313 Tasting Notes
I think I see what they’re doing here: they’re naming these flavours in ways that appeal to people who wish they were eating ice cream and biscuits and stuff instead of drinking tea, and definitely not serious dedicated tea drinkers. Because I really don’t get how this is ice cream.
The scent of the tea leaves does admittedly have a curious buttery, creamy fragrance – like some serious naturally sweet high-fat dairy cream action going on up in there, maybe even cheesecake. Like wowzers. But judging by the name of it, I’d have expected this to translate into a seriously creamy mouthfeel and masses of ice creamy flavour, and I just can’t find it at all.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s a nice tea, but I’m not getting that WOW BOOM THIS IS LIKE DRINKING HOT ICE CREAM WHAT THE NUTS IS HAPPENING IN MY MOUTH factor you’d expect from something calling itself ice cream tea. It’s got a nicely creamy, green oolong taste, a bit astringent and a touch of melony vegetables toward the end, and the speed with which I’m getting through my second steep of it is a testament to the fact that I find it pleasant. I just can’t give it top marks, though, because while it’s nice, it just doesn’t deliver what it says on the tin.
And I still don’t believe it’s really significantly better for me than drinking an oolong that’s just as nice and costs a fraction.
I should like to begin by saying that I think detoxes are bunk. It’s not rocket science that going from weeks of holiday binge-fests to seaweed salad and steamed fish, you’re going to feel a lot less bogged down. Does the tea really make a difference? Am I going to get masses healthier than I already am by swapping out my usual daily cuppas with this?
For me, I’m guessing probably not: I already drink like 6 cups of unsweetened tea in a day (whatever oolong or green I have to hand at the office, and usually a pu erh in the afternoon when I need something more robust) and keep my sweet drinks to a minimum. But the prospect of interestingly flavoured oolongs in handy little packets I can keep at work that ship from the UK was enticing, so here we are.
Well. Mostly it smells green and peachy-floral, though I think I prefer this to if it had been so strongly flavoured that you can’t taste the tea under it. And this holds up in the brew – so much so that it tastes more like a straight green oolong with semi-prominent flowery peach notes and that characteristic creamy flavour/texture you get from a good light oolong. Which is probably for the best, as it so happens that it’s a really nice tasting oolong. Is it worth the price tag? Possibly moreso now that I know the third steep is as tasty as the first and as such the sample baggie will stretch out to way more than a day’s supply (still a nice pale green-gold and pleasantly fragrant enough that I’m going for a fourth) but considering that I’m not convinced it’s THAT much more healthy than regular tea, I doubt it’s going to become a tea cupboard staple.
That said, I do have a few other flavours to get through…
I so completely agree with the “bunk” comment. Obviously, drinking tea instead of soda will make you feel better. Still, cleanses do come out with some tasty flavors! XD
If I’m honest, I would have had no idea there was pear in this until I went back and read the ingredients list. Maybe it’s the way I prepared it (standard 3-4 minutes in boiling water for black tea, spoonful of sugar and a splash of skim milk) but what I got out of it was a nice black base with lovely proper dark chocolate flavour balanced with roasty, toasty almond – not the sweet marzipan almond flavour you get with a lot of almond teas at all, but just the flavour you get from popping fresh almonds onto a baking tray and roasting them until the whole house smells warm and cozy. THAT almond flavour. It’s like drinking the burnt almond dark chocolate bars that were my mother’s favourite for many years when I was a young ‘un. No idea where or how pear comes into play here, but if it somehow sits under these other flavours and maybe just sort of makes them more awesome, I don’t really miss it at all.
And in other news, GUESS WHICH PAIR OF DORKS FINALLY GOT IT TOGETHER AND FOUND WEDDING RINGS THEY LIKED ENOUGH TO ORDER? eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :D
I swear to Gosh, the further the release date for Seasons Of War the more nervous I get. My critical works have been widely enough read, and I’ve given talks at conferences and stuff, but the fictional world is a whole other kettle of fish. The kind of fans who actually pay to read stuff that somebody’s written are going to read this thing! curls up into a shaking ball of fear
Fortifying tea is like oddly really good for nervous me. This is probably why I drink so much of it, apart from deliciousness. And since this is a good tea choice if you’re going to find yourself fighting Daleks and stuff for a couple centuries, it’s good enough for me. With its roasty-toasty aroma reminiscent of puffed-grain cereals, it’s wholesome with a subtle touch of sweetness. This flavour, earthy and brown, is warmed with sweet notes of aniseed and a slight undertone of cinnamon. It’s surprisingly light-bodied, a restorative blend that won’t weigh you down when you’ve got a lot to get done, like drinking a lovely Scandinavian crispbread. It has loads of flavour but still light and balanced. Man, that’s good tea.
