1789 Tasting Notes
Thanks Bonny and Sil for sending this one over to me!
We’ve got ppl over but I’m sorta ignoring them bc they’re drinking and shouting loud opinions at each other, and I’m quiet and can’t get their attention and I have tea to log.
This is a nice floral-ish tea with some interesting notes. The bergamot is really mild and the vanilla is quite soothing. It’s actually quite relaxing.
Thank you! :D
Sipdown!
I split this up so I could share it with 3 others who were curious, and that left me enough for one final cup. It’s a nice choice to relax with while I wait for dinner – meat pies!
And I’m down to 90 teas! I am READY for the Toronto Tea festival!
you mean 290… giggling
NO. That HAS to be an exaggeration. :P Don’t scare me or I’ll just bolt when I see you at the tea fest. Wild Cavo’s rarely come out into the open, y’know.
73…so you weren’t a great big fan of this one eh?
not a superfan, at least
as for the 290, i suggest you put a costume on and if she approaches carrying what can only be a huge stash of tea for you – don’t reveal yourself!
also, i hope you guys post lots of TTF updates for us non-Torontonians on FB :)
Costume/disguise…you know what i meant ;)
It was great, and then it was good, and so I’m a little wary about it for the price. :P I might try it again later on! I do love vanilla bean!
And yes… that might be a good plan. >_>
i could go count..
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
No. NOOOOOOOOOO.
Just. No. :P
the answer is… 117! before our purchases arrive.
OMG that is a lot of teas!
Hahha. That’s ridiculous. That will definitely double what I have. (Hopefully only in quantity and not volume…)
:D (I can’t wait)
damn fine holiday is here!
YAY!!!!!
I’m going to reset the rating on this tea bc I don’t want it to bring the reviews down for everyone else. It didn’t work for me, but I think it’s the raspberry/cocoa flavouring or combination. I never could enjoy Butiki’s Raspberry Truffle and lots of people thought that was fantastic so I’m certain the problem is with me.
no, it’s the raspberry tea thing. that’s the problem right there. nothing wrong with you. ;)
Yea, my wife’s sister in-law is the same way. She doesn’t like this tea at all. It’s the combination of raspberry and tea that doesn’t work. Can’t win them all, and that’s great. If you have any specific criticisms I’d love to hear them so that we can improve our blends.
This tea is hitting all the right spots for me today. It’s lightly malty and very fruity with a touch of sweetness and some depth. It’s almost like a raisin bread (but only subtly). It looks like it’s no longer in stock, but I’ll have to keep my eyes open for new lots! I remember that if you bought $25 worth of samples, they’d ship it from China for free and that was a pretty good deal (for AMAZING tea).
Delicious! I seem to be a fan of Wild Mountain Teas. I also snagged an oz from Butiki while I had the chance!
:)
i noticed you read Ms Marvel recently!! i push all my favorite comics on all my friends. and i think Ms Marvel is a gateway comic hahahah
Haha. That’s awesome. :D
Someone sent me the first 9 issues of Captain Marvel as well, so I’ll have to check it out! There’s so much out there that I know NOTHING about.
Sad, sad sipdown. (101)
This tea is amaze.
Expensive, but amaze.
It’s 17.25/oz USD, which means that it’s a little over $21 CDN PER OZ. /0\
It was a great tea, but I don’t think I can ever justify buying more of it, unless my financial situation changes!
101!!
I’m worried that this box from Sil will double my cupboard.
uh… yeah it probably will
/0\ Also we have the TEA FESTIVAAAAAL. Can we go for a triple?
No. That would just be utterly ridiculous.
LOL how about double and a half
Cavo, it’ll be cool. You’ll be up near me again!
and i will not be there….anywhere near there…
Aww Sil. Not joining the ~200 teas party.
NO!! i figure i’ll be at about 150 by the end of this month/tea festival
Well I’m at 100 now so I’m currently beating you. :P I will gloat for as long as I can!
My daughters are going to the Toronto Tea Festival. It would be so cool if you ran I to each other!
But Sil, I thought your goal was 50, not 150… ;)
omg srsly – 50 for december 2015
ASH!!! REALLY!!! Saturday morning is when Cavo; Kittenna and I will be there. I’m open to giving them my number if they want to meet the weirdos…
Oooh – when will Kittenna be there? Is she meeting with us?
Cavo – We’re going to try and coordinate that next week – i warned her we’re going for early o clock because of prior commitments in the afternoon.
This tea is giving me sads today. I don’t know why, but it just tastes flat and flavourless. What am I doing wrong? /sobs/
Perhaps Not-So-Vanilla has won you over?
teardrops
You got the sniffles at all?
