650 Tasting Notes
This went from fruity to slightly bitter in thirty seconds so watch your steeping time and sip often. I could see being tasty in a real sangria or an iced tea. Good muscetal notes along with some hints of citrus which extends into the after taste. Not the most silky mouth feel because of the citrus but all the flavors work together fairly well despite that.
Ah Tikuanyin, you most mysterious temptress. Sometimes you toast lightly with the most interesting slightly woodsy notes and other times you are more like your green brethren with grassy flavors abundant. But this time darling you seem to be somewhere in the middle. A bit of wood, a bit of earth, a tad of hay,
If you generally aren’t a fan of rooibos because of how overpowering it can be then you may want to try this. It’s very well balanced. The rooibos created a creamy atmosphere for the apricot and berries. The honey helps keep the generally over powering flavor of the rooibos in check. Also need to add that the aroma of this one is very nice. Would make a great was melt scent.
A unique blend. Darjeeling is a hard tea to blend with others because its characteristics are so unlike other black teas. I seem to be having trouble getting the steeping times right with this one. Either that or it’s just because I’m a mom and should use a timer but keep forgetting. A woodsy blend with earthy after taste.
Now this is green tea! Wonderful grassy flavor. Slightly bitter tang. A nutty, just lightly aftertaste follows with the grass. These days I tend to avoid tea bags because of the CTC method of processing but The Book of Tea is comprised of all tea bags save for one loose leaf tin. However, not all tea bags are made equal. Take the tea I have in my cup at the moment; Sencha Uji by Lupicia. While it still is a bit sad to see how torn the leaves are (sorry I have a thing for whole leaves) I am still impressed by the green color and fact that they aren’t all completely torn. The flavor is quite enjoyable. When I think of what a high end green tea tastes like it’s something like this.
Once you taste matcha from Material Matcha Uji you’ll find it hard to drink any other matcha. The others are fine for smoothies and cooking leave MMU for drinking on it’s own. Anyway, MMU01, this is a weird place to start but I’m really enjoying the aftertaste. It’s sweet with a unique grassy umami. Kinda almost reminds me of the aftertaste in a ginseng oolong. It’s so good. It has a sharpness to it unlike the other two thanks to the higher intensity of grassy flavors. Still not grassy like a green tea though. Now that I’ve had all three I have to admit I’m surprised at how different, even though subtle, each can be. MMU03 is still my favorite but MMU01 is a very close second.
Cold brewed because American hotels and hostels suck for the most part at providing hot water for tea. And even when they do at times it tastes like coffee water cause they use the same carafe for coffee! Argh. Anyway, this is quite enjoyable cold. Light and fragrant just like its label says. Perfect black of black tea and bergamot flavor.
If you could choose between mass produced or family owned and operated which would you choose? This tea is wild grown and plucked by a single family. As I sit here and look at neatly rolled tea leaves I can’t help but wonder what the family is like.
When I first opened the can I was hit with a sweet honey aroma. I’m not smelling it anymore but it’s on par with the honey like taste of the liquid. Along with the honey there are also some malt and slight chocolate notes. This is the type of black tea that you need to try without anything added first. While I do think it would hold up well to honey and milk or maybe some sugar I do think it’s best on it’s own. Also if brewing in a tea pot you will need a bit more leaves then normal if you like a stronger brew as it is lighter on the black tea spectrum
Holy Grapefruit Batman! Zip. POW! Smack. It’s the sour bitterness of grapefruit without the bite. To be honest I’m not a huge fan of grapefruit but I was curious as to how green tea would handle the flavor and I must say I’m impressed. All the flavors seem to get along swimmingly.
