415 Tasting Notes

79
drank Monk's Blend by DAVIDsTEA
415 tasting notes

DAVIDs soft-launched their spring collection and this is the only one that interested me. I’m not a big oolong drinker (sensitive stomach + I’m sensitive to caffeine) but I figured since this was a blend with white and green tea (which doesn’t bother me) I’d pick up 10grams.

I’ve tried it a few times with minor variations in steeping temp + time. For me, I find I like 3min @ 185F the best so as not to release bitterness from the green tea but still extract the milky/creamy taste from the oolong. I actually really enjoyed that taste as I have never tried milk oolong before. I don’t know if it’s me though, but I find the milky taste is only really there in the first steeping of the leaves + only when it’s still fairly hot, which is a bit disappointing. After that I get a mineral/grassy taste (which I do like). Overall pretty enjoyable, and it makes me want to try milk oolong. I can’t have much of it though due to my sensitivities, but this was quite nice.

Flavors: Grass, Milk, Mineral

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 295 ML

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55
drank Remember Me by Steeped Tea
415 tasting notes

Tried this twice so far. Once the steeping time was short and the leaf was low on lavender. It tasted very herbaceous and grassy. Nice. This time around it was heavy on lavender and I steeped the tea for at least 8 min. The tea tasted like I imagine my facial cleanser would taste like. Yuck. For that reason, I have to rate this tea low and will not repurchase. I think the way I will salvage my tea is to pick out all of the lavender and reserve it to make my own Angels on Bare Skin (my cleanser from lush which is mainly ground almonds and lavender).

I don’t mind when there’s a little lavender but this last cup was overwhelming.

Flavors: Floral, Herbaceous, Lavender

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 16 OZ / 473 ML
Kristal

Ok, so picking out all of the lavender will be ridiculously meticulous, so I’m just going to mix this tea with something else each cup.

tigress_al

I can’t stand lavender either. I used the tea that I bought with lavender as a bath soak

Kristal

I may just do that with this tea! Even though I like the other ingredients, 50g fills 80% of a tin since it’s so light; thus I have lots to spare!

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75
drank Feel Good Fennel by Steeped Tea
415 tasting notes

This is one of Steeped Tea’s new teas they are promoting. They are trying to promote teas with different spices that are supposed to have health benefits.

First off, I got to remember to brew this tea only in paper filters since even my fine mesh cup infusers will allow fine bits from one of the flower ingredients to sneak through. I don’t mind sediment at the bottom of my cup, but I don’t like bits floating on top!

With that being said, this is a more complex blend. I find initially you get a naturally “sweet” taste from the apple, orange peel, cinnamon, anise (small amount only!) , other baking spices and vanilla, but that is soon contrasted with the fennel (which does seem to work in the blend).

Altogether, this is enjoyable. I’m still not sure what to rate it though since it is so different to what herbals I have been drinking and since it’s so complex with all of the different ingredients. I’ll keep the rating at 75 for now and as I form more of an opinion I will adjust accordingly.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Fennel

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 5 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 295 ML
Kristal

Note: this tea has 15 ingredients!

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82
drank Vanilla Matcha by Steeped Tea
415 tasting notes

So, I’m not a huge Matcha drinker (I find that I have to drink it down right away before the powder settles + its a bit too powerful for my sensitive stomach) but the day my most recent order was ready my steeped tea consultant mentioned on facebook that she was giving away samples so I scooped up a small sample (probably 1.5tsp) of this to try out. (Not to be rude, but considering that I bought three 50g bags of herbal teas at about $10 each (a considerable markup compared to other companies) I think a few samples are merited!)

I made a small cup (0.5tsp in maybe 8oz of 160 degree F water), whisking using a kitchen whisk. Overall, I was pretty impressed with this flavoured matcha: The vanilla pulls through decently (unlike, say, their vanilla rooibos) and it’s without artificialness or sugar. Grassy notes are there too, which is something I like. Also, surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of sediment compared to what I remember about other matchas.

Overall, this seems to me like a good matcha! Don’t know if I would repurchase since I’m sensitive to caffeine, but those who do drink matcha might want to look into this (although, be warned that this matcha is very expensive at $30+ per 50g…I dunno if the price merits the tea…)

Flavors: Grass, Vanilla

Preparation
160 °F / 71 °C
Sil

i adored their sample of this in OJ at the toronto tea festival but couldn’t justify the price. that sort of price should be reservved for ceremonial grade or something imo, and if they’re flavouring that grade of matcha…well don’t haha.

Kristal

Exactly! They do have Ceremonial Matcha but It’s $45/50g!! DAVIDs ceremonial Matcha is about $30/50g…not sure about other companies

I remember someone on here mentioned that Red Leaf Tea’s matchas (even flavoured) are similar to Steeped Tea’s pricings, but I’ve heard they are the crème de la crème of matcha. Maybe someone could verify that for me lol?

Kristal

Actually, with regards to pricing I just checked Red Leaf tea’s Madagascar Vanilla Matcha and regular price for 60g is $23. Dunno if that’s Canadian or American but still..

