4170 Tasting Notes

93

Additional notes: TeaGuys had a sale which I almost bought from. I realized they have the same supplier as Fusion Teas! I love their blends! Sadly though, I thought Fusion actually blended their teas. But no… there is my beloved Pistachio Lime Mate in the list for TeaGuys. Seeing that FOUR ounce tin of this one in the cart I didn’t buy, I had to have from my stash this morning. Man there are a ton of caramel pieces in this pouch! (I think I was complaining there wasn’t enough caramel before. I even tried one out of the bag – pretty tasty!) When the leaves are steeped, it looks like there are different types of leaves here though. This remains one of my favorite pu-erhs.

Sami Kelsh

Caramel and pu-erh are simply meant to be the very best of friends. I very much believe that this is true.

tea-sipper

Definitely!

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84

A sample from Rachel’s sale a while ago – sheesh should I be trying these faster! This is exactly the tea I wanted at that moment and exactly how I wished it would taste. I’m not even sure how I knew what black currants tasted like but this is it. The blend has plenty of flavor – fruity, sweet yet tart… a bit like cranberry but not really. All on a nice white tea. Bai Mu Dan is my favorite white tea I think. There is plenty tea left in this sample and I’m surprised it still tastes so nice.

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86

Why not go with another GM sample sipdown? I’m not sure why this gets such a low rating! It’s a nice representative of Darjeeling… the standard flavors are there. However you could describe a Darjeeling. The flavor here is kind of bold – probably because the sample actually had closer to two teaspoons. Classic delicious Darjeeling. I’m a fan! Not much else to say, but I don’t understand such a low rating for such a tasty Darjeeling (growing to love them, I guess.)
Steep #1 // waited 13 minutes after boiling // 2 1/2 min
Steep #2 // 13 mins after boiling // 2 1/2 min

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95
drank Mandarin Silk by Art of Tea
4170 tasting notes

Thank you QueenOfTarts for a sample of this one a while back! As I expected, I’m pretty sure this is the same blend as The Tea Merchant’s Silk Dragon. Same ingredients, same taste. Not a bad thing! I have a bit of the sample left of that one, and I’m happy to have a bit of this one left. It’s a nice oolong with a hint of lemon and vanilla. This blend seemed to have less vanilla, but maybe the Tea Merchant’s blend was as fresh as possible when I first tried it. It’s a nice one! I just wish it had more lemon or tasted more like creamsicle like another tasting note mentioned.

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96
drank Milk Oolong by Mandala Tea
4170 tasting notes

DigniTea sent over a few samples to me instead of accumulating more teas with the teabox! Completely unnecessary but it seemed like it was more necessary for DigniTea to pass along some teas. So thank you so much! I had to try this one first since the Steepster rating says it’s magic… I went with one teaspoon but I really wish the site had steep instructions.

Steep #1 // 35 min after boiling // 1 1/2 min
Well, I’m not getting magic from this one, sadly. It doesn’t taste much like milk oolong… not even really strong enough for any of the usual oolong flavors. It’s so light! So vaguely oolong. I must have steeped it wrong. It’s good but if it’s the best oolong on Steepster it should have a ton more flavor… any flavor.

Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 2 min
This cup is much the same as the last – not much flavor! Sadly, I think I’ll be the one lowering the rating on this one.

DigniTea

I’ve only brewed this one western style and had thoughts similar to yours. It’s a decent enough oolong so when I want an oolong, I enjoy it. However, I did not discover the buttery and sweet notes mentioned by many. I attributed it to my “easier” western brew rather than gongfu. Sometimes I wonder if extremely positive reviews don’t just set us up for a bit of disappointment.

tea-sipper

Sadly, it doesn’t even have an average/typical oolong flavor to me, let alone the flavor of a highest rated oolong, so I can’t help but be disappointed. I appreciated trying it though!

Stephanie

I definitely get buttered popcorn from this one but I wish it had more of an oolong twang, if that makes sense.

