523 Tasting Notes

I just love the way the leaves are all coiled up. They look so cute.

The first sip I took, I thought it tasted sort of musty, like a moldy bath towel. I was about to call this one no good, but that flavor was a fluke! Maybe it was still too hot to get a proper flavor out of it. I really shouldn’t be so impatient about taking the first sip.

I am now tasting the sweetness, like sweet potatoes and malty goodness.

Brew Notes:
2 level tsp in 14oz of water
3 min. steep

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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85

Oh wow! This is the best green tea I’ve had in a long time. I haven’t ever smelled such potent, fresh dry leaves (of course, I’ve never had such a fresh harvest before either). I could smell the bag of dry leaves all day.

The brewed cup does not disappoint either. Tastes as creamy, sweet, and vegetal. I must order a larger bag of this next time as I don’t think this one will last very long (^.^)

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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Another decadently exotic sample from Shmiracles.

I was pretty excited about this one. the leaves look and smell good enough to eat! The brewed cup isn’t quite so decadent (for me, anyway). It’s got a sort of tart or liquor-like flavor about it. The chocolate is there, but I’m not too fond of liquor flavor with occasional exceptions. I was hoping for more of a creamy backdrop for the chocolate.

But this really is all for the best. I still fear the day when I am tempted to spend more on shipping than on the tea in order to get it from afar!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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85

So i was thinking I’d make a black tea and I pulled this out of my unopened samples box, not paying too much attention and kind of in a hurry. After a few minutes, when I was going to take the leaves out of the cup, I thought, “hey, thats a funny colored black tea!” It’s not exactly green though either, more like amber. I thought maybe I didnt use enough leaves or something. Oh well. Then I took a sip and it was definitely not black tea flavor. haha. Still, very good. Once I overcame the state of confusion, I decided that I like it quite a lot. It’s a very unique flavor of Green Tea.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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Thank you so much Shmiracles for sharing such a coveted tea treasure; the only tea that you deemed worthy of a rating. It must have been hard to part with! haha.

So I have to start with a bit of backstory: About a week ago, my father was grilling bbq chicken and he used some fancy smoke-flavor thing that my brother had given him as a gift some time ago. I took one bite of this chicken and complained immediately that it tasted like a chimney and that I was pretty sure I was exhaling chimney smoke from my nose for half an hour after eating it. But my father loves smokey flavors, so all the better for him. What he doesn’t like are most of the teas I bring for him to sample. “tastes like seaweed!” … “that tastes like seaweed too” … “too weak” … “too boring” … “SEAWEED!!!”

I had never tried Lapsang Souchong nor any blends made with it, but I read plenty about it’s smokiness and told my father that I will have to get him some. It’s not a tea I ever would have considered getting for myself as I knew it wouldn’t suit me.

So fortunate it was that I happened to get a Lapsang blend in a swap. I opened the bag, smelled it and thought “yep, this has Papa written all over it!” I took it over to my parents house this evening and told my father that I found the tea for him. And guess what? No surprise, he LOVED it. He even asked if there was more before he finished the cup that I gave him. I also poured small sample cups for my mother, little sister, and myself (because I can’t officially say that I don’t like it unless I try it). It was one awful smelly cup of blech to me and my mother wasn’t too tickled either. As for my little sister, her story is special too. She’s been sampling several teas that I bring over there and not once ever has she not liked one. Every tea is equally good in her book and I was determined to find something she didn’t like. Finally did. She didn’t even finish her sample, but gave it to Papa.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
moraiwe

Oh man. If you found someone who loves smokey flavors, I have about 2 oz of California Tea House’s Organic Lapsang Souchong that I would be more than happy to part with! I got it for Fiance because he likes some smokey flavored things, but tea just isn’t one of them. (I’ve been using it in homemade BBQ sauce, but I can only make so much BBQ sauce….)

Shelley_Lorraine

BBQ sauce made with tea… interesting. My father would certainly love that Lapsang Souchong that you have. And I have no doubt that he’d dump tabasco sauce in it and call it nirvana. haha.

But I’m not sure I have anything left good to swap for it as we’ve already swapped a couple times recently. I have added a few new things to my cupboard since then though, so maybe. pm me and let me know.

Shmiracles

so glad somebody liked it! i do love the tea. i’m probably gonna order more right now cuz my mouth is watering just reading about it. i know it’s a strange tea. but i think that’s what makes it so appealing to me.
i LOVE that more than one person tried it to. it’s definitely a conversation piece if nothing else hah.
ummm, if you guys haven’t decided to swap i’d be happy to take the Lapsang form you Moraiwe :) !!

