Martin Bednář Send Message

Morning refreshing tea?
Morning tea!

It is 8 am – so time for start the day. I need to study for Friday exam. So let me pick some green tea. I decided for this one, becasue it is actually last one I have not tried from the DF box. And butter salted caramel oolong is not what I want to drink in the morning.

I used about 90 °C water, added tea sachet and watched the leaves grow. As the sachet is quite big, they expanded to full lenght! They are usually torn into small pieces, not really whole leaves, but they are quite big.

I did not know what to expect, because it contains ginger bits, lime oil, passion fruit flavour. The tea has got nice yellow-green colour.

It smells very floral, with notes of passion fruits and citruses.

In taste it is actually very refreshing! with fruity notes of passion fruit, but ginger makes it not so sweet as one can expect. But it is not too spicy because of ginger. Probably my most favourite green tea I had from this box.

Preheated 85 ml gaiwan. Notes of chocolate, bitterness. No rinse, just 15 seconds first steep.

1st steep (aka rinse)
Quite sweet, but full bodied. Light smoke notes. Thick.

After almost 3 hours at garden. All humidity is in the leaves :)

2nd steep
15 seconds again.
Notes of smoke are still in, thick, dark chocolate.

3rd steep
30 seconds.
Smoke more present, more dark chocolate notes, bit roasted. Very thick.

4th
45 seconds
Smoke taste transformed into roasted notes. Interesting change. Also chocolate notes are disappearing.

5th
45 seconds
It tastes like semi-roasted oolong. Roasted pears, maybe – with little of nice notes of bamboo. Very long mouth-feel.

6th
60 seconds
Very similar to previous one, but bit weaker.

7th
75 seconds
Roasted oolong with woody flavours. That would describe it best I think.

Some technical data:
85 ml gaiwan, preheated, then cold only.
4.5 grams of tea.
Drinking more than 4 hours, but three hours I did not made any single steep, as I was in garden.
Chocolate pairing: Framboise intense by Lindt.

In garden I had to showel lots of soil so all my body hurts. Mostly my back. Did some weeding too. Lots of “nipplewort” plants were there – I like the name and I have not seen them before there.

I was surprised it was so full in taste, and that it was like oolong a bit.

I have not passed today exam, but it was kind of expected. But it was not really hard. Much easier than expected, I just need to study more. Mostly theory.

I am going to work in summer – today I received an e-mail that they count with me and they will send me date for medical check-up.

June 2019 subscription.
Received today, so let me check it out right fresh.

This tea is black tea with tangerine and orange flavours.
I used approximately 3-5 grams of tea in my glass mug (300 ml), steeped for some time. I think 4+ minutes it can be, I have not measured exactly.

The brew is having copper colour, with not much of aromas. Taste is quite tangy, not much refreshing as I have expected. I mean, it was not really bad one; but freshness is not much here. I also expected it will be sweeter, but actually the tea base is probably bit too strong and overpowering sweet notes of other ingredients.

In conclusion it is nice tea for spring or autumn, when it is rainy and you want to remind yourself nice summer notes. But in summer, when it is temperature around 30°C, it is way too tangy and not refreshing.

I am surprised that this tea was not here!

Another Earl Grey today, or some similar blend with bergamot. This is acutally called Earl Grey instead of the morning “Grand Gout Russe”. In sachet there are quite nice amount of green leaves, including blue flowers as picture shows. The bergamot was certainly noticable after I took sachet out of foil prison.

I think the blue flower will be cornflower and is there just for colour. Looks pretty though.

After 4 minutes of steeping I get a nice, clear and lime green liquor. I was expecting a bergamot explosion of aroma, but instead I rather got a slightly bergamot and slightly needles.

In taste though, it is more about the bergamot. Yeah, it tastes like classic Earl Grey with a green tea base instead of black tea. It is more refreshing. The needles are still noticable too. I do not mind it actually!

I like that the tea, even steeped for 4 minutes is not buttery at all and not overwhelming grass notes. It is earl grey, so it tastes like it. Just maybe bit rough on tongue tip.

Sachet version.

I took it out of golden and woderful bag, and a lime aroma struck me. Then there were some bergamot notes too.

Tea itself have malty aromas, bit of citrus fruits, maybe even bit of smokiness.
Quite dark, copper colour. Clear.

In taste it is actually quite sweet. The lime flavour is really strong, but then a bergamot appears. I expected tea base much stronger. Overall, it is smooth, refreshing black tea. Enjoyable.