Another 3 days of overindulgence for New Years, and now home again. I can’t believe it’s 1995 already, where DOES the time go?
I’m feeling the need for a) restorative; and b) digestion-friendly teas lately, as my stomach’s really suffering from so many days of eating the wrong foods. Pu erh usually settles me well, so I thought I’d give this one a go.
And yeah. YEAH. I sliiiiiiiiiiiightly worried about the marriage of pu erh and berry flavours, and when this brewed up and I got a strong whiff of dark, farmy pu erh goodness, my worry continued. But man. It’s nice. The initial aroma of earthy farm fragrance gives way to this juicy, almost jammy blackberry taste, and then transforms back into farmy, dark hay. How is this so good. Why is this so good? We just don’t know, but it is.
I’ve been eating far too much food. Tried to correct this the last couple days with cleansing salads and my very favourite sweet potato and coconut soup (it’s creamy and low-calorie and cooks in nearly moments) and now it’s New Years and I just baked a linzertorte and a cinnamon and cardamom babka to take to a big food party. WHOOPS. Will I ever fit into my wedding dress? Who’s to say?
But Clara is magnificent, isn’t she? The initial fragrance of the dry leaves is BANG! cinnamon, like, cinnamon hearts sweet and hot and intense, with a moment of orange and little finish of chocolate adding complexity. The sweet, warming cinnamon sits firmly at the forefront of the flavour as well, but elevated mid-sip by top notes of bright, sharp orange, and an undercurrent of dark, earthy cocoa lends depth and gravity to the flavour. Wowzers. There’s a lot more to this blend than it may seem at first, and what a fascinating, gorgeous blend it turns out to be.
Also, as someone who now writes about Doctor Who (among other things) in a sort of professional-ish capacity, MAN do some people have an irrational hate for Clara. It makes me sad. I was so grateful they actually gave her things to do and material to work with this past series, but apparently to some people this means that she’s too important. They probably thought she was useless before. eyeroll
Almonette cookies.
Like, you know those gorgeous, delicately flavoured, perfectly crumbly iced cookies Voortman makes? Man, those were my favourite when I lived in Canada. I didn’t realise how much I missed them until I had this tea, and it was the same gloriously biscuitty, just a hint of almondiness, buttery gorgeousness, bolstered by a really nice backbone of earthy pu erh. I’m on my second steep of this and having au naturel this time after trying it first with milk. Yeah. This is a winner. I expect this one will stay in rotation in my cupboard until you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
hoards
OMG, those were my favourite growing up. I had no idea they were called that since our local grocery store just had all of them bulk, so they were “seashell cookies” to me haha.
Something went… wrong here. Maybe it’s just my tastebuds going haywire because they’re still remembering the sheer amount of potato I managed to scoop into my body over the holiday, but behind the fragrance of this (which in the bag is THE NICEST PEACH PASSIONFRUIT FRUITY FRUITY FRUITNESS I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY NOSE) but there’s something just not jiving with my tastebuds in the flavour at all. This makes me sad because it’s a green oolong blend and should be so good, but somehow I wasn’t able to make it work today.
Which, admittedly, was the only blot on an otherwise spotless day of previewing forthcoming entertainments from the BBC and writing reviews of them, which is kind of an awesome thing to be a thing I do. Oh yeah, and the postie brought me the giant box of teas that included this one. Guess they can’t all be my favourite, though – maybe I can see if somebody else has a better time with it?
I’m getting masses of chocolate mid-sip with this today, and a creamy rosy finish. It’s just what I need to forget about what a bouncy lardbutt I’ve become and how Christmas at the in-laws and the relentless stream of English food really isn’t helping.
My kingdom for, like, nothing but miso soup and wilted kale!
I’m going to be crazy sad when I run out of this stuff, as I’m surely in no place to buy anything else until I whittle my collection down a little – there’s some stuff I’m just not really drinking I should probably see about passing onto others, come to think of it.
In the meantime, what few cups remain of this tea. Oh man. I had two steeps of it this afternoon, and it is joyous. It’s the perfect choice for those times when you can’t really decide if you want coffee or tea, and honestly you could use something that will settle your tummy a bit and nothing that gets terribly bitter. Because of the pu’erh, this doesn’t really get bitter at all and has a nice earthiness that I’m always happily amazed melds so seamlessly with flavours of coffee. I like this one like I like my coffee: a little sweet and with a splash of milk. Jolly good.