New Tasting Notes

The spices definitely dominate the flavor here. Cinnamon and maybe clove. Nothing at all crumbly. Not really even apple, just that dominating spice. It’s not like it tastes bad (except sometimes it’s randomly bitter) but it’s not really true to its name, which is a shame. Pretty one dimensional, but I won’t mind finishing my bag.

A nice mellow tea for evening or sickness.

More Sage tea. Not my first choice of tea but Im determined to try them all. I love sage in chicken pot pie… tea is meh. But its good for your health allegedly. And helps with apetite control since it does not taste that good it stops all cravings completely for me. It tastes kinda like Rosemary. I think they have some of the same chemical makeup is why. Cool one to try but not something I would buy again. I did just pick up a box of the Sage Eucalyptus so well see how that one goes. In comparison to the honey Sage, I would go for this over that

Lovely green tea with medium lavender notes

I am not grousing about today’s chilly rain. It’s a much-needed drought breaker. However, that plus the confounded pre-daylight savings darkness made it stinkin’ hard to hit the deck this morning. Break out the hard core stuff.

And indeed, this one is not for the faint of heart. A review by another self-proclaimed barbarian compared the extra-strong PG Tips blend to oak wood. I might concur with that, if you left the water in the tree stump overnight with some acorns tossed in.

More analytically, PG Tips self-reports that it uses a blend of Ceylon, Assam, and Kenyan teas in its normal formula. I might guess that this rendition is far heavier on the dark Kenyan leaves. Unless you’re really living on the edge, use milk.

A lovely Rooibos tea, strong vanilla flavor, great all day drinking tea. Maybe good for a mocktail too?

I had the decaf version of this tea as part of a variety pack. Strong honey and lemon flavors great for nasal congestion.

Nice, medium-bodied China tea. Not too much else to say, it’s a basic tea, no extra or unusual flavors. Just a hint of tannins in a 1-minute brew, fine for unmilked/unsweetened tea as I drink it.

Steepster seems to be back up and running this morning. Let’s see if I break it again with my next review!

I drank this a while ago, but didn’t post a review since I thought I had another bag. That was my only one, however, so I’m basically going from memory. I remember steeping this teabag at 205F for 5, 8, and 10 minutes, plus a long soak overnight.

The tea smelled primarily of sweet mint, with a touch of lemon from the verbena. All four steeps were heavy on the mint, which was sweet, powerful, and slightly earthy, without the muddiness found in some peppermint teas. The verbena added a bit of lemon and herbaceousness, but was definitely overwhelmed by the mint.

Though this sadly didn’t make me giddy, it was a nice, relaxing tisane. Thanks, Derk, for the chance to try it.

I’m really starting to enjoy and appreciate the roasty aroma of oolongs. I took a nice, deep inhale while this was steeping and can smell the cherry here alongside the oolong. Sipping now, and I am so happy with the flavor. It’s deep and dark, chocolaty too, but the cherry is front and center. As it cools, I’m also getting some coffee notes reminiscent of a coffee-flavored Werther’s candy. Surprisingly, this is one of the better teas I’ve had in a while. I expected it to be weak with age, but it’s incredibly flavorful and complex. I’m very tempted to try a second steep, but I’m worried it may not live up to the first cup and I don’t want to ruin my memory of it.

Post from yesterday when the site was borked (again…)

My stomach suddenly feels very nauseous… which probably means I have a migraine brewing in the background (GI often hits me first). Whenever the tum goes I always reach for either mint or ginger, and I have an unopened box of this… which was a handy replacement of a mint tea I really loved that I got from a friend that came from Trader Joe’s (which I don’t have in my area), that was called “Mint Melange.” I liked that one because it was a blend of peppermint and spearmint, with a subtle citrus touch from lemongrass. But they stopped carrying it. Now I’ve found that same blend under the Simple Truth Organic line in my local Fred Meyer (owned by Kroger). So simple, yet still my favorite of the “bagged mint” teas I’ve found because of the peppermint/spearmint/lemongrass combo. Soothing, and great warm or cold.

Another tea from postcrossing, from same person as yesterday one, Berry Gelato. While previous one was black-fruit blend, now I will try typical Russian herbal. Fireweed or rosebay willowherb (Chamaenerion angustifolium), also known as Ivan’s tea in Russia, is herb from northern hemisphere, but using it as a tea is typical for Russians only.

I have no steeping parameters for this tea, as I got typical white tea bag with name and QR code on other side. The QR code is a link to their website, I will do my best, around 5 minutes steeping and boiling

My brew is turning from light green-yellow to brown, copper colour. It stays clear. Aroma is rather on sweet, honey-like side. I don’t notice much of the herbaceous notes, it is rather bit like some black tea; with hints of muscatel as well.

The taste (oh, it’s still very hot) is again like a black tea; although much less body of it. Honey-ish taste and hints of muscatel. Although it’s herbal, there aren’t any notes of herbs in taste. Taste as I said, it is like a black tea, though weak one a bit. Some may say it is as well caramel like, which a little in aftertaste.

Off I go, I have lecture from Probability and Statistics in 5 minutes.

