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Taste note numba 50! :D

Okay, I’m weird. I don’t taste what everyone else tastes, but what I taste, I love. So I guess that’s okay then. :)

Taiwanese Assam Upgrade version tastes like sitting in a log cabin in front of a roaring fire. It’s thick, and hearty, and especially goes great with a hot bowl of Red River cereal in the morning. What’s really strange though, is that for me this tea tastes really savory! It’s amazing how differently people interpret different tastes, but no matter when I have this, or regardless of if I have anything before it or not, that’s what I taste. I don’t know how else to describe it. I’ve had multiple cups of this now, and I can’t really tell you what it brings to mind other than the image I explained above.

Sadly, due to it being a AAA tea, it’s pretty expensive. Dx; Especially when you factor in how much leaf you use per cup. If I was as rich as the impression I’m giving a certain tea retailer by my multiple large orders this past month, I’d make sure to have this on hand at all times, but since I’m not and there are other teas I do ultimately like better, this’ll be a once in a while indulgence purchase. :)

(By the way, for Steepsterites outside of Canada, Red River cereal is a type of porridge, but it’s kind of seeds and grains rather than being composed of oats. It’s very hearty and delicious, and I feel for you that it seems to only be in Canada.)

I was a bit worried when I smelled the leaf. It smelled of caramel and … something funky. Wouldn’t know how to explain it. My worries melted away after I steeped it though. Apparently this tea just has a bit of a funny dry smell! :)

I couldn’t find any steeping instructions on the website, but maybe I was just impatient and didn’t read thoroughly enough. This is already later than I should be having a black tea as it is, so I was in a bit of a hurry to get this going. So I went with the assumption of one teaspoon per 8oz, used boiling water, and steeped for three minutes, which is always safe for a black tea.

Anyway, yum yum~ :D This tastes like caramel popcorn! Makes a great dessert, but I wouldn’t drink this every day. For a sweet tooth day, I’ll definitely be scooping some of this up, putting in a little milk and sipping happily with no guilt.

I am going to adjust parameters for the next cup though. This tastes really good, but I do feel like it’s not at its full potential for delicious. Perhaps I should try a four minute steep. That works well with the Coconut Cream Pie. :)

I’ll enjoy this pouch to the end, but this isn’t a re-order for me. Meanwhile Blueberry Cream Cheese Danish and Coconut Cream Pie I’d have on hand all the time if I could for my dessert cravings. :)

So I’ve been a bit worried about trying this. I was so excited to try this I could hardly stand it, but after hearing about all about the “chemical taste” “cheap wine taste” “off-taste” etc comments from Steepsterites the past couple weeks, I almost dreaded my order arriving, and finding out if I was one of the unlucky ones too.

The smell is promising so far. It’s overwhelmingly of blueberry, and doesn’t seem to be anything weird. I like my teas fairly strong, so if I’m given a steeping window, I always try it on the strongest first. The website suggested 4-5 minutes, so I went with 5. The liquor is … VERY dark. Haha. Like BLACK. This black tea earned its name, hehe.

Sipping it now, I get a strong blueberry flavor, and a thick sweetness, which I imagine is emulating the ‘cream cheese danish’ part. I’m wishing I tried this before I ate that lasagna though, because I’m not sure if that tang yet is authentically like cream cheese, or if it’s that chemical taste I’ve been hearing about since the tomato sauce is throwing me off.

I’m thinking this one would do better with a four minute steep instead of a five. It has that funny taste that you get when you steep a strong black for too long, almost like you’ve just cooked it a bit.

I tried a second infusion, and either this one does NOT re-steep well at all, or it’s because I killed it with a five minute infusion the first time around.

All in all, it’s promising. Now when I smell the dry leaf after having a cup, I smell the the cream cheesy sweetness in addition to the blueberries. Grabbed some fresh leaf and going try out a four minute infusion this time around, still with boiling water.
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Now that my mouth is rinsed of the lasagne, I’m trying the second cup of this, this time at four minutes judging by what I could discern from the first. Now I can definitely tell that losing that minute has caused less of the actual flavor to come through, but the black tea itself has improved now that it hasn’t been oversteeped. Perhaps five minutes and under boiling will be the magic touch? I want to avoid the using extra leaf route if possible, because extra leaf means less cups, which means this face: :(

Anyway, musings about the perfect parameters aside, this is some serious yum in a cup. The blueberries taste JUICY, and there’s that thick, tangy sweet cream cheese flavor which practically makes my eyes roll back into my head.

I’m going to say something extremely selfish, so you may want to avert your eyes from the following sentence: Why did I not order all seven pouches that were available at the time of ordering!?

This is good. Really good. I’m putting myself on that waiting list on the website. :)

So I went laser tagging with my work friends last night, the first time I played since those elementary school birthday parties from a million years ago. :) I had tons of fun, but now my throat hurts from screaming too much. DX; So I thought I’d give this tea a go on my break.

