62 Tasting Notes
A very “pretty” tea…it brews to look like translucent wine. Unfortunately the taste and aroma are a a bit weak, and not all that distinctive. It’s not that it tastes like water—there’s definitely a sharp, fruity tang to it—but I would never guess that it was supposed to taste like plum….
What a curious tea! I’m new to Mao Feng, so maybe I’m doing something wrong, but this tea seems very weak in that I need to steep a lot of leaves for a long time to get any sort of flavor, and even then the liquid is an almost imperceptibly pale golden color. Does anybody else have this issue?
I’ve found that when it’s finally done steeping, though, I’m really fond of this tea. It has a gentle aroma and taste, without the edgy bitterness of some greens. After swallowing, its taste seems to “expand” through my entire mouth with a rush of mellow sweetness. Very pleasant =).
Preparation
Hmm…I’m afraid my rating may not be fair. After sipping the tea black, I decided on a whim that a little sugar might bring out the lemon flavor. In fact, that lemony flavor was so subtle that the sugar merely masked it. This is what I get for fiddling with perfectly good black tea!
With sweetener, Lemon Lift is still rather good, but the lemon is masked and dampened so as to be barely perceptible. I think I would give this tea an even higher rating left on its own; I think one would be better off actually trying to appreciating the subtlety of the flavor rather than trying to enhance it artificially.
Preparation
The blueberry flavor of this tea is certainly subtle—unfortunately, I think, a bit too subtle. It’s inoffensive…but it’s barely a whisper. The flavor might be heightened with milk and/or sugar, but on its own its flavor is not really a good approximation for—for example—Tealuxe’s Blueberry White.
I’m admittedly a bit of a noob when it comes to judging rooibos teas, so any of my comments should be taken with several grains of salt. My impression of this tea is that it has a “medicinal” quality that is alternately soothing and irritating. The aftertaste, to me, is a little bit like alcohol…!
It’s an interesting flavor…not sweet at all; it paired well with a gingerbread lebkuchen…
Very smooth! The actual mango taste is not too subtle nor too pronounced, and it melts softly into the taste of the black tea. I drank it without sweetener or milk as usual, but adding those (especially the former) would probably heighten the experience by bringing out the sweetness of the mango…otherwise, the flavor might just be a bit too weak.
This beats the pants off of the “Bremer” brand honey-lemon-ginseng-green tea. It smells very sweet and appetizing, like a honey-lemon scone, with an appetizing taste to match. I think I also really enjoy the addition of eleuthero—the ingredient in “Tension Tamer”, which I think is fabulous. What a great “winter”-variety green tea!
The ultimate in “meh”, Kroger doesn’t even bother to name its tea. Its official title, emblazoned in flowery script on the box, is “Tea Bags”, but that seemed an inappropriate label for Steepster. Fittingly, this nameless tea is also odorless and tasteless. If you steep it to death, stare at it long enough, and concentrate real hard, it’s possible to believe that the beverage in front of you is in fact something other than hot water. I guess I should give it credit for testing my imagination?
Why did I drink this when my tea cabinet is full of other, much more alluring things? I think I had some sort of masochistic drive to see just “how bad” generic tea is. Or maybe I was actually hopeful that this humble-looking tea box might be disguising some exquisite surprise, like in fairytales?
Agh. What a disappointing experience…After that, I think I need a cup of tea.
Maybe that’s a good thing though, I wouldn’t want something that tastes like hot prune juice lol.
You have a point there! xD