1216 Tasting Notes

80

Throwback Thursday! …A day late because this week has been very high stress and I’ve been so exhausted I just haven’t even been able to brew a pot of tea most nights.

When I originally reviewed this tea (back in October of 2017!) I had acknowledged that I bought it at Snake River Tea in Boise, and I knew that they wholesaled it from somewhere, and ended up putting my review under Spice and Tea Exchange since the ingredients matched, though I’m quite positive now that they likely just also wholesale from the same source (that just makes me feel even worse about those Spice and Tea Exchange prices I paid in my tea newbie days… ugh!) It took a lot of Nancy Drewing this time, but I’m fairly certain that Teas Etc. is the source of the tea; they appear to no longer have it on their website, but there is a review still cached on Google for their Chocolate Mint Fusion Pu-erh that says “…this is a very nice tea and i enjoy it, but i do miss the chocolate covered strawberry…”. The dark chocolate curls, which were pretty unique to this blend, are also used in the Chocolate Mint Fusion Pu-erh and have the same ingredients. I’m pretty sad Teas Etc. is no longer producing this one, though. I went and checked Snake River Tea’s website and… yup, they don’t have this tea listed anymore. Baaaaaaah!

Since I deleted my OG review from over a year ago since it was under the wrong listing, here is what it said:

“The tea really does have a lovely scent like chocolate-covered strawberries. It doesn’t have an ‘earthy’ or astringent taste from the pu-ehr as the chocolate and fruit notes sweeten up the tea nicely. At the same time, it isn’t overbearingly sweet; the darkness of the tea is still able to shine through the flavor. The flavors don’t hold out well trying to resteep, however; the chocolate melts out on the first cup, leaving a subsequent steep noticably weaker. This is an indulgent dessert tea, best with a fresh cuppa each time.”

I gave it a 90, so it left quite an impression as I was getting into tea. I’m excited to revisit it and see how it holds up, but at the same time a little worried I’ll still be as smitten? I had finished off my leaf from my first Snake River Tea visit in 2017 and restocked on my 2018 trip, but now I know they no longer carry it so I won’t be able to get more for my 2019 trip…

It actually smells quite earthy, but smooth and mellow, and very sweet and jammy. The cocoa notes I’m picking up are like dark chocolate, more of a bittersweet aroma. Sipping the tea, I still really enjoy this, but it isn’t reading quite as desserty as I’m remembering… and honestly, I’m perfectly okay with that. But then, my palate has changed a lot too, because in the early days, I was one of those tea-drinkers that spent a good year having to add sugar to everything before one day I just suddenly stopped, heh. It has a very earthy aroma, and some of that is present in the taste, but it’s more mild and pleasant, and it mixes really nicely with the dark bittersweet cocoa notes and berry notes in the tea. The strawberry is giving me a syrupy liquor vibe, there is a sweetness there but something that almost has a fermented fruity bite? The aftertaste in my mouth definitely tastes like chocolate-covered strawberries, and the chocolate is a rich, dark chocolate.

Aww man, I am going to miss this one after all. Baaaaaaaaah, bah I say!

Flavors: Alcohol, Cocoa, Dark Bittersweet, Dark Chocolate, Earth, Fruity, Jam, Strawberry

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 3 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
Kawaii433

This sounds good. I hope they offer it again. I like the Lupicia’s Chocolate & Strawberry Puer.

Mastress Alita

There is at least a somewhat similar blend that a teaseller up in Boise offers which is a strawberry and hazelnut pu-erh that I like, and it tastes very chocolately to me despite not having any chocolate ingredients in it (I get “strawberries in nutella” vibes) so that blend or trying out the Lupicia blend (assuming Hawaii carries it) may do the trick since Teas Etc no longer makes this one. I’m betting it had to do with the strawberry-flavored white chocolate curls being too difficult or expensive of an ingredient to source.

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Teabox Tuesday! Well, my car that got a brand-new battery in it just a month ago was completely dead this morning, so I got to jump that from a coworker in the snow tonight, and now it’s sitting back at the dealership so tomorrow morning I’ll be stuck without it yet again as I have to get their shuttle to get me over there to hand over the key and get rides to work again… SIGH. So tired of this… $1140 in repairs last month and still the damn thing won’t start? #sooverit I wish I could just take it somewhere else, but since I need their stupid shuttle, I guess they’ll just keep ripping me off… (Was trying to make it to my next business day off so I could go somewhere else but NOPE, it crapped out before then… DOUBLE SIGH.)

