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Kittenna drank Tangerine Ginger by Rishi Tea

6111 tasting notes

So sorry for spamming your dashboards, everyone. I just looked, and the vast majority of tasting notes on mine, at least, are from me…. :D:D

This was today’s random selection from my box of teas from LiberTEAS! Thank you!

The dry tea smelled sharply of ginger, and unlike DavidsTea’s Strawberry Ginger, I wasn’t getting a weird artificial smell from it, which was good. I also smelled citrus, although can no longer remember how strong it was, nor exactly what citrus fruit it reminded me of, and there was only a 1-cup sample packet so I used it all (although it sure looked like there was enough for more than one, the packet instructions indicate to use the whole package for 8oz. of boiling water).

Watching the colour changes as this one steeped was interesting – started off green, then turned pinkish, before settling into a deep pinkish purple colour. Although the instructions indicated a 5-minute infusion, after 4 minutes I took out the teaball as I was fairly certain it was strong enough…

Holy doodles. Strong enough can’t accurately describe what I just tasted. Uh… I think I need to water it down :| Major hibiscus alert too – so tart!

Hmm, too lazy to get more water. Small sips it is!

I forgot to mention how it smells. The aroma is gingery, and strangely, if I poke my nose into the cup it’s almost a bit sour. We’re gonna blame the hibiscus here. I can definitely taste ginger, which is lovely, but there are a host of other weird, strong flavours in there, mixed with incredible tartness and a strange sweet lingering taste in the mouth. Silly girl, when will you learn to trust your instincts and remove the teaball according to smell/sight and not timer? I must say though, I don’t think that this one would be improved a great deal by decreasing the amount of dry tisane used or the infusion time. Definitely not a tea for me. We’ll see if I make it through the cup (doubtful, given the plethora of deliciousness surrounding me).

Preparation

Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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Kittenna
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Haha, after typing ‘too lazy to get more water’, I considered tacking it onto a bathroom trip (which are VERY frequent right now). Which reminded me of comments on (Ninavampi??)’s post where K S talked about combining trips to the kitchen and bathroom and minimizing footsteps… and I was amused at myself :P

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I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

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