236 Tasting Notes
We just returned from a five hour trek through a frozen swamp. It was exhilarating crossing logs, creating our own shaky log bridges across treacherously deep swamp waters and then walking (him) or crawling (me) over them.
It was terrifying when we fell through the ice and ended up in deep water and even more frightening when we realized we were lost, soaked, the temperature was dropping down to 12 degrees and we might not get out of there. Our bones might decorate the swamp just as the skull of the small creatures we saw going in decorated it.
Thankfully we’d packed Clif bars as emergency rations and we ate them to get enough calories to encourage our bodies to make heat to dry our jeans and clear our minds. Not that it worked all that well as a heating trick. Our jeans froze hard as boards when subjected to temps in the teens and a brisk wind. But it did clear our minds sufficiently to find a way out again.
Once we arrived home the obvious question for me (that I’d been contemplating since our fourth hour slogging through the swamp) was what tea was suitable to serve as a warming celebration beverage after such an adventure? I picked this one and added a bit of honey. Mmmm. It tastes like victory. Swampy victory.
It really is a yummy coconut tea and the addition of the honey and Silk creamer makes it even yummier!
Preparation
The first steeping (10 seconds) didn’t taste like much. I detected a very slight spice taste but that was it. The second and third steepings (15 seconds) brewed up brandy colored and had fragrance notes of leather and horseradish root. It has the same sort of root taste (but not spicy). Fourth steep (25 seconds) is smoother but has the same flavor profile.
Still having stomach problems with cooked puerhs. I don’t have that problem with the raw puerhs. I am puzzled by this since everyone says that puerhs are good for the stomach and settle it down.
I don’t yet now how to rate this one. I will think on it.
Preparation
I have no idea what would cause it, but could it be an allergy? Stuff with a lot of chilis in it were giving me digestive problems and I found out later that I had a minor food allergy.
Those are really short steeping times!
@tagoti I don’t know. It is only with cooked puerhs. Raw puerhs do not cause any problems. I used to have similar (though lesser) problems with oolongs when I brewed them too hot and too long so it doesn’t sound like an allergy to me.
@Jillian Those are actually recommended times and after the first steeping it really did brew up pretty strong. For example, here is a review of a similar puerh: http://ancientteahorseroad.blogspot.com/2008/08/1994-menghai-factory-7542-chi-tse-beeng.html
Note that his times for steeping are very short. (The first number is the number of the steep and the second number is the number of seconds he steeped it.)
1-15s
2-12s
3-25s
4-35s
5-50s
6-75s
7-85s
8-95s
9-105s
10-120s
11-135s
12-150s
This brews up into a beautiful golden liquid that smells sweet with notes of guava and honey. The taste is true to the smell. It is sweet and tasty with subtle notes of fruit.
Preparation
Mmmm! Delicious! 52teas outdid themselves with this one. It really is like sipping a warm chocolate malt. Very comforting on such a cold day! Soon we will be out in 13 degree (!) weather for our run and I’ll be glad to have this warm bit of comfort in my tummy. I’ll probably need another when I return. For medicinal purposes, of course.
I’m upping the rating because I found myself craving this tea. Always a good sign with a tea.
Preparation
Unlike other people who have tried this tea, I love dates. I eat a date just before nearly every workout. My special fancy party food includes dates stuffed with marzipan (which is a challenge to get stuffed and on the table for guests without having them disappear in the meanwhile.) So I expected to like this tea.
There is a slightly odd perfume-like fragrance from this tea. It doesn’t smell like dates. It doesn’t really taste like dates to me either. It has a strong bitterness with that odd perfume-like note. Hmmmm. I don’t really care for it.
Preparation
Here’s another good party food. Take dates, stuff with a whole almond, then roll in a cookie spice blend of spices on the outside. Very nummy.
Mmmm! That sounds wonderful. It’s now on my list. All I need is a party.
did it remind you a little of raisins?
“Unlike other people who have tried this tea, I love dates.” …that would be me. I don’t know what I was thinking. I think it’s one of the things that I don’t like but would really like to like.
@Madison Somewhat like raisins in the aftertaste. It has some of that darkness that raisins have but none of the sweetness.
@Angrboda You are definitely one of the people I was thinking of. However Bethany had also never had dates without bacon (an idea that pretzels my mind). As to what you were thinking, I suspect it is merely that hope springs eternal.
Heh, yeah Bethany got half of mine. Jillian got the other half. I have to agree though that I wouldn’t have thought dates and bacon would have been a very obvious combination, but on the other hand I seem to recall having heard it mentioned before.
@Carolyn. Hmmm. Bacon date tea. Hmmmm. :)
Dates stuffed with almonds and then wrapped in bacon is a pretty popular tapas item. And it tastes delicious.
that’s exactly what I got when I had it without sugar! I was totally curious to see if you agreed. I know you wont…. but it’s MUCH better with sugar
@Angrboda: I haven’t received the tea you sent yet, but Canada Post seems heavily backlogging with incomming mail only for some reason. It’s unfortunate since I am quite eager to try this tea out.
