1301 Tasting Notes
Day 9 of my DIY mostly-Adagio advent. I’ve been a bit slow finishing this calendar! I was optimistic about these, but I ended up not particularly enthused. I found the jasmine to be more “jasmine flavoring” than “jasmine scented.” Drinkable but not exactly wowing me. Just tastes very mid to me.
Sipdown. I’m so glad I got this from the TTB. That fluffy, marshmallow-esque vanilla is just wonderful. The base tea isn’t incredible, but it’s a solid grassy, vegetal green tea that complements the sweet vanilla flavor well.
I made so many notes during adventageddon that I think it burned me out a bit. Hoping to get back into the swing of things but ::insert shrug emoji here::. Marking a sipdown of Te Company’s Green Sanctuary GABA oolong. I went to add it to the database but it’s no longer on Te’s website so I didn’t have all the info (and since it’s no longer for sale, it seemed less pressing/necessary). This one was so good. Creamy with notes of sauteed greens and maybe asparagus? It’s one of those good-for-all-seasons teas that isn’t too heavy or too light for certain weather. And of course was good for many steeps.
Very proud that this is my third sipdown today! This is a great holiday blend. The gingerbread spice blend is on point. Excellent as a latte.
Sample sipdown. I tended to give this a long steep. I assume the flavor would have been a bit different with a shorter steep but I only had a sample size of the blend and the few cups I made with it all got briefly abandoned during brewing. This is very cinnamon-forward, with spearmint coming in mid-sip and an apple-like chamomile on the back end. I don’t really smell or taste the florals. You know how lavender has a certain sensation to it, though? Sort of drying, I guess? I don’t have a great way of describing it, but this blend has it.
Sipdown for ashmanra’s sipdown challenge, of a tea I put off drinking. I really shouldn’t have waited this long to finish this tea off. I love a nice, thick, umami gyokuro, which this was, so I ended up drinking it sparingly in order to always have some around. Sheer foolishness to do with a Japanese green tea, especially one that’s been opened, and I knew better too. The best by date was nine months ago, which is too long for a good steamed green. This was still tasty today but not as rich as I remember it being at first. I did get a nice salad out of the spent leaves, though.
Sipdown, and I’m only just now finally getting the steeping parameters perfect. Boiling water, overleaf, long steep (7+ minutes). The result is a rich and roasty dark chocolate flavor. I never did get much creaminess from this but I like dark chocolate so I didn’t really miss it either.
I haven’t been on Steepster much in the past week, but I hope our California Steepsterites are safe!
Day 9 of DIY mostly Adagio advent. The coconut flavor in this is fine – not too oily, decently creamy – but the base tea is extremely meh. It just has this coarse edge to it that doesn’t complement the flavoring and makes it impossible for me to enjoy the cup. I tried adding honey in an effort to soften the edge, but it didn’t help at all.
I’ve been curious about The Qi for a while! Their whole flower teas looked very pretty, and I like that they use ethical sourcing practices. I just hadn’t gotten around to ordering – between the cost, not being sure about whether I’d like the taste, and not being a huge fan of all the health claims, it wasn’t top of my to-buy list. But I was thrilled when Nazanin sent me a few!
One of the hesitations I had was whether this tea would be more style than substance. It’s just so social-media-ready, and that sometimes translates to mediocre flavor. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this has both style and substance. The packaging is gorgeous. The dried whole flower is gorgeous. It unfurls gorgeously as it steeps. And the flavor is lightly sweet and floral rose. It holds up well to resteeps and doesn’t seem to overbrew, or at least it didn’t overbrew for me this time. I spent all night drinking it, just topping up the water. Honestly, I can now see why this costs this much. It’s probably the best rose herbal I’ve ever had. This one is a sipdown.