My hands and feet were freezing after jumping it in the snow, so soup and tea was pretty much all I wanted tonight. And I felt so drained and exhausted I didn’t even care and decided to have green tea; I figure I’m so tired I’ll pass out anyway. So this is one of my oldest teabox teas, and if it has no flavor left, meh. I’ll be happy if it’s just a tasty green leaf, but considering the age and being a green, I don’t have particularly high hopes. But I need this old stuff to stop getting older. This came from the last Here’s Hoping Teabox, so thank you tea-sipper for organizing and to all that shared in this teabox!

So this is supposed to have lulo fruit and starfruit flavoring, which to be honest I would probably not recognize as I don’t think I’ve seen either let alone tasted, as well as mango. The tea has a sort of… strange aroma? I’m getting more of a pea/greenbean sort of smell, like a Chinese green. Tasting it… yes, I think any of the flavoring is long faded. I had tried another Bitaco tea from this box, Andean Princess, and had the same issue, so they likely were the same age. There is maybe a ghosting of something like peachiness in the background, but that is a stretch; from what I can make out of the base tea, it definitely is vegetal, with pea and bean notes, and is pleasant enough, aside from being a bit stale.

This is one I’ll likely try out from S&V sometime when I’m not on order hiatus, as I’m curious what those foreign fruit notes would taste like since they are not ones I am familiar with.

Flavors: Green Beans, Peach, Peas, Vegetal

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 3 g 12 OZ / 350 ML
Kawaii433

That sucks about your car :(. I’d file a complaint at ftc.gov/complaint.

mrmopar

Sorry about your ride.

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35
drank Marrakech by T2
1216 tasting notes

Sampler Sunday! I’m getting pretty low on what is left of these T2 samplers from the sampler haul I got in January 2018. I wanted something minty this morning so I grabbed this one, even though I’m not crazy about Moroccan Mint teas made with gunpowder green tea, which this one is. Well, at least then it won’t be taking up space in my cupboard anymore…

2.4g brewed for 2 min. for 400ml 175F water. Ugh, it even smells quite smoky just from the brewed aroma. Like… a slightly musty, tobacco smoke. Bleh. Since that aroma is so unpleasant to me, it’s kind of undermining the sweet peppermint aroma. Taking a drink, I can tell they are using that same strong artificial-tasting peppermint oil flavoring T2 used on that Red Choc Mint tea instead of mint leaf which I hated, and in most cases, I would hate using that oil instead of nice fresh mint leaf in a Moroccan Mint, too, but… since that mint oil has such a strong, overbearing flavor, it’s drowning out a lot of the smoky flavor that I hate from gunpowder green tea.

So… I hate that this is using mint oil instead of mint leaf, I hate the smoky gunpowder green tea base which just tastes like musty stewed tobacco to me… and oddly the two things I hate are counter-acting each other so I can at least get this down. But this is easily one of the worst Moroccan Mint blends I’ve tried.

In more positive news, I went through my tea shelving last night and did a big re-arrange. It is looking way better… I wouldn’t say it exactly has space for growth currently, but it isn’t jam-packed at weird angles in such a way that breaks my librarian heart anymore, either. Things are at least in nice, neat, organized rows in alphabetical order again and some of the tiniest packages were able to be moved back into the sampler drawers in the kitchen because I’d cleared enough space away from those drawers. So the space problem is at least making baby steps.

Flavors: Artificial, Earth, Mint, Musty, Peppermint, Smoke, Tobacco

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 g 14 OZ / 400 ML

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47

When I realized I had an English Breakfast that wasn’t just a sampler, I was like, “Oh hey! More black tea for my hair rinses!” Because yes, that is a thing I do. I brew up black tea with pure sage leaf and a bit of apple cider vinegar and dump it on my head. So this is likely going to be a… uh… rinse down? once I’ve used up the leaf taking showers. But then I realized I hadn’t logged this, so I was like, “Oh, I suppose I should make a cuppa while I still have the leaf and do that.” So I’m doing that.

This is a CTC English Breakfast blend that is Assam, Ceylon, and Sumatran teas. My favorite breakfast blends always include a bit of Chinese black in the mix, so I already know this isn’t going to be one I want to “hang onto” (I’m pretty sure it’s between Steven Smith Teamaker’s “British Brunch” and Bird & Blend’s “Great British Cuppa” for the English Breakfast blend I plan to eventually permanently stock in my cupboard of all the ones I’ve sampled that best match my personal tastes), but I’m still willing to give it a sample. I used 2.8g for 350ml of water and a 2 min. steep. The aroma is malty but has some strong citrusy notes, a bit moreso than many other breakfast blends I’ve tried.

