72
drank Kiwi Cherry Bonanza by Tiesta Tea
6105 tasting notes

First tea from my Amoda box! I have to say, lovely presentation, and I’m pleased by 2/3 of the box contents. The remaining 1/3 I have a few issues with, but I’ll get to that sometime later.

I was really worried that this tea would be the same as Cherry Kiwi Coconut Fruit by Mahamosa, but I don’t think it is. (Whew, although I do like that one.) Second bonus here is that there’s no hibiscus. Score! So no purple hibby nightmare waiting for me beneath my infuser.

Anyways! The tea. So, 20g of this tea really isn’t all that much, which does kind of suck, because it means limited tasting opportunities. Luckily, herbals are fairly difficult to screw up. I brewed about 2 tsp of this one in 10 oz. of boiling water, and left it for a while… could have left it longer, but I wanted to head upstairs to my room. I estimate it got about 6 minutes.

Anyways, I did just grab a bite to eat, so I’d be better off tasting this with a fresher palate, but I’m so far enjoying it. It’s lightly fruity (I can’t currently distinguish fruit types, but that may be possible next time), and I can definitely taste a hint of ginger, which IMO, is done very well. Enough ginger for flavour that it’s enjoyable, but there’s no harsh bite or strange flavour. I feel like it’s definitely underleafed and/or understeeped, though. Could use more flavour.

I’ll have to try this cold-brewed, as Cavocorax did. At this point, it’s not something that would become a cupboard staple, but it’s a neat tea to have tried, since there are far too few fruity herbals that aren’t hibiscus-laden (and I do like a bit of ginger in my herbals – Teaopia’s Fruity Ginger is one of my faves!)

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec
momo

ooh btw I think I figured out that the Mahamosa one is ESP Emporium Cloud Catcher. But it’s cheaper from Mahamosa if you desire large amounts at once…I have some cold brewing in the fridge that I need to have soon!

Kittenna

Wow… yep, that picture certainly looks the same!! Thanks for the heads up! I still love it brewed up all strong and delicious. I should have some soon; I’ve barely made a dent in the packages you bought.

momo

I used up all that I bought at their physical cart, then bought half a pound after they added it online. I hadn’t used any of it until now, I don’t know how I forgot about it.

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momo

ooh btw I think I figured out that the Mahamosa one is ESP Emporium Cloud Catcher. But it’s cheaper from Mahamosa if you desire large amounts at once…I have some cold brewing in the fridge that I need to have soon!

Kittenna

Wow… yep, that picture certainly looks the same!! Thanks for the heads up! I still love it brewed up all strong and delicious. I should have some soon; I’ve barely made a dent in the packages you bought.

momo

I used up all that I bought at their physical cart, then bought half a pound after they added it online. I hadn’t used any of it until now, I don’t know how I forgot about it.

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I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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