New Tasting Notes

So I placed a Dammann Frères order because I wanted the advent calendar, and I figured if I was going to pay €15 in shipping I might as well add on a few teas for good measure. Don’t ask me how I ended up with three green teas, but here we are.

I was surprised to find there wasn’t an entry for this tea. It’s a pineapple, mint, and lime green tea which I would think would be a winning combo. I’m always happy to find a tea that has pineapple without coconut.

For some reason, this came out quite bland? I’m not sure how that happened. The dry leaf has a strong aroma, but the steeped tea is extremely light, on both the base tea and the added flavors. I can taste a little bit of pineapple and a little bit of generic green tea but not much else. Hmm…

I’m perplexed, and I think I’ll skip the rating for now in case I accidentally picked the wrong temperature on the kettle or something… :/

This team seems to be highly rated here on Steepster but at least from my cup today, I feel like it’s an alright milk oolong. But just alright. Not amazing. Not special. A milk oolong that is enjoyable but there are better milk oolongs out there. The Tea Haus milk oolong comes to mind and so does the random milk oolong from either Sil or Evol Ving Ness.

With that said, this is quite buttery. More milky than creamy, which is why I think I prefer other blends a bit more since that makes for a richer/more decadent mouthfeel. This also has more of a green tea-ish undertone aka grassy notes. It’s fairly smooth though and not overly heavy with any sort of flavor which makes it an easy-drinking tea for a daily drinker I guess. Since I don’t drink the same tea daily though, this isn’t something I need stocked. I will be alright to work through the sample that Roswell Strange sent me though. Thanks for sharing!

It snowed Friday morning and it snowed today. It will snow again on Tuesday and on Thursday. Perfect weatehr for tea. I went diving in my tea drawer for something warm and comforting and came up with this. Boy, this one is old. The flavor may have been a little muted by age, but it is still a delightful tea. I have several new chais to try, but I feel like I should drink up some of these older teas before opening a new pouch. Now that summer is really over (probably) I will be able to enjoy hot tea in the afternoon and evening.

I was in a store that has the loose leaf Tea Friends so thought I would pick it up. They have some misses but usually when I find a hit..I LOVE it. This…meh. Sounds better than it tastes. First of all…don’t drink it hot . Just typical sour hibiscus-rose hip. Cold it’s much better. I can taste the “Amaretto Cherry” part. A little kool-aide and then something a bit weird…maybe the boozy part. It’s drinkable..but I don’t really enjoy it.

I spent the morning updating my cupboard. I haven’t really been drinking much tea since I was last here, but I did sign up for the Obubu tea club before visiting their farm in Wazuka, Japan last fall. My husband and I got married last October and took a trip to Japan for 18 days for our honeymoon. Of course, I had to visit a tea plantation while I was there! It was a great experience, the staff were all wonderful and the setting gorgeous. Plus we got to sample several teas! Would definitely recommend the tour if you are ever in the area.

So anyway, I now have a ridiculous stash of Obubu teas, mostly from the subscription box which is a generous amount of tea. Please feel free to send me a message if you’d like to try a sampling of their teas!

Had a lazy session with this tea on the couch (or tried to, as the pugs tried their best to sit in my lap…). I used a ~200ml kyusu that I also picked up in Japan and did three steeps of 60s, 10s, and 30s.

This is a shaded tea, so it has a somewhat intense and umami vegetal flavor. The first steep especially had a nice intensity, and strong spinach and cooked green bean notes. It felt very thick and silky on the tongue, with a nice creamy quality. There was a touch of pleasant bitterness and light astringency at the tail end of the sip, and a lingering umami aftertaste on my tongue. As it cooled, I picked up more seaweed notes and perhaps a hint of apricot.

The second steep was lighter and sweeter, still with the same vegetal notes but with less intensity. The third steep was a bit too light, I should have steeped it longer than I did. The vegetal notes gave way to a grassier flavor, and it was the sweetest of the three steeps.

