New Tasting Notes

The strongest flavor is licorice. It’s quite sweet. There might be a bit of other stuff in there, but it’s really mostly that licorice. It’s not bad, but not something I would choose. It doesn’t need sweetener. Since this one is a bit boring, I find myself choosing it when I just need hydration and am not paying attention to flavor. I unsubscribed from their subscription box a while ago, and I think this was the last tea I had to finish!

What a superb tea! My bag of The Roaster’s Red is of the June 2024 harvest. And I brewed it western style, using much less leaf than directed. I look forward to a gongfu session to explore the progression of flavors, but there was plenty to unpack even here. The first impression was to notice the (not smokey) roasted character that comes from charcoal roasting. It was interesting and, since I dislike smokiness in tea, a relief. The roastiness soon gave way to very strong and smooth almost oolong floral flavors, with an extended finish lasting several minutes. As I read the description by Song, I did, indeed, sense the notes of blackcurrent, which then gave way to a long sensation of peach. This all from the first mouthful! The aroma in the cooling cup had potent notes of brown sugar, which matched the smooth, sweet sensations in my mouth. As the infusion continued to cool, the roastiness intensified and the fruity finish seemed to linger longer on the palate, suggesting that this might also make a terrific iced tea. I found that my first infusion of only about 1g leaf in 8 oz boiling spring water for 2 minutes was fruitier and smoother than my second session of 2.5g dry leaf, steeped longer. The longer, stronger session intensified all the flavors and aromas, becoming almost too roasty. I haven’t yet had the courage to brew it exactly as directed, which would be 5 g leaf in 5 oz water. The tea isn’t cheap, but its potency makes it a luxurious value. I’ll rate this as a 95 and highly recommend it!

I debated about adding this to my recent OBT order, but I still have half a tin of each (which makes a full tin combined), it was difficult to leave this out but OBThas so many good blends! Not too coconuty and not too vanilla, just the right amount of each. Hopefully a cupboard staple for me.

Tried this after getting a bag for free and it’s pretty good after adding in some milk and cinnamon to it. I don’t think it changed how tired I was but was a nice cup of tea!

Didn’t expect much from this one given I had never heard of it before. And indeed, at least on my first try, I am very unimpressed. It seems this is part of the FT series based on other websites selling the cake.

Anyways, this one is just very uninteresting. The smell is exactly like a Xiaguan tea, but the taste is nothing like the typical profile. Regardless of how good it is after a rest, it’s not worth the price at all. Though, I will try it one more time after letting it acclimate, and will adjust my rating appropriately.

Sharedown

My son has been cold steeping tea a lot lately so I offered to bring him a tea specifically created for that. There is only enough left for one carafe. Now I can move on and try broken Cloud Iced Tea. I have liked the first two I tried and I am pretty excited for that one!

Somebody once said that waiting for a major weather event that’s been local headline news for days is like being stalked by a killer turtle. Our turtle is due to arrive Tuesday—foot of snow; sub-zero temps. I don’t do even do the mild version of winter well, so something soothing is much needed this evening.

I haven’t written about this much—a fall acquisition from an out-of-town Fresh Market (Whole Foods lookalike), but I’m down to just a few bags. It is lavender heavy, but not like grandma’s talcum powder. I’m not sure there’s enough valerian in the blend to have much effect on my night’s sleep, but the overall effect soothing and makes me think of lilacs in the sunshine and honeybees browsing in my container garden.

Day 2 of the Inoki advent calendar. Made this gong fu, currently on steep 6 and still going strong. I’m going to have to stop after this and hope I can still sleep tonight XD

This is incredibly buttery, creamy with floral undertones and no harshness at all. Even this late steep still has a butter cookie quality to it. I’m inclined to agree with Roswell Strange that this might be flavored given how rich it is. That’s ok, this tea is delicious and I am finding it hard to care about whether it’s flavored right now.

I really don’t like hops. This tea basically tasted like pure steeped hops, but I dumped in a bunch of French Vanilla creamer and drank it anyhow. I might have found it more redeeming had the base been more prominent, but it was not.

This may be an unfair review as I am just getting over a cold, so I will try the tea again in the near future. But for now, my opinion stands. And btw, I got this sample with my second order from TSR, where I bought a tuo of 2007 V93 and a cake of 2007 Haiwan.

Given the fame of this recipe, I was expecting much more. There’s nothing wrong with this tea, it’s just bland and simple. Sure, it tastes like a shou puerh, but without much positive going for it. The primary flavor is death/decay and not much else.