47
drank Toasted Fig by American Tea Room
911 tasting notes

The dry leaf smells a bit like coconut and death. Maybe some weird cough syrup – not cherry but some sort of medicinal fruit. I wasn’t too up on the idea of a fig tea and now I’m downright apprehensive. However, I am feeling bold today. (Or stupid. Sometimes I get the two confused.)

Post-steeping it smells more of coconut and a hay-like cookie. Better. A little scary, but still. Better.

The taste is faintly pu-erh-ish (earth, hay, barn) but it’s not too heavy or thick (which is the issue I seem to have with most cooked pu-erhs). Instead, in the middle of the sip (where the syrupy thickness would start to come in) the coconut kicks in and lightens things up, turning them sweet-but-not-cloying. The finish is still sweet but almost… jaunty. I’m not a huge fan of licorice/anise tasting things so I worried about the fennel in this, but I can’t really pick it out other than a hint of tingle in the back of my throat at the end of the sip. It’s been ages since I’ve had fig so I can’t say if this is appropriately figgy or not. Mostly, I get pu-erh and coconut.

All in all, not a bad tea – definitely not as bad as I feared. For those that like the flavor of pu-erh, this would probably be more successful, but for me, the aroma of pu-erh makes me unconsciously brace myself. Even though the too-heavy syrup I am braced for doesn’t kick in, just the subconscious anticipation of it makes drinking this tea not so relaxing for me.

This does make me want to try a coconut tea from ATR because the coconut aspect to this is nicely sweet, light and creamy. I’d like more of that, please.

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teabird 13 years ago

“smells a bit like coconut and death” had me stifling giggles at work. I … don’t think this would be to my taste either.

inguna 13 years ago

Hmm… I think I have never heard of “coconut and death” smell before :)

Auggy 13 years ago

Well, I suppose death could be read as pu-erh, but I think I’ll stick with “death” as my final answer. Hehe.

CHAroma 13 years ago

Death???!! I’ll steer clear of this one. Thanks for the warning!

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Comments

teabird 13 years ago

“smells a bit like coconut and death” had me stifling giggles at work. I … don’t think this would be to my taste either.

inguna 13 years ago

Hmm… I think I have never heard of “coconut and death” smell before :)

Auggy 13 years ago

Well, I suppose death could be read as pu-erh, but I think I’ll stick with “death” as my final answer. Hehe.

CHAroma 13 years ago

Death???!! I’ll steer clear of this one. Thanks for the warning!

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Bio

I’m trying to be a better tea logger and actually post semi-regularly again! I’ve let my tea tasting senses become too complacent – it’s time for some focused and attentive tea drinking!

Sometimes my notices for PMs and such have been questionable. Email me at your own risk at aug3zimm at gmail dot com.

1 – 10 – Bleck. Didn’t finish the cup.
11 – 25 – Drinkable. But don’t punish me by making me have it again.
26 – 40 – Meh. Most likely will see if the husband likes it iced.
41 – 60 – Okayish. Maybe one day I’ll kill off what I have in my pantry.
61 – 75 – Decent. I might pick some up if I needed tea.
76 – 85 – Nice. I’d probably buy but wouldn’t hunt it down.
86 – 100 – Yum! I will hunt down the vendor to get this tea!

Not that anyone but me particularly cares, but there it is.

Location

Texas

Website

http://pinkness.danzimmermann...

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