1759 Tasting Notes
Yay!! an honest to goodness hit!
I was determined to try randoms until I found one that tickled my picky palate and this is where I ended up. Phew! what a trip…
Now the tea itself is unique to be sure. The yogurt is strong, much stronger than any of the other yogi-teas I’ve tried… and I like it! reminds me of the dried yogurt you get on raisins or peanuts. It’s very fragrant as well. The strawberry is rather mild but hanging around in the back. I don’t mind, as I’m willing to sacrifice that aspect in the interest of yogurt. Mmmmm.
As for soap, as is mentioned in Kristaleyn’s review… I don’t notice any when the cup is piping, but it gets a little abrasive when cool and I think that might be where you get the soap-ness from!
ugh! tart flowers!
Oh cherry… wherefore art thou…
My reaction exactly.
=O try Icing it! It worked for me.. the white tea came out and was a little creamy and it was sweet cherries all the way. I hope it works for you!
I have just enough left for a cold steep. I’ll try it that way, thanks Lynne-tea!
You’re welcome! What I did was used 2/3 the amount of hot water required, then once the steep time was up I filled the rest up with ice cubes and put it in the fridge over night. Is that how you cold steep? I need to research ice tea making ways haha.
I don’t really use ice cubes… since my teeth are so sensitive! I just hot brew and then stick it in the fridge once it’s cooled a bit.
but there are SO many ways to ice a tea :)
I really wanted to try Cherry Potion but now I’m not sure. I wanted that tart yet sweet cherry flavor, not flowers. :’-( How disturbing.
I really wanted to try Cherry Potion but now I’m not sure. I wanted that tart yet sweet cherry flavor, not flowers. :’-( How disturbing.
Lynn68: try it out, no harm in getting a sample! I’ve been looking for a tart cherry tea as well.
@Lynne-tea – Cold brewing, to me, means that the water is never hot. So you’d put the leaves in whatever you’re steeping the tea in, and then into cold/room temperature water and place it in the fridge.
It takes much longer – like several hours, you might want to google for cold brewing steep times. With herbals and rooibos anyway, you’re completely safe to steep it overnight. So are blacks, I think. Not so sure about white/green/oolong. The longest I’ve left a white so far has been about four hours and it was nice, but that was a cup at a time. I’ve cold-brewed greens for pitchers and I’m still not sure if I’m getting the timing right or they weren’t all suitable, as they’ve all tasted slightly off. Oolong I haven’t tried yet.
I personally like that better than having the water ever be hot. To me, tea steeped hot and cooled just tastes funny, whereas tea which has always been cold comes out smooth and sweet and suitable to drink cold!
I need to experiment more with cold steeping. I’ve only ever tried it four or five times. Lime Gelato is pretty good cold, as is Candied Almond from Tea Emporium. I also tried a white and a green iced with so-so results.
The fruity green, I tried cold brewing and it wasn’t that great. I hot brewed it and that was better but still meh! next time I’ll try black.
I’d like to be able to add milk as well, eventually.
Mehhhhh. I had hoped for more intensity in the flavour. More punch, more chocolate, more… heck even more rooibos flavour would have been helpful. Also, it tasted flowery. I guess that was the clove?
Even with milk and agave, this did nothing for me. sadness.
Wieeeeerd. This tea, it wierds me out! I’m so glad I only got a sample. Thank you SO much to the TE associate who gave me a sample!
The flavour on the first steep was very bubblegummy, in a fruity way. Like bubblicous! A little to much for me.
Then the second steep, there was far less fruitiness going on, but for some reason all I could taste and smell was SOAP! Bleh!
At first I wondered if my hand creme got in the cup somehow but there was nothing in the bottom of the cup and… well I would have noticed a big glob of hand goo falling in my mug!
Ah well, I’m grateful for the experience and the first steep wasn’t bad! (79 for the first, 60 for the second, I’ll leave it at 70ish then!)
more wah…bleh!
bleh!! have you ever eaten hand creme before? worse than soap!
lol and why are you eating hand creme!?
I was cringing when I read about the soap smell/flavor. Ewww!
long story Missy! I thought it was custard on the spoon… but no it was some stray hand creme. Blech!
SimpliciTea: yup. There is no better way to describe it than ewww!
