New Tasting Notes

This is a decent blackcurrant tea, but not my favourite. This version leans more into musty territory instead of sweet. Additionally, this is one you need to drink as soon as possible as astringency comes forward more and more as it cools (assuming this has to do with the Ceylon base). I prefer the blackcurrant from Tante T.

It’s finally the weekend! After a long, grueling week of work, I’m excited to try one of my new caffeinated teas.

This is from yet another sampler pack I picked up at HomeGoods. I really enjoy English Breakfast blends, so I had high hopes for this one. And, while the tea was fine, it didn’t meet my expectations. There was a lack of depth of flavor which was disappointing. I usually want my EB blends to have a really deep and rich taste, and this one just felt sort of watered down and lackluster. I can’t even pick out any flavors to list here…it’s kind of just plain black tea.

Hopefully I will find a better blend in this sampler pack.

It’s not listed on their site anymore, but this is a very nice green tea.

Even though i brewed this longer, the green tea stayed smooth and well balanced. The ratio of rice to tea in this sample was in favor of the rice but overall the tea was strong enough to survive. Still not as toasted rice as I like, but it’s also one of the only organic ones I’ve found with such a balanced palate. The rice and tea balance each other perfectly and this is a cup for a person who likes simplicity and subtlety, but enjoys switching up their experience with the nuttiness of the toasted rice. Lovely, peaceful, calm.

I bought this at the DavidsTEA in Toronto! This doesn’t mix up smoothly in my almond milk. It was very clumpy. The flavor comes in waves. First it tastes like high quality hot chocolate. Then I taste too much beet. Then at the end I taste a hint of spiciness. It’s multilayered and interesting and rich. The most recent time I had this, I tasted more beet than anything. I’m not sure what that flavor is doing in there. It never mixes well, but getting a bite of powder really isn’t bad compared to getting a mouthful of matcha powder, so that part ultimately isn’t terrible. I would rate this way higher if they took out the beet.

Sweet, smooth and full bodied with thick mouth feel. No medicinal taste of usual aged teas but completely on the sweeter end of the profile. Strong dates and dried jujubes flavor and surprisingly pleasant light brown sugar aroma as well. My first experience of this kind of profile from Menghai tea factory.

I had last 10 grams remaining, as I sent some across the pond because I just didn’t cared too much for this tea. From those 10 grams I used 5 grams today and steeped in the pot and… I think I just found the best steeping method for this tea!

I tried gongfu, western in a strainer or fillable paper tea bag, but it has been always somehow meh. But method I tried today changed my impressions by a lot.

Smooth, forest honey tasting, with kind of floral impressions, that’s basically how first steep is like. That translates later to the malty notes; along with hints of caramel and stewed fruits, with longer mouthfeel.

Second steep is like the later notes of the first one, with some kind of spicy notes that black tea sometimes produces; and it has been highly enjoyable, warming and cozy.

I assume that the steeping temperature, which was 90°C and steeping time (3 minutes) in a big basket strainer is the key for this tea. The tea pot is said to have volume of 1000 ml, but I actually never measured it myself. The oolong leaves needs to expand well and maybe they were a little bit more prominent in the bottom of the tin. When steeped it was a wonderful two-coloured combo in the strainer.

This is the last new herbal tea I have in my Tea Forte sampler box. Again, just taking a guess that this is the correct Steepster entry, because the actual name on my tea pyramid is just “Turmeric Chai.” But the photo here and the ingredients seem to line up.

Probably my second favorite of the 3 herbals. I get lots of cardamom and some ginger and turmeric, but there are also very pleasant notes of clove and licorice. The flavor of clove is very nostalgic for me, so this tea made for an interesting trip down memory lane. Overall a very enjoyable blend.

— Color of liquor: Reddish copper brown

— Aroma: Slight muscatel, slight floral

— Flavors: Muscatel, slight cherry, slight astringent

About five years ago, I had a wonderful second flush Darjeeling from Goomtee Estate from another tea company that had an excellent apricot base to the flavor. I have been thinking about this tea and hoping to find one that is similar in recent pickings, so I thought I’d try this one purchased from Upton, hoping the terroir of the estate is what gave my previous tea that apricot flavor. This one is lacking the apricot base I was hoping for, but does have a pleasant muscatel flavor, with a hint of cherries. Astringency was low, but enough to give it character.

