143 Tasting Notes
UGH! I brewed this in the worst possible way. First I used boiled water, but left the top open on my teapot to compensate. Then on the second steep I got distracted and brewed over my 3.5 minuet mark by a good bit. Both steepings where combined in the mug.
That being said, this came out good. The assam definitely helps soften the persnickety ceylon, which I could taste coming through crisp and a little bitter. The assam brings a starchy and malty sweetness to the tea, while the ceylon has a crisp, metallic, and vague citrus notes. Nothing to write home about, but it is a good teabag replacement tea. At least now I know what it tastes like when I use it in blends; and that it is overstepping friendly.
Flavors: Cocoa, Drying, Malt, Metallic, Sweet Potatoes
Preparation
Got this as part of my herbal sampler pack. Very hibiscus floral, but with a sweet slightly tart flavor that doesn’t get too tart. Little bit of a medicinal cherry flavor, but not too bad; maybe from the forest berries flavoring? What’s nice is it tasted nice hot or cold and with no sugar. Good if you want to add a tarter berry flavor to blends.
Flavors: Berry, Floral, Hibiscus, Tart
Preparation
This was pretty good, though first steeping did have an odd chocolate flavor. One thing though, if you don’t like rooibos, you won’t like this as the rooibos flavor is still strong. That being said that was a nice dessert blend. Sweet flavors from the chocolate and caramel, and some warm nutty notes; maybe from the chicory? The After the first few steepings I poured in boiling water in my tea pot and let it brew overnight. Had a nice cinnamony cup in the morning. Though the cinnamony wasn’t as detectable in the early steepings. Overall a nice blend, that I’m glad I got to try, but I don’t feel like buying more.
p.s. I did add sugar to my cup.
Flavors: Chocolate, Nutty, Rooibos, Sweet
Preparation
Ceylon is probably the vanilla of the tea world; assam would probably be chocolate. Its ubiquitous in the same way vanilla is. It’s a base for a lot of blends, since it is so plain. Most teabags unless stated otherwise are going to be some form of ceylon or ceylon like. I don’t tend to go for strait ceylon, as I find the flavor boring and sometimes low quality. But I wanted to try this one plain as I do sometimes want to add it to mixes plain when I am going for something brisk, and less heavy than assam.
Got this in adagios single serving plain black tea box. Been needing to try more of their plain tea bases and this was the cheapest way to do so. Knowing their ceylon, like most, don’t take to boiled water well, I brewed it around 200f and just at 3 minuets to avoid bitterness, and combined two steepings. It has that classic ice tea taste. Kinda a toasty, roasted tea base that is accented with undertones of orange citrus acidity and flavor, that finishes dry and pleasantly brisk. This is a very plain Jane tea, but it’s not bad. Its a huge step up from Lipton tea bags; though anything is a steep up from those tannin fannings. If you wanted to make classic ice tea with some fruit thrown in, this is it. Just mind your steeping.
Overall good and is pleasant, just don’t expect to be wowed.
Flavors: Citrus, Drying, Metallic, Smooth, Toasty
Preparation
Sip Down! Slowly going through my old collection of tea. Wanted something flavored I could sweeten for ice tea and found this. There was about 4 grams left, so I filled it out with 1 gram of old laoshan green oolong from verdant; it’s a green Chinese base and laoshan oolong is a fancy green tea anyways. Brewed with half amount of water and sweetened with sugar while still hot before ice added, and combined both steepings.
This was good, but If I could do it over I’d brew it around 170, cause the astringency from the base green tea is quite strong. It kinda works with the tart zingy flavors though. I did add more sugar to help offset the astringent qualities from 5grams to 13 grams. Though I think 10 grams would have been better. It does really taste like one of this tangy fruit marshmallow salads you see every now and then. Going to get one more steep out of this to top off my half full glass. Overall good tangy brew, just mind the water temp and steep time.
Flavors: Astringent, Cranberry, Marshmallow, Tangy, Tart
Preparation
//Story Time
I went ahead and ordered some sampler pouches and a few custom blend tins from Adagio. Totally didn’t need to as I still have plenty of tea to drink, but the samplers have many teas I still need to try and would be nice to taste before I blend them.