Jamie Groth

Hi Tea Sipper – please clarify what you mean by “30 min after boiling”? Thanks!

tea-sipper

I don’t have a temperature setting electric kettle, so I just let the water boil to 212, it shuts off, then I wait until it cools enough for whichever tea I’m drinking – 30 minutes for green tea, white, sometimes oolongs.

tea-sipper

Waiting 30 minutes should get the water around 180 degrees if I’m making sense.

Fjellrev

Probably let the water cool for 30 minutes after it finished boiling before infusing?

And buttered popcorn! That sounds great.

Jamie Groth

I think it is possible your water is way too cool for best oolong results. Milk Oolong is recommended at 195F. In a nutshell, if your kettle is anything like mine your first infusion may have been at 170F or lower. If your vessel was not pre-warmed, even cooler.

I tested water temperatures using the method you describe – bring to full rolling boil (212F) and wait. Room temperature of about 70F.

Kettle: Bonavita 1L Electric. A solid and relatively thick-walled stainless simple boiler (not variable temp), filled to the top.

Measurement: NSF TruTemp digital, probe dangled in the center of the kettle through one of the holes in the cover. The kettle remained covered throughout.

min 0 212 degrees F
min 2 208
min 4 205
min 6 200
min 9 197
min 10 195
min 15 190
min 20 185
min 25 180
min 30 176
min 35 171
min 40 166

tea-sipper

Ah! Thank you so much for this. I know that I don’t have the same kettle as this one, but this is extremely helpful in getting an idea how fast water cools. I don’t have the tools (thermometer) to do this. I have one teaspoon left of this oolong, and within the next couple of days I will retry it. I’ve definitely been using water that has cooled too long.

Jamie Groth

No problem. I really think careful control of temperature, time, and leaf to water ratio will blow open your results and enjoyment. This tea, for example should be brewed at 195 using 1tsp dry leaf per 8oz of filtered water. Even remarkable teas can taste flat without care.

You have 1,000+ tasting notes. You have EARNED a thermometer, if not a variable temp kettle!

tea-sipper

haha! Well now I’m thinking those tasting notes aren’t even accurate. But they will be more accurate now. I’ll try this one again soon!

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82
drank Kashmiri Chai by Golden Moon Tea
4170 tasting notes

Here is one of these unwieldy metallic packaged GM samples sipdowned. I felt like chai today! I don’t know if it was just my sample, but this one seems to have mostly cinnamon (and black tea of course – though the description on the label says it should have also contained green tea – eww no.) A hojicha chai might be nice. But it looked like there is just black tea here.- not a CTC leaf but kind of smallish. This is pretty good – nice black tea with a decent briskness. The cinnamon shines. If I were to pick a favorite chai ingredient, I’d pick cinnamon.

I think my tastebuds recently changed… there was a week where my tongue was sore… like if I had eaten eggplant, though that usually only lasts an hour. Some things are tasting differently now. Ketchup is almost unbearably strong now. If taste buds change every seven years, that means the last time was about a year after I started drinking tea and that was mostly teabags. Hopefully none of my favorites are terrible now! hmmm…

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81
drank Wuyishan Black by Steepster
4170 tasting notes

Another from my lucky free Steepster box! thanks Steepster! Instructions say 205 degrees for 2 minutes. The more I drink Fujian teas, the more I like them!

Steep #1 // few minutes after boiling // 2 min
This one is actually pretty much how I expected it would be, after some disappointing tasting notes that I’ve read. The description itself sets itself up for disappointment…. cherry and caramel? The flavor profile could give hints of cherry, if you’re really looking but not really caramel. This is like Laoshan Black but with less chocolate notes. There is something that could be interpreted as smokiness, but I think it’s just the way Fujian teas taste. I like it, but I can see others like Laoshan black more for the chocolate notes.

Steep #2 // just boiled // 3-4 min
This cup is much deeper and much chocolatier, chewier, not necessarily a better cup for me, but it’s interesting that it’s a different flavor profile with the second cup. I like this one even if it wasn’t cherry/caramel.

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77

I wanted an oolong and also realized I’ve only tried one tea from my Steepster freebies. Then I realized that contains TWO oolongs! So I went with this one. thank you Steepster! Instructions say 200 degrees for three minutes.

