New Tasting Notes
4.3g, 90 mL zzz
wet: sour, light smoke, fruit, plum. YQH storage surprisingly not dominant.
1. savory, with Yang storage undertones. medicinal and slight downing and heat. Very light sweetness on finish, w almost alcohol-tinged taste.
2. more intensely bitter and pill-like. coppery taste and subtle Yang storage note
3. very smokey and meaty. still sth wine-like. mushroom-y bitter finish.
4. a bit watery and mushroom-y. Leafy coppery mid notes and some sour medicinal taste
5. a bit sweet
6. leafy and bitter. stopped here to leave for work.
well, what a surprise. this wasn’t half bad this time, though it’s been a couple years. Very savory overall, with a strong bitter core, though it doesn’t resolve that nicely. was very alert at work all day, so the caffeine is certainly intact.
4.8g, 500ml porcelain pot
Wet: woody, shou like
Some spices, woody, sweet
Broadly a light shou like taste. Material is huge and so based on what ppl have said online too, wonder if this just needs a ton more heat than standard brewing usually gives. I guess the ratio was also very low here, but maybe will just boil some from the outset next time if I’m feeling lazy
4.8g, 90 mL ZZZ
Wet leaf: smoke, barnyard
1st: light, quick sweetness. Had a banana beforehand so maybe not as much taste. Scalp numbing
2nd: got distracted and steeped far too long (few min). Immediate strong bitterness and a bit drying. Some sweetness after
3rd: stewed taste, bit drying still. Something like mothballs in the aftertaste. Some wall staring
Did a couple more steeps and then it fades away to a leafy WS storage taste. Basically some neutral head sensation? But also had caffeine earlier this morning too. Lackluster taste was sort of my fault. Will avoid eating bananas beforehand next time.
4.3g, 90 mL gaiwan.
wet leaf: smoky, barnyard, medicinal. WS storage note, sour, leather (?)
1. bitter/astringent upfront, some sour. smoke in aroma that reminds me of smoked kurobuta mini hot dogs at asian groceries. sweet finish, woody middle.
BBQ-y taste. quieting. did not steep for too long or take notes after since had guests over. Overall, I think it can still settle a bit. Some warmth.
Tongmu charcoal roast black tea
5/90 ml gaiwan
Wet leaf: dry smoky, sweet, fruity
Free sample from a forgotten order that I’ve been meaning to get around to… label says 2022 lol.
1. Oversteeped. Sour upfront and a little malty. Hint of bitter and florals somewhere. Tiny amount of sweetness on the finish
2. Unassuming. Probably understeeped. Just a bit sweet and slightly astringent
3. Sweet
4. Sort of dead. Stopped here
So a rinse probably wasn’t necessary here and took away from the tea. This is also 3 years old now, but certainly did not stand out here.
2017 wild LCSX
6g, 90 mL gaiwan
Wet leaf: sweet, baking spices, graham cracker, smoke. Gaiwan lid once cooled is a dark inky sweet smell
1. Having finished these cups, something in the lingering aftertaste is a dead ringer for not-sweet bland purple dragon fruit. Sometimes those are duds with a particular taste that is also here
Octagon cup: Medicinal, smoke, sour, sweet quickly after. Slight cooling and green taste in finish
Cup F: more woody sour. Not as rich, but maybe just from having cooled more?
Kangiiten tall cup: also more sour woody. Maybe taste buds just saturated now
2. slight bitter, medicinal. Drank quicker and i think previous differences are due to temp. Oops. Sugary aftertaste lingers a bit and somewhat extends to throat
3 and 4. Woody
Ended w half cup of steep one that brought back all the highlights: inky florals, minty, sweet, wood. Nice way to finish
thermos’d the leaves and ended with a nice mug. nice tea, though not quite berry forward as the notes I saw online. maybe those are fading? it is approaching year 8 after all…
I also wonder how much the differences noticed in cup comparisons are due to temperature. I have a bunch of cups now, so I should do one myself. :)
@Leafhopper You should! It’s fun to bring things out in rotation, and you’ll probably figure out general preferences. I mostly use a hagi ware cup that I really like for almost all teas, and then sometimes bring out the Kangiiten and DXJD cups. One antique Japanese cup I own makes green teas taste kind of sharp, so that might be something in the glaze reacting, and kind of interesting. While others don’t usually taste too different, I learned I don’t like most teas in the really beautiful but thin lipped hand painted Korean cups I have from TShopNY. A shame because they were rather expensive…
Oof! You really do have more cups than me. I have some big, inexpensive porcelain cups that I use regularly, as well as a Buchangqi Gaoyibei and 1980s wood-fired porcelain Ruoshen cup from DXJD. I also have a very small blue line ROC porcelain cup that I hardly use at all. I don’t have any clay cups for comparison. I should have rectified that when I made my big Hojo order recently.
