171 Tasting Notes
Day 18 of Sara’s Old Tea! Part 1 of 6?
So, for Day 18, Sara gave me:
Pukka Tulsi Clarity
Pukka Licorice & Cinnamon
Trader Joe’s Moroccan Mint Tea
(these three are teas I’ve sent her)
Tazo Glazed Lemon Loaf
Stash Cinnamon Apple
(I think these were both herbals we got on vacation to the Oregon coast)
Simple Truth Organic Mint Blend Herbal Tea
(I don’t recognize this one)
I poured 12 oz of boiling water over the bag and left it in till it cooled off enough for me to drink it. Mmm, there’s that familiar peppery tulsi and some kind of minty note. Simple and tasty. My cat Rory keeps sniffing my mug though. I don’t think I should give him any.
checks
There’s no catnip in here, only three different varieties of tulsi. I can taste something like chamomile in it too.
Flavors: Mint, Pepper, Tulsi
Preparation
Day 17 of Sara’s Old Tea (and Sara’s lucky number)
I stirred a heaping teaspoon of this into a glass of hot (not boiling) water, as directed.
It’s very clove-forward. Which is not bad, just not what I was expecting. The ginger is pretty apparent too, and then the cinnamon. I can’t really pick out the pumpkin or the matcha. So I’m going to try it as a latte too.
I heated up some plain almond milk and put it in the blender with about the same amount of powder again. Now the ginger is more apparent, and with the strong clove, I’m getting a gingerbread taste. Mmm! I like it even better this way. I still can’t taste the pumpkin or the matcha, but I like it a lot.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Clove, Ginger
Preparation
I always drank it as a latte (but then, I never drink matcha in water). I found it to make nicely caffeinated Pumpkin Spice Lattes (as in, actual pumpkin spice, the spice blend you get in the little jar that is called “pumpkin spice” but everyone gets up in arms that it “doesn’t taste like pumpkin!” when the spice is just allspice/cinnamon/ginger/clove/nutmeg…) Good in plain or vanilla milk! Also good in smoothies, I liked it with pumpkin/sweet potato or peaches!
Oh I don’t normally look for pumpkin flavor in pumpkin-spiced things, but the first ingredient here is organic pumpkin. Oh, on the website. Here the last ingredient is pumpkin pieces. Either way, there is some actual pumpkin.
Oh, imagine a smoothie with this and frozen cooked pumpkin! Mmm.
I just took the wet, goopy stuff from a can, filled ice cube trays with it, then popped the frozen pumpkin “cubes” out of the tray and kept them in a freezer bag. Usually only needed about two cubes with some milk and a teaspoon of the matcha powder to make a very creamy smoothie! But it was equally good when I used peaches — the spices pair well and bring out a “peach cobbler” taste.
Mmm, both sound good!
Sweet 16th day of Sara’s Old Tea!
This one smells like chamomile. It tastes… medicinal. Oh nice, there’s some licorice. It’s not bad, but… the taste is kind of overwhelming, and it lingers on my tongue. I wonder if it’ll knock me out, with all the chamomile and valerian root. I’m sure it tastes better than a poisoned apple! Actually the taste is growing on me, bumped up the rating a little.
Flavors: Floral, Licorice, Medicinal
Preparation
It’s mostly fennel, which does indeed taste like licorice, and does a pretty good job of covering up any valerian root taste (that stuff tastes nasty). But valerian root is the one thing that works really well on me for sleep, so a sleep tea that tastes like licorice was ideal for me. Sadly the company (and this blend) are long gone now.
I’m sad they’re gone.
Oh, now it’s kicking in. That took a while!
Huh, I must be very sensitive to valerian root, it usually hits me before I’ve finished my cup.
Day 15 of Sara’s Old Tea!
I did a quick wash, then steeped this one for 4 minutes for the first steep, 4.5 for the second. It opened up a good deal for the first, and even more for the second.
It tastes of raisins and honey and malt and happiness and kitten snuggles. I’m going to steep this until no more delicious flavor comes out of it. Mmm.
