1501 Tasting Notes

80

Ooh, yummy. I love Heath & Heather teas. Very very coconut-y (with the addition of some Truvia). Light, flavorful, can’t even taste the green tea. Lovely.

Received in a tea swap from my Instagram account (http://instagram.com/teatravelninja) from a lovely Polish lady. Thank you!

Flavors: Coconut, Creamy, Green

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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95
drank Chocolate Chaga by L'Eternel Chaga
1501 tasting notes

Seriously, the best tea ever. EVER. I can’t believe I didn’t grab more. So ridiculously, bloody good.

I forgot to label it when I packed it up from Montreal. Still, drank some yesterday and was all, “What IS this?! It’s amazing..” gulp gulp gulp. Then I come on here today to log my tea drinking, and I remember. Yes. Chaga. Mushrooms. Chocolate.

Best tea ever.

Flavors: Chocolate, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Evol Ving Ness

Mmm. Do you remember where you bought this one in Montreal, MissB?

Sil

Guessing it’s at one of these places: https://www.leternelchaga.com/points-de-vente.php

Evol Ving Ness

Sil, you are a superstar! Thank you.

Evol Ving Ness

( I did google before I asked, but unsuccessfully, apparently.)

Sil

Np evol. :)

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80
drank Mandarin Puerh by Whittard of Chelsea
1501 tasting notes

I loved it in-store and the first time I brewed it for myself. Now? Now it gives me a stomach ache every time I drink it. Sort of like oolongs used to.

I used to get violently ill and nauseous every time I drank an oolong tea. I kept on trying… sick.. no go. I missed out on so much good tea, I’m sure, by this weird issue. I’ve asked numerous tea lovers, peddlers and experts why this might be. The only reason that’s made sense to me was that my stomach was “getting used to” it, and to drink more.

Eventually, I found out I had that icky stomach thing that’s eradicated by oregano oil. Now, I can drink oolong no problem.

This tea? Dunno why, but it upsets my stomach. So, no more for me. Anyone in Toronto want the last of it? I’m here until January 2nd.

Indigobloom

Oregano oil cleanses toxins and unwanted things from the body (my naturopath said). Interesting that it cured your oolong issues! SO keeping that one in my back pocket. I’m just mystified as to why oolong interacts with the unwanted thing and not other teas. Don’t mind me, kinda geeking out here :)

Evol Ving Ness

Interesting! How do you take/apply the oregano oil?

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91
drank Coconut Puerh by Teaja
1501 tasting notes

Gosh I love this tea. I’ve yet to find another coconut puer anywhere else in the world. (I’ve looked. I’ll keep on looking).

The last of it tasted a bit more perfume-y than I like, and a re-steep didn’t do well. Still, it was delicious. I might even venture back into Teaja just to grab more when I’m in Vancouver again.

Now, I love this tea. Truly. But I had such a distasteful experience with (I think) one of the owners last time I was in Teaja, even this amazing tea can’t make up for it. We’ll see.

Flavors: Coconut, Creamy, Thick

Preparation
2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
Evol Ving Ness

Sad when the tea comes through but the humans don’t manage to.

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82
drank Turmeric Gold by Pukka
1501 tasting notes

Hm. I love my first tasting note for this tea, didn’t love it quite so… eloquently… when I drank it last night. Perhaps just not in the mood? Dunno. I think I over-steeped it though, and thus the grassy bits of the green turned astringent and sour. I’m sure it’s user error, so leaving everything else as-is.

Flavors: Grass, Smooth

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95
drank Chocolate Chaga by L'Eternel Chaga
1501 tasting notes

Let’s start this off with: I love chaga tea. I first discovered it in Jasper, Alberta, via a company that sold their version of a powdered chaga Mexican hot chocolate. DIVINE.

So you betcha I grabbed some wildcrafted, locally sourced (Quebec) chaga tea, with “natural chocolate flavoring”. This is that tea.

I’ll admit, the flavoring isn’t awesome. I kind of wish they’d used cacao or something else for the chocolate. Still, with sweetener – with zero exaggeration – this tastes like a super junky chocolate cupcake, with the horribly sweet frosting that you KNOW is bad for you.

