652 Tasting Notes
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @85C, steeped 6 minutes.
Quite sweet, and quite potent. Sulfites might trigger headaches in anyone sensitive to them. I find guayusa very stimulating; I don’t drink it too often, and I want to have something saved for when I need an extra push. I’ve got nothing to object to in this fruit and guayusa blend.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @85C. steeped three minutes thirty seconds, drunk bare.
As is typical with a flavoured tea blend from DavidsTea, you’re hard-pressed to taste any actual tea. The liquor is a faint golden-green; I expect the green base tea is a fairly unexciting one.
The spice blend is, well, again, typical for DavidsTea: a bit bland, and somehow hollow. The leaf and spices look a bit like something from Stash, what with cloves and orange peel in it. I’m not sure what the “natural flavourings” are supposed to be, but the tea overall gives the faintest whiff of oranges, a little tingle from the cloves (I love cloves) and an even fainter tingle from chill peppers. Chili peppers? Where? Were they just waved over this blend?
I would not call this a spicy tea at all. It seems to be missing something — a strong heart, perhaps, either a more assertive and interesting tea base, or some more burn from what what can be decently hot spices.
Meh.
Cinnamon chewing gum. Some spice burn builds, but it’s still hollow. After half a cup, I feel like I’ve been chewing stale Big Red.
And it gets sweeter and sweeter towards the bottom — I’d swear someone put syrup in this. (I didn’t — I don’t sweeten my teas.) Strange.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @85C, steeped four minutes thirty seconds.
Pine and plum notes for sure, though the pine is stronger. A note I dislike in tea: I don’t know if this is called ‘vegetal’ or what, but there’s a a taste and scene that reminds me of scallops. I’ve detected it in some green and white teas, and I don’t care for it — well, not in tea. Scallops on my plate is another matter. Some shea butter notes in the aftertaste.
Flavors: Bok Choy, Broth, Fish Broth, Mushrooms, Pine, Plum
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, stepped four minutes forty-five seconds, drunk bare.
BAM! Smoky with other China tea notes — a tiny bit sweet — with a light to medium body: so gooooood. Caravan Resurrected has been tucked at the back of my tea cabinet for a while; time to let it party.
1.5 tsp (estimated, bulky needle tea) for 300mL water @100C, steeped 10 minutes.
I did the long steep on purpose … for a change.
This is a fresh packet, just ripped open. I feel so badass drinking this tea — the name, the flavour profile. So, what do I get with a 10-minute steep?
Mahogany liquor. Cocoa, sweet potato, roots, and something wild — wind in the trees, maybe. Some mineral in the finish. A slight sharpness that does not become astringent. Strong flavours but no bitterness.
Excellent.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water, @90C, steeped 3 minutes 30 seconds.
So I’ve been thinking for a whole I had a less-than-stellar batch of this from DavidsTea.
Turns out DavidsTea are using a flavoured version, by their own admission: “A luxurious creamy blend of oolong and all-natural milk flavouring.”
Quangzhou milk oolong is created by temperature change and harvesting practices, not spraying “milk flavouring” on leaves.
Disappointed.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @90C, no rinse, steeped 3 minutes.
Forgot to rinse.
After a disastrous two attempts to make something potable out of DavidsTea new First Flush Darjeeling (Chamong Estate), I turned to this beautiful oolong. Not rising the leaves gives this infusion a heaviness and a savour I quite like. This is a complex tieguanyin with lots of nuance, worth every penny.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped five minutes.
I just found half a tin of this tea. I’d forgotten I had it, and I bought it well over a year ago. The tea has taken on one of the winey notes you get in an ageing Keemun, and the honey sweetness has intensified. Some down in the copper liquor. Delightful.
1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, second infusion, steeped, uh, 10 minutes 45 seconds.
I got distracted. I intended only a 5-minute steep on this beauty.
So what I’ve got her is no darker than usual but is a little astringent. It’s not bitter, but it does taste unfolded — deeper — just more itself. I can really pick out the white and the pu-er. I expect a bit of a caffeine buzz.
