AJ Send Message

It’s recommended that you do the fifteen-second initialrinsingsteep. Which I did! However, I am still holding that initial steep. I figure, it’s there, I might as well try it. The tea leaves will still be in the infuser for the “Real Steep” when I get back.

The smell of the tea is… oriental. Which seems like a weird description, but really, I sniff it and it reminds me of Japanese foods. Sushi and whatnot. Ooh, pleasant. It’s also not as inky-coffee-black as people described. Just a good, dark tea colour.

First sip is fishy and earthy. Not… not in a bad way? Sort of coffeeish. Very earthy. It’s nit bitter, but is sort’ve charcoaly.

Second steep (20 seconds) managed, somehow, to be DARKER than the first. Smells the same though. Taste is similar, but a bit different—slightly more black tea-like, while still retaining the earthyness. Almost bitter, but somehow still smooth.

For a Cream of Earl Grey this one sure goes over the top. They should have just made it a Grey Variant. They ALREADY have one called ‘Charming Grey’, which I was also considering trying. Bergamot, vanilla, jasmine, rose, BOURBON?

It smells delicious, though. Although the smell reminds me mostly of this company’s Irish Cream, and I’m picking up no bergamot.

The taste… Wow. I got a hint of bergamot, a lot of cream vanilla bourbon. No jasmine, I think. Well THIS is a cup of deliciousness. I had feared that it would be using the same base as their collection of flavoured blacks, and thus would get bitter as it cooled. It’s still too hot to tell, but it’s very delicous and sweet and tasty right now. And I think I’m getting jasmine hints in the aftertaste.

Hmmm the bitterness is starting to set in. I had hoped, being a grey, they would treat it differently. Ahwell, it just means the reduced temperature I had to do to the others to get rid of the bitterness. Still quite nice.

Although now as I continue to sip it, I realize I can no longer make out the bergamot and wonder if I imagined it in the first place. This really does just remind me of a milder version of the Irish Cream. Huh. Well, that’s disappointing. I knew I should have just gotten up earlier and picked up some Earl Grey Cream from Tealicious to try instead.

Went back and got a second steep of this, and although the whole thing is very watery and doesn’t resteep well, I think I can taste a touch more bergamot.

Thank you vague description that gives me no clue into the black teas used in this blend! You forced me to guess wildly at the steeping time.

It was marketed as an afternoon blend, but is said to have malty tones, so I couldn’t figure out if it might have some Assam in it—which would have had be reducing the time a bit. Floral notes as well, so.

I find that I prefer plain black teas over flavoured. Mostly tea blends—if they’re all black tea, or some black and green teas. I enjoy them more. Flavoured blacks are a bit more of a novelty. I enjoy them a lot as well, but.

The tea is quite a deep red, and has a distinct Assam black kind of smell to it. However, the taste is very mild. …This may be because I burnt my tongue earlier today, being in a rush. There’s definite notes that do remind me strongly of Assam teas, but lighter, and there is a sort of baky vegetalness that makes me wonder if there isn’t a bit of some oolong tea in here as well. I figure that taste is what they meant by the ‘floral’.

I’d suggest taking what I say with a grain of salt, because really, my tongue is quite burnt and that’s probably scewing my taste considerably. But I don’t know, I rather like it right now.

Actually, tasting this, I think I understand more what it means for something to be ‘malty’ than I ever have drinking just marketedly ‘malty’ Assams. Huh. And this still goes down very smoothly, with just touches of astringency as it cools.

And THAT’s the last of that. Finished up the rest of this in one, big pot.

I don’t think I have much more to add. The last tasting note I did on this expresses my most recent and final thoughts on this tea. Smokey, still tasty enough to be a good staple, but a little on the “burnt” side.

I let my father sniff this tea, and he’s reevaluated his “bacon” stance and now calls it, more appropriately, “campfire” tea. And actually asked whether or not it would be a good one to drink around the campfire. I think it would be.

This’ the last of this. I think I’ll finish off one more tea, and then finally allow myself to buy new ones.

This one was a nice staple to have in the cupboard. I had two teabags left, so I shared one with my mom, who liked it as well. It steeps a bit cloudy, being a fannings teabag and all, but it was and is still enjoyable. It’s a nice ceylon, with its own distinctive flavours, perfect for the days I don’t feel like having anything “fancy” enough as flavoured blacks.

Maybe I’ll get some loose leaf of this next time I make the commute to Murchie’s. I still have the tin left over, and it’s a very nice tin. It’s even double-lidded for extra fresnhness! And the “Uva Ceylon” nametag was just an easy-to-remove sticker.

