807 Tasting Notes
So this is pretty good. I mean I don’t think it is exactly MY cup of tea but there is nothing bad about it. The pistachio and lime both come out well one not over shadowing the other. The flavors seem natural. Im not all that experienced with Mate yet – just sort of feeling my way around it but I am not picking up anything disgusting about mate here. I will say it is helping me fight my exhaustion! You know the kind of tired where your eyes feel like they are on fire? Yeah that kind of tired, this is helping a bit. I made this iced today. Well I made it hot then stuck it in the fridge. Its good iced.
I don’t think I would re-order this but want to not that is only because at this point for me to order ANY more tea it has to just knock my socks off and this is good but not THAT good – in MY opinion but hey if you are looking for nutty and fruity this is your tea!
Preparation
Ashmanra – THANK YOU for sending me some of this tea! And thank you for the generous sample to boot! I have been drinking this all day! Started out with hot tea then made it iced! It reminds me a little of a couple of my other favorites! Its a bit “frenchy” floral and fruity.
Its funny because I have not even touched the sample I had first wanted from you and got this as a surprise sample and have been enjoying it all day long!
On my shopping list! :)
I got a sample size of this with a very small order I placed with Shang. Actually I ordered one ounce of one kind of tea and several samplers of others. This tea smells like honeysuckle through and through. I grew up around many honeysuckle bushes and always enjoyed picking the flowers and sucking out the juices. Actually I believe we would pull the stamen from the flower – I don’t know the actual word but I know how we did it lol. Honeysuckle has a very sweet flavor sort of like honey, but not, when you do this.
This tea is relaxing, lovely, scented, and buttery. There is almost this milky mouthfeel to it.
Its an enchanting tea.
The color is gorgeous!
A very light vegetal flavor comes out in the after taste.
Slightly nutty.
The vegetal flavor mixed with the buttery milky flavor remind me of buttered green beans. Yes I put butter on my green beans, don’t you?
This tea is a sure shot for my shopping list!
Shang tea is actually only about an hour or so from my home and I hope to be able to drop in there soon to visit and sample more of their teas but for now I have several wonderful samples here to try and this one to resteep many times! :)
Happy dance!
Preparation
Ha! I used to do that too. My mom had one in her yard. Poor thing was stripped pretty fast.
Ah… I recall I really liked this one too! :)
A lot of people have been talking about honeysuckle lately. I’m completely unfamiliar with it!! So curious :)
I found an image for you Krystaleyn. This is the flower I remember from my mom’s yard.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/k12KFNQwzYo/TG-WVTHRt8I/AAAAAAAACRI/dAlvd18f1Ew/s1600/honeysuckle.jpg&imgrefurl=http://winerecipes.blogspot.com/2008/04/honeysuckle-wine.html&h=480&w=640&sz=42&tbnid=LHH2ZnlLd9fgM:&tbnh=92&tbnw=122&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhoneysuckle%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=honeysuckle&docid=RiPAJnXZ3RIvzM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=n4KXT7m7I4WziQL2it3PDw&sqi=2&ved=0CFoQ9QEwBA&dur=75
Hmm that link goes on forever, doesn’t it?
I think she means http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_k12KFNQwzYo/TG-WVTHRt8I/AAAAAAAACRI/dAlvd18f1Ew/s1600/honeysuckle.jpg
;)
Although it really does amuse me what happened up there. It’s like the link is trying to run away before you can click on it. NO! NOT AGAIN! AAAAAAHHHH.
Screenshotted for Jason ;)
LOL!!!
Clicked link – our honeysuckles were yellow those are pretty white ones!
Clicked link – our honeysuckles were yellow those are pretty white ones!
It was a pretty bush. Sadly only one bush in the yard or I could have had much more honeysuckle!
Bahahahaha @ the link issues. And thanks! So you pull out the stamens and what, suck on them? Does breaking them off cause the excretion of a tasty fluid?
Yes when you pull them out – I guess it is the stamen .. its those things poking out from the middle of the flower – there will be juicy stuff clinging to them and you lick them off! :)
I used to do that with those little white flowers that pop up on the grass!! no not dandelions. The white ones where you can pull out the tubes
This tea sounds amazing! I too remember hunting for honeysuckles in my neighborhood. The first time I didn’t know how to properly extract the honey so I had to learn from my brother a few times. I need to get my hands on this tea, it would be like a trip down memory lane!
We did the same thing but with petunias! My dad taught me how. You gently tug the flower out of its sepals and hold the flower base to your lips like you are playing a tiny trumpet, and give a little sip. There is a drop of nectar beaded at the base of the pistil. Sweet! I should try it with my jasmine! It is a wall of blooms right now!
funny….I have had many white teas that resemble the ‘honey suckle’ flavor profile, even without any additional flavors or additives..but I totally gel with your memories of sucking on honeysuckle, and then there is the difference bewteen the white and the cadmium yellow flowers..my childhood (and to this day) is full of plant foraging like that…
Shang Tea has some of the best white teas I’ve ever tried.
teawade I love a tea that brings back memories! :)
ashmanra did you also make dolls out of flowers? I don’t know if they were petunias or not – I think they were – my grandmother would do that with us.
Indigo – are you talking about clover flowers? They looked like white puff balls on top of a tube stem? You could make necklaces and bracelets out of them if you tied the stems together! :)
Clover flowers are good too!
Up until last night’s discussion, I thought clover flowers WERE honeysuckle. How about that?
Azzrian: it wasn’t until I was married that my mother-in-law showed me how to make dancing girl dolls out of Maypops, also called Passionflower!