David’s Vanilla Matcha is $9/50g but half of the 50g is sugar mind you…

Either way the more I look, the more I see how overpriced this matcha is!

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70
drank Curious Cumin by Steeped Tea
415 tasting notes

My steeped Tea representative was nice to include a sample of this tea in my most recent order. I wasn’t sure If I would like this one due to anise being so high up on the ingredients list and thus I did not want to commit to a full 50g of this tea.

Interesting how this is called Curious Cumin when Fennel is the most prominent spice. Steeped Tea is trying to promote spice teas that include fennel, turmeric, cumin and ginger and they have a fennel one already (which I did purchase 50g of) so I guess they did not want to promote yet another fennel tea.

Onto the tea: I brewed this up at work: used half the sample in my 16oz timolino. Not sure of the temperature of the water, but the brew time was 4min (wanted to be careful on the strength of the anise). The main taste is anise (although it isn’t disgustingly strong or cloyingly sweet) followed by fennel and other spices. When I think about cumin, I can see how it pulls though. The anise is actually complimentary to cumin and the other spices in spite of my aversion to it.

With that being said though, I’m not huge on teas that are anise/licorice prominent and therefore will not be purchasing any. Once again, I’m thankful my steeped tea rep gave me a sample instead of me spending about $10/50g…

Flavors: Anise, Fennel, Spices

Preparation
4 min, 0 sec 16 OZ / 473 ML
Kirkoneill1988

steeped tea used to sell classic sencha. one pack tasted like asparagus and i loved it, and another did not have the asparagus taste.

Kristal

I think they started selling that tea again. I noticed it a couple weeks ago when I was flipping through their catalogue online. I would like to try it, but I want to use up a few green teas first before buying more.

Kirkoneill1988

are you looking in the canadian magazine or the american magazine?

Kristal

Should be Canadian (I live in Canada). It’s on pg 20 of the catalogue: http://www.steepedtea.com/flip_catalog2016_springsummer_new/#p=20

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60
drank Camomile Green Tea by Tetley
415 tasting notes

Had this tea at work yesterday. Needed more caffeine and this was the only green tea that appealed to me. I made this tea roughly by mixing cold water with boiled water and steeped for a very short time by bobbing the tea bag up and down til it changed to a dark enough colour.

Can’t say I cared for this tea. I got a bitter taste in spite of being careful about my steeping time. It wasn’t even the same bitter taste I get from burned green tea though-it seemed like it was from the chamomile? Weird. Either way, I found it strange that a company would mix green tea (something that helps wake one up in the morning) with chamomile (a night time tea to help go to sleep). Definitely was not for me.

Flavors: Bitter

Preparation
0 min, 15 sec 10 OZ / 295 ML
tigress_al

That does seem like an odd combination

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68
drank Blueberry Superfruit by Stash Tea
415 tasting notes

I’ve been wondering about this tea for a while now, and so I picked up a box. I really enjoyed Celestial Seasoning’s True Blueberry Tea done up iced so I was curious about this tea.

Wow, what a disappointment. I brewed it up just like I would the other tea: 2L of water, cold brewed with 5 tea bags for approximately 24h. Instead of the TRUE blueberry taste you get a little bit of a blueberry followed by a sour taste that reminds me of Stash’s Meyer Lemon Tea. I will use up this tea by throwing 1-2 teabags in with Celestial Seasoning’s Blueberry Tea but will not repurchase.

Honestly, this is close to the 10th tea from Stash I’ve tried and I only cared for 1 (raspeberry Hibiscus). I think I will discontinue trying anymore from this company.

Flavors: Sour

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 2000 OZ / 59147 ML
rosebudmelissa

I really dislike Stash’s hibiscus herbals. I much prefer Celestial Seasoning’s.

Kristal

glad I’m not the only one!

As mentioned the only one I liked was the Raspberry Hibiscus. Most of the teas I’ve tried from them have been fruit herbals but there has been at least one green tea I’ve tried from them and it was of course mediocre.

Kristal

Another thing that bothers me about stash vs celestial seasonings and other tea bag companies is how each tea bag is individually wrapped. I know that it’s supposed to preserve freshness, but to me it is such a waste. Every time I make a pitcher of iced tea from Stash I have a pile of wrappers to throw out (which don’t seem to be recyclable because there is foil on the inside). Celestial Seasonings seems to preserve the freshness of their tea by having a liner on the inside of the box, which is good enough for me. I think they should at least take the foil out so it’s recyclable!

rosebudmelissa

I go back and forth on the foil pouches. Not having them is better for iced tea, but having them makes them much easier to carry in my purse.

Kristal

Makes sense!

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59

A re-review of this tea.

Original tasting note: “One of the teas I got from Christmas from the husband :) I wanted to try some different things. I just placed the tips directly in the boiled water and let it steep continuously. The result is a mild woody taste (obviously to be expected).”