Well, this’ the last bag of this I have. I’ll miss it. It’s one of the staples I carried in my Travel Tea Bag. I don’t plan to actively go out and pick this one up again, but if I come across it—maybe it’s marked down, or I have yet to find a vanilla black that I like more—I’ll probably pick it up again. It’s just a bit pricey. Fourteen freakn’ bucks? Come on. Otherwise, I will probably try Tealicious’ vanilla black next. Murchie’s was utterly flavourless, and I don’t know if Tea Desire even carries a vanilla black… They gave me a list of their full tea stock, but I seem to have misplaced it. Plus, I haven’t been to Tealicious in a while, and I actually LIKE the base used in their flavoured blacks, unlike Tea Desire’s.

As for the base used in Mighty Leaf’s, well, this is the only flavoured black I’ve tried from them. It’s not wonderful, but it’s far from terrible. Sometimes it takes on this weird spinachy taste—it’s particularly prominent in the second steep, although still quite noticeable in the first. But if I avoid a second steep (difficult, because I feel like I’m wasting it if I don’t—except for fanning teabags, which you usually can’t get a second steep out of anyways), and don’t mess with the recommended four-minute steeping parameters, it’s usually fine. Fairly enjoyable. Keeps my vanilla cravings at bay.

Now that I think about it, I had always meant to mix a sachet of this with some earl grey. Too late now, ahwell.

I am only drinking teas that I am very low on at the moment, in an effort to declutter my physical cupboard (or rather, “shelf”).

I can’t remember the last time I tasted this in front of Steepster (although I remember having a few bags of this on campus with me), and the teabags themselves are obscenely old.

The smell of the dry teabag reminded me very strongly of the earl grey shortbread cookies I purchased one time. A sort of gritty bergamot and cookie smell. Those things were delicious. The steep loses that smell a bit, the bergamot becoming much brighter and citrusy, although pleasant and light.

Aaaaaug it tastes gross. I think these teabags are TOO old. Or at the very least, I seriously oversteeped it. The tea is very bitter, and the bitterness of the bergomat is reaching out too. I also keep thinking I either taste or smell lavender somewhere in there. I think I’m just going to dump this. It was the very last teabag anyways, which is sad because I remember having a good reaction to it when I made it to bring to class with me.

It doesn’t look like I ever gave it a rating previously, and I don’t think I will now. Not until I get a proper cup of this to try.

Just finished this off with my mom. Hurrah! Not sure if I will be getting any more. At least not right now. I think I will use this opportunity to try other Assams.

A stray (we presume, since she is quite skinny, very skittish, and very hungry) cat has taken up residence under our back porch, and I have been spending time with her trying to coax her out with food (we presume it’s a she because our female cat Akira hates her, while are male cat Cozmo could care less). I tried this again—reduced temperature and reduced time—to sip while I sat beside the porch so she would become used to my presence.

I can make out the smell of rose in it now, and the first two sips were odd but not bitter. However, the very strong bitterness doesn’t usually set in until it starts to cool, and no sooner had I set it down, then a bug fell in it and I ended up chucking it. Bah!

I woke up today and decided, “smokey tea”. I then went, sat down, and loaded up Steepster to see when the last time was I’d even made a tasting note on any of the teas I drank, and found that at the top of my Dashboard was one from Rabs on Caravan.

Too bad I had already decided I wouldn’t drink any caravan, because I’m starting to get low on lapsang, so I want to finish that one off. Even though the lapsang I got from Murchie’s, I feel, isn’t actually that great. I love Caravan, but I find this lapsang to be a little burnt, and less smokey. So the faster I finish it off, the faster I can try lapsangs from other places. I can’t decide between Tealicious or Tea Desire yet, though.

I also came across bagged Russian Caravan at my local organic market—five bucks—yesterday, but had to convince myself to put it down and not get it. It was actually what inspired me to start drinking up the rest of my low-quantity smokey teas. I’ll be able to buy it without guilt after I run out. I wanted it for travel, because I no longer make smokey teas in my tea libre. The plastic/rubber seals absorb the scent and it is impossibly hard to get it out. So bagged smokey teas that I can bring with me and just throw into a paper cup with hot water (or even a mug—sometimes I bring one with me places) would be nice, if I don’t have my little teaball with me.

Still got a good few scoops left. This’ one that has lasted a while, because it’s the only one I haven’t been able to share (which I do a lot); nobody wants to try my alleged “bacon tea”.