I don’t know? I did like the Not So Vanilla, but it’s a cheaper base and not as fancy. But it was pretty good, and so much cheaper for Canadians!
I had a second cup of GO today and it did taste better so it must have been at least partially in my head…
Glad it still tastes good, and understandable about the price. Wish I could offer it for less. Oh well :P
It’s not your fault! The Canadian dollar is a huge part of it.
I bought this one as a possible replacement to WP’s Cocoa Amore, since that goes for a whopping $17.25 an oz, and… I can’t do that anymore… but I’ll have to keep looking!
This tea has a nice chocolately raspberry flavor to it, but I’m not crazy about the base. I almost thought it was darjeeling because of that astringency, but I guess it’s the Keemun? I’ll enjoy the rest of this bag, but I think I might have to cheat and add some sugar or something to it. Or experiment with another cup! :D
ETA: It’s actually less astringent as it cools! Interesting! I’ll need more cups!
Steepster was down while I tried to review this, but I’ll do my best!
I bought this as a replacement for WP’s Golden Orchid as I really love the Madagascar Vanilla Beans and want more, but for a cheaper price (especially as a Canadian faced with a sinking CDN dollar, and high shipping costs!).
This one will do! The base isn’t quite as luxurious as GO, but it’s nice, and it gives me a similar flavor profile. It’s still a bit expensive at ~$7/oz CDN , but that’s much better than $12.50/oz USD. I don’t think it’ll take me long to go through my bag of this!
The only thing that worries me is they indicated on my sample bag that the flavor changes with age so I am a touch concerned about flavor deterioration (not that I think my sample will last that long :P).
just means more shared purchases lol
can’t wait to get mine, though I can’t imagine it would be as delicious as GO
We recently removed the “changes with age” from the bag because of potential confusion. The tea ‘absorbs’ more of the vanilla bean flavour over time changing the flavour. We blend that tea usually within a few days of mailing it out.
Whole Vanilla pods will keep, stored in a cool, dark place, for over a year before degrading appreciably. If it is finely diced up (like in our tea) more surface area is exposed to the elements and this natural degradation process will occur at a faster rate. This is impossible to do anything about unfortunately. How long will the tea last for? I have no idea. Does that really matter? Only if you buy a very large amount and/or if you’re not going to drink the tea for 6 months to a year (you could put it in the freezer or fridge than).
Whatshesaid – I had GO today and it was just flat and awful and I don’t know what’s going on. I guess I’ll have to keep comparing these two! I don’t think it’d equal GO at it’s best, but I can afford to buy (and drink it) more so that’s a huge plus.
TippysTea – thanks for explaining! I was wondering what that meant as well!
That’s weird!! I got my WP order last night and the smell of the GO was like heaven in a bag. But i still have some older batch left so I don’t want to dig in yet. I’m very pumped to try this though!!
No problem. We just got an order from Whispering pines and GO smelt, yes that’s a word, wonderful.
I had a second cup of GO today and it was much closer to how I remmeber it. Phew.
Well, I was happy to leave my tasting notes at an even 1700, but this was a free sample with my Tippy’s Tea order,and I thought I should give it a review since they’re a new company and can use the exposure!
First off – for a new company, I’m very impressed with their customer service. Ordering on the site was easy, and I received all communication in a timely manner. The shipping notice even had a link to track the shipping which was a nice touch! And the packing list had a nice handwritten note on it which was sweet, and definitely made me feel like I was ordering from a real person and not a faceless company.
Now, on to the tea itself! This is definitely a hearty black blend- nice and strong. It’ll get you past the afternoon hump when you just want to nap, or mindlessly surf the internet or stare out the window.
I can definitely notice the tang of the darjeeling, adding that not-quite bitterness to it, but there’s also some nice woodsy and malty notes to it as well. And a tiny touch of smoke! I think that as it cools, I can get notes of baked bread too!
Overall? Thumbs-up! I just had a cup of Lord Petersham from the Devotea earlier, and noticed I was running low, but I think this tea would be a nice replacement for that one when I run out!
Preparation
It’s malty, bready, sweet-potatoish, honeyed, and amazing.
I keep thinking Ailoashan is like Laoshan Black, but this isn’t. They’re both exceellent and quite different. Buy both.
Haha Cavo. “I have tea to log”…definitely important business. When I would have study days with a friend, we would drink tea and she would think I was doing work because I was typing so much but really I was just writing tasting notes on steepster :P
Totally important business!!!
And that’s hilarious. :P Steepster is so much work eh? But it’s IMPORTANT
Ooh, glad someone else got to try this!