I actually brought down the rating from 70 to 60. Reason being: I broke up the cedar tips into small, manageable pieces and mixed them with the Violet Leaf tea I also got from IHOT. I’ve been using up the mixed teas at work (I put measured amounts in paper filters and steep in in my timolino, which retains heat like nothing else) and I find the cedar to be very powerful. I don’t mind mild woody tastes like rooibos of honeybush, but when steeped for too long the cedar is much too woody for my taste. Therefore, I’ve been careful about the steeping time with this tea. I think the reason why I didn’t mind this tea at first was because I just steeped it in a mug where the water cools down quickly and therefore not much of the wood taste is released. In the timolino, it stays at a very hot temperature for a long time and it’s very powerful way to steep.

Flavors: Cedar, Wood

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 16 OZ / 473 ML

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85

Another tea from the husband for Christmas. I’m only supposed to have this when I’m sick, but I was doing a bit of shuffling with my teas and wanted to sample it.

I got a big bag of this! It’s so light and fluffy. I actually filled up one tin and still have 13 grams (1.5 cups!) in the bag! I’m actually looking to pass it on to anyone who is interested? There’s just no way I’ll be able to us all of it up! Let me know If you’re interested ;).

Anywho, I steeped this tea for about 7-8 min I was surprised on how dark the liqueur turned. Similar to a black tea. The taste is interesting, a little medicinal, a little flowery, and all together herbaceous. I like teas like that, and this’ll be good to keep around and to mix with echinacea. I’ll have to see how well it works with colds!

Flavors: Floral, Herbaceous, Medicinal

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 3 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
rosebudmelissa

I drink lots of herbal teas, and this is one I haven’t tried, so I’d be interested. Do you want to swap, sell, or give it away? My cupboard isn’t up to date, but I can look through and see what you might like if you want to swap.

Kristal

I’m alright with giving away, rosebudmelissa. I will message you :)

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69

Was really intruiged by this tea despite being a bagged green tea because the ingredients seemed so interesting. I made this crudely at work- mixed hot and cold water together so it wouldn’t burn the leaf, then bobbed the bag in my mug for less than 30 sec to get the flavor.

honestly, I’m just getting a cheap, green tea flavour from this tea. No lemon, honey or ginseng. I don’t think this tea is old either. Well, good news is I didn’t buy a whole container of this tea. It’s nothing special.

Preparation
0 min, 15 sec 10 OZ / 295 ML
Kirkoneill1988

i will try this someday and judge for myself :D

Kristal

Sounds good :)

M

I used to drink this one back in my first year university dorm days. Happy memories! But yeah, nothing special. The Tetley Earl Grey Vanilla that comes in similar packaging holds many happy memories as well.

Kristal

Totally understand the sentimentality:)

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Profile

Bio

I used to drink coffee, but it started to hurt my stomach so I switched to tea. A friend of mine introduced me to DAVID’s TEA and I couldn’t stop after that! I’ve now been expanding my scope beyond DAVIDs away from “candy-like teas” into more natural teas or flavourings. Current favourite stores include International House of Tea (iHOT) and Verdant Tea.

When it comes to tea ratings, I usually only ever rate them once. I know a lot of people on steepster do many tasting notes for the same teas depending on their mood, but I prefer to rate once and if my opinion changes, I will delete the old note and rate again. How I rate teas goes as following:

1-49: Teas I won’t buy again. Either the taste is disgusting to me, or it’s too bland, etc. I’m most likely not even going to finish the tin/bag.

50-59: Teas I wouldn’t buy again; I have to force myself to drink the whole cup to not waste it.

60-69: I’ll finish the cup and even the bag/tin, but I wouldn’t buy these teas again. Teas of this rating are “lacking something”.

70-79:Teas that are pretty good and ones I might buy again. Usually these teas are ones I have to be “in the mood for” and drink occasionally.

80-89: Great teas! Ones I will drink several times a week and often have in my stash :).

90-100: Favourite must-have teas!

My favourite types of tea are green tea and different types of “natural” herbal tea (different herbs, natural flavourings, etc). I cannot drink black or oolong teas due a sensitive stomach. I don’t really go for white tea due to its cost and the fact that it has just a little caffeine (if I want caffeine I’ll just go for a green tea and if I don’t I’ll go for a herbal-no sense on just having a little caffeine). I also like to do iced teas in the summer time, and then I’ll gravitate towards herbal fruit blends that are bagged to cut costs and convenience (it’s easier to throw out bags than clean a filter). Flavours I don’t care for include anything too tart, bitter, artificial, overly spicy or overly sweet.
Also, when I have time (usually when I’m not working much) I like to make tea lattes out of different rooibos blends.

My everyday green tea is Gunpowder since it is strong and not sensitive to temperatures or steeping time which is something I cannot be bothered with when I’m getting ready for work. Other greens I enjoy are dragonwell, sencha, and different Chinese greens. I’m not the biggest fan of yunnan greens since they are so finicky (although I do like gyokuro)

On a day to day basis I usually have 2-3 cups of green tea and several more cups of different herbal blends.

Besides tea I also work at a couple libraries (I am finishing my library tech diploma),am in my early 20s and got married in Oct 2014.

Location

Northwestern Ontario

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