987 Tasting Notes

I had some this morning before going to work. My enthusiasm for this tea has faded a bit, as along with the pumpkin and spices I’m beginning to detect a harsh smell in the background. Can’t quite put my finger on it. Something metallic?

Anyways, I had some with agave nectar and it was a good mix. I’ve probably got another 50 or so grams to finish off.

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Backlog from last night.

I’ve found this tea can be hit or miss – it’s best not to brew it for too long, and the fruitiness really goes up a notch if you make sure the dry leaf contains a cranberry or piece of orange when you infuse it.

When you do it right, though? Magic. This tea is soooo good. I’m glad I made sure to get 2 oz of this while I could.

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Backlog from this morning.

I put in too much leaf and didn’t give the tea enough time to cool down and develop its flavours before drinking. As a result, I didn’t get much strawberry. However, the vanilla pastry note was there, even though it was a bit subtle. Good and smooth going down, though.

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Backlog from last night.

Om nom nom. I love this tea, but I have a habit of not using enough “leaf” (nuts and fruit here, really) when making it. This tea is really chunky and heavy, so you have to use a lot to get a decent cup.

But man, I still love it. Sweet, nutty, fruity, bready. So good! Even better with a dollop of agave nectar.

Evol Ving Ness

I am a big fan of this one as well. This one was a big success.

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Backlog from yesterday.

I agree with other reviewers here that this tea isn’t 100% reminiscent of chocolate. There’s an underlying yeastiness/breadiness/alkalinity to it that reminds me, at best, of the dark cookie parts of an Oreo cookie (as opposed to the cream filling).

*OMGsrsly" compared this to Ovaltine before; I’m not very familiar with Ovaltine myself, but I think the comparison is accurate.

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Backlog from a few mornings ago.

I know I’ve had this at least once before. This is a nice green, though – it’s got an underlying sweetness that I like. It’s vegetal and nutty, but not too strong in that direction. I’ll enjoy finishing this off.

Thanks for the sample, Ubacat!

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Backlog from a few nights ago.

Still figuring this tea out, although it’s much better than the Traditional Medicinals nettle tea. This one is much less dusty-tasting.

It’s still somewhat muted in flavour, though. I wanted more green-ness and sweetness. Maybe I should steep for longer? Add more leaf?

In the meantime, I need to figure out what to do with the Traditional Medicinals nettle. My immediate thought is to add the rest of the tea bags to a bath and bathe in it, see if it does something nice for the skin.

Ubacat

Or make a hair rinse.

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Backlog from last Saturday.

I made a pot of this before heading out to attend a seminar. I couldn’t finish the entire thing so I poured the rest into a travel mug. Unfortunately, it didn’t travel well.

The tea I had at home was fine, though – there was an additional sensation of powdery-soft sweetness in the tea on top of the jasmine. I’m assuming this is the magnolia talking.

Ubacat sent me a sample of this. Evolving Ness has asked to try some, so I’m sending the rest off to her.

Evol Ving Ness

Hey, hey, hey, if you only have enough for one or two more cups, no, please don’t send it. I didn’t realize that the teas you listed were in small teeny quantities. So, please don’t send this one.

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drank Pomme by Hediard
987 tasting notes

GCTTB5 backlog:

Others have said that this tastes like apple and cinnamon, but I didn’t get that much apple OR cinnamon flavour in the dry leaf. Instead, when the tea was brewed, I got a hint of apple plus a hint of toffee – dark, sugary, toasty. Ultimately, this was very smooth going down; good easy drinking. I bet it would have tasted even better with some agave syrup.

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GCTTB5 backlog:

I couldn’t tell whether this was a green or an oolong, because it was rolled up into tiny dark green nuggets like an oolong, but had a rich, nutty taste that reminded me somewhat of a gunpowder green. This was worth it to try, but it didn’t really wow me, as there was a vegetal undertone to it that I wasn’t a fan of.

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Bio

Updated March 2016:

I’m a writer and editor who’s fallen in love with loose-leaf tea. I’ve also set up a site for tea reviews at http://www.booksandtea.ca – an excellent excuse to keep on buying and trying new blends. There will always be more to discover!

In the meantime, since joining Steepster in January 2014, I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on my likes and dislikes

Likes: Raw/Sheng pu’erh, sobacha, fruit flavours, masala chais, jasmine, mint, citrus, ginger, Ceylons, Chinese blacks, rooibos.

Dislikes (or at least generally disinclined towards): Hibiscus, rosehip, chamomile, licorice, lavender, really vegetal green teas, shu/ripe pu’erh.

Things I generally decide on a case-by-case basis: Oolong, white teas.

Still need to do my research on: matcha

I rarely score teas anymore, but if I do, here’s the system I follow:

100-85: A winner!
84-70: Pretty good. This is a nice, everyday kind of tea.
69-60: Decent, but not up to snuff.
59-50: Not great. Better treated as an experiment.
49-0: I didn’t like this, and I’m going to avoid it in the future. Blech.

Location

Toronto, ON, Canada

Website

http://www.booksandtea.ca

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