96 Tasting Notes

84
drank Apple Pie a la mode by 52teas
96 tasting notes

I have a ton of homework left for tonight (blah) and a whole gallon of milk that expires today, so I decided to whip up some black tea. I also bought sugar for the first time! Yay! Sugar!

I’m not a /huge/ fan of apple cinnamon flavored things (although I do like apple pie), so I wasn’t expecting to like this very much. To me, it tastes like sweet (well, I added sugar and milk) apple-flavored black tea, with a generous side of creamy graham cracker and spice. I’m not tasting any vanilla, but the milk I added does give it a nice creamy feel. It’s pretty good, but just not my thing. It did, however, exceed my expectations, as I was expecting to hate it. I’m sure people who like apple flavored things will love this tea. My rating is more of a personal preference thing, and not a reflection of whether or not this tea tastes like it should/good. Thank you Ricky for the sample :)

Edit: There’s almost a coffee-with-vanilla-creamer-ish taste to my cooled down cup…an interesting development!

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 30 sec

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84
drank Coconut Cream Pie by 52teas
96 tasting notes

A big thank you to Ricky, for sending me some of this tea!

I used to hate coconut, but ever since trying Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong I’ve been feeling braver about it. So, of course the first tea I picked out of Ricky’s lovely package is this one. I usually prepare teas I’m tasting for the first time without additives like milk and sugar, and at the recommended steeping parameters. Instead, I made this with milk and sweetener, as multiple people mentioned how it tasted better as a latte.

The dry tea has a very light smell, at least compared to the Coconut Pouchong. Steeped up, it’s delicious. Creamy, and just slightly coconutty—but that’s fine with me. Unfortunately, I only had Splenda in my apartment, so it’s giving the tea a kind of funky taste (I can’t stand Splenda anymore, for some reason!) but otherwise, this is a lovely dessert tea. It’s very basic, but I like basic. I’m pretty sure once I make room in my tea chest for more, I’ll be ordering a package of this for myself.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 30 sec
LiberTEAS

Stephanie: me too… I think… since Frank tells us (teasingly even) that next week’s tea is too good to pass up, I shall order this one when I place my order for his new tea next week…

LiberTEAS

That wasn’t very nice Stephanie, now it looks like I’m talking to my invisible friend named Stephanie that nobody else can see or hear…

Shanti

Haha! Don’t worry, I know that Stephanie was here at some point…

Ricky

Sally, what? You heard Frank was going to announce white chocolate matcha!?!? Stop lying!

Julie, hey, shush you!

Joshua, who are you? Stop talking to me.

I’m not crazy!

Shantea, glad you liked it! Shantea’s a real person… it’s not my imaginary friend… shantea? where are you! ahhhh!!

Cinoi

white chocolate matcha….I am definitely buying this with my next 52teas order, it was fantastic!

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96

You know how there’s that whole anti-woman b-s stereotype of women always trying to change their partners? Well, I think I’ve been acting out that stereotype—yikes. Because Jackee ain’t no dessert man—-he’s pure smoke, pine, savory velvet. And I don’t know why I spent so long trying to change him to some kind of caramelized wimp, because he is pretty awesome as he is. Giving him a huge ratings bump.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Stephanie

lol!! Love this note! :)

Doulton

Wonderful! Jackee is who he is, and that’s quite close to a walking, brawling, burly divinity.

Ricky

LOL! Hhahahah =P Jackee needs to talk a stroll into Jacqueline’s garden now and show Thomas whose boss. Thomas was always picking on poor Jackee calling him sweet and sugary. Nope Jackee ain’t going to take that no more.

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95

This is so delicious. First, let me just say that I am not a fan of coconut. In fact, as I’ve mentioned before, the smell of coconut tends to to make me queasy, due to a bad experience as a teenager with coconut rum. Anyway, I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this tea—on the one hand, it’s award winning. On the other, I hate coconut. Well, this tea definitely has changed my mind about coconut, because it’s absolutely scrumptious (ha, I love that word).

The dry leaves are dark green and long and thin, and smell like coconut milk, cream, and maybe the lightest toasty scent. I can’t smell any tea at all. After steeping, the scent of the infusion is the same as the dry leaf, with a hint of pouchong. Surprisingly, the flavor is actually a very nice, even balance of pouchong and coconut, and they meld together seamlessly. The flavor doesn’t just sit on top of the pouchong, but seems to be intertwined with it. The ratio of flavoring to tea was nicely done, so it doesn’t feel like I’m drinking just coconut flavoring with a hint of tea, or tea with a hint of coconut. And oh, the flavor is delicious. There’s a custard note to the infusion as well, and at times it feels like I’m sipping coconut milk, not tea.

I only have a sample of this, so I’m going to have to get my hands on some more. I can see myself drinking this a lot!

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Rabs

You’ve given me hope for this sample! Everytime I rifle through the basket I see this one and go “mmm…not so much.” I’ve just never cared for coconut, but now I’m quite curious. :)

Shanti

Yes! Give it a try, you might like it. It’s more like coconut-milk-custard-green-oolong tea than almond-joy-coconut-rum-barf-ness. Heh. :)

teabird

That’s really good to hear! I was nervous about this sample too, not being a coconut fan.

teaplz

Yaaaaay for the coconut pouchong amazingness!

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98

This tea is magical. Really, truly, magical. I don’t know how else to describe it, but I love it.

I really didn’t know what to expect going into this. No tasting notes yet, no description, no steeping parameters even. it was just a free sample that I won by replying first to a thread. But, intrepid tea explorer that I am, I went in head first, and boy was I rewarded for my bravery.

