2816 Tasting Notes

96

Another great morning tea for me. I love how the wirey leaves smell like dark chocolate in the tin and this is one yummy, chocolatey tea.

This morning I was thinking I could probably pare down my tea collection to no more than 25 teas, lately I’m finding it ridiculous that I have so many when I really love only a fraction of what’s in my current collection. Live and learn! I think I will be working on paring things down this year while I’m looking for work = not a lot of money for buying tea anyway.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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93

Tea of the morning here, I am trying to keep my spirits up, this is a great one for waking up. Hope everyone has a good day!

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89
drank Bananas Foster by 52teas
2816 tasting notes

I love banana flavored teas and I just wanted something that seemed slightly decadent. This is good with sugar and soymilk but I do prefer it sweetened vs. plain. It would be nice if there was somehow a decaf version of this, but most decaf teas are dreadful tasting. Maybe Frank should do a banana rooibos…

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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77

Tea #2 from the Obubu sample pack. I noticed this tea also brews up lightly — it isn’t the same color as the picture on their website. I used a small Japanese teapot that holds about 4 oz of tea and 1/2 the 5 gram sample. I wonder if I should be using the whole thing?

This tea is nice but I am not overly impressed with it. Compared to the"brightness" sencha of yesterday it definitely has a more assertive and bitter aftertaste although the notes up front are marine-y and vegetal.

I steeped the first pot for 2 minutes because I didn’t think it was dark enough after checking out the color. Then the 2nd steep I did for 60 seconds and it was a little bit better but I still didn’t love it. Not sure what I should be doing for better results with this one — or perhaps I just prefer more deeply steamed senchas.

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 4 OZ / 118 ML
Stephanie

I’m a bit sencha picky, myself. I had Sencha of the Sun from them and it was not for me. I prefer Den’s Sencha Fukamidori or Shincha. shrug

TeaBrat

I love Den’s tea too but wanted to try something different

Stephanie

Yeah, totally! :D

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87
drank Grapefruit Green by Lupicia
2816 tasting notes

I put some of this in the fridge last night in order to make a cold brew out of it. This is so delicious as an iced tea, I like it better cold than I do hot. I’m so glad I have some to enjoy on this beautiful sunny day.

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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95
drank Pineapple Sencha by Den's Tea
2816 tasting notes

Just a note to say this is really good when it’s cold brewed. Also good when it’s hot! I don’t recall having such a nice pineapple flavored tea, ever. The few pineapple oolongs I’ve had were good, but I like this even more.

I’ve been craving green tea lately. I feel like I could drink a gallon of it every day if it didn’t get me a little too wired.

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more
Stephanie

Heck yes it is good cold brewed! :)

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84

This was my one indulgence for June which just arrived today … YIPPEE! I’ve always wanted to try the Obubu tea sampler pack and now I have the time to try them all and even write tasting notes. :) I love Japanese teas so I can’t imagine I’ll have anything too bad to say about the selections.

I picked this one at random from the sampler pack, I knew I wanted to try a sencha but I wasn’t sure which one. It has such a lovely name. I steeped this for 90 seconds and it has a very light colored infusion, one that I might associate more with Chinese tea than Japanese. The aroma is lightly vegetal and a bit flowery.

For a sencha, this is very mild. The description says this tea is made with more mature leaves so perhaps that is why. Also they claim it is good as an iced tea, so I’ll have to try the rest of my sample that way. For now I’m enjoying it hot. The flavor is very mild and sweet. It has some light grassy notes but also a bit of sweet vegetables like corn. I don’t think I’ve ever had a Japanese tea that’s this mild before, no astringency whatsover. It’s very tasty and soothing, like floating away on a green tea cloud.

Flavors: Corn Husk, Grass

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Cameron B.

That’s a lot of sencha in that sampler! I’m excited to see all of your notes. :D

TeaBrat

ha ha – you’ll be sick of me soon!

Cameron B.

They definitely knew what they were doing when they named all of them. How can you not want to try something called “Sencha of the Summer Sun”?

TeaBrat

Agreed, their names are very poetic. I’ve been wanting to try their teas for years.

