6111 Tasting Notes
It really kills me that I seem to hate Deb’s earl grey flavouring. This tea literally tasted like dirt. Blueberry/wildberry dirt. Hers are the only EGs where I have had this impression pretty much every single time; I’ve loved (or at least liked) nearly every other EG I’ve had, including every single 52teas blend. I feel like the rest of the tea is pretty good, and without that EG flavouring I’d love it, so it’s very frustrating to me. Like with Cream Soda Float, it seems to mostly/only be me with this problem :(
I finished the cup, and mourned my tastebuds for their inability to enjoy this flavouring.
So, uh, yesterday (apparently June 29) I was convinced that I had a solid 5 days left of June. At least 3. Clearly, I was very wrong. Not sure how this month managed to pass so quickly. (Oh yeah, two kids…)
Tried this tea today; the name sounds good but I remembered reading something in a note by Ros(?) that it contained star anise… and apparently I got a whole one in my cup. Unfortunately, I do not care for this spice, and as a result, did not much care for this tea. However, I might like it more either a) without an entire star anise in one cup, or b) as a latte. It wasn’t entirely objectionable, just too much of that particular licoricey flavour for me. Otherwise, it was a warmly spiced, somewhat creamy chai sort of flavour. Not sure I’d call it caramel, but maybe that flavour would emerge with less dominance from another.
Has anyone else ever left fruit teas sitting in an infuser after steeping, for so long that they go moldy? (2 days is all it takes in the summer.) It gets this unmistakeable, rotty smell. Quite gross. Same smell happens if you have a matcha latte in your travel mug and forget to wash it for a day or so. All this to say… this tea very very unfortunately smells exactly like the aforementioned smell. Immediately when opening the packet, I was hit with it and it made me quite sad. I think it’s the sarsaparilla root? And I think I’ve had 1 or 2 DavidsTeas with a similar resulting aroma (and gave them very negative ratings).
Decided to be brave and brew it up. Now my house house smells gross :/ Also braved a sample, and while it does taste better than it smells – kind of creamy with the same flavour, though muted – I cannot get over the fact that it smells like decomposition to me. Blech.
_ oh my word. Aroma is one of my favorite parts of tea. Good on you for still trying it!
I haven’t actually had this happen, but I’ve been forgetting cold steeping teas in the fridge for a week at a time and have been worried — but so far, so good!
Yuck! I’d be very disappointed if a tea smelled like that.
Skysamurai – Yep, aromas are big for me too. I was just really curious whether the taste would have any redeeming qualities – and it did, but definitely not enough to overcome that smell.
Courtney – I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea go bad in the fridge, surprisingly. However, sometimes cold-brewing for too long brings out unpleasant flavours/too much hibiscus or pithy citrus.
Leafhopper – Definitely disappointed. The two other reviews on here are much favourable, so I would guess that this is just a strong aversion to sarsaparilla as opposed to an issue with the tea. Now, how to rid myself of it…
Out of curiosity, do you like rootbeer or other drinks that contain sarsaparilla?
Roswell – I enjoy regular root beer (and cream soda) and 52teas’ root beer teas. I also enjoy wintergreen (gum, lifesavers). I don’t know that I’ve ever tried sarsaparilla specifically, or noted it as an ingredient in teas before, but I wouldn’t have expected to hate it so much!
Also, I looked back and apparently it was DT’s Cherry Cola that I hated; I actually liked Root Beer Float. Neither contained sarsaparilla though.
Also also, I put my (finum) infuser through the dishwasher after this tea, and it still smelled bad so it’s back in for round two. I’m starting to question if there’s not something wrong with my batch (although I think I’ve had some particularly pervasive mint flavours in my infusers previously too).
Hmm, interesting. Most modern rootbeer is still made using either sassafras or sarsaparilla, which is why I asked. Why knows though; taste is weird sometimes. shrug
The first miss out of the 4 new D by D teas that I’ve tried so far. And a surprise, because I usually love hojicha blends, even just because of the base! However, I found the berry notes here to be… too sharp? Bad description, but they just didn’t mesh with the base. I feel like perhaps there was a bit too much hibiscus? Or maybe the blend needed more of a creamy element? It just wasn’t great in my opinion.
Another one of the new teas that I enjoyed more than I expected. I sometimes like real concord grape things (like the jelly I made last year), but I tend to find artificial grape (freezies, popsicles, juice boxes) to be too sweet and cloying. This tea is surprisingly balanced, and tastes much more like real concord grape juice, with complexity and depth, and clearly isn’t just loaded up with artificial grape flavour. It also smelled really delicious – I think I could be content to just sit and sniff it for a while. Haha. (Sidenote, my son likes to steal my empty tea pouches (fruity/herbal teas) and sniff them. He calls them his “sniff bags”. I feel like this is a habit I may want to break before he tells too many people about it, ahaha.)
If you’re on the fence about this one – give it a shot. I’m hoping my second cup is as good as the first!
This tea was more successful than I had expected – heavy lavender, as Deb does, but the lemon and especially the lime really pop in a very refreshing way. It’s a different lime flavour than the fluffy marshmallow type I love – brighter, but thankfully not bitter. I bet it would make a fantastic tea pop, if I was into that. As is, I think it’s screaming to be iced, maybe with a squeeze of lemon or sprinkle of sugar.
Really enjoyed this tea! It’s heavily candy-watermelon flavoured, with jasmine as more of an undertone, and the oolong base gives it some great depth (the green likely had an impact but I wasn’t tasting carefully enough to notice). A handful of delicious resteeps as well, and the watermelon stuck around. I’m excited to try it iced at some point.
