267 Tasting Notes

92

Drinking this again- it really does taste like cinnamon raisin toast. I’ve been hearing a lot about rock sugar as the best way to sweeten tea. Is this just hype, a way to sell expensive sugar to people who don’t know any better? I ask because I am sweetening this with honey, and have tried agave nectar too, but I don’t think it does as much for the taste as sugar does.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

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56
drank Black Currant Bai Mu Dan by 52teas
267 tasting notes

This is a delicious, subtle blend that works well with the white tea. I love black currant, and while white tea is usually off my list because of the caffeine, it’s minimal enough here that I’m sucking it up to finally try this blend. I must say, I’m tempted to steep this a bit longer next time in order to get the black currant taste to pop more (if that would even be the result)- I do feel like it’s a bit too pale for me to get super excited about in this steeping. It smells quite strong, but the taste is mild mild mild. I have faith though! I shall try this blend again, because that black currant, it tempts me….

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Kristin

sugar! :P

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67
drank Gina Amaretta by TeaGschwendner
267 tasting notes

Well I’m normally not much for flavored black teas, particularly those with caffeine in them (which I try to avoid), but this smelled so good in the sample K sent that I just had to make it this morning, when the weather is making me groggier than usual. It’s absolutely delicious in the bag- not the usual rank artificial amaretto. Brewed, this actually makes a really satisfying cup of tea without the bitterness that black tea can impart. It’s important not to oversteep it, but correctly brewed it has a soothing mildness and nutty sweetness that I really like. It’s great with a little milk- unsweetened vanilla almond milk in my case. I dig this one- for a black tea ;) Nice and relaxing, despite the caffeine.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec
Kristin

I’ve pretty much given up on flavored blacks. This is the only flavored black in my tea drawer (and I drink it infrequently because of the caffeine). It is getting pretty old (maybe a year) and yet it still smells & tastes that good.

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89
drank Neapolitan Honeybush by 52teas
267 tasting notes

Like Kristin, I need to up my rating as this has really really grown on me. I’ve had at least one cup a day since I bought it, and I really look forward to it. I wish this could make it into the regular website rotation and be available in larger bags. I seem to go through it awfully quickly. It’s just the perfect hint of cocoa/vanilla/strawberry- mildly sweet and very satisfying after dinner.

Kristin

I agree and I don’t think I up’d mine enough! adjusts

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44

Very mild… probably to avoid overshadowing the white tea. For me it’s perhaps a bit too mild. If I’m going to enjoy flavored tea, I want the flavoring to really take the foreground (or, um, something to take the foreground). I totally get that white tea is delicate and that many folks probably do want to taste the teaness in their cup, but I’m finding myself a little bored. I don’t know what the rose petals add, but it seems like not much. I actually used the Keurig to make this one, because I’ve found that water comes out of there just the right temperature for greens and whites. So… what else to say about this blend? Hmmm Pai Mu Tan is pretty good in general, but one time I had it iced and the whole cup just tasted like ice water. Subtle, perhaps good for thems what don’t really like tea.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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78

I have been looking forward to trying this one, as it gets such rave reviews. I don’t think I’ve had particularly many flavored oolongs, either. My first thought was indeed that it tastes like a coconut cookie- the oolong lends the tea a slight hint of ‘something baked’, almost a toasty taste. The coconut is really mild, and thankfully not at all greasy (I’ve seen coconut teas that drip with coconut oil). It’s a really pleasant brew to have mid-morning, and unique as far as flavored teas go. I can imagine this so deliciously paired with tea biscuits. I may have to get my hands on more of this, or- to tide me over, I might just have to re-steep the sample Kristin sent me.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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53
drank Rooibos Chai by SpecialTeas
267 tasting notes

I decided to follow specialteas’ advice and make a tea latte out of this chai. So I brewed it, then combined it with a bunch of foamed vanilla almond milk.Verdict? Almond milk never makes good foamy drinks, but it’s all I had in the house. This chai though, is quite good and I’m surprised nobody else has reviewed it. It’s got a cinnamony overtone, but is sweet and interesting. Oddly, it’s not that different from the Teavana blend I tried the other day. I liked it a lot more simply brewed with water than I did with this bastardized concoction I made- I even burnt my finger on the hot cup badly enough to need to ice it. This is not a good day for tea related injuries!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 15 sec
Kristin

Oh, and I like that teavana tea. Are you talking about the one with the red hots cinnamon flavor?

Lisbet

Yes, that one! I have a ton of it right now.

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53
drank Rooibos Chai by SpecialTeas
267 tasting notes

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38

Yawwwnnnnn boy did this make for an unremarkable cup of tea. I had this at the hair salon, and was actually expecting to get served a cup of plain green tea. Kinda disappointed to taste the mint.

While I do like mint teas, something about this was just ‘meh’. Now I’ve had Moroccan mint tea, and I just can’t picture this blend with sugar in it as the description suggests. It’s not really much better than some of the shlock you can find at the grocery store. I do think Zhena’s has some good teas, but I am ambivalent about this one. Maybe it was oversteeped.

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54
drank Lemon Jasmine by Zhena's Gypsy Tea
267 tasting notes

Had this at the hair shop this morning while I waited for the henna to be done sitting on my hair. It’s a perky lemon blend, with only a hint of a backdrop of jasmine, and a very pale green tea presence. I really liked it, despite generally being wary of lemon tea- and this is a result of the lemon coming from lemon myrtle, and not either artificial lemon flavoring, or plain ol’ citrus. The down side was that I accidentally spilled the last 1/3 of the cup on my lap and while I smell good now, I do look like I wet myself. Recommended if you tend to like citrus, but find most lemon teas taste too intense.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 0 sec
~lauren.

I put a ‘like’ because I liked your ‘perky lemon blend… ’ sentence but am sorry about the wetting of self (hope you didn’t burn yourself!!!).

Lisbet

Nah, it had cooled a bunch by the time I dumped some of it onto my lap. It was only tepid. More annoying than anything else, and I felt bad for my wonderful stylist who kindly cleaned it up for me despite my protests.

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Bio

Grad student in sociocultural anthropology. I drink tea while reading for my courses, and it makes the books go down easier. I genuinely like most kinds of tea – although fruit tisanes kind of scare me.

Location

Houston, Texas, United States

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