336 Tasting Notes

70
drank Pu Erh Poe by Adagio Teas
336 tasting notes

I wound up making a big pot of this in the morning. This is the third time I’ve had this tea; I still can’t decide if I like it or not.

I think the smell is what keeps me from making it on a regular basis. The dried leaves smell exactly like fish. The nice thing about this tea is that it won’t oversteep. I was okay with the flavor at first, but it’s growing off me a little; it’s very mossy without being smooth like the other black teas in Adagio’s Silk Road Sampler. Think I’ll finish off what I’ve got left and call it done.

EDIT: Yep, I’ve decided. I don’t like this tea. This is only my first pu erh, so I am by no means an expert. I’d have to try more to see whether it was the flavor of this particular tea I disliked or if I’m just not a pu erh fan in general, but this just didn’t win my favor.

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90
drank Yunnan Jig by Adagio Teas
336 tasting notes

Ice cream for breakfast + gloriously terrible Les Miserables anime (yes, it exists) + yunnan jig = good start to the day before I have to open at work (yuck.)

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55
drank Earl Grey White by Teavana
336 tasting notes

This is one I’ve had kicking around for a while. This time, I kept the water temp super low so as not to burn the crap out of the leaves like I did last time I made it.

It’s a decent tea, at least by my newbie standards, but I… I fear I’m starting to lose my taste for bergamot. I don’t know why, I think the astringency is starting to get to me. But it’s the only white tea I have (there’s my cue to try some new ones), and after a long day following a shitty night’s sleep and having taken two Excedrin earlier this evening, I figured I needed something that was a little lighter on the caffeine than my standard green tea.

There’s not really a whole lot else I can say about the flavor, apart from a lighter bergamot twinge than the Earl Grey black tea from the same company.

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80

Understeeped it for once. Tastes like lightly flavored water. My fault, since I’ve made it taste like real tea in the past. Whoops.

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79
drank English Breakfast by Adagio Teas
336 tasting notes

Woke up to a gray, yucky-looking morning on my day off. Almost made myself a cup of Black Dragon Pearl, but decided to let it stretch a little longer and revisit my English Breakfast. This is one of those teas that I’ve been going back and forth on. I got it as a part of Adagio’s Silk Road Sampler of Chinese black teas. At first I was underwhelmed, then I kinda liked it, then I was kinda underwhelmed, then…

The leaves are dark colored with a deep, sweet smell, and the liquor is the gorgeous reddish hue of any good black tea. As one of the other Steepsterites pointed out, Adagio’s teas tend to brew a little light, but I’ve found that if you give them a little help (or time, if it’s a tea that won’t oversteep), the color becomes what it should. Sliiiiiiiightly earthy/mushroomy twinge in the same sweet aroma that I got from the dry leaves.

This is one of the “earthy” teas. I saw the words “damp,” “woodsy,” “earthy,” and “mossy” come up in a lot of the reviews I read of this tea, and I find myself agreeing. The image that comes to mind is (I’m so original!) the mossy floorbed of a deep, dark forest. Slight astringency, if that’s the right word. If it tasted like it smelled, it would probably be one of my favorites; as it is, it’s a decent tea but I don’t think I would buy it again.

EDIT: I’m currently on cup three of the same brew, same first infusion. But now I’m getting a little more malty? Perhaps it’s because I’m not eating a Nutri Grain bar at the same time. :P This is more of the flavor I like.

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec

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97

So I think I discovered the secret to this tea: make it, then let it sit for a few hours. I’m not sure why (perhaps it’s just the cooler temperature bringing out more flavor complexity), but it seems like every time I make myself a pot of this and have one cup right away and one cup in the late afternoon, the second cup is the one I end up craving.

With this tea, the instructions are to let it steep for five minutes, but even after four the tea is always kind of a pale yellow liquor. I usually find myself swishing around the strainer, or pouring and repouring the water over the leaves to speed up the infusion process. Maybe I should just learn to be a little more patient. Still delicious either way.

…Oh, and on a side note, I think I’ve discovered why my past several teas keep tasting like metal. It’s the damn strainer I keep using in place of my teapot! Maybe because I haven’t truly washed the strainer with soap yet (I always rinse it off after I use it to make tea), but the past several times I have tried to use it to make tea, the tea tastes metallic, and the past several times I have used the pot, the tea tastes delicious. Nrrrrrgh….

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97

Had this tea this morning as my wake-me-up comfort tea. This is my favorite black tea, and possibly my favorite tea…

I’d been curious about it, but I didn’t know what I was missing until my boss let me have a sample of some of hers. You know, so often the item descriptions on Adagio don’t match my own experience with the tea, so when I read “subtle notes of cocoa” I thought, “Riiiiight.” And then I made myself a couple of cups, and lo and behold, what was that subtle little aroma? Honest to god, it really does smell a bit like cocoa. Easy-to-handle large pearls (do 2-3 per cup), pretty reddish brew, smooth and malty flavor. Not astringent at all. It’s the tea I crave when I’m not having tea. Will definitely be buying the bigger bag of this stuff.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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75

Backlog!

This is what Teavana always sends out as their free sample when you do an online order, so I have about 6 oz of this stuff sitting around, completely by accident. It had two things going against it for me: 1) it’s an herbal tea (OK, a white and herbal tea), and 2) it has orange, and I dislike orange.

So it was quite a surprise when I discovered that I liked this tea! The orange is very light, not a smack-you-in-the-face citrus, and it’s a little sweet. I imagine it would make a great iced tea (hmmm… summer’s coming up. Maybe that’s how I’ll sipdown those 6 oz. sitting around…)

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89

Alrighty, Calm the F*** Down Tea, do your magic!

… But not in a cup that tastes like this afternoon’s Hojicha.

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Profile

Bio

The name’s Holly. 27. Work for a small IT company. About to finish a Master’s degree this winter. ISFJ for what it’s worth. I play various instruments (mostly bass guitar right now), attempt to write songs that I’m too scared to play for anyone, and I’m currently taking voice lessons. I also enjoy starting various hobbies, wearing monochromes, writing, cooking, taking walks, and various and sundry other things…

I’ve been a tea drinker since spring of 2013. Tea is a source of happiness, positivity, curiosity, and relaxation (…and caffeine) for me.

I’ve been on and off this site over the years, and I even had a separate tea blog at one point. For now, I’m just working on getting back in the habit of enjoying tea regularly and to its fullest.

Love: Malty Chinese black teas, shu/ripe pu erhs, soft flowery teas (esp. jasmine teas)

Like: Japanese green teas, sheng/ripe pu erhs, white teas

Still trying to get into: Most oolongs, chai teas

Not crazy about: Roasty teas, fruity teas, rooibos, many (not all) herbal teas

Ratings:
90-100: YEAH!
80-89: Nice! This is good stuff.
70-79: Respectable tea.
60-69: Not bad.
50-59: Middling. Not really worth it.
25-49: Eeeeeugh. Not good.
0-24: Did you know you can use tea leaves as odor absorbent?

Location

Ohio

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