139 Tasting Notes

12
drank Baked Apple Rooibos by Tea Desire
139 tasting notes

Giving this one another go.

I have the same impression as last time: it smells really good, but there is not enough sweetness, and the marzipan creates a rather soapy aftertaste that is not pleasant.

I will probably save the last tablespoon of it for blending, or to give away to an interested swapper!

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100
drank Jasmine Gold Dragon by Tea Time
139 tasting notes

This remains as one of my all-time favourite teas – another one that I’m sure I’ve reviewed in the past, yet there are no tasting notes saved for this tea… when will the Steepster Thief be finally caught? What is the point of taking the time to write out my thoughts as reviews if they are prone to random disappearances? What can be done to prevent more innocent casualties? This town needs a hero…

The jasmine aroma for the dry leaf is amazing. Floral, sweet and sultry, seducing the senses into instant relaxation. The aroma of the brewed tea is just the same, especially when combines with quality green tea. The flavour is full-bodied and slightly vegetal, just how I like my green teas. I always forget how good this tea is because I have so many other ones I am wanting to finish, so I put off drinking this one until I remember again how enjoyable it really is. It’s like re-discovering an old friend who has never left your side in your absence.

nycoma

oh nice, this is the north van tea time. i did a review on their ti guanyin. they have lots to choose from.

Jennifer

This sounds like a beautiful tea! Oh jasmine, you are so lucky to be chosen to be so, so lovely!

MrQuackers

Yes, Jasmine shines in a big pot of green tea, but don’t even think of making Jasmine Rice here. ;)

Mookit

Nycoma: I believe this is their only location! Do you live in the area as well? I agree with you, they have lots of high quality tea there! I also have their Sencha Chiran, another lovely green tea. The owner suggested I try it cold brewed, which I plan on doing soon!
Jennifer: It is quite a tea! Although jasmine green tea is not at all unique, this is the best rendition I have yet to come across.
MrQuackers: Haha, that is a different story, although not an unpleasant one. :)

nycoma

every time i go in, they are ready to help.. nice people. yea i live in NV.

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70

I’m surprised I didn’t have this tea included in my cupboard or any tasting notes written about it… I got this last year when Culinary Tea was on sale at Teavana, and I grabbed a bag of this tea as well, since it was also on sale. I have drank it a few times since then (although it’s been a while), and I thought I had written about it already. Another case of the Steepster thief perhaps? Not sure this time.

Anyway, this tea is fairly basic. Not too sure what exactly the effect of it being rolled into balls is, but it does make it harder for me to figure out how many I am supposed to use, lol. It’s a smooth black tea base with faint notes of cocoa. Nothing else to add, the tea is fairly simple. It doesn’t have any astringency, which is nice, so it’s pretty alright to drink. Nothing amazing, however.

MrQuackers

I would say use a digital scale, if you have one. Those little pearls need to unfurl too, so two steepings x 3 minutes.

Mookit

Thanks for the suggestion! I do have one, but I keep forgetting to use it. :) and I will try the double steeping too, I can see how it would make the flavour of the tea develop more.

MrQuackers

Sorry, just to clarify. Steep. Drink. Steep. Drink.

As opposed to steeping the same tea twice. ;)

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23
drank Mango Fruit Punch by DAVIDsTEA
139 tasting notes

This cold brew turned out horrible.

I don’t know why, but honestly the only flavour present was very strong and very very bitter orange. Not sure what happened to the mango and all the other flavours, but I can assure you: no mango flavour at all. Maybe only a little on the aroma, but the tea was gross and bitter and tasted like fake orange soda.

Dumped.

Kristal

Prob the orange peel? I remember this one being screwed up when steeped for too long :(

Mookit

Yeah, I think both of those things were the problem. It was the last bit of the bag, and I remember there was one huge orange peel in there still. And I must have left it for too long, because it was just so strongly infused in there!

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85
drank Buddha Bamboo by Tea Desire
139 tasting notes

Used up the rest of my sample to make a cold brew. Really, really disappointed with it. Not sure if it was underleafed or not (it didn’t seem like it, there was a good tablespoon and a half for a barely-1L teapot), but there was almost no flavour, even after two days of leaving it to brew in the fridge. Reducing my rating because of this.

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73
drank Maracuja Orange by Tea Desire
139 tasting notes

Had this hot and cold, thought it was just alright both times. It was pleasant cold brewed, but the flavour was predominantly of orange, with only a mellow hint of other fruitiness in the background. I’m not a huge fun of oranges in general, so I can’t say I was “wowed” by this tea. Didn’t get a lot of the pumpkin or beet that is supposedly in the blend, either.

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87

Finished this one off quite quickly in a cold brew I made in a teapot a couple nights ago. I had tried it hot a couple times blended with a black tea and by itself, which were alright, but the cold brew blew me away! After one over-night brewing period I tasted it in the morning, and it was amazing! The aroma was so vibrantly sweet and fruity, even as a cold drink, and the flavour was bursting with all sorts of different berries, tartness, and sweetness. I had to add a little bit of simple sugar to it because it was a bit too tart (probably the hibiscus), but it made it taste so much better. Really refreshing and delicious!
Too bad I used up all the sample for this cold-brew, but definitely don’t regret it.

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88

Slow day at work today, but right when I started brewing this tea, had to pick up a few phone calls. Then I forgot about it.

Oops.

