139 Tasting Notes
I get this sometimes for lunch. I rarely every buy anything to drink for lunch because quite often I find it a waste of money (I’m quite happy to just have water or make tea when I’m back in the office), but sometimes I make an exception for this. It’s very yummy tasting: the black tea is paired with a balanced amout of lemon, and the best part is that it’s not overly sweetened. Very enjoyable!
Edit: Also, I’m a sucker for glass bottled drinks…
I did the math: if I buy a tea that’s $20/50g (an expensive tea!), get 15 “servings” of leaf out of it, and resteep the leaves 2x most times (so say, 40 cups of tea total for 50g ) that’s still only $0.50 a cup! And that’s expensive tea and using conservative numbers. For that reason I cannot justify going to places and buying 2-4$ drinks when I can use my high quality teas for a fraction of the cost.
It is nice buying a treat once in a while though! ;)
I found this tea sample the the back of my tea cupboard the other day so I decided to take it to work with me so that I can try it. I think this is one of my last samples from my trade with Emilie, so thank you!
When I first opened the bag, the aroma of the dry leaf really reminded me of an oolong. It had an earthy/woodsy aroma but with a little bit more depth to it than an oolong. I steeped it for about 3.5 minutes, which resulted in a tea strength that I found perfect for my tastes. The aroma of the steeped tea is more distinct from an oolong. It has a slightly floral aroma, and the earthiness gives way to a slightly more smooth and slightly sweet/floral.
I don’t remember every having a pure darjeeling tea before, so my first experience with this tea was very pleasant. It’s like a smoother and less woodsy oolong with more floral notes than wet earth notes. Enjoyable!
If you can get some Turzum ‘Muscatel Dream’ its basically Grapes & wood. Lovely stuff as far as 2nd flush goes
Had this tea for a while, but have not written any notes for it yet as the first couple times I tried it I was rather unimpressed.
I’m not too sure what to expect from a pure white tea. I have my doubts about the quality of the processing for this one in particular, as the leaves are broken into tiny tiny pieces (almost powder-like) and this tea comes sealed in sachets that are slightly yellow and smell rather strange. So not the best first impression upon opening the box for the first time.
I let it steep for about two minutes after letting my boiled water cool. (By the way, the box features two different sets of instructions. The english version says to boil water, let the water cool and then steep for 1-3 minutes, and the french version says to steep for 2-5 minutes with boiling water. So which one is it?)
The flavour leaves a very weird mouth-feel. It tastes slightly sour, but I can’t pick out any notes that I am familiar with. It doesn’t really taste vegetal or anything… just sour, and like tea. I suppose it does remind me very slightly of chamomile tea, but only because I am grasping at straws to have something to compare this tea to. Is this what white tea is like? I doubt it. Maybe this batch is just bad. Maybe this brand is not the greatest.
I will try white tea again, but not from Clipper!
in my experience ive never had a good white tea from bags. Get some loose bai mu dan white peony & yin zhen silver needle to try from one of the good vendors & never look back. I quite like the tea from Fuding area. If you can get yin zhen with nice big green fluffy leaves is also my preferred, rather than the smaller yellower leafed type.
White tea is the white wine of teas imo. It can be pretty perfect at the right time, with a floral & citrus mix, and a nice sized western style cup to chug down.
Also, 80-85c for 2-3 minutes, not boiling. something like 3g/10oz of water.
Also, ive had some good ‘bai’ (white) cakes, which is similar to sheng puer but made from white tea. has aspects of both.
white peony was one of the teas that kickstarted my tea revival 5-6 years ago.. cheap but nice isnt it
The advantage of DTs, if have a shop nearby, is that you can buy 10 grams or so to try without having to commit to a truckload.
More written notes from a long time ago.
These small tightly-woven pearls unfurl to reveal beautiful long leaves and stems, still whole and attached to each other. It’s amazing how much of the tea plant is rolled into one small pearl.
The tea has a delicate jasmine aroma and a robust – almost floral – flavour. I wrote that I detected some sweetness to it, although I don’t recall experiencing that now. There is no aftertaste and it’s very smooth.
This tasting note is from a long time ago. I got really lazy with inputting my written notes into Steepster, so these next couple are going to be me clearing those up!
This tea has beautiful chrysanthemum flowers that bloom when boiling water is added. They float to the top of the water while the tea is brewing, and I love watching them!
The tea itself has a delightful aroma and flavour. It really does smell like maple, although the flavour is more delicate than the aroma. It’s softly sweet and the tea is not bitter or astringent but still full-bodied. The black tea base and sweet notes are very balanced. The ingredients list raspberries, although I don’t really get any fruity notes out of this tea. Quite tasty overall.