Yet, this isn’t. Chaga tea is antiviral, a known cancer fighter, and even helps with colds, flu and weight loss.

Am I complaining? No.

I just wanted this less junky tasting, and more.. earthy tasting. Like the chocolate Mexican awesomeness from up above.

Still, it’s pretty tasty. If you like junky, oversweet cupcakes with way too much frosting…

Oh yea, and you can re-steep this forever (it seems). “Until the water turns clear,” is what most chaga tea websites say.

Yep, I’ll do that. :)

One more thing – steep this at lower temperatures. It both tastes better, and, kills off less of the yummy good-for-you antioxidant benefits.

Flavors: Cake, Chocolate, Earth, Frosting, Mushrooms

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Arby

Did you find this had a strong fungal/moldy/mushroom flavour to it? I am not a fan of the taste associated with mushrooms, but I wouldn’t mind trying a healthy tea that had chaga in it as long as it did taste like mushrooms.

MissB

It didn’t taste like mushrooms at all. I had my current roommate try some too, and she also felt it just tasted like chocolate (with a bit of stevia). I’m drinking it again now, and same thing. All I get is chocolate. Maybe a slight aftertaste of mushroom, but it’s really faint unless I’m focusing on trying to find the flavor.

MissB

But definitely nothing fungus/wet earth, more unami than anything.

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65
drank Sweet Margaret by OCTIS Virgin Tea
1501 tasting notes

I wish I understood what this tea was made of, or, even how to describe it.

Bought it in the Bahamas while there for 10 weeks. Recommended to me by a butcher on Exuma as a “local tea”, and I thought – awesome! They grow tea here? How cool is that?

Now, I’m not entirely sure they grow the tea on Exuma, in the Bahamas, or wherever this is produced. Honestly? I couldn’t find anything, anywhere. It’s par for the course there, so I just accepted I had this weird, tea with no ingredient list and perhaps would make me really, uh, excited. (Yep, that was on the box, as was that it’s a diuretic and stomach soother).

So. The flavor. On Exuma, I HATED this. Couldn’t drink it. So foul.

Now, that might have been the quality of the water (salty, “brackish”).. so I had to try it when I was back to my somewhat normal life. Read: where the water is palatable.

The Montreal version of this tea is… calming. Bland. No real flavor. I steeped it for quite a while – if it’s actual tea, I thought it would get bitter. It didn’t, although I do taste tannin.

Does my stomach still hurt? Well… it’s a bit upset now (after drinking it). Do I fell… uh… energized in the adult way? Sure. A bit? Maybe. Diuretic? Yea, but no more than any other tea.

So, do I recommend? A novelty, perhaps. Maybe I didn’t make it right – although there were no instructions. Maybe I don’t understand. Or maybe, like the rest of the Bahamas, I just need to take a chill pill and stop complaining. Slow down.

Okay, I can do that.

Flavors: Tannin

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Evol Ving Ness

This post made me happy. Thank you. :)

MissB

Aw, sweet! Happy = good.

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78
drank Petit Macaron by Whittard of Chelsea
1501 tasting notes

Smallest amount I could grab was a 40g tin. Will have to pitch the tin, sadly… but wow this is a lovely cup.

Smells sweet, tastes sweeter, thick and rich, creamy from the coconut, with a hint of green grassy to offset the fullness. I’m surprised by this, especially after the coconut from yesterday.

Flavors: Coconut, Creamy, Grass, Sweet, Thick

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Fjellrev

Too bad about the tin! I’m sure it was cute.

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80
drank Mandarin Puerh by Whittard of Chelsea
1501 tasting notes

Had this in-store, and enjoyed it over a few hours. Immediately bought 100g (the smallest I could, phooey) and will savor it.

Flavors: Earth, Orange, Sweet, Thick

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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One of the stores in the City of Westminster (London) gave me a small tester of this.

It was disgusting.

I’m not sure if there was a cleaning agent still on the cup or strainer, but, all I tasted was chemicals. I couldn’t do more than one sip.

Flavors: Artificial

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 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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