592 Tasting Notes
A sad sipdown. I finished off the last of these tea bags today. I depended on it for my quick fix when I couldn’t get good boba, but now it’s all gone. I received this box from a friend, so I don’t know where to get it and I’m feeling kinda too lazy to hunt it down. Maybe when it gets colder I will be more motivated to look. Farewell for now, I enjoyed it while it lasted.
I’m having this as an iced tea inadvertently today. I say inadvertently because I steeped this and forgot about it until it went cold. Anyway, I like it both hot and cold. Right now, I can taste more of the spices and roasted quality of the tea. It leaves a pleasant, almost smoky, aftertaste. Also, I went back to the Verdant website to look at the steeping instructions and it’s out of stock! Eek! I should stop drinking it up so quickly.
Sipdown! Excited because I have too much tea, but sad because I really enjoyed this tea. It was pretty savory for a sencha. The problem I had with it was that the tea leaves were very fine and fell through the strainer. Since I took a long time to drink my tea, it ended up being pretty bitter.
The dry leaves definitely smell like caramel candies. There was also some kind of bitter smell that I couldn’t really identify, too. The tea tastes just as strong as it smells, like a slightly watered down cup of melted caramel. I love sweet things, but even this was a little too sweet for me. Or maybe I just wasn’t in the right mood for it today. Although this tea turned out just as I had imagined it, I’m a little bored by the one-note caramel taste of the tea. I guess I’ve been spoiled by other teas with complex flavors and different layers. All in all, not bad but probably won’t restock when I’m done.
I’m slowly starting to really love oolongs and this tea is definitely helping with that! I won’t rate just yet because this is the first note on this tea and I’m still new to oolongs, but I will say that I love it! In the first few steeps, I could definitely taste the sweetness, which I guess is the “kettle corn” taste followed by a nuttier/savory taste. The tea also seems to have a very soft texture if that makes any sense. After about the third steep, the sweetness begins to fade and the spices taste becomes more prominent. Ok, I just looked back at the list and I guess the spices taste is cinnamon. I kinda suck at identifying specific flavors. Anyway, long story short, I really enjoy this one and have been resteeping it throughout the day.
I’m rapidly falling in love with Japanese green teas and hojicha in particular. This hojicha had a lighter color than the others that I’ve tried. It also had a slightly less roasty taste and was closer to other Japanese greens in my opinion. I drank this while eating something spicy and a little sweet, so the roasted, savory taste went well with the food. I’m starting to realize that all the Japanese green teas I’ve tried so far have been good for drinking while eating food.
I find myself reaching for this for my travel tumbler quite often for a few reasons. It’s not too picky with steeping, so I feel confident that I can get a good cup of tea without paying too careful attention. The tropical, bright taste also helps me perk up at least a little during boring lectures.
I’ve never had black dragon pearls of any kind, but I’ve heard great things, so I finally got my chance to try it out. I think this was the perfect cup for this morning. It has a cocoa taste without the sweetness from vanilla and sugar that you usually taste from chocolate candy bars. There was some slight astringency, but it was barely noticeable. I really did enjoy the tea and thought the flavors were bolder than other black teas that I’ve had. That being said, I don’t see a huge difference due to them being pearls, but that’s probably just because I’m newer to the whole tea thing and not as sensitive. For me, the extra price just isn’t worth it quite yet.
I’m finding out that all these hojichas that I’ve been drinking have the same dried anchovy smell when I open up the packets. This one has a lighter roasted taste than hojichas that I’ve had before, which makes sense given its name. I think this is a good one for the evening but overall, I would prefer to have a slightly stronger roasted taste. The texture is very clean with no bitterness or astringency. A very comforting cup of tea, especially since I feel like I might be getting sick.