Fortunately, I went to León 1,5 month ago, before the city was closed off because of Covid19, and so I could make a visit to my favourite tea shop there. Unfortunately, they didn´t have my favourite pu erh blend with Belgian caramel…but they recommended this other pu erh blend, with almonds! A wonderful treat, combining tea and marzipan w/o the calories that normally implies ;-) …I already had a brilliant almond green tea (from Kusmi, if I remember correctly), but I think the pu erh base makes it even better. As I probably won´t be able to travel to my home country Belgium for St-Nicholas´day and/or Christmas, I´ll enjoy plenty of cups of this tea, I think. And I can now order more online (this is a real advantage because of covid19, I must admit) as well…

I found a sample tea bag of this tea, so I tried it, and I must say it was a very nice surprise : a fruited green tea, from one of the big companies, to begin with, in teabag even…a lot of mango in nose, and the sweetness of litchi in finish, but all smelling and tasting very natural. I´m not much of a green tea expert, but I even think the green tea base is really good.

While I´ve almost emptied the pouch, I notice I haven´t written a review of this blend yet.
Aroma´s of tropical fruit in nose with the dry tea, once steeped these aroma´s have left and only a sweet air stays. Quite neutral taste (the green tea backbone), more sweet than fruity (maybe only a soft strawberry in finish) in my opinion. Easy enough to drink, without lasting impressions though.

From Bruu´s website :
What it is? A heavenly green tea blend, with plenty of papaya, a pinch of pineapple and stacks of strawberry.
Why we love it? Sweet and bitter in equal measure, with a real fruity finish. Perfectly refreshing to be enjoyed hot or cold.
Where it’s from? Also known as ‘Dragonwell’, Lung Ching is one of the most famous Chinese green teas worldwide, renowned for its quality and remarkable flavour. True Lung Ching tea, with its unique flat and crisp leaves, is grown only in the Hangzhou area in Zhejiang province. Longjing Village at the west side of the West Lake is the very “place of origin of Longjing Tea” and is called the “No. 1 Village of Tea”. Surrounded by the super high mountains, Longjing Village is not only the residence of over 800 people but the growing plantation of near 800 acres of Longjing Tea as well.
How our drink hits the senses: Huge swathes of pineapple and strawberry, with an almost bitter climax. Sweet and bitter in equal measure, with a real fruity finish.

I love the flowery, over-the-top names given to some Darjeelings (like Moonlight, Enigma, and Summer Punch), especially when the teas deserve them. I’ve enjoyed Lochan’s offerings from Jungpana in the past, so I have high expectations going into this tea. I steeped 4 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug at 195F for 5 and 8 minutes.

The dry aroma is of muscatel, pastry, chocolate, flowers, and grass. The first steep has notes of heavy muscatel, dates, raisins, pastries, butter, chocolate, rose, spring flowers, spices, wood, straw, earth, tannins, and grass. The chocolate aftertaste is pronounced. The second steep is less exciting, with autumn leaf pile, malt, muscatel, tannins, wood, straw, and earth.

This is a lovely second flush Darjeeling that is indeed a summer delight. I was advised to get 100 grams, and I’m glad I listened.

It is a very cold, grey and rainy day today so I pulled out what I think is arguably the most cozy matcha that I own for Matcha Monday this morning…

It’s hard to describe this as tasting like anything else but Cardamom, because the flavour is just so accurate and so strong. It works with creamy, frothy matcha though and whisked up in a teacup I felt perfect warm (inside and out) while I listened to the rain and cozied up at my desk wrapped in massive blankets.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGh6zAqAGye/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4o_16DpGbY&ab_channel=Thestate51Conspiracy

Cold Brew!

Another that came well recommended to me from Instagram tea friends, but unfortunately this was a bit more of a disappointment. While it does steep a beautiful, deep azure blue the taste just wasn’t enjoyable. Very, very lemongrass forward with the strong and unpleasant floral taste of chamomile bringing up the tail end. I knew this one was a gamble for me, as I don’t like chamomile and I’m iffy with lemongrass, but I honestly didn’t expect them to be this level of intense. I didn’t really taste any mango or lychee at all, and so there was nothing to counterbalance those flavours for me…

In the end, I ended up mixing it about 50/50 with lemonade and that produced something drinkable – but not great.

Gongfu!

This was one of the minis included in the September (at least, I think it was September) W2T subscription box. I’m happy it was included – based on the site description this is something I would have VERY heavily gravitated towards and without the minis I would have likely blind caked it.

It’s very appropriately named; so thick and viscous with aggressive camphor, petrichor, pine smoke, tobacco, decaying oak, and leather notes. Just bitter enough. This feels like Lumber Slut’s more grizzled older brother. I didn’t find it had the staying power that I expected it to have, and my session was quick/short – but I really thoughoughly enjoyed the tea. I did, in fact, end up buying a cake of it! I’m excited to get another burly shou like this one into my rotation!

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aKF9i5e4ZU&ab_channel=HugoHamlet

I was finally able to order more of this delight, so dipped into my stash. I made a huge pot and sipped on it throughout the morning while watching some Universal monster classics.

Coldbrewed what I had left of this. Really tasty! Predominantly blueberry.

I have been drinking this tea for years (since October 2017) and had no idea I didn’t add it to the database!

I discovered this years ago from an Etsy shop that I’ve continued ordering from ever since then. It’s even one of the few I keep at work (well, kept, when we went into the office, pre-COVID). This one is a seasonal blend of theirs, and I make sure to order a ridiculous amount every holiday season to last me through the year.

I steeped this to boost my motivation for the afternoon after not sleeping all that well last night. My energy started to wane around noon, so this tea was a great pick-me-up — black tea with cacao nibs and peppermint. Fresh and delicious!