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Tea bag by derk, third tea today.

I just used about 70 °C water; clear glass. Keeping it simple.
Tastes quite good, with slight yellow colour. Bit opaque though.

Anyway, slight jasmine aroma and taste is green tea. Bit of floral/jasmine is there too.
I think it is nice, cheap – as I looked for prices, tea. Nothing fancy, but not bad at all.

Lots of dust remained in the foil bag, so I hope it is all gone. Well, bold tea after roasted pork sounds good. Dry tea bag smells like common black tea without any extra notes.

Scents were quite nice, bit citrusy, bit malty. Maybe jam notes, but not really much of them.

Palate is quite boring though, nothing really dominant – quite bitter and malty. It is not awfully bitter – which I enjoy, but it´s not a tea I would like to buy whole box.

Colour was clear and dark brown – it is not bad.

2 and half grams in my 85 ml gaiwan. About 5-10 seconds rinse. My first yellow tea I guess.

Whoa, aromas woke up, and it is really strong tropical fruit. Maybe mango, papaya, something like that. I really didn´t expected that. Anyway, move on. I had two 20 seconds brew, two 30s, two 40s and so on. I don´t know how much in total, I was too lazy to count.

Anyway, colour is golden moving bit more to amber, nice and clear. Aroma remains with following steeps, it is becoming weaker though a bit.

Taste: First steeps were really nice and fruity, then astringency take part. But it remains fruity. Maybe bit mineral. But it tastes good. Thank you Derk for sample, so I can try it.

I thought I need another cup today. But it is already 9 pm, so something caffeine-free will be a winner. Another chamomile? Okay, who another will drink it than I. Oh it is with citrus. That could work. Hmm, in sachet – there is lots of yellow chamomile buds, something wihich looks like lemongrass and few pieces of zest of some citrus. Probably grapefruit or something as it is slightly red.

I just kept the sachet in while drinking. Colour is quite light, with yellow notes. That can be caused by my lamp though. But even through white led from mobile it is same. So I can´t blame lamp.

Aroma is quite sweet, citrusy (no, really?), maybe bit medicinal. But that is the camomile, huh?

Taste? It works quite well together. Chamomile is quite weak and it is really fresh. Bit like some kind of lemonade – I can imagine it iced. Whoa, it really tastes good.

I do not know. From Derk :)

I had quite big expectations, dry tea bag smelled nice, full of spices, mainly nutmeg.
Colour is copper with chocolate dust – so it is opaque. Anyway, aroma was quite weak, not much spicy as I have expected.

Taste? It was bland, was I steeping it for short time? But it was advised 4 minutes! Hmm, it was like some weak chai tea.

Anyway, it was quite nice and no funky notes, so it was not so bad.

Tea bag from Derk and I have to agree again with everything.
Plain, 3+ minutes of steeping, freshly boiled water into cold glass cup. 8 am. Listening to oldies as “Frankie goes to Holywood – The Power Of Love”. Feeling nostalgic.

Strong, bold tea, wtih stong notes of malt. My fav. Indeed bit citrusy. When it is cooling down I am noticing wine notes too. Overall it is round taste. Colour is dark copper, clear. Somehow typical for black tea.

I like it. For mornings as this rainy one – perfect. Good morning cuppa. Great job from tea bag.

Just one steep though.

Thermos time!
Prepared it in thermos, as I was leaving quite early today and wanted a cup.
Dry leaf aroma is quite nice, vanilla, cocoa, just nice.

When it comes to taste, it´s not so good. It reminds me a cookie dough (not bad itself), but something was sour there. That makes whole blend much worse. Too bad! If there wasn´t that sour aftertaste, it would be really nice.

As in thermos, hard to describe a color – it looked golden when pouring.

Came home, with headache again. I was drinking so less? I had whole thermos of tea. Anyway, time for caffeine tea. I took this one I received from Derk. TY!

When opened strong cinnamon aroma struck my nose. It reminds me some kind of sweets, or some tea – Harney and Sons I had few years back in train? I wonder, but it smells familiar. Brewed for 4-5 minutes, nice darker golden (maybe honey) colour. In aroma it is very sweet wtih cinnamon. Maybe little notes of “fresh” – peppermint.