@Leafhopper Porcelain is king for good reason anyway, haha. The gaoyibei is nice! (As are the smaller vintage cups from DXJD, though I find those impractical for solo drinking outside of saving a small amount of the first steeps of oolongs.) Have since stopped amassing cups, having learned my lesson w costs + space to stop buying either a ton of cheap cups or a few expensive cups and just be happy with the few I gravitate towards.
I didn’t know Hojo sold cups. I mostly see people buying teapots from him. The Japanese clay cups I have are glazed, so other than the reactive one, they’re mostly very neutral. I bought some off eBay and my favorite from Tezumi. Tezumi still has a few nice Hagi options if you’re interested, though shipping from Thailand can be a bit pricey.
I also tend not to use my smaller cups, such as the ROC blue line porcelain and the wood-fired one from DXJD. I’ve basically stopped buying small cups for this reason.
I just checked his website and Hojo sells Kobiwako, Mumyoi, and Nosaka cups, though you’re right that people mostly buy pots from him. I did a bunch of research a long time ago about which of his clays are best for gaoshan (Mumyoi, Iga, and maybe Nosaka, I think). I don’t want to spend a bunch of money just to learn I can’t tell the difference!
5.1g, Fu San Liao cha
135 ml Zini
Wet leaf: marshmallow sweet, woody, medicinal sour tinge
1. Good texture. Woody medicinal, some sweetness and minerality (rain on concrete like?). Sleepy
2. Shou like taste. Feeling is calm and warming, mostly downwards.
3. Soft grainy sweet taste
4. Jujube/date taste
5. Woody, jujube taste, sweet grainy finish
tossed in the thermos after since was starting to die out. Despite being large leaf, tasted mostly stewed after maybe two hours?
was interviewing and wanted something comfortable but not too downing or attention grabbing. was a good choice, though remain unlikely to repurchase due to price.
This teabag from a TTB has no English on it, so I wasn’t sure what flavor it would be. I used a translator app and found it’s supposed to be lemon ginger. I can taste that! It’s not delicious, but I get a sort of dirty ginger and a hint of lemon. It’s not bright and zingy, but it’s there! Apparently there’s black tea in there, but I wouldn’t have guessed that.
Lovely affordable tea. Nice and dark with wonderful licorice notes and good depth of flavor. No need to wait until it tastes like an old library book. It is great right now. My 50/50 by weight blend of this tea plus 2024 Subduer of Dragons is a 100! Been drinking my special blend almost every morning and can’t get over how nicely these teas compliment each other.
Preparation
My favorite rooibos chai is West Cape Chai from Rishi, but because they only sell it in large bulk amounts (it doesn’t matter how much I like a tea, I do not need a pound of it at any given time!) I usually have to hunt it down through resellers. I believe at the time I was making a Tea Runners order and they carried it, but it was sold out so I went with a different rooibos chai they had at the time, which was this one sourced from SerendipiTea.
I love the aroma of this tea, both dry and steeped, and while it has a nice flavor as well, it still doesn’t edge out Rishi’s West Cape Chai for me. The spice blend is very good — they blend together nicely but at the same time can be picked out distinctly — but I feel like the base rooibos isn’t quite as flavorful as I’d like? The spices in the tea are pretty warming… it just borders on being “too much” for me (I am the world’s most sensitive spice-wuss) so it leaves a bit of a peppery/gingery kick at the back of my throat after the sip, which I’m not the biggest fan of but I imagine would be quite flavorful and pleasant to others. I suspect this will hold up to milk nicely, so next time I’ll prepare it that way and then I think it’ll be just right for me.
This is a perfectly fine caffeine-free chai option and very nice against the brisk winter winds we have at this time of year.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Ginger, Pepper, Rooibos, Spices, Spicy
Preparation
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2025 Tea #7 – A tea you put off drinking
I just started a pouch of this ancient tea…I guess I have a lot of Frank’s SBT teas waiting around unopened until I finish a few others, so I only open a few at a time. I’m not brewing them as iced teas though… usually taking a teaspoon at a time out of the teabag to steep it hot. This in itself creates five servings (ten cups including resteeps) of tea. No wonder if takes me so long to drink them. For its age, it still has a lovely amount of cotton candy flavor on a brisk black base. I bet it was phenomenal before, as the collective steepster rating suggests. 89!
