4273 Tasting Notes
Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – November 2024 Tea #1 -Tea with caramel or maple flavor
2/3s of the month gone now and I am only on prompt #1 for November! Where does the time go…. One of my favorite rooibos blends almost gone now (next time). I will miss it! Mixing caramel and cappuccino flavors is a genius idea, yet obvious.
This is from Cameron B! Thanks yet again! This is a cherry and rose flavored green tea that should also have jasmine. I went real gentle on that first steep to not let the base take over for these flavors. On the first steep, I’m really only tasting cherry, and it’s not really a good tasting cherry… more like cough drops. I really don’t taste any rose or jasmine here. It’s cough drops all the way. But LUCKILY also no notes of hibiscus here either. So that’s a plus. The blend sure does look beautiful in the tin though. I’m usually a fan of whatever cherry teas Cameron decides to move along (there have been a few)…. but this one is only okay and not my favorite.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug // 30 minutes after boiling // 1 minute steep
Steep #2 // 28 minutes after boiling // 2 min
I’m always a little bummed when flavors are advertised as cherry blossom and it’s really just cherry or rose, which are both totally different flavors.
I really hate fake cherry blossom flavored things ha ha, only the real deal for me.
Sadly, I think the blenders thought cherry fruit and rose petals would create a cherry blossom flavor. :/
I love that I’ve found my tribe of cherry blossom purists! LOL!
additional notes: I just happened to be enjoying this one from derk (sent a while ago) and also happened to catch a tasting note from derk that seemed extra appreciative of shu today, so I liked that coincidence. :D This tasted especially good today with a cranberry bagel: one half with cream cheese, the other half with marmalade. I love the looooonnnnngggg steep on this one. One pre-measured square ends up filling the steep basket about 3/4 full.
I miss the cranberry walnut bagels and the cherry vanilla bagels at Panera! We don’t have much bagel variety around here.
These are my favorite local shop bagels. I usually am not a bagel fan, but I have been having these almost every day. :X
My husband was a Panera Dutch Apple bagel fan. They’ve really pulled back on their options.
gmathis: I never even heard of the Dutch Apple one. Cherry Vanilla was always just for the month of October. There is an Einstein Bagels on the military base but limited hours and I would have to remember to ask Ashman to go during the day because getting on base without a military ID card is nuts. But even there we don’t have a lot of great options.
This is from Cameron B! Thank you so much. My impression on the first sip is there is a LOT of smoke in this lapsang souchong for something that should be caramel butterscotch blondies. Like…. a LOT of smoke. If I ignore the inspiration and name for this tea, it isn’t a bad cup of tea. Especially if you are craving lapsang. But it is mostly smoke. I feel I should resteep and give the pouch a good mix….
Steep #1 // 20 minutes after boiling // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 18 minutes after boiling // 4-5 min
SECOND steep session: I really stirred up the bag, and then used two teaspoons for a mug. The flavor was definitely different this time. I think the last time, I must have had way more of the lapsang. This time both steeps tasted like more coconut and rooibos, but still nothing like the name suggests! More like a smoky coconut rooibos. Hey, that seems a unique enough blend to me anyway. :D Not even so much hojicha flavored, not at all. With the few blends I have tried from Dessert by Deb, I think they are WAY overhyped on the flavors you will find just by looking at the names of the blends. They just sound too promising! But a tea can never be an actual sugary dessert anyway…
additional notes: I distinctly wanted a chocolate tea this morning, so it was just a matter of WHICH one. Reading the label, it said vanilla beans. And I remembered how cheap it is and I totally forgot it has VANILLA BEANS. I looked in the pouch, and yes, there is visibly big pieces of vanilla in there. wow. I will forever be buying this one, not just for the vanilla, but otherwise it’s a unique flavor profile that I sometimes find I’m craving. (And thanks for still including the vanilla, S&V!!!) Cupboard staple as long as the vanilla keeps being mixed in. I just feel like tea blenders have been losing the vanilla lately…
additional notes: Why yes, I AM drinking this while reading David Copperfield on this windy day. I might not have sipped it since the first time I tried it. It’s still just okay…
Somehow I’ve never gotten to reading David Copperfield, but last fall I did watch the BBC series with Daniel Radcliffe. I do like to trot out Great Expectations when the weather gets raw.
Yes, I think I like Great Expectations more!
Have you ever watched the mash-up series called Dickensian? Lots of fun.
No, I haven’t seen that. Thanks for making me aware of it though, I will definitely watch it when I have read a couple more from Dickens.
I always wanted to try this one, as I KNEW Lupicia would do a fantastic job with the pineapple. Thanks very much, Cameron B! I also remember Cameron sent over some other Lupicia barley teas years ago, and I loved those. From the first sniff from this teabag, it seems like REAL pineapple juice was just poured over this barley. The pineapple could not be more authentic. And then I just knew it would be so wonderful paired with the rustic, roasty toasty barley flavor. It’s so good. Now I want some of my beloved pineapple pizza. The second steep, I left the teabag in for quite a while, so it was more barley than pineapple, but that’s okay!
From Tiffany a while ago, thanks very much! I think a few shops carry this cute heart shaped tea, but I don’t think I have had it from TeaSource yet. It’s fairly small, so I’m hoping there is enough here for me to get a full flavor for my tastebuds. The rose is definitely there — it’s sweet, yet a BIT perfumey. Reminds me a little of cherry flavoring. I can’t taste much of the base at all. I went into this thinking it was puerh, then realized it’s a DARK tea. The second steep lets more of the base seep through, while the rose also changes from sweet/cherry to more of a perfume. The base definitely has a flavor that isn’t quite puerh and isn’t quite black tea. I think I have only had ONE dark tea in the past, so this is interesting! The third steep, the rose has faded a bit. I’d say the flavor of the dark tea and rose does pair nicely with the dark tea. But then the rose makes it tough to distinguish flavor notes from the dark tea. Once the leaves are unraveled, there is a good amount of leaf in the infuser — more than I expected from this tiny heart!
Steep #1 // 15 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 5-6 min
Yet another from Cameron B! Thanks so much! I had always been intrigued by this one, so I am glad I am able to try it. I have had it QUITE a few times now and haven’t written a note yet. I mean, if it says anything, this is the tea I have been drinking more often than any other tea, so I think I’m REALLY trying to figure this tea out. On all of my steepings, I think two teaspoons for a mug really works the best, as less than two teaspoons, it’s just too light in flavor for me. Despite the fierce looking leaves, so tangled together they cling to the teaspoon, it’s another lighter black tea. It’s in the name: honey. Sweet, but also slightly squashy, and a bit starchy. On the first steep, it looks like the leaves are different colors in the basket, which I don’t normally see. However, this one is slightly more nuanced than other teas that I have had similar to it lately, but is also still a bit of a flavor puzzle, which is why I keep steeping it up but not writing a note. It’s tasty, but a mystery! Reading Cameron’s note… I REALLY wish I had gotten more of Cameron’s flavor notes out of this one!
Steep #1 // 2 teaspoons for a full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 1-2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 3 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
additional notes: Just saying the name for this is just so spot on for this entire blend. It STILL — all these years later — just reminds me of the filling in a maple Russell Stovers candy. So good. One of my top blends from 52Teas and there are SO MANY favorites.
