863 Tasting Notes

78

Luckily I remembered as I was steeping this how bitter it got at only 1:30 of steeping the first time I made it. I was able to yank the steeper out about 1:15 in and I’m glad I did, since this had already turned super dark after it seemed like the leaves barely got wet.

I meant to try it without additives but the opaqueness of the cup intimidated me into adding creamer from the beginning. It turned into a lovely tamed tea once the creamer was added but I’m thinking my palate might not be able to handle it any other way.

I take most of my breakfast teas with milk and sugar anyway so this will fit in the rotation until I sip it down. It certainly was the jolt I needed to get into schoolwork this morning!

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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91

Gave this a shot cold brewed to use up the last of the leaf sent to me by Sil!

Cold the pure orange turned a bit more like bergamot, so kind of an iced earl grey? Eh. I wish it hadn’t done that – earl greys are exclusively hot, breakfast teas to me.

Oh, well, it’s gone now. I got called off work tonight so at least the ice storm will be something I can watch rather than travel in. Off to make some hot tea to stay warm with. Stay safe everyone!

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 3 tsp 14 OZ / 414 ML
Terri HarpLady

I bought oranges so that I could try putting a slice in my black tea, & people keeping eating them before I get around to doing it.

Ysaurella

you’ll need to hide them next time Terri :)

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85
drank Turtle Cheesecake by 52teas
863 tasting notes

This is only the second time I’ve had this, and I don’t remember too much about the first time except that I felt like the flavors didn’t really have a lot of cohesion to them.

Today I had it with breakfast and some creamer and everything tied together a little neater. Chocolate and caramel are still the predominant flavors but the creamer helped smooth everything into something resembling a cheesecake. There’s still a bit of chemical-ness in it, so it tastes more like a processed cheesecake than homemade one, if that makes any sense.

So, all in all not terrible. I’ll drink what I have but this is not a must have blend for me.

Flavors: Caramel, Chocolate, Nuts

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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88

Butter flavor. Coconut vanilla butter flavor. With this slight hint of alcohol in the scent. I’m really sensitive to alcohol though so it’s probably nearly undetectable to most people.

Sigh. Drinking this and hoping everyone’s just overreacting to the weather forecast. I can’t even deal with another Snowpocalypse in Atlanta. Buttered rum PLEASE work some tropical magic.

Flavors: Butter, Coconut

Preparation
4 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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94

Good thing I read the tasting notes before I tried this one- I would have really been thinking it was the wrong tea because who would guess Bergamot from Divine Cream?

This was a sample from Sil – and such a lovely one! It’s been a while since I’ve had a bagged tea. They are quite convenient aren’t they? Shame that you can’t really get good quality teas bagged for the most part, though. Ah, we’ll, just makes me appreciate the ease of it when I do get the chance.

This tea has the buttery caramel vanilla I love, accompanied by the surprise bergamot flavor. It’s a light bergamot, which is how I prefer my Earl Grey anyway, and as an Earl Grey Cream, it is quite good. I am considering getting more if only because it the ease of a good bagged Earl grey cream would be great for travelling.

I found a surprise hidden gem in my cupboard! I’m thinking it’s going to be a good week…

Flavors: Butter, Caramel, Vanilla

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML
Sil

it’s pretty expensive, but they do pop up shops and such in toronto and sometimes chapters has their tea on sale… i bought mine at a 50% off sale..

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85

Steep notes: no additives, 1 packet of leaf to my gaiwan (6 oz. capacity)

Dry leaf smell: chocolate covered raisins? Wow. Fruity and cocoa-y all at once…

steep one: 10 seconds, Um, smell has changed to burnt french fries. I remember this. I also remember not really preferring this particular iteration, if I’m honest. Still, as long as we’re getting into semantics, this isn’t smoky – it’s just char. So I don’t outright dislike it. As it cools I taste a starchy bread undertone. maybe a hint of burnt sugar/caramel. Come to think of it, I don’t think anything burnt was actually in the taste – just the smell. I can live with this.

steep two: 20 seconds, mostly because my hands just aren’t fast enough to get everything poured any faster. This steep smells more like burnt sweet potato fries. Taste is more chocolaty – dark cocoa powder.

steep three: 35-ish seconds. Leaves smell ashy/charred but the liquor smells caramel sweet. This makes me happy. Taste is sweet, smooth vanilla caramel.

