66
drank October Revelation by THEODOR
2036 tasting notes

How many citrus fruits can you name? This tea is flavored with damn near every one I can come up with. Which is both fascinating and somewhat intimidating. It seems like it could be really delicious or a total fail. I’m going into this not knowing what to expect.

Right off the bat it gets points for cornflowers, with their adorable blueness among the dark leaves. There is also some citrus peel visible. The fragrance is strongly citrus, pretty heavy on the grapefruit to my nose. Though I’m also getting some of the orangey, tangeriney aspect. There’s a bitterness to it, which I suppose is from the peel.

From the color of the liquor and the aroma, I’m guessing the base here is Ceylon. It has a pretty russet color, and a mild fragrance. There is some definite citrus in the aroma; again I’m getting mostly grapefruit and some orange input. I’m a little worried going into the tasting that the citrus is going to be bitter, as it has that same bitter twinge to it that the dry leaves have.

But fortunately, there’s no bitterness to the taste. It turns out that the citrus is much mellower in taste than in smell. It’s actually almost too mellow for my taste. It doesn’t really make its presence known much at all until the finish, where I get some lemon, and maybe a little of the grapefruit and orange. The rest of the citrus blends together into a sort of single citrusy mish-mash. It’s tasty though. I don’t get a lot of bergamot, so if you’re not a bergamot fan you don’t need to be scared by this one.

I like French teas in general quite a bit, and I haven’t had anything from The O Dor so far that was an outright failure. This one is pleasant, but it doesn’t make me talk to myself under my breath as I’m drinking it. I’m not saying “wow” or “that’s good,” or “mmmm” or such things. By that standard I think it’s something I’ll enjoy drinking but isn’t going to be high on my list to replace when it is gone.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec
JacquelineM

I misread the name of the tea as “October Revolution” (which totally made sense with the red tin, too!) and I was like, what in the world could THAT taste like?!?! then I’m reading “fruit” and am saying “fruit?!” then I re-read (re-red? har) the title and said “Oh…”

__Morgana__

LOL. I thought that too at first. The pattern on the tin for some reason led me to assume there was hammer and sickle imagery on it, which didn’t help. I looked at it more closely and it appears I totally projected that image onto the tin without it being there!

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JacquelineM

I misread the name of the tea as “October Revolution” (which totally made sense with the red tin, too!) and I was like, what in the world could THAT taste like?!?! then I’m reading “fruit” and am saying “fruit?!” then I re-read (re-red? har) the title and said “Oh…”

__Morgana__

LOL. I thought that too at first. The pattern on the tin for some reason led me to assume there was hammer and sickle imagery on it, which didn’t help. I looked at it more closely and it appears I totally projected that image onto the tin without it being there!

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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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