2264 Tasting Notes
Oh, wow. Received this from CrowKettle at the swap. More like I was left there holding it because no one else grabbed for it. I’m SO grateful, and if anyone local(ish?) wants samples let me know. Also let me know if anyone wants other things (I think I ended up with one of Heather’s) and I’ll see about sending it over this weekend.
I really, REALLY like this. First cup of the day, steeped 1 minute. The jasmine and orange peel are reminiscent of the “Earl Grey Special” I have, which has jasmine green tea mixed in. I’m not sure if I got any frankincense resin in my spoonful, but the flavour has transferred to the other ingredients.
Definitely going to do another steep this morning, and this is going on my buy list. Verdant has done well with its blends, even though I don’t care for any of their teas plain!
Edit: Steep 2 has more green oolong flavour. This is an oolong, right? I mean, it grew so much the leaves were poking above the top of the water in my basket! The flavour here is darker and richer. Yum! I’ll do another steep when I get home. Gotta go hike!
Edit again: Steep 3 still had lots of flavour. Steep 4, and the frankincense is coming out so strongly and the oolong is becoming more vegetal. The leaves actually look and smell like there are more steepings, so I’ll do another in the morning and travel mug it if it’s tasty.
This isn’t an every day tea for sure. The flavours are so powerful you need to be in the mood for that. I will definitely be purchasing some of this, and also making everyone I know try this tea! Except maybe my mom. But I’ll make her smell it.
Preparation
I’m drinking my last serving of this, the one I bought maybe 5 or 6 years ago. It still tastes good, although a bit dusty, and I’m wondering how the new stuff will compare! The puerh is in the background, isn’t fishy, isn’t too strong. The cinnamon is there and sweetens the tea. The citrus (which I could still smell when I scooped the tea out this morning!) elevates it beyond a simple cinnamon tea.
This is definitely a comfort tea. I used to drink it every day at work, when I had a contract position at an office that resulted in me responding to maybe 2-3 phone calls and up to 10 emails per day. Yeah, that was a simple job. I listened to a lot of podcasts, and drank a lot of tea. Here’s hoping I can find another contract like that once I finish in April, so I can focus on my theory class and my research assistant/admin work in my off hours. Yes, I will need the three jobs to pay my student loan back. The numbers frighten me!
Preparation
I had forgotten how good this tea is, and am now kicking myself for only picking up a small tin. Oh well. I can always ‘borrow’ some from my BFF, who got a refill for her ginormous tin. :)
This green tea is so smooth and delicate. The “sour cherry” is reminiscent of sour cherry blasters, but MUCH more delicate and floral. It’s excellent both hot and iced, although the flavour comes out a bit more as the tea cools. If I had more, I’d bring some to work as this tea is perfect just on its own.
Preparation
I really need to get some of this too! My friend bought some to class the other week and it smelled amazing.
I remember the flavour being a lot more powerful, but honestly, this is perfect. And ShayneBear suggested making iced tea by just putting ice over the tea leaves in a container and waiting for it to melt. I can hardly wait for it to be warmer so I can try that!
Oh yeah, that sounds fantastic! I can tell just by the smell of the dry leaf that it would make an amazing iced tea.
The first time I had this tea, it was a gift given to me by a Japanese co-worker of mine when she went back home as her work visa was expiring.
Memories. :) I remember when all the sample tins at Silk Road were $1.99. Much easier on a student budget!
Received this one from Heather at the tea meetup over the weekend.
Since I have some time to kill before leaving to do more math today, I thought I’d try this one in a mug rather than relegate it to the travel mug.
The smell of the tea in the bag is intensely caramel. A lot more buttery and salty than the Red Leaf matcha caramel. Steeped, I think I used too hot of water. I smell and taste some caramel, and creaminess definitely comes through as I swallow. But the houjicha tastes more green than I was expecting, and that greenness isn’t really doing it for me with the caramel-creaminess.
As it cools, more of the toasty houjicha flavour is coming through, as is the caramel. However, there is still that greenness lingering in the back. I should try more houjicha teas. :)
I will sit here and slowly sip the rest of this mug, and I’m glad I have another tea bag to test out. Next time I’ll pay more attention to the water temperature.
Preparation
It’s an interesting combination. I found the hojicha base to be a little nutty, which seemed to bridge the idea of green tea and caramel together in a way that I don’t think most green teas could do.
I found one reason I like hojicha is the lower caffeine content…it allows me to drink it later in the evening with no affects on my ability to sleep. I suppose the extremely caffeine sensitive my find it stimulating too, but supposedly the roasting affects the caffeine and it ends up have as much (or less) caffeine than decaffeinated teas.
