3235 Tasting Notes
Hmmm, I’m glad the bag didn’t say loose LEAF tea because that would violate the truth in advertising standard. This is loose….stuff. Not quite as large as CTC but bigger than dust, I guess. When I see tea bits that are this size, it scares me. I want to lower the infusing basket into the water with one of those grabber thingies while wearing a hazmat suit. I am a tea wimp.
The directions say to steep for 4 to 6 minutes or to desired taste. HA! At six minutes, this stuff will stage a coup and there will be an international incident. I went with 2 1/2.
And it really could have gone a little longer. I tried to like it plain, but it hurt me. This was a bit bitter without being flavorful. The color was reddish. I added milk and sugar to redeem the cup, and I suppose it did. This is now a pretty typical breakfast tea with a malty Assam flavor. I do feel more like I am drinking coffee. I don’t drink coffee, by the way. And the color looks like a Hershey bar with that reddish tinge some chocolate bars have.
For Breakfast blend lovers, malty lovers, and Assam lovers, this isn’t terrible. I will drink it, especially when I don’t really want to pay attention to my tea. Ooo, I bet it will be good as really sweet Southern style iced tea! Grateful to oldest daughter for picking it for me when she was in N. Ireland.
I am surprised. I can definitely finish the pot, and I will try steeping a little longer next time and resign myself to adding milk and sugar to this one every time.
I was craving black tea this morning but there was no time to make it, then middle daughter offered to make a pot for me while she was making hers.
I started out drinking this hot and I am still amazed at what a complex black tea it is. Dark, a bit of molasses flavor, sweet, cocoa notes…and then, I iced it with a little sugar. We were having lunch outside on this beautiful Easter Sunday and POW! Suddenly I get flowers at the end of the sip! I even looked around to see if enough roses were open to have influenced me, but only a few blooms were present and I was upwind from them. I sipped again paying clolse attention and there it was….flowers. There is also a maltiness with a bit of spice that I have found in really excellent Assams, though this is a Wuyi black. Delicious. I will be sorry to see this tin come to an end.
I was never really that interested in this one originally since I didn’t care for unflavored blacks, but now that my palate continues to expand I think I shall have to try this one!
Unfortunately, they have been sold out of it for quite some time. I hope they get either this or Golden Snail back in stock, though! And now our beloved Emperor’s Red from Premium Steap is unavailable. Sigh.
The first time I tried this, it was a sachet sent by the oh so generous Doulton. I made a cup of tea and left the sachet in a bowl on the stove. A friend came over and just had to try it when she smelled the sachet, so I resteeped it for her. For my birthday, said friend gave me this tea in loose leaf form.
Hubby wasn’t wild about the tea we drank earlier, but he started making yummy noises when he smelled this one. Wow, it smells great! The first sips were really cocoa-y, and then the strawberry started to peek through for me. Both hubby and my son liked it a lot. Of course, I already knew I liked it!
I made two steeps western style….so far. I may see if these leaves have one more go in them. Be forewarned though, this really just tastes like a flavored black to me rather than a flavored puer. But it is delicious! They recommend it with milk which I haven’t tried because it is so good as is.
This was a swap from AmyOh. Thank you, Amy!
I am going to sound like a sycophant, but I do agree with everything Amy said, and the company description. First, I love the little square, I love the sticker, I love the paper. Nothing to do with the tea, I know, but these are really cool! And I am saving the wrappers to decoupage onto a tin for holding some puerhs.
I experimented with it a bit. I did wash the tuo Cha because it felt quite hard and tightly compressed. The first steel went for 2 minutes, highly contrary to the company instructions but as I changed my parameters I found that there wasn’t a huge difference in the different times and slightly different temps. Hubby said he tasted hay very strongly. I agree that it is bitter, but I didn’t pick up a lot of the sweet aftertaste they mention. When I smell the leaves I am reminded very strongly of Thai restaurants or perhaps Indian cuisine…definitely some exotic cooking spice notes floating around there.
I am new to sheng puerhs, but this one is very different from the one I had from Harney and Sons that is a few years older. I would love to buy some sheng puerhs and put them aside for years and years. Makes me wish I had started this hobby a lot sooner!
Thank you again, Amy! I can’t wait to try the bamboo steamed puerh!
