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I got my Golden Tips sub box today! I am wayy behind on posting tasting notes for these teas, but I wanted to taste this one first! The name itself is intriguing.

Tulsi, or “Holy Basil” is a interesting tisane, which I’ve only tried once before. I can’t remember if I liked it either. I’m not particularly sure then if the Basil part of the name is redundant or if there’s also Basil in there. Chai isn’t something I reach more usually unless someone else is making it in milk for me.

I swear this dry leaf smells like Dr. Pepper soda. It also looks like confetti, or glitter. The leaves are super small. If it were any other tea, I would call it fannings.

The liquor still smells like Dr. Pepper but a bit spicer. I’m a cola addict btw. I’ve been trying to kick the habit with tea, but I still get relapses, this is giving me cravings. The tea itself doesn’t have much by way of taste though. It’s got a bit of a nose feel that’s really warm and full. (By nose feel, you know when you have a bite of wasabi and it’s all spicy up your nose feeling? That general area. It’s really weird, but cool.) I guess this is what Tulsi tastes like? This is categorized as a black tea though, so that’s confusing.

I’m not sure what I feel about this tea. On one hand it’s Dr Pepper! Awesome! On the other hand, it has some olfactory sensation, but doesn’t really lend much to the experience otherwise, mostly just warm water. Yup.

Yummy yummy. This goes on the ‘to buy’ list. It’s very decadent.

From the Cooking TTB

This reminds me of chocolate cake with fresh strawberries. Maybe that should be one of the recipes I post?

From the Cooking TTB

Blergh. Probably because by the time this sample got to me it was mostly a broken up mess. I used up the last of this sample.

The smell is really nice, a sweet peach scent that is just a touch floral.

But the tea! Gah! Maybe I overbrewed it, but I used only what I use on most of my other greens (185F for 2-3 min). Nope. It was a bitter mess. So sad. I wish that there was more so I could try again. The resteep didn’t go much better.

From the Cooking TTB

Ooohhh. Aaahhh. Yum.

It’s an oolong! But it tastes like a very good black. I’m definitely getting those peach notes too. All in all, I really really like this. I’m not sure if I’ve had an oolong this dark before that wasn’t a bit roasty, and this isn’t roasty, it’s just sweet black goodness.

There’s a touch of astringency on the tip of the tongue. The sip is full and gentle, but a touch drying after the swallow.

The Cookie Lady sent this along in the Cooking TTB for me. =)

Oolong. Plums. Floral.

I love it when I can tell the type of tea when it’s a flavored tea. This tea’s plum note is not really candied, or salted or even fresh plums. It’s reminiscent of plums, but the overall is very floral. I really like it! The oolong base is smooth, and although light, is still evident in the sip. It’s not at all drying or astringent. This one is definitely going on my shopping list.

So I took a look at the recipe list so far, and most all of my tea recipes are already listed! Looks like I should probably do some experimenting.

Hmm… This tea. I quite enjoyed it as part of the Advent Calendar, but for some reason the some I got as part of the Winter Sampler is much more heavy on the ‘trail mix’ and very light on the actual amount of tea. (The tins also don’t seal well, or really at all, which is disappointing.)

It’s very apple pie esque, except heavier on the spice. When it brews to a pretty medium depth, even when I completely forgot about it and it brewed for a half hr. The scent is pretty sweet on the first steep, and only a bit less so on the 2nd. I associate Baklava with super sweet flaky pastry, and the first steep is definitely following that heavy sweet note, I like the 2nd steep more.

The taste is really kind of muddled. The after-taste is a little reminiscent of black tea, but diluted. In the midst of the steep though, I taste a bit of sourness, which is kind of like cooking apples. If you’ve ever had cooking apples, you know they’re not especially pleasant in the raw. The sourness of the sip accompanied with the sweet bakery scent is a bit This tea might be better if I added sweetener, but I am really trying to avoid sweetening my teas.

Overall, it is not a bad tea, it’s just not really as expected.

I don’t know how I haven’t posted a tasting note on this one, because I drink it all the time! It’s to the point I have two bags on backup right now.

If you’ve ever had japanese gummy candies, THIS is that muscat flavor blended seamlessly on top of a medium grade oolong. Muscat is grapey, but it’s not heavy like grape juice can get. It’s a flavor somewhere between a red grape and a green grape, but I believe it’s a different varietal. It’s not as sweet as champagne grapes either. Either way though, it’s yummy!

I would recommend this to anyone that likes fruity oolongs. I usually serve this one up to guests if they want an oolong, but aren’t wanting something roasty or straight.

Thanks to Carol Who who sent this in the Christmas Card swap.

Dry leaf unfortunately didn’t look anything like the photo. The tea was pretty much mostly dust by the time it got to me, so my tea to water ratio was kind of iffy. The smell is rather strong in cinnamon and clove. It reminds me a bit of pumpkin pie spice.

Brewed the tea was kind of flat. I got a little bit of spice and vanilla, but the base wasn’t really robust enough to make a really good brew. It was mildly astringent and a little bit dry. I think I’ll try the rest of my sample again on another day and use up the rest of the leaf/powder. I have a feeling this would go better with some sweetener, maybe cream.

I don’t know what I was thinking when I ordered this, but I enjoy it. For some reason I’ve been buying up mini tuo chas but I’m not sure if I’ve actually used any yet other than this. I usually go for the loose stuff. But with my brand new little white gaiwan, I decided to take a go at gongfu brewing. My first time! I’m sure I messed up a little somewhere… but I’m sure I’ll have plenty of practice sessions down the road. Along with the little gaiwan I’m using a teacup that holds twice as much as my gaiwan… a thermos for the water, and a cookie tray for lack of a tea tray.

I’m sure it was not that much tea (only a bit over three tumblers worth) but it felt like a lot of tea! It also felt very LONG and alot of work. I’m not completely sure I enjoy the method, but it’s different and the change in the flavor as the steeps went by were interesting to document.

The first few steeps were lighter and kind of sweet and leathery. Around the fifth steep thing got darker and definitely a bit smokey. I’m not the biggest fan of smokey teas, but I’m sure that the flavor is still developing, as now around the 15th steep the taste is more earthy and like mushrooms- yet the little tuo cha hasn’t broken completely apart yet.

The leaves are small! Very small. I wish I had a small fine strainer to deal with it, but I ’m mind the sediment as much if I let it settle. That results in kind of a wait between cups though.

The flavor keeps developing, it’s definitely keeps me interested. Now if only I weren’t practically vibrating and the front of my tongue didn’t feel kind of numb…