174 Tasting Notes
Backlogged from this afternoon.
This one always surprises me by how much filler is in there, I would prefer more oolong. It’s very floral-citrusy without being overpowering, I like this. Yet if I was tasting this blind I may never guess that there is oolong in it. I only taste it because I know it’s there and I’m looking for it.
Preparation
Backlogged from this morning.
I really enjoy the way this smells dry, very fresh and crisp. Wet it smells more like cooked greens. Taste is superb, very fresh and crisp with slight cooked greens and the aftertaste has an almost minty quality to it. It reminds me of an early morning in spring with dew on the grass and the earth is slightly damp from the night before. Bumping the rating up a little.
Preparation
Yesterday was a tea-less day, and the day before I only had one cup first thing in the morning. So, today I am making up for that and I apologize if all the tea-logging is getting annoying. Anyways… I don’t know what it’s been with me and jasmine teas lately, but for whatever reason they seem to be stronger than I remember to the point that they are cloying. Today though was a warm, sunny day and jasmine tea beckoned to me. The first steep I sweetened with rock sugar and threw in the fridge to have it cold for later or even tomorrow morning even though I have been sipping at it. Right now I’m drinking the second steep, hot. It’s strong in scent but having already been steeped once it’s mellowed a little. That being said it does not mean that the jasmine is by any means mellow, because it’s not. I find that I’m actually preferring this cold at the moment and am anticipating warmer weather since this iced and Silver Needles iced is what I typically drink during summer.
Preparation
Today this tea seems more nutty and a bit creamy. I’m tasting the corn notes that others have referred to, but it’s not like roasted corn or corn on the cob, more like corn bread. I’m not getting much floral notes in it, they’re so slight I barely detect them today. With the second steeping and it cooling down it’s becoming more creamy with a slight mouth-feel.
Preparation
This is a lovely green oolong. I like my teas nice and light with a floral taste to them and this is one. The little green balls expand so much into large whole leaves, I’m always amazed by this and enjoy watching it. Dry, it has a lovely floral smell without it being overpowering like a jasmine tea can be. Wet, it retains that floral scent to it but there is a slight vegetal-butteriness to it. The taste is nice and light and fresh and again very floral. In the aftertaste I get a bit of the vegetal-butteriness. After the third steep the mouth-feel became a little too much for me, almost cloying, and I decided to take a break from it. The butteriness stayed in the back of my throat after the third steep for a decent amount of time, I’d say a solid half hour. This is a nice light, floral tea that can be re-steeped many times that I really enjoy. It is beautiful to watch steep, it is beautiful to smell (both dry and wet), and it is lovely to taste. Truly a wonderful tea.
Preparation
I’m not a black tea fan, but it’s blended with green tea and some flavors that sound good. I treated this like I would a green tea because I didn’t want the green tea to get bitter. It turned out well. The guava is strong with this one. There is a sweetness from the strawberry in there but mostly what l I taste is guava, I do taste some tea base. It’s a decent tea every now and again if you don’t want to think much about the tea. I’m betting this would be nice iced…I’ll have to try that when it gets warmer! May the guava be with you.
Preparation
This was my mom’s tea but apparently she didn’t like it as much as she thought she would and passed it to me. I like oolongs, typically greener ones, but I’m up to trying it and there’s only about an ounce left. Holy cow there are a lot of flavorings in this tea! Granted I like a lot of the flavorings in this tea, but there are just way too many here and I certainly cannot taste them all. I mostly get the spices: cinnamon, cardamom, I think I’m getting a hit of the ginger and I’m getting almond too. It says there are fruit pieces and flavorings in here, I’m not tasting or smelling most if any of them. It smells like cinnamon oatmeal raisin cookies, it sure doesn’t taste like it though! I’m on my third steeping hoping that the spices would have calmed down by now, nope, maybe a little, but not really. I feel like I need some peppermint to calm my stomach down now. This tea isn’t totally bad, not one I’d buy, but if it’s there I’ll drink a cup. Definitely too much going on with this one to make it any good.
Preparation
Another one from a sampler package I received from Christmas, going to be a few of these this week. It is a decent flavored green tea, more flavoring than green tea base, smell and taste-wise at least. The mango and peach I would say are equal in both the smell and taste categories and it’s not bad, quite tasty, but not one I would have every day, I feel it’s easy to get tired of this one, better only once in a while. I used the little pyramid tea bag twice and there was definitely more peach the second steep, yum. For whatever reason I did not get any sort of notes of mint, granted I wasn’t looking for it, I had already finished my cups by the time I went to write this. Still, I saw mint was one of the ingredients and I must say I did not come across it.
Preparation
The first few things I notice upon opening the tin is a waft of vanilla and a lot a tea dust. There is so much tea dust in there it is ridiculous, just about the entire inside if the tin is covered, some is even clumped, it’s very off-putting. But I take careful sniffs, don’t want any dust up the nose, and it’s predominately vanilla. There is a decent white tea base and coconut, other than dust it doesn’t seem too bad. I brew it up and the white tea is there, the vanilla is definitely there, the coconut is there but less so. Some reviews said they had fruit in theirs, I am not picking up any fruit smells or tastes whatsoever aside from coconut but that is more creamy here. Aside from the massive quantities of dust, this tea isn’t too bad.