This is a nice enough second flush Darjeeling, but it isn’t what I was hoping for. I’ll enjoy the remainder of my order but will keep searching.

I’ve been wanting to try The Tea Girl for a while, but she doesn’t ship outside of Canada. Miss Courtney was so sweet to send me a tea care package with a dozen Tea Girl samples, plus a few samples from her own stash and some fun candies. Tea friends are the best friends! :3

This one is a tasty maple tea. I wouldn’t call it specifically French toast, more of a slightly buttery maple black tea with a teeny hint of cinnamon. The base is an Indonesian black tea, and to me it tastes similar to Ceylon – fairly acidic with a metallic edge and a brisk finish. Not normally my favorite kind of black tea, but I actually kind of like it here, as I feel like the sharpness of it tones down the decadent maple and keeps it from being too cloying. Not one I would order for myself, as I just don’t reach for desserty teas, but I enjoyed the sample!

I’m coming to the bottom of my 1 lb bag purchased in 2019 and today it still has the strongest scent of jasmine compared to several others i have. I see that they are all still partially used, while Numi is used up. The flavor of this tea is a good deal green tea, but not bitter or astringent, and a great deal jasmine. If you are unsure of jasmine, maybe a lighter version is for you. But for me, I search for the “most fragrant” of jasmines in my teas. Got online and found this site, to try and find a replacement for it, b/c they’ve been out of stock for a while now. Will be so disappointed if they are no longer doing this one. For me it’s the best of about 10 that I have tried, including many from high end and specialty tea companies.

A sipdown! (M: 4 Y: 4) prompt: Your oldest green tea

A very focused tea to sipdown. It is rather old (about two years), but it never tasted good in the first place. It was somehow expected from me though.

It is very generic green tea, with lots of hay notes, and if steeped well (short steep and not boiling water), it was okay-ish. Very good for not tea-enthusiasts; for me it was just boring and definitely not tasting fresh green. Longer steeps leaded to mineral notes; and harsh mouthfeel.

11 tea bags finished within January, well that is an achievement to share.

Well, I bought a big bag of this some 8 yr ago, in early 2017, and didn’t care for it as much as I liked other TTES #18 teas, so it has been sitting in my tea cupboard ever since. Now that I am re-exploring this variety from Taiwan (also known as Hong Yu, Red Jade, and Ruby 18), I’m giving it another shot. There is still experimentation going on in Taiwan as far as what to do with this variety of tea, which (according to Teapedia) is a large-leaf “cross between Taiwanese wild tea tree (B-607) and a Burmese assamica (B-729)”. Some will make a delicious dark black tea, others a heavily oxidized oolong (“Brandy 18”), and still others will process it as an awful white tea in cake form, hinting that it could be aged like a pu-erh. Some will encourage leafhoppers to feed on the plants as hey do for certain Oriental Beauty oolongs higher in the mountains, and call it “Honey Black”, whilst others will do the same in the Sun Moon Lake vicinity, all with varying success from year to year.

What I’m reviewing now are large, spindly black dry leaves that unfurl to milk-chocolate brown colored leaves after the second steeping, labeled as “organic” but with nothing about leafhoppers. Tealyra doesn’t list it anymore on their site but, thankfully, user eastkyteaguy captured their description when making the entry for it here on Steepster. The same product was also listed here under the company’s former name of Tealuxe, with a somewhat more detailed description captured by user Jason, along with additional reviews. There is concurrence that it is a Sun Moon Lake area product.

I used about 3g in a stainless infusion basket with 8 oz boiling spring water for 2-3 min in both steepings. I got a strong flavor of honey, with notes of apricot, malt, dates and floral fragrances. The dry leaf had little fragrance. I find it good, but not as satisfying as Brandy Oolong 18 by the same company. I’ll give it a rating of 78.

This tastes a bit like cotton candy. I removed the butterfly pea flower of course. This is light and not tart, just marshmallowy and a little fruity. I’d consider buying a bigger bag! It’s not like many other teas I’ve had.

Countdown To Catching Up – Tea 7

I am so behind on posting these, my apologies to anyone who might be waiting for me to add these teas to the database!