Flavors: Honey, Malt, Raisins
Preparation
Kitten snuggles!
I love this tea too!
I love it (and snuggles with cats of any age).
I’m surprised that no one else apparently got a raisin note from it.
This is a perfect description of Yunnan black teas!
I tend to get raisin more often in Assams/Indian teas than in Chinese ones, it seems.
My kitty was extra snuggly last night and this morning… then I woke up to find she’d had another bad constipation attack last night that she took out on my carpet. Sigh. (Still enjoyed the snuggles, though).
Aww, yay snuggles, boo poo.
Day 14 of Sara’s Old Teas!
And it’s a teabag of Stash English Breakfast!
As a special bonus, a pack of Lorna Doone shortbread cookies was included with the teabag! They’re excellent dipped in tea, thanks!
Not bad, some good flavor notes for a bagged tea, malt and a hint of molasses.
Flavors: Malt, Molasses, Tea
Preparation
Lucky 13th day of Sara’s Old Tea Advent Calendar.
Oh, I like this first steep. I gave it a little wash, and it opened up nicely in the two-minute steep. I taste honey and malt and a little vegetal note. Oh, there’s some citrus too! I’ll comment as I do more steeps.
Flavors: Citrus, Honey, Malt, Vegetal
Preparation
It’s time for the 12th day of Sara’s Old Tea!
These wet leaves smell like wet leaves!
It tastes like wet leaves too, and I’m not getting a whole lot of complexity from this one. It’s like sitting on a pile of autumn leaves in the rain, sipping some tea. I’m getting some dirt notes too. That said, it’s not bad. It would probably benefit from a full gongfu session, but I brewed it western style.
Flavors: Autumn Leaf Pile, Dirt, Vegetal, Wet Earth
Preparation
Turn it up to 11! This is the 11th day of Sara’s Old Tea.
It’s very mild, a bit floral, with a hint of lemon, and I swear a bit of cotton candy flavor. I did clean out my gravity steeper. So it’s not from any leftover bits of other tea.
This is really nice. I hope I can get a few more steepings out of it. It’s like lying on the grass at a park, making daisy chains.
Flavors: Cotton Candy, Floral, Lemon
Preparation
Wow, it’s already the 10th of December, and the 10th day of Sara’s Old Tea!
This does taste a bit like candy and soda pop. The end of the sip faintly reminds me of Ramune. But the green tea flavor is also pretty strong, and I’m reminded of green tea candy. Which is also a good thing! There’s a bit of a grassy flavor too, mmm.
Flavors: Candy, Grass
Preparation
This is the 9th day of Sara’s Old…
WHAT? Wow, this is amazing. Strong notes of malt and honey, super smooth.
Mmm, I may have to order some of this.
Flavors: Honey, Malt
I brought the Glazed Lemon Loaf to the Oregon Coast and I’m pretty sure you asked for a cup. I didn’t get it on vacation there, I tend to keep that one in my cupboard because I like it a lot, one of my bagged tea favs. I don’t think I had Stash Cinnamon Apple on hand then, which is another of my bagged tea favs… I’ve been drinking that one a ton over the winter though and just finished my box. I normally drink that one double-bagged because we know what a hibiscus fiend I am. :-) I have a big pitcher of the Moroccan Mint in the fridge right now. The Mint Blend is the one that I finally found that “replaced” the one that Trader Joe’s discontinued, it’s my favorite mint tea thus far. And I haven’t tried the Pukka teas yet, but I thought you might want to sample them, I have plenty of bags!
Chiya likes to sniff my teacups too… but then, she likes to sniff anything I’m putting in my mouth in hopes it is something she can eat too, hahaha.
I guess I was trying to see a pattern, LOL. Instead of “let’s see how many bags will fit in this big Advent drawer!”
There is a pattern! They are all teabags, and all herbal! (And actually not as old as some of the other teas, hahaha)
Oh, I guess the Moroccan Mint isn’t herbal. Okay, I guess your pattern is the correct one.
I did notice that most are herbal!