155 Tasting Notes
I have to put the song for Golden Orchid up front for the soundtrack to this review: Miss Etta. At Last: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ45Q7ZuTEs&feature=kp
In the beginning, there was the truly delicious North Winds blend. Mz Priss tasted the North Winds and found that it was good. On the second day, WPTC lofted it to the stratosphere with the addition of a simple vanilla bean. This is one of the most groovealicious blends of tea I have ever tasted. And I mean groovealicious in the George Clinton-One Nation Under A Groove way and not the 60’s hippie way.
Sticking my snoot into the bag is a delight. This is all yummycreamy vanilla cocoa malt. I want to bathe in it. With North Winds as the base it has all the same coca malt notes, but the alchemical addition of the vanilla smooths it out even more than it was already was. It is almost like a vanilla caramel taste – though I don’t really detect a load of caramel. There is a very slight astringency on the tip of my tongue with a faint background of tobacco in the best way.
More on this at: mizzprissy.wordpress.com
Flavors: Cocoa, Malt, Vanilla
Preparation
This is the second tea from Joseph Wesley I’ve tried and it does not disappoint. Beautiful golden and brown/black dry leaf with a medium reddish-amber liquor. Bai Lin is usually a very happy place for me and this one is no exception. Sweet and refined. I will order more.
Further review on my blog: http://mizzprissy.wordpress.com/
It makes me hear Mavis Staples – a nice smooth way to start the morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etITOxv9x4w
Flavors: Bread, Caramel, Honey
Preparation
Hot damn this tea! For tiger-taming indeed. My tea of the morning (3 cups so far – its EARLY) and I couldn’t be happier. This cup is smooth with lots of toasty grain and malt and honey and just general deliciousness. An excellent morning tea. And in case you haven’t already guessed – you gotta have Buck for this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVYFDNc9CHQ
The rest of my review is on my blog: http://mizzprissy.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/full-steam-organic-black-hugo-tea-company/
Flavors: Caramel, Chocolate, Malt
Preparation
Breakfast tea this morning. Trying this one for the first time and it is good! I’m happy to love an affordable tea this much. The song I heard for this one is King Floyd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1Lf_1y7rYE&feature=kp
A more complete review is on my blog: http://mizzprissy.wordpress.com/2014/04/28/balin-gongfu-black-teavivre/
Flavors: Caramel, Malt
Preparation
Haha! I really dig your music grooves :-) I pair music and tea all the time and I love when people do some matching!
Thanks! I’m glad you like it :) Its just the songs I hear when I drink it. It happens sometimes with wine, but mostly with tea. But tea and music or tea and books (and my dogs under my feet) make life excellent!
Always tea and books is a great combination! And nothing makes me feel quite at peace as much as curling up with a cup of tea and a good book.
@TeaVivre – Agreed. I’m pretty sure that whoever invented books was drinking tea when they did it. And I love this tea a lot.
MzPriss. So glad you love this tea :)
My tea-taster appears to be back to normal. After my first cup yesterday everything was just tasting bitter and bad. I gave up on tea for the rest of the day. This tea surprised me a little. It is assam-y in all the good ways. The aroma is very malty. On tasting, it is not quite as malty as the smell led me to believe, but it is there and this also has a nice sweetness to it. Very easy to drink. I was expecting it to be a little more “brisk” than I normally like, but it walks right up to the edge of that and stays politely on the yummy side with little astringency. I think of it as bright. This would be a perfect afternoon tea.
Flavors: Malt
Preparation
Oh yeah – this tea. What a luscious blend. There is light cocoa and a little malt and a bit of a bright sweetness that is very pleasing. Nice and round with a tiny bit of tingle on the tip of my tongue at the end. This is a bright and happy morning tea to be up with ridiculously early for Easter. It’s smooth and has an entirely different groove from a lot of the black teas I love most. This blend reminds me Sam Cooke – but not Sam Cooke alone – specifically the blend of Sam Cooke’s voice with Lou Rawls on this song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRGRKMWEe-c&feature=kp
I really like this tea and dealing with Brenden is a pleasure.
First of all, thanks to Tea Brat for sending this to me to try. I LOVE cardamom and was looking forward to this tea. Sadly, there is very little cardamom in it. I read a note on this tea by Flowery who called it “undistinguished.” I think that is the perfect description. I’m glad I got to try it – but I made it MUCH better by adding a bunch of my own cardamom to it.
I got this as a sample with my Lupicia order so I thought why not? Why not is because OMG this is just NOT for me :(
What didn’t you like about it? I have had my eye on that one since I have seen so many good reviews.
OH you should never ever judge a flavored tea by a review from me. I’m not a flavored tea person. Flavored tea people LOVE this tea and if you are one it will probably make you very very happy.
i’m in between with this one. the widespread love for it i don’t really get at all—i don’t think it’s a bad flavored tea, but it’s just kind of meh. it’s funny how much tastes can vary.
See for me, I had this tea yesterday and LOVED it.
It tasted a bit like burnt caramel cookies, without the bitterness. Whenever I make cookies, I always leave them in the oven for a little while longer so I think that’s why I really like this tea!
oooh, I definitely like it :)
i can kind of see that now that you mention it jump62359, the burnt caramel cookie thing! i hadn’t thought of that. huh…