The front of the envelope that the teabag came in says, “organic whole leaf tea for a smoother flavor.” With a pedigree like the one found on the back of the envelope, I was expecting a little more, but it isn’t bad.
I made two steeps of about six ounces each using 170 F water for two minutes. I did taste a sip at 30 seconds but still basically just had hot water. I guess since this is a blend and in a bag, it takes a little more time. There is a hint of grain, and a sharp but light celery taste. I don’t think I would go out of my way to get more of this one, but if you want an everyday green to keep in a desk drawer at work this probably isn’t a bad choice.
It is a bit odd because I occasionally get a sour taste, other times a sweet aftertaste, then an oat taste…but it isn’t consistent. And all this in just the same 12 ounces of tea.
This is a single teabag that my ooldest daughter brought to me. I believe she bought this in Ireland, though it may have been from Budapest. She wanted me to try it because she said it is her favorite green tea so far. She isn’t a tea fan, she drinks it for her health and just started a few months ago.
I had no directions, so I used rather cool water, about 175 F, and steeped it for two minutes. The tea surprised me in several ways. First, when I tried to drink green tea for the first time years ago I purchased seem grocery store tea and had no idea how to steep it. It came out pretty much as a cup of hot water to me. That is what I expected from this, especially since I figured newbie tea drinking daughter probably wouldn’t like strong flavor, particularly since she doesn’t like black tea at all. This is not just a cup of ot water. It has a lot of flavor.
The second surprise is that oldest daughter says it is her favorite green so far. Really? This changes everything! There are similarities between this and Chun Mee. It has the palate clearing astringency with a little sourness, in the good way, but it lacks the sweet aftertaste of Chun Mee. I have no desire to rush out and buy a box, which is good since I would had to fly to Europe or order six boxes at a time on Amazon, but I don’t mind finishing this. Now I want Chun Mee. Badly. So I guess I will go place another Teavivre order. :)
Oh, and I love the name! Pickwick was the pet Dodo owned by Thursday Next! And gmathis, did you see that Republic of Tea is making a series of teas for #1 Ladies’ Detective Agency? Or is that old news?
Thursday Next … I keep finding reasons to like you :) I think I’d heard the RoT thing, but haven’t explored in depth. Had a lovely bookstore binge today and No. 1’s were on my shoppping list, but Alexander McCall Smith (at least the newer ones) is a little hard to find used and cheap.
I have found some great hardbacks at our local Hope Harbor and even Goodwill. Estate sales are a good bet, too! I will keep an eye as well.
I found several teas with this name from other companies, and the ingredients look similar so I am guessing they are all from the same source. This was purchased at Gurman’s in Ireland but the bag lists the country of origin as Germany.
I am not the world’s biggest fan of peach flavor, especially when it isn’t in the actual peach! But this tea was pretty good. The peach flavor dominates but there is also a high minty/citrus note that may be from the marigold. I haven’t had much marigold so I am not sure if that was the source of the high note or not. I think this would be very good iced as it is a refreshing tea. If you really like peaches, instead of tolerating them like me, you might really love this.
My daughter must have heard about my review of this in the sample teabag, because she just surprised me with 100 grams of loose leaf! YUMMY! This is a greener oolong, which I have come to like best even though I started out loving the roasted oolongs. Delicious, lightly floral, lovely!
Having reviewed this tea three times already from the sample sent by JacquelineM long ago, I am delighted to click the “In My Cupboard” on this one! My daughter just got home from Europe and brought me LOTS of tea!
I steeped this at 195 F for 4 minutes. I didn’t pick up any bitterness. The aroma is like fine French perfume, but not in an off putting way. I don’t want soapy tasting tea! This is an elegant tasting tea. Truly pampering!
I got my new tea this morning! Hooray!
Wow, this Darjeeling has such a bright Muscat grape flavor that it almost hurt my sinuses to sniff it! Very citrusy, fruity, and bright! This one got a thumbs up at tea tasting today. It was the favorite of my guest, and I liked it very much though I would be hard pressed to name a favorite of today’s teas.
Did it fall through your infuser basket? I had something similar I had to pour through a coffee filter to strain.
K S: I don’t think so. Youngest tried it and said it was very sweet but she loves Assam and I don’t particularly.