Evening.
Tomorrow another exam. Last chance or next year. Studying axes and engines and what the… is that in cars. Very useful subject for logistics. (Irony over)

10 seconds rinse.
Heated gaiwan.
Is it…fruity?
The rinse is quite sweet and no astringency at all! Rather mellow, smooth and fruity taste.

1st steep
Time: 20 seconds.
I know it is longer than usual. I was bit distracted. Now it is bit bitter, but not overwhelming, rather adding something interesting to the taste.

2nd
Time: 20 seconds again
As I liked previous steep, I decided to make another one with same time. It should be bit more mellow, so we will see. In aroma it is still quite fruity with combination of floral.

And in taste it is same. Are my taste buds so dead? I thought I started to recognize different flavours even in those teas, but recently I think all is same as scents. If I can recognize that fruit. Apricot maybe? Just a little though.

3rd
Time: 30 seconds
I need to eat something. I hope we have something not very aromatic. Enjoyable steep. Bit less floral, still quite fruity.

4th
Time: 35 seconds.
I really like the fruity line of this tea. It makes it very enjoyable, mouthwatering. I did not notice any smoke not tobbaco notes. Maybe I just do not know how they taste (smell) like?

5th
Time: 45 seconds
This is my cup of tea. Fruity and then a little astringency come. I like it, because it is not plain.

6th
Time: 50 seconds
I should rather go sleep early today, but…
Nevermind. Astringency is stronger, bit loosing fruity sweetness. Kind of drying too.

7th
Time: 1 minute
Now I noticed it tasted like a 1st flush of Darjeeling. You know, the floarity of it, bit of malty. Quite a drying, not much fruity.

8th
Time: 90 seconds.
Last one. Long one.
And not bad one. It is actually milder than I expected.

I had it actaully in muslin sachet.

One steep only, 4 minutes long.
Yesterday was kind of crazy day. I had two exams (hard ones), and I passed both. I was drinking beer in the evening with friends – I did not had much (usually I have more) and it just went not good.

So, I took some strong taste tea and as I was lazy to make gong-fu, I decided for pu-erh from tea bag. I am rather sceptical, I never was friend of pu-erh (that changed) esepcially when in tea bags.

But this tea is actually really good. Very woody, but still very mild. It not very complex, though. But for tea bag it is good one.

This tasting note is not very long, I know. But I just do not feel writing in English today so much. Or at least, this morning.

I received this tea from Russia today via Postcrossing.

In water it turns into deep red colour (hibiscus makes its job) and exotic fruits aroma rises up. I have noticed in scents those (no order): orange, pineapple, mango, maybe bit of rosehip.

In taste (it was hot for long time) it was mostly pineapple and mango.

It was delight and quite suprisingly refreshing. Bit of tartness (but I steeped for really long, way too much)

Good morning from sweaty Martin :)
Yep, it is 9 am and I am already sweating. I am not really fan of it. Certainly I do not like drops of sweat on my forehead while writing on chat with friends. Especially in the morning.

So, I took another green tea, in a hope it will be refreshing and went to the living room.
The liquor is nice, green and clear.

Aroma: Strongly floral and bit of fruits. It smells like some perfume, but not overpowering.

Taste is quite fruity (grapefruit, peach) but bit too strong and artificial. It tastes quite good, but certainly overpowering the tea base.

For floral lovers, certainly a deal. Not for me so much though.

7 pm, time for caffeine-free tea.

It is a while since I get this one, moreover apparently preapared for lots of people. Now just for me, because yep, it is hot outside. But I need to drink them, I am bit running out of space.

Anyway, dry leaf is bit more savoury than I remember. Finally some lime notes. I hope it will be even in flavour. Last time I recall it was not really savoury.

5 grams of mix, combined with boiling water. Result is following: https://imgur.com/a/Yquiz6b

Yep, I even made a photo. Dunno why. Just for fun, probably.

So, now you know the visual. I won’t describe it, as somebody can call it orange, somebody copper, and I do not know any other colours :D

The most important thing which is taste says following: nicely lime savoury, with biscuity base. Hehe, actually this is (something similar) on the bag. But indeed like that. The lime is certainly there, it is not buttery nor woody. There are some biscuit aftertaste.

In conclusion, I have to up a rating a bit (77 to 83) because now it tastes how I expected. Savoury lime with cookie aftertaste. There is no overpowering sourness. No woody notes from rooibos.