761 Tasting Notes

72

I ordered one of those “make it your own” samplers from RofT. I don’t know what it is really called, but you can mix and match 24 tea bags in a plain brown box. I thought it would be a great way to try several teas without having to buy a bunch.

This is one I wanted to try. I like a nice dessert-y tea in the evening, so last night I tried this one. It was good. Not knock-my-socks-off good, but enjoyable. I didn’t really get the coconut or the chocolate, but with my non-existent sense of smell that is not surprising. I have a cold right now (gosh darn it! I am really done being sick!) so warm tea felt good on my throat. Looking forward to going through these teas to find new favorites.

ashmanra

I didn’t know they did that! That sounds like fun!

Cameron B.

I wish they offered a sampler of the Cuppa Cake blends, I want to try them but I don’t want to buy a whole tin of each! Seems like the caramel vanilla is the only one they offer in the custom samplers…

Maddy Barone

@Ashmanra. Here. Unfortunately, as @Cameron B says, it is not every tea they have, but a limited number. I wanted to try some of the Bridgerton dessert teas.

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70

Since the temps are rising and I must stop drinking so much soda, I decided to start drinking up my tea in glorious iced format, so I bought a new iced tea pitcher. I like the pitcher a lot since it has both a plastic insert for infusing water with fruit and herbs and also a nice tea strainer. It arrived yesterday so I washed it and perused my tea drawer to see what I should make first. Decided on this one

I wanted to use up all that I had left of this tea, so I poured all of it in the strainer and let it sit overnight in the fridge. Wow, weird bitter aftertaste. I’ve had this for YEARS, so maybe the age made it hard to drink. I generally do not sweeten tea, but I added a teaspoon of honey to my glass. That did the trick. I’ve had two glasses so far. It is pretty refreshing. I don’t plan to buy more, but this was a good way to finish off the tin.

ashmanra

Yay for new tea stuff!

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75
drank Mandarin Mimosa by Teavana
761 tasting notes

I was standing in line at TJ Maxx yesterday. Even though it was snowing (or maybe BECAUSE it was snowing) I’d gone to purchase a couple of pieces of spring/summer clothing. As I stood, looking out the wide window at the nasty snow, I felt like throwing a tantrum. Like a two year old who isn’t getting what they want. Full blown tantrum, like throwing myself to the floor, drumming my heels and screaming. We’ve had way too much winter this spring in North Dakota. :(

As I was waiting I saw a few Teavana tubs of bagged teas crammed in with the rest of the cart bait lining the checkout queue. This one appealed because it said good hot or cold. Yesterday it was snowing, so that would mean hot tea. But who knows? Next week could be 80. So iced tea. But last night I tried a cup hot.

Anyway, sorry for whining. Here is what I thought of the tea. It was quite good. It brewed up fairly pale, which is normal for a tisane with no tea or rooibos. The flavor was light but with a nice tart zing. Not like hibiscus-sour zing. I do not like hibby, and made sure to check the ingredients to be sure there wasn’t any. I think the zing would have been the citrus. So I will have no trouble drinking these 12 tea bags.

Martin Bednář

I understand that tantrum. It was a cold spring start here, and I was pretty much same. I could not wait for better and warmer days.

AJRimmer

I wish I could find more Teavana varieties at my local shops. I’ve been looking for white chocolate peppermint unsuccessfully!

Maddy Barone

@Martin Spring will come eventually. Next Wednesday is expected to be 9C and by next weekend it will be 12!
@AJ I really liked that one. I found it at TJ Maxx as well, around Christmas last year. But that is completely hit and miss, and you never know what they will have. :(

gmathis

April snow automatically justifies any springy-seasonal purchase that perks you up!

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71

And Steepster is back!!

I drank this one quite a while ago, like over a week, so I don’t remember it very well. It came in that “advent calendar” in which the teas were just jumbled in a box with no day designated. The tea was nice. A pleasant tea but not memorable for me. I believe I would be glad to drink it if a friend served it, but I have no burning desire to order more.

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90

I made a pot of this tonight and drank it out of my fancy teacup from Taiwan. This tea never disappoints me. Soon spring will be here and then I will want my fruity teas. But it is -1 F right now, so I will get to enjoy my spicy teas for a while longer.

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72

I received a bag of this from gmathis. I’ve just gotten over whatever tummy bug has been going around (an entire family at church had succumbed, plus a couple of other people. I suspect I picked it up there) so I’d been drinking some ginger teas and peppermint teas in the evening. This was my first regular black tea in quite a while. It had a robust body and strong flavor. Sometimes a tea like that will turn astringent or even bitter at the end of the sip. This one didn’t. Because she warned me it was strong I stepped it for only a minute and a half. That may have been a mistake. My second steep had a fuller flavor. I think that very short steeping time didn’t give it a chance to fully develop. The second cup was just about perfect!

ashmanra

Glad you are feeling better!

