Pekoe Tea

AJRimmer Advent Day 17

I’ve never tried whiskey, so I really can’t say how well this tea captured that flavor. To me, it tasted of a jammy, baked fruit with hints of cinnamon or some other warming spice. If I were called upon to name it, I might go for something like “baked apple”. Quite a tasty, warming blend and very pleasant on a cold winter morning!

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this one. It’s grapey and deep and interesting. I think I liked it best cold. I don’t drink because alcohol tastes super gross to me, but this tea seems to be taking the tastiest part of alcohol and making it enjoyable. The flavor really lingers too. One of my favorite recent TTB finds!

I’ve been drinking this one every day at work for a week or so now, and I’m more pleased with it than I expected to be. Oolongs aren’t usually my favourite thing, but this one is very much like a light black tea, with just a touch of roastiness in the mid-sip. The orange flavouring is pretty natural-tasting, neither too sharp nor too sweet. Thankfully, there’s very little floral.

I bought this one on holiday two years ago, so it’s about time it saw the light of day. I’ve got so lazy in recent months that I’m basically just resteeping a generous teaspoon all day. The orange flavour departs around the third steep, but the light oolong that’s left behind is very palatable – no fuss, easy to drink, and not a tea I really have to pay attention to. That seems to suit my mood at the moment. I know it’s not like me, though, and I hope that one day soon I start to feel more like myself again.

I was informed that this tea would be very strong, so strong that a suggested brew time would be about 10 seconds. I, on the other hand, brewed the tea for over 30 seconds (though this was the third or fourth batch made from my leaves). The tea brewed a deep brown color, and smelled, in my opinion, strongly of rice. The taste was a wonderful mix of bitter and smokey, like the sensation of drinking sweet tea after eating barbecue, and a floral sweetness. The after taste was reminiscent of the feeling of minty freshly brushed teeth. I thoroughly enjoyed this tea.

Another of the teas I bought while on holiday in Scotland last year. Still behind! I drank this one a couple of times before I went away this year, but I was so busy with work that I didn’t take the time to log it. I’m still busy now – helping out the same team I was helping before I went away, but I’ve also decided that I’m not going to work my butt off if the people I’m helping aren’t putting in a similar amount of effort. And they’re not. So I’m logging my tea, and doing things at a more leisurely pace.

I used 1 tsp of leaf for this one – it looks like sencha, and contains a lot of really pretty pink cherry blossoms. So far, so good. The downside is that is smells a little too much like cherry cough medicine for my liking – artificial, over-sweet, and strange. I gave it 2.5 minutes in water cooled to around 180 degrees.

Turns out, it’s actually not too bad. There are hints of Carmex in the cherry flavour, but it doesn’t come across as super-artificial, which was my main fear. The flavouring is by no means subtle – you definitely know it’s cherry – but it’s fairly accurate in terms of flavour, so that’s okay. The green tea base is smooth, sweet, and slightly grassy. It’s a good pairing with the cherry – they get along well.

Overall, I’m okay with this one (which is a good thing, as I have a whole tin…) I’m tempted to try it cold brewed.

Very spinach-y vegetal aroma but the actual flavour is much softer and sweeter. Smooth sweetness that lingers into the aftertaste. Strong bean note. Sugary sweetness. Good mouthfeel.

Smokey. Vegetal. Slightly lacking in mouthfeel.

Very realistic raspberry flavour. Just the right amount of tartness. Raspberry is balanced quite nicely with rooibos flavour. The flavours might just be a little bit dilute but there isn’t anything overly artificial-tasting in this blend.

I was served this tea gong-fu style at Pekoe Tea in Edinburgh.

The first infusion reminded me of houjicha flavour but was also quite complex. I could taste a faint note of cinnamon. There was also a roasted and floral flavour. The wet leaves smelled a lot like pumpkin seed. I noticed a little bit of oolong bitterness- possibly because it was brewed too long, I’m not entirely sure what the standards are for serving this tea in the shop.

The second infusion had a smooth bean note with a wheat flavour.

I didn’t track the tasting notes for the infusions after that- I was having a great conversation with one of my classmates!

The complexity of the flavour is what I like most about this tea. I would definitely try it again if I had the chance- although it is quite expensive.