Drinking an unknown tea from last Christmas’ gift set from my mom. It is only labelled as “Black tea with coconut and berries.”
I don’t think I drank this for a very long time. I might not have logged it if I had – either on Steepster or in my brain – but the last time I remember drinking this was shortly after receiving it last Christmas. Which, by now, is almost a whole year. I made it as a side to my bowl of grapes this evening when I started feeling a bit hungry. Which probably just means I should skip the snacking and just have dinner already, since I ate lunch like 4 hours ago…
Anyway, I honestly don’t remember a lot about this tea, so it’s nice to feel like I’m drinking something almost new. I steeped it for about 2.5 minutes out of fear of the black tea becoming too astringent, which usually happens with lower-grade black teas, at least in my experience. The aroma is quite nice – a balanced mix of smooth black tea, sweet coconut and floral berry notes.
My first sips reveal that the flavour profile is not as balanced as the aroma. The berry notes seem to be lost in the slightly overpowering black tea base, which is the main flavour. The coconut and berries kind of dance around it, as if not wanting their toes stepped on by a big burly dancer. It’s not the smoothest tasting black tea, but it’s not all that bad. The good part is that it is not at all astringent, just overwhelming to the subtler notes of the tea. However, when the coconut and berries come through it is quite enjoyable. I think I’ll be drinking this tea more often now that I’ve refreshed my memory of it!
Edit: In hindsight, I suppose it was not a good idea to have this at 8pm, considering it’s now 1am and I’m usually asleep by 11..
Bought this tea at Indigo the other day because I have been eyeing it for a while now, and I am searching for a suitable replacement earl grey for my current stash of Teavana’s Earl Grey, which is way too astringent for me.
One thing I like about this tea is that it is very smooth: it has no astringency whatsoever, and even has a subtly sweet, vanilla-like texture to it. However, the bergamont flavouring is very subtle. It may be that I am used to more abrasive earl greys, but it’s actually a bit hard for me to pick out the bergamont in the flavour of the tea. The dry leaf aroma has more bergamont notes than the tea itself, I would say. I don’t think this is necessarily a bad aspect of the tea itself, but I myself prefer a much stronger in-your-face type earl grey blend that I can really enjoy the full range of flavours. However, I can see how this tea would appeal to some people who prefer a more toned-down and balanced blend.
Overall, it’s a very smooth and easy-going tea. I am really glad that the black tea base has no astringency, because that is one of my biggest issues with some of my other earl grey blends. I won’t mind drinking this until it’s finished, but I likely will no be re-purchasing. I will grab more of Paris instead!
Also, I am wondering if anyone has tried Citron Green from H&S? What are your thoughts about buying a tin of this tea as well?
Have you tried the Double Earl green from Stash tea? I recall it had a pretty good kick when I drank it. It has been years now and I am sure my tastes have changed though.
Have you tried the Earl Of Harlem by Ambessa which is blended by Harney Teas? Lightly smoky with bergamot. It’s good! Harvey’s Imperial Earl Grey is good, but Nina’s was my favorite back when it had a Keemun base. Unfortunately, they switched to Ceylon which I don’t like paired with bergamot. (Although I like it fine unflavored.)
Drinking this with a blend of Vanilla Cacao like last time. I do enjoy assam on its own, but sometimes I want my tea to be a little more interesting, and this is the perfect way to blend it.
I took the steeper out a bit earlier this time, and it helped balance out the strength of the two teas. I think I put in less assam than cacao this time also, which made the black tea base taste a little weak. I guess sticking to a 1:1 ratio is the way to go. I have only one more teaspoon of Vanilla Cacao left, so I may just have to consider getting more!
Ok.. Now I am questioning whether I am going crazy. I swear I had reviewed this before, because it used to be in my wish list, and I definitely remember writing that I really liked this tea but I can’t justify getting any more because of the $15 shipping. That is so frustrating! Please someone tell me this is not just happening to me.
Anyways… This was a sip down of the sample size I received in my Teasparrow box a few months ago. This tea is very enjoyable. The aroma is slightly nutty and sweet, and the walnut flavour really comes through in the tea. It is sweet on its own and quite a yummy treat. This is the only other tea my boyfriend will actually drink, so I would call that a success!
Ok well that makes me feel better… Still sad to be losing my notes though! :( Maybe I should copy paste to a Word backup from now on.
To be honest: not at all. If you go read my Toasted Walnut note you will see why, but they taste very differently. I like this one a lot better.
Wow, Steepster does not make it easy to find specific tasting notes…