1500 Tasting Notes

70

Drank this for the first time earlier today, in the hopes of kicking a slightly tickly throat. Was hoping for the gingery goodness of Super Ginger, and maybe that’s what I should have steeped instead, because this felt weak to me.

Can definitely smell the ginger and lemongrass as you open the pouch. Steeped, it’s mostly a green tea/ginger blend on the palate, while cold the lemongrass smell and taste shine through more than anything. It’s nice and light, although I think in the future I’ll mix this with Super Ginger to get the gingery mouthfeel I love.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 6 min, 0 sec

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88
drank Super Ginger (Organic) by DAVIDsTEA
1500 tasting notes

I LOVE ginger, and especially ginger tea. I used to get this weird powdered granular stuff in small crinkly gold packages from a local Chinese grocer, and because I speak only English and French, I could only decipher that it was ginger with honey tea. The stuff was STRONG, sweet, and perfect… even though I always wondered if it was truly tea. Ever since I had to swear off sugar, I’ve been looking for another ginger tea to take it’s place. Thus, Super Ginger.

Tummy is upset tonight, probably from the oolong earlier. Therefore my requirements were low, yet specific: taste strongly of ginger, and get rid of my tummyache. This definitely did both, and quickly.

Smells strongly of ginger in the tin, although a bit more faintly when steeped. I made sure to give it extra time, as well as exactly the right measurement (1.25 tsp) because I wanted to make sure this had enough bite. Yes, it definitely does, and should I have downed more of it, my nose would be running. (It’s 2:35am, and my youngest just woke up… so bedtime for me). Looking forward to this cooled cup in the AM, and I hope it tingles my tongue just as much as it is, now.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 7 min, 0 sec
mrs.stenhouse12

I am having a mug of this this morning, and saw MissB drank Super Ginger and misread it as me, MissLena LOL I was like what, I already logged it? Haha, a very good tea though, I agree!

MissB

Ha! Love it. I did a double take with your name as well the other day. Great minds…

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72
drank Organic The Skinny by DAVIDsTEA
1500 tasting notes

I just had an interesting time with some oolong the other day, so I’m a bit surprised this is the first tea I wanted to try out of my new DAVID’s Tea shipment (other than a sample). What can I say? I love the ingredient list (orange? ginger? YUM), and thought it was most what I felt like.

It smells divine right out of the bag, and even more so after it’s been steeped – like a freshly zested orange next to some grated ginger. First sip was weak, to say the least, and it’s taken about a cup for me to really get the flavors feeling fuller as it cools. The oolong is exceptionally faint, almost completely overshadowed by the orange flavor. The orange lingers too, and it zings a bit on my tongue even minutes after I’ve had a sip. The ginger adds heat and little else, and it builds as I drink it.

Unfortunately, my stomach is bugging me again, even though the caption on the bag specifically says it should soothe my stomach. Sigh. Me and oolongs.. I love ‘em, and yet, it’s a one-sided thang. I’ll eat something, and hopefully the queasiness disappears.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec

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100
reviewed One Touch Tea Maker by Breville
1500 tasting notes

I bought this a few days ago, and already I want to roll my eyes at all of the tea filters I have now. Really? Who makes tea that way? ;)

Obviously, I’ve spoiled myself with this machine. It’s beautiful, works perfectly, and is easy to clean. My only (small) beefs are that rooibos still goes everywhere when steeping (yet the pour spout does an excellent job of keeping the crud in the pot), and that I can only keep things heated for about 30 minutes or so. Maybe it’s an hour (I read that somewhere, blanking out where) however it seems more like 30 minutes to me.

Other than that, it’s sheer perfection. My 5-year-old and I enjoy watching it rise and fall on basket mode, our private meditative bonding moment.

CelebriTEA

Thinking I may need one of these in the future :-)

MissB

It’s completely changed how I drink tea. I still have yet to figure out how to increase the keeping tea hot/warm time from one hour, however I’m drinking in excess of several liters a day – much more than I ever did before. Amazon has them for the cheapest that I’ve seen, although I grabbed mine at Teavana on sale.

CelebriTEA

After Christmas some time, I will have to order one.
I drink enough tea for it to be a worthwhile purchase.
I have an electric teakettle, but it is no where as nice.

Tuscanteal

Miss B – unfortunately there is no way to keep it hot after an hour…

As for the sale price, if you don’t want to buy it online, you can go into any Futureshop or Bestbuy and they will do a price match. I would agree I drink WAY more tea and it’s a crowd pleaser when people come over. They think it’s the coolest thing since sliced bread. Love it :)

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54
drank Spiced Fig [duplicate] by DAVIDsTEA
1500 tasting notes

Wait a minute. As this cools, I can definitely taste the fig. Oh, it’s quite lovely, even decadent. I wish I had more to play around a bit. Hopefully it’ll show up for sale around the same time the DAVID’s store opens down the street next month, and I can grab a small amount to see what’s really what.

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54
drank Spiced Fig [duplicate] by DAVIDsTEA
1500 tasting notes

I may be the first to try out this tea; my DAVID’s Tea order came today, and with it three samples from the Winter Collection. So excited!

Then, I saw the sample size, and thought… what do I do with this? It’s so small. Can I even get a cup out of it? I decided to see what came out of the package (literally, 5 chunks of what looked like grey fuzzy coal), and then steep it twice the recommended amount to get at least a hint of the flavors.

