Shanie O Maniac Send Message

Shanie O Maniac drank 2018 Waffles by white2tea

201 tasting notes

See, I thought I had reviewed this long ago. I guess I was wrong.

This is pretty much my only experience with Puerh. As in… ever. I refuse call whatever it was I had from Adagio puerh or even tea for that matter. So, out of all my teas and samples, this is one of only two I have.

I’m gonna say it. I like this tea. For a Pu, it’s simple. Break off a chunk, brew, drink, repeat. It’s easy to manage and I don’t have to fiddle with my scale and make a mess. I know, my need for quick and simple probably makes me sound like a heathen, but I like simple. It’s one of the reasons I tend to brew everything western… and yes that includes this. It was brewed for 25 seconds for 12 oz water on first steep (once I got the leaves to unfurl).

As far as the taste of this goes, it’s pretty good. I’m still learning to appreciate this type of tea, and still feeling it out, but I’m liking this. It has a nice peat/wet earth flavor to it. I can also taste autumn leaf pile. I can’t think of any other way to describe it, and yep, it’s a flavor and here it is. Now, I’m not going to lie. There is an ever so slight fishiness to this. Slight. But it’s there, and I would be showing favoritism by not mentioning it. I want to be fully upfront and honest here. That said, it isn’t enough to make me not like or enjoy it. If anything, it’s a background note.

Once the cup cools down a bit, I’m tasting a bit of vanilla and caramel sweetness to it that I wasn’t expecting. Also, I’m getting hints of tobacco as well mixed in there – you know, that lovely turkish kind I used to love. It’s pretty good stuff, and I’m just hoping I can stay awake long enough to finish this session. (I never do.)

Overall, I like this. I like it a lot. For my first real foray into puerh, it’s pretty tasty. It’s nothing fancy, and I’m sure someday, if I can get over my Gong Fu hesitation, I will be able to enjoy far greater cakes than this. For now, this is fine. I’m almost out though, so that makes me sad. Sometime soon, I will need to make a new W2T order. Oh my aching wallet…

Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Caramel, Fishy, Peat, Tobacco, Vanilla, Wet Earth

Preparation

Boiling 0 min, 30 sec

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1 comments

ashmanra
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Airing it out a bit may diminish the fishy aroma and taste! Maybe give it an hour or two in a bowl before steeping. I had one so fishy it got two whole days, but they were individually wrapped tuos. It did help a lot, and I enjoyed the tea.

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ashmanra
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Bio

HELLO! My name is Shanie and I love tea!

While I have always loved various types of tea, for a very long time it came exclusively from a grocery store. It’s only been a year or so now that I’ve gotten into loose leaf. As such, there will likely be tasting notes I do for bagged tea as well as good quality (and not so good quality) loose leaf teas. I’m still learning as I go so have patience please!

Right now, I am on a massive Earl Grey kick. So if a ton of my notes are just various varieties of EG, that’s why!

Some of my favorite flavors include: Cocoa, Malt, Bread, Honey, Earthy, Sweet Citrus, Caramel, Apple, Spices, and Cinnamon.

Some flavors I don’t like: Licorice, Coconut, Bitey Citrus (like Citric Acid), Licorice, Sour, Smoke, Overpowering Fake Vanilla, Stevia, and did I mention Licorice?

NOTE: I am Type 2 Diabetic. As such, I can really not have sugar added to tea without suffering problems. This prohibits me from using either plain sugar or honey. Instead, I use Splenda as I found my system can handle it well and I like the flavor. I try to avoid stevia as I’ve found it often ruins the flavor of tea. However, not all teas require sweetener, and some are better without. Because of this, if I add sweetener to a tea, I will mention it in the tasting note and say what kind and how much. Usually, I sweeten flavored and herbal teas but leave true teas unsweetened. There are exceptions, but this is a general rule of thumb to go by.

Almost all of the tea I brew is western style. I occasionally do grandpa, but pretty much never Gong-fu. I do own a Gaiwan, but it never gets used. Considering I don’t have a “sip setting” when it comes to beverages, it’s really hard for me to get into any sized amount less than 8oz at a time. I know that probably makes me a tea-heathen, but so be it. I like my mugs.

I have decided to try and make a scale for my ratings. So here goes.

As of January 2020.

100-91: These are my go-to favorites. I will likely go out of my way to always keep these on hand, including going on third party websites to obtain out of season.
90-81: This is a tea I really did enjoy, and I will likely purchase again. However, I wouldn’t go to the ends of the earth for it, and it isn’t my all-time favorite.
80-71 This is a tea that, while I may have somewhat enjoyed, something is holding me back from making it a mainstay. Maybe the flavor profile isn’t the best. Maybe there is an offputting aftertaste. It varies. But while I did like it and will continue to drink it, I don’t absolutely need it in my life, and while I will likely finish what I have, I may or may not get more.
70-61: This is a tea which I drank, but I didn’t like it. However, I didn’t hate it either. It wasn’t bad enough to dump, and if it is the only thing available to drink, I would likely drink it instead of plain water. But in the end, this is just not my literal cup of tea and I will likely not get this again.
60-51: This is something that I didn’t like much at all, but for one reason or another, refused to dump. If I squint hard enough and use my imagination, I can almost BS myself into thinking they are decent, and I suppose I can choke it down and not waste it. These are teas that I will not be buying again, and may not even finish what I have.
50-41: Yeah, whatever this is, I there’s a good chance I dumped it. At this level, it’s pretty bad stuff with either weak flavor, nasty flavor, or all the wrong flavors, It has few redeeming qualities, and I likely won’t reach for this one again. On the bright side, it isn’t sewage water, so there’s that.
40-31. On it’s best day this tea has no redeeming qualities. This not only got dumped but the package it came in either got thrown away, traded, or shoved to the back of the cupboard to never be touched again. Not the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, but darn sure close.
30-Under: The worst thing I’ve ever tasted. This not only has no redeeming qualities, but it is gag-inducing. “Teas” in this range are so bad I not only will never drink them again, I really don’t feel like offloading them onto anyone else because they are just that bad. Actual sewage water.

Location

Pennsylvania, US

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