As it cooled and the toasty flavours came out, I liked it more. I ended up losing track of time and chugging the rest of my mug before I ran out the door. It was surprisingly tasty. :)
I also liked more as it cooled- another perfect quality for a “reading” tea because you don’t have to worry about it getting gross.
Purchased this one at the tea meet in Victoria yesterday. :) Mine is loose-leaf.
It’s a nice black tea, but the maple flavour is really mild. I was hoping for a stronger maple flavour. Oh well. The tea has a good black base, takes a little milk and sugar well, and I will definitely drink it all. It’s not likely I will repurchase, though.
1 heaping tsp in 12 oz water. (I couldn’t find brewing instructions on this one. Hmm.)
Preparation
Haha, darn. I got all excited when I saw this note hoping for an end all maple flavored black tea. I’m an absolute FIEND when it comes to maple. FIEND. xD
Sorry! I don’t know if the store doesn’t have great turnover so it’s a little old, or if the tea just isn’t very mapley. Do you have any recommendations for decent maple black teas?
Have you tried Steam’s maple black?
I think I ordered one or two maple blacks from Tealux recently – will try to drink and log them asap so you know if they’re good or not!
Oh, thanks Karys! I hadn’t realized they have a Maple Black. I’ll have to check it out.
And thanks, Kittenna. I’d love to know what you think of them. I want to make another Tealux order this summer sometime… :)
Received this one from ShayneBear at the tea meet yesterday!
It’s a nice, sweetly spiced black tea. I don’t think it necessarily tastes like carrot cake, but I do really like it. I might be needing to purchase more Persian Apple for my BFF, and if I do I hope there’s still some of this one available.
1 tsp in 8 oz water, etc.
Preparation
It’s actually an oolong! But a tasty oolong :)
I have about half of a 100g tin of this left if you want more. Downside is it was from over a year ago .. :/
I totally knew it was an oolong, umm. shifty eyes CrowKettle, does it still smell good? I need some teas I don’t ‘need’ to add milk to for work. Oolongs are good for this, as are some puerhs.
They do still have it, it’s just getting the money together for a $50 order! I’ve kinda spent my tea budget already. :)
It’s in Delta but I when I’m back for the long weekend I will test it out and let you know!
Ooh, thanks! :)
I like this tea, though it doesn’t really smell or taste like carrot cake, I agree. I haven’t had any in a while…it is not my favourite, and i don’t always have it on hand, but I do buy a small amount of it every now and again. It’s pleasant and cozy.
I don’t know how well it holds up to fresher batches but 30-40g batch smells alright, I think. I’ll make it tomorrow morning and see. :/
Ok! Thanks! :)
Had this one on the ferry home last night. It essentially tastes like a tulsi and apple tea. About 1 tsp in 12 oz boiling ferry water, just left in the mug. Even this morning it tasted good cold.
Wow, I’m so tired. I think I used up all my energy organizing my cupboard and putting away samples. Now it’s time to put away the teas I bought, and all I want to do is nap! Oops. :)
Maybe it’s time for something a little more caffeinated.
Preparation
(It was so weird, guys. I had such a strange dream last night. I thought I went to Victoria and had a tea swap, only to come out into my kitchen to see a huge pile of… tea. ;) In all actuality, by the time we got back to our side of the ferry, it felt like the morning commute had been in another world. Day-tripping to Victoria is hard. Especially on about 3 hours of sleep. Even so, I’m really glad I got the opportunity to meet you all!)
Robust flavour, from CrowKettle.
I decided to open this one as I was warned the wrapping job might be suspect. Actually, the foil opened up very nicely over a sheet of wax paper, and I’ve divided up the powder into 3 servings. Just opening the foil resulted in my tiny apartment smelling like caramel. Wow, that flavour is powerful! I’ve mixed, umm, 1/2 to 1 tsp (I didn’t measure, really) in a little boiled water, frothed it and then added 8 oz hot, fresh almond milk.
Om nom nom. The matcha flavour isn’t strong at all in this, it’s more like WHOA, CARAMEL! Sipping on it without any sugar, I totally see how people can do this. The flavour is good! The almond milk lends a nutty flavour to the caramel. I ended up adding 1/2 tsp sugar because I like my matcha lightly sweetened, and the caramel comes out even more. If I ever do a Red Leaf order, this is totally on my list. Maybe not Robust, though. The flavour intensity is through the roof.
