3 Tasting Notes
This was my first ever pearl tea and it seemed strange that it wasn’t in loose pieces when it started but looked sort of like black seaweed after it was steeped.
The biggest surprise to me was how smooth this tea was from the first taste. The first steep was only 1 minute and the color was very pale, but the second steep I left for 2 minutes and of course the color was deeper, but still it was a smooth as the first steep, but I did feel like it left a lingering taste on the back of my tongue that I couldn’t identify. I decided to do a third steep, but got distracted and it was left to steep for 5 minutes. Being in a hurry afterwards, I just poured the tea into a glass and later in the evening decided to try it with ice…what a surprise to find that it was great, and so much so that I might plan on doing a long 3rd steep again in the future to use for ice tea.
Preparation
As Mr. Darcy would say, “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love….” this black tea with blackberry and vanilla. This is such a soothing tea and has equal tasting of the berries and the vanilla. I have to admit that it would have been impossible for me to dislike this tea simply because it carries the Jane Austen name and if Jane Austen novels were the only books left in print, I could happily continue to read them in succession knowing what conversations were coming and being excited to read them again! But I actually loved this tea from the time I opened the package and the aroma caused me to relax in anticipation of the tea I would enjoy. I needed only a tiny amount of sweetener (Stevia) because my southern sweet tea roots insist on tea satisfying my sweet tooth. I also loved that the second steeping of this tea was as smooth and enjoyable as the first.
Preparation
As my first posting on Steepster, I want to start with my favorite tea which I was introduced to by my daughter, Devvyleys (on Steepster), when I visited her in Sydney, Aus. Being a new tea enthusiast, my tea notes won’t be so much from the descriminating palate point, but more to the pleasure each tea gives me as I try them.
The taste of caramel is what of course brings such pleasure from Creme Brulee. It is a black tea and very smooth if steep time is kept to about 3 min for a first steep.
Being a southern girl and having been brought up on iced sweet tea, I find that with hot teas I still prefer to have them sweetened some, and I use Stevia in place of sugar.
While this is for me a great relaxing tea to enjoy while reading, it would likely make a wonderful dessert tea and I imagine it would be especially good with almond cookies (biscuits to Aussies) or banana bread.
