253 Tasting Notes
Had two cups of this and they both turned out weaker than normal. I brewed them in my neeew Yixing pot and I’m sure the reason for the weak brew is because
a) I didn’t bother to season the pot beforehand
b) The infuser basket reaches halfway down and I only filled half the pot
c) [most likely] both of the above
Ah well. Lesson learned! Next time I’ll use my Finum basket and then decide if I want to season the pot :P
Flavors: Peach
So 7 grams today was definitely much better. Here’s what I did: rinse,25s,25s,30s,60s,70s.
Still experimenting with steeping times. The tea had a nice light flavor with perfumey floral notes as usual. When I jumped to 6o seconds, it got a little bitter so I’ll have to try something different next time. What I REALLY need is a thermometer so I can stop playing the guessing game over here and make this tea properly!
Flavors: Flowers, Perfume
Preparation
Having a thermometer is so helpful, and it costs less and is more dependable than a variable temperature kettle! I also love having a small scale, which takes the guess work out of amounts…
Yes, my little scale has been so handy! Glady I already had that on hand from my knitting hobby :)
How interesting, madametj: you weigh yarn?
I used to be in a group where we were all making blankets like this one: http://lh3.ggpht.com/-BsflSWvrhEk/UCGokQsUXQI/AAAAAAAAB4A/y1WGWPap5zQ/003_thumb%25255B1%25255D.jpg?imgmax=800
and we all wanted as many colors as humanly possible so we would have swaps where each person would buy one 100g ball of yarn, divide it into 20 5g balls and send them off so that we would each end up with 20 different colored 5g balls, hence the scale. So much fun. I’m still using all that yarn. lol
This is only my third time tasting a full-leaf oolong tea. My palate is not very refined so I didn’t notice much of a difference between this and the one that I tried in the Steepster Select Dec 13 box (Nantou Four Seasons by In Pursuit of Tea) but that’s great because I LOVED that one. So anyway that’s why I made sure to get one from Nantou, Taiwan.
This is how I drank my tea:
Water : 120ml – 194℉-ish
Use 9.3 Grams Tea
7 steeps : rinse,39s,25s,30s, 30s, 40s,60s,90s,120s
Yixing pot
Rinsing time is around 5 seconds
9 grams was way too much. By the second steep they expanded so much that I could barely close the lid on the teapot! It didn’t help that I oversteeped the first steep because I was doing something else while counting (big mistake) and went 14 seconds over. It was so bitter that I had to throw out that cup. The second rinse was still bitter, but I drank it anyway., and the following steepings where not quite as bitter. The tea was nice and perfumey, very floral. Only just a little bit overwpowering because I had used too many leaves. The flavor stayed strong with each steeping and seemed like it could go on forever, but by the 7th steep I’d had enough. Next time less leaves and no distractions.
Flavors: Flowers, Orchids, Perfume
Preparation
Glad you enjoy it. Steeping times are an inexact science. I have a tgy that you steep only 10-20 seconds and a jin xuan that you start at 45, but it looks like what you did is a good place to start. I usually aim for a little under a 1/4 volume of my gaiwan which for my 150- 170 ml ones is around 1.5-2 TSP. Have fun playing with the tea.
Thanks!
It’s always amazing to me how much full leaf oolongs can expand. It’s so much fun!
Sooo good. Nothing compares to fresh mint! The first steeping was kind of 50-50 spearmint peppermint, but the second steeping was just spearmint. Peppermint doesn’t resteep well. Or maybe dry herbs just don’t resteep as well as fresh herbs. Eh. Either way, this was awesome!
Flavors: Peppermint, Spearmint
I might be looking for another peppermint tea, I usually just buy cheap tea bags, hadn’t even thought about looking around for something better. I use these mint teas as relief for bowel issues. It really works, some people even buy this herb in capsules for the same effect. I will be checking out this flavor.
This is my own custom blend, not from a real tea company :P I just used this tea http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003AYEHKC/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i02?ie=UTF8&psc=1 and mint leaves from my garden.
Very boring as a peppermint tea. A bit bland actually. I guess it’s not fair that I compare all of my peppermint teas to Tazo Refresh, since that has a couple of other ingredients, but I can’t help it! Also comparing it to Adagio’s peppermint makes me sad. So no, not a repurchase for me. Glad it was cheap :P
Loved the floral taste of this tea. It reminded me of oolong, but I haven’t had much oolong so thats not a reliable comparison. Unfortunately, I won’t be buying this since it’s only in teabag form, which isn’t cost effective for me. If anyone knows of a loose leaf herbal with a similar taste, please let me know!
Do you drink much of Adagio’s green tea? I have found that most of the green tea by Adagio I’ve tried… tastes too grassy for me and I don’t like it.
I love Adagio black teas and herbals, but their green and whites haven’t thrilled me. Not sure if because Adagio or if I just don’t like green and white tea.
I haven’t tried any of their green tea. This is green rooibos which I drink a lot of.
As far as the issue with the green and white, I’m gonna throw out a wild guess and say you may be over-steeping them or using water that is too hot. Blacks and herbals take boiling water, but with green and white you have to use the temperature on the label. I don’t drink green tea much, but I distinctly remember having one taste like straight up grass because I brewed it too long. Used a timer the second time around and it tasted much better.
OH derp I missed the Rooibos part haha.
I am using 180 degree water and I steep 2-3 minutes. I will try closer to 2 minutes next time and see if that helped.
I bet it will. Good luck :)