Jillian, Poot! I sent it the same time as Bethany’s and hers arrived safely. I hope it’s not lost because I sent it as a normal letter. Cheaper, but unfortuantely no tracking. I understand there was a lot of delay due to snowstorms and such, so hopefully it’s still out there somewhere and on its way.
I normally don’t like mint teas even though I love mint in candy. However this doesn’t taste like ordinary tea mint. This is more like eating a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie and I’m enjoying it quite a bit. I need to dash out the door to travel to MIssippi. Next time I drink it I’ll be more exacting with the description. (There will definitely be a next time with this one.)
Preparation
I gently set the tea on the table to steep when my beloved looked up from his book (a rarity since he hardly ever notices me when he’s deep in a book), sniffed the air and said, “Chocolate tea?” It really does smell good, like good deep chocolate.
It tastes wonderful with a creamy, malted, chocolate, mocha taste and something slightly grassy. No bitterness. No astringency. No weird dusty taste. It’s a far cry from my yerba mate experiences of twenty years ago. (Those were the experiments that led me to swear never, ever, ever again to try yerba mate.) It’s quite nice. I can see using this as a base with ice and soy milk for a chocolate malt smoothie.
Preparation
I absolutely agree with you. 52teas has come out with some really wonderfully flavorful and toothsome blends.
How does malt compare in taste to say genmai cha? Is it all in my head that they’d taste even close to being similar? If I’m completely insane just tell me lol. I already know I am:) Sometimes I have a hard time wrapping my head around things and malt in a tea is one of them.
It’s quite different. Genmaicha has more of a roasted popcorn taste and since it is a green tea, it has that as well. This has much more of a chocolate taste with a roundness provided by the malt. In genmaicha the roasted popcorn is front and center in the taste. in this tea, the malt is in a minor supporting role. It primarily makes the tea taste creamy and rich and gives the chocolate more of a chocolate taste.
Gotcha. I was basically wondering if malt and the toastyness of the rice were anything alike. I obviously know the mate and chocolate would make it taste vastly different.
Sounds like a chocolate milkshake, minus the slightly grassiness. Is today 52teas tea day? Seems everyone’s having it.
I am learning so much from these notes and the subsequent comments… It’s surely going to enrich and deepen my own experiences as I learn the vocabulary and the possibilities. Thanks, you guys. :-)
@Ricky A few weeks ago 52teas did a Steepster Select. My guess is that everyone’s tea has arrived and people are now sampling.
@Andrea I learn a great deal here as well which is good for my mind, great for my sensuality, and terrible for my pocketbook. ;)
@Cofftea I’ve thought about your question and I still think the answer is no. Malt has a very round, non-bitter, slightly sweet taste that becomes creamy when it interfaces with bitter things (like chocolate). The roasted rice grains have a slightly bitter, strongly roasted taste that becomes more bitter around bitter things. It is as if genmaicha is coffee and malt is vanilla-touched Cheerios.
Haha ok, thanks:)
Smoothie sounds like a good idea, I totally agree.
you should be a writer ; )
I’d definitely freak out. Glad you’re both okay! And glad that you found an appropriately celebratory tea.
Win.
This is terrifying! I am not an outdoors person at all… I would have been curled up in the fetal position in the swampy snow, crying my eyes out. Happy you guys had such an exhilarating adventure!
@takgoti We actually freak out at different things so it works out. I freak at dead animals and dead animal parts so when I saw the skull (and the dead turtle which i didn’t mention) I freaked. He freaks out at being in water or being wet. Falling through the ice was frightening for both of us, of course, but he was totally freaked for a half hour afterwards because he was wet, while I was fine with being wet. We were both worried about being lost, but that is something that works out really well if you can maintain your head and analyze the situation, which we were able to do once we had calories flowing through our veins again. So it was all good.
As to the celebratory tea, I decided that this was clearly a test of tea and that whatever tea I picked would have its rating pushed up since in distress and joy I picked that one.
@teaplz It was mostly fun with just a few terrifying moments. And we were warmly bundled so even though we got wet we were fine in the end. I have to tell you that I have tried the refuse-to-move-and-cry strategy and it didn’t work for me. I was hanging from a cliff afraid to go up or down and started crying saying that I wouldn’t move. It was pointed out to me that movement is necessary and it’s a life lesson I’ve taken with me. I’m sure you would have pulled out of the fetal position once you noticed that the snow was cold. ;)
@Heyes Definitely a win!
@Teaspoon I used to be a writer/editor. Programming and project management pay better and people treat you better.
Wow…Awesome adventure! My husband and I freak out at different things too. At some point we take turns saying to the other, “Ok, don’t freak out on me!” It’s a balance that works for us. This makes me think…it’s been a little too long since we did anything like this. Must remedy.
@LENA What led us to that particular swamp in the first place was a geocache. You have some of the prettiest geocaches in the country in the Murfreesboro area. You could take a look. Some of the areas there are just beautiful to hike through.
Niiice. I’ve done a little geocaching myself. I bought my mom a GPS a few years ago to get her into it as well. Murfreesboro has a few cache site that are in really old cemeteries…very cool…and really nice stories behind them.