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80

I have two packets of this tea from the holiday (or winter?) collection I ordered right after Christmas. I enjoy a good, plain herbal mint tea. I mean, how can you go wrong with peppermint? In my experience, it doesn’t matter if it is a cheap grocery store bagged peppermint tea or a fancy, organic peppermint tea. This one does stand out though, over my usual Stash peppermint tea. It is very fresh and the cooling sensation of the mint is pronounced.

This was a reward to myself for getting through this latest round of CT scans. Those were yesterday, and today I saw the oncologist to talk about what the scan showed. There are two areas they want to watch: a 4 mm nodule on my left lung and a dime sized spot near my tailbone. The dime sized thing has not grown in 6 months so he doesn’t see any reason for concern with that. The teensy tiny little nodule on the lung may be cancer or it may be totally not related to the cancer. Dr. W says we will watch that one too. So I have my next set of scans in June. We will see if either or both of those problem areas change or grow in the next three months.

Meanwhile, I need to drink up more tea. We are in a blizzard warning for the next 24 hours. So perfect tea drinking weather!

gmathis

Generally, I agree—if it’s decently fresh, most peppermint does the trick, price point notwithstanding. Traditional Medicinals has one that stands out to me…a little sharper than most, which is helpful for tummy trouble or stopped up nose.

Glad you are home and safe. Praying that the little nothings are nothing!

Maddy Barone

@gmathis I wish we had a “like” button for comments. I’ll check out the Traditional Medicinals peppermint tea. It sounds like a good one.

ashmanra

@Maddy Barone So happy for your good news! Seconding gmathis!

@gmathis: I will check out that peppermint tea. Superanna loves mint and might like to try that one.

Martin Bednář

If I don’t count home-grown peppermint, I can recommnend two leaves and bud peppermint.
Anyway, better to get checked now and then than leaving it without watching at all, IMO. As a person with benign tumor, I have been checked at least twice a year until it has “dissolved” completely.

Maddy Barone

@Martin That is awesome!

Michelle

Surely peppermint is a de-stresser, and therefore anti-cancer tea!

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82

I received my 52Teas order yesterday (which was super fast shipping!) and decided on this one for my evening cup. I really liked it. I didn’t get the woody undertone that is sometimes present and the orange flavor was bright and natural. I didn’t really get the chocolate, which is a shame, but probably due to my faulty nose. There was no bitterness. It even re-steeped a second cup very nicely. If you want something yummy and without caffeine, I can recommend this one.

Preparation
1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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68
drank Alpine Punch by DAVIDsTEA
761 tasting notes

My David’s order came!! Woot! I got 50 grams of Santa’s Secret plus their winter collection. I remember loving the cardamom french toast, but I put that aside for a cold winter afternoon. I’m sure we’ll have plenty of such afternoons to come! I decided on this one. I was pretty sure I’d had this one before, like a sample from a previous order, but I don’t see a tasting note for it. So here goes:

It brews up nice and dark. I don’t taste much of anything, so it’s not sour or bitter. It has a nice mild flavor, I guess. It is certainly drinkable, but I wouldn’t bother with a separate order of this. It looks like a lot of people really enjoy this tea, but it doesn’t do anything for me. To each his own. I give it a recommendation because it is pleasant enough and if I had a sense of smell I would probably find flavors to enjoy.

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Bio

I love cats. I love alone time. I love sitting indoors on a cold winter night with a book or my knitting while drinking tea. I don’t have a sense of smell, so many of the more subtle flavors of tea escape me. Two of the things I CAN taste are bitter and sour, so any tea that has even a slightly bitter taste is nasty for me. And what others might perceive as pleasant tartness may be horribly sour for me.

I’m also a writer. I love writing, and a mug of hot tea helps me get through the hours sitting in front of the computer. Although I’m a comparatively new tea drinker, I’m jumping in feet first. Feel free to recommend any teas you think I might enjoy.

100-91 – Wowza! I want to keep this tea in the cupboard all the time.
75-90 – Very nice. It would be good to have this tea on hand from time to time.
60-74 – OK. Wouldn’t keep it in the cupboard, but I would drink it again.
45-59 – If a friend served this I would drink it to be polite, but it’s not really my cuppa.
Lower than 45 – Blech. It was too sour or bitter for my taste. Would not drink it again.

Location

Fargo, ND

Website

www.MaddyBarone.com

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