4185 Tasting Notes
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #18
Oh man, I always forget about chamomile, especially as a nighttime decaf option. I don’t think I have more than a couple teaspoons of chamomile in my cupboard. I forget how much I like this one. I was hesitant to try this one, as I know it’s on at least one wishlist from the HH teaboxers (yes, I like to check wishlists for teaboxes.) But there is a teaspoon or two left to try! I REALLY like this one – it’s fruity, refreshing, and definitely mango. I’d say it’s almost equal parts flavor with chamomile and mango. I thought there was apple in this blend.. nope, just the chamomile. Very sweet! This is one I wouldn’t mind stocking up on, especially if I wanted a chamomile option.
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #17
Steep #1 // 35 min after boiling // 2 min
Ceylon green? I had to try this one. It looks like a dusty gunpowder green. The first sips are very marine & vegetal. Not as strong as a gunpowder. There is a nice sweetness to it. I like it! It’s a different green tea. Fellow teaboxers, give this one a chance!
I’m not sure if this is the RiverTea this tea is from! I just had to add it to the system.
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #16
I love the gorgeous dark green leaves of this one with the magenta colored raspberry pieces. It reminds me of the dark green/pink begonia I’m planning on buying soon.
Steep #1 // 30 minutes after boiling // 3 min
I used 1 1/2 teaspoons! The parameters on the pouch say 190 degrees but I was busy doing things and accidentally waited too long. The flavor is very nice: RASPBERRY. Juicy ripe raspberries! More realistic, but sometimes candyish. I’m not sure why I can’t tell the difference, as I’ve been eating raspberries lately. The oolong peeks through once in a while. The color of the cup is a bright yellow.
Steep #2 // 15 min after boiling // 3 min
Another wonderful cup with just as much raspberry somehow. Delicious! I don’t typically see a dark green oolong, so I would have liked to try this one without the raspberry, but at least the flavor wasn’t disastrous. I’m trying to find this tea company but I don’t see a website anywhere… if it’s the same company on Steepster, they look like they have interesting blends but some of them have odd names like “Sparkling Lunch”.
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #15
Steep #1 // just boiled // 5 min
The description of this one sounded not too bad, but looking at the blend, it seemed like all orange peels and rooibos. The first sip wasn’t bad though! I always think orange and chocolate aren’t my favorite combination, but then I remember that the Terry’s chocolate orange earlier this year convinced me otherwise. To be fair, the taste of this one reminds me more of a creamsicle type ice cream, rather than chocolate. Maybe a orange/vanilla/light chocolate swirl? The cup turns out pretty dark, even though there doesn’t seem to be much black tea in my scoop. The flavor is a bit tangy with hints of orange, chocolate and rooibos.
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #14
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 1/2 min steep
I had to try the lone Butiki tea in the teabox.. I haven’t tried this one yet. I wanted a black tea at night anyway, so this one was perfect. The leaves are a bit odd – it looks like a mixture of different teas. The flavor is definitely light… it kind of reminds me of a Formosa oolong. It’s sweet, juicy, a bit like plums. So maybe those things AND Formosa oolong, since Formosa oolong doesn’t seem like any of those things. But there is also something that reminds me of autumn leaves with a bite to it. An interesting tea, very different, but when I want a black tea, I want a black tea! But this one is the best decaf black tea option I’ve tried.
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #13
This one turned out very nice, even though I accidentally steeped it for around four minutes. Not bitter at all. The green tea was tasty, but the fruit flavor was difficult to guess. The description just says “soft fruits” so I have no idea what that means. haha. At times it tasted like cucumber, mild pickle, cantaloupe. At least it was always some sort of produce! Maybe it’s my fault, since it steeped for four minutes.
Steep # 1 // 30 min after boiling // 4 min
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #12
Somehow I didn’t manage to order this one in Fusion’s Black Friday sample sale! I think I just wanted to go with one oolong. Their oolongs are nice. The dry blend has plenty of roses, both buds and petals, but they don’t really make an appearance in the flavor. The lemon is dominant, more sweet than tart and I don’t think it’s just the lemongrass that is making it so lemony. It’s very tasty! Very refreshing.. would probably make for the perfect iced blend. I’m guessing the oolong base was great, but it was tough to tell through all that lemon.
Steep #1 // 30 min after boiling // 3 min
Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 4 min
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #11
The dry leaves here is a CTC black tea mixed with longer black leaves, as well as some strawberry leaves. Hmm… I’m not getting any hints of strawberry here at all, but to be fair, I was sipping this while eating raspberries. The black tea also seems a bit mild for being half CTC, but it’s tasty anyway. You can’t really beat these raspberries though, so I’ll blame those.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min
’Here’s Hoping’ traveling teabox Round #2 // Tea #10
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min
Oh my gosh, the pear is very accurate! Design a Tea, I’m not doubting you, if I was before! I’ve had a few pear teas in the past and they are usually way off, gross, or there is a drying effect to the mouth. This tastes exactly like juicy, sweet pear! It doesn’t have hints of artificial at all. It wins the pear flavored tea contest! The spices are nice with it as well, I think it’s mostly cinnamon, but the pear is definitely front and center. The black tea is perfect with the flavor too. Not too heavy, not too light.
Steep #2 // a few minutes after boiling // 3 min
Sadly, this steep lost the pear flavor, but I probably didn’t steep it as I should have. I like the slightly stronger spice flavor this time around anyway. I’m tried a couple from Design A Tea, and now I’m impressed. I want to steal this one from the teabox, but I will leave the few remaining teaspoons there for others to taste the magic!
This is an odd one. I haven’t seen leaves like this before. They look like that white tea with big crescents, but here, the crescents are smaller, green, and slightly less curved. Interesting! The instructions say to use a tablespoon, but I went with a teaspoon and a half.
Steep #1 // 40 min after boiling // 1 1/2 min
The cup is a mellow yellow color. The flavor is kind of like a mao feng, the creamed corn that I love in those sorts of teas, but I could swear I was getting hints of pine needle. Sipping the cup when it was cooler, there was a ton more pine needle flavor! I wonder why. The flavor is on the lighter side, but it seemed like if I had let the tea steep longer, it would have been too brisk. But this cup was good as is.
Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 2 min
This cup is sweeter, it still has a creamy flavor, though sometimes the mao feng has a second steep that tastes like strawberry for some reason. Still pine needles! I really like this, but I’ll leave the last couple teaspoons for others in the teabox.