This is a strong tea, maybe the strongest I’ve had other than the Whittards of Chelsea blend I sampled… it is at least tied with it. Is it from the Sumatran black tea? I don’t think I’ve ever had a breakfast blend that included that type of black tea in it before. But this is definitely more robust than my particular preferences. It has a quite bitter taste to it, and is very astringent. I get notes of malt, burnt toast, lemon citrus, and black pepper.

I definitely had to finish off this cuppa British style, with a bit of honey and some almond milk. It was too dark and bitter for me otherwise. And I’ll definitely be finishing off the rest of the bag as a “rinse down.” Black tea is great for shedding issues!

Flavors: Astringent, Bitter, Black Pepper, Burnt, Citrus, Lemon, Malt, Toast

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec 2 g 12 OZ / 350 ML

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40

I have this tea as “Toasted Almond Cookie” by Par Avion Tea; it is sourced from TeaGuys. TeaGuys used to have it as “Toasted Almond Cookie” with the same blend ingredients that are listed on my tin (this was gifted to me in December of 2017, but who knows how long the little knick-knack shop my friend found it at had it before that!), but TeaGuys has since renamed the blend to “Vanilla Almond Coconut” and changed the blend ingredients a bit. I’ve noticed this quite a bit on several of these old TeaGuys blends I’ve had in these Par Avion Tea tins. This just happens to be the OG version of the tea! (Hopefully the coconut isn’t bleh, but I’ll know soon enough. Honestly, I don’t even see any in the leaf, despite it being listed in the ingredients… another thing I’ve noticed about these Par Avion repackages… I almost wonder if they got the… uh… rejects from the TeaGuys factory or something, because several of the other tins have been like that, missing flower petals or having them in when the ingredients don’t list them, weird things like that…)

The steeped black tea smells quite malty; the aroma doesn’t smell all that different from a breakfast tea to me. There is maybe a touch of graham cracker to the aroma? The flavor… The black tea is at least quite smooth and not leaving any astringency, but I’m not really getting any real flavor. A touch of small cinnamon toward the end of the sip, with a slight candied sweetness to it rather than a spicy note, but I’m not getting any nuttiness/almond flavor. Maybe a very subtle marzipan-like flavoring? But it is quite subtle. And definitely no coconut (I really don’t think there is any coconut in this leaf at all). All in all, a completely forgetable cup and I’ll be happy when it is sipped down.

Flavors: Artificial, Cinnamon, Graham, Malt, Marzipan, Smooth, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 3 g 14 OZ / 400 ML

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36

Teabox… Thursday? Extra teabox tea this week, because I’m feeling in a hibi mood tonight and saw this single teabag I snagged from the Discovery Teabox. Thank you Skysamurai for organizing and all participants of the box!

So this is a hibi/rooibos blend with pomegranate and cranberry flavoring. Stash is one of those bagged tea companies that is pretty hit-or-miss for me… I love their hibiscus tea Apple Cinnamon Chamomile, but hated their Pomegranate Raspberry Green Tea, so I imagine this could go either way for me. Perhaps the hibi will save it for me, or perhaps their pomegranate flavoring will be entirely unappealing to me again… or, if the scent I’m getting through the bag is anything to judge by, it could be the rooibos that will be the problem. I normally have no issues with medicinal notes from red rooibos, but this tea actually smells like cough syrup through the paper bag. Hmm.

Well, let’s steep and see…

The tea does have a strong tart, fruity aroma, but it does still smell a bit medicinal just from the aroma to me. The flavor is… yaaaa, I am definitely picking out that cough syrup note. It’s not horrible, but it is there. I honestly don’t get it from rooibos often, but I’m getting it from this one. Maybe there is something about the tart, fruity cranberry flavor paired with the rooibos that is bringing out that particular medicinal flavor note and really making it have those “black cherry cough syrup” vibes. If it didn’t have that rooibos base, this might have actually worked for me, because I think the hibi and cranberry flavor pair okay, and I’m really not making out the pomegranate flavor much.

I’ll finish the cup, and try to convince myself it’ll keep me from getting a sore throat/cough. But it is another miss for Stash for me, unfortunately.

