440 Tasting Notes
This was my cup today in-store as they filled my order. I got the new girl on staff who doesn’t know her teas well at all and honestly kinda creeps me out. Sadly, the water she used was way too hot for this tea (something the regular girls at my Davids are sure not to do). My first few sips were utterly scorched and tasted like burnt spinach. YUCK.
Still, I’ve had luck with greens that I just kept with, so I let it cool a bit and didn’t sip again for at least five minutes. The cooler temperature helped (as probably did my pulling the leaves almost immediately after she gave it to me) and now that I’m halfway through the cup it is better. We’re still slightly scorched but I can see why people love this tea. I think if I’d made it at home it would be an excellent, if extremely strong, green. If I choose to have it again in store, I think I’ll ask for the bag on the side with a cup of hot water so I can choose when to steep the cup.
Oh Teavana, always too strong or really weak. You describe this tea as subtle, but that isn’t the word I’d use for it. Weak is much closer to the reality.
A friend sent me this one up over the border (she’s awesome and sends me the ones from Teavana that interest me) and I excitedly brewed it up. I’ve yet to find a pear tea that truly captures what a pear tastes like to me, and I was hopeful that this one would be it. My mistake was forgetting that anjous, while sweet, are a really mild pear, and so of course a tea named after them wouldn’t be overly pear-ful. There is definite hints of pear here, but overall the tea isn’t that great. I even tried blending it with a lemon oolong I have to see if that would pop flavours but instead it managed to bland down my lemon! Not one I’ll be asking for a resend on, sadly.
Preparation
A nice well rounded green to me. My water was probably slightly too hot, I know it was hotter than the seventy something recommended on the package, and I worried, but man it made a really really nice cup of tea. A great way to end my new-tea tasting for the night.
Preparation
In my circle of friends matcha seems to be a love/hate thing. Which makes it extremely odd that I fall in the middle. I’d never had it before and they made me a chocolate matcha latte. I enjoyed the green tea ice cream flavour, but wish I could have gotten half as much. It strikes me as something where a little goes a long way. Nice, but not something I’d ever want more than just a little of.
I love Indian food, but still I was very very hesitant when I smelled this and felt like I was in the middle of rush hour in an Indian buffet. Still, all teas can shift during brewing, so we tried it.
Nope, watered down samosa is exactly the flavour I got. Apparently I love the spices in my food, but not my tea. Not rating it since if you like these flavours it’s probably amazing, but it really wasn’t for me.
Preparation
Chamomile always falls into two categories for me. Either it’s overly flowery and just ick, or tasteless. This one? Tasteless.
Preparation
{backlogged review}
Add me to the list of reviewers who were underwhelmed with this one. Sorry Davids, but it didn’t make me love it. And I tried, I did! Like the tea addict I am, I ran to the store the day they came out and this was actually the first one I brewed. I wasn’t turned off by the smell at all, in fact after the brewing I was still excited to try it. I love fig newtons and this was my first fig tea.
Black, yeah, not for me. So I added some brown sugar. It made a big difference and I settled in with my cup to watch some tv. I loved my first third of the cup or so, but as I got in that far I realized that I’d stopped loving it. By halfway through I was actually disliking it. So down the rest went, and the tea was gifted away. Sorry Apres-Ski, but you are so very much not for me, at the chalet or at home.
