557 Tasting Notes

70

I like the Ginger in this Tea its nice and spicy and the Orange zest is a nice touch too, this to me is quite a perfect Ginger Pu’erh other than making one from scratch at home. I have many times made this myself with Pu’erh and fresh ginger tea that’s the way I like to use Ginger and I’m fond also of adding Orange zest/peel to some teas, if I needed this tea and did not feel like making it myself this one would be the one I would want. You can really feel that good burn from the Ginger(because it’s tore up with shreds and not just chunks and slices,imo) and the orange zest is a great touch the Orange spice mellows the Ginger bite some giving it a really nice balance in flavor. The Pu’erh seems decent its earthy but clean and seems to have a thick black liquid but I think the Ginger and Orange zest take away from some of the Pu’erh’s flavor(meaning I can’t pick out many other flavor notes in the Pu’erh itself for all the other flavors), the Pu’erh could be a little better in this one. It is a great tea overall.
P’s I forgot to mention the aroma it pretty much just smells like Ginger.
Photos here :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/11/organic-puerh-ginger-by-davidstea.html

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71

This tea is very good to me, I haven’t had many Darjeeling teas but I really like this one, the aroma is like vanilla citrus and the taste is like a really nice black tea with citrus zest and vanilla notes and the aftertaste is interesting to me hard to describe, it’s a slightly astringent aftertaste that has almost a peppery bite. I could drink this one very often.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

Azzrian

Oh I didn’t think this one was listed here yet! I got a sample from Janet as well it is VERY good! I will have to do a review on it then since it is here. :)

Tommy Toadman

I didn’t think it was listed here either, it is a really good tea to me.

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100

I already made my notes on this one a few times, This one actually replaced one of my favs for iced Oolong to keep in the fridge, I made this one just like I do Lance’s iced teas only in a smaller pitcher just for me and with not as much sweetener. I do enjoy slightly sweetened iced tea tho but then again I am a southern and thats what we do down here lol, Anyways I’m really surprised that Lance don’t care for this one because it is a really good tea with nice chocolate tones when iced (I think I mention “chocolate” like aroma in this one but didn’t mention chocolate like flavors) but lance just don’t care for Oolong which is a shame to me ;) I’m at dialysis with him today and I filled up a small water bottle of this to bring with me it is drank up and now I want more lol I like Oolongs like this with “darker” tones.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

Tommy Toadman

I tried to edit this one a little but the pop up screen to edit it will not scroll down so i can save it, that seems to happen to me alot on here, oh well :)

mrmopar

we have a peachy oolong from adiagos tea that is pretty good. does lance like peach oolongs?

Tommy Toadman

He might if he would try one, sounds good to me :) He does like Creamy Nut Oolong from teaopia but it is very yummy flavored, I’ll have to sneak him some Peachy Oolong and see what he thinks about that. Thanks :)

TheTeaFairy

your reviews and comments are so candid, they always make me smile:-)

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93

I spent the whole day with DMS Loose Black Tea from Siam Tee Shop, I have a huge crush on this Teas sister DMS Black Pearls so how could I not also love it loose, there are a few differences in the two that I notice right from the start but both are equally great teas.
The dry tea has a sweet aroma when but not as sweet as its sister with pretty brown and black leaves and after the leaves are steeped they have a really nice slight citrus scent to them like some black teas do, the leaves are whole and pretty to look at like an Oolong.
This is a really nice black tea it has many nice flavors of raw cocoa with citrus notes, very little astringency and a thin dark brown liquid it’s not dark and thick like some black teas.
I’ve had many cups today and the flavors are very light with the first few steeps then get a little stronger by the 3rd steep and start fading after about 6 steeps but the flavor pretty much remains the same other than at the very end it seems to go very citrus when it is starting to fade out.Very nice black tea.
I do prefer the Pearl when it comes to this one but like I said they are both equally nice, I do enjoy the citrus notes in this one, Great Tea Overall.
Also the steeped leaves are very nice to look at most of the leaves are whole little brown leaves, very pretty.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

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78

2002 Ke Yi Xing Raw Pu-erh this one is nice in appearance when dry I have a sample size of it broke off the brick and ready to be steeped, I notice big leaves folded and just a few stems, dark and light brown colored with a slight earthy scent, after the rinse the leaves are darker brown and slightly chopped looking and I see more stems so what I saw in the dry as folded leaves were actually big pieces of leaves pressed together still to create a folded appearance. The aroma at this point is earthy but not woodsy, forest floor type earthy its more like back yard garden type earthy.
1st infusion is brown and very smooth like a ripe puerh but quite thin, it has the aroma still of the backyard garden with very root-like earthy flavor much like a beet.
2nd infusion is about the same in color but the flavor is much stronger of the earthy beets in fact its a very strong flavor that tastes like big red beets.
I have a very earthy aftertaste in my mouth that is nice.
3rd infusion little darker, I can still see the bottom of the cup if I look close enough but still plenty dark in color but still a thin tea. Still the same earthy beet taste as the previous infusion but this time developing almost spinach type notes, I wanted to not like that taste at first but it’s actually not so bad.
4th infusion still just as dark brown as the 3rd there is a little of the spinach type notes but not enough to replace the beet like taste. The earthy aftertaste is quite pleasant