Definitely a very satisfying tea, with a nice savory vegetal flavor up front giving way to more sweetness in later steeps. It reminded me how much I love Japanese teas! I’m not going to rate it for now, as I’ve been out of practice so I don’t have a good point of reference.

(here’s a couple of Instagram posts from our Obubu trip):
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4gUNC-gTBt/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4gVwpEAUyS/

This is another awesome sample sent to me by VariaTEA :)

I’m slowly but surely catching up on all the things and this tea has really helped boost my motivation after hours of listening to lectures on environmental assessment.

This tea has a perfect subtle black tea flavour for me today. Absolutely no astringency (yay) and smooth. It’s not too intense in flavour, just light and smooth – perfect for any time of day.

I actually think I’ll have to check out this tea company – I’ve never ordered from them before, but this tea has inspired me to at least look over their website!

Thanks VariaTEA!

This was one of the freebies from the 2018 International San Francisco Tea Festival. A single teabag sachet that has sat in a bag of pure Indian teas now since October of 2018… sigh. How much time and effort would it have taken to just drink it, Sara? …How I feel most days…

Cup smells very malty. I’m getting a lot of cinnamon in the aroma, as well as something slightly jammy. Tastes more like a breakfast tea to me than a darj; I’m getting mainly notes of malt and cinnamon bread, though a subtle hint of apple and autumn leaf. A perfectly non-offensive afternoon cuppa.

This is a good tea year-round, but it seems to only be sold in the Fall where I have bought it. It’s great for anyone who isn’t a fan of pumpkin spice or chai. It would probably be good with a touch of cocoa in it.

TTB Tea

I took a teabag (~1 tsp) of tea before I sent off the TTB. I dislike the bergamot in this – not citrusy enough, more like metallic/musty and minerally. It reminds me of the smell of car grease. I also found the base a bit “meh”, not offering any malt or cocoa notes to bring out the vanilla. I also feel like I missed out on a wonderful notes typical of Darjeeling. I would have never guessed this was a Darjeeling.

I have to say SIPDOWN and THANK YOU ashmanra!
I had this tea earlier, but I was so numb so I wasn’t writing any notes to it and as I wanted something sweet. And if possible, less caffeine as it is already an evening.

I really like this blend. The dry aroma reminds me Granko (milk/water soluble cocoa drink, similar to Benco as Wiki says so)

I have asked my Swiss friend with Italian roots if there is some difference between Tiramisu from Venezia and others and she just doesn’t know! But she liked the concept of liquid Tiramisu.

I have bit oversteeped this tea probably, as it is drying and way too roasty probably.I have used the boiling water as well, apparently it wasn’t the most clever thing (they suggest 175°F).

Ehhm, I really like it, though it won’t be on top of teas I had. But great afternoon-evening drink when you want something creamy-bitter-sweet something but you have only teas.

I can’t seem to get a handle on this tea. Brewed with boiling water, it was strong and smoky; with cooler water, it came out light and maple-flavored. Either way, I enjoyed it as a morning treat with a dash of oat milk. The overall impression is kind of like English Breakfast with more complexity.

I was hoping this would be sweet and nutty. Instead it’s a bit appley and sour? It’s sort of like a too sour version of DT apple custard. With a shorter steep, it’s more pleasant, but still, why would I drink a less good version of another tea?

I had a Western steeped mug of this on Thursday and I really enjoyed it a lot. More so, I think, than my last tasting of it which was Grandpa steeped. I found the flavour very fresh and light to medium bodied with sweet floral character that seemingly danced on my palate. We’re talking notes of lilac, peony, and magnolia that seemed almost magical. The finish had that weird “fresh linen” note that sounds kind of strange until you taste it – but just fresh, clean, and Spring-like. It was a bit green, but no rough edges to the flavour. Everything seems to roll together seamlessly.

