Featured & New Tasting Notes
Cold Brew Sipdown (331)
I cold brewed this and while I’m glad the coconut hasn’t gone rancid despite being almost two years old, that’s the only thing I’m glad about. It’s not bad because it’s really not much of anything. It’s sorta fruity water and that’s it. Meh.
Mellow morning in the Strange household today…
I’ve been breaking out really badly all week, probably a combination of stress/anxiety and less fresh air that normal combined with the fact I’m just prone to breakouts in general. So, I just finished applying a really nice face mask that’s supposed to be good at reducing redness and I’ve made myself a mug of tea and now I’m just sort of… lounging.
Much strawberry. Much jammy. Much good.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
Additional notes: Sipdown of this one. I kind of wanted to finish it just so I could forget it was INSTEAD of my beloved Peachy Keen blend in the vote or something, if I’m remembering correctly. This one doesn’t hold a candle, IMO. Nothing special about it while Peachy Keen is amazing stuff. I guess I talk about it too much!
Edited to add: And I’m noticing now I rated this blend 85. But NOPE. I guess I love PEACHY KEEN too much!
2020 Sipdowns: 22 (AprTea – Zhang Ping Shui Xian Oolong Tea Fragrant Orchid Grade One + TeaRevv – Golden Turmeric)
Here is a new special earworm that seems fitting for these times… I had given up on anything Weezer since the Green album, BUT this is The Avalanches with River and this song is lovely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsjQ3Gblzys
I hope it turns out OK. I hope everyone is being careful and washing their hands and doing what they can to stay safe and healthy! Please do keep us updated if you learn more, I’ll be thinking of you.
March 2020 subscription.
Artificial aroma, full of chocolate; alcohol liquor of the dry blend.
Brewed 4 grams / 96 °C water / almost 4 minutes.
Not only the brew was weak. It was kind of strange in taste as well. It reminded me mostly Milka milk chocolate which I am not fan of. Then some vanilla notes and… again some alcohol. Sherry maybe? It wasn’t that bad as I was afraid reading Amada’s tasting note, but… it wasn’t that enjoyable as I have hoped. Now the pouch is really strongly alcohol like when I smelled it. Brew was really sweet for me as well.
I don’t know, I never had a cream egg. But I suppose it isn’t alcohol like?
Flavors: Alcohol, Chocolate, Vanilla
Preparation
I definitely believe the US vs. UK cream eggs are different! Other Cadbury varieties taste infinitely better in the UK (the Fruit and Nut bar in particular).
A week ago I ordered a new supply of breakfast tea, but it hasn’t been sent yet. Presumably this is to do with the pandemic and so I’m not going to pester them for the time being.
In the meantime, we bought a box of this. Emergency rations, guys. Our supermarket only carries Twinings in bagged form and Husband finds one bag for a pot of two large cups is fine. Whereas my instinct says one bag for a cup and two for a pot.
Probably as a consequence it’s rather thin. I feel like I’m drinking hot water with milk. It’s not good. I have asked him to try and make the next pot either with two bags, or with a significantly longer steep, just so we can at least find out if it really is that poor and lay the dosage discussion to rest. (I’m pretty confident in my two bag theory, though)
On a different note we are both healthy. Husband is working from home for the foreseeable, whereas I still have to go to work. (I work in a hospital lab. We are important for diagnostics, and so essential personnel.) The Outside, on my commute, is nearly deserted. Looks like I’m travelling in the middle of the night. Otherwise we are staying in and being careful. As an introvert, I feel like I’ve been training for this my whole life.
Steeped at work.
My first mug of this was really unpleasant so I took a lot of precautions when brewing this one. I used less leaf, cooler water, and a shorter/more monitored steep time. Made a world of difference, and this cup was deeply smooth and earthy with chicory, cinnamon, ginger, and citrus rind notes and then an undertone of sweet, floral geranium leading to a beautifully delicate finish. It’s a weird tea, but this was an excellent cup of it!
Yesterday I returned to London to get my stuff which meant I now had matcha in my possession again. Then today, my DAVIDsTEA order showed up with this matcha. I decided a strawberry white chocolate matcha latte sounded good so I decided to give it a try.
For the first time, I followed DAVIDs steeping parameters for matcha. Usually I use a half a tsp per 8 oz but this called for 5-7 matcha perfect spoons (which I assume is close-ish to a 1/2 tsp). While steeping the matcha in 8 oz of water, it smelled very grassy so I panicked and used the same 1.5 oz of white chocolate I used in the chai latte the other day. I then topped that with 8 oz of frothed milk.
