46 Tasting Notes
Appearance: the leaves are a dark brown with an almost purple hue. Liquor: rich amber. Smell: warm, roasted, with floral accents. Taste: this tea is amazing because it handles multiple infusions really, really well. I can seriously get six good infusions out of this tea, and each one has different aspects. It starts out smoky but floral, and then deepens into a rich, subtly sweet, caramel flavor. A brief infusion leads to a lighter flavor, and a longer infusion leads to a deeper one. I like being able to vary my steeping times over the course of the multiple infusions because it lets me get different things out of the same tea. While debating whether to give this a 9 or a 10, the versatility persuaded me to give this tea a full 10/10.
Enjoyingtea – Apple Spice (black). Loose leaf. Appearance: leaves are smaller, black, tightly wound when dry, and approximately 0.25 inch (average) when steeped, broken. The mixture includes apple pieces and other colorful additions, and is actually quite nice to look at. liquor: redder than most straight blacks. Smell: very apple-y. I really like this smell. I brewed some at work and a coworker commented on how good it smelled. Taste: soft black tea with distinct apple flavors. It becomes more tart as it cools. It has less astringency than many black teas. I like this without sugar. Sugar is okay, but unnecessary. I’m not usually a fan of flavored teas, but in the right mood, this is great. 8/10.
Aroma – Chinese Ginger (black). Loose leaf. Appearance: leaves are smaller, black, tightly wound when dry, and approximately 0.25 inch (average) when steeped. Liquour: very dark brown, almost caramel. Smell: distinct, strong ginger. Smells like Chinese restaurant tea. Taste: balanced mature ginger and black tea notes. By mature I mean that the ginger is more of a ginger syrup than a fresh ginger flavor. Mildly astringent. Decent without sugar. Sugar substantially improves the flavor by bringing out the ginger notes (be careful not to overdo sugar). 6/10
Rickshaw – Ceylon (black). Loose. Appearance: black CTC leaves, small cut but larger than bag, otherwise unremarkable. Liquor: dark red. Smell: fragrant and assertive. Taste: strong, with distinct Assam notes. Initially very bright, but quickly becomes astringent and bitter. Without milk or sugar, it was often too strong. With milk and sugar, it was unremarkable. It was too strong for me. A friend who normally likes black teas thought it was not strong enough, as it was not a clear breakfast blend. 2/10.
Round, no-string bag. Appearance: small CTC. Liquor: lighter brown red. Smell: fragrant, peach and citrus notes predominate. Taste: peach and citrus flavors predominate, with some noticeable ginger. The black tea is present, but the sharp notes are subsumed by the flavoring. Passable without milk or sugar, but becomes more tart as tea cools. A small amount of sugar helps this tea, by bringing out the ginger notes. This also has the effect, though, of reducing the “tea” flavor. 4/10.
