16343 Tasting Notes
Made this in the morning as one of three teas to travel with me on the ride back home to Saskatoon. This was my first time having this blend, and I chose to drink it could because raspberry tends to be a flavour well suited to cold or iced teas.
My steeping parameters were about 2 1/2 tsp. of leaf in an 8 oz. mug of approx. 80 degree Celsius water, steeped for about 3 minutes.
Dry, this smells like very fresh raspberries: like, straight picked from the garden fresh. Sweet, and just a little tart – very juicy. Steeped, this was much the same but with a little more of a presence of peach, and with a strong sense of the white base tea.
When I tried it – it was mostly really good. The raspberry was very natural and sweet, with a slight tartness which really only enhanced the ‘realness’ of the fruit. The peach was also much stronger than one would initially expect based on the dry smell, though it still didn’t match the strength of the raspberry. I have no idea what a wool flower is supposed to taste like – but as I was drinking this I also got a really powerful taste of coffee in the end sip and aftertaste, and something tells me that wool flowers are not supposed to taste like coffee.
Can anyone confirm or deny this?
I had to go back and think about what the last tea I had in my red waterbottle was, to make sure there was no contamination – but it definitely wasn’t a coffee tea. In fact, I think it was DAVIDsTEA’s Tropicalia. Hmmm…
Strange indeed.
The other thing about this blend was that it left my mouth feeling very dry after each sip, and that was relatively unpleasant. However, overall this was quite nice even if it had such weird flavour notes.
I’ll have to try it again in a different thermos or mug and see if the coffee notes are replicated.
Went to Boston Pizza with my mom after getting back into the city, and since they were out of chocolate milk I opted for some of this instead. Initially when asking what teas they had, she responded with “Green and Black”, but after a little prompting she was able to list this specifically.
Apparently I’ve had this before, and relatively enjoyed it – however today I was very disappointed in it: the water it was served with was definitely not boiling, however so that could be why.
Anyway I found it to be rather astringent and unpleasant despite a short steep time (2 minutes) in a large quantity (like 12 oz.) of water. I never ended up finishing the first glass I poured.
Lowering my rating.
I am always so disappointed at tea served in restaurants. The water is never hot enough, which in turn doesn’t let you get a good steep out of it, or you can only get one good cup and then the rest is watery liquid whose flavours resemble that of tea. I have a love hate with this EG. Some days I like it, some days not so much. It has too much lavender in it I think.
This tea needs a cooler name. Mulberry White is just so completely boring…
Anyway, I made this as my (very early) morning cuppa while I was preparing my three travel teas for the ride back to Saskatoon. I’m leaving in about an hour, and I definitely need some tea to take along for the ride. I’m also stupidly sleepy…
I’m getting better and better and brewing this one up, though. Today, the mulberry is especially rich and wonderful, and I’m getting stronger notes of papaya/apple as well. I always struggle to get any significant jasmine notes though. Anyway, it’s a nice cuppa.
I left a couple cups worth with my Mom to try – I think she’ll like it as much as I do.
Also made this in the morning (well, technically early afternoon) in a timolino, and then left it until I was at the movies and it had cooled down in the timolino to the perfect drinking temperature.
Parameters were about 2 tsp. (just a little more) steeped in boiling water for just shy of four minutes. When I took the brew basket out and had a trial spoonful when it was still stupidly hot, mostly everything just smelled and tasted really bitter – so I was quite worried I’d screwed up and oversteeped the whole timolino worth. When I started drinking at the theatre, however, that seemed to thankfully not quite be the case.
This still smells quite bitter and unappetizing, but taste wise it’s much better than before. The black tea taste is really rich and strong, and is something I would normally be tempted to soften with just a splash of milk. Surprisingly I also taste a lot of vegetal and unwelcome green tea taste. I had to double check the ingredients list and turns out that yes there is green tea in this blend which disappoints me because it’s quite present and this was advertised at The Vintage Tea Room (where I purchased it) as a purely black tea blend with black currant notes – and that is what I wanted; not black/green tea with currant. Boo.