Smells like water, looks like a light amber. Steeped twice for 7 minutes each, just trying my best to milk out everything I could, flavor-wise.

The flavor is so vague and faint, it’s hard to tell what this is. Some spice, maybe? A hint of apple. I added some Truvia to see if the flavors come out to play a bit more. I get apple now, most definitely, and plum oddly. Fig is a bit of a stretch (even though I’m pretty sure those chunks I saw were figs).

Dammit. I need more than 5g to tell if this is something I want to purchase. Right now? It’s just faintly flavored water. Note for next time: less water, smaller cup, extra long steeping for these mini-samples.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec
Mmmmm tea

This tea is so chunky and heavy 5g is no where near enough for a good taste!

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54
drank Blackberry Mojito by Teavana
1500 tasting notes

Strong fruity smell upon opening the bag. Grabbed this on one of my Teavana excursions a few weeks back. I love the ingredient list, and thought this would be a nice sip to enjoy.

Is there a ton of mint in it? No. I’m used to a strong mint flavor with my mojito’s, so this is a bit surprising as I drink it to think, “minty freshness with a pop of berry”, like I was expecting. I can taste the mint – right at the front of the sip – yet I still want more. More!

Very fruity, and that’s likely enhanced even more so by the Truvia I added. Darker though, and a touch drying (in a good way). Is there green tea in here? Have yet to taste it at all. Think I might add some extra mint tea to this blend the next time I drink it.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 5 min, 0 sec

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63
drank Almond Plum Perfection by Teavana
1500 tasting notes

Number 4 of 4 freebies from Teavana when I bought the Breville tea maker. I’m scared to try this one, as I’ve strongly disliked two of the three, and one was just okay. Upon opening, a strongly artificial plum smell wafted up at me, or perhaps that’s what plum mixed with almonds smells like. All I know is, it made me cringe a bit, especially after my nausea-including afternoon with the oolong.

Steeped, it smells more of almond than anything, and there were a few of what looked like liquefied pieces of almonds floating in the brew when the Breville was done. Strange.

Didn’t even bother with it straight (like I said, I was leery to say the least!) and added Truvia before sipping. The fruits really punch here, and I’m a bit surprised at the juicy taste. The almond complements it nicely, although it’s strong and dries out the palate a bit.

Do I like this? It’s good, if I want tea that tastes like juice. I’ll likely blend it in the future with something else. I think I’ll ice some tomorrow and give it to the kids; I have a feeling they’ll go bonkers for it.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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94

Now I remember why this sat in my cupboard for so long, even as much as I love it. Within 20 minutes of my finishing the first cup (which is so big it’s more like two cups), I felt so nauseous, I almost got sick all over my kitchen. Then it came to me in a flash: oolongs (usually) give me a horrible stomachache, especially on an empty stomach. A quick bite to eat helped, however as soon as I started drinking the tea again, the nausea returned in full force.

Dammit. I love this stuff, however it’ll just go to waste in my cupboard now. Quite a bit left – anyone want me to send it to them?

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94

Found this at the back of my tea cupboard, and am a bit worried it’s been there too long (even though it’s well packaged). Bought this at an amazing tea shoppe in Courtenay, BC, where I had many a discussion with the owners when I lived there about their yearly jaunts to Asia to find the perfect tea. This was one of their highest recommendations, and it’s still (by far) the most I’ve ever paid for tea.

I forgot when steeping that I needed double the amount of tea, so this one’s a bit weak. Still, it’s divine. Smells faintly of hay, jasmine, and a touch of sweetness I’m struggling to place. It’s light and airy yet fully flavored, and while I’ve been on a real flavored kick of late, I forgot what truly exquisite tea tastes like. This, along with their matcha, is what got me into tea initially, and I think I’ll be sipping this pot all day as I re-steep it over and over again.

… I remember getting four steeps out of this one way back when, and it just got better each time. I wonder how many I can get today?

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 0 sec

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Profile

Bio

A few years ago, the obsession with tea started. The cupboard got bigger and bigger, more swaps occurred, group buys, secret rendezvous with local teapassionistas… and that’s how you end up with 500+ different kinds of tea in your home. At one time.

Almost all of the tea was given away, sold, or otherwise shared. A few relics still remain. I now travel full time with only two carryon bags to my name. One quarter of those bags are tea.

It’s still a challenge to avoid the chipmunk-like hoarding of The Teas, yet, the lightness of being from having so little compels me more.

If I have enough, I’m happy to share. If I’m in your area, I’d love to swap, meet for tea, and explore together.

As for the day-to-day stuff, I’m focused almost entirely on Love, (yes, with a capital L), Spirit/Self, transformation, travel and my writing and speaking work.

What kinds of teas do I normally like?

YES: flavored teas, fruity, dessert, chai, and spicy (REALLY spicy).

A FONDNESS FOR: all white teas, malty black teas, any herbal or medicinal teas, strange/weird teas you can only get in one place.

ALLERGIC TO: strawberries, lavender

DISLIKES: any added sugars, grains, lapsang souchong, and overly floral teas – I might enjoy a Jasmine Green every once in a while, but unless it’s a creamy floral tea (think roses in a chai, or the smoothness of a floral note in a French tea), I’ll likely pass. Earl Greys are a hit or miss with me; heavy on the cream or fruit notes and I might like it, heavy on the blergamot and I definitely won’t.

http://instagram.com/teatravelninja

http://teatravelninja.com/

Location

Canada

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