That sounds like some thing I would do! :D
Missy: watch out for the escaped hand creme then. It will get you! :P
Thanks so much to Azzrian for this sample! I totally agree, this is more sweet pepper than hot! and I don’t know what, but something else was amiss. Maybe it was me, but I don’t think so…
This one didn’t speak to me as tasty at all. The first of many misses today. But you know what? I didn’t mind for some reason. I was in a mood to experiment :)
u b strikn out!
yep, I think I’ve scored a run by this point! ha!
I still gotta try this tea someday, as I LOVE peppers and hot food …
SimpliciTea: I have some left, you are more than welcome to it! :)
Thank you, but no thank you. : )
Not at the moment, anyway. Still, I may open to a swap this summer when I have FINALLY depleted all of my samples.
LOL I hear ya, I am drowning in samples myself :)
PiNa CoLaDa!
Too much hibby!!!! yikes. but then I added some honey and it mellowed out a bit. Still super tart, but not in a sour kid way anymore.
Anyhow, thanks so much for the sample Azzrian!! I can really see where this one goes wrong for you. It smells a little gnarly, but the taste is more or less great… except for the teeny little bump when I swallow, where I get a hint of backass in the flavour.
I think it’s the pineapple, and how it’s blending with the hibby. Coconut is in there to somewhere. When I pick out the flavours, they are not making friends! it’s almost as if there is a wall of garbage up between them, but there are stunning gardens on either side!! how odd.
When it was super hot, it was actually really good. Now that my cup is cooling I can see how other reviewers might think it’s terrible. I better drink this one up fast now! gulp
this is such an intriguingly strange blend, I love reading your guys’ reviews for it. Taking one for the team! :D
Missy: yup, I stand by it! I don’t wanna know what frontass is like haha
DaisyChubb: it is very strange indeed! I definitely won’t be buying any… but I am glad to have seen what all the fuss was about. One of those it’s so bad I have to try it scenarios. ha!
LOL!!
LOL great review, made me laugh so thanks! teehee backass :D
Ass backwards would be a frontass right!?!
Totally!
Yogini: it made me giggle just writing about that… :P
ScottTeaMan: well I suppose so yah!! except… it sounds so much worse haha
Yuck. I can’t believe you liked this one. Should I save the rest of my sample package for you? I was going to throw it away. It literally makes me gag to think about it. I hope you don’t get an upset stomach! :P
lol errr thanks for thinking of me! I think this one is best for the compost! my stomach was ok, this time… ha.
Hahaha :P To the compost it shall go.
Oh Adagio… whatever made you think this was a good idea?!
Let me just say tea foot bath! For those teas you wouldn’t give to some one else, I throw some tea in hot water and soak my feet in it. It makes my feet smell nice while they soak at least. :D
huh, I like that idea Missy!!!
but for a tisane… does that make them sticky? lol
I’ve never had them go sticky. I’ve tried a couple of teas and I think the one had some fruit but not a lot. I do suggest a rinse after even with out fruit. The leaves tend to get in between toes, or on the top of your foot when you try to get out of the bath.
neat-o. Now I just need a bin to soak in. My bathtub won’t work because I don’t want any tea getting in the little jet holes.
oooh, epsom salts and tea! :P
Yeah I don’t use the bath tub either. A large bucket works well. Then you can get your ankles too.
yeah. It feels like something I should do at the cottage :P
Wooweeeee this tea is sumthin else!! so good!!!! Thanks to Kristaleyn for sharing with me!
Now on to the TEA!
I rinsed this once for a few seconds before getting to the real steep, but I think I should have rinsed again because the first steep was really weak. I mean, I thought that for a moment there this one was a waste! but don’t worry, it got progressively better, it really did!!
The second steep was great, salty and a little sweet. Like buttered green vegetables (though I can’t pinpoint which ones precisely) wrapped in something hay like. Hay-leaf?
The third steep was less salty, only in the aftertaste but in it’s place was buttered sweet corn bread! oh YUM!!! The immediate aftertaste was sweet, with an afteraffect of having had something lightly salted.
The fourth steep was less bready, but still strongly so. However, it shared the spotlight with something else that was a bit nutty and sweet. Hazelnuts perhaps?
Also, I found the faintest suggestion of something apple but I had trouble distinguishing it from the nuttiness so I can’t be sure.
One other thing. It was all so smooth, I can’t believe a tea could be so velvety. Like silk!
Overall, I am very pleased with this oolong but I regard it as a special experience… it would be too much to have every day. Like a trip to the spa! Thanks again Kristaleyn!
Absolutely wonderful analogy…a trip to the spa. Some tea’s are just that way!
yep! and if I had it every day, then the other teas that I love might become less special. Can’t have that!