There was definitely too much white chocolate again. Between that and the strawberry, this is very sweet. Not cloying but trending that way. It’s creamy and a bit grassy but it’s heavy. Also it tastes a bit like a strawberry milkshake made with strawberry syrup so it’s sweeter than it should be. I think the raspberry matcha might be interesting to try this way because I’m hoping that one will be a little tart or just less sweet than strawberry
I have quite a bit of different Dan Cong tea from Yunnan Sourcing. After trying most of them, and other vendors as well… I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s not the vendor but Dan Cong tea just isn’t for me. It’s far too flowery, perfumey-like for me. So please note that in my rating. You may find it to be a 95 if you love Dan Cong oolong. ^^
Setting that aside, hehe, the tea has large leaves that have a roasted aroma. The liquor is a deep clear brown with the aroma of stonefruits, honey. It has a thick mouthfeel, rich flavor, fruity with hints of stonefruits (peach, apricot) and apple notes. It’s quite flowery, has roasted seeds notes with notes of the sweetness of honey. There is a very long lingering taste of orchid at the end, a floral finish.
6g, 212℉, 110ml, 8 steeps: rinse, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 40s, 60s, 90s, 120s
Stay safe out there!
Flavors: Floral, Flowers, Fruit Tree Flowers, Fruity, Honey, Peach, Perfume, Stonefruits
Preparation
Another tea from derk! Thank you
Again “simple” day – simple drinks as peppermint tea.
I let the bag in all time, so really long steeping time.
Another very fresh and refreshing peppermint. I can’t compare it to Czech brands, which are weak and dirty in taste.
Very tasty, long mounth-feel. Highly drinkable. If I have to compare with Celestial Seasonings, it’s bit worse, but still highly recommended!
Preparation
Backlog from March 11th:
Disappointed in this one, since it smelled so good before steeping. Now it’s bitter. I get the chai spice flavors but there is something hovering over it. It’s tangy or something, I don’t know.
It’s getting better as it cools, thank goodness.
Flavors: Bitter, Clove, Fruity, Spices, Tangy
Preparation
I got this in my March subscription from Bird and Blend. This is honestly not a tea I would’ve purchased, because chocolate teas are just a bit too hit or miss for me, and there didn’t seem to be anything too extraordinary about this one. I made most of the sample as a cold brew in almond/cashew/pea milk (which is still in the fridge), and the rest hot (with nothing added). Hot, it’s pretty gross. It has that awkward thinness that so many chocolate teas suffer from, and that dreaded synthetic flavor. It’s just not good.
Yep, received in subscription as well and this one I am not really sure if I want to drink this one. I smelled it and it was quite artificial. But who knows, maybe I will like it?
Hmm. No tasting notes and rated? What is happening here on Steepster?
Admins!
If there’s something strange
In your website
Who you gonna call?
Admins!
Ehh, I guess not.
And tea? It was like drinking “Winter is coming” again. It was pretty same, with one exception. It was more smoky – because Lapsang Souchong here. Well, even the ingredients are almost same. Bit more spicy.
Took this tea to cut down as well Christmas-related teas. Same rating as Winter is Coming. Prepared grandpa as well.
Flavors: Smoke, Spicy, Wood
Preparation
The funny thing is that the movie has been on my mind a lot in the last year or two. Somewhere along the way, my lovely Mezzo-Soprano singing voice turned into a Contralto and that scene where the princess is singing in the prison cell? That’s basically what I sound like when I sing these days. And every time I’m in my car trying to sing, and the only thing in range is the baritone male parts, I think of that scene.
We jokingly call Revolution varieties Truck Stop Teas because we first found them at the local Flying J/Denny’s and were surprised to see such a sophisticated selection rather than food service grade stuff.
Revolution has made this one deliberately fruity and peachy. I have often compared the flavor of good oolongs to Juicy Fruit chewing gum, but this one is so sweet, I’d call it Fruit Stripe Gum flavor — you know, the 30 seconds of flavor you get until it goes away. Very tasty and pleasant.
This, however, does not make the husband cut. Way too fruity. His oolongs must be toasty and oversteeped enough to bite your tongue. So far, his only consistent request is for inexpensive Bigelow bagged oolong. Eh, I tried.
Elsewhere, a friend of mine has been posting “daily joys” as a reminder that there is still joy to be found when you ponder it. Mine yesterday was a few hours of bona fide sunshine to walk in and watching neighbors try to pose their six-week-old husky pups for a photo session. I’ll be watching for yours.
This smells incredibly chocolatey, to the point where I had to check if there was something added to it. Flavor-wise, it’s not nearly as chocolatey (which was a bit of a disappointment). There’s an underlying bitterness that’s coming through no matter how I steep it.
On a side note- this coronavirus situation has become quite scary. My store has closed for at least 2 weeks (I’m very lucky to still be getting a paycheck during the closure), and my boyfriend’s show was already on hiatus. So, we’ve been staying home with our cats. I’m picking up a foster cat today as well. I’ve been drinking lots of tea as a distraction.
