6444 Tasting Notes
As part of my Hannukah gift, my sister got me a box of single origin teas from Palais Des Thes. Thankfully the box is mostly black teas, which are really the ones I tend to drink straight. However, a couple plain greens are in there, including this one. With that in mind, I am working on filling a TTB and am trying to include both straight teas and flavored. I am also trying to have a variety of tea types and so I figured that I would give this a try and toss the rest into the TTB, since the likelihood I would drink it over other options, even if I like it, is low.
As someone who doesn’t drink greens, I think this is decent quality. Mild flavor. Not overly grassy. No bitterness. It has notes of sweet spinach. Sort of creamy. Honestly, as far as greens go, its nice but it is still a plain green tea that I don’t care to drink again.
Sipdown (316)
I think of the Tea Drops so far, this is the one that dissolved the least. That means its the most gritty cup yet. It’s on point for a Valentines tea and it looked cute in my rose tea cup but its not great. The bergamot is not overly offensive here but that is because its drowned out by a super sweet rose flavor. Overall, not a fan and that seems to be how I feel about all these Tea Drop teas. At least I got them for free so no harm done and they’re a fun concept so they’re enjoyable in that sense.
Latte Sipdown (317)
Thank you for sharing this one with me, Sil! I am a gingerbread tea fan and this is no exception. This is a clove heavy gingerbread flavor but that works for me. Ginger is also strong, as it should be. It also had a touch of molasses sweetness. A standard gingerbread black tea, but enjoyable nonetheless.
I had a talk with Marika of Geek Steep earlier this week about WandaVision. Part of our discussion was about what we would pair with the show. We had some ideas but while searching my database I found this tea, which I completely forgot about. A bit ironic. Also fitting given what’s happening on the show so today I brewed it up to watch the show.
Flavorwise, I don’t really know what’s going on with this tea though. It’s astringent and smells like bergamot but that’s not listed in the tea ingredients. It does have an earl grey vibe to it though and when I look up the description on the Dollar Tea Club site it says: Remember Me is based on the floral notes of a good strong Earl Grey that is sweetened further with a touch of caramel. I get the floral and the strong earl grey. I don’t get the caramel. It’s not for me. With that said, this being not what it seems based on the ingredient list is pretty spot on for the show at least.
teakruthi was kind enough to send me this tea to try years ago. It got lost and so I am trying it now. As an earl grey, I wasn’t overly excited for it but it didn’t smell overly floral and had a nice vanilla note so I hoped for the best. I am surprised though that this is rather bland. Some light bergamot and vanilla but mostly milk seeing as I had this as a latte.
I asked my sister what tea I should have an her immediate reaction was “Cotton Candy”. It was very quick and took me by surprise. However, I usually prefer that cold and I wanted a hot tea so I asked her to pick again. Her next response was “Apple Pie” but since I don’t have an apple pie tea right now, I went with this tea instead.
This weirdly had something that was smelling lotion-y to me. There is no coconut though or anything that should have given me that so I just ignored it and hoped for the best. After one quick sip, I can say no lotion. In fact, its got a pretty nice pie flavor to it. Warm, cozy, sweet and jammy red fruit notes. The cinnamon and red fruit aspects are actually reminding me of Strawberry Pie Honeybush by 52 Teas, just less strawberry and more generic red fruit.
Continuing with the National Pizza Day prompt by Mastress Alita’s sipdown thread and the tea together tuesday prompt on instagram, I pulled this tea out as it features pear. Alas, that isn’t really the strong flavor here. Today this came out as a more jumbled fruitiness. It’s alright but neither tea really evoked the gorgonzola, walnuts, speck, pear, and honey of the pizza that inspired these selections.
I keep meaning to follow the prompts on Mastress Alita’s sipdown thread, but since they are just a couple days a month, I always seem to forget until a day too late. However, today both the sipdown thread and the Tea Together Tuesday prompts have to deal with National Pizza Day so I remembered!
I planned on doing a pineapple tea since I think that’s where the prompt was guiding us – mostly because a cheese tea or a pepperoni tea seems weird but pineapple isn’t. However, I could only think of one pineapple tea in my stash and it was Pineapple Upside Down Cake and that didn’t seem right. Instead, I picked a different pizza…
When I worked downtown Toronto, there was a restaurant that made a pizza with gorgonzola, pear, walnuts, and honey. That is the pizza that caught my eye. There was another pizza I used to get with more traditional ingredients and then a chili honey drizzle. So ultimately I have determined I like honey on pizzas and so a honey-like tea seemed a good call.
Many black teas have a honey flavor to it but this was the one that had honey in the name, which made it the quickest for me to find when I did my search in my database for a honey black tea. Weirdly enough, its not overly honeyed in its flavor. It is malty an has a touch of honey but there is also the slightest hint of smoke. Also wheat/bread. I guess that works for pizza in a different way but was certainly surprising when I started drinking.
This is good but unexpected. I don’t know if I need more of this but I am happy I have another cup worth to try thanks to Sil’s generosity. Thanks for sharing, Sil!!