Lion

Aha! Our reviews are so similar! I made sure not to look at others before I wrote mine. I’d say we got a pretty similar impression! This tea was sublime, but yes very mild to me!

TeaBrat

I definitely liked this a lot but I think I prefer the deeper steamed sencha like fukamushi style…

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85

Sample sipdown of the day. I love being able to get these samples from Upton Tea. It’s a great way to try new things, without spending a lot of time or storage space on teas you may not necessarily want. It’s one reason I’ll always be a customer of theirs. I just got the spring catalog and there are so many things tempting me but I really need to focus sipping down what I have while I’m not working.

I’m really not a big keemun person but I like this better than many I’ve tried. It has gentle winey notes as well as a bit of tobacco and smells like buckwheat bread baking. It is definitely very flavorful and is easy to sip on plain but also takes additions ok. If I had one keemun to keep around, this might be a contender. I raised the rating a few points today…

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
MzPriss

I feel the same way about Upton. I got what I believe to be all of their Keemuns in those samples sizes without having to make too much of a commitment.

TeaBrat

Which one was your favorite of the bunch?

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86

Tea of the morning here and it’s a sipdown. Okay, I only bought 1 oz. of this but it’s gone anyway. :)

I find a lot of teas are fine in smaller quantities unless I really love them, odds are I will get sick of drinking them before I finish an entire tin. I forgot to set the timer for this one and I walked off and left it steeping. It got a bit oversteeped but still drinkable, especially with soymilk and sugar.

Preparation
Boiling 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Sil

agreed! I wish all tea companies would let you purchase small orders

Cameron B.

Definitely! Unless it’s a tea I’ve already tried and know that I like, I don’t want to buy 100g of it. :P

Sil

sometimes i don’t even want 100g…i’d rather get 50g and be able to buy it again and have fresh-er tea later.

Cameron B.

That’s true also, probably a good philosophy to have unless the shipping is ridiculous or something.

TeaBrat

50g is usually plenty for me!

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90
drank Spicy Chocolate by Kusmi Tea
2816 tasting notes

Tea of the afternoon here. I am not having a stellar day. I went to occupational therapy this morning for my hands/wrist which was good, but then my arm and shoulder have been really bothering me today. I’m so sick of dealing with this chronic pain and my Dr. is taking me off work restrictions next month so I’m going to have to try and find a job when I’m feeling poopy. It seems kind of impossible.

This tea is an old favorite and definitely my favorite tea from Kusmi. The chocolate and spicy notes seem very soothing and delicious right now. I don’t have any chais that I really love at the moment, but this is almost as good. It’s nice to have an old tea “friend” to cheer me up.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Cameron B.

This was one of the teas that caught my eye when I was browsing their site. I’m a little wary of chocolate teas but this is one I’ll have to try. :D

Skysamurai

Feel better!

TeaBrat

Cameron, I would recommend checking it out!
Sky – thanks!

Cheri

I have a feeling the perfect job will be waiting for you.

TeaBrat

Thanks Cheri. you’re a peach!

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Profile

Bio

My profile pic is of a pink dahlia at Golden Gate Park.

Hobbies include: tea, making art, animals, vegan things, buddhism, nature, creativity, books, writing, cooking, meditation, yoga.

I am a fan of many different teas but my favorites are blacks and oolongs, chai, also like darjeeling and pu-erh. I’n always learning and expanding my horizons!

Dislikes include: bergamot, jasmine, highly tannic or bitter teas, overly judgmental and bitter people. :)

Live in San Francisco, I’m a SINK (single income, no kids) and love the urban life, but traveling out to the middle of nowhere is always fun too.

I tend to not drink things I know I will hate so a lot of my tea ratings are on the higher side. Here’s my rating system, sorta

95-100 I love this tea and would like to keep it around

94-90 An excellent tea which I may or may not repurchase

89-80 Pretty good, above average

79-70 Acceptable

69-60 Mundane – Will probably drink it if I have it

59-50 Ick

49 and below Nasty

Location

San Frandisco

Website

http://sanfrantea.teatra.de

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