28 Tasting Notes

75

My Wednesday night was the beginning of my climb out of a work-week funk (kicked off by the drive thru lady at Wendys accidentally giving the bf and I four chocolate frosties instead of two, and followed up by a good UTIOG sesh the next morning on the drive to work) I felt compelled to buy some tea while grocery shopping – just to celebrate. Keep in mind, the only loose leaf there was Twinnings – but RoT’s bags of blackberry sage sounded compelling!

As with their Vanilla Almond, the aroma right out of the can is powerful. The berry leads the way with the sage following softly behind it. Funny though, as soon as I start steeping, the roles reverse and it’s the sage I can smell quite distinctly with berry in the background.

Sipping, I get less black tea flavor than I was hoping for. All the flavors seem a little faint until the tea begins to cool. Then the berry is a very soft background flavor, the sage isn’t forefront, but kind of balances the tea by being everywhere in every sip at once – but not in an overwhelming way (though it does linger longer in the aftertaste than I’d like). It’s like when you’re cuddling up in a big down comforter that you’ve got all to yourself. It has that comforting, enveloping way of cozying up to the tea, rounding out the entire flavor – making the mouthfeel a little bigger and softer of a sensation than you may expect from a drink who’s liquid is comprised of only H2O. I like when a tea can do that. I just wish I could taste the actual tea […more].

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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86
drank Coconut Cream Pie by 52teas
28 tasting notes

Well, I finally got around to making a Coconut Cream Pie latte, as per 52teas recipe. First off, let me say that this may soothe my after-dinner craving for something sweet for many nights to come. :P That said, I can’t say that this would satiate a craving for coconut cream pie specifically (if I ever had one). I mean, I get the dairy/creaminess, and I get hints of coconut (and that odd hint of andes mintiness ) but do I get a mouthful of coconut cream pie? I can’t, in good conscious, say I do. Then again, do I get *bucks caramel lattes so I feel like I’m eating caramels?….No. I’d just eat caramels. Hm. At any rate, this is rather tasty (and sweet, oh sweet) and tastes totally worse for you than it truly is (hey, fat free is half the battle!) So, try this by following the 52teas recipe, but my suggestion is to add your 1 part dairy mix:1 part tea to your trusty household blender (instead of immediately pouring into your cup), blend for 30 sec on med, and then enjoy your * frothy * Coconut Cream Pie Latte. You won’t be sorry.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec

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68
drank Jasmine Tea by Fujian Tea
28 tasting notes

Just picked this up at a local oriental market. It was pretty much all they had for loose-leaf, and only $2.25 to boot (so how am I not going to buy this?) They recommend 3g/cup, boiling water (for green tea?), for 5minutes. In reality, I think I used 4g/10-12oz boiling water.

I really think I’ve burnt myself out on green tea for quite a while, but this one smells less like grass clippings and much more like…well…jasmine. Refreshing. It reminds me of Chinese restaurants and old-lady floral perfume both at once.

Hm. Not bad. Although there’s a slight bitterness and astringency (my mouth feels a little dry with each sip), the sensation isn’t overwhelming. It’s towards the end of the sip and only on the middle of my tounge, just before the swallow. There’s a little greeny-sweet in there too. My mouth is full of jasmine if I breathe through my nose. Neat. Next time I think I’ll play with the temp. …or maybe the amt of leaf. This is getting more bitter the closer I get to the bottom of my cup. :/

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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75

I’m very proud of myself. I set a timer for my tea today, so I wouldn’t run the risk of forgetting about it and oversteeping. So. Stash advises 1-3 minutes, I go 2:45 on the dot.

