85 Tasting Notes
This is one of two teas I bought from Tea Drops in Kansas City. I took a whiff of this sample and the caramel smelled so fantastic I took a leap of faith and got 2oz after asking the woman’s opinion of it. She was honest and said she didn’t like it because it was too much like coffee, and that if I liked coffee I might like it. She also said that this was originally just a temporary tea for Christmas time but due to popular demand, they made it permanent.
I just brewed myself a cup, with a 1/2 tsp of rock sugar and it is fabulous. I haven’t tried many pu-erhs in my day, but the employee was absolutely right – this tastes like slightly sweetened black coffee with hints of caramel. This being said, it is bitter and full-bodied, and the caramel adds just the right amount of interest to this coffee-flavor. I will miss this tea when it’s gone, but I think my next cup I will add a bit more sugar and maybe a splash of milk. Bravo tea drops!
I had a cup-o-this tea at a tea shop I stumbled across while exploring Kansas City yesterday. The woman behind the counter said that it was her favorite, so I had to try it. The vanilla was rich and creamy, and the black tea was strong and smoky. Very nice. Too bad the only way you can get it is to go to Missouri!
The leaves are very aromatic and encompass the very essence of strawberries. After my sand timer ran out (this is the way they brew tea for customers at Indigo), I added a conservative amount of rock sugar it was ready to drink! The strawberry taste is nice and strong, which I would expect since the flavor of black tea is such a force to be reckoned with. At the same time, the strawberry flavor is rich and convincingly fresh, as each sip is like popping a ripe juicy strawberry into my mouth. The finish of this tea is quite pleasant as well; as the sweet strawberry taste wanes the black tea taste comes in for the final word. An overall lovely brew.
Quick review: Leaves very aromatic. Peppermint is very strong, chocolate taste is more subtle. Like an andes mint but much more minty. I’ve never been a huge fan of really minty teas, but this one is decent. Something about the flavor makes me think this is more muted or bland than it could be.
I like going here to study, and when I need a break I just get up and smell all of their samples of tea to help me decide what I want. I came across this tea and the leaves were so aromatic. They have this wonderful vanilla bourbon-y smell, so I had to try it.
I like my black tea sweet, splash of milk to get rid of any bitterness and smooth out the flavor. The vanilla taste is a nice undertone that complements the black tea and does not taste artificial in any way. I don’t exactly know how to describe the taste of the black tea, kind of earthy, smokey. It’s the best vanilla black tea blend I’ve ever tasted, plus it’s great hot and cold. I will definitely buy some of this as a morning staple once I free up a tin!
A nice smokey black tea. What more can I say?
This green oolong goes down easy, as I find it pretty crisp and clean. It’s also pretty astringent. To enhance my willpower to work on my dissertation for the 7th day in a row (it’s like a sprinting marathon), I added some jasmine dragon phoenix pearls for a flowery touch. This blend is awesome, btw. I may never go back to drinking the monkey picked alone! Now, if I could just find those monkeys and bribe them to write my paper, I would be set!
This tea definitely deserves an upgraded rating to a perfect score. It has this wonderful green tea aroma, laced with the sweetness of apples and the spicy bittersweetness of cinnamon. The aftertaste lingers in my mouth and leaves the impression of pie crust, and before I know it I am instantly swept away to the many falls I spent in my mom’s kitchen as she peeled those haralson apples and let them sit in cinnamon and sugar until they were nice and juicy. The nostalgia this tea forces me into will hold me over until next fall when I can take in the aroma and tartness that is my mom’s special apple pie. I don’t know how they did it, but the experience I get when drinking this tea goes beyond my imagination for how DavidsTea made this flavored gem. However, sense of smell bypasses the cortex and feeds right into the emotional center of the brain, causing spontaneous recall of meaningful events. I can’t wait until next fall – I hope they start selling this one again because I am running out!
I completely agree with the description of this tea regarding vanilla ice cream. I love it, love it, LOVE IT. This tea, not so much. I’ve had it a few times before deciding to rate it and there’s just something the flavor I do not like. I can pick up on the vanilla but I’m thinking that it’s the black tea they use as a base that I am hating on. I have many black teas from Adagio that are just “meh” and a few (such as their peppermint one) that I really liked. I have a feeling this one is going to sit in the back of the cupboard until one day I spot it and have forgotten what I thought of it.