Everone seems to like this tea…….alot!
I recommend it Scott! HIGHLY!! :)
Oh, good I’m going back through all these posts :) Glad you liked it. I think I gave you a pretty small sample (as I need get it right yet myself), so I’m glad you didn’t fail like I did the first time :)
I still have enough left for another cup! but yes it’s very good… definitely try it again :)
Nice description! My experience with wulongs is usually like this. The best ones don’t even begin to reveal their true colors until at least the third steep.
thx Chadao! I agree, the second or third steep is usually the best one, by far. I’ve only ever had one where the first steep was better.
Lookeee what I bought!! HEHEHEEEEE Yes I am giddy :P
My Tea Master has been sitting unused for months because I couldn’t get the tea stains/tannin taste out… it’s two years old now and that is supposed to be the life span of a plastic product anyhow so I am thinking of tossing it, or just hoarding it in the back of my cupboard for emergencies.
I am SO glad that there is this baby to replace it! but then I am also sad because the reason I got it for half price is also the reason my fave local tea shop is soon to go bu-bye :(
Oh well, I might as well enjoy it while I can. Nothing good lasts forever right?
Bloom this is like my PIAO 1 pot! It’s nice for pu-erh’s too! Enjoy!
neat-o!! I will definitely enjoy this one on Sunday! (after my exam. sighs)
Ooh! Kind of like the thing I have :D
Is it? Did you get yours from Teaopia?
It’s a very similar design, but not the same thing. The one I pointed out in Tsaa was the exact one I had. I got it from TreasureGreen Tea Company in Vancouver (a birthday gift from my aunt). I only use it for straight teas – don’t want anything sticky to get in the filter.
yeah I am not using ANY rooibos in that baby. no sireee! but I do need to buy something besides tea sacs that will work for that :/
Pick up a stainless steel filter basket like the one DavidsTea carries. Works great for rooibos, and easy to clean.
oh yah! good idea. I’ve been waiting for them to go on sale but I might just break down and buy it :)
Yeah, I had a PIAO I teapot that looked exactly like this but it broke. :( Tip: Don’t hold the basket upside down and bang it repeatedly to get the leaves out. It made the ball come loose and then the bottom fell out. SUCH a pain to fix. I pretty much had to finagle it with tweezers for about 30 minutes every time I wanted to use it until I finally got fed up and threw it out. But when it worked, it was awesome! :)
lol awww sorry to hear CHAroma, that sucks!
I’ll keep that in mind for sure!! Hopefully you’ll find one on sale soon :)
Live and learn, haha! If you treat it with TLC, it should last a long time.
I’ll try!!
I have a habit of killing my teaware, with overuse/not washing asap… we shall see!
Oh hey this is amazing!! not exactly what I was after… but really good nonetheless!
With milk and sugar, it was just like banana pudding, with a hint of chocolate for good measure. Now, this would have garnered a rating of 94 if it was like that on it’s own, but I had to add TWO packets of sugar to get that flavour. I never add that much sugar…
And thus, sadly, I must downgrade the rating here.
Still, I am tempted to buy some. I’m on a dessert tea kick lately, I dunno what’s gotten into me. It wasn’t long ago that I hadn’t touched a dessert tea in months! Ah well.
Now, I am on the hunt for a great chocolate herbal tea (rooibos or otherwise).
Trouble is, I don’t want any other notes besides chocolate to mess with it. That means no mint, no spice… or banana. I just want CHOCOLATE! You’d think that wouldn’t be so hard to find. I’ve had no issues finding caffeinated chocolate teas… le sighs
Stay tuned for my note about my teaware purchase!! YAY!!!
Yeah, I’ll have to try it again and see if I can get the taste to be non-soapy. It was good otherwise! Funny thing though – I left the teaball sitting overnight in a bowl, and in the morning when I went to dump it, there was a little pool of literally sticky jam underneath it. So much fruity goodness in this tea :)
I know you don’t like to drink the cup til it cools somewhat. Maybe try a little sip when it’s hotter, with spoon? (I find that moderates the temp)
Jam!! I think I’ll have some on toast… haha :P
I’ll try that. I tried it under suboptimal conditions the first time around, what with being in a travel mug and having to leave the teaball in forever and whatnot. It was in there for over 2 hours, likely. Probably will try it again soon!
oh dear, yes I can see how two hrs would be problematic! fingers crossed for your next cuppa :)