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This is more of a tasting note for me to rant and complain, so feel free to skip on by if you don’t want to read about it.

So I do not get at all why companies think that when you are sick you want yellow dye # whatever and massive doses of sugar to help you feel better. I would figure the all natural route would be the way to go. By the way, all you “all natural ingredients” companies, any type of colour dye # whatever is not a natural ingredient. Just saying.

I made basic noodle soup (powder and noodles from a packet), full of dye and sugar. I don’t think neon yellow soup broth is why I want to eat this right now. Same with the neocitron I rarely drink but am giving a chance today, I don’t need my mouth to pucker from the amount of sugar in it. Let’s be clear, no one drinks this because it tastes good. Anyway, jeez!!!

So I am drinking a cup of neocitron at the same time I am drinking this tea. The lemon flavoured aftertaste of the neocitron actually tastes pretty good with the oolong. I may have to try to add some lemon next time I brew this tea. I am finding the oolong to be not too bold, there is just a slight orange blossom flavour. Not too chemical tasting which I find some orange blossom teas taste so that is a plus today.

Second keemun of the day, comparing to the keemun grade 1 I just tried. The leaves of this premium keemun were a bit smaller than the grade 1 but they appeared to all be the same shape and size.

The smell of the brewed tea is slightly smokey but also a lot more of a sweet smell. The tea tastes very smooth and clean, no astringency. There is a slight bitter smoke taste, but it is a good taste. There is a sweet, red fruit taste, maybe a bit of currant. There is not much earthy taste like I had with the grade 1. There is a bit of a metallic aftertaste that lingers, it tingles on my tongue.

I referred to the grade 1 as a gulping tea, and this one is more of the sipping tea.

I am unsure as to what the grades suggest. I assume it is to do with the quality of the tea but I would like to know what it refers to. I did a quick internet search and did not come up with much. This is the teavivre info page: http://www.teavivre.com/info/guide-to-choose-high-quality-keemun-black-tea. It discusses different grades of keemun but then changes to discusses Grade A, B, and C. I assume that could be synonymous with the grades but I have no idea.

So anyway, this tea smells strongly earthy and more vegetal than smokey. It is smooth, but not the smoothest keemun I have had. There is a slight smokey flavour, I would describe it as more rustic. There is also a bit of an earthy flavour. There is just a touch of astringency on the back of my palate towards the end of the sip but it goes away really quick. There is just a tinge of sweetness.

This reminds me of a gulping tea, not a sipping tea. It is the tea you drink down with your breakfast, it tastes really good but you are not stopping to notice any subtleties or nuances of the tea.

So I took today off work because I was supposed to be going to a wedding which I had to travel for. Over the past weekend, I wasn’t feeling too awesome, but nothing ever came of it. I just moped around and watched movies. Then I worked yesterday and felt horrible, not horrible enough to call in sick, but horrible enough to be in a bad mood. Then I woke up this morning and couldn’t breath and have a headache. It finally hit. So needless to say I am not going to the wedding :( Happy New Years, yuck.

I have been drinking lots of tea today. Maybe not the right kinds of tea, but drinking lots. Now I am starting to feel worse. So I decided to try a cup of this to see what happens, the next step I think is just some plain water and going to bed.

The first and last time I had this was at the trade fair when I had a sample dispensed from a pump type thermos. The salesman told me it was just the plain spice mix with hot water.

This didn’t seem to mix very well for me. There is a lot of particulate in the cup. But that appears to be a lot of the spices that are not supposed to dissolve anyway. I didn’t have any of this mess when I tried it from the salesman but it came from a pump thermos, and that may be why. There is a lot of ginger in this, which is helping to open my sinuses and hopefully settle my stomach. I am also getting a lot of pepper and cardamom. The first time I had this it was quite sweet, so even though the salesman didn’t admit it, I think he had a bunch of sweetener in his sample.

Anyway, this one is feeling good. I might stick with it for a bit and see how it feels.

I used 1/8 tsp in 8 oz hot water. I think next time I would use less spice to dull it down just a bit.

Sometimes I feel like I need a strong cup of black tea to cleanse my palate, just like any “normal” person would need a glass of water. I am much more a lover of straight black teas than I am of flavoured teas, although I do like flavoured teas. I am trying to trim down my cupboard before I order any more tea. So that has left me with a lot of flavoured teas to drink. So today, after drinking a lot of flavoured teas, I felt like I just needed something “normal”. Ha ha. The only problem was I couldn’t decide what I wanted. I found this in my cupboard a few days ago. I thought it was long gone. I am excited to still have some but I know it has been in my cupboard for a long time.

This one is smooth, there is a little bit of astringency in the aftertaste, which I do not remember being there before. It is sweet, without having added anything to it. It is malty and thick. I feel like I am getting notes of dark plums and a bit of cocoa beans. Its delicious and hitting the right spot.

Made this one as an iced tea and it is Delicious!

It is all orange creamsicle and no puerh. Just perfect. It is not as creamy as it is when hot, but it is still smooth. There is a bit more peppery orange rind in the iced tea.

I brewed 4 tsp for 2 minutes and then filled up a liter jug with cold water. I added about 2 tsp white sugar to sweeten.

I swear I have written a tasting note for this before. I know I have had it before. But there is nothing here. Steepster is making me crazy, although my craziness has been previously well documented.

For some reason when I pulled this out of the cupboard, I expected it to be a green tea with a tart watermelon flavour, which is what I was looking for. But when I opened up the package to brew it, it was a much more creamy, delicious, bubblegum watermelon flavour. The silver needle is very smooth and mellow. The liquor us really thick. I feel like I am drinking watermelon candy.

Received this one as a free sample from Red Leaf Tea.

I am neither here nor there with eggnog. I will drink it if it is around, but I do not think I have ever purchased a carton of eggnog for myself before.

The initial smell reminded me very much of the caramel matcha. But after I started to mix it up as a latte, it smelled like eggnog. I used 2 tsp with 12 oz warm frothed milk and a bit of white sugar to sweeten. It definitely tastes like eggnog, but eggnog mixed with matcha. I feel like I am getting notes of dark rum and nutmeg. The only thing, is there is just a tiny bit of that chemical taste I have had in some other flavoured matchas. It is still very much drinkable, I am just getting a tinge of it.

I am actually surprised byt the taste of this one.

Made this one again. I was disappointed the last time I had it. This time I really stirred up the package and I realized that I think some of the ingredients had settled, as I got a bunch of different stuff in this scoop. This time it was much better. I brewed with a few pieces of rock sugar. This time it tastes much more like pistachio, it is also creamy, not necessarily ice cream, but definitely there is some cream in there. I am finding there is quite a bit of nuttiness in the aftertaste.

Made the last of this matcha as a latte. It was ok. I think I preferred it more as cold shaken. As a hot latte there is a lot more peanut butter flavour, but I am finding there is a chalky cocoa flavour to it now.