65
drank Assam Superb by Fortnum & Mason
6105 tasting notes

It appears this was likely from VariaTEA, so thank you!

I drank it this morning; found it to basically be a decent bagged black. I was pretty good on the infusion time, and didn’t find it terribly astringent, though assams are not generally my black of choice as I don’t care for the flavour profile. It had some strength, and flavour, but lacked in the chocolate/raisin/delicious black tea notes. Kinda stoked to have found a few of these teabags though; I may stash them somewhere useful in the event that I have a guest who wants “normal tea”, because I of course do not stock Red Rose or anything like that, and who wants to waste good Chinese blacks on such people? Haha.

Shanie O Maniac

I get that whole “normal tea” thing. I have one friend who only drinks pre-made instant and my mom thinks all tea is Lipton. So yeah, I keep some “normal tea” around for just such occasions. I think I may have convinced my mom to try a yunnan golden black once and if I recall her response was “It’s tea”. So frustrating.

VariaTEA

Honestly, I don’t remember this tea at all or sharing it.

Kittenna

@VariaTEA – I could be wrong, I just assumed since Sil mentioned in her notes that she got some from you. It definitely wasn’t something I picked up on my own, so my guesses were you or MissB, and she didn’t have a note on it!

Kittenna

@Shanie – yeah, we had some guests over and my mom/MIL were shocked that I had no regular tea to offer guests (we also didn’t have coffee, but my MIL brought some over because she knew that). Luckily, everyone who was over either wanted coffee or iced tea (Nestea powder).

I guess some people just can’t appreciate better teas… I used to think all black tea was like Lipton, but one taste of Laoshan Black changed that forever!

VariaTEA

It could have been me. I just don’t remember it lol

Kittenna

I suppose that just speaks to the genericness of this tea. Haha.

Roswell Strange

I also have some of this tea, which I got from VariaTEA :P

VariaTEA

Lol apparently I was just giving it all away :P

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Shanie O Maniac

I get that whole “normal tea” thing. I have one friend who only drinks pre-made instant and my mom thinks all tea is Lipton. So yeah, I keep some “normal tea” around for just such occasions. I think I may have convinced my mom to try a yunnan golden black once and if I recall her response was “It’s tea”. So frustrating.

VariaTEA

Honestly, I don’t remember this tea at all or sharing it.

Kittenna

@VariaTEA – I could be wrong, I just assumed since Sil mentioned in her notes that she got some from you. It definitely wasn’t something I picked up on my own, so my guesses were you or MissB, and she didn’t have a note on it!

Kittenna

@Shanie – yeah, we had some guests over and my mom/MIL were shocked that I had no regular tea to offer guests (we also didn’t have coffee, but my MIL brought some over because she knew that). Luckily, everyone who was over either wanted coffee or iced tea (Nestea powder).

I guess some people just can’t appreciate better teas… I used to think all black tea was like Lipton, but one taste of Laoshan Black changed that forever!

VariaTEA

It could have been me. I just don’t remember it lol

Kittenna

I suppose that just speaks to the genericness of this tea. Haha.

Roswell Strange

I also have some of this tea, which I got from VariaTEA :P

VariaTEA

Lol apparently I was just giving it all away :P

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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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