523 Tasting Notes

75

So apparently Moroccan mint can have peppermint, spearmint, or both. This one is peppermint. I got it because there was a sale and my husband wanted more moroccan mint. The one he had before was spearmint. We both prefer the spearmint one. But this isn’t bad. The gunpowder green base seems to come through stronger, I think. It smells a lot more smoky than the spearmint blend did.

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75

After sampling so many different types of tea and then returning to this, one of my originals, I find that it is not as good as I remember. It has a hint of that dirty/muddy flat taste that I associated with my Sencha for a while (until I figured out how to brew it correctly!). But I prepared this the same as I always have, so I dunno why it seems different now.

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85

Thank you greenteafairy for this sample.

I really like that the Butiki teas are not over-the-top with flavoring. When coffee was my preferred beverage (and I do still appreciate a good dark roast), I never like flavored coffees and I never added cream or sugar. Along the same lines, I initially drank only unflavored teas before joining Steepster. After reading so many positive reviews about dessert-type teas, I thought that they might be alright. So far the best I’ve tried come from Butiki. Stacy seems to know how to create a blend that retains the qualities of the base tea rather than smothering it in flavor oils.

As for the Cider Guayusa, its pretty good. I can’t say that it’s my favorite as I’m not terribly into cider in the first place, but my husband is wild about this tea. He doesn’t have an account on here and likely won’t consider getting one, but he did write up a tasting note that I can share here:

“This [whatever it is called] is nice. It has a nice soft Apple flavor and it generally smells like it tastes, and it smells absolutely wonderful. It’s delicate, and very natural tasting with a nice pleasant aftertaste. Of all the teas my wife has had me try, this is definitely my absolute favorite.”

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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45

Another sample from ToiToi

It’s slightly astringent. I can taste the vanilla and the black tea. The vanilla is not too powerful as it is in other blends that I’ve had. However, a third flavor, I assume its the grenadine, is a bit too masculine-flavored to me. I suppose the blend is aptly named. I’m enjoying my cup for what it is, but I won’t be buying this one.

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

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75

Sipdown

Don’t know if I’ll be restocking yet. It was good, but I want to try out other black teas too.

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

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I seem to turn to this tea every time I’ve had a long stretch of flavored tea sampling. So many hit or miss experiences require that I return to a trusted favorite to clear my mind and senses for the next round of sampling.

This tea is always a happy tea. Slightly nutty and fruity with a comforting texture and so forgiving no matter how careless I am with the brewing.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 30 sec

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65

Got this as a sample from ToiToi

I got so excited about my new loose-tea interest that I almost forgot how convenient a teabag is. This wasn’t a fantastic tea, but it wasn’t bad. It was strangely comforting in the same way generic coffee is during a long road trip. I prefer gourmet any day, but sometimes I won’t turn down a less-spectacular option.

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

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45

I dont know what it is, but I’m not a fan of the chocolate-based DT teas that I’ve tried so far. Something about them is too artificial. I must have very unique tastes relative to most of the reviewers.

This tea smells wonderful in the bag. The dry leaf smell is so much better than the DT S’mores tea. I had high hopes, but the brewed tea is a cup of ick to me. Tastes vaguely like cheap generic chocolate, but the black tea comes through in the flavor too. I didn’t finish the cup before brewing something else, but I’m not going to give it my didn’t-finish-the-cup rating as it wasn’t painful to drink, I just didn’t want to finish the cup considering how many new samples I had waiting for me that might be better.

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65

We had a spring snow storm. Not as “stormy” as they said it would be, but it was awful cold and we got a few inches of snow.

It was a long day on campus and I was looking forward to coming home to a cup of tea during most of it. I brewed up another from my order of Della Terra samples. I’m going to have to get some plain Rooibos so that I can tell what part of the flavor it is.

My first Rooibos was a vanilla blend and it was super nasty. Now, when I smell the vanilla in this and in the Winter Nog that I tried already, I almost don’t want to drink it. But this one is alright. The vanilla is more on the nose and mint in the flavor. It’s a descent cup on a cold day, but I think I prefer black tea for my minty blends.

Bonnie

Quite a chain jerk from warm to freezing wasn’t it!

Shelley_Lorraine

No kidding it was! But is to be expected around here. I don’t mind so much because the longer ‘winter’ is, the more time I have to mentally prepare my for the bees and other nasty stinging bugs that ruin spring for me.

Bonnie

I never notice the bugs. I told my daughter she needs a bat house on her little farm. Good bug control.

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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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