125 Tasting Notes
Apparently it’s a sipdown! My first recorded one…
Like I previously said, I’m not a fan of a chocolate in my tea unless it’s white chocolate but I decided to give this one a try because of the hazelnut and caramel. The dry tea smelled strongly of chocolate and something else I couldn’t put my finger on. Once steeped I detected caramel and was very happy. How about the taste?
Taste wise… I don’t know. First sip was uneventful, I tasted chocolate and hazelnut (caramel ran away somewhere).. but then… something came into my mouth undetected and hit me right on the back of the tongue! What the heck was that?
Apparently it’s liquorice… and you know what… I don’t like liquorice. If this is what liquorice taste like in a tea then I must never ever buy a tea with liquorice in it. Thankfully, it’s not too prominent and interestingly enough I don’t detect it equally in every sip… It’s like a stealthy bandit, it appears out of nowhere and you never know when it’s going to show up but it makes you rather nervous. I prefer it remains in the shadows.
I’ll keep on sipping on this, who knows where it’s going to take me… but I’m glad it’s a sipdown.
A little later: It seems the liquorice bandit comes out more when the tea cools down… Must. Drink. This. Hot.
Preparation
Mmmm… nothing is better than that! It’s cold… so cold outside… -34C with the wind chill and I’m sitting here sipping on one of my favorite hot teas!
I’m forever nuts about this blend! It has quickly warmed its way deep inside my heart. So deep that I already have a 100 gram coming my way and I’m thinking of stocking up more just in case they discontinue it like they did with coconut oolong (that still hurts by the way)…
I never drink it alone but pair it up with my the black tea of my choosing… today it is pu’erh. Forever nuts pu’erh… soooo goood! :)
Edit: I actually got three steepings out of this today and each steep was exquisite… I probably could have gotten four but the taste started to suffer and it was time for dinner. The aroma was still very much there though.
Aaahhh… So cold outside!
Today I visited one of our local vintage shops to see if they got any exciting teaware during holidays but came back empty handed. Not only I didn’t find anything exciting, they actually had less inventory than usual. I guess people shop in vintage shops during holidays… who would have known? lol
Now I’m sitting here drowning my sorrows in Second Flush Darjeeling from David’s Tea. This is such a versatile tea. I love it straight, love adding spices to it, love adding it to some of my herbal blends, love it with milk.. It’s a good all around tea. Yum!
That’s it… holidays are done and kids are back at school. That means I had to get up at an ungodly time of 7 am while the sun was still sleeping. I’m not a morning person… seriously I’m not. It was short of brutal.. dark and cold and the first cup of tea doesn’t come until the little munchkin is on the bus. Oh horrors…
Happy to say I survived… Got the little one up… packed the lunch… found the mittens, the hat and the scarf… found her glasses and everything else that has to go into her backpack (she’s 7… I’m still responsible for her forgetting stuff.. lol) I found the route to the bus…
Now it’s just me and the tea… This is my very first pu’erh I tried from Verdant and I enjoy it every time. Today I added some star anise, cloves and a touch of honey… Mmmm… yummy.
Most definitely! And now I’m off to my local vintage shop to see if they got any new teaware over the holidays. :D
I’m not really a fan of chocolate in my tea unless it is white chocolate but every once in a while I make an exception. This one intrigued me because of addition of banana so I bravely ordered it a while back.
The aroma of the dry tea is that of chocolate. Dark chocolate to be exact. After steeping for 5 min over boiling water the aroma stays put. Still very much chocolate, no hint of bananas. I am almost disappointed, but decide to take a sip…
Ahhh… much better… Taste wise still very much chocolatey but now I taste bananas too. I find that I like it much better with addition of milk.
I won’t be reordering this one but will gladly finish the bag as it is quite tasty.
Preparation
I don’t typically drink oolong but put a coconut in the set of ingredients and you have my attention. I love coconut. I also know I should probably drink more of oolong teas that why I was glad to have found this in my sample box. Dry tea smelled divine…. I imagined macaroons at once.
I love macaroons.
I steeped it for 4 minutes over the boiling water and ended up with fantastic result. The aroma held up well still enticing me with that sweet coconut desert I was about to have.
I have to say, I was surprised at the colour of the tea itself.. not being a regular oolong drinker I didn’t know how pale the tea brews. The colour was pale yellow, reminding me of white tea and apparently that is just right for oolong. It must be because the taste didn’t disappoint as well. The tea is smooth, delicious and very well balanced. I taste the tea and I taste the coconut… my brain thinks we’re having macaroons…. it’s all good. :)
Now I’m thinking I should probably order more of this with my next David’s order…. the more sips I take, the more convinced I am.
Edit: I’m preparing a new order and wanted to include this lovely tea in it… to my horror, they don’t offer it anymore! Why, oh why must you do this to me David?
Preparation
My oh my… so many pretty things make up this tea, I even found a whole flower head which I’m assuming was a rose bud.. very nice. I bought this tea because I saw bamboo leaves as an ingredient and I just had to try it. I never came close to bamboo leaves before so the time was as good as any, especially that there were also apples in this blend, my other favourite ingredient. I steeped it over boiling water for 7 min and I’m pleasantly satisfied. The tea smells lovely and the taste is delicious with a bit of sweetness lingering at the back of my tongue. I’m not sure what bamboo leaves should smell or taste like but I’m definitely smelling and tasting peach here, in a good way, nothing too overpowering. Apple is not very prominent but I’m not missing it for some reason. Overall, I really like it. I can imagine this would make a lovely ice drink for the summer.
Preparation
Having this again today, this time with a little bit of Verdant’s Willow Grove Shu and it’s even better today than yesterday. Pu’erh adds a little woodsy undertone to it which I think is fantastic. I let my hubby smell the dry tea and he said it smelled like mamma’s cake… He smelled apple pie once it was steeped. lol I can’t get past the wonderful aroma of this blend, both dry and steeped. Very comforting. This will definitely be on my next David’s Tea order. Oh yeah… and I’m upping the rating. :)
Preparation
Mmmm… me likey :D Very pleasant blend. I made it today with a little bit of Darjeeling and the whole thing is wonderful. When in dry form it smells like cookies, but once steeped it’s definitely an apple pie. I’m loving it. I got it as a sample but I’m thinking this should definitely take a permanent spot in my cupboard.
Preparation
I hope everyone had nice and safe holidays… Ours were, well, interesting. I bought this tea for my Dad as part of his Christmas gift and I was second guessing myself since. Since, due to weather, we were not able to see my parents in time for Christmas dinner, I decided to give it a try and see if this is something he would actually like. I have to say I’m quite impressed. It has a wonderful aroma and delicious fruity taste with a slight hint of the mint. The taste of pu-erh definitely takes a back seat here but I think my Dad would love this. The only thing I don’t like is the name. I think the name is terrible and could turn people away. This tea can be enjoyed not only by those wanting to lose weight. I’m definitely going to gift this to my Dad.
Congrats on first recorded sipdown! Even though it’s an uneventful one, lol.