It was one of the better cups I had during the week, and thus I feel the need to marginally increase my previous rating of 78…

Currently undecided on this blend…

The cranberry was really pleasant in the cup and worked well with the black tea base; more of a sweet and jammy cranberry (likely because of the presence of cherry, as well) than a tart/puckery one and that’s the sort of cranberry I like more. The more herbal and bordering on smoky notes of raspberry leaf come through, and work okay with the fruit. The thing that I feel sort of… “meh” about is this sort of creamy mint note that I’m sure is intended to be the ‘frosted’ part of ‘frosted cranberry’ – it’s pretty strong and consistent throughout the sip, but it’s very pasty tasting to me, like a fondant flavoured with mint extract!? I think that flavour could work with a cranberry tea to give it more of a sweet pastry/decadent type of vibe but with the presence of the rapsberry leaf (which is just so natural/herbal) the combination felt a little cacophonous for me. I will need to revisit this a few more times, I think, to try and wrap my mind around the flavour composition a bit better…

I remember really liking this one the last time I had it, and my rating seems to support that. What I don’t remember is the heat/spice of the chili pepper being so strong! I drank this one pretty late at night while rewatching Thumeblina on Disney+ (the soundtrack was so much better than I remember it being)! and I found myself almost panting at points because the heat of the chili was so intense with each sip. It works really well with the more dark cocoa like notes and black tea and if the goal was a Mexican Hot Chocolate sort of vibe then I think it was totally achieved!

Candy Corn is a Halloween classic so how could I resist picking up a Candy Corn tea for this October!? Let me tell you a secret though; when it comes to actual candy corn it’s not a flavour that I enjoy…

It’s a testament to the power/influence of it as a Halloween icon though because I see basically any Candy Corn inspired thing other than real Candy Corn and I immediately want to buy it because motherfucking Halloween! Shockingly, there are probably a DOZEN different Candy Corn inspired tea blends on Adagio so I had a lot of range to pick from. I chose then one that had the most appealing to me flavour composition and not the one I thought was most accurate to actual Candy Corn, which is basically just a mix of fondant/icing that tastes like pure sugar. No thanks…

So this is essentially caramel/orange/cream with black tea and honeybush. I guess I have seen cream and caramel flavour candy corn so it’s not totally off base in the interpretation of the flavour – but orange seems more out there and I would guess is only included because of the actual colour of candy corn. I’m okay with that, though!

The taste is straight forward – literally all of the flavours I just mentioned are represented, including a malty backbone from the black tea and that sweet and nutty flavour of honeybush that is so distinct. I would say the strongest flavours are orange, cream, and honeybush. It loosely reminds me of Candy Corn, but whether it’s accurate or not isn’t really the goal that I wanted from this cup – the important thing is that it tastes good, and it does. I find it a little thin, and the caramel could be better but I enjoy the orange and cream combo a lot – and I get the FUN of Candy Corn for Halloween which is exactly what I wanted.

I also drank this while watching Simpson’s Treehouse of Horror episodes which was a massively fun and nostalgic Halloween evening activity that only made the tea that much better!

Couldn’t resist stocking up on a bunch of Halloween inspired tea blends to sip throughout Spooky Season this year, and I do love a good caramel apple so this was the first one that I tapped into when I got the order earlier in the week!

I had this one at my office, but the idea is to drink these blends while doing fun Spooky Season activities throughout the month – like watching TV shows/movie and pumpkin carving. I did over steep this by a hearty ten minutes because I got caught up in responding to emails, and my inattention to steeping was punished with a hefty dose of astringency. However, the flavour of the blend itself was good and I could see from the taste that with proper steeping I would have enjoyed this a lot. Very sweet, bordering on caramel with hints of apple, cream, and cinnamon. Caramel is an infamously hard flavour to capture in tea – this felt a bit more like the thin and sort of artificial/generically sweet caramel like might see used as a Sundae syrup? On the cusp of nailing it, but just a bit off.

I look forward to brewing it properly later this monthl.

Gongfu!

It’s finally feeling, and looking, more like Autumn in the park now; so I took the opportunity yesterday to have a tea session of this ripe pu’erh because I guess I’m leaning in hard to that woody and camphorous profile right now. It’s shou season, truly! There’s a dense and darker sweetness to this one too though; like molasses and dates. It’s very thick and clean finishing, but with the intensity of flavour and body that I crave in shou!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGSSBFIArC6/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1zLXt2Suu0&ab_channel=TheSnuts

Gongfu!