Steep #1 // 15 min after boiling // 3 min
Whew the dry leaves are super strong smelling – very vegetable! Must mean the packaging is very nice. The flavor seems the same as the fragrance: it’s actually more like a milk oolong than I would have thought. But it’s also like something vegetal – so it’s like creamy vegetables. The floral flavor makes itself known very prominently as well. There is an odd flavor I haven’t tasted in another oolong… not sure what it is but this cup doesn’t taste oversteeped at all. But this is a very unique oolong.

Steep #2 // a few minutes after boiling // 3 min
Another good cup – very similar to the first but with a stronger flavor. There is just something here in the flavor I don’t particularly love, that inches some oolongs along as favorites instead of this one.

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94

Thanks much MissB! I was trying to think of an untried tea that might go with St. Patrick’s Day. I went with this one.. I guess it’s just the name. This seems to be cocoa nibs with cream flavoring. I’d say it’s equal parts chocolate and cream flavor… though with the second steep, the cream is less noticeable. The black tea base is nice enough and complements the flavors well. Sometimes I just want a tea with cocoa nibs! I wouldn’t compare this one to Paddy’s day but Easter… it reminds me of chocolate cream eggs! A nice one!

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72

Thank you BrewTEAlly Sweet for selling a bit of this one! I thought I’d really like this one… some of those Steep City blends are REAL good. I know this has rooibos in it, but somehow it tastes like complete rooibos. With black tea? And two big chocolate chips in the infuser? Yep. I’m not sure how that happened. I don’t really taste chocolate. And I used one of my teabags so the rooibos shouldn’t have fallen into the cup. No berry. No honey either. I poured the water RIGHT after boiling, so if anything was going to melt, it should have melted. The description says it is supposed to be berry, but I think it’s just berry flavoring… that I can’t find. Whatever happened with this blend? I’ll try it again at some point but I think I’m missing what everyone else is tasting. I’m planning on buying the favorites I know I love at some point….

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Bio

Hi! I love tea and trying new ones – it adds a bit of variety to my day! Books, music, TV & movies are my thing… and tea, of course.

Some of my favorite tea shops (still operating):
birdandblendtea.com
teavivre.com
52teas.com
svtea.com
whisperingpinestea.com
justea.com
harney.com
Dammann Freres
fusionteas.com
Javateaco.com
Lupicia
Octaviatea.com
Davidstea
eco-cha.com
what-cha.com
singleoriginteas.com
teasenz.com
tealyra.com
Mandala
verdanttea.com

Favorite tea shops (RIP):
butikiteas.com
steapshoppe.com
steepcityteas.com
aquartertotea.com
dellaterrateas.com
zentealife.com
angrytearoom.com
theteamerchant.net
joysteaspoon.com
tealiciousllc.com
Rivertea
Specialteas

My icon photo is Richard Mayhew from the graphic novel ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman, Mike Carey & Glenn Fabry.

Most of the teas listed in my cupboard are actually sample sizes. I don’t really have 2,000 ounces of tea around here! Many of my teas have only one teaspoon left… maybe two. But I like keeping them in my cupboard list for reference to what I could be sipping. Usually, I write tasting notes once for each tea. I’m still drinking them, just not writing tasting notes each time!

I’m always in search of: Hattialli, Qu Hao black, Jin Jun Mei, teas using marshmallow root.

My dislikes: hibiscus, ginger (unless in chai), turmeric, bee pollen, charcoal type flavors

My ratings:
95-100 – Super awesome deliciousness favorites – cupboard essential
80-95 – Also pretty delicious
65-80 – Pretty good
50-65 – Okay
1-50 – Probably won’t want to sip it again

I’m planning on being a Steepsterer as long as there IS a Steepster, so if you’re not hearing from me, that means something happened to my health… if you know what I mean. (Or as evidenced by the great computer hiatus of 2019, something happened to my computer… I have a dumb phone so can’t access internet on that. As of 12/20/21 my wifi might start getting unreliable.)

Happy sipping!

Location

USA

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