Shelley_Lorraine

Oh gee, no, my father neeeeeeds it. He’s been asking about it every day since. lol.

Shmiracles

haha congrats on creating another tea convert!!! :)

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85
drank Red Robe by thepuriTea
523 tasting notes

Tastes like a roasted oolong. A bit nutty too, like Houjicha. It’s quite good, but not exciting. Lots of roasted oolongs out there. I like this better than some and less than others. This one could be one of many roasted oolongs that I cycle through me regular stash (I always like to have at least one)

I do, however, like the name, so it may get preference once in a while just for that.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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85

No notes yet. Add one?

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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Thank you Shmiracles for this sample!

The dried leaves smell incredibly yummy. I checked on Steepster before I brewed it and took the advice to keep it short. I did 2min30sec.

I am picking up on the coconut flavor that one of you other reviewers mentioned too. I do absolutely love a good macaroon (and, incidentally, so does my siamese cat) or German chocolate cake, but I’ve never liked coconut in teas. It usually makes me feel sick. But this isn’t coconut though, now is it? It’s coconut-esqu minus the horrid after-taste that real coconut teas give me.

I do like it quite alright, but I’m not in love by any means. I’ve been pretty picky about dessert teas, so no surprise there. However, I like it a whole lot better than most of what I get from Della Terra. The sweetness of this one is not rediculously-over-the-top. Unfortunately, the coconut-like flavor, while not at all nauseating, is too reminiscent of the teas I don’t like and it is putting me off just a bit.

I’m afraid to try too many samples from exotic over-seas companies because i am afraid that I will love them and won’t be able to acquire them easily! I let my husband take a sip from my cup and he loved it. I told him, well, that’s too bad. (^o^)

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Shmiracles

haha i’m WORRIED TOO!! i used to lazily make virtual shopping carts of tea while i’m at work all the time, usually closing the tab and not buying anything in the end. and that fad has been dormant for a while, …but now it’s back with a vengeance! and the MF & DF carts i make are NOT fooling around OH NOES!

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75

This tea smells very sweet when brewed. I almost expected it to taste similar to my Rep. of Tea Wuyi oolong, but it doesn’t. I can definitely detect characteristics of both back and oolong teas. It also has a sort of musty flavor, not necessarily bad, just different. I am more than happy to finish off my bag, but I don’t know about a repurchase. I have other favorite dark oolongs.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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The honey flavor of this tea doesn’t seem as strong today. It’s still there, but now accompanied by a very mild floral and a sort of malty flavor. I used more leaves than before, but the steep time was less.

The last time I had it (no logged) it seemed weaker than usual so I deliberately increased the leaf this time.

I’m not quite sure why this tea is being so finicky all of a sudden. The only explanation is that my original batch was in a small sample tin. I liked every cup that I had from that tin. This one is from the larger tin that I ordered when I ran out of the other.

I am going to have to lower my rating on this one just a bit. I still like to drink it, but I don’t know if I’ll order again.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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Profile

Bio

Name: Shelley Lorraine Limegrover
Location: Livingston, MT

Hobbies: Learning, reading books, math, physics (have a degree in it), literature (have a degree in it too), anthropology, traveling, piano, and drinking TEA, of course (^o^)

Favorite teas: Kukicha, Green teas in general, aged oolongs, charcoal roasted oolong, taiwanese oolongs, Assam . . .

Don’t like: Genmaicha, Earl Grey, Darjeelings, ginger, coconut, smokey teas (even mild ones), nut flavors, overwhelmingly strong floral flavor (esp. Jasmine), most della derra and adagio teas. . .

My Rating System

100 My happiness absolutely depends on it

95 Will definitely repurchase

85: Might repurchase (teas that depend on my mood)

75 Won’t repurchase (but I would drink it again if offered).

65: meh

45: I reluctantly finished a cup.

15: Couldn’t finish a cup.

I simplified my ratings to single numbers rather than ranges because I can’t precisely compare so many teas with a system more detailed than this.

An unrated tea is most often one that I recognize as having significant notable quality, but that does not suit me personally. Sometimes, I leave teas unrated for other reasons, such as I am undecided or I brewed it wrong, etc.

Note: Boiling temp. barely reaches 200 where I am (and a few times it sticks at 195, I assume due to unexplainable shifts in altitude or the position of the moon. . .aliens?. . .).

Location

Colorado

Website

https://shelleyintherain.word...

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