Flavors: Cranberry, Hibiscus, Medicinal, Red Fruits, Rooibos, Tart

Preparation
Boiling 6 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 350 ML

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70

Throwback Thursday! Since I’ve been working on sipping down my Rooibos Market Spice in the evenings, I figured I’d revisit this tea this morning, which is a similar flavor profile. I also have tons of it — it was an 8 oz. bag, bigger than I ever purchase (though the smallest Hobee’s offers, apparently) and since it’s a CTC tea, they recommend a 1/2 teaspoon a cup. I don’t even brew by “teaspoons” anymore, so trying to make my tea this morning, I was quite confused how much of this powder-tea to use. Huh…

Apparently I underleafed it, because when I got to work, my thermos was way too weak. I really didn’t want to overdo it on leaf or steep, because let me tell you, last time I ate at a Hobee’s visiting Todd, they made this tea so damn strong I will NEVER order it there again. My poor little spice-wuss stomach couldn’t take it, I was having IBS like woah that day, and I had to promptly be shuttled to a Whole Foods to get some pineapple coconut water to calm my poor stomach. Making this tea myself, I’ve never had it so strong and spicy before! I have no idea how they brew this in their restaurants, but it is not to my tastes at all. But this morning, it was definitely not the right leaf/steep time/water ratio for a good cup.

Tried another cup on my lunch break and tried measuring my leaf using a bit more than I do with long, full loose leaf, about 3 grams not counting the heavy cinnamon/rosehip/orange peel bits, but still used the brief one minute steep. It still tasted a bit weaker than I’d prefer, but much more flavorful than this morning, so I’m closer — I think this CTC may just need a longer steep to extract a good flavor due to all the spices, so next time I’ll let it steep for two minutes and hope it doesn’t go bitter. At least the spice wasn’t too strong/overbearing like how Hobee’s makes it. This tea has that artificial candied cinnamon flavor I’m not overly crazy about, which puts out a bit of heat but if treated right it is warming with some nice sweetness and a touch of clove on the finish. Like the Market Spice Rooibos, the orange notes are tasting more subtle compared to the spice. I do really like the inclusion of the rosehip; it isn’t overwhelming but adds a slight fruity/floral note.

I still need to find the optimal brew conditions for this, but it is decent for an orange spice tea. I prefer the Rooibos Market Spice for the sweeter base, but prefer this one as an iced tea. Lowering my rating a bit just because my personal preferences have changed quite a bit over the last year concerning artificial spice flavorings.

Flavors: Artificial, Candy, Cinnamon, Citrus, Clove, Floral, Orange Zest, Spices, Spicy, Sweet

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 1 min, 0 sec 3 g 14 OZ / 400 ML
Todd

You have plenty to experiment with, lol. The last time I took you to Hobee’s was highly unusual. They very rarely brew it that strongly.

Mastress Alita

Ah, was that unusual? I don’t know what they did, because I’ve never managed to get a cup that burn-your-mouth-off with this stuff before!

I’m actually drinking Hobee’s right now! I steeped for 2 minutes this time, and am still not sure if I’m quite there. I feel I’m using ample leaf at 3.2g which is what OCTea suggests (it seems to always be spot on for me) so I don’t know if it really needs an even longer steep than that or if it’s just age at this point. But I’m going to keep playing! It’s definitely not crazy strong-spicy like Hobee’s made it, though!

Todd

Yeah, they usually make it with a little bite, but not like that. Next time it’s too strong I’ll cut it with some ice water.

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68

Teabox Tuesday! I got a sampler of this tea from the Discovery Teabox, so thank you to Skysamurai for organizing and all participants of the box! This blend is from 2013, so I’m not sure how much flavor will be left after six years… that said, when I get the chance to try old 52Teas blends, I usually take them, since I never know when (or if!) those blends will reappear, and they are always such unique/interesting flavors.

Hmm. The aroma smells quite strawberry-banana-like, which is very off-putting to me, but there is no banana listed in the ingredients, so I’m willing to try it. It smells quite sweet and I can pick out a bit of lime from the aroma as well.

It is a bit weak, but not terribly so. It’s fairly sweet from the honeybush, and I’m getting a strawberry flavor, and it’s sort of that sweeter, candied sort of strawberry note, rather than particularly fruity or juicy. There is a citrus note as well, with the lime having a bit more prominence. Apparently there is rum flavoring, but I’m not really picking out anything that has a dry/alcoholic sort of taste, though the citrus is a bit brisk, which may be some of the lingering remains of the rum… it does remind me a bit of a note from a different lime cocktail tea I have, come to think of it. It’s a slightly sour sort of citrus taste, but fades quickly because the base tea and strawberry note are so sweet.

For the age, this has actually held up much better than I was expecting, with quite a bit of strawberry and lime flavor still present. I imagine it was quite potent in its prime, and the flavor combo is quite pleasant.