Sipdown
January Sipdown Prompt – a tea you put off drinking
Here we have the final Fortnum & Mason advent sipdown! I put off drinking it because it is one of Ashman’s favorite tea types and one of his favorites from Fortnum & Mason. We had it with a very simple breakfast of home made whole wheat bread, toasted, and derk’s plum and cinnamon jam. (Yuuuuuuuuuuum!) Then we had a little more for a tea and cookie time outside on a blanket in the sun in celebration of a high temp over 50F and sunny weather instead of the freezing gray we have been having lately.
Ashman used to drink Ceylon tea with milk and sugar but he likes it plain now. This one is a pretty typical smooth and mild tea that resteeps nicely to blend the two steeps together for a nice big pot that has plenty of flavor. I find it milder than Harney & Sons Ceylon & India blend, which is also very nice and might be the better choice if you really want to add milk and sugar and still feel some heft from the tea.
January Sipdown Prompt – a sunny tea to chase the Janu-weary blues away
This puerh is delightful if you like flavored puerh. It is called fruity but it is absolutely sunny to me. It just smells so cheerful. It was a Christmas gift from Ashman. I taste the puerh in this better than I taste the base of Lupicia’s Sunny Fruits Puer. We did three steeps and even number three had plenty of flavor.
Many thanks to gmathis for coining the term “Janu-weary” to express how some of us feel about this month. For the first time in many years, I am handling January pretty well, having set myself a challenge to get outside each morning if possible, even if it is very cold. (I have a tendency to hibernate and not venture outdoors in extreme temps, hot or cold.)
A sipdown! (M: 7 Y: 7)
A very sad sipdown of tea that I have received from Courtney — thank you a lot.
It is a wonderful mild and smooth oolong with warming cinnamon notes that was just perfect today evening. My family apparently likes oolongs, mostly because they’re not so heavy as black teas; and green tea is not always a good pairing or opinion.
The pot I prepared with this tea was finished so damn fast, and it was loved just by everyone; and now I want to get more… and I just see it is discontinued tea? Sad, so sad…
I hope to get a replacement somewhere somehow!
Raising rating from 78 to 86.
Preparation
Another of Courtney’s Tea Girl samples finished off. These are only two servings, but you know how it is – too many teas, too little time ha ha.
This was a bit similar to the French Toast Crunch black tea, but perhaps a bit less specifically maple and more brown sugary (but still buttery). The base also seems a touch smoother, but she doesn’t specify what type of tea it is. Looking up Canadian butter tarts, they seem a bit like a runnier pecan pie without the pecans. I’m not a pecan pie fan, I find it too sweet, so I doubt I would like these either, but at least the tea was nice! I laughed at the “mixed in raisins for controversy”, it make me think of oatmeal cookies and the raisin vs. no raisin camps. Personally, I am always pro-raisin ha ha.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Buttery, Caramelized Sugar, Maple, Rich, Smooth, Sweet
Preparation
Sipdown (2747)!
Finished this sample off as part of a “Teas I Drink In a Day” post yesterday. I was hoping the lemongrass and jasmine would come through a little more, but I couldn’t taste the jasmine at all and the lemongrass only barely added a little hint of citrusy grassiness. Mostly this was incredibly mild tasting with an earthier floral note that was just sort of meh.
The “wow factor” of the blend is easily the brilliant blue colour of the butterfly pea flower. It would probably make for a decent starting point for more fancy recipe creation. Things like cocktails or lattes you want to add a blue hue to. But I wouldn’t really reach for this again as a standalone drink for the blue colour alone. Flavour is more important to me personally, and this is just missing that.
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOY8GQSgUp/?img_index=1
(It does take a good photo, though! This was my favourite picture of the day.)
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m_XZTaNzxk&ab_channel=MDSHCoffeeHouse
This was very predictable tasting but not in a bad way. Decent quality white tea with a sweet and jammy blueberry note to it. No frills or anything, and that’s exactly what I wanted when I reached for it. I’d just been craving blueberry but didn’t feel like something nearly as full bodied as a black tea, so it was a great and convenient option!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOY8GQSgUp/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BYrQVS7uKI&ab_channel=FickleFriends
Latte Sipdown (2748)!
This was another tea that I managed to cram into the morning yesterday before commuting to work. I made it as an iced matcha latte using some cashew milk I had on hand and then topped it with some whipped cream for added fun and indulgence. It’s a very good matcha with a spot on name. Smooth and buttery with the golden caramel or butterscotch-like flavour and then a lightly minty and cooling finish. It reminds me so much of the caramint candies that I used to buy from the British Imports store/cafe I lived by back in Saskatchewan, which is really nostalgic for me.
