111 Tasting Notes
Another wonderful tea from Whispering Pines! This one has such a rich and deep aroma, like a damp mossy forest, tinged with a soft wisp of cocoa. And the taste lives up to the scent: golden smooth, with strong notes of cocoa and bread and honey. This is the kind of tea that makes me slow down and pay attention to each sip, because it’s just that good. And it keeps me coming back for multiple cups, too. I’ll have to take more detailed notes sometime, about the nuances in each steeping. For now, though, I’m just enjoying how delicious it is.
One of the best black teas that I’ve tried so far. I might not always be able to restock it, but I’ll be sad if I don’t have any around, that’s for sure!
So have I mentioned that I love ginger? Yeah, this one has been sitting on my wishlist for a while. It finally arrived in the mail yesterday, so I was eager to try a cup.
As expected, this is a well-balanced tea. Like many of Lupicia’s flavored blacks, I find the base to be on the light side, and very smooth for a black tea. The ginger is strong, especially in the scent of the dry leaf— to the point that it had an almost chemical smell to it, when I first opened the bag. But that sharpness softened out once the tea was brewed, and the orange aroma became more prominent. I like that the orange adds some sweetness to this tea… I find that ginger on its own can be pretty harsh and earthy, so the citrus note makes it more accessible. (It’s not a super-sweet tea, though, by any means! I’ll have to try it with a little sugar or honey sometime.) A nice tea for lovers of citrus and/or ginger, and useful for warming up as the weather gets cooler.
Not surprisingly, this is a wonderful oolong tea! It has that familiar floral aroma I find so soothing in an oolong, but with a strong honey note to it. (Because of the leafhoppers?) As for the taste, it has very prominent honey notes, possibly the strongest that I’ve noticed in a tea so far. The first steep also had a floral note that reminded me of lilacs, and a hint of something fruity, possibly plum. There was a soft roasted aftertaste, with a little bit of dryness (which I love!). I wouldn’t call it astringency— just a slight powdery dryness that lingered pleasantly on the tongue.
This is a lovely tea, great for multiple steeps. I’ll have to try it gongfu style sometime!
This was a surprising one for me! I noticed that some Steepster users recommend this tea as having great chocolate flavor, so I was expecting it to become my new favorite chocolate tea. And like many of Lupicia’s flavored blacks, it’s smooth and sweet and delicious. But to me, at least, it has a very specific flavor of chocolate. Mostly it smells and tastes like cocoa powder. And while it’s very sweet, it also has a kind of nut-flavored quality? I’m not exactly sure how to describe it.
I’ve tasted Lupicia’s chocolate before, in their Chocolate Strawberry Pu’er. At the time, I thought the nutty taste was from the pu’er, not the chocolate. But as it turns out, that’s part of Lupicia’s chocolate flavor. It’s not bad at all; it still makes for a delightful cup of tea. Very rich and sweet, and it smells delicious. I plan to experiment with this one, try adding sugar and milk to see what it brings to the flavors.
But overall, I think I might prefer my chocolate teas to be more on the aromatic side, instead of having a lot of powdery chocolate flavor. I also seem to like a stronger black tea (to the point that it’s a little bitter). So far, Adagio’s Chocolate tea is my favorite among the chocolate teas I’ve tried. That being said, Adagio’s Chocolate Chip (also delicious!) seems to be more highly recommended, and the Chocolate is generally rated lower on their website. So I think my preferences in chocolate tea might be a little unusual!
Mmm, I enjoyed this one! Steeped a big cup of it this morning, and it was wonderfully strong. I almost couldn’t detect the smoke, it was so subtle. The bergamot was subtle too, and I didn’t notice any grapefruit flavor, but I was in a hurry so I probably just overlooked it. There was some astringency, pretty typical of a black tea. But it was smoother than I might have expected, given the thick mouthfeel. I’m anxious to try this tea again in the near future, when I can take more careful notes. I suspect I might be stocking up on it, once I’ve finished the sample.
As a side note, I’ve been curious to try Russian-style teas like this one for a while now. Between this and Upton’s Finest Russian Caravan, I think I might be a fan! They’re strong and dark and have a slightly smoky depth. No overwhelming campfire taste, just nice black tea that I bet will taste even better when winter comes around.