Aweee what a sweet thing for her to show you! :)
So I guess I had a crappy childhood and not once sucked anything out of a flower!! Boo to that!
Still love this stuff! Still my favorite from David’s Tea!
Thank you AGAIN Krystaleyn for sending me MORE of this!
Soon I will make my own David’s order and get my own lol
Preparation
This stuff is the BOMB but my husband does not like it – oh well more for me! LOL
Its just like a barley genmaicha!
SO GOOD!
I could not get into this. I should send you mine… ;-)
Oh! I would so like to try this if you have enough to pass along, Azzrian!
Sure thang lovely lady! Send me an updated list when you get time if you have others you want me to send!
Amy if you want you could pass yours onto Krystaleyn and if she does not like it she can send to me. We tend to swap a lot anyway. Thanks for the offer!!! :)
This sounds yummy!
Haha, I haven’t been keeping track! I’ll have to write it all down :)
Amy it looks like you have a couple takers :)
Sandy it really IS yummy – earthy and so much like a roasted Genmaicha!
Krystaleyn LOL I know what ya mean – I am sure that we will talk before I send another box :)
Krystalen – I definetely have a few I can send you – PM me your address. :)
If you haven’t, try this cold brewed. Stick the tea bag in a pitcher for at least a few hours or overnight. Cold brewed barley tea, in my opinion, is even better than hot. Perhaps even your husband would like it better?
I saw a bunch of this at one of the Asian markets we were at last week, and was a little intrigued, a little mortified. Now that I know you think it tastes good…
Hot, it is very similar to coffee in flavor… cold it is almost like the sweetness of ale, without any of the aspects of beer (I guess the alcohol). In Korea, they pretty much drink it like water. Try it!
Oh it was cold Shinobi I got them specifically for that. I think it is just too rich for hubby he likes the lighter teas.
Dylan lol that cracked me up I was not sure if that was a positive or negative lol
Haha, positive.
Going on the shopping list! Verdant never disappoints! I too, like other steepsters do not really care for a few of the flavor components in this tea yet masterfully blended by Verdant with their fairy dust, I love this!
Chocolate that just swarms the senses, a light but not over whelming mint, chamomile that knows its place, and joined when cooling by marigold that leaves you smiling!
The light sparkly nature of this tea makes you almost think you are drinking chocolate champagne!
GAWD!
Thank you Kyrstalyen! Dang I will be getting this as soon as my tea budget allows!
Preparation
YAY! I’m glad this one made it successfully. I so think that everyone should try it! Like I mentioned in my tasting note, there’s a touch too much peppermint for me, but the cinnamon toast flavours are SO surprising and interesting – did you get any of that??
Also, Indigobloom – if you read this, I totally meant to include this for you and forgot! I must have been thinking about how I packed it up for Azzrian, and thought I’d put it in with your stuff too. So if you’d like, I’ll be sure to bring some next time :)
Oh yes Indigobloom MUST try this! Yes I got the cinnamon very lightly which was a good thing, it leaves a slightly drying effect on the back of the throat but not in a bad way its perfect! The smell is absolutely like cinnamon toast! As it cools it becomes creamier too and less “sparkly” … getting ready for steep 2! Thank you lady!!! :)
:D So glad we finally have a hit!
Ooooh this does look fantastic!!
funny, I noticed today I had an extra packet of coconut cream chai lying around, and Vietnamese lotus tea!! so someone is missing theirs :(
I guess I’ll be sending another package! lol
LOL I was hoping I didn’t double pack a couple teas myself – not because I would not want to send that much but because I was hoping I didn’t leave something out of one of you boxes! I guess we were ALL tea drunk!
@Indigobloom – I definitely got mine! And I got everything I asked for from you, Azzrian :) So it wasn’t me that was shorted!
okay, well maybe I just made extra packets by accident!
Good to hear Indigobloom! :)
Not bad on the hibiscus, certainly not as tart as some! Cinnamon comes through nicely as does a slightly sweet flavor. I get the berries as well. I am not rating this one because it is so weak and either I did something wrong or it is just a weak tea but I can’t be sure. I have to note this is the second tea I have steeped today that came out weak.
What I do taste is by no means bad though – its quite nice but I find it odd that Davids Tea considers it a fall type tea. Sure there is some cinnamon in it but I feel it is far too much on the light side to be a fall tea. Anyway it is nice just not something I would order on first sip.
I am not getting the crumble flavor although I can sure smell it which is nice.
I just wish it tasted the way it smelled! :)
I ended up adding the rest of the leaf I had in my sample and steeping two more minutes which did help boost the flavor some but not a ton. I added sugar in the raw which helped a little too. At least the addition of leaves and two extra minutes didnt HURT the tea or make it bitter!
I DO want to thank Kyrstalyen for sending me some! She is an absolute doll with her trades and very generous!
I am off to try something else form my goodie bag!
Preparation
Hmm, I’m trying to remember what I did with this one to make it taste good. I think it was a long infusion and high leaf to water ratio, but I also recall that it was by accident! Teas this finicky are irritating though (especially when you can smell the right scents but they don’t translate to the flavour). Anyways, glad you got your stuff!
If I figure out how to brew this properly I’ll send along some more, because it was quite good that one time… (I think it was actually the second infusion that was good, too. You’ve probably thrown out the leaves by now though.)
I tried a second steep and no go for me. I just don’t know what I did wrong lol oh well loving the chocolate chamomile right now and have TONS more samples from you to try :)
