66
drank Vanilla Oolong by Adagio Teas
2036 tasting notes

After revisiting the Almond Oolong and preparing it in the gaiwan, I thought I’d do the opposite with this one. I steeped three cups worth in the Breville. I’m going to spring it on the BF and see what he thinks.

You know, you live with someone for more than 10 years, several of which have involved an intensive tea obsession, and one day he says, “Did I mention I went through a tea phase? When I lived in New York, I used to go to McNulty’s” and the rest starts to sound like Charlie Brown’s adults going wha wha wha wha because you’re like— what planet are you from and who are you anyway? LOL.

It is possible that the preparation method made the vanilla taste less artificial and bakey to me, however, it isn’t enough of an improvement to sell me on this tea. Sweetening does make the vanilla flavor better (thanks Terri HarpLady for the suggestion), though I have tasted so many really nice vanilla flavored blacks, even the sweetened version of this doesn’t excite me. I’m not noticing that it’s bringing out the oolong more, either, which is one of my difficulties with this. The tea seems to me to be more functioning as a flavor delivery mechanism than as a taste of its own. Bumping it down a few points.

Nxtdoor

you call someone you lived with for over 10 years the BF? I just find it interesting. to me, if someone’s made it that long they’ve been promoted to ‘partner’ status. :)

__Morgana__

Yeah, the nomenclature is a point of discussion sometimes. He uses the term partner to describe me. I’ve been married before, he hasn’t, so my definition of partner is somewhat different and more antiquated, I guess. ;-)

Terri HarpLady

I’ve been with the same guy for 13+ years, & I still call him my BF. Of course, we live 5 minutes apart, so officially we aren’t partners, since we don’t share a house, right? ;)

__Morgana__

If sharing a house makes you partners I had a lot of them in college. ;-)

Nxtdoor

Lol. I have a feeling the law would have a fit if I one day tried to bail taking all our possessions and the house.

__Morgana__

Yeah, well, we don’t have a lot of joint possessions. We tend to each have our own things and the house is mine. It predated the BF. ;-)

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Comments

Nxtdoor

you call someone you lived with for over 10 years the BF? I just find it interesting. to me, if someone’s made it that long they’ve been promoted to ‘partner’ status. :)

__Morgana__

Yeah, the nomenclature is a point of discussion sometimes. He uses the term partner to describe me. I’ve been married before, he hasn’t, so my definition of partner is somewhat different and more antiquated, I guess. ;-)

Terri HarpLady

I’ve been with the same guy for 13+ years, & I still call him my BF. Of course, we live 5 minutes apart, so officially we aren’t partners, since we don’t share a house, right? ;)

__Morgana__

If sharing a house makes you partners I had a lot of them in college. ;-)

Nxtdoor

Lol. I have a feeling the law would have a fit if I one day tried to bail taking all our possessions and the house.

__Morgana__

Yeah, well, we don’t have a lot of joint possessions. We tend to each have our own things and the house is mine. It predated the BF. ;-)

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Bio

I got obsessed with tea in 2010 for a while, then other things intruded, then I cycled back to it. I seem to be continuing that in for a while, out for a while cycle. I have a short attention span, but no shortage of tea.

I’m a mom, writer, gamer, lawyer, reader, runner, traveler, and enjoyer of life, literature, art, music, thought and kindness, in no particular order. I write fantasy and science fiction under the name J. J. Roth.

Personal biases: I drink tea without additives. If a tea needs milk or sugar to improve its flavor, its unlikely I’ll rate it high. The exception is chai, which I drink with milk/sugar or substitute. Rooibos and honeybush were my gateway drugs, but as my tastes developed they became less appealing — I still enjoy nicely done blends. I do not mix well with tulsi or yerba mate, and savory teas are more often a miss than a hit with me. I used to hate hibiscus, but I’ve turned that corner. Licorice, not so much.

Since I find others’ rating legends helpful, I added my own. But I don’t really find myself hating most things I try.

I try to rate teas in relation to others of the same type, for example, Earl Greys against other Earl Greys. But if a tea rates very high with me, it’s a stand out against all other teas I’ve tried.

95-100 A once in a lifetime experience; the best there is

90-94 Excellent; first rate; top notch; really terrific; will definitely buy more

80-89 Very good; will likely buy more

70-79 Good; would enjoy again, might buy again

60-69 Okay; wouldn’t pass up if offered, but likely won’t buy again

Below 60 Meh, so-so, iffy, or ick. The lower the number, the closer to ick.

I don’t swap. It’s nothing personal, it’s just that I have way more tea than any one person needs and am not lacking for new things to try. Also, I have way too much going on already in daily life and the additional commitment to get packages to people adds to my already high stress level. (Maybe it shouldn’t, but it does.)

That said, I enjoy reading folks’ notes, talking about what I drink, and getting to “know” people virtually here on Steepster so I can get ideas of other things I might want to try if I can ever again justify buying more tea. I also like keeping track of what I drink and what I thought about it.

My current process for tea note generation is described in my note on this tea: https://steepster.com/teas/mariage-freres/6990-the-des-impressionnistes

Location

Bay Area, California

Website

http://www.jjroth.net

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