306 Tasting Notes
This tea is soo yummy! Even then, I’m sure that I’m not getting the full flavor of it.
I just got my very first yixing vessel, a clay mug (also from Butiki). It’s nothing like I was expecting it to be, but very interesting nonetheless.
Anyways, I’ve done multiple (at least 4) steepings according to directions (1tsp, 4min) and it’s still going strong. The taste hasn’t really developed much, but that might be because of the cup. What I’m getting though is a smooth and sweet oolong. Not green or particularly roasted, but a good medium type brew.
As a grasshopper tea I was expecting much stronger honey notes. Maybe they’ll be stronger when brewing in a normal vessel.
Question though- I’ve decided to dedicate my little cup to oolongs, I drink oolongs the most- would it mess very much with the taste to brew flavored oolongs in it?
Admittedly this is not the best tea out there. But it’s certainly drinkable and I’ve been chugging through boxes of this stuff since undergrad.
Today I’m sick. At least I think I’m sick – headache, stuffy/runny nose, sneezing and asthma going through the roof. But being so foggy headed this morning I woke up extremely late, and still thought it was a good idea to go into work. (Not so much a good idea, but I can’t miss a Tuesday! It’s my busiest day of the week!) I’ve got a box of this stuff in the car, for days I forget or am running so late I can’t even think of tea.
The taste is strong enough that I can still get a slight whiff of the green even though my nose is all clogged up. Usually I brew this 30sec-1min. Today I let it go a full 2min. This brought out a bit more astringency, but the tradeoff is actually being able to detect more than hot water when you’re sick.
I’m not going to touch the TTB I’ve got for a few more days at this rate, I don’t want to contaminate it. I’ve got nitrile gloves though, and if I can find a face mask I might be able to pack it up and ship it out.
From the Here’s Hoping TTB, Round 4
Ergh. No. Just. No.
So sad, because this box is kind of really lacking in good flavored oolongs. This tea is a crying shame. There was soo much potential there! But it tasted like old tea and soap.
From the Here’s Hoping TTB, Round 4
Happy Thanksgiving! I was supposed to make pumpkin pie but didn’t prep enough so I’m making due with apple pie and some green bean casserole.
This tea smells deliciously sweet and creamy. Almost too creamy. I never really got into lavender scents until recently, and this certainly appeals to that sweeter type of lavender. It ends up just smelling delicious instead of bathroom-perfume-herbaly.
The tea is actually kind of brisk, which is a nice contrast to the how thick it smells. It’s a little astringent in that good way, and makes for a very nice morning cup.
I wonder why s’mores is spelt with an apostrophe. From the Here’s Hoping TTB, round 4
I actually like this lots better when it’s completely cold. For some reason when it was hot it was very chemically smell/tasting to me.
The cool liquor is very sweet smelling, but the mini marshmellows did little to sweeten the taste. The feel is filling, and only a little bit drying.
From the Here’s Hoping TTB, Round 4
Well… I didn’t look it up before I brewed it, and it was in the flavored blacks bag so I brewed it as a black. I didn’t really make the realization until I was emptying out my teaball. Even the dry leaf looked like black tea, but the wet leaf is green.
So 212F for 3 minutes, and surprisingly not entirely bitter. When greens are brewed like this some of them gain that utterly baffling in-between phase where it’s like a green, but like a black. It does taste a little burnt, but clearly that’s my fault.
It smells like a cross between a chocolate chip cookie base and a gingerbread cookie base. There’s too much vanilla and cream notes for me to think of it as purely gingerbread, but maybe that’s where the ‘coffeecake’ bit comes in.
I sure would like a recipe for gingerbread coffeecake. That sounds lovely.
The smell of this tea is also making me sleepy… interesting.
From the Here’s Hoping TTB, round 4
From the dry scent alone I got roses and cinnamon. The leaves dry are quite small and brittle. There are rose petals scattered in the sample, small pieces though, less than a cm square.
Brewed the liquor is the color of light maple syrup and it smells of chocolate and ginger.
The base tea is light, but distinct. It’s smooth and full-bodied. Not astringent or bitter.
The taste doesn’t linger, or intrude on the room. I can only really smell it when I’m trying to, but it doesn’t really interfere with food or anything else.
I would drink this again. It’s more of a dessert tea in my book though. Something light but indulgent.
Preparation
My friend took me out for Sweet Tomatoes for my birthday and they had this tea (among others from RoT that I hadn’t tried before. Then we went to watch Big Hero 6, which I would totally recommend.
Even with cooler water this tea turned bitter on me. It did smell amazing, but it most certainly did not taste amazing. The peach scent on this tea was quite juicy and the ginger… what ginger? But that all means nothing when it bitter so quickly. I thought I had overbrewed it at first, but I tried again… and even just cold steeping the bag it turned out yucky.
From the Santea Clause TTB
This tea really does taste/smell like cooked apples! There’s a slight bakery note, but that fades as the tea cools. The effect overall is sweet. I would have expected the tea itself to be a bit tart, as it seems like the type of tea I usually find hibiscus in, but the black base is quite alright. It’s not the most amazing thing ever, but it’s all about the flavoring in this tea.
There are some red pieces of something scattered in the black tea, but I’m not exactly sure what those are. I don’t think they’re apple?
