4843 Tasting Notes
Backlog:
When I first saw the name of this tea, I wasn’t thinking ponies, I was thinking breakfast cereal. Then again, my daughters have outgrown their little ponies, and back when my youngest was into the ponies, they didn’t have an Apple Jack. My youngest’s favorite was Pinky Pie.
Anyway, this is a nice apple flavored white tea. I like that it isn’t a spiced tea, it just focuses on the apple. The light shou mei is a nice base for the apple notes. A nice, apple-y flavor.
This wasn’t my favorite of the apple flavored teas that 52Teas created this past fall, but, I enjoyed it. I especially liked it iced!
Backlog:
Silver Needle teas are among the most delicate teas that I’ve tasted and while this is also a delicate Silver Needle, it’s not as delicate as a Chinese Silver Needle would be.
I got quite a few lovely infusions from this tea. The earliest infusions were sweet, haylike, with hints of melon-like flavors and a crisp, floral note. Later infusions proved to be even sweeter than the earliest infusions.
Very little astringency with this tea. Just smooth, lovely flavor.
A really good silver needle. I’d recommend this to those who think that silver needle teas are too subtle. This one’s very flavorful.
Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/08/kenya-silver-needle-white-tea-from-what-cha-tea/
Backlog:
I smelled the mint immediately. I could also smell traces of lime. It’s a pleasantly fragrant tea.
The combination of lime and peppermint is enjoyable. The green tea isn’t overwhelmed: I taste the green tea, I taste the notes of lime and the crisp peppermint notes. I also taste the hint of matcha which does more to the texture than the actual taste of the cup. It offers a nice hint of “creamy” to the texture.
Even though the mint is the strongest flavor of the cup, I think that the lime is the real star because it really brightens up the cup. It’s very vibrant – nice for a bagged tea.
Backlog:
I really enjoyed receiving my sample box from Because UR Priceless. They are an etsy seller and their packaging has a very handmade sort of feel that works within the etsy thing. The little sample packages were all packaged up in glassine envies and sealed with decorative tape and each envelope had a bright, colorful label. They were tucked neatly in a gift box and the gift box was labeled with another brightly colored label and the whole thing was finished with a sunshine yellow ribbon. It was like getting a gift. I liked that a lot.
But that wouldn’t mean a whole heck of a lot if the teas weren’t any good, and fortunately the teas were tasty too.
This is a pleasant rooibos chai. I don’t usually get really excited over rooibos blends and I didn’t get overly excited about this one either, but, it was tasty. It had a nice balance of spices and a bright note of orange that I enjoyed. I’m not sure why they chose to call it “creamy” though, because there’s not a lot of “creamy” here. There’s no vanilla. The only thing I can think of is that they consider the nutty flavors of the rooibos to be somewhat “creamy” tasting, and I guess I can understand that. I don’t really think of rooibos as particularly creamy.
But, it is a pleasant chai blend.
Here’s my full-length article: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/07/creamy-autumn-chai-tisane-from-because-ur-priceless/
Backlog:
I’ve had a couple of black Assam teas from Starglory. This tasting note is for the TGFOP1 from the Dibrugarh estate. You can read my full-length review of this tea here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/06/assam-orthodox-black-tea-tgfop1-from-starglory/
This is one of the nicer Assam teas that I’ve encountered. It’s smooth and sweet. It’s got the rich, full-flavored, malty notes that you want from an assam, but with out the harsh notes. Really nice.
yay, my Butiki order arrived today – I had to order this one, right? Since I suggested the combination of tangerine, grapefruit and bergamot.
So this is really nice. Not your average Earl Grey. It’s much more a citrus tea than a Earl Grey, but I do like the way the bergamot comes through. And it seems like in every sip, I get a different citrus fruit flavor. The grapefruit was coming through strongly at first, but now I’m tasting more tangerine. Every once in a while, the distinct bergamot note appears.
And the black base is really pleasant. I’m not tasting as much of it as I did in the chocolate chili truffle, or maybe it’s just that the different flavors accentuate different aspects of the tea. I do get that nice honey tone that is really nice with the citrus notes.
Then that’s why it tastes different! I do get some honey notes from somewhere though. But yeah, I wasn’t getting as strong honey notes as the one in the chocolate chili so that explains why I taste different stuff. And the grapefruity note in the black tea would explain why the grapefruit note is so forward in this blend too.
Interesting, I will have to taste that tea again to see if I can find any honey notes, though I do remember it having a lovely sweetness to it. I bet that is the combination of one of the flavorings and the natural notes of the tea. Initially, I put the bergamot flavor first but ultimately decided it was better as a supporting flavor.
Backlog:
OK, so I’ve actually had this chai a couple of times now – it’s actually really good. That’s difficult for me to admit given that this is from both Starbucks and Teavana. But it’s a well crafted chai.
Even more interesting, though, is a development from having tried this tea. After going through the drive thru at Starbucks and picking up the chai, we went to a store and I ran in to pick up what we needed, leaving my chai in the van with hubby. I figured my chai would be safe because he “doesn’t like tea.” But he decided to take a sip and apparently one sip became several more.
Now, my husband likes chai. I’ve made him several chai teas since then and he’s enjoyed them.
My husband likes chai.
And since chai = tea… my husband, the man who not only claimed not to like tea but also mocked me mercilessly for my obsession with the beverage, now likes tea.
Here’s my full-length review of my first cup of the chai which does not include the musings about my hubby because he didn’t try that first cup: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/01/12/product-review-teavana-oprah-chai-tea-latte-from-starbucks/
Backlog:
Yeah, I still get a little weirded out by the idea of peanut flavored (and peanut butter flavored) teas. But this is good. I really like the way the nutty flavors of the peanut work with the honeybush. And the caramel adds a really lovely sweetness to the whole thing.
I really liked this one. It’s one of my favorites of the honeybush teas that SBT has created thus far.
By the way, Frank is looking to go really big with SBT. He’s got a new Kickstarter campaign: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2045829949/southern-boy-teas-going-for-broke
Backlog:
My first infusion had a nice balance of sweet and spicy. The spices had a chai-like flavor to them and the pu-erh is mellow and smooth. It’s a little earthy but I thought that the earthiness worked because of the spices.
The second infusion, the spices were a little more mild than the first so this allowed me the chance to explore the tea a little more. It’s earthy, but I’m tasting more of a mushroom type of earthiness. I like that I’m not tasting brine or fishy.
The flavor was much deeper and smoother with the third infusion. I can really taste the rich, aged tea now. The spices have softened and are more of a background note, and I like the way they play with the molasses-y sweetness of the tea. It’s quite an enjoyable experience.
here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/11/05/puerh-spice-tea-from-simple-loose-leaf/
