50 Tasting Notes
TTB 2025. This tea reminds me of a family that I encountered in a theme park once. The sunscreen or whatever they were wearing wafted through the air as they walked by. I remember turning to my husband and saying, “Wow, that family smells really good, now I want coconut.” This tea tastes exactly like I imagine the coconut scent I smelled that day would have.
TTB 2025. I had a gongfu session with a mini brick. The brick was tightly compressed and took a few steeps to fully open up. I lost count of the number of steeps I did, but I feel like it was at least 10. The taste was very mild in the first few steeps. After the leaves opened up, I got a fruitiness that reminded me more of a very basic sheng than a white tea. I experimented with different temperatures and steep times to see if I could get more out of it, but there just wasn’t much compexity to it beyond the shenglike fruitiness.
TTB 2025. When I opened the pouch, I was hit with a smell that smelled convincingly like rootbeer. The brewed tea tasted like a mixture of rootbeer and buttered popcorn jelly beans, and something sweet but offputting I couldn’t put my finger on. I could have seen possibly liking this tea, if it wasn’t for that offputting sweet note.
I have the Spring 2024 batch, and it is delicious! I like to brew this western-style. In the first cup, I get a strong note of cherry, with some honey and chocolate notes. On the second and third cups, the chocolate and honey notes move to the forefront, along with a tropical fruit blend note.
Flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Honey, Tropical Fruit
This is the second time I’ve ordered this tea. When I opened the bag I could tell the mint in this batch was a lot stronger than the last one. The mint smell filled up my kitchen. I was a bit worried the mint would be too overpowering in the brewed tea.
After I steeped it for 3 minutes, I took a sip right away, while my cup was still steaming. The mint combined with the steam was overpowering at first, but I decided to let it cool a couple of minutes and was relieved that the mint had toned down, and the tea tasted like a Girl Scout thin mint cookie like I remember from the last batch.
I think they made a good choice choosing puerh as the base tea, since it combines well with the cacao nibs to make the blend actually taste chocolatey.
Flavors: Chocolate, Peppermint
I tried this tea yesterday and again today. Yesterday, I followed the instructions and brewed at 207°, but it came out a bit bitter for my taste. Today, I tried it again at 195°, and there was no bitterness. The rose flavor is very strong, and I can’t taste the black tea at all. Personally, I wish the rose flavor was a bit more subdued, but maybe it would be better diluted with almond milk or iced.
Upton Tea has a Rose Congou iirc that has a nice base that you can really taste and yet still has a good strong rose flavor. Harney and Sons Rose Scented is very good – powerful but the base is there and very different from the Upton one. Fortnum & Mason Rose Pouchong is (strangely) on a Keemun base and not what we would consider Pouchong and is a very good one. I bet Simpson & Vail has a good one, but I have only had their “rose and” blends.
Thanks for the suggestions! I love rose in teas, so it would be interesting to try it with different bases.
I’m a big fan of subtle white teas and like this one a lot. The tea is smooth and floral with a powdered sugar like sweetness and a thick mouth feel. Unfortunately, I finished off the last of it today, but I will be getting it again in the future.
Flavors: Floral, Powdered Sugar
I’ve ordered this tea a few times now. I love the smooth texture, but what keeps me coming back is that the flavor is uniform and tastes like one thing, and that is a piece of coconut candy – simple and delicious.
