1497 Tasting Notes

82
drank Turmeric Gold by Pukka
1497 tasting notes

Hm. I love my first tasting note for this tea, didn’t love it quite so… eloquently… when I drank it last night. Perhaps just not in the mood? Dunno. I think I over-steeped it though, and thus the grassy bits of the green turned astringent and sour. I’m sure it’s user error, so leaving everything else as-is.

Flavors: Grass, Smooth

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95
drank Chocolate Chaga by L'Eternel Chaga
1497 tasting notes

Let’s start this off with: I love chaga tea. I first discovered it in Jasper, Alberta, via a company that sold their version of a powdered chaga Mexican hot chocolate. DIVINE.

So you betcha I grabbed some wildcrafted, locally sourced (Quebec) chaga tea, with “natural chocolate flavoring”. This is that tea.

I’ll admit, the flavoring isn’t awesome. I kind of wish they’d used cacao or something else for the chocolate. Still, with sweetener – with zero exaggeration – this tastes like a super junky chocolate cupcake, with the horribly sweet frosting that you KNOW is bad for you.

Yet, this isn’t. Chaga tea is antiviral, a known cancer fighter, and even helps with colds, flu and weight loss.

Am I complaining? No.

I just wanted this less junky tasting, and more.. earthy tasting. Like the chocolate Mexican awesomeness from up above.

Still, it’s pretty tasty. If you like junky, oversweet cupcakes with way too much frosting…

Oh yea, and you can re-steep this forever (it seems). “Until the water turns clear,” is what most chaga tea websites say.

Yep, I’ll do that. :)

One more thing – steep this at lower temperatures. It both tastes better, and, kills off less of the yummy good-for-you antioxidant benefits.

Flavors: Cake, Chocolate, Earth, Frosting, Mushrooms

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Arby

Did you find this had a strong fungal/moldy/mushroom flavour to it? I am not a fan of the taste associated with mushrooms, but I wouldn’t mind trying a healthy tea that had chaga in it as long as it did taste like mushrooms.

MissB

It didn’t taste like mushrooms at all. I had my current roommate try some too, and she also felt it just tasted like chocolate (with a bit of stevia). I’m drinking it again now, and same thing. All I get is chocolate. Maybe a slight aftertaste of mushroom, but it’s really faint unless I’m focusing on trying to find the flavor.

MissB

But definitely nothing fungus/wet earth, more unami than anything.

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65
drank Sweet Margaret by OCTIS Virgin Tea
1497 tasting notes

I wish I understood what this tea was made of, or, even how to describe it.

Bought it in the Bahamas while there for 10 weeks. Recommended to me by a butcher on Exuma as a “local tea”, and I thought – awesome! They grow tea here? How cool is that?

Now, I’m not entirely sure they grow the tea on Exuma, in the Bahamas, or wherever this is produced. Honestly? I couldn’t find anything, anywhere. It’s par for the course there, so I just accepted I had this weird, tea with no ingredient list and perhaps would make me really, uh, excited. (Yep, that was on the box, as was that it’s a diuretic and stomach soother).

So. The flavor. On Exuma, I HATED this. Couldn’t drink it. So foul.

Now, that might have been the quality of the water (salty, “brackish”).. so I had to try it when I was back to my somewhat normal life. Read: where the water is palatable.

The Montreal version of this tea is… calming. Bland. No real flavor. I steeped it for quite a while – if it’s actual tea, I thought it would get bitter. It didn’t, although I do taste tannin.

Does my stomach still hurt? Well… it’s a bit upset now (after drinking it). Do I fell… uh… energized in the adult way? Sure. A bit? Maybe. Diuretic? Yea, but no more than any other tea.

So, do I recommend? A novelty, perhaps. Maybe I didn’t make it right – although there were no instructions. Maybe I don’t understand. Or maybe, like the rest of the Bahamas, I just need to take a chill pill and stop complaining. Slow down.

Okay, I can do that.

Flavors: Tannin

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Evol Ving Ness

This post made me happy. Thank you. :)

MissB

Aw, sweet! Happy = good.

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78
drank Petit Macaron by Whittard of Chelsea
1497 tasting notes

Smallest amount I could grab was a 40g tin. Will have to pitch the tin, sadly… but wow this is a lovely cup.

Smells sweet, tastes sweeter, thick and rich, creamy from the coconut, with a hint of green grassy to offset the fullness. I’m surprised by this, especially after the coconut from yesterday.

Flavors: Coconut, Creamy, Grass, Sweet, Thick

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Fjellrev

Too bad about the tin! I’m sure it was cute.

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80
drank Mandarin Puerh by Whittard of Chelsea
1497 tasting notes

Had this in-store, and enjoyed it over a few hours. Immediately bought 100g (the smallest I could, phooey) and will savor it.

Flavors: Earth, Orange, Sweet, Thick

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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One of the stores in the City of Westminster (London) gave me a small tester of this.

It was disgusting.

I’m not sure if there was a cleaning agent still on the cup or strainer, but, all I tasted was chemicals. I couldn’t do more than one sip.

Flavors: Artificial

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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drank Lime & Ginger by Clipper
1497 tasting notes

This tea helped create the perfect circumstances to purge.