I can’t seem to prepare this properly. I got the robust flavor, thinking that would be a good way to get accustomed to matcha taste before going either down to a light flavor or just drinking regular matcha, but it seems like it’s kick your face in bitter no matter what I do. o_o; I’ve tried less matcha, cooler temp… I think I just suck at whisking or something. ‘Cause the flavors at the start of the sip is wonderful, but then it’s ruined by the end. D:
I didn’t have any problems with it at all, surprisingly. I whisked with hot water until it was frothy with big bubbles, then added a couple tbsp of hot milk and whisked until the bubbles shrank into a softer froth, more like foam from steamed milk. It took about 15 minutes for me to drink it, and it didn’t go bitter. I prefer about 1/2 tsp matcha per 8-12 oz cup.
Maybe try it iced?
Oh I didn’t do a latte, maybe that’s the difference. I just added hot water and drank it like that.
I think what I’ll end up doing is use what I have left for smoothies or something.
I have only ever used matcha in lattes! Definitely tempers any possible bitter. A bunch of people on here do drink Red Leaf matches straight though.
Yeah, that’s why I’m disappointed. I wanted to be able to enjoy it straight, because when you work at Starbucks you’re constantly being tempted to drink tea lattes and hot chocolates and all the rest of it, so I made a rule to myself that I can’t have that sort of thing at home to keep things under control. xD; So if I can’t drink matcha straight, I don’t want it, basically.
Oh I can understand that. All I can suggest is less matcha, more whisking.
Looking forward to trying this one too!
I’m pleased to hear you opened the foil without everything descending into a green powdered chaos. :) I had this warm, straight up and I didn’t detect any bitterness but I think I did get a little of that funky taste from over-flavouring- milk would cover it up.
I decided to try another Big Red Robe to compare to Verdant’s Anxi Fo Shou. Wow. Such a difference. The 5 minute steep was amazing. 1 tsp in 2 cups of water. Light, toasty, roasty black tea of deliciousness. Yes! My BFF likes the 7 minute steep better, which is similar to Verdant’s 2 minute steep. So I’m getting this one and she can have the other. Perfect.
Ah there you go, perfect. :D
I’ve never heard of Silk Road Teas before. Do they tend to be pretty good in general?
Oh, I really like them. Their teas were basically my introduction to loose tea. I really like Jewel of India, London Fog, Golden Phoenix (Puerh, not dirty tasting at all), Sublime, Sour Cherry, Royal Abkhazi… Umm. Oh, Philosopher’s Brew, Hojicha, Lapsang Souching (if you like them). Heh.
Golden Phoenix is my favourite as I can just leave the leaves in my mug and add water to it all day long.
I almost got some of this, but ended up with only the mandarin white pu erh. I might go back and get some at a later date.
Oh! I would have given you some if we had both realized. I splashed out for the 40 cup…
I think I was also supposed to try a little of something CrowKetlte got too. I think we got all wrapped up in giving swaps…it was a bit like Christmas. :P I might get a cup to go sometime though.
Oh, I totally forgot about that! I picked up a tiny sample of this too- it was expensive.
Whoops! Yeah, that was fun, if a bit chaotic. :)
Yep yep!
Yeah, I knew I was getting some DAVIDs refills (and I was toying with getting one of those new mugs too) so I was intentionally conservative at Silk Road, but I will go back and get some stuff at some point.
So weird. I generally don’t love green teas, but I actually really like this one.
Steeped as directed, Western style, it is smooth and vegetal, and a little sweet as well. It has a bit of a seaweed flavour, but nothing too over the top, and there’s a bit of the roasty flavour the Laoshan Black has. The roasty flavour is very subdued here though. This would make an excellent genmaicha, as the roasty green flavours would compliment the toasted rice really well.
I don’t drink a lot of green tea, but this is one I would definitely purchase again, especially if I only needed one more tea to make the free shipping limit. Yum!
Glad you like this! I enjoy this one too and still have another unopened 2oz bag of this for myself. (I accidentally ordered it twice while I was trying to go for some Golden Fleece back in December)
I’m about to make my third (and fourth?) steeping of the day! Just got home and ate, and it’s time for a relaxing cup of tea before I do my apres-hiking yoga. :)
That sounds like a very productive day. Where did you go hiking? By the way, the oolong base is their tieguanyin.
Ooh, I might have to check out the tieguanyin then, when I order more of their blends. :)
I hiked in Lynn Canyon. I tried Lynn Peak, but my asthma got really bad so I bushwhacked down (umm) and took the top trail out to the headwaters. There was snow! Not soft enough for snow angels, though.
I think you got a different oolong from Verdant from me. It was actually from Indogobloom originally. It was a longer name one.
Oh, that one was from you! I thought so, but I wasn’t sure. I’ll see about trying it tonight or tomorrow. I’m still at work (with no tea!!). Ugh for 12 hour days.