I’m pretty sure this was a holiday/winter seasonal matcha release from Bird and Blend and I actually don’t know if it was well received at all, but if it comes back this year it’s something I would definitely consider buying a tin of. So good in lattes!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOY8GQSgUp/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1_hipXwuk&abchannel=glitterparty
Iced Sipdown (2749)!
I think when I first tried this tea I was under the impression that the name was a “creative” way of rephrasing a hojicha powder, but I have since learned that is not correct in a technical sense and that Aiya is actually taking matcha and roasting it instead of milling down hojicha tea into a powder. It still tastes incredibly hojicha-like, but I appreciate the distinction and wanted to fact check myself a bit here…
As far as drinks go this was pretty awesome. Very thick and almost creamy feeling in texture despite the fact that I did not add any milk, and with a brilliantly rich and roasty tasting flavour packed with dark notes of nuts, toffee, coffee, and golden cereals. Probably one of the better cups of tea that I had yesterday!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOY8GQSgUp/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hrl5jgMnnAI&ab_channel=Dot.
Grandpa Style!
This is one of the teas that I drank yesterday as part of my “Teas I Drink In a Day” round up and, to be perfectly honest, I was very disappointed in it. The description of it being like tomato soup is so interesting and it made me feel like this was either going to be thick and umami rich or have, like, an interesting balance between sweet, tangy, and savory notes. Just, like, something distinct. But instead I found it rather generically sweet and malty tasting and just a bit of an overall let down? It wasn’t unpleasant tasting, but somewhat flat and unexciting?
Maybe this just isn’t the best method to brew it. So, I’ll try and reserve judgement and keep a fresh and open mint until I can steep it gongfu…
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOY8GQSgUp/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehd5-Xh5WBw&ab_channel=HaleyHeynderickx-Topic
I wanted to do a “Teas I Drink In a Day” roundup yesterday, and this was the first tea I started my morning with. Truly, a breakfast tea. DAVIDsTEA very recently released a collaborative/cobranded nail polish line with Holo Taco that included a Nordic mug covered in cute holographic decals of her brand logo as a follow up to this tea collaboration with Cristine. The mug actually sold out in two hours which was INSANE and so much faster than we’d expected.
At this point, since I have both the tea and the mug, it feels almost blasphemous to drink this blend in anything but the cobranded mug. So I did that. It’s smooth and sweet with a rich maple syrup flavour and a hearty, cozy black tea and oat finish. Like a maple brown sugar oatmeal or overnight oats sort of vibe? Definitely a delicious way to start the day, and I couldn’t help but keep stuffing my nose in the mug to take a sip.
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DFOY8GQSgUp/?img_index=1
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BPDhJLG_DI&ab_channel=JuniorVarsity-Topic
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Cold Brew!
I’m just loving this tea chilled lately. The lemon is so bright and fresh tasting in a way that almost makes me think of lemonade. Just, not so tart/pucker inducing or packed with sweetness. But, like, verging on it I guess? At first it almost feels like you’re just drinking lemon but the ginger and chili warmth slowly builds up over time even when sipping on a cold brew like this. I think it just adds that nice little added dimension of flavour. Still super refreshing, though!
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Had a mug of this one last night as I was winding down for the evening. It’s such a simple flavour profile, but I just really enjoy this delicate balance of fresh, floral peach and silky vanilla notes with the cozier, slightly mineral and honeyed oolong peaking through. I think anything richer or more intensely fruity would have killed that calming sort of vibe I was going for, whereas this just felt like a good option for the stillness of the evening.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Someone left this on my desk a few days ago, so I had to give it a go. I’m not super familiar with the brand “Ffern” and what I do know them for is actually perfume so I was surprised to see a tea from them. I don’t know if that’s a normal/common thing at all. It came in a sachet though with very bare minimum packing just listing out the ingredients. Steeped up it’s a deep reddish garnet colour with strong aromas of hibiscus and cinnamon/cassia. The taste is very in line with that – richly tangy and tart with berry and citrus notes and then a more spiced note of cassia to finish off the sip. I enjoyed it and felt like the quality of the ingredients was pretty nice, even if I have essentially tasted this combination of ingredients what feels like a million other times. But it works for a “winter” blend because it’s very mulling spice sort of feeling.
I’ve been daydreaming of this tea, so I finally steeped up a mug of it not too long ago. After spending most of December drinking Dammann Frere blends through advents I almost feel guilty making a mug of one of their teas instead of spreading the love between other tea companies, but this is just really good. Very mango, but it’s the fact it so perfectly nails the silky but still just a little bit tangy notes of the creamy yogurt that makes it so exception to me. It’s not just mango but truly a mango lassi.
