12 Tasting Notes
This is a lovely cup of white tea. I struggled to taste the pear and the ginger was more subtle than the packaging implied, but this resulted in a balanced and soothing coat of flavor.
In fact I think that’s the theme of this tea. Upon careful recollection, I can’t quite place my finger on precisely what, besides peach and ginger, comprises the center of the tea’s flavor.
And weirdly enough I caught a whiff of what resembled my father’s favorite IPA beer while this was steeping, and the taste of hops was there, too, dancing ghoulishly on the tip of my tongue before melting away.
Plus if you taste it carefully, there’s the tiiiiiniest hint of mint underlying the whole flavor profile.
Overall, a very well-rounded cup, not too sweet but not bitter at all, with little dazzling, ephemeral shimmers of unexpected flavors tiptoeing in a circle around a mysterious but refreshing prima donna core of pure white tea.
Flavors: Cucumber, Ginger, Herbs, Hops, Mint, Peach
Preparation
Blech!!!!!
So I left the tea bag in for maybe half a minute and the water was still clear.
But then I took a chopstick to stir it a bit and an oil spillage of fuchsia happened. Not two heartbeats later, the scent blasted into my face as if a jet stream made of cotton candy scent.
The taste was exactly what those harbingers of doom warned: in-your-face, sweet to a point of nausea, maybe a little bit tart, and cough syrupy in a distinctly synthetic range. I noticed the hibiscus scent for maybe fifteen seconds, and the flavor for an even shorter amount of time, before it succumbed to the avalanche of undercooked cranberry pie flavor.
It sure has a zing, but do not drink this unless you want the taste of hyperglycemic levels of sugar on your tongue.
Flavors: Apple, Artificial, Cake, Caramel, Cotton Candy, Cranberry, Hibiscus, Raspberry
Preparation
The rose isn’t very noticeable, which struck me as pleasantly surprising. There’s a fresh, almost ozonic taste — think fresh air in the mountains — in a top layer, underscored by the tingle of different mint flavors. Quite a nice tea if you can brew it just right; this one also works well with the tea just in a cup (no filter needed!), since the fragments all sink to the bottom and stay there as the liquid steeps into a pleasant golden color.
Flavors: Lemongrass, Peppermint, Spearmint, Sugar
Preparation
Quite nice and silky. This is one of those teas that gets better with re-soaking.
Use this with a tea infuser ball or a really good filter — otherwise the shavings get everywhere.
Flavors: Caramel, Dates, Vanilla
Preparation
YUM YUM YUM! This tea was perfect this time! Plus it stays flavorful even after repeatedly re-soaking it (in my new Japanese thermos, yay!). It even gets a creamy texture, almost of the condensed milk variety, that slides down my throat smoothly. Definitely helped with a sore throat. Unfortunately I’m running out, so I might have to restock it soon.
Flavors: Cream, Stewed Fruits