I want to say here that most folks who drink puerh will understand what I’m talking about in my taste descriptions(I hope) while those who drink other teas may not,This is Puerh and puerh is know to have “Earthy” notes so when I’m talking about beet and spinach flavors and notes I’m not talking about flavorings or anything like that, its not like steeping a beet it’s just the earthy flavor of this Puerh Tea itself is reminiscent of eating beets or spinach to me that’s all, this is just the way I describe this particular earthy flavor, it’s not Beet flavored Tea :)

5th steep and the color just started getting lighter brown but the flavors are still coming through, I’m not sure that this one is going to develop into anything much more so I’m going to end this review saying that this is a very nice and earthy puerh to me I enjoyed it, I’m going to watch a movie now and try to enjoy it a few more times since it was just a sample, I may even want to buy some of it so I can try it again.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/10/2002-ke-yi-xing-puerh-raw.html

Bonnie

It sounds like the beet was a sweetness and the spinach was the earthy flavor for you. How long are you infusing? 30 seconds after a 30 second rinse?

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49
drank Coffee Pu'erh by DAVIDsTEA
557 tasting notes

I had Coffee Puerh this morning from David’s Tea, I was not bad the Puerh had a nice earthy flavor to it but I had to add sugar to make the flavorings taste good, it was good kinda like dirt and chocolate at first then it balanced out after a second steep it had some caramel hints but still very chocolate, it has whole coffee beans it and I crushed those up before I brewed mine just because I didn’t like the way it looked lol Much to my surprise this tea wanted to re-steep a few more times but after the 4th it was just chocolate taste and very little tea, interesting most “flavored” teas I try tend to make strong “flavors” on 1st steep then loose most of that flavor and do not re-steep well, not so with this one. I had to stop because it was hurting my belly it needs sugar to taste “good” and sugar these days just isn’t good for my belly.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

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87

2006 Dayi 7572, this one has a sweet aroma from the dry cake and after the first rinse it turned into a slightly sweet mushoomy type aroma that is very nice it takes you to the edge of a damp forest after the rain at dusk and you smell the sweet forest floor covered with mushrooms and other strange things. 1st infusion you are walking into that forest and dusk is now night and you can taste the woods and earth and mushrooms. 2nd infusion and your nearing the middle of the forest and the woods are getting thicker and the mushrooms are huge and and it’s much darker about midnight now. 3rd infusion you decide to have a sit down on the forest floor for a while you are surrounded by a ring of mushrooms and its very dark, you hear a sound in the distant but you don’t mind you are peaceful and calm, you loose yourself for a while as you close your eyes and drink in the forest….bliss. 4th infusion you open your eyes and you see that its not quite as dark as before you know that dawn must be near so you stand up and start leaving the thick dark forest, its light enough now that you can find your way home. 5th infusion you’ve made it out of the thick forest into the outer woods it is dawn now and you can see you house through the sticks and shrubs you take one last look back at the dark forest and as you turn back around you are at your table and you realize that you did not just have a walk through a Dark Damp Forest from Dusk till Dawn, You just spent an hour with a really great tea that’s all. I’ve heard a saying before that went something like “each cup of tea is an imaginary journey” This Tea was an amazing Journey!I’ve had this similar aroma and experience from many puerh and its always strangely enjoyable, this is what tea can do for you if you let it :)

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

TheTeaFairy

Ooooh, you got me scared there for awhile! But I am mostly intrigued with the «other strange things» in your forest :-)

Claire

Beautiful post, thanks Tommy. :)

Nicole

What a wonderful review.

Bonnie

You are so right. You took a walk with a third Shu….(2 shoes and a shu)

Tommy Toadman

Thanks :)
Bonnie- lol
TheTeaFairy- other strange things like bugs and Fairies that may be near ;)

mrmopar

a great tasting note i must revisit my 7572 tonight.

