310 Tasting Notes
Teas Etc was so nice to give me a free sample of this one and I was dying to try it. I like it. I don’t love it. I wish it had more strawberry flavor. I taste a really great white tea with a slight fruitiness in the background. It is very similar to 52 teas Black Currant Bai Mu Dan, but with less fruit flavor. I’ll definitely finish this sample as it is quite yummy. I haven’t yet decided if I’d reorder it. I’m hoping the next cup finds more strawberry pieces in the sample. I’m worried that I just didn’t get any strawberries when I spooned it out. I didn’t see any.
Preparation
I still had some of this sample in the drawer and I wanted a nice black tea. This one just tastes like your basic black tea. Not much else. No astringency at all (which is nice). It tastes like an assam to me, rather than a darjeeling.
This tea reminds me of the tea my mom used to give me when I was sick. I should clarify. My mom would always give me black tea when I had a stomach virus. The tea would then almost immediately make me throw up again, but yet my mom never seemed to make the connection and continued to give me black tea and toast every time. Somehow I don’t have bad associations with black tea. Actually have the opposite. When I get a black tea like this it just reminds me of being taken care of.
Preparation
I haven’t been able to drink tea all day! I went to the dentist today. They suggested a fluoride treatment to help with sensitive teeth. I asked if I’d be able to eat and drink afterwards. They said yes. After they applied the treatment, they handed me a card which instructed me to eat soft foods (of which I had none at home) and to not drink hot beverages. I’ve been sadly waiting till evening so I could have some tea. I know I could have made iced tea, but that is not what I wanted.
Anyway, long story short, I am happily sipping away at Black Currant Bai Mu Dan. I probably only have one more cup of this one and I will be very sad when it is gone. And, this is my second bag of it.
Preparation
I’m trying this again today and I’m trying really hard to have an open mind… and the imagination of a child. It’s not working. This tea isn’t doing it for me. I taste rooibos followed by a candy cherry aftertaste. Maybe, if I think about it hard enough, there is some cake flavor. Maybe. I am not getting any pineapple. I probably won’t be finishing this bag. Very disappointed in this one.
Update – and I am getting the Pez candy flavor as it cools.
It’s always so interesting to read someone’s tealog when it was the exact opposite of mine! I personally liked this a lot; it was one of the few rooibos teas in which I couldn’t taste the rooibos. I wish humans had the ability to swap taste buds with eachother!
I know. I think you liked the Cinnamon Raisin Toast one too, right? I also hated that one. But I loved their Black Current Bai Mu Dan and the Neapolitan Honeybush.
Not sure what I think of this one yet so I am withholding my rating for now. I’m not tasting much pineapple in this cup. If my bag has large pineapple chunks like Erin’s, they are hiding. I did manage to get a small pineapple chunk in this cup. Definitely getting some cherry as an aftertaste. But this one might taste a bit like pez candy too (like Buttered Cinnamon Raisin Toast).
Preparation
Needed something to wake up today. I like this tea a lot, but there is something that smells like manure in the background. That’ll would probably keep me from ordering more. What is that smell?
Preparation
Heh, no wonder you don’t like pu-erhs.
Exactly! ha ha. I think it’s why I like the Mountain Malt more – it has less of that flavor.
I still need to try the genmaicha you sent. I’m waiting till I’ve had some consistent sleep to mitigate the migraine risk of the green tea. I’m looking forward to that one.
Manure? I did not detect that at all in this tea. I thought it was chocolate-y…
Manure?? I did detect something hay-like in Shanti (the tea, not me) but Dawn was like 100% chocolate/caramel to me.
Do you detect dirt or earth in it?
Not really, but now you’ve got me curious…I haven’t had Dawn in a while, so I’ll have to try it again and see if I can pick up on that. Or, maybe the batches are different (so perhaps the season you received yours it had more earthy notes). Aww…I hope the manure/earth/dirt flavor isn’t too off putting! :)
[P.S. I just re-read my first comment, and realized that it came off as super snide, which is NOT what I intended at all…sorry! I just meant “yuck, manure!”, not that you’re making this up or anything!]
I find that almost all non-Assam teas that are oxidized to either oolong or black stages have a certain “dustiness” to them. I think the astringency in Assam hides it, they probably have it too, though. I think that much oxidation just makes the bio-mass less like a leaf and more like loam. So dirt or earth I’d understand, but manure?
The unpleasant but obvious question, of course, is what kind of manure? Horses? Cows? Pigs? Sheep? Goats? They all smell radically different. Heck, even pasture raised vs. feed yard kept smell different.
@Shanti – I didn’t take it as mean or snide. No worries.
@Jim – Next time it’s warm out, I’ll walk by the horse pasture and then the cow pasture and let you know. I’m thinking horses; in a pasture.
No wait, maybe it’s cows. :) Yeah, cows.
Was I the one who sent you this tea? I thought it had rather chestnut-y overtones.
Oh, good. :) I was afraid it came off as “omg you think it smells like manure? you’re wrong and I’m right” when I just meant “omg manure? Ick!” Sigh, it’s easy for tone to be misconstrued over the internet, so I just wanted to make it clearer :)
@Doulton – Nope I ordered this one. Unfortunately, I ordered the mid-size bag (not the sample). But, I think my husband likes it more than me.
When steeped, I think this smells like dusty peanut shells dipped in cocoa powder. And sometimes I do get that “loamy” note.
I made this iced because I’d accidentally bought way more than I meant to and the description says it’s good iced. I figured I’d give it a try. It’s just ok for me iced. I haven’t quite decided if I like iced or not but I am leaning towards not. It doesn’t have a ton of flavor iced and then it ends with that peaty/earthy taste at the end of the sip. And it seems to have become fairly astringent when cold brewed.
It’s possible that I didn’t use enough tea leaves (I went by a blog post made by SimpleTeas on iced tea ratio). I made 2 quarts and used almost 1/2 cup tea leaves. Next time, trial iced tea should be made in smaller quantities. Cold brewed for 24 hours.
I’m not changing my rating because it is excellent hot!
Preparation
Why does this taste like apples? There are no apples in it, but that is what I taste. This tea tastes like a cinnamon apple to me. I’m not getting much coconut flavor (I wish I was!). I am tasting the fennel/anise flavor in the background. Whoa… and that sip had a smidgen of cocoa.
It’s an ok tea. I maybe should have brewed it longer or used less water.
Thanks for the sample Lisbet!
Forgot to mention that I rode my bike through BIG BIG winds to get this package from the Post Office today! So excited about new tea in the drawer.