183 Tasting Notes
Finally, after a string of steeping disasters and teas I really don’t care for, I’ve tried one that I quite like.
I like mint, and I love all of the spices in this tea, so the only question was how well would the green tea meld with their flavours? Answer: Really well. Mint is definitely the dominant taste, but the green tea and spices help to give it a mellower, sweet taste. I would not really term it as spicy, though.
Overall, a very pleasant cup of tea. I’m not sure that I’ll ever wake up in the morning and go “I NEED to drink North African Mint today”, but I’ll probably drink a cup whenever I stumble across it in my cupboard.
Preparation
I think I made a mistake when I steeped this one as instructed. There is a definite bitterness underlying each sip. I liked the dry scent of the tea, even if it was a bit artificial-apple smelling, and it smells like apple once steeped, too. I can’t get over the bitterness, though. I should have read the reviews first and steeped it at a cooler temp for less time.
I did a 2nd infusion at 80C for 2.5 min. It has very little scent, but at least I can drink it (not much flavour, though).
I’ll try this again, but I’m glad I only purchased a small amount of this one.
I used this as the base of a chai. Wow, it was delicious. I opened up 3 teabags and added 1 C of water and 1.5 C of vanilla almond milk. I added 2 tsp of cane sugar and steeped for 10 min on the stove. It was better than hot chocolate. The spice is mild, but it is there.
I haven’t tried this straight yet, and seeing how good it was as a chai, I probably won’t. It would likely be a bit weak as a straight tea.
Preparation
This seems to be my night for over steeping tea. Forgot this one for 15 min. Blech. Down the drain. That’s the 2nd tea gone tonight.
The 2nd infusion was for 4 min, and is at least drinkable. It smells mildly of strawberries, but the taste isn’t doing much for me. I’m going to put the rest of the cup in the fridge and see how it tastes cold tomorrow.
Holding off on rating until I can try this again.
Preparation
This smells awesomely peachy. I’m not smelling alot of floral notes here, but that could just be my sense of smell betraying me.
I had an operator-error with the first cup. Do NOT forget about this tea and let it steep for 15 min! Yuck. Very bitter. Down the drain it went. I watched the second infusion like a hawk and stopped it at 3 min exactly.
The peach has faded to a very light scent. It tastes kind of eh. Nothing truly distinctive about it. I’ll finish drinking it, but more to increase my water intake for the day than out of true desire.
I’m not going to rate this yet, as I’m sure the first infusion would have tasted much different if I had treated it properly. I’ll have to try again.
Preparation
There’s a fruity sweetness to the dry leaf, most of which I’m assuming is the added flavouring. It smells pretty good.
Hot, I tasted quite a bit of the grassy guayusa. Not a bad taste, but not one that had me clamoring for more. I got a bit of sweetness, but not a lot of fruit taste.
Cold (it took me all day to drink it), the flavours come out a bit more. I smell and taste a delicate hint of peach along with the guayusa. Not bad, but still not fabulous.
Preparation
This smells odd to me. I expect to smell coconut, but I’m not really. This “tea” is all coconut and mulberries – very little white tea here.
As it cools a bit, I can smell and taste the caramel that some of the other reviewers have mentioned. It’s pretty good (better than the dry smell), but I just had DTs Secret Weapon, and although they have totally different components (I’m not counting the white tea), they remind me of each other and I think I prefer that one. I’m kind of glad, as this is a heavy tea, and I can’t see myself paying the white tea price for mulberries and coconut.
