236 Tasting Notes
It is my second experience with this tea and I’m struck by how ordinary the dry leaves smell and even the brewed tea smells ordinary. But then I taste it and it is out of this world. I brewed it stronger this morning and that gave it a little bite to go with the buttery smoothness. Mmmm.
Years ago I used to sit in a sushi restaurant, eating small morsels, writing, and drinking mug after mug of bancha tea. This bancha is similar to that long-ago brew. It brews up with a lovely red tan liquor. The roast is not as powerful as the bancha I used to drink, but the flavor and fragrance are more complex. The tea retains a bit of vegetal taste in addition to the comforting roasted flavor. Nice.
A nice tea with a wine-like scent, nice flavor, and very little bitterness. It is a slow-sipper. It would probably go very well with a croissant or toast and pleasant company. It has very little complexity or drama. It is comfortable, like sitting down with an old friend.
Sharp and strong, which is good for the morning but bad for me at other times. There is a cocoa note that appears midway through the quaff and it is of the bitter cocoa variety. If I drank my tea with sugar or honey, this is a tea I would use it with.
The tea leaves are quite pretty with their hand-made spirals, but one cannot buy a tea just for beauty. Well, ok, I sometimes do. But in this case, I probably won’t.
It’s a nice, warming chai and it goes well with the Vegetables and Seitan in Indian Tamarind Curry Sauce we’re having tonight.
I must admit I’m disappointed. I expected more flavor and a sharp bite from the peppers. Perhaps I need to steep it longer. Don’t get me wrong, I like it and I need a good decaf for evenings. I will probably order more of it, but it could be so much more. I will have to try a longer, more intense steep next time.
What an incredible tea! As advertised, it has a lovely buttery flavor and no bitterness. There is a flowery note that is very similar to a Darjeeling. It claims to have smoky nuances and I can smell that in the dry leaves (which are truly beautiful with the little golden swirls) but it disappears once the tea is brewed.
This is going on my have to have list. It is one of those, “I didn’t know tea could taste like that!” teas
Second Steeping: It is still good (though weaker) in the second steeping and still no bitterness even though I had to steep it longer. It takes on a slight caramel taste in the second steeping.
A very nice blend of spices, cocoa, and tea. I drank it with Silk creamer, which married to its flavors to quite well. This tea has a stronger cocoa taste than I expected, though it does not taste of chocolate. It is full-bodied, but without the sly, sweet, creaminess of chocolate.
The first few sips feature the cardamon and cinnamon most prominently. In subsequent sips the cocoa begins to come into its own and it dominates the taste, though it is a benevolent tyrant that allows the other flavors to add their notes as well.
The tea is black with a whisper of floweriness in the notes that comprise it. But it has a hard time getting a word in edgewise compared to the cocoa.
Since I love cocoa, spices, and tea, I love this one. I will be buying a canister of it very soon.
