15662 Tasting Notes
Another Toronto Tea Festival buy!
Lemon Lily had a few interesting powders this year that I picked up, but aside from that this was the only LLT they had that caught my eye. Mostly because there was just so much maple sugar in the blend!
I made a giant mug of it a few nights ago and it was a little different than expected, but still very pleasant. More rooibos forward than I’d have imagined and despite such a large quantity of maple sugar the flavour was actually somewhat gentle and definitely not too sweet at all. As a first impression it was perhaps a smidge underwhelming but I think that’s because I had high expectations. My opinion after finishing the whole mug what that I could easily see this being the kind of tea that has a softer initial impression but ends up quickly being a long-term favourite because of the reliable flavour and the fact it’s not intense enough as to only fit very specific moods.
Evening cuppa from a few night ago! I’m normally not really into chamomile, but I actually enjoyed this quite a lot. I think that’s largely because the cinnamon and apple flavours are both pretty potent and they mask the chamomile base almost entirely. That’s probably a con for some, but it’s a big pro in my books. I also like that the cinnamon and apple are fairly well balanced. I guess I’d say the cinnamon is stronger, but only by a hair.
One of several teas I picked up at the Toronto Tea Festival!
I think I technically got more teas from this company than any other, though they were smaller amounts. They focus on herbal blends using Ontario grown ingredients. Many were more functional, but if I’m being honest I mostly stuck to teas that seemed like they would taste like trees…
This was fucking phenomenal tasting. A bit woodsy, but mostly quite smooth and sweet with a rich anise/black licorice note that dominated the cup. One of the freshest and richest anise centered teas or tisanes I’ve ever come across though. It had a nice mouth coating sensation, and clean finish. Definitely something unique to this!
These tea stuffed tangerines just brew on forever and ever, which makes them such a perfect choice for those afternoons you just need to hunker down and get some work down with a good cup of tea as moral (and flavour) support!! I like this one in particular because, though it has a soothing medicinal quality to the finish, it’s quite bright and sweet with a highly zesty and aromatic citrusy aroma to contrast the mix of woody and earthy ripe pu’erh!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2vQVTQO1Ep/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_8udruXCx4
Gongfu!
Enjoyed this session paired with some sweet, over-sized raspberries for my morning tea session!! These raspberries practically melted in my mouth, and I loved the fresh, gentle sweetness and light pop of tartness that they brought to this otherwise very thick, brothy, and earthy ripe pu’erh! I also find that this tea sometimes has sweet brown notes that are reminiscent of fig jams, and the raspberries complimented those elements excellently!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C2x-3fMOq9m/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjHG25QwYeg
Cold Brew!
Drinking this now and the fruit notes are a little bit on the more dull/flat side. Definitely not that deep and jammy currant note I seem to recall from my first experience with this tea. However, the black tea base is very full bodied and smooth and it’s making for a super refreshing cold brew even without those currant notes being super present. I also love that it’s not too sweet at all.
Sipdown (2518)!
Finished this off this morning while working from home. I did, unfortunately, over steep my mug so it was prettttyyy harsh and bitter and that really killed a lot of the more delicate citrus and florals of the blend. Sort of a bummer way to finish off what was actually a pretty stand out blend from this past Adventaggedon.
Gongfu!
This was the other tea that we drank as part of our post Toronto Tea Festival IG tea blogger steep session – it was one that Marco (of steap’d tea) has brought with and I was quite thrilled to see it because I missed out on the first version of this tea and had been eyeing this second version for some time. Both this and the previous version are white teas that were gin barrel aged, though this for a 100 days and the former for 70…
The dry leaf aroma of this was insane. Very bright and aromatic with a pretty distinct gin note to it but also a surprisingly fruity composition as well. In my opinion, barrel aged teas usually have a pretty great scent to them, but this was soooo good. I couldn’t wait to taste it! The first steep was light but with a distinct gin character. Very pleasing fruity aroma and a smooth sip. As Tracy (teainfusiast) pointed out, it was citrusy and that note only continued to grow in the second and third steeps. Very pink grapefruit, especially on the tail end of the sip. So unexpected for a gin barrel tea, but delectable. And fresh. So fresh and summery! By steep three much of the distinct gin taste was gone though the tea retained a bit of an ethereal booziness.
The festival had been packed tighter than a tin of sardines and it was hot so, as I was drinking this, I just kept picturing drinking an ice cold cup of this on a terrace in the middle of summer – maybe with a splash of gin or, to lean into the fruitier elements, a bit of prosecco. In those brief hotel rooms steeps I was living my best life picturing a time outside of winter.
It was also fortuitous timing because Volition Tea had a product launch today for their Lunar New Year/Year of The Dragon themed box and I was planning on order that already. So it only made sense for me to add this tea with that order since it’s surprisingly not yet sold out. I cannot wait for it to arrive.
Gongfu!
This weekend was the 10th Annual Toronto Tea Festival, and though I was only able to go on the Saturday I still had an AMAZING time. I bought a frankly ridiculous amount of tea, got to go to a few really good talks, and (perhaps best of all) was able to connect with so many tea friends – I think I saw over ten different tea bloggers I know from IG, some that I had met before like Yogateapoetry and some where it was our first time connecting in person, like with teaformeplease.
I actually flew in for the festival, and in order to be there in time for the 10AM open I had to catch a flight that departed at 7AM which meant I was up at 5AM. So, I was pretty tired at the start of the day – all the caffeine from the teas I sampled certainly helped push me through it, though! I did try to keep track of samples tasted at first, but it quickly became impossible so I think I’ll really only be doing tasting notes for the two teas I drank after the festival – like this one.
Since I was only doing one day, I also had a return flight on Saturday that left at 9:30PM. The festival ended at 5PM, but I wanted to give myself a few hours afterwards to hang out with the bloggers and drink some tea. A smaller groups of us (steap’d tea, teainspoons, and Chai Affairs) went out for supper and then afterwards Marco (steap’d tea) and Connie (teainspoons) and I met up with yogateapoety, teainfusiast, and chaimusafirblogs for some hotel room gongfu!
At this point I only had just under a half hour before I had to leave for the airport, but even still we managed to get in a few rounds of two teas! This was one, and it was really fun to be drinking something from UNYtea because Jeff was also one of the people I’d run into earlier in the day. I was also intrigued because I’ve never had a yellow tea from Taiwan before!!
Based on the two steeps I tried, I thought this was pleasant but a little too delicate and green-leaning for my own tastes. I really like when yellow teas have a strong nutty note, and the notes I got from these very light bodied and faint infusions were more like straw and dandelion greens. Nothing wrong with them at all, but just… not quite my jam.
Side note, I ended up leaving at the PERFECT time because I got to my gate about halfway through boarding. Closest I’ve ever been to missing a flight, which was kind of stressful. If I’d stayed for even one more round of infusions I would have missed that flight.
This was the last of LOOP’s sparkling iced tea drinks that I tried, and by the time I got to this one I did not have high hopes. I love so many of LOOP’s non-tea products so this taste exploration had really been a bit of a let down. However…
This one was a winner!
It had just enough sweetness to feel less sharp/shrill as the past two I had tried, and the fruit note was authentic tasting without being either flat/stale (like the strawberry) or really sour/tart (like the lemon). Plus, the balance with the peach and black tea was great! The briskness worked with the sweeter fruit notes, and nothing was masked like sometimes happens with tea RTDs with fruit juices.
I would buy this one again!
