Teafarm

Arby Advent Day 1
I received my homemade tea advent calendar from Arby last night and was very excited to begin! It’s a little strange that this tea calls itself chai since it’s not spicy at all. I just taste a general herbiness with some cardamom. I was making dinner and ended up steeping it a bit too long, so it turned out somewhat murky, but drinkable. Yeah, this tastes more like a health blend than a chai. Other than being misnamed, it’s fine for what it is, though I’m no fan of health tea blends.

Sipdown!

Heavy on the rooibos, lots of lavender, background of citrus zest and vanilla bean. Mostly rooibos + lavender though. Boring, but not a bad tea.

Decent coldbrew. Heavy on the lavender and rooibos, less vanilla/creamy than brewed hot.

Lots of rooibos, lots of lavender. I don’t taste the orange peel or vanilla bean when I brew this hot or cold. Not a lot to say other than it is fairly tasty, but tastes like lavender rooibos. Rooibos base is less minerally than many are. It is sweet, woody, kind of tastes like nectar. Makes a good latte too!

Old tasting note

Initially, woody. Flavours of bark, dried firewood (not piney), after taste of subtle maple lea and uncondensed maple syrup. Afternotes of roasted/ash?

It is kind of like the flavour of a maple leaf stem. Not piney smoke, but distinctly woody and similar to firewood. Absolutely fantastic. It is like nothing I have tasted before.

Old tasting note from a few weeks ago

This is a white tea from Fujian, China.

Pleasant white tea flavour, hints of smoke. Lots of tannins, but not bitter or vegetal. Very flavourful and delicious!

Old tasting note from a few weeks ago

Despite smelling like a roasted/toasty oolong, it tasted like a darjeeling black tea. Not toasty at all. Slightly tannic, flavourful but nothing special. I was hoping for some toasty mineral notes.

I’m liking this one the more I drink it. Luckily, this is a sipdown.

The roasty green tea doesn’t go with cocoa and vanilla bean at all. I also don’t really like the green tea used in this, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. Anyway, I didn’t enjoy this one very much, so I’m glad I can remove it from my focus box.

This green is roasted, which makes it slightly sweet. The vanilla and cocoa actually go well with such a savoury toasted base.

Toasty green tea with vegetal qualities, similar to a bai mu dan white. Lots of vanilla undertones. No cocoa flavour, but it does fine without it. Thick mouthfeel.

Visited this tea farm (yes, there is a tea farm in Canada) and tried a sample of this.

Initially, it is very herbal, strong peppermint and lemongrass. In the after taste there is a strong flavour of licorice root and iron/minerals. Licorice root reminds me of poorly used artificial sweeteners because of that lingering fake oversweetness. This blend would be great if you like licorice root, but it is definitely not for me.

Queued tasting note from Saturday morning!

Fantastic rooibos base, one of the best rooibos I have ever had. Sweet, aromatic lavender. The lavender tasted very fresh. The rooibos was a bit woody, but not metallic/minerally like some rooibos. I found the creaminess really smooth, it was almost like I added milk. All around, this was a really great tea.

This sipdown is a long time coming. I’ve been giving away tasters of it in tea boxes and to friends and I’ve been drinking it when I remember. It is a tasty herbal, but to be honest I’m tired of it now.

Nettle is naturally slightly sweet (liked the smell of fried autum leaves), and never bitter or acidic. It makes a good base. The main problem with this tea is that the chai spices are lmited. I can taste some cinnamon and maybe clove but I think it really needs more of every spice. I like my chais to have a good level of peppercorn, clove, cardamom, and cinnamon with some spicy ginger. This tea is pretty mild.

GCTTB (round 6) entry

Forgot to log a few teas yesterday. I did a tasting session with some friends, and they really liked this one too.

I really like how toasty and woody it is. It does make sense it is from dried tea plant stems. If you like the idea of a tea made with toasted twigs, this is for you. It is a big of a darker roast in flavour, but I like it. No smoke or char, just delicious wood scent and toasty goodness.