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78

I got some of this today in another tea swap, it is is pretty good, it was in another language and i tried it before I even knew what it was, it was awesome and I knew it was a flavor that I recognized but I couldn’t put my finger on it only after learning that it was Red Velvet Cake could I then actually taste it, I thought it was some type of chocolate tea at first. Anyways it is really good it just needs a little sugar in it to make it just right :)
This is from a swap I do monthly on the Tea Review Blog if the link if you are interested in monthly swapping :) http://www.teareviewblog.com/

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67
drank Iron Silk Puer by TeaSource
557 tasting notes

A friend on Facebook did a swap with me a while back and she sent me Iron Silk Puerh from TEASOURCE along with some others, I enjoyed it and she sent me some more this time from INFINITEA, So I decided to compare.
Iron Silk Puerh is Puerh blended with peppermint, clove and licorice, I’m not sure whose blend it was first or if either of these are the “original” but they are both pretty consistent taste-wise, It’s a nice and interesting blend very tasty and smell wonderful, so wonderful in fact that after I tasted these in my tearoom we left for about an hour to have dinner and when I opened the door to go back into the tearoom
it was filled with aroma of peppermint(not the candy but the real deal).Like I said the flavor of both teas is pretty much the same nice Puerh that smell of mint with flavors of licorice and cloves which is very nice but the big difference
in these two aren’t the taste of smell but the Aftertaste and the Mouth-feel so I’ll talk about that. If you have ever put a clove in your mouth or chewed on a real licorice stick(again not the candy) then you already know this aftertaste and mouth-feel that I’m talking about, the numbing sensation of the cloves and sickly sweet bite of licorice that is the difference between these two teas. let me say that the appearance of these tea was very different Infinitea’s had sliced licorice root/stick that you could see nice perfect pretty little slices and no stems in the tea at all looks very
pretty while the look of the Teasource one has stems and the licorice pieces are more like shredded chopped up chunks and it’s just not as pretty as Infinitea’s.
Looks can be deceiving as they were in this case, I figured the pretty one would be the better one and I was Wrong. Tastewise like I said they are pretty same and good
but if ya like licorice or cloves or mint then you really want the one that gives you the feel of licorice and clove and taste and look because those two herbs are so much
more than taste. again if you have ever put a clove in your mouth or chewed a real licorice stick then you already know what I’m talking about and if you haven’t then honestly I’m not sure how to explain the taste or feel of it, I can tell ya that
cloves have a spicy sweetness too with almost numbing sensation in the mouth and back of the throat, Real licorice(forget the candy) you have to just try for
yourself because all I can say is sickly sweet lingering taste with different sensation. Ok anyways I’m crazy so I hope that made sense to somebody out there, TEASOURCE
Iron Silk Puerh wins over INFINITEAS because of the “real” sensations and mouth-feeling that INFINITEAS version lacked, That is NOT saying that the INFINITEAS one was bad or not good just TEASOUCRE is so much better.
I think it may have something to do with the “cut” of the licorice honestly because some things just steep better when they are more chopped up or shredded/grated rather than just sliced up, I’m not sure just my opinion, I feel kinda crazy on this one because I feel people won’t understand what I’m trying to say but I hope you can understand, I have trouble explaining or describing thing with words sometimes, sorry :)
Thank you Deborah from Facebook for providing this tea to me for this crazy post.
Steepster, Sorry this was so long it was copied from my blog :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

Bonnie

I really did understand you, and more flavor IS going to come out easier when chopped up finer especially when you’re talking about a root. Licorice is a root.

Claire

Good review Tommy! I often feel like I don’t “get” mouthfeel and it’s interesting to read about other people’s experiences of it.
The cloves thing reminds me of an old folk cure from when I was growing up – if a toddler was teething you’d put a bit of clove powder on their gums and it would help with the soreness.

ashmanra

Okay, now I want to try real licorice. I dislike the candy usually. I like licorice root in tea. I have no idea where to find real licorice or what it looks like!

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54
drank Dark Rose Tea by TeaSource
557 tasting notes

I bought a Bamboo Tea Tray from Teasource.com and with it they sent me a sample of this, Ok I would have never,never bought this Tea on my own because I just wouldn’t but now that i was able to try it, it is not bad at all not too rosey/flowery but a very nice smooth flavor with a slight sweetness in the aftertaste, This one is prolly worth buying to have for company or something even, the little hearts are very tightly pressed and they expand into a good bit of leaves, 1st steep was not as dark as the next steep as usual but the following 3 steeps were very dark slighlty thick and very smooth by the 5th and 6th steep it was starting to look more like the first steep and i knew it was ending, I would recommend this one.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/10/dark-rose-tea-by-teasource.html

Tommy Toadman

Photos here :)
http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/2012/10/dark-rose-tea-by-teasource.html

I tried to edit but I always have problems with the edit box not scrolling down so i can save it, oh well

Azzrian

I love the tin shown in the photo.

ashmanra

Oh my gosh the tea is heart shaped! I have to buy this!

Tommy Toadman

More Heart Shaped Tea is at the tea table, its not as great as this one but its not bad at all either :)
http://www.theteatable.com/product/AAC.html

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