Pleasantly surprised by this short tea session. This shou puerh is surprisingly sweet, with a finish that makes me think of fresh out of the oven sweet bread, with warm notes of cinnamon and stonefruit preserves, almost like a Hot Cross Bun! Aside from such a tasty and interesting finish to the steeps, the rest of the profile is a bit more mineral and earthy with hints of molasses. I think this would be an excellent candidate for Grandpa style brewing, too!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGYFk14gwHX/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGCTotw7_jA&ab_channel=Wilderado-Topic

Received four pearls from derk, thank you!
I took one, though there is written 2 pearls as good preparation, but as well 3-4 minutes steeping time.

I prepared grandpa. And I got baked bread, malt, and overral typical black tea notes. They were fine, it wasn’t bitter at all even it was steeping for 30 minutes or something. It has dissolved pretty well too. I have expected just more overall flavour, it was bit like washed out, but maybe because the age (spring 2016).

I was so curious about this tea when it originally released this year but Adagio is not the cheapest company to order from when you’re only curious about one tea – if I’m going to order I want to make it a BIG order with lots of new things or restocks of my favourites. So, finally, I had the excuse to do that – I picked up a ton of new Halloween and fandom samples but also tossed in some of their main assortment that I had been interested in trying…

I’ve heard great things about this tea from Instagram friends, and so my expectations were pretty high. I wanted to get this as LLT but the small LLT sample was sold out and I wasn’t willing to blind buy the large bag of it, so I went with the tea sachet options instead. So that’s not my ideal format, but I’m willing to roll with it!

And… this was good.

I cracked open the bag and was just flood with intense boozy bourbon aroma – it was VERY strong/concentrated. However, steeped up the edge is taken off a bit but the flavour is still excellent. Looking at the ingredients list may have been a bad idea for me because I see that, among other things, it has “candy apple” flavour in it and that unfortunately pulled me out of the cup a little bit because I feel like I can actually taste that in the composition of the blend. However, that aside (and trying not to think about it) the flavour is a really excellent bourbon. I’m struggling to explain it as anything else other than “bourbon” because, well, well the flavour is nailed the flavour is nailed.

I’m impressed.

The third shincha of 2020.

I don’t think I’ve ever gone through a Japanese tea as quickly as this one. Usually it takes me a while to get through a bag of sencha but I’ve already polished off half the 100g pouch in only a month. Have to pace myself now so I don’t go through my stash too quickly because that’s how good this tea is.

This is a tamaryokucha, which is processed differently from regular sencha resulting in less astringency and a smoother flavor. It’s more forgiving to oversteeping and water temperature.

The tea itself has a subtle and unassuming appearance. Small broken leaves that have a mild grassy aroma. The brewed tea is a buttery sweet fruity explosion with nice umami and floral overtones. Smooth, crisp, and full bodied. Upping the leaf quantity intensifies the umami. Second steep is a denser cup, vibrant lime green with grassy chlorophyll flavors. The third and final steep is lighter but delightfully fruity and sweet. There was little to no bitterness and no sulfuric edge that Japanese greens can sometimes leave behind even when I really push the steep.

This was a marvelous tea exhibiting the best characteristics of sencha without any of the off-putting ones. It’s less finicky to brew and has more sweetness than other Japanese greens I’ve tried which I like . Easily the best shincha this year and the best Japanese green I’ve had recently.

Another Verdant sample that had been sitting around forever in my cupboard. Unfortunately it was far less impressive than the Old Tree Wulong I just finished prior. There were some intriguing aromas – orange peel, wet rocks, and sandalwood – however the taste fell flat. It was pretty forgettable, more like a generic yancha than a typically fruity dan cong. Woodsy with an oily texture. At times, there was a faint floral glimmer in the aftertaste but otherwise it didn’t offer much in the way of flavor.