4185 Tasting Notes
Thanks Nicole for sending a sample of this! This is the type of oolong I love after having too many ick charcoaly flavored ones lately. This is sweet, floral, peachy, apricot, a little bit vegetal. It just has a very full flavor since there is so much going on. The second steep was very peachy and floral. It’s hard to say which cup was better. The first had more happening, but the second had a stronger floral and peachy flavor, and seemed more committed to being just PEACH and FLORAL. The third cup was okay, but not the best. All of the steeps were around three minutes. This is a nice one!
Preparation
thanks so much Kasumi no Chajin for sending a sample of this! I have tried one of the blends from Adagio that had the hazelnut in it that Starfevre kindly traded with me for. It was a really delicious and unique element in that blend, so I’m happy to try the hazelnut on its own. 100% hazelnut means 100% hazelnut flavor. And this is very full flavored! You can hardly taste the black tea since there is so much flavor here. It’s amazing that it smells and tastes so great — very toasty. I didn’t see any actual hazelnuts in this blend like the picture shows, but maybe it was because it’s a smaller sample. The second cup was just as good, I just had to steep it for a couple more minutes. I love this one. I’m very impressed with Adagio. It tasted especially scrumptious with strawberry & maple syrup waffles this morning. I haven’t had waffles in a while, so I felt like Sally on last week’s ‘Being Human’ inhaling those waffles after her resurrection.
My wife drinks a hazelnut tea. I’m kind of unsure about it. It smells a lot like gym socks to me ;)
I love Sally. Glad they got over the whole evil Sally story line. We like the sweet Sally. Oh, before Being Human first aired the lady that plays Sally was on Ghost Hunters. She was just as adorable on it. Even Jason was obviously amused by her reaction to the ghosty noises.
This one doesn’t smell like gym socks! You both should try this one! Oh, I remember when the girl that plays Sally was on GH. I think that was the last live Halloween show I was able to see. I like that evil Sally is gone now too, but now with un-ghost Sally and un-werewolf Josh, half of them ARE human now, so that’s a bit odd.
It’s just a matter of time. Aidan is tormented enough for all of them at the moment.
This one was from KittyLovesTea! thanks so much! I steeped this for three minutes. White teas aren’t usually my favorite. This one didn’t have enough going for it. Seemed a little boring to me… but maybe that’s just all the wacky teas I’ve had lately. I’ve definitely had worse teas, but this one is just okay. It’s nice to have a plain tea once in a while though. It is tasting better and more complex as it cools though. I did like that today was a black and white tea day though!
Preparation
Thanks so much Kasumi no Chajin for the envelope of teas! This was one of them! The dry leaves smelled surprisingly sweet to me! After a three minute steep, this one was BRISK. Wow. Pretty astringent but I like them that way sometimes. I did love the flavor behind the astringency.. a bit malty. The steep color was very dark. The second steep had just as much flavor. Pretty good!
[By the way, if you see multiple tasting notes from me, posted right after the other, I just post them all at once. The first tea I post right before the other was usually the tea I drank in the morning. The second would be from later at night.]
Preparation
Another one I wouldn’t mind ordering a full two ounces of. I noticed a coffee bean, a cube of caramel, and a few ROMAN chamomile flowers fall into my infuser. Basically the roman chamomile is why I wanted to try this sample. One of my favorite teas, SpecialTeas Vienna Winter Green has roman chamomile in it and not many other teas do. It’s supposed to be tiramisu but I haven’t had that before. I’m getting a bit of a caramel taste and a bit of a coffee taste…. not much roman chamomile flavor though. The rooibos flavor isn’t there at all, but I hear some are more sensitive to it than others. But the other flavors kind of mask the rooibos. Apparently there should have been chocolate here, but maybe none fell into my infuser. It also tastes a bit like sweet almond, so I’d say the mascarpone description is accurate! Almondy chocolate caramel coffee? Yum. A ton of nice ingredients here… just like the Vienna Winter Green… but like that one, this one could have also used some toasty nuts or something. So this makes for a good late night dessert tea because of the rooibos… except for that coffee bean. :D
What is the difference between Egyptian and Roman chamomile?
