16936 Tasting Notes
The taste of this one is amazing and I adore the super creamy caramel flavour. It is by far one of my favourite teas in my cupboard, and I hate to admit that it actually slipped my mind earlier in the day because the tin had gotten pushed to the very back of my storage closet.
I would say that the only thing that keeps this from getting a perfect hundred score is the mouthfeel, which I have a really hard time describing. It’s just sort of ‘off’, but not in an oily or thick or thin way. It’s almost powdery? But that’s not quite the right word either. Whatever it is, it’s not a big thing – just a very slight annoyance/distraction.
This is one of my favourite chais, and probably my favourite black chai – though I don’t really have a large love of chai in the first place and the ones I go for tend to be pretty sweet.
Normally I prefer this one with milk, and sometimes honey but I drank this cup straight because we were out of milk. It was pretty good, and pretty typical/consistent to what I’d normally expect.
So now we’ve moved out of my favourite blacks into ones I just really love or frequently enjoy. This definitely makes that list. It’s one of the first dessert teas and black teas in general I ever owned and one I still find perfect for a simple, indulgent after supper beverage. I appreciate highly that it almost never seems to get bitter or astringent either, and it’s awesome with or without milk.
It’s super consistent, and that just makes it a ‘winner’ to me in general. So yes, while not a perfect tea, it does rank quite highly to me.
Also, I can’t figure out why but the house suddenly smells very strongly of peanut butter and some kind of meaty lasagne/noodle dish. But no one has cooked anything or made food since last evening…
On a whole, I don’t think I’d consider this a perfect black, but it is one I very much love and enjoy. This cup in particular, however, was a perfect cup with a brilliantly smooth black base and a very rich and just a touch floral juicy lychee taste.
I think the key may have been that I added in 1/2 tsp. extra of leaf (I grabbed the 1/2 tbsp. measurement instead of the tsp. measurement). I’m going to need to test that again, because Holy Delicious.
Flavors: Lychee
Definitely a new favourite, but this one absolutely makes it into the day of Perfect Black teas. I’m running a little low at the moment so I haven’t been drinking it daily anymore, but it had to be included. Just had to.
It’s lovely and sweet and just ‘mmmm’, and if I had my way I’d share it with everyone because it’s kind of one of those teas everyone needs to try.
Have you had Monk’s Blend from anywhere else? Every time I see it, I am so tempted to build a cart :P
I’ve had Tea Desire’s, and several at different restaurants but I wouldn’t be able to tell you where they received theirs from. My Aunt also stocks it (she’s a tea drinker like us Steepster Folk) but I don’t know where she gets hers from either. It tastes like garbage, though ;P
This is one of the first teas I ever bought a full pound of. Can’t remember how long it took to drink it all down, but even as it aged and lost a (very small) bit of potency, it was good to the last leaf!
So, not a perfect black but it is one I very much enjoy – in part because of the namesake/cultural reference, and in part because of the sticky caramel popcorn flavour. Sadly I’ve maybe neglected it for a while because I haven’t watched any Doctor Who in a while – but my day of perfect black teas was a good excuse to pull it out.
Alas, I oversteeped the cup and it was pretty bitter. And with so many other black teas to fit into the day, I didn’t stop to make another cup worth.
Of course I had to indulge in a large mug of this tea for my day of favourite blacks. It’s the best pear tea, in my opinion, and the cranberry is pretty awesome too. I’m really only noticing now, actually, how much I love cranberry teas when I somewhat dislike actual cranberries as whole fruits, craisons or jelly.
This one is also super creamy, and just divine as a latte. This is one of my most drank teas, and there’s absolutely a reason for that. A day of perfect blacks would not be complete without a cup of this one.
Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!
I haven’t had computer access (save about an hour last night around midnight) in around two days, so I have lots of backlog to get through. Yay! So, for these next few notes, you have to go all the way back to Wednesday, when I was doing my day of favourite blacks.
This one makes it into my favourite blacks day because of my love of Banana teas, and also because of my love of Frank’s banana teas specifically. I think I slightly prefer Banana Pudding to this one, but I’m more than willing to have this one around instead so long as I always have one of his banana teas on hand.
This one makes it into my Day of Favourite Blacks because it’s my absolute favourite blueberry tea of all time, and really just a favourite tea flat out.
I’m very picky about blueberries because I hate the texture of real blueberries and the taste of artificial blueberry – but this is the best of both worlds because it’s a natural (and very potent) tasting blueberry taste that, thank God, does not have the texture or consistency of a real blueberry. Yay amazing and unexpected compromise!
The only reason this doesn’t have a perfect 100 rating is because I find that 1/10 times I have it there’s a weird and unexplained soapy taste. Those other 9 times are perfect, though!
Flavors: Berries, Jam