Flavors: Citrus, Honey, Lime, Sour, Stonefruit, Strawberry, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 3 g 12 OZ / 350 ML

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80

I’m surprised I haven’t reviewed this one yet, since I’ve had it since my Portland birthday trip in March 2017, when I visited Tea Chai Te. It’s their take on the famous Cinnamon Orange tea from Market Spice in Seattle, only on a rooibos base. I normally don’t like that artificial “Red Hot” cinnamon candy flavor used in these sorts of spice teas; they don’t claim to be using any flavoring, but it certainly has that “cinnamon flavoring” taste which makes me think of cinnamon candy or Big Red chewing gum that I don’t associate with teas that are only using cinnamon spice. That said, the rooibos base adds a lot of natural sweetness which helps temper it a lot, so I find it much less cloying and obnoxious than I usually find that flavoring. It’s actually kind of pleasant, reminding me of the sweet, satisfying counter-balance to the strong spicy cinnamon flavoring I get from the one cinnamon candy that I actually like, chocolate-covered cinnamon gummy bears.

The result is a tea that is more mildly spicy than overbearingly hot; the sip has a sweet rooibos and strong cinnamon candy flavor, with a very subtle sweet orange note in the rooibos base. It’s a bit hard to make out beneath the spice, though. A bit of clove is present toward the end of the sip. Mostly, it’s a strong cinnamon rooibos, and it’s the artificial, candied sort of flavor. But it at least isn’t hot, creating pleasant warmth during the sip but not leaving a long spicy lingering unpleasant tingle. It’s a safe choice for spice-weenies like me.

Flavors: Artificial, Candy, Cinnamon, Clove, Orange Zest, Rooibos, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more 3 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
derk

March Babby!

Mastress Alita

St. Paddies Day!

derk

I have a few days on you :P

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So, what’s the oldest tea in my cupboa— EXPIRED FEBRUARY 2005?! I didn’t even get into tea as a hobby until 2016?! How… when… Did I buy this box when I moved into this apartment, shove it to the back of my cupboard, and forget about it? It was still sealed! Oh man…

Okay, I will try exactly one packet, and then the rest is going in the trash, for health and safety reasons. And I don’t count trashed items for sipdown. It’s the principal of the matter…

The weird thing is, I have memories of actually liking Oregon Chai instant chai, but from where…? Did we keep this around in my house growing up, so I bought some after I moved out? Or maybe I bought chai lattes from coffee shops around here that used this brand… In any event, I’m sure I’ve had this brand of instant chai somewhere in my past, and recall liking it. Whether I’ll like instant tea powder that expired fourteen years ago is a different matter, though…

It… doesn’t really want to dissolve into the water well, at all. Even after stirring well, I see a lot of little worrisome clumpy bits floating on the top… what have I gotten myself into? Wait, this has dried milk in it? Yaaaaaaa, that’s a big fat nope. I’m not drinking fossilized milk for the sake of a tea review. It smells off, anyway.

A single very small sip honestly doesn’t taste rancid (not that I’d ever risk more than that!), but the flavor itself honestly isn’t bad, so I can see why I liked this in the past: very sweet and honey-like, clove and cinnamon on the spice front, and some underlying maltiness. If this was in it prime, I’d sure it would be fine.

Well, that’s some easy cupboard space reclaimed, at least!

Flavors: Cinnamon, Clove, Honey, Malt, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 350 OZ / 10350 ML
Lexie Aleah

I practically grew up on this stuff! (usually the concentrate version though) Is it possible it’s from when you lived in the Oregon/Washington area?

Kittenna

Ahaha, I’d totally have drank this. Expiration dates only concern me when children are involved, or when there are signs of spoilage :D

Mastress Alita

@Kittenna: It didn’t dissolve well and smelled sort of sour; if there hadn’t been milk product in it, like traditional type teas, then I would’ve drank it. I had some diarrhea even from the few small sips I took. :-(

@Lexie Aleah: It’s definitely available here where I live in Southern Idaho. I think it’s pretty prevalent across the Pacific Northwest (WA/OR/ID). I think I’ve seen it in the groceries in CA while on vacation there, too. I am thinking I may have had this when I first moved into this apartment, buried it in the back of a cupboard without opening it, and then forgotten about it, only to recently rediscover it. Though I’m fairly certain I recall having these back when I was still in my parents’ house, too. I don’t remember ever having concentrate though, I think it was always these little instant packets, or like a canister with the powder in it? I do have some liquid concentrate in my fridge for Tazo’s Passion tea though, which I usually mix with lemonade instead of water to make bomb iced tea. <3

Kittenna

Fair enough! The effects don’t sound good. (I actually missed that you said it smelled off in your post. Apparently I can no longer read.)

Nattie

Holy moly! You’re making me feel better about drinking instant tea that expired in 2016 haha.

derk

Ohhh Mastress Alita, lol. I’ve renamed you in my head as Ol’ Chai Butt.

Mastress Alita

Hahaha. Now I just need to get the t-shirts printed…

Tabby

Bluhhhh

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Profile

Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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