Anyway, this tea is amazing. As I mentioned in the description, I can’t believe I didn’t think of creating a Chai Spiced Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha sooner than I did! I love chai blends & I love our classic Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha, it seems only natural to bring these two together – but honestly, I didn’t even think on it for a moment until I came across a recipe for a chai spiced rice krispy treat & finally the lightbulb appeared!

I’m glad I finally did happen upon that recipe, because this tea is amazingly good. My personal preferences for a chai blend is for a black tea base, but it works so well with the classic marshmallow treat genmaicha! The spices are strong enough to be present within every sip, but the marshmallow notes shine through too! YUM!

First order from The Steeping Room in Austin, TX. I didn’t expect greatness from this one, but I just thought it would be fun to give it a try. This is made by a private factory in an attempt to imitate one of my favorite recipes (or just, my favorite?), 8582. I can see what they are going for in the first few steeps and it does give some similar notes to an 8582 during that time. The next infusions have more astringency than the real thing, though it’s not overpowering and somewhat pleasant. However, this does not have the same hui gan or power as the real thing, so it doesn’t quite measure up in the end. Still a fun experiment, and a bit cheaper for sure than the real thing.

This was a birthday gift from my parents, and boy is it good! Yamashita is an award winning producer of gyokuro and I can understand why! There’s not an off note in this thing and the power is amazing!

Super brothy with very thick mouthfeel and incredible theanine. An incredible tea that I am so glad to be able to taste! I will have to try this company’s other offerings.

Gunpowder green tea by Royaume de The is my basic tea, the one I drink almost daily. It is not a very high quality tea, but it is pleasant, and its smokey scent makes me appreciate it greatly. This smoky taste is also felt in the mouth, not contrasted by the bitterness that is practically absent.

I love all things earl grey, and really all things bergamot in general. This tea has a lot of great qualities, and extra points for being caffeine-free so that I can enjoy it in the evening.

Visually, this tea is gorgeous. The little specs of blue cornflowers are delightful to look at. I did notice that it’s about time I invested in a better quality infuser, as my current ones allow a good portion of the finely ground loose leaf tea to simply fall into the water. If anyone has any recommendations, drop them in the comments.

The taste is great! Plenty of bergamot, but the rooibos profile is definitely not to be dismissed. I agree with some of the other descriptions that were listed: wet wood, root beer, anise (as an aside, I noticed that “wet dog” is one of the flavors in our database…I hope I never have to use it in one of these reviews). These are all great descriptors that work well with this tea. There is some orange/citrus as well that’s quite lovely.

I don’t often comment on the mouthfeel of teas, but I will say that this one felt particularly silky.

I enjoyed everything about this tea thoroughly and look forward to drinking it again.

Sipdown! (26)

Last one from the December subscription. It’s fine, as turmeric infusions go. Mostly turmeric with a slight kick from the ginger and black pepper. I don’t taste a lot of the other spices over the earthy ones, perhaps a bit of anise and cinnamon. A bit too turmeric-heavy for me, and I wish I could taste the lemongrass.

Brewed some more of this today, amidst the snow-covered yard and frosty weather. I’m liking this 2010 ripe puer more and more. No added spices or herbs this time, just straight from the cake. The citrus peel has mellowed and is not screaming of tangerine, or anything else. Just a nice, subtle addition to the flavor profile. (You will have no difficulty identifying it, but it won’t blow your underpants off as do some Earl Greys.) Raising my rating to 85. Since I have several cakes, and YS is sold out, I’m willing to gift samples to regulars here, just send me a request. I brew 5g in a stainless infusion basket, with 8oz boiling alpine spring water for 10s to a few minutes, successively, after an initial wash. Cheers!

This was a nice, savory, thick and smooth ripe pu-erh, which is perhaps expected from a 28 year old shou. The wet leaves smelled of rank, dirty socks, but the brewed tea didn’t. There were notes of forest woods and leather, without bitterness, sourness or fishiness. I got over 10 infusions from 5g of leaf, 125 ml each, in a small porcelain teapot. Successive steeps in boiling alpine spring water ranged from 10 sec to a few minutes, in 20s increments. (5s initial wash) Produced a dark brown soup at first, finishing as a deep amber brew. I bought this several years ago as part of a discontinued sampler, but it can still be bought by individually from YS. Not my favorite, but far from the worst.