Anyway, speaking of the currant – I can taste it. Initial and mid sip it just sort of comes out as a slightly masked generic fruitiness, but towards the end of the sip and in the aftertaste as the green and black tea mellows out I do get distinct notes of currant that thankfully don’t lean towards a medicinal quality. That sort of redeems this one.
Overall feelings? I’m not sure. I should have been more diligent in looking at the ingredients list because the green tea in this is definitely a let down and, in my opinion, takes away from the taste. Furthermore, it’s not what was advertised. However, despite being a touch astringent (possibly from over steeping) the black tea base is pretty lovely and the sweet touch of black currant is a lovely aspect.
I need to drink more of this to make up my mind.
While at the movies I also got a small cup of the bagged tea they sell there. I used to drink this all the time when I worked at the theatre during opening; I’d load it with three or four of the prepackaged things of cream and sip at it to gently wake myself up.
This time, I had it plain – but it was still a good, solid straight mint tea regardless of the fact it’s bagged.
Eiiiickk…
My teeth are killing me, and now it’s on both sides of my mouth. And, it’s so sporadic when it happens. It’s absolutely driving me crazy! I just want to curl up into a ball with a pair of pliers and pull them all out. Part of me, an increasingly large part, feels like that would be the best solution. OW! It’s not even when eating or drinking foods anymore – it seems like any large noise sets it off too. How does that even make sense?
Anyway – I made a timolino full of this earlier in the morning when I made all my other teas, but then left it to sit until later when I went to the theatre to see Frozen. I ended up guzzling this back while watching the movie, and it was a really enjoyable drink.
So my parameters for the timolino were about 2 1/2 tsp. of leaf steeped in boiling water for about five minutes.
Taste wise, this was basically identical to the cup I experience earlier in the week (you can read the tasting note from that one for a more detailed description) – except this one had greater Pumpkin notes, and somehow seemed closer to a Pumpkin pie and apple cider, not just Pumpkin/Apple cider.
The movie was also really good! I watched it with two friends that I was in the majority of my classes with all four years of highschool (one of them all through elementary too). It was great catching up with them and watching an awesome movie. And damn! Hans is SUCH a dick!
I’ve had the same issue with my teeth after work on them; the dentist told me they’d be uber sensitive for the rest of my life, and to use sensitive toothpaste. For me, it works. That and cloves, if it gets really bad until I get to the dentist to see what’s up.
I use sensitive toothpaste as well and that helped with my tooth aches. You should definitely try it out if you can. I hope you feel better soon!
Parameters for this cup were 1 tsp. of leaf in a 6 oz. teacup of boiling water, steeped for about three and a half minutes. I’m finding this gets very strong very quickly, and definitely does not require a long steep time.
Taste wise? Super sweet and maybe just a little creamy lemon with a faint presence of rooibos. No earthiness from the mate at all. Still reminds me of Della Terra’s Lemon Chiffon.
Well, it’s approx 2:30 PM right now and I’m only just now having my first cups of the day. I suppose part of that is that I slept until noon (thank God for vacations), and then I played Cards Against Humanity online for a solid 2 hours. Finally I realized I was starving, so I got up to make tea and a bagel.
Parameters for this cup were 1 1/2 tsp. of leaf in 6 oz. of approx. 80 degree water, steeped for about four minutes. I overleafed because I’ve found that this has been just a bit too subtle for me in past cups, so this time around I really wanted to bring out the flavour. I also added a splash of milk.
Taste wise, this is much closer to what I’ve been wanting from this tea! The pistachio was significantly bolder and more distinct, and much strong than the green tea base. There was a roasted quality to it as well, and then a nice thick mouthfeel and creamy end sip/aftertaste. I think for what I have left of this, I’ll be sticking to today’s parameters.
Made a timolino full of this, and then split it 50/50 with my Mom.
Maybe it’s because I just finished a cup of super spicy Napalm Ferret, but I like I’m noticing the peppercorns in the blend more than usual – and the usual mildly irritates me to begin with.
Anyway, still a pretty nice creamy cup of tea to curl up in bed with.
