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Barbara drank Black Guanyin by tea-adventure

59 tasting notes

I received a sample of this with my ‘little black tea adventure’.

I divided the sample in two and prepared two cups on two separate days. The information provided by tea-adventure is rather accurate. I wasn’t overly enthusiastic after my first cup and thought the tea to be a bit curious, with overly fruity tones or an excessive ‘fruity freshness’. When having my second cup I knew a bit better what to expect and that seems to have had a positive impact on the tasting experience. Rather like when you put a sandwich in you mouth, convinced that it has peanut butter on it, while actually it has jam on it…

While tasting the different samples I’ve discovered that my profile remains true. I prefer flavored black teas to unflavored black teas. Nevertheless I’ve tasted a few I’m considering to buy and this is one of them. Once I was used to the flavor I found I actually appreciate it quite a lot. A great black tea for the summer in my opinion…

Preparation

205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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Bio

What to say about myself and my tea drinking habits? I’ve been staring at the screen, reading other’s bio’s and still can’t come up with something worthwile. I’ll just stick to the basics.

I generally prefer white, green and oolong teas to black teas. As I read a scientific report that stated that black teas lower the level of stress hormones in the blood, I try to add a few cups of black tea every day.

Overall I prefer black teas to be flavoured. The white, green and oolongs may be flavoured or straight.

I brew my teas per cup, mostly in my – much loved – Kati mug with Cha Cult strainer. I’m rather a stickler for brewing time and temperature, so I use a tea timer and watercooker with temperature indication.

I also love a good cup of coffee and especially cappuchino. As far as I’m concerned, a good cappuchino requires a real milk/foam topping, not something made with skimmed milk, powder or the like. Unfortunately a lot of cafes still haven’t caught on to that one and serve low quality coffee and tea (type vending machine and bagged fannings). I hate it when, on a cold winter day, the choice is restricted to bad coffee, bagged fannings or a cold softdrink… :-(

As for rating teas, I more or less make the following distinction:

100:
Nothing is perfect. Probably won’t be using it ever.

98 – 99:
Nearly too good to be true.

90 – 97:
Exceptional.

80 – 89:
Excellent.

70 – 79:
Good. May rebuy depending on price and availability.

60 – 69:
Ok I’ll finish the cup and maybe even have a second, but probably won’t finish the entire package as I have other – (far) better teas in my cupboard.

< 60:
I feel cheated. I won’t ever be buying this again.

< 50:
This really is no good.

< 30:
I hate this. I want my money back.

1:
Beyond horrible!

PS: Recalibrated my ratings according to this index on 23 feb 2013.