361 Tasting Notes
When Della terra announced this tea on Facebook I knew I had to have it immediately. Their pineapple upside down cake is one of my favorite flavored teas so anything else cake-y I had to try. Unfortunately this one just seems like a milder version of cinnamon crackle. I don’t taste any bready/cake-i-ness to it. I even let it cool awhile to see if it would show up. Overall, it’s ok, but I don’t like cinnamon crackle and this has that same candy cinnamon flavor. Kind of disappointed. Glad I got the sampler size. Luckily, there are a few others in the sample pack that smell awesome. Maybe one of those will be the winner.
I got this in the mail today and made a cup as my evening green. The first thing that struck me big time was the ginger. YUM!!! I don’t know about cake, but it’s a great green ginger tea. With added cinnamon and brown sugar notes. I’m really enjoying this and I’m on the second steep. I can see loving this during the cold season as well. The ginger/cinnamon spiciness is awesome. I hope this one is reblended over and over!
I was pretty nervous that rooibos was an ingredient in this. I’ve had some less than stellar experiences with rooibos lately and almost ignore them completely at this point. But the rice and caramel mixed with the green tea made me give it a try. I’m quite happy with it. I don’t taste the rooibos. Maybe it gives it a slightly sweeter edge? I don’t know. But the genmai cha is awesome. And it’s overall just a smooth, buttery, enjoyable night time cup! I will definitely think about keeping this on hand.
On my first steep of this. Finally found an oolong I really enjoy. It’s like the laid back little sister of Laoshan Black. I can’t wait to see what the next few infusions bring. Definite re-order!
ETA: So I did a few more steeps of this and this crazy sweet honey flavor came out in the last steep. But there wasn’t much other flavor. Just a sweet flavor.
I decided to make another cup, but let it steep forever and get all the flavors out in one cup. I’m not sure if that’s like sacrilegious or something, as the website says to not steep for more than a minute, but it just sounded right to me. And man was it! I let it go until all the leaves were totally uncurled. And it tastes like creamy sweet chocolate pudding. Not a hint of bitterness or astringency. Just creamy. And sweet. And chocolatey. This is the only way I will be making it from here on out. Yum.
One more add — After looking at the verdant website again, I realized I prefer brewing this Jingshan Style. I love finding new teas that make me giddy. This is definitely one of them.
Great tasting note (and definitely not sacrilegious!). Since this is a completely new kind of tea, there is no “traditional” way to steep it. We set out some recommended guidelines based on the ways we’d brewed it so far and the way the He Family made it for us in Laoshan, but that’s it: guidelines and suggestions. It’s excellent to see the results of your experiment! I want try it Jingshan-style myself this evening. :)
I made this a few nights ago while we were watching a movie. Then I put the spent leaves in a jar in the fridge and cold brewed it. This is actually one of my favorite cold brews for a hot day. It’s kind of like a refreshing toasted apple juice. Enjoying it right now.
I had this throughout the afternoon. Put a bunch of leaves in my test tube and sort of used it as a gaiwan so I had a lot of short steeps while I started the new episodes of Arrested Development. I can’t say that I absolutely loved this, but I definitely enjoyed it. The flavor is very strong and dark chocolatey. Reminded me of eating dark chocolate with red wine, the flavor was so rich. I wish it was a little roastier, but I overall a very nice tea.
Funny, the first time I had this tea I was sort of underwhelmed, but now I’m actually crazy for it. I’m going through a straight tea phase and have been trying all different varieties, but wanted something with just a tad bit of added flavor tonight. This fit the bill perfectly. I love the subtle cinnamon, which makes this remind me a bit of a snickerdoodle. I love it when I pick the perfect tea for my mood.
Oh man, I used to love monkey bread as a kid! Too bad the tea didn’t do it justice.
Bummer! I was thinking about picking that one up, since monkey bread is awesome! What were your steeping parameters?