379 Tasting Notes

83
drank Spicy Chocolate by Kusmi Tea
379 tasting notes

Sipdown. I had received a cute little gift set that included this. The little tin cans are adorable. Girly girly moment I guess.

I liked it as suggested but it was far better with splashes of milk and ice cubes. Is that a latte? I know nothing about how you all prepare your lattes… Etc. lol I just know that the cardamom, cloves, cocoa… Etc. melded together better with a little milk and ice cubes. Maybe because it is so hot outside.

Alone, it was good too. I wouldn’t classify it as rich though. Very light taste. Unflavored black teas have stronger notes. I could taste (as usual) only a hint of the cocoa. The cloves were more prominent. It’s a light tea though, no matter how long I brewed it. Desert tea, for sure.

Flavors: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves, Cocoa, Spices

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 5 OZ / 147 ML
Kittenna

I think a lot of people do the classic hot milk/froth/extra-strong shot of steeped tea sort of latte. I’m too lazy for that, and only do the infuse-directly-into-hot-milk type, and the add-a-splash-of-milk type. Neither of which are likely technically lattes, but IMO has a similar effect?

Kawaii433

@Kittenna I’m too lazy for all that too. Guess I’m a “Add-a-splash-of-milk” type here. I agree that it all has a similar effect. Thanks for some clarification. Always love feedback :)

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90

Sipdown and I really liked this. :)

Malty, smooth, mellow, fruity, lightly sweet of a mixture of honey, molasses and brown sugar notes. Lots of berry fruity goodness along with sweet potatoes. I got some slightly good bitter dark cocoa notes which really played well with the fruitiness. I liked that it was a stronger flavor, full-bodied. I think I would really enjoy this with a teaspoon of milk in the mornings because of the stronger flavor/notes. It’s a drag that I have to have a little milk in my tea in the mornings now but I still can enjoy nekked tea :P in the evenings since it’s not on an empty stomach.

Prepared it gongfu 5g, 6 steeps: quick rinse, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 30s, 50s at 185℉.

Mood: A little somber, thinking of the El Paso shooting. Thinking of them and their families. I was just at a busy shopping center the other day…

Flavors: Berries, Cocoa, Dark Bittersweet, Dried Fruit, Fruity, Malt, Smooth, Sweet Potatoes

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
derk

Feeling it, too, Kawaii. The Gilroy Garlic Festival here in CA last weekend…

Kawaii433

Derk :( and now after a nap, 10 more dead and 16 injured in Dayton, OH.

LuckyMe

Same here. 250 mass shootings in 2019 already. It worries me that people are becoming desensitized to it all :(

mrmopar

A sad state our country has become with all these shootings.

tea-sipper

Is this the 2019 harvest, Kawaii?

tea-sipper

250?!?! That is terrible. It breaks my heart every time this happens, but apparently it happens so often I missed a few. :/

derk

Kawaii, that’s my hometown. Why.

tea-sipper

derk, I’m so sorry. I think of all the people affected each time, even if they are just FROM the place these shootings occurred. So much worry and negativity so many people have to go through, the victims of course, but really millions of people affected each time this happens. I will never understand why someone is okay with shooting anyone, let alone strangers or random people. No excuse.

Martin Bednář

I just heard a news about it. It is terrible and I still do not understand why laws are there so… “weak” (is it a good word?).

El Paso, Dayton… Weird.
Just… praying they will change it.

Kawaii433

derk, Dayton is your hometown? :( I’m so sorry.

Kawaii433

tea-sipper, yes I believe it’s 2019. Sorry I missed that question and am just now answering!

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85

Additional note:
Sipdown on this one. Most of the time I drank it gongfu style but this last one I prepared it as suggested. A heaping Tbsp in 8 oz, begin with 30-45 sec (I made 16 oz with 2 heaping Tbsp) and add time for additional infusions. I also added a splash of milk and ice cubes. It’s so hot today lol. The little bit of milk brought out the toast more, I can still taste the almonds, cinnamon (very light) and spices but the additional “toast” note made it even more delicious.

Flavors: Almond, Brown Toast, Cinnamon, Mineral, Nuts, Roasted, Spices, Toast

Preparation
6 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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85

Very nice. A ton of reviews on this so I knew what to expect.^^

I did get lots of dark cocoa, chocolate, honey, yams, fruity, malty tastes notes as many described. Also got a lot of baked bread notes in the beginning. The bright orangish-red liquor had mainly a sweet potato aroma. Recommended. :)

Gongfu with 194℉, 5g in 110ml, 8 steeps: rinse, 5s, 10s, 15s, 20s, 25s, 35s, 60s, 90s

Flavors: Bread, Cocoa, Fruity, Honey, Malt, Sweet Potatoes, Yams

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 0 min, 15 sec 5 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
ashmanra

I need to gong fu this tea.

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85

Convenient pyramid bags made of environmentally-friendly corn fiber. It was a very clean high-quality Yunnan pu’erh tea, with very light earth notes, and heavy rice aroma and light taste note. Very smooth, mellow, easy on the tummy type of tea. I only had one bag to try but it was a pleasant one. Not a complex pu’erh, but a solid daily drinker if you like rice shou.

Flavors: Earth, Rice

Preparation
3 g

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85
drank Ice & Cream by 52teas
379 tasting notes

Sipdown the other day.

Writing about this in retrospect. It smelled so good, like Neopolitan Ice Cream. The main notes were a sweet-tart strawberry and cream. I did get a little of the citrus and sherbet notes. I had it as directed but didn’t try it iced. I also had it with a splash of milk a few times since I’ve had to do that if I drink tea in the mornings.