Anyway when it comes to flavour – it is artificial, sweet with little notes of cinnamon. Black tea non existent. I don´t say I don´t like it, but it is not really my cup of tea – as I am drinking teas plain. It tastes like two cubes of sugar are in. I hope I don´t get heartburn. Somehow unlucky tea day today.

Anyway, quote is quite nice: “Ignorance of certain subjects is a great part of wisdom” Hugo de Groot (1583 – 1645)
But I can ignore that sweetness Mr. de Groot.

Sample provided by Derk, thank you again!

Dry leaves smelled wonderful, though I am not really sure what I noticed. Like air before rain. You just know it is coming, air has specific smell, you have find some shelter if you don´t want get wet. Preheated gaiwan.

Okay, 10 seconds rinse, 15 seconds first steep.
Bit weak, but yeah, expected. Tastes good, bit of raisins. Wet leaves smell like some shop with construction materials, but it is quite pleasant. Not really funky.

Another 15 seconds, it is starting to break, colour become dark copper and more red than usual “copper” colour. Aroma is woody, strong and pleasant. Maybe bit of cocoa. Taste is wonderful. Certainly cocoa and of vanilla. It is relaxing. Lingers for quite long and it is smooth.

3rd, 30 seconds. Broke completely, colour dark red. Another relaxing aroma, stronger than last one. Taste is going from cocoa to chocolate, still smooth and lingers.

4th, 40 seconds. I am writing a postcard (postcrossing), colour is really dark red, it doesn´t change much. It became bit more bitter though.

5th, 1 minute. It is almost same, no signs of being weak, rather opposite, still smooth, with pleasant aftertaste. I am noticing energy boost.

6th, 1 minute. In a hour my train leaves, so I have about 40 minutes left maximum. Hmm, again bit more bitter, but still it is good. Chocolate notes are dying a bit. No signs of dying.

7th, 1:15. Colour is lighter than last steep. Taste is weaker too. But not so much. Still very enjoyable. More typical pu-erh taste.

8th, 1:30. Wet leaf before adding water smells bit like tobacco with sweet after"smell". Let´s see how is the brew though. Thermos is empty, I am done. I do not have time left too. Anyway, good time with great tea! This steep is again lighter. I guess it is just time to stop it now. As we say: “V nejlepším přestat”. It means something like “when it is best, it is time to stop.” It became quite weak, like second brew or something between first and second. Still pretty tasty with dominant sweetness. Not really sweet from sugar, but complex sweet. Enjoyable!

Conclusion: Well, it took 8 steeps, while last ones were quite long. I have enjoyed the smoothness of this tea, as well the taste of dark chocolate. I have no idea what to expect, as my teaste buds aren´t really so precise as someone else. Anyway, I am glad that I can try it, as getting anything from Crimson Lotus is quite expensive for me as a student, not saying that the shipping is going to be another story as we don´t have e-packets yet here.

I am now full of energy, which is great as I have courses to 7 pm, so I have to stay awake whole day. Now, let´s go to the railway station.

PS: YAAAAY, 50th tasting notes! I wanted something special and this was certainly one of the best teas I ever had I guess.
PPS: Thank you for reading whole, quite long tasting note. If there is some English mistakes, please let me know – I am not native speaker.
PPPS: Really thank you Derk!

Suggested temperature was 100 °C for green tea? That does not sound right. So I have used about 90 °C I guess. The bag itself when dry is opaque, so I could not see the leaves. But when put in water, it became transparent. Leaves are quite nicely green, not so much brown flecks. They are about 3 milimeter long :D – but for tea bag I think they are quite big. Not just real tea dust as it is common in some other brands. As I have found out tea is from Sri Lanka, imported and packed in Russia and then I bought it here in the Czech Republic.

Anyway, to the tea; I steeped it for suggested 3 minutes nad colour is light yellow-green and apparently very clear. Aroma is of hay, grass and that is all. Taste is pretty basic, green tea. But quite fresh, without any weird tastes. Overall bit above average.

I wonder if loose leaf version uses same quality of tea.