505 Tasting Notes
31mar-This tea smells divine! Chocolate and hazelnut. I ended up ignoring their steeping directions execpt for the water temperature because I was brewing in a gaiwan.
Both my westren style steepers have flavor contamination issues right at the moment. One with ginseng and the other with chai spices. I need to go and purchase a replacement steeper.
Flavor stayed consistent throughout all steeps, all 8. I ended up stopping because I was overly watered, not because the tea was done. Tea was super chocolatey and hazelnut and sweet. Sweet chocolate. It was almost too rich. A very fullfilling dessert tea. Glad I decided to get the larger size. 95
Flavors: Chocolate, Hazelnut, Sweet
30Mar- dry leaf malty, fruity, hay? wood? I’ve made this both westren and in a gaiwan. Both ways got flavor notes of chocolate, cherry, malt, and cream/thick body. Also some honey. Very complex tasting tea. No astringency, especially as at one point I forgot to time it. I was able to get 4 steeps westren style and I don’t know how many steeps gaiwaning. I lost count.
It was so good, it just kept giving flavor. I drank this until my kettle was empty.
Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Creamy, Honey, Malt, Wet Wood
25Mar- So much cinnamon in this tea. It just overpowers everything. Hint of clove. Very strong – needs milk and sugar to smooth out taste. Milk definitely smooths out overabundance of cinnamon present. Perhaps not so much of a chai,a very cinnamony tea. Made my stomach somewhat upset after drinking. 70
Flavors: Cinnamon
Dry leaf smells spicy, fruity. 195F 1T 8oz
20s steep spice, fruity, and earthy. I should have continued with the flash steeps and not tried to do longer steeps. With short steeps, the tea was yummy, spicy, fruity. I liked it, but you have to watch the time closely. It’s a little finicky.
Flavors: Earth, Fruity, Spicy
I see lots of golden fuzz on the inside of the bag, but I don’t see golden tips in the tea. Dry leaf smells of yeast, malt, pollen? Wet leaf smells of yeast. Dough before baking. Taste very similar to wet leaf. As the steeps get to 3 min, I get some brown sugar. The taste is too sharp to be malt. Some malty sweetness once the steep time reached 9 min.
I steeped in a gaiwan, but I’ll probably steep the rest of this tea westren style.
Flavors: Brown Sugar, Yeast
I actually liked that one as the Wild Grey.
I bought the Wild Grey. It’ll be interesting to see how the essential oil changes the flavor. Probably be a bit, working my way through teas from What-cha.