1719 Tasting Notes
This is the season in America where we reflect on being thankful for the good things of the past year and hopeful for the future of things that are not so good. This morning I realized how long it had been since I drank a tea that was meh. This last summer the world of tea has really opened up to me and I have been, yes, I will say it, blessed to drink some very good tea.
I intentionally grabbed this today to remind me of where I came from, so to speak. My son gave this one to me. I thought I had written a review of it before but couldn’t locate any notes. It is green tea, chamomile, the dreaded hibiscus flowers, orange peel, citric acid, pomegranate flavor, raspberry flavor, and Japanese matcha. So, what the tea is named after is just flavoring? Hmmm. 3m steep. The bag plumps up nicely. That is a plus for a Stash tea – the home of notoriously overpriced and undersized bags.
I don’t do many fruit teas. They scare me. The fruit is almost always way overdone and artificial tasting. Especially raspberry. I can barely taste the tea in this but it isn’t as bad as expected. Reminds me of a hot shaved ice – wrap your mind around that one. The pomegranate tames the raspberry so it isn’t overwhelming. Still, this is oversweet Kool-Aid in a mug. Reminds me of the Republic of Tea pomegranate I had some time back. Something in this is leaving a bitter aftertaste. I didn’t pour the cup out but I don’t want any more of it. Meh. Here is to wonderful future cups!
Ok, after receiving advice on smoky teas, I had to revisit this one.
First a story – I shared this with a co-worker today who is an all Twinings and the time kind of guy. He said the brew smells like roasted almonds. Then he tasted it and said, “Dude that’s just wrong. It’s like slapping puppies. It tastes like burnt coffee.” He poured the rest of his partial cup out and went back to his Lady Grey. By the way, the first time I brewed this he had cup number two and loved it.
Today I steeped enough for both of us to try on cup one. So I tasted it, and knowing what to expect this time, I did not find it nearly as off putting as the first tasting. I am not flinching. Progress. As the cup cooled the smoke diminished and the other notes started to emerge for me today. Yeah.
The two or three cups you can get after the initial steep are fantastic and easily deserving of a 90+ rating. My feeling is the average first timer will not get past the initial shock to realize there is a really good cup of tea here. I hope I am wrong. I bump my rating a bit.
I have been doing a lot of serious tea drinking for several days. Today as I sit here with my raspberry filled doughnut it just feels like a fun day (the boss is gone that helps). So I dug through my few remaining bags and found this one. It is actually pretty good on its own but today I steeped half a cup as a concentrate added some sweetener, and then poured it and some warm milk into the French press. Pumped a few times and a creamy goodness latte emerged. As the creaminess calmed down I added a bit of Diet Coke for the bite. Ok, the Coke was maybe a bad idea but it was still fun (I love chocolate milk and Coke). Of course now I have a bigger mess than usual to clean up. Oh how I suffer for my art.
Instead of saving back some of the samples that I am pretty sure I am going to love, I notice I am grabbing them first. Oh well, here goes another. The dry buds are long and silvery white with a bit of green. Very fresh and sweet smelling. Hate to over use the hay word but that’s what I picture when I inhale. Let’s call it alfalfa because that sounds cooler.
Steeped per the instructions for 1 ½ minutes. Wet leaf smells really good. The brew is very pale almost clear with a greenish tint. What a contrast to the puerh from yesterday! Hard to believe they both come from the same plant. Well, not literally but you know what I mean.
The first sip is light with cucumber notes or melon as some may interpret it. Sweet with a touch of grass. I am not sure my description is doing this justice. This is a really good cup of relaxation. My stress level has been through the roof lately and this is just the vacation moment I needed. I am sitting back and staring out the window while sipping the cup. Ahhhh. I would hate to imagine any one would slam this down and not take the time to appreciate it. Cups two and three were every bit as pleasurable.
Of all the teas in Teavivre’s web store this is the one I was most curious about. I specifically requested it be included in the samples. I have only had one other rose tea and I did not like it at all, however rose and puerh together just sounds interesting.
The toucha comes wrapped in paper with four in the sample envelope. First brew per the instructions. The toucha bubbled the instant the water hit it and crumpled almost as fast. I don’t know if you are supposed to do a wash with these, so I did not. After two minutes in boiling water, the brew is very dark like burgundy wine. The leaf is almost powdery small with a bit of rose petal. The aroma is pure ripe puerh (you know that “Eeww, do I really want to drink this?” smell. To which you happily reply, “Well, yeah.”). There is only the slightest hint of rose.
The sip is not even close to what I expected. Not at all like the green puerhs I reviewed recently and definitely not nasty like the one canned cooked puerh I bought at the local international food mart. The rose is way in the background and may even reside only in my imagination. The main flavor is leather, makes me think of a horse saddle, with a bit of smoke and spice. As it cools, the smoke and spice subside but the leather remains.