//Tea Time
This is from an ancient steepster select bag that I just opened. Man I wasn’t expecting there to be full size leafs and blossoms in there; I mean I should have cause the bag was so poofy. The smell and taste reminded me or herbal shops and specifically tension tamer teas. It has this sweet menthol peppery smell. This translates over into the taste, but with even vague undertone flavors of licorice or fennel. It’s actually kinda complex with the flavor changing as it cools to revel a sweet and smooth mouth feel and pleasant herbaceous pepper. Biggest thing I noticed as well is just how smooth and sweet this tea is. Most herbal blends tend to have that bitter medicinal taste, but this has none of that. Maybe it’s cause it isn’t shredded or fannings so it doesn’t over extract the leafs? Overall this is a very pleasant tea that is much smoother and sweeter than most herbal teas.
Flavors: Anise, Herbaceous, Menthol, Pepper, Smooth, Sweet
Preparation
How on earth did I not review this already? Maybe got deleted with the steepster change of hands?? Anyways brewed some from on old bag; two steepings combined, and the last steeping was 8min cause I got to talking with roommates. Made it iced as usual. Not just cause it tastes waaay better iced, but my AC is broken and it is HOT. There is a bitter, tangy zing to it, but I always had just a bit of sugar to smooth it out and bring out the meringue flavors; I think I put in 8g of sugar for a 16oz cup. The is one of the few teas I would want a big bag of to have to serve to people. It just so perfect for hot weather. Sweet, refreshing, lemon zing, and mild amount of spices.
Flavors: Lemon, Lemon Zest, Spices, Sugar, Sweet
Preparation
Oh, wow. This sounds lovely. Lemon meringue pie is one of my love languages. Can’t make it to save my life, but boy, do I appreciate it!
You mean someone else out there other than me actually still has this blend from Frank?!?! I’m glad you’re enjoying it, it’s one of my favorites.
First steep; 5 seconds: Little sweet, but mostly savory vegetal. Mild astringency.
Second steep; 7 seconds: I under steeped, but not bad. Mineral spice and more subdued savory green. Maybe faint floral. Some astringency, but pleasant.
Third Steep; 12 seconds: Smooth, savory, and a little grassy. Creamy mouth feel developing.
Fourth Steep; 17 seconds: Less savory, more sweet with some grassy flavors. Maybe vague honey notes.
Forgot to log the rest of my notes for this one. This wasn’t bad, and it’s from 2015, but it basically tasted like a green tea mostly. I think I might brew this one western style as said on Verdant. The other times I brewed it like that I got better flavors.
Flavors: Grass, Green, Savory, Vegetal
Preparation
This is from an ancient bag from when I had a Verdant subscription that most likely dates pre 2015. Not gonna rate cause it’s so old, but I did enjoy it.
First steep; 6 seconds: floral, mineral, and honey notes.
Second steep: Creamy mouth feel, cinnamon and other sweet wood spice notes. Darker flavor over all. Some vegetale notes.
Third Steep; 8 seconds: Same as the second steep, but less creamy mouth feel and stronger vegetale notes. Some very mild black tea like astringency.
Fourth Steep; 12 seconds: Seems to have lost a lot of flavor. Mostly just bland mineral with faint tasting notes from before. Seems to taste better as it cools. Mostly just spicy wood notes and maybe camphor.
Fifth Steep & Sixth; 14 seconds: Mild sweetness and spicy minerally, with vegital taste. More sweet and spicy cinnamon when cooled.
Seventh and 8th steep; 20 seconds: Reminds me a lot of the first and second steep combined. Maybe vague vanilla sandalwood sweetness? Maybe it’s floral honey? Tastes better when on the cooler side.
Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh; 30 seconds: Finished it off this morning. Very minerally with some sweetness, woody spice, and hints of cardamon. Wasn’t bad, and went well with a stoop waffle.
Flavors: Cinnamon, Honey, Mineral, Spices, Sweet, Wood
Preparation
Sip Down!
Brewed what was left of this ancient tea; about two teaspoons. Did two steepings and combined in a glass with ice that had 10 grams of sugar, a dash a bing cherry juice and candied Bing cherry; not the syrupy type though. Drank it on my way to work the next day. It tasted better than I thought. Not sure if the cherry juice helped. It had a nice tangy light orange flavor and cherry flavor. The tea base tasted good as well. Brisk, but not too astringent with slight toasty malty notes. Overall a pleasurable drink.
Flavors: Cherry, Fruity, Malt, Orange, Tangy