615 Tasting Notes
I definitely forgot I stuck this in the fridge yesterday to steep. Oh well. Remembered now!
I think I just love iced peppermint tea, and this, with it’s spices and twang of ginger is to die for. I just need spring to find its way here so I can sit on the patio with this, a little umbrella, and a book. Yep.
We went from 86 to 50 degrees outside. Looks like it’s going to rain too. Yuck.
This is becoming my go-to on cold, grey days. It’s sweet and cinnamon-y and delicious.
The dry leaf doesn’t smell nearly as sweet or apple-y as you might expect from something named ‘Caramel Apple Explosion’ with big ole apple chunks in it. But it does have a nice spiced smell.
As soon as the hot water hit, though it’s instant apple, cinnamon, and a generic sweetness.
The tea itself brewed a really rich red-brown and had a nice creamy mouthfeel. The initial taste that hit me was the apple, followed by some cinnamon and sweetness then ended off on a milky note which I’m assuming is more or less the ‘caramel’ finish. I did notice this tea tasted best piping hot.
It doesn’t have a great second steep as most of the flavor comes out in the first cup and you just end up with a sadder version of the first.
Overall, really really yummy. Really really warming and perfect for icky days.
Preparation
I bought this one specifically to be cold brewed or made hot, then iced.
Really good decision!
This is a really light tea, strongly tasting of peppermint with a generic floral flavor as a background note. I don’t specifically note it as rose (of which there were lots in my sample!), but it’s definitely a flower. There’s also kind of a light citrusy note I’m picking up. It’s not super pronounced on every sip, but I’m definitely getting it. With summer coming up this is definitely ending up in the re-buy list! :)
Preparation
SIPDOWN!
I’m going to combine my hot and cold drink experience into one here, because I forgot to post half yesterday
This tea is so pretty, with big chunks of strawberry and orange, and little meringue and other fruit bits. There’s also cardamom pods and cinnamon stick chinkies. And it smells diiiivine!
But holy tart, batman! It took a good dent in the head of my honey bear to make 16 oz of this drinkable without wincing. And even then I still left a good deal of tart.
Next, I cold steeped this overnight and it’s fruitier and slightly less tart this way. Still makes me pucker my face right up though. After I added some sugar, I found a really refreshing, tasty iced tea. I get more of the spice notes here and they add a good deal to an already nice fruity tea.
I don’t usually like adding this much sugar to my tea, however, so I’m not sure how I feel about it overall. It’s an insanely good iced tea, but I added probably a teaspoon of sugar for every 10oz of tea. Jury is still out on if I’ll buy again, but it deserves the high rating for that taste anyway :)
I love Wisconsin weather. We jump from 40’s last week to 86 today. No joke.
But this tea! So good iced! I get caramel and a lightly toasted nuttiness (from a combination of rooibos and coconut, I think) with a really light, natural banana flavor.
Bonus picture of mini monkey stuffie going bananas for banana coconut: http://i.imgur.com/QXSURuh.jpg
Preparation
Ahh rooibos, my nemesis. We meet again.
Weirdly enough, I don’t smell it in the dry leaf. Instead I catch the aroma of chamomille and coconut. Little light on the banana. But I don’t dislike chamomile, so I figured we’d give this a shot. I started smelling the rooibos at about the three minute mark while steeping, but kept going to the 5 minute mark, fingers crossed.
The result? All that worrying for nothing. The chamomille and floral aspect is pretty overwhelming. Too overwhelming really. I get the slightest hint of banana and coconut with a touch of caramel. But if I’m not really looking for those other flavors, it tastes like a pot of sweetened chamomile with a tiny banana aftertaste.
So, in an attempt to bring out the other flavors and beat back the chamomile with a honey drizzle shaped club, I added some honey. Success. Banana then chamomile. Still loosing a lot of the coconut and caramel to chamomile, but at least I taste banana in my banana tea. It’s a tasty tea no matter what, though and I have a cold steep that I popped in my fridge just under an hour ago to see how that changes things up (hoping for coconut!)
Either way, I didn’t taste rooibos. So in my mind, that is a huge success.
Preparation
I totally agree with you here! I am by no means a fan of rooibos and I was hesitant to try this, but i was intrigued by the banana and coconut mix, because I love coconut anything. It was definitely a majority chamomile and then banana:) Glad we were on the same page.
I really thought I was craving something earthy and dark just now, but obviously my tastebuds had something different in mind. That being the case, I definitely sweetened this one with just a little honey after the first sip. The woodsy flavor and very slight smokiness just wasn’t cutting it for me untouched and the honeysuckle finish wasn’t quite enough to make it so. But wow WOW WOOOOW that tiny touch of honey really opened some beautiful floral and sweet notes. It makes the whole sip have this really sweet afterthought that is so complementary to the puerh flavor. Yum! I’ll definitely be squeaking all the resteeps I can out of this one today.
Preparation
Got this sample from Shelley_Lorraine :)
I guess I’m having a hard time getting past the base here. It’s a really a strong, robust black tea. I definitely get the caramel and vanilla taste, and something almost nutty. It’s definitely a strong tea first and cookie flavors second though. And the leaves after steeping smelled almost like…popcorn and milk that was left on the counter all day. Kind of a turn off.
I have enough for one more cup, so maybe I’ll rate it then after I try it with milk and sugar.
I hear milk and/or sugar is necessary to get the most out of these type of teas. I’m not one for milk or cream in my tea, so I will never know! I thought this tea was a bit like a burnt cookie on its own. :p
It’s still not preferable, but not that long ago I was hugely against milk and sugar until I started making lattes! Then suddenly I was experiencing subtleties and flavor nuances I hadn’t before. It’s still not my preferred way to drink tea, but I’m for pretty much any kind of experimentation now. :) Burnt cookie is a pretty apt description for sure though.
I never thought 60 degrees and sun would feel so good!
So today’s cold steeping experiment was…weird?
This tea actually crosses the line into too flowery this way! I didn’t think it could be done. It lost the delicate balance between florals and white tea and WHAM right in the perfume. A little sugar coaxed back out the white tea and made the roses seem almost…juicy and fruity. A little weird on the palette, but definitely grew on me! So, sure, I’d do it again, but definitely have some sugar handy!