I didn’t realize this had hibiscus so I oversteeped it. It’s a really dark color now and I can’t really taste the chamomile anymore. It’s still fairly sweet though naturally, the cool mint feels good on my throat. I agree with others who said this was a bit on the busy side. I kinda just wanted the chamomile. Overall it’s okay, but I couldn’t be bothered to bring a tin home even though it’d be free.

This tea is always delicious, and hits the spot everytime. I get two good steeps out of this, though the second is noticeably thinner and a bit on the astringent side. It’s still deliciously cinnamony though! :)

I’ve relied on this tea so much lately that I wonder what I drank before I ever had this, haha.

If I had one complaint about this tea, it’s that if I run out, I get chocolate cravings like CRAZY which I never had before (except around Christmas time where I instinctively expect chocolate). There’s an easy solution to this though; never run out. ;)

Wow, no ratings and no tasting notes. I’m … the first to try this? I feel unworthy, being such a green tea newbie. With no other tasting notes to compare this one to (aside from Butiki’s description) I’ll try to describe it my very best, as uncultured as my tastebuds are.

The dry leaf was very interesting. It really was snail like, except they didn’t look disgusting like snails do. During the two minute steep — as directed on the sample baggy — they’ve fully uncurled themselves and are much longer than I initially expected, since the rolls were so tiny. They’re lovely to look at.

The smell of the steeped tea is very vegetal, more so than the Organic Huangshan Mao Feng.

The taste is surprisingly fruity and juicy considering! I was almost taken aback. After an almost overwhelming vegetal scent, I wasn’t figuring on the burst of fruit! :)

The taste starts off sort of roasty grassy, then BURST of fruit, followed by sweetness and gentle vegetal notes at the swallow. Each sip consistently goes that way. You don’t taste one thing on one sip, and another on a different sip. Each sip gradually flavors from one thing to the next until the swallow.

It isn’t bitter, nor is it astringent. Of the green teas I’ve tried — honestly it’s not very many — this has the thickest mouth feel to it which I’m enjoying. It feels creamy on the tongue, but not so much so that your mouth is being coated.

As the cup cools, the vegetal taste at the swallow is turning more into citrusy fruit. Very gently so mind you, it’s not at all tart.

All in all, I enjoyed the cup. :) It was a very soothing drink, I almost feel ready to go to bed even though it’s only 6PM, haha. And now, hooray! I’ve finished all of my samples :D

Received this as a sample! :) Thanks Stacy!

So apparently this is green tea that the Creamy Eggnog used as a base — which I also had as a sample a little while back — so I’m very interested to try it!

Not entirely sure how the dry leaf smells. Anytime I tried a whiff, I just smelled the Jasmine Pearls that was also in the parcel, heh. After being steeped, it smells of freshly mown grass, but not in a bad way. The liquor is very light, butter like in color.

The taste is buttery and sweet, and has that hint of fresh grass at the swallow. As I sip, I’m picking up on the floral notes from the sweet pea. It’s not bitter, or astringent.

It’s very pleasant. :) It’s making me want to try the Creamy Eggnog again sometime, because I think my palate is far more refined now than it was then. I remember when I had it before I couldn’t taste much beyond hot water until I added a bit of sugar, but I’m tasting this very clearly.

I’m not sure if I’ve been WOWED, but I can say this is one of the better green teas I’ve tried. :)

Alrighty, time to try another flavored white. :) This time it’s with a Silver Needle base instead of Bai Mu Dan like the others I’ve tried.

Though the leaves are entirely different, dry leaf this smells exactly like Cantaloupe&Cream. Now that’s not a terrible thing, as I absolutely love Cantaloupe&Cream, but I was wanting something different.

Steeped, it has a lighter liquor than the aforementioned, though it still smells the same. Taking a sip, I could notice right away that the base tea was different. Didn’t have that creaminess of Bai Mu Dan, but I found the flavoring still tasted almost exactly like Cantaloupe&Cream. Following the recommendation, I added a tiny bit of golden sugar. I’ve actually been making a point of avoiding sugar in teas, but as it was recommended, thought I might as well give it a go!

With the sugar, the tea has transformed and the watermelon flavor has POPPED. It’s sweet, juicy and refreshing. It tastes like summer in a cup. The instinct is to want to guzzle it, but I’m trying to slow down and make myself sip instead of gulp.

This is a very nice flavored Silver Needle, but since I don’t drink whites extremely often — about once a week — I don’t feel the need to have several varieties at a time. Glad I tried this, but between this, Cantaloupe&Cream and Pineapple Cilantro Cream, the cantaloupe is my favorite. :) I also like that the cantaloupe uses less leaf per cup; makes it more budget worthy to keep on hand. :)