Kat_Maria select Send Message

Drinking this… Hoping I will taste something with this cold I still have… Not a chance :(

I guess instead of trying new teas, I will have to focus on sipping down some mediocre ones, because I cannot taste them anyway. Dammit.

Finally I am getting around to this tea! the loose leaf smells absolutely knock-me-off-my-feet delicious! So does the steep that turned out to be of a very dark color.

The flavor is milder than the aroma. Which, I think, is good. I was afraid this tea might be too spicy, but it’s not. There’s a subtle note of citrus and a harmonious bouquet of spices that doesn’t bite your tongue. There were some lovely rose petals in it too, but I fail to detect them in the taste.

The base tea is slightly astringent and strong, which I like. I don’t like how with some flavored teas under the fancy flavors you discover… nothing. But it’s definitely not the case with this one. I might actually steep it for a little shorter next time, so the base is a bit less bitter.

Very enjoyable dessert tea!

Omnomnom! Smells like blueberries and tastes so sweet.

I keep sniffing it like a crazy person. I think my cold is withdrawing!

The sweetness is almost on the edge of turning into toastiness, there is a very distant promise of bitter that never arrives. This oolong is creamy too. Every sip reveals something new – I think that’s what I like most about great teas. That they can be like a good volume of poetry by one of your favorite poets – you get a different poem on every page but all of them consistently wonderful.

I would love to try some other “Purple” teas by Butiki.

Well, this is pretty basic and somewhat uninspiring stuff but I don’t want to drink anything awesome or, god forbid, new, as I wouldn’t be able to taste it right today anyway.

The base tea is pretty astringent and I don’t get very much of the vegetal notes that are usually in a sencha. I am guessing they are covered up by lavender. It is not, all in all, an unpleasant combination. The lavender is either that strong or I am regaining the sense of taste again ;D Because I can most definitely taste it… and taste it.

I am kind of indifferent to the flavor (or scent) of lavender but I have noticed that it does relax me. Perhaps I should look for some awesome herbal bleds with lavender in it?

The first time I had it, it was kind of disgusting. But I didn’t have my variable temp. kettle then, so I probaby steeped it at a WAY too high temperature. Especially if you consider what DTT suggests for brewing this – a super-low 149-158 F.

So I steeped it at a very low temperature (still not as low as they recommended) and it came out much better. At least much better than I remember it.

The aroma still doesn’t steal my heart away. I detect some artificial roasty caramel. I can’t smell any white tea. I also detect more caramel in the flavor, rather than chocolate, white or otherwise, and a little bit of white tea shines through although weakly. I can also taste some roasty notes, more and more pronounced as the tea cools down.

Although, admittedly, you gotta take my tasting notes with a pinch of salt today because since yesterday I have had a minor cold that seems to affect my taste buds most of all :( Don’t you hate when that happens? Still, even though I cannot fully taste it, the tea seems to be the best remedy.

I enjoyed this one before, not so much right now. I might have oversteeped it this time, I dunno.

The jasmine is pretty strong and the base moderately bitter. But it’s pretty uneventful. Really floral. I don’t think I will be able to have anything remotely flowery tonight because this is putting me off jasmine so bad. Even though I generally like it.

But then I am sure there are better Jasmine Yin Haos out there.

TTB #21

Another tea sample swiped from the Traveling Box! It came in a nice, individually wrapped pyramid bag.

It’s a holy HOLY asparagus in my mouth… No, no, no. Stop that.

It’s a pretty decent vegetal-tasting green. Now, that’s better.

I do like it. It’s definite, categorical flavor. It’s taking names without necessarily kicking ass. Not sure if I would go out of my way to buy it but I would be extremely happy if anyone served it to me.

Another super-subtly flavored tea from Golden Moon, where you must hunt the flavors down (not the other way around) – and you know what, that’s the best part, because it makes you focus on the tea more than usually

So I definitely detect carmel in the aroma, not so much in the flavor. I can taste a little bit of burnt sugar, especially as it cools down a bit. But the key role is for the oolong tea itself here – it is slightly roasted, full bodied, with rich sweetnes (much richer than just sugar-sweet sweetness) to it. Golden Moon never fails! And I still have a whole bunch of samples from them that I haven’t tried yet :O

This is a sipdown. Goodbye, Assam.

It’s a good morning tea but not overtly exciting. Something you can drink while you try to figure out your plans for the day.

The only other Assam I’ve had is Butiki’s Caramel Vanilla Assam which was heaven. If I ever crave Assam, that’s what I am going to get… I am not sure if I would ever crave it straight, though.

Darn, I’m so out of season. I wish this was a sipdown… But it’s not ;D

It looks fabulous with all the sprinkles and popcorn but tastes mostly like a black tea with mint. Now, I know I said before that I rather dislike mint in tea but here it doesn’t bother me too much. It’s quite enjoyable, especially at first, when it cools down it gets kind of… boring.