761 Tasting Notes
Despite the floral bits in this tea, they’re barely noticeable under the mint of the tea, which works for me…had a cup hot last night, and a cold steep today. Nice and light and refreshing on a warm day like today. Normally I would not get a tea like this, but I was given a small amount from a friend to try, so I did. The rose petals are usually a no go for me, but she said they were very understated and barely noticeable in it once brewed.
I originally got a small bag of this to try…only a few servings worth. I was disappointed and didn’t even review here, The flavour was weak and thin, and I had hoped for something richer and pie-like. In the back of my head I had said I wanted to try it as a latte, to see if that made a difference, and today was that day.
After my herbalist appointment at a local college, I stopped at DT as it was on the way home (just down the street from the school where the herbal clinic was). It had also gotten considerably windier and colder than it had been on my way up there a few hours earlier. I’d only had water up to that point (which is good), but I had wanted something hot on the way home to comfort me, and this did.
I’m not sure if my mental preparation for this being better as a latte, or the use of more tea to make the latte, or the latte treatment in general did the trick. Might be a little of everything. I think that the milk from the latte made it richer, and more pie like for me. I think the milk may have brought out a bit more coconut. It was still on the weak side, but maybe less weak? I’m curious how using coconut milk in this would be.
All in all, I might get a 25g bag to play with this more. I’m not sure it is worth it because you have to use so much more leaf to make a latte (or just a stronger brew), and oolongs are usually more expensive, but who knows….I might still do it.
I picked this up recently, in an attempt to find a low or no caffeine chai. I picked up the Kashmiri Chai a few weeks ago, and the blend of chai spices and green tea was nice. I decided to give this one a go, despite my dislike of rooibos, especially red rooibos. But I like chai, and I like coconut, and I was hoping that these two flavours might dominate and reduce the bits of rooibos that I dislike, and I am happy to say that I think I was right. I had some of this yesterday with a headache, and I was pleasantly surprised. I only picked up a small amount of this to try, but I will try a bit more when this sample runs out. I think this could be a regular thing for me..
I’m unsure of this one. It has hibiscus in it, which I realized after I got it home. It is not too strong though. I did learn the hard way not to steep it hot and then cool in the fridge, or even run a little hot water over to cold steep. The white chocolate chips went funny. It isn;t a bad tasting tea. And as a caffeine free blend, I am glad they went with green rooibos over red. Something is still not meshing well for me. I don’t know if I will get more of this or not.
Follow up to the original note…I have used more leaf in the subsequent steeps, and it is a stronger flavour, but I still find it milder than I had expected. The vanilla pear just sort of blends into everything, and the cardamom butter is more of a mouthfeel. Despite this, I do really like this tea, as a tea, and how it tastes to me. But I just don’t get the flours from it as I was hoping to. Would I get more if I could? Quite possibly. It does make a quite lovely breakfast or morning tea. I am upping my rating on this.
Preparation
I only got 8g of this, as I had a toonie and wanted to keep it under that. This gave me about 2 servings. I initially had mixed feelings on this, as I thought it might be a little too artificial tasting, but I was kind of ok with that. I added milk with both steeps, and I really got that toffee flavour. Not much on the chocolate, as I think that mostly blended in with the pu erh base. I’ve always loved caramel and pu erh, so I didn’t think this would be any different. It is though. But not in a bad way. I think I still prefer some other caramel pu erh teas over this, but I did like this one a bit. I was actually going to get more today, but I ended up getting 3 green teas, and 2 more greens from Silk Road, so I gave this one a miss on the refill for now. But I will probably refill it soon.
Backlong….
One of my 3 samples….the genmai cha was the most prominent note, though as the tea cooled, I did notice more of the carrot cake notes, mostly in the spices and sort of sweet and creamy frosting notes. I can’t recall much, as I used the whole sample in my travel mug. I will likely get more on a future order.