It’s been a crazy last few days and before I get into the tasting note I just wanted to write a small personal Corona Virus update because I’ve had a few people reach out to me asking if I’m still working and things like that.
As things with the Corona virus are rapidly escalating, what’s been going on with work has rapidly been changing. As of today, all of the retail locations have been temporarily closed and sadly all the retail employees have been laid off – along with probably about ninety percent of the office staff. I have conflicting feelings about this – obviously it’s good for stores to not be open to minimize the spread of the virus as much as humanely possible but my heart aches for everyone who has been laid off. Thankfully, it is a temporary lay off and when everything settles everyone should be hired back on. While being laid off is scary, I do think it’s the best call for the most part? I spoke to my brother who works FT at an Olive Garden – so, retail industry. He’s in a spot where their store is still operating, but have DRASTICALLY reduced the amount of shifts/people being scheduled. They’re not penalizing any staff that choose not to work/are taking sick time for self quarantine but at the same time in not actively laying off their employees many of them are having their income massively decline – my brother included. I was initially very frustrated that all the retail staff at DT locations weren’t kept on, but my brother telling me how being laid off would be BENEFICIAL to him changed my opinion. He would be able to collect unemployment insurance, which calculates how much you’re paid based on the average hours you’re working – if retail employee’s hours taper off to a minimum then they actually will make less in most cases than what they would on EI…
As for me, I was part of the small selection of staff that wasn’t laid off – for which I am both very grateful, and left feeling highly guilty about. The majority of staff who were not laid off will be working from home until further notice, but because it’s not possible for me to do my job from home I am continuing to come into the office for the time being. I’m obviously taking a lot of precautionary measures, and aside from the commute there and back I’m self isolating. There are actually less than ten employees now who have access to our office, many of them being lab staff, so it’s pretty safe at the office all things considered – it’s empty enough we can all be in completely different rooms and never interact if we don’t need to/want to. We’re working reduced hours to minimize the time we need to spend away from home; and to avoid high traffic periods on the metro.So, that’s what’s going on with me.
I hope all my friends here on Steepster are doing well and taking precautions/working from home where possible and self isolating. I’m thinking about you all. And enough of the sappy stuff, time to talk about the tea…
I made this cup with some peppermint agave, which may initially sound like a weird pairing but this white tea blend has mint in it already so it really just exaggerated the cooling/refreshing notes that were already present. It also had the added bonus of adding some brightness, juiciness and general life to the watermelon notes. It was delicious overall, and an improvement upon how this normally tastes without additions.
It is part of the five pounds of pu-erh that I ordered to get me through the virus-forced extended working-from-home period.
The reviews by HaChaChaCha and Rich are on point:
- a clean, powerful taste without any funk or bitterness
- thick and viscous, with a strong cha qi
- main flavors are wood and chocolate, with some undertones of barnyard and berries
- not responsive to differences in the brewing time
- not a lot of complexity.
Now, it is well-packed, but not excessively: it could be broken with a knife fairly easy and without dust. This is a no-fuss shou with punch and character that could be enjoyed on a budget. Good stuff.
Flavors: Bark, Barnyard, Berries, Chocolate, Wood
I don’t know how to feel about this tea. It’s tasty, but like something is missing there.
Prepared three teaspoons to DIY tea bag. It’s very sweet in aroma and coconut makes its part too. Blend itself looks very pretty, instagram-like, ready for bite. Brewed in boiling water for quite long (they suggest 4+ min) , I did maybe 8? But as it is rooibos, moreover with lots of other ingredients, I thought it won’t hurt to make it strong.
The aroma of brew is very similar. Coconut! But creamy and cake-like. I have enjoyed the aroma of brew very much. The taste is bit different though. It’s certainly creamy, some notes of coconut there as well. But I am missing some depth of it. It’s creamy coconut, but I have not noticed roses at all, I wonder how fenugreek is in matter of taste, quite distinctive rooibos base (but not woody flavour of it).
Maybe I am just kind of disappointed.
Flavors: Cake, Coconut, Creamy
Preparation
I noticed this tea is approaching its expiration date so I decided to concentrate on drinking it down. I have a LOT of it because it was soooo good and then I got distracted by other teas and let it languish. Time to fix that.
I had a very weird lunch of leftover barbeque (NC vinegar style from CookOut) and waffles with maple syrup. I told you it was weird. I had the bbq first and then made the tea and waffles.
My first sip reminded me why I bought so much all at once. Even though this is nearing its expiry date, it is still good. Tea needs to “cut through” the thick sweetness of the syrup for me, and this one did. Keemun does it by its raspy cocoa dryness, but this one was silky and sweet, with enough flavor contrast to make itself known through the maple.
