4185 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…
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.
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.
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!
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….
Thank you for a sample of this one, MissB! Always up for trying a EGC! This one was steeped at 2 1/2 minutes at just boiling. I like it, but there are other EGCs I like more. I don’t think the bergamot is prominent enough or the cream is prominent enough. At least the black tea base isn’t overpowering the flavors. But I like a stronger tea with it anyway. The elements that are there work together and I can see many people not usually liking EG liking this one. I appreciate trying it!
Buttery green tea, coconut and almond slices (and almond flavor, I think). This is tasty! It seems to be more of an almond tea… marzipan. I can’t really taste the coconut. This blend works well together, and I’m always up for another marzipan-like tea! I’ll have to drink this one fast though, since it’s green and also coconut. I realized the other day that with my old tin of 52Teas coconut cream pie, the coconut has NOT started to age yet and get that weird taste! Nice! I thought this one might be hojicha from the picture (which might have been delicious) but it is the usual green tea. I’ve very happy with this one. I think it’s the last I had to try from my Black Friday order (oh geeze, it’s the middle of March!)
Here’s a sample pouch from the HH teabox! I’m using half the sample.
Steep #1 // 40 min after boiling // 1 min
Very sweet scent and flavor. It’s surprising! Tastes kind of like creamed corn this time around. Very sweet creamed corn. Little bit of vegetableness.
Steep#2 // 1 1/2 – 2 min steep
With this steep I couldn’t wait a half hour to cool so I stopped the electric kettle when I thought it was time. It seemed to have worked! Not too hot and the leaves didn’t burn. Green teas sometimes taste to me like sweet strawberry on the second steep. This one definitely did! This has happened a couple times before… the vegetable/creamed corn flavor is gone and there is strawberry. A nice one!
This one is from Terri Harplady by way of the HH teabox a while back. thank you! A rose earl grey sounds interesting! As Verdant suggests, two teaspoons. Plenty of big rose petals in the mix!
Steep #1 // just boiled // 2 min
The Laoshan makes this one like chocolate… which means rosey, bergamoty chocolate. Seems like an odd combination! It’s good but not great. The rose seems to overpower the tea. Not really much bergamot. But the Laoshan is so much like chocolate that it seems like chocolate was added to this tea. I like that Verdant uses roses that are the same as the roses in another rose blend I have. That makes the other tea seem more legit.
Steep #2 // just boiled // 3 min
This one seems like it has more bergamot. Still chocolatey. All three ingredients are nice, but together they don’t really make the most ideal combination. I’ve got a couple more teaspoons I’ll enjoy!
Additional notes: The last of my 52Teas reblends to try! This one IS the same as past blends… I just wish there was more lemon & mallow. But the same is better than having less mallow & lemon. A nice one! I’m happy with two of the reblends, but the other two just do not work with the new black tea base… not for me anyway. Those band aids have been ripped off though, now that I’ve tried the reblends (hey, any new teas I buy are kind of an investment for me!)