I wasn’t expecting it, at all. My first tea of the day, my first anything of the day, I thought ginger lime would really hit the spot. I’ve been drinking hot water and lemon every morning (powerful, simple stuff!), so it just made sense to me that this might be a good way to complement it.

Well, let’s just say it’s allowed me to really sit and see where I’m needing to love myself, slow down, and just be.

Within a few minutes of drinking this tea, I was sweating, shaking, tension behind my eyes, nausea, you name it.

So, this is powerful stuff. Or, it just launched me into a mindset that I needed to purge – both of which I’m grateful for.

Taste-wise, this is strongly lime-y, almost overwhelmingly so with some sips. Very little ginger. A lot of vegetal green, but not consistently with every sip.

Will I drink it again? Definitely. Would I recommend it? Only to those who REALLY love lime and green tea.

Flavors: Green, Lime, Tart, Vegetal

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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drank Skin Purify by Dr. Stuart
1497 tasting notes

Not quite sure how I feel about this one yet. It’s got a crazy orange-red color to it (much like rooibos, which scared me, no red rooibos please!), and went down easily for a herbal that supposedly has medicinal effects.

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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82
drank Turmeric Gold by Pukka
1497 tasting notes

Turmeric lovers, rejoice!

I love turmeric tea. I make it from scratch all the time, but, it’s a huge mess and stains everything. So I prefer to find pre-mixed turmeric tea, it just makes my life easier.

Out of all the turmeric teas I’ve tried (I think more than 20 now, I’d have to check for sure), this is my favorite.

It’s STRONG, for starters. No powder that I can tell in this tea, it’s more of a small rock shape, for the turmeric, anyway. Perhaps little flakes of the actual root?

Next up, it’s smooth, I’m sure because of the licorice root. Then, the lemon is a surprising astringent twist. Both whole lemons and lemon oil. I thought it would be overpowering, but it’s not at all. I had to look at the ingredients twice, asking myself, “Is that citrus? No…”

Yes, yes it is.

This is probably to die for with some coconut milk and honey, but since I’m not using honey at the moment.. wah. Someone do tell me if they try it!

Flavors: Astringent, Lemon, Spices

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Fjellrev

Never tried turmeric tea but I’ll have to now!

rosebudmelissa

I keep meaning to get around to trying a turmeric tea. Is the cardamom very noticeable in this?

MissB

Wow @rosebudmelissa, so odd that I didn’t reply to this. I had it again last night, didn’t even notice the cardamom. Having said that, I love cardamom, but it’s one of those spices you can easily overdose on. I don’t notice it in this tea.

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45
drank Supreme Matcha Green by Pukka
1497 tasting notes

Grabbed this as an alternative to ridiculously priced matcha – which is all I find in the UK at the moment. Darn traveling. ;)

I miss my matcha, and wish Red Leaf’s shipping wasn’t such a high threshold to come over here. Plus, since I’m on the road so much, it’s tricky to get anything without my being “gone” already, on to the next place. Suggestions for solutions, welcome!

Anyway, this tea. Suggested steep time of 3 minutes is perfect, as i’m finding this gets ridiculously bitter, fast. Did it as a keto / butter tea, didn’t notice anything of substance. Did it today just as a regular tea, and it was tight, astringent and bitter. Got some granularity from the matcha, which made me happy as I was worried there wasn’t any in here. Having said that, zero matcha buzz, which I consistently get with straight matcha. So…

Would I buy this again? Maybe, if I needed matcha in small doses for some reason, and couldn’t get what I wanted at a decent price.

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Grass

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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Profile

Bio

A few years ago, the obsession with tea started. The cupboard got bigger and bigger, more swaps occurred, group buys, secret rendezvous with local teapassionistas… and that’s how you end up with 500+ different kinds of tea in your home. At one time.

Almost all of the tea was given away, sold, or otherwise shared. A few relics still remain. I now travel full time with only two carryon bags to my name. One quarter of those bags are tea.

It’s still a challenge to avoid the chipmunk-like hoarding of The Teas, yet, the lightness of being from having so little compels me more.

If I have enough, I’m happy to share. If I’m in your area, I’d love to swap, meet for tea, and explore together.

As for the day-to-day stuff, I’m focused almost entirely on Love, (yes, with a capital L), Spirit/Self, transformation, travel and my writing and speaking work.

What kinds of teas do I normally like?

YES: flavored teas, fruity, dessert, chai, and spicy (REALLY spicy).

A FONDNESS FOR: all white teas, malty black teas, any herbal or medicinal teas, strange/weird teas you can only get in one place.

ALLERGIC TO: strawberries, lavender

DISLIKES: any added sugars, grains, lapsang souchong, and overly floral teas – I might enjoy a Jasmine Green every once in a while, but unless it’s a creamy floral tea (think roses in a chai, or the smoothness of a floral note in a French tea), I’ll likely pass. Earl Greys are a hit or miss with me; heavy on the cream or fruit notes and I might like it, heavy on the blergamot and I definitely won’t.

http://instagram.com/teatravelninja

http://teatravelninja.com/

Location

Canada

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