987 Tasting Notes
I’ve never tried goji berries so I have no idea what they taste like, but I got this to-go as a tea pop from David’s Tea today. It was kind of tart, but I tasted melon the most strongly. Not bad, but I’d probably only get it to go, rather than stocking it at home.
I know I’ve had this once or twice before without bothering to log it.
This smells wonderful when it’s steeping, but it tastes tarter than I expected. Also, I think that in the small sample I asked for from DT, they gave me a whole lot of cinnamon chips and not a lot of rooibos.
This does smell nice, though. I’ll finish it off and may restock it at a later date.
How does this taste iced, by the way?
Coldbrewed a pitcher packet of this overnight, and I was very happy with it! I remember someone else (Roswell? Sil?) saying that this tea didn’t really work for them and that it tasted too artificial.
Because of that, I was a bit trepidatious but it turned out that there was nothing to fear. It’s peachy, sweet, and refreshing. Of course, it helps that the hubs likes it – he prefers juice teas over tea-teas anyway (now we just have to finish off that last bit of Black Cherry).
Technically this is a sipdown as I bought only one pitcher pack, but it may be a restock. You never know!
Sipdown
I cold-brewed this once a few weeks ago and had the remaining leaf this morning as a hot cup. Unfortunately, it was nigh undrinkable warm. I’m going to assume that this was a side effect of it sitting in a tea travelling box for over a year before I fished it out to keep – there was a rank fruitiness in the smell and the taste of the tea that made me think it had some cross contamination going on.
Plus, let’s face it, I don’t have a whole lot of sencha in my cupboard anymore and I find I like Chinese greens over Japanese ones. So, yeah, quite literally not my cup of tea anymore.
Thanks Ubacat for sending me a sample!
Honestly, this is a pretty typcal, non-descript tea for me. I’m not a huge fan of Mao Fengs, I’ve found, and I’ve also found that I’m not a fan of Yunnan greens, so having this tea be both wouldn’t be my ideal. It’s not offensive or awful, but it’s kind of middle-of-the-road green for me. This tea has that sort of smoke/rubber note I get on the back of my tongue a lot when I drink Yunnan greens.
Preparation
As it brewed, I smelled that grapelike smell that I assume must be what Darjeeling afficionadoes call “muscatel.” However, I’m fairly new to Darjeelings and I rarely drink wine, so this is something I need to research a bit more.
The brewed tea is a golden brown colour slightly darker than amber, and very clear. Although this tea was picked in the summer, it reminds me of an autumn flush Darjeeling that I used to have. My understanding is that authentic Darjeelings have a second flush that’s characterized by strong fruit flavour and a bit of sparkle. This tea, in contrast, is more muted.
Full review here: http://booksandtea.ca/2015/07/tea-review-jun-chiyabari-second-flush-nepal-by-single-origin-teas/
My hubby and I were really hoping we’d enjoy this as an iced tea since it sounded taste. I love cherries, and this tea smells great… but as an actual iced tea, it’s meh.
It smells juicy and fruity both in dry and brewed. But when I drink it, the cherry flavour goes away and the taste that lingers on the back of my tongue is chemically and slightly bitter. Doesn’t taste like cherry at all.
We have half of our 50g tin left after one pitcher of iced tea, and we’ll use it up, but it won’t be a restock.
I really wanted some coconut tonight, so this came to the rescue… but I didn’t taste much coconut at all! It’s been sitting in an airtight metal container for over a year, so I expected some loss of flavour, but not this much.
I have an unopened 1-oz pouch of this beyond the sample tea in the metal container. I’ll have to finish off the sample soon.
On an unpleasant note, I noticed that drinking this tea made my stomach upset – just this feeling of gnawing hunger even though I know I’ve eaten. I’ve had this stomach problem on and off for about a year and a half. No idea what triggers this fake hunger feeling (I went to a gastro specialist and had them examine the interior of my stomach with a scope camera, but nothing unusual turned up). I really hope this tea doesn’t trigger my stomach pain, because I’d never finish it if that were the case.
Sample sipdown.
I bought an iced tea pitcher packet of this over the weekend to play with, and my hubby quite liked it! He prefers juice tea over tea-tea. I added some agave nectar (mostly for him). Tart, sweet, but not too sweet.
After I hot-steeped the packet and added cold water to top up the pitcher, the leaves still smelled incredibly fragrant. So I took the infuser and put it into a mug of water to cold steep overnight in the fridge. The resulting tea in the morning was a bit weak, but not bad! I just didn’t want any of that good fruit smell to go to waste.
I’m coming close to 100 points on my Frequent Steeper card, and I’m seriously considering getting some of this tea as my 50g free tea reward – either this or Goji Pop. But probably this, since it’s a seasonal blend.
Backlog from last night.
I really like this tea and I’m running low. Nice fresh pastry/nutty/cinnamon notes, without too much puckery sweet/sour aftertaste from the apple. Plus, it was kind to my stomach.
I will probably restock this once I run out, but not immediately – I have lots of other tea to finish off. Besides, this tea is one of David’s most popular ones; I highly doubt it will be discontinued any time soon.