I decided to start off with a 45 second steep. I used about a teaspoon and around 8 ounces each steep, and gradually increased the steep time as I went on, up to around 3 minutes by steep 6. I would have kept going as it was still strong and delicious, but I had to stop in order to get some sleep and pack, as I had a flight in the morning.

The first steep was like stepping into a garden at dawn; lush, dark greenness, a heavy mist in the air, and large white magnolia and gardenia flowers all around you. Steep 2 and onward were even more magical. Each cup was like gardenias, magnolias, and milk. There was the most delicious buttery component, like orchids and unsalted butter, and a hint of sweetness, like lactose or white bread, or maybe just from the flowers themselves. And something else, like the taste of “comfort”—the smell of warm skin, or your kitty’s fur, or your favorite fleece blanket—I don’t know how to put a name on it, but it was surely there.

The mouthfeel of the infusion was remarkable. Absolutely luscious…it was thick, and rich…just a “whole mouth experience.” Like something that you needed to bite into, but would give way easily to your teeth and tongue. Not that the tea was actually like gelatin or something, but it had an impression, if you will, of smooth thickness.

I wasn’t expecting to re-order anything from Life in Teacup when I first received my samples, but after trying this I know I’ll be placing another order soon.

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 0 min, 45 sec
~lauren.

I was just at the Life in Teacup website – their samples look amazing! So tempted…

Veri-Tea

That sounds incredible!!

I ♥ NewYorkCiTEA

I also loved my first Life in Teacup sample – a jasmine green.

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89

UGH I HAVE AN ESSAY DUE IN 13 HOURS AND I HAVE LIKE NOTHING DONE YET AAHHHHHH

Um. Yeah, in case it wasn’t clear, I have severe essay anxiety and can never get anything done before the last minute because I get so freaked out. Sigh. I still have 4 more pages to write….

So I went over to my tea chest to procrastinate (!!!) and I was shuffling around some tins and my tin of Earl Grey Le Creme opened up on its own and emptied itself out on the floor of the chest. I managed to salvage most of it, though, yay.

Anyway, I prepared this in my new 12 oz. Bodum coffee French press, which I am liking so far, despite some kinks at first…my filter is a little bent and hard to plunge up, so it doesn’t form a total seal and some leaves can leak through the gaps. Anyway, I made myself a cup of this and added in some Rockstar Recovery, which is a lemonade-ish energy drink that tastes surprisingly good (it’s made of 3% lemon juice, and only as 10 calories per serving but tastes like it’s made with real sugar). The mixture turned out rather nice! Kind of like a very citrusy Arnold Palmer, which I guess it technically is.

Anyway, WHAT AM I DOING ON STEEPSTER I NEED TO BE WORKING ON MY ESSAY AHHHHHHH!!!!

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 30 sec
__Morgana__

Ah, the good old days of stewing on an essay until the last minute and pulling an all nighter to get it to come out. Let there be tea!

LiberTEAS

(sigh) if only I had discovered just how joyful tea is back when I was in college. Back then, I was only just discovering it, and doing so quite timidly… Most of my tea consumption back then was left to when I would visit a tea room (which would be on the weekends with my little girl… who is now 17!) Memories…

Ricky

Write a paper about tea? =]

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88
drank English Breakfast by Twinings
96 tasting notes

I’ve been away from Steepster for a while because of school (and I shouldn’t be on here now, because I’ve got an essay due tomorrow arghhh) but I just had to pop in and see what everyone’s been up to/procrastinate.

Anyway, the tea. I don’t know why, but the last two times I’ve tried making this on my own (outside of the Zarafina, which I gave to my mom) it tastes too…malty? Caramelized? Perhaps I’m steeping it too long…but it’s gone “meh” on me. Knocking this down a few points until I figure out what’s wrong.

Edit: Okay, maybe it’s the honey I’m adding that’s making it taste strange? Damn you CVS clover honey, damn you.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 5 min, 15 sec

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drank Strawberry Sencha by Tealuxe
96 tasting notes

Today I went to Tealuxe for the first time. I ordered the Strawberry Sencha, and the woman at the register asked me if I wanted a “regular” or “large”. I said regular, which apparently means 16 oz in a to-go cup :/ The tea was way oversteeped and bitter. After I diluted it with LOTS of water, it wasn’t too bad, so I think it was just the preparation that made this tea undrinkable. For that reason, I’m leaving the rating off. The strawberry flavoring was delicious…I hope I’ll be able to try this another time steeped shortly.

Edit: Okay, I turned this into a really delicious iced tea (ultra, ultra diluted). Yum!

Preparation
8 min or more

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50
drank Lipton Black Tea by Lipton
96 tasting notes

I think my palate is receding, because I brewed up a cup of this today (iced) and it didn’t taste that bad. It almost tasted….good?

There needs to be a smiley face rating that goes :O

SoccerMom

Here in Texas we drink this sweetened and iced. Your right it’s not so bad when iced but if I were to drink it hot I’d probably gag a little.

Ricky

Add some sugar and a few pieces of lemon and I’m sold =]

Hot, plain? It’s tasteless.

gmathis

The loose variety isn’t bad at all—I keep a small canister on hand for mornings when I’m too busy to really care what I’m gulping.

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28 year old lady who loves cats, dogs, and tea. I’ve been here since the beginning and now I’m back again after a long hiatus! Grew up on homemade chai and black tea with milk and sugar.

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