real quick and it’s not fun to drink at all, but when steeped correctly the taste is so good.
Preparation
Instead of brewing coffee, I decided to use another golden moon sample and go for a black tea.
Oh so delicious! But I feel it’s a tad watery. Maybe the sample wasn’t enough leaves for how much I steeped. It has a very cozy warm feeling when you drink it, I don’t even need to add any milk to it and it tastes perfect. Very drinkable and sweet without using so much sweetening.
Either way, I think i diluted the taste a little too much which is pretty disappointing. I love the flavor that the tea has.
Preparation
Today was another attempt at making iced tea. This weekend was really way too hot, my laptop keyboard is so hot I cant use it for long periods of time… yikes!
Anyway, I combined the last of my Frutto Bianco Pearls with ToLife so this is an iced version of that mix. Using my 16oz teamaker I put in 3 tsps, steeped, and iced in a pot and stuck it into the fridge.
It came out so good! I’ve always liked this tea iced/cold and I think this was a great success. I can taste the flavor of my favorite Frutto Bianco Pearls, and the rooibos from the ToLife adds more flavor to it when its iced. Great combination and I’ll probably use this combination again when I need an iced tea ;)
Another record breaking temperature, at 75 degrees. Having a floor on the third floor really bites, and makes me want to do anything BUT drink hot tea.
So I tried to make an iced tea. Using my 16oz tea maker I put around 6 teaspoons, and steeped for 2 minutes. I put it into my teapot and then put a handful of ice in. I repeated this with a second steep.
The result?? A little tart and a tad watery, apparently I still am not so good at brewing iced tea. My roommate liked the result, but I like more of a flavor to my ice tea. And when i tasted the tea before putting ice in it was EXTREMELY flavorful. I must have put too much ice in, even though I didn’t think so.
Oh well, maybe next time I will have more success.
Preparation
Yet again, I am drinking this tea. And I’m not really sure why.
Today was ridiculously hot, and still is, and since I’m still a little clueless at making iced tea, and the tiny fridge I have doesn’t really get cold enough to freeze ice, I have to stick with hot teas for now.
Just as good as last time I steeped it, except it’s making me SO much hotter. The taste is worth it though :)
So on Sunday I went to the Harney & Sons store, and they had this in their tasting room and I just had to get it.
First steep, 8oz, little less than a minute. Ah this tea is so good. The smell is very similiar to a barley tea , and the taste is just so subtle but still has so body and doesn’t taste very watery at all. There is a definite nutty flavor to it, but it’s not overpowering or anything. I didn’t even steep this with rock sugar and it doesn’t need sweetening at all.
Second Steep. Lower temp water, longer steep, 8oz. The nutty-ness comes out a lot more in this steep, and the color is a tad more dark as well. Still, same flavor but a little more intense. And I’m loving every sip of it. I hope I can get a lot of steeps out of this !
Preparation
This is one of my favorite “always will have on hand” tea! I haven’t been too successful in second infusions, so will try your tea parameters next time I have this (probably soon, now that this tea idea is planted in my head!).
It tasted fine the first two steeps, but the third and fourth were a little bad. I think because I steeped 16oz for the third and fourth time. Dunno, I always do random sort of steeping times with new teas to figure out how to get the most out of it!
Going for another sampler after a long day of first classes for the term. Having an evening class is awful, only now did I get a chance to brew myself some tea! I almost wish I had some sort of tumbler so I could steep tea and bring it to my two hour class…
Anyway, the smell of the tea before steeping was quite typical for a green, but I could definitely smell the pineapple! Even after steeping the pineapple smell lingers, I’m just so excited for it to get a tiny bit colder so I can drink it and see if the pineapple taste is noticeable.
First sip. Ah nice, typical green taste. Slightly bitter, which means I probably put in water that was a tad too hot. I love the subtle sweetness this tea has, and it’s not an overpowering green tea taste.
Wow, already halfway done with the cup. I really like the taste of this. The taste of pineapple doesn’t really quite stand out, but it definitely adds sweetness to the tea, making this a pleasant green tea. Not a strong flavor at all though, which makes me unsure if it’s really worth purchasing in the future.