I think it paired awesomely.
Has anyone seen this article? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1142193/
It was about SARS which is a coronavirus, but basically what it says is that black and puerh tea did have an inhibitory effect on the virus by disrupting an enzyme, 3CL protease. Green and oolong not so much, as the tannins and theaflavin were the helpful bits! Well, any excuse to drink more tea, plus I am hoping the heat of the beverage makes my throat a less hospitable environment for viruses in general!
There are no confirmed cases in our county yet, though there are some in our state. Not worried too much about getting sick as we are taking reasonable precautions, but wondering how supplies of food and other necessaries will hold out with people hoarding.
Praying for all our steepsterites to stay healthy and well fed!
Sorry! Forgot to paste link first time around! It has been added.
Got a tea bag in my huge bags section and… as many of you know, I kind of adore Basilur brand for price-quality ratio.
This tea is exactly what I expected from it. Full bodied taste, very malty but it have got character – it is not one-dimmensional as some are. I notice notes of tobacco, cherry wood, bit of smoky as well. Steeping for three minutes was enough to have all of this!
I am not sure if I should look for loose-leaf version. It’s worth to have even teabags!
As for tea bag – I have to rate it that high. I feel I am lover of Ceylon teas – they “speak” the most for me.
Flavors: Cherry Wood, Malt, Smoke, Tobacco
Preparation
Hey, I never wrote about this when I got my latest lot of flavoured teas and made a return to the site. I must have forgotten. I’ve had it several times since then, I believe, and whenever I see the tin in the cupboard Kate Bush starts singing in my head.
This is a citrus-y one. Although it does contain bergamot oil, I would say there’s not really enough of it for this to qualify as a member of the EG family. It also has lemon, lime and orange blossom, and maaaaaybe a bit of orange flavouring as well? I’m not sure.
The result is sweet and citrus-y, with a creamy sort of texture to it. I feel like lime is the most dominant flavour here. I suspect the bergamot oil is actually working to temper the tartness of the lemon and lime. This is also why I think there might be some orange flavouring added to it apart from just the blossoms. It feels too sweet for there not to be anything to balance it out.
I’m quite happy with this one. It’s delicious as a post-lunch tea.
I also rather enjoy Kate Bush on occassion, but I could live without the earworm. :)
First tea from today, and honestly probably the best one!?
Out of all the cake teas from my giant seventeen tea line up, this is probably tied with AQ2T’s Red Wine Apple Cake for my favourite and I think it was almost definitely the favourite of my coworkers from the tasting I organized. Of course, we all have at least a little bit of bias though…
I just enjoy how smooth this is, and the flavour was very caramelized citrus. Not too sweet though, which is important for something that tastes caramelized.
Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.
I’m hoping everyone stays safe and healthy! Scary times.
Thanks for the samples, Teakruthi! These leaves must be the largest that I’ve seen even in a white tea! Impossible to measure with a teaspoon so I just threw a ton of leaves in the infuser. Probably a small handful in my smallish hand. I’ve tried this a couple times using different parameters. The scent of the dry leaves is like the sweetest pile of hay in sunshine. The flavor is very light, so light it is tough to describe: light, full of minerals, smooth. It’s like a blank slate of a tea, more than most teas I’ve tried, which can be a good thing or not depending what you’re in the mood to drink. If you are simply craving a lovely white tea, this is a good one to try. I had to steep it the way Teakruthi recommended, and really this is impossible to oversteep. I will dock some points due to the comparisons between price & simpleness of flavor, however.
Steep #1 // 39 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 16 minutes after boiling // 1 1/2 min
Second steep session:
Steep #1 // 28 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 16 minutes after boiling // 5 minute steep
2020 sipdowns: 19 (David’s Glitter & Gold)
Sipdown. Sad now as I’ve got 3? Teas left. I really need to find time to go place an order or two or pick up and drop off teas with variaTEA. That being said, even if I order it’ll take a while for things to get here. I’m sad to see this one go as it was quite nice, especially when steeped at a lower temperature. I’ll likely pick it up again the next time I order from YS.
Outside of tea…anyone else just stressed about the craziness that Covid-19 is causing? I’m much less worried about running out of toilet paper than I am about food. Grocery stores here have line ups to get in, low to no stock on shelves. I worry for the more senior folks in our area who won’t have access to basic things they might need to self quarantine. I hope this brings out the best in people as it continues. I know our mom group is already trying to make sure everyone has what they need to get through at least the next week or two.
Stay safe and helpful people.
Tell me about that. Again, shop here: Let’s take all the pasta, cans, rice, chinese noodles, what if…
They are hoarding. Government sucks. I have no other words for that. I am starting to be afraid. Not because of family members, but even for myself.