Second steep, only 1 minute this time. This is the darkest cup of tea I have ever made. Dark as dark chocolate. Still that amazing leather taste and a touch of pepper. Third cup back to two minutes. Similar to the second, a little less pronounced. Fourth cup, three minutes, still flavorful but the leather is gone. Just warm and creamy now with the first real earthy notes. Still reasonably dark and flavorful. I may try to push this further later but I am pleased with today’s results. Pretty sure with real short steeps I could get a lot of cups from this but a few really intense cups just seems more appropriate.
I know puerh makes a lot of people nervous but I really like this. Interesting and complex. I kind of wish the rose came through more, but given my past experience maybe it is better this way.
Preparation
I specifically requested this one as well in my sample. Definitely sounds interesting!
It sounds nice, I’d imagine the rose being weak is actually a good thing.
The way you describe it makes it sound like how Cabernet is described. I think.
Given the choice between rose and leather, I’ll take the leather. First time I have ever experienced this in a tea. If you get the chance, you really should try this and I hope your experience is as positive as mine.
For this pu-erh tea, I suggest you can rinse the it like other loose leaf teas. Also, the rinsing time should not be last so long. :)
Honestly, with this puerh it would seem like a crime to waste a drop of it. I will keep it in mind for future touchas.
This sounds wonderful. I have only had a few puer teas but I have like all of them except for one green raw puer and even that one wasn’t terrible. Maybe it is all in my head, but puer really does seem to settle an angry tummy. I will have to try this my my good friend who LOVES puer.
Dry leaf is small pieces and smells of hay and unflavored pipe tobacco. I have never smoked and can’t stand the smell of ash trays but fresh tobacco is a pleasant aroma. Used a healthy spoonful of leaf. Steeped longer than intended, about 3 minutes with below boiling water per label instructions. Wet leaf is smoked hay.
First sip, wow, this is smoky. I don’t believe I have experienced this in a loose leaf before so I am a bit taken aback. I can pick out the Keemun underneath and can really taste it in the aftertaste. It is pleasant but the smoke dominates. It may take me a couple cups to decide what I think of this tea. Cup two and three – strange, this isn’t smoky at all. It’s just a good cup of tea. I guess if you really like the smoke this would be disappointing. Personally, I think if there is a lot of smoke involved then there should be pulled pork. Hey, there is a flavor for all you flavor folk – smoked pulled pork, oh yeah.
Yeah, more samples from Teavivre! Haven’t even tasted it yet and I am loving it. I used half of one of the 4 sample packets. The dry leaf looks small but smells amazing. First, I noticed malt. As I waited for the water to heat, I keep wondering where is that chocolate scent coming from? Oh yeah, it’s the tea. Steeped 2 minutes (increasing on later steeps) with below boiling water per instructions furnished on the sample label. The brew has a slight caramel aroma and is a deep reddish golden color. The wet leaf has a bit of a coffee edge and swollen leaf reveals small broken pieces.
I tried this without sweetener and thought is was a bit beige. So as is my custom, I used sweetener. Now the sip is what I would classify as medium bodied. You don’t have to work at tasting it, but it doesn’t grab you by the throat and kick your teeth in either. Nice. Smooth caramel taste, lightly malt, and creamy. The aftertaste lingers without being offensive. A civilized cup for when you have the time to enjoy it. Three infusions from the leaves.
I don’t normally drink a lot of straight black hot tea. This is my second black from Teavivre. These teas are really winning me over. I honestly didn’t know a black tea could have this much depth. Only problem is my cup keeps going empty! Very nice tea.
Started off my day by going to Steak & Shake and ordering the portabello mushroom sausage skillet, bagel (cream cheese of course) and Darjeeling tea. Very good start but left me with onion breath – go figure. Then off to the pet store before swinging by Barnes & Noble. Ordered a cup of this in the cafe.
I was so excited that it really did smell like red hots and big red gum. HOWEVER, the tea was so hot I burned my tongue and I was still dealing with onion breath. Sat in the window stirring for like forever trying to cool this down. Cinnamon, orange, & clove – some of my favorite add ons for tea all in one cup. I really enjoyed this. Can’t say I could taste the black tea – which was CTC in the sachet – and I probably wouldn’t want this every day but will definitely add it to my Christmas list.
Preparation
Tried a different brewing method today by bringing the water to a boil, pouring into the pitcher, then added the pod. The old method of pouring water over the pod works better. This way the bloom remained floating on top the water for a very long time. It did eventually sink and fully open but I was beginning to wonder. The bloom is very pretty with a silver needle cradle holding a marigold while an arch of jasmine flowers rises above it to hold a globe amaranth. A few loose needles fell off but overall the display stayed intact. The brew is pale amber with a green tint.
Once again the flowers dominate. I believe the primary flavor here is the marigold. It is not an unpleasant taste but also not one I associate with tea. A bit milky? I think this would be good with honey. Not having any honey, I used sweetener. I like the taste of this better than the True Love flower tea but the display isn’t as spectacular.
Final note – while drinking the first cup, I left the remainder of the pot to steep to see what would happen. The result was a dark reddish brown tea resembling OP iced tea. Amazingly it made little difference to the flavor. No bitterness. No astringency. Mostly marigold flavored brew. As with most of my flower tea ratings I combine my sipping pleasure with the visual aspect and skew the rating slightly on the display side.