Now, the inhale: it’s a light raspberry nose. I like that, I don’t want to be hit in the face with berry-ness this afternoon. You can actually smell the tea, too. The first sip takes me a second to adjust: Cardboard? Second sip: okay, there’s some white tea here. The raspberry is faint, but as my tea rapidly cools, I can [faintly] taste the raspberry longer and longer after I swallow. It’s light, it’s soothing, it’s not bad for a Friday afternoon.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 2 min, 45 sec

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83

Got a bag of this from a co-worker when I was attacked by some cold germ. Though my throat wasn’t the sorest (so I can’t attest to the magical healing/soothing properties), it was a very comforting tea and I could see why this has a cult following at my workplace in the winter. The tingling sweetness in the back of my throat was nice. The licorice/fennel smell out of the bag really hit me square in the face, but the taste is much more subdued and mellows out nicely (a plus for me, who isn’t the biggest fan of black licorice.) I’ll have to get a box for when I really do have a sore throat and try it out!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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68

So I rely on bagged tea at work, mostly because I don’t have my sh** together enough to carefully steep the good stuff at my desk. I also tend to forget about my drinks while engrossed in spreadsheets or busy putting out fires (literally, today – as someone left plastic trays sitting on a live stovetop burner). So I oversteeped the hell out of this first cup. So please keep that in mind if you read this note. Sorry.

Wow. This is soo sweet. What is it that does that? It’s not sugary-sucrose sweet, it’s not that thick of a sugary assault on my tongue. It swishes around in my mouth feeling thin and liquidy saying “i’m sweeeet!” – if that makes any sense at all. It’s like the Aveda tea type of sweet. Is that the anise?

What saves it is the cinnamon and spiciness. It’s definitely there, warming (almost tingling) the back of my mouth as I swallow. I can see where this would be a good tea coming in out of the cold in the fall/winter. I think I’ll try this again, keeping a better eye on it. I doubt this will be one I reach for often, but since I have a box, it’ll be nice when the occasion calls for it…

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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86
drank Coconut Cream Pie by 52teas
28 tasting notes

Hello, Steepster. It’s freezing cold and coffee and I are fighting again. The few teas I sipped between now and the last time I wrote were extremely few and far between and careless to boot – therefore not logged. But lately I’ve been turning to tea more than my coffee, so why not kick off my return with a first-time purchase through Steepster select!

First off, I’m not the biggest fan of coconut cream pie. It’s not my favorite. It’s probably not even in my top five. But I do love my black teas and I don’t mind coconut every now and again. Besides, I didn’t buy the tea for myself anyway. Lets give this a go.

Out of the pouch, the tea definitely smells of coconut. But just after the coconut hits me, so does something strongly reminiscent of Andes mints. Hmm. Chocolate and mint in my coconut cream pie tea? Then again, teas always smell different to me dry than they do steeped.

The directions say 1tsp for every 8oz of water. Since I hate winding up with watery tea, and since I have a [sub-par] pot that holds about 18fl oz without spilling over, I used 3 rounded teaspoons for all 18oz.

Nice! I definitely am getting the coconut – and I can still taste the tea, too! As it cools down, the black tea is much easier to find in each sip, but by no means overwhelms the coconut flavoring. If I concentrate on finding it, there’s definitely a dairy note in there, too – sort of a pseudo milkiness. Interesting. I wonder how they do that – perhaps its just a touch of vanilla? (Or maybe it’s just the power of suggestion tricking my brain…) Anyway, I can’t say with complete certainty that this is specifically a “Coconut Cream Pie” black tea, but the coconut is working for me, and perhaps when I get around to making a few of those lattes I’ll see what everyone is talking about. In the meantime, it was quite an enjoyable re-entry to the tea world and it feels good to be back!

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 45 sec
LENA

did you taste the mint that jason was talking about? :)

Laura

Hmm..good question. It did still smell a bit minty, but less so. Any minty flavor (being I had smelled it, I of course had to look for it in each sip) I suppose was no more than a twinge of that clean “ahh” sensation you get from minty gum or like in that listerine commercial (except waaaaay dialed down). Still though, yeah…mint. Weird. (though not completely unwelcome).

Jason

So you are going to the store?

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75
drank Comforting by Aveda
28 tasting notes

I guess you can tell just how (in)frequently i get a haircut.

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75
drank Black Tea Latte by The Tea Garden
28 tasting notes

Another trip to the Tea Garden with my Favorite = another black tea latte. A little watery this time. Still though, not bad.

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75
drank English Breakfast by Twinings
28 tasting notes

I actually switched out my coffee for a cup of this this morning… A nice change!

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I love all things food, so my recent nudge into the tea world has been a welcome adventure. Yummy, too. Makes the death grip I have on my coffee mug relax just a bit. :)

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Minneapolis, MN

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