steep four: 1 minute. I’m amazed at how those leaves smell so different than the steeped liquor or taste. Now the caramel has transitioned into a honey note. But its got kind of a roasty flavor in the background, so…honey on toast? Its interesting how the liquor seems to get sweeter with each steeping, which I am loving!

steep five: 3 minutes. Multiple steepings are always so hard for me because I just don’t drink alot of any drink at once, unless I’m eating dinner. The fact that I’ve gone 5 rounds (so, 30 oz) with this in an hour is actually pretty darn impressive. Flavor has changed to what I thought the initial smell of the leaf reminded me of – chocolate covered raisins. It’s more of the unsweetened cocoa powder than milk chocolate though. Still a very nectary mouthfeel, even though I’m five steeps in. I’m not going to be able to hold any more tea tonight though, so I’ll save the leaves in my gaiwan for tomorrow.

I can’t believe how long its been since I’ve had this – long enough that its not in stock anymore. Still, it was a nice relaxing tea to end the weekend on. Time to get ready for bed and start a new week!

Flavors: Bread, Caramel, Cocoa, Honey, Raisins, Sweet Potatoes

Preparation
Boiling 5 g
Fjellrev

Wow, burnt french fries! Never experienced that with this one before.

Sil

it’s never coming back either..and that make me a very very sad panda

Terri HarpLady

I still get to drink this a few more times…sigh…

TeaLady441

It’s not? :O

Sil

Nope. It was an experiment….last I checked with verdant, not likely

Starfevre

I still haven’t tried mine and I’ve got a bunch of packets. I’m NOT a fan of smokey so it may go up in a swap/sell at some point.

TastyBrew

ooh Starfevre — if you find you don’t like, I will snatch up all yours!!! I LOVE it and am so sad it’s gone!

Terri HarpLady

TastyBrew, I’ll arm wrestle you for it :D

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100

Ugh, I need to be more real time with these tasting notes – this is a backlog from this morning.

There was a HUGE blueberry in my leaves so I was expecting a little more blueberry flavor than I actually got. With creamer added I mostly got the cheesecake tang and maybe some blueberry at the end. No pastry today.

Always a good one to have on hand when you want a good dessert tea.

Flavors: Berries, Vanilla

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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98

Tea of breakfast yesterday, with some creamer.

I wanted pancakes but was all out of maple syrup. Luckily I had this on hand – got all the buttery maple syrup flavors I needed without having to really dirty any dishes or do much preparation. I love when things work out that way.

I also really like buttery flavored teas. I have a few in my cupboard so since I’m in the mood for them I may as well go drink them…

Flavors: Butter

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Sil

was it you that loves the crap out of blueberry cheesecake danish from frank?

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91

I like that this is orange instead of bergamot. I don’t know why there is even a difference to me (probably because I associate bergamot with cream and vanilla flavors since I love Earl Grey Creams…) but this orange is bright and juicy with its base.

Bergamot screams breakfast to me, and this really seems more of an afternoon tea. Like, instead of having hot tea with lemon an orange slice was used instead. Fitting since I believe that’s the story behind this blend in the first place, haha.

Oh, Dammann. I love your teas – the only thing I don’t love is how all the accents in the names make it really hard to search for you on Steepster. (If anyone has keyboard shortcuts for this, let me know – this feels like a terribly frivolous thing to be picky about).

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
JoonSusanna

You seriously must know ALL THE THINGS. This is fabulous!

Sil

I grew up in a French immersion program so we had to use alt codes all the the time heh

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93

This really hit the spot in the early morning. I am glad I chose to forgo any additives because it allowed to experience (and marvel at) the tangy cheesecake and sweet creamy notes. The texture was thick and reminiscent of cheesecake even!

What a fortuitous, and much appreciated steeping. I have a few days off coming up and I need them to fully de-stress from work. This was a great starting point. Upping the rating for it being such a wonderful cup today.

Flavors: Cream

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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Profile

Bio

My tea habits:

*I am an unashamed Lipton iced-tea drinker (mass quantities, year round).
*I like hot teas but only in cold weather (and occasionally late summer nights or mornings).
*I love Japanese greens (the more seaweed-y the better) and good strong malty black teas.
*I do NOT love smoke in any form.
*Vanilla, cinnamon, or lemon anything will usually pique my interest.
*I’m working on pu-erh but it’s definitely going to take some time to grow on me.

(updated September 2015)

Location

Medford, OR

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