Steeped it for like 10 minutes. Had to water it down slightly because it was too bitter. Tastes OK now, but every sip makes the sides of my tongue feel weird, like its really sour but not? Oh well.

Kristal

For work days I try and bring teas that are forgiving in case I forget about their steeping time. It had to learn that the hard way a few times lol

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First of all… I just noticed yet another tasting note I had previously written that Steepster ate for whatever reason. It was on Ruby Oolong, which now has “No notes yet… add one?” and I know for a fact that that was the one that I had written “another Rishi sipdown” because it was when I finished off that tea! This is really frustrating! Now I lost all of my final thoughts on that tea, which are important to me in evaluating my evolving taste for different types of tea and whether to repurchase or not. I really wish the admins were still active on their own website. I have not seem any improvements to Steepster (the actual website) ever since I joined last November, and it really is quite sad. (/rant)

Ok, on to the tea. This one has been sitting in my work’s cupboard ever since I started working here. I have had it only once or twice since then, with underwhelming results that I don’t quite remember. So I decided to do a proper tasting of this tea and log it (hopefully this one will be spared by Steepster, the Devourer of Tasting Notes). I think this tea must be a year, maybe two, old, and it’s only been stored in the original bag it was purchased in, so it has probably lost a lot of its original aroma and flavour. I don’t think it’s really worth drinking anymore, but I wanted to take a break from all of the teas I have in my personal cupboard at work, and so I just went for this poor sucker.

The dry tea smells vaguely of slightly floral black tea, which is pretty much the same for the brewed cup, except the black tea base aroma comes out a bit more then. This tea is supposed to have bergamont in it, but I don’t really smell it. The tea leaves are very finely broken, almost powder-like, which is strange to me since it was purchased loose leaf. As a result, the tea brewed quickly, and I only left it in for 2 minutes (I used a timer this time! Hurray!). I think I remember I made the mistake of over-leafing and over-brewing it the first time I tried it, since I didn’t realize how quickly it brews as a result of its rather fine grade.

Flavour is still very underwhelming. It’s not bitter, which is a plus, and the black tea base is rather smooth and overall enjoyable. The only flavour note I can pick out is the slightly floral one that kind of weaves in and out between sips like an elusive ribbon. You can’t always notice it, but it’s there. Hiding in the background is the tiniest citrus note, as well. I don’t think I will put rating for this one, as the age of the tea likely detracted for its quality by a lot. It’s not bad though, I will still enjoy the cup for today.

Rasseru

Yeah a few tweaks here and there could really improve things as its such a great resource. These reviews cant be taking up too much space, not sure why there are problems with disappearing stuff – storage is super cheap these days too. Still the best tea website on the web

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70

Hello Steepster, haven’t been posting in a while! I’ve still been drinking tea, but nothing noteworthy until now. I’m trying yet another new tea from Rishi, a company that is quickly garnering more and more of my appreciation with their quality teas. This time it is dun, dun, duuuuun a pu-erh blend. I was, for obvious reasons, wary of trying this one, but because Rishi has convinced me that their teas are usually really good, I decided to give it a go.

The first time I opened the bag, I got a hefty waft of ginger (and a subtle earthy smell of the pu-erh). It felt like a kick in the nostrils, so I was expecting the ginger to be quite strong in this blend. And it is, as we will get to in a bit. The instructions said to brew this with boiling water for 4 minutes, adding a minute per each additional steep. I was doubtful, because 4 minutes for a pu-erh seems to be quite a long time. And I think I was right, because after just 1.5-2 minutes the tea was already dark and has a strong aroma. These two signs I usually take to mean that the tea is strong enough for me to drink, and I decided to pull the plug on the steeper.

The tea was just right in strength: not over-brewed but strong enough for me to be satisfied with enough flavour. The ginger is quite strong in the blend – in fact it is the dominant flavour note – but the pu-erh also comes through, though rather sneakily, almost as if it knows I am waiting for it like an intruder in the night and it doesn’t want to get caught. It’s not bad though. To be honest, it is a bit hard to separate from the powerful ginger flavour and aroma, but I do get the slight earthiness (?) in the background. I think this was a good way to ease into becoming acquainted with the taste of pu-erh, but because this tea is predominantly ginger-flavoured (which is not bad, I like ginger), I will have to try some of LP’s sample pu-erh packets to really delve into the pu-erh world.

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Profile

Bio

I joined Steepster Nov. 2/’15. I am an aspiring law student, currently studying for the LSAT. Meanwhile, I drink a lot of tea, work as a legal assistant and watch Netflix in my down time.

Ever since joining Steepster, I have tried a whole bunch new tea, met awesome people, and learned quite a lot! I am still expanding my tea horizons, currently working on exploring the oolong and puerh territories. Oolong has been a pleasant journey so far, while puerh is more rocky and uncertain. I shall keep trekking on!

My favourite teas are blacks and greens, both flavoured and unflavoured, and I have a few staples that I drink all the time.

I love to try teas that I would otherwise not have access to, and therefore I am always looking for people to trade samples with. Send me a message if you are interested!

My Wishlist is teas that I would like to restock (as a note to myself). My ratings are mostly arbitrary. Generally, anything above 90 I will likely restock. 70-80 I enjoyed, but will not go out of my way to get again. Anything below 70 was not that great, and the lower the mark the less I enjoyed it.

Location

Vancouver, Canada

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