1578 Tasting Notes
SIPDOWN! (101)
This tea was given to me by TeaBrat. She added it to a swap just out of the kindness of her heart. :) Overall, I find it pretty good, and caffeine-free options are always nice in the evening. I did a shorter steep this time around so the peppermint flavor would be a bit less intense. My only issue with this blend is the stevia – it adds a weird faux sugar aftertaste that I don’t like. I wish they would leave that out and allow people to sweeten it themselves if they choose to. I think a little bit of vanilla would be helpful too, just to give it that sweetness that candy canes obviously have.
I’m happy that I got the chance to try this blend, but it’s not something I would restock. But I’m not the biggest mint fan either, especially peppermint. :P
Edit: I hope I’m not annoying anyone with all of these sipdown notes… I realize they don’t have much substance! Don’t worry, I’ll go back to writing meaningful tasting notes soon.
Preparation
SIPDOWN! (102)
This one wasn’t roasty enough for me before, so I figured I’d try a longer steep this time around and see if that intensified the toasted rice flavor. Noop. I still taste too much grassiness and not enough nommy roasty toastiness. This was my last traditional genmaicha, but I’m not too upset about it, considering I still have the lovely Laoshan Black Chocolate Genmaicha! And hooray, I’m almost under a hundred teas!
Too bad I have more on the way… hangs head.
Preparation
SIPDOWN! (103)
Meh, returning to this tea after trying many Yunnans over the past couple (few?) weeks and finding it sub-par. I have clearly been ruined by all of those lovely tippy, golden Yunnan teas I’ve ordered and received (all Nicole’s fault). This just can’t compare. It’s very harsh and somewhat bitter compared to what I’m now used to. I’m not really getting honey, just strong malt and “tea” taste. I tried this one yesterday with the 1/2/4 steep method and while it was improved, it was nowhere near my new favorites…
Oh no… I’m a snob!
Preparation
boychik I thought it was the Tippy Yunnan that you despised. :P And I totally got a little fuzzy aftertaste from this one this time.
(SAD) SIPDOWN! (104)
Aw, my very last cup of this tasty tea (for now). Gotta love the light and delicious pastry notes, the honey, the mild fruitiness. Sigh… Soon it will return to me! I want to try gong fu brewing with this one, since the name pretty much demands it.
I also found out today that Tan Yang Gong Fu (also called Panyang Congou apparently) comes from the same varietal as Golden Monkey! They’re also processed in the same way, apparently Tan Yang is slightly higher grade though. Interesting! They were listed as the same tea in The Tea Enthusiast’s Handbook, so I looked it up and found more information here:
http://www.cantonteaco.com/blog/2013/07/a-trip-to-fuan-and-golden-monkey-tea/
Gotta love learning! I will definitely be repurchasing this tea when TeaVivre’s black and oolong sale starts! SOON.
Preparation
I’ve found them in this tea and the very tippy Yunnans so far, especially with shorter steeps. I also got pastry when I did that Eastern Beauty gong fu style! Yum yum yum!
Sipdown! (105)
Another lovely fuzzy tea from Nicole. I did the 1/2/4m method tonight, and all three steeps basically tasted the same to me, which is interesting. They all had that nice cucumber/honeydew in the beginning of every sip, and then turned into lovely light bread and pastry notes. There’s definitely a very light floral at the end somewhere, maybe a mild lilac? Overall, this is definitely a unique tea. I would absolutely consider stocking this just because it’s nice and light and refreshing. Lovely for afternoon or early evening. Thanks Nicole! :P
Flavors: Pastries
Preparation
Did I order this one? (Massive YS black tea incoming – pretty sad when you don’t even know what’s included) Probably, I too LOVE Gold Yunnan teas…
Sipdown! (106)
This tea is so delicous. :3 I used water within the recommended range this time around. I’m definitely getting a fruity note that I don’t remember from before, it’s kind of like a golden raisin (sweet and syrupy, but not as intense as a regular raisin). Very lovely. I will definitely be adding this to my list of teas I must repurchase! And I would like to try this with the 1/2/4 method or as a gong fu session. Thanks so much to Nicole for introducing me to this tea and to Yunnan Sourcing in general! :D
Preparation
Sipdown! (107)
Used the yyz method (1m/2m/4m) although I didn’t actually do the third steep this time around. This tea is still very unique, it has that fennel seed herbaceous flavor that I’ve found in a couple others. But I feel like this one is more savory. It’s very dark rye or pumpernickel bread with the seeds over the top. Butter, maybe, but not honey.
Delicious, but not something I absolutely need. :P Thanks to TeaTiff for the sample..
Preparation
Sipdown!
I finished this one off this morning using the new method that I got from yyz! It’s a 1 minute steep, then a 2 minute steep, followed by a 4 minute steep. I am really liking this method. I guess it’s somewhere between gong fu and western-style? I tend to love the lighter/more golden Yunnan teas and this kind of emulates that flavor even with a darker Yunnan. I will definitely be trying this with a lot of my other black teas. Thanks so much, yyz!
As for this tea, it’s a good one. But there are other Yunnan teas that I like as much or more that are cheaper (and more accessible, there is only one tin of this left and then it’s gone forever). Thanks again Nicole for letting me try this one! :)
My stomach is sloshing from all this tea!
Preparation
Sipdown!
This is definitely my favorite of the Della Terra teas I ordered a few weeks ago. A few of the others had really artificial flavors, which were okay for the first try, but after that I found they made me a bit nauseous. This one does have flavoring, but I actually enjoy it. The blueberry is more of a blueberry jam flavor than fresh. The cream is kind of vanilla-ish and it’s definitely stronger than the blueberry, which is okay, but I would prefer if the blueberry were stronger. It’s not overly rooibosy, and I don’t taste the black tea at all.
Overall, a relatively good dessert tea but not a very good blueberry tea, which is what I’m looking for.
Preparation
I like hibiscus – so it’s hard for me to say. I don’t think this is overly tart, but I’m not really sensitive to it. IMHO – if blueberry teas don’t have a little hibiscus they end up being too sweet and “jammy” like you mentioned – if you want the “fresh” blueberry taste you need a little tart to balance the sweet.
If you don’t like hibby – then that blend is probably not for you…
Sipdown!
Yum, toasted rice! It’s been a while since I’ve had a (traditional) genmaicha. This one is definitely my favorite out of the three I’ve tried. It’s the smoothest and has a lot of yummy toasted rice flavor. I can taste the green tea in the background but it’s not rough or grassy like other genmaichas can be. I still don’t taste the matcha. I don’t feel that I necessarily need a traditional genmaicha in my cupboard right now. I have Laoshan Black Chocolate and I think it about covers my lovely toasted rice tea slot.
I still really need to try that buckwheat tea! I bet it’s just like this but without the green tea flavor at all. OM NOM NOM TOASTED RICE!
If the tasting note conveys your thoughts on the tea then it’s meaningful. :))
You know what I mean! :P Smarty-pants.
I was trying to say that we are interested in your thoughts and impressions – this style of note is just as meaningful as the more technical style.
(I’m also not a mint fan…..)
Well that’s sweet of you to say. I was mostly concerned because of the volume of these notes I’ve been posting. Don’t want to spam up anyone’s dashboard!
I just dropped by to say: “Eeeeeew MINT!!!” :p
LOL no worries, my dashboard was a little slow tonight – I actually enjoyed the “spam” ;))
OMG. I just realized that this makes me a troll.
A MINT TROLL!!!!!
Agree, most of the time I don’t like stevia in things either.