It was malty, creamy, pleasantly tart and sweet at the same time. I liked it. ^^

Flavors: Citrus, Citrusy, Cream, Malt, Strawberry, Tart

52Teas

I was doing a little inventory last night – not a full inventory but more of like a mental one to get an idea of where I was – and there are only 2 more pouches of this one left.

Kawaii433

Thanks for the info :D

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92

Additional notes:
I didn’t fry it this time and it was so delicious. :) I did gongfu and also the way they recommended it. As much as I loved it gongfu style, the way they recommended it tasted even better. All the wonderful flavor blended well in a cup.

Bumped up the rating. ^^

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 4 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML

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93

So I’m a fruit hog. I eat all kinds of fruit. Tamarind, guava, pomelo, whatever I can get my hands on. I just bought and finished 5 lbs of loquats last month. Those were hard to find!! When living in California, they were everywhere, can pick them off a tree. I had to wait 8 months before they were ready to be picked and shipped to where I’m at now. Anyway, summer is a great time for fruit hogs lol.

So I bought lots of different type of dried fruit samples from TeaVivre to make natural fruit tea. Hawthorn fruit is one of the fruits I’ve never had a chance to eat so I had no clue what it tastes like. Well, I loved it. It was right up my alley. I put 7.5 g of it (sample size) with boiling water. Steep time was 3 minutes or so. It is tart, like tart apple but not like granny smith tart (my favorite apple) but like a cross between a red apple, cranberry, berry tartness. I’m sure many would require some sweetener. I saw some recipes with hawthorn berries and most had some sweetener. I even ate the fruit slices after I finished the tea. hehe I bought 17 oz of it after I tried the sample awhile ago. That’s how much I loved it.

So I looked it up and the health benefits, specifically cardiovascular support studies were incredible. Definitely a super food. I admit that if I didn’t like the taste, I wouldn’t eat it no matter how good it is for me lol. I recommend it if you like tart fruit or you can add agave or honey too. hehe

Flavors: Apple, Berries, Cranberry, Fruity, Pleasantly Sour, Sweet, Tart

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 7 g 10 OZ / 295 ML
derk

Fruit hog <3 I had a large loquat tree in San Jose that hanged at the perfect height over my second story apartment’s balcony. Here we have a tree but it’s still too young to fruit.

Kawaii433

oooOOOO :D They are delicious. There was only one place on the net that I could buy 5 lbs of them and they were so expensive! I remember always picking them off anybody’s tree in So. Calif. lol

Kittenna

I imagine hawthorn fruit to taste somewhat like rosehips.

Kawaii433

I know they are paired together. I think hawthorn, hibiscus, rosehips are somewhat similar in the tang. ^^

Martin Bednář

I have looked for hawthorn fruit here, they are quite cheap – but hard to get. Not in stock right now.

Kawaii433

Oooh that would be really cool to grow, Martin.:) My father grew everything, it was his passion. Me, on the other hand, can’t grow a darn thing. lol

Martin Bednář

Ahh. I meant fruits, not trees to grow. But those were available too. But our garden is already full, moreover my mother don’t like hawthorn at all because of thorns :D

Kawaii433

ah kk :) :D

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90
drank Black Beauty by Mandala Tea
379 tasting notes

This tea apparently has been around for a long time. I see reviews that date back 7 years ago. hehe My quick thoughts are that it was a delicious super roasted black tea. I drank it once the way Mandala suggested and gongfu cha style many times. Lots of notes of baked bread, dark cocoa, malt, dried fruit, stonefruits, chocolate, some mineral towards the end of the infusions. It was smooth and really easy to reach for and an easy sipdown. I’ll probably add this to my next order. I’m just now exploring their black teas since I enjoyed their oolongs and pu’erh tea very much.

Flavors: Bread, Chocolate, Cocoa, Malt, Mineral, Muscatel, Roasted, Smooth, Stonefruit

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 0 min, 15 sec 6 g 4 OZ / 110 ML
Sil

mandala has lovely black teas!

Kawaii433

@Sil, of the ones I’ve tried so far, I agree with you. :D

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80
drank Licorice Rocky by 52teas
379 tasting notes

Not a licorice fan but this is very tasty. It has a very subtle licorice note, and the raspberry taste is very good. Slightly tart. Nice. It has a creamy flavor background, surrounded with vanilla notes. It was a nice surprise.

Flavors: Anise, Cream, Licorice, Raspberry, Vanilla

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Profile

Bio

Longtime casual tea drinker. In the past, mainly Matcha, Gyokuro, Sencha, Genmaicha… Etc. I like all teas: Green, oolong, black & pu’erh (prefer ripe over raw).

Chanoyu (for matcha prep) and Gongfu cha (for other types of tea) are the main ways I prepare my tea (Gaiwan, Yixing teapot, Kyusu). I drink all tea… Usually unflavored. This past year, I’ve tried many flavored now because of all of you lol. As long as there aren’t artificial sweeteners, it’s all good.

Favorite stores: TeaVivre, What-Cha, Mandala Tea, 52Teas, Whispering Pines, Bird & Blend, Yunnan sourcing, White2Tea, Lupicia.

The flavors I dislike: Artificial sweetener, lavender, violet, any strong floral-perfumey tea; cantaloupe, papaya, honeydew, rose, licorice, anise, jasmine, any mints, leather.

Favorite flavors: Citrus fruits (especially grapefruit & tangerines), granny smith apple, bananas, guava, mango, tamarind, watermelon, stonefruits, chocolate, caramel, vanilla, milk, cinnamon, creme, bread/pastry, nuts, toasted, roasted.

I generally don’t add anything to my teas unless they are flavored, then I may add a splash of milk.

As I explore, my ratings may shift. 90+ generally means I’ll keep it on my shelf.

Location

USA

Website

https://www.facebook.com/kawa...

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