I have no idea… I just like that it was in the other blend I liked. :D
There are two genuses that are commonly called chamomile (which in itself has multiple spellings and pronunciation). There is Matricaria recutita (German chamomile) which I find has a smoother, sweeter flavor and I believe this is the one that is grown in Egypt. Then there is Chamaemelum nobile, common name Roman chamomile which is the low-growing ground cover in gardens. The German chamomile is an upright annual which is about a foot tall. I have harvested both and to me, the German tastes better brewed while the leaves of the Roman smell more hay/apple-like. They are very similar for the brewed flowers and derived essential oil but there are definite differences. I have noticed many teas containing chamomile never specify which it is.
thank you! I’m following you if I wasn’t already… you know what you’re talking about :D
Thanks so much, CharlotteZero, for a sample of this one. This is a nice switch from the charcoal-like oolong I had earlier today. I don’t think I’ve ever had two oolongs in a day before! This one is nice, but it doesn’t really have a full flavor. I tastetested before the three minute steep was over, and that is when the most milky sweet flavor was present. But steeping for three minutes turns it into a typical but mild tasting oolong. The second steep had even less flavor… maybe it has just been stored in a sandwich bag for too long or something. (I still prefer this to the charcoal oolong.) I really hate the idea that I’m not giving teas a fair review because of something not for the fault of the tea.. like not being stored in the best way possible or it not being a brand new tea. I guess that’s the reason for tasting notes and Steepster in general though!
It was stored in a sandwich bag for maybe a month before I sent it to you? I actually did this because I found the fruity flavor to be too strong, and I was hoping that some of the candy-like smell saccharine aftertaste would fade. I’m not sure if that thought was a reasonable idea or not. I like this for this type of oolong to be more buttery and less fruity.
oh, I wasn’t saying it was your fault either because of the way the tea was stored.. I just meant in general. Like I feel like I’m not giving a fair review on a tea unless it was picked yesterday and in sturdy packaging or something. :D But I get what you mean.. a milk oolong should not be peachy, it should be buttery! I think your idea worked then, because I didn’t even notice the fruity flavor.
Well, these leaves aren’t purple and the steep color isn’t purple, so I have no idea where the purple comes from. The steep color is really a light brown. The leaves in the infuser look even blacker than they did dry… very glossy & delectable looking! This is kind of like the charcoal tasting oolong I had the other day, but the taste of this one is better and more complex. I can actually tell this is an oolong. It’s a very full flavor and apparently this has a lot of caffeine. Tealux has a caffeine meter on their packaging and this one is higher than most of the teas I’ve tried from them. The second steep isn’t as tasty as the first one… it tastes more like charcoal. It reminded me of a less-nice campfire with something burning in it that isn’t very good to sit around. Yikes! I’ve tried a few dark oolongs the past few weeks and I don’t think I’m liking them very much. The first cup would get a higher rating though.
Thanks KittyLovesTea for sending this one! Somehow steeping at boiling for ten minutes, the flavor somehow still isn’t chai enough for me. It seems like there is a spice missing or something. The cinnamon definitely should have been more present, as I was seeing large pieces in the tea bag. I like the mix of black tea and spices, I just wish the flavor had been a bit sweeter or something. Not bad chai. just not the best.
Preparation
This is one of the last few samples I received from Momo months ago that I have yet to write tasting notes for. Thanks, Momo! I waited for the water to cool a while. I’m going to start doing flavor checks on all my 52s after about 35 seconds, since I learned that lesson with Boo-berry cotton candy! If it still doesn’t have flavor, I’ll try it at 45 seconds, etc. The flavor in this one was mild after 35 seconds, so I went up to a minute, when I could taste more of the genmaicha but even less of the flavor. I wouldn’t call this cherry OR cheesecake, but there is a lovely sweet flavor that makes this cup addicting. There is only a tiny hint of cherry or the sweetness that would indicate cheesecake. The second cup I steeped for another minute, and there was still only that hint of sweet.
