1434 Tasting Notes
So stressed out right now… But I won’t go there. There is tea to drink and write about.
Dry Leaf: Medium-sized. Tightly twisted. Dark Brown. Dusty.
Aroma: Sweet wood. I know this scent, but I can’t pin it.
Wet Leaf: Milk chocolate brown. Kinda open.
Aroma: Burnt toast. Slight charcoal. Woody and sweet.
Flavor: Wood. Wood shavings. Sawdust.
Mouth Feel: Slightly astringent but smooth. After a second infusion, the astringency increases twofold.
I was feeling better after writing this but I just found a fishy email…. ugh. On with the day.
Liquor aroma: Woody and creamy.
Plum Deluxe was very kind to donate a bunch of samples to our tea society. This one seems the least offensive to my flavor-despising palate. By that I mean natural and artificial flavors. Once you switch to pure, it’s hard to go back. Despite that, I found the wet aroma resembled a buttercream frosted sugar cookie to a T. I took a little sip and thought it was decent. My daughter really enjoyed it.
Steepster seems to be getting over its cold. Huzzah. Redoing this note.
When I first opened up this tin, I wasn’t impressed. It says Matcha Superior on my lid, so I guess I expected a finer green color, but now I see the title has been adjusted to Barista grade. That makes more sense. Using a kamairicha as a base is an interesting idea. I would not call this matcha since it isn’t made from tencha, but I’m a stickler…
Dry: Slight umami and vegetal notes.
Flavor: Grassy. A bit bitter. Some umami.
Mouth feel: Smooth but with a noticeable astringency.
This one is better for lattes. But I’ll drink it straight too. Give my palate a workout.
Another gift from Mark of Kobold’s Cup. It’s always fun trying out experimental tea. Partly, because you are part of a select group trying it, but also because I love enhancing my palate. This is an incredible white tea. Earthy but with an amazing sweetness.
Smooth mouth feel.
Dry: stone fruits. Sweetness. But mainly dry, earthy notes like dried leaves and fall aromas.
Wet Leaf: sweet, earthy, Miso dashi! Peppers
The more you infuse, the more the earthy notes come out.
Krampus, A limited edition holiday blend
Everything from Kobold’s cup is so unique! This bag, in particular, is thanks to Mark. We did a tea trade, and I feel like I need to send him more. I was very surprised that he sent this! Thank you!
The dry aroma is all over the place. Sweet, citrus, holiday, herbal, and vanilla. Don’t get too close to your aroma beak, or it will clear you out.
The liquor aroma is a mix of chocolate, vanilla, and a slight anise note.
Flavor-wise, it’s a mix of cranberry, chocolate, herbal, and a hint of citrus. At first, it wasn’t really above a 65 for me, but the more I sip it, the more it’s growing on me.
The wet leaf is my favorite part, I think. Reminds me of those potpourri bags you find at craft fairs sometimes.
This was not my originally intended afternoon tea. A new can of matcha from Yunomi with a ‘new’ FB marketplace chawan was my intention. But suddenly I saw the last bit I had of this peeking out of the package, and I knew it was time. Being born in the 80s, I felt a nice jive with this one. Grammarly, wants me to make jive into vibe but I’m not doing it…
The aroma of the dry leaf seems to have faded, but the intense 1800s house of the wet leaf is still there. And quite pungent. This is the type of tea that you need a snack with. It’s a bit heavy in the tummy. WOW, that smells so old! I know that sounds terrible, but anytime I open the gaiwan, I’m immediately hit with old decaying wood, mushrooms, some dark cherry wood, a bit of grandma’s basement…. I just had a sad realization that I don’t have a grandparent’s basement to recheck that smell anymore…
More tea. I made a video. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dbqTScIZKs0
Every time I open up these packages, I forget that there is a tea bag within. They look fancy, but each bag I’ve taken out so far has ripped in some fashion. Makes me feel less bad about wasting them by cutting them open.
No dry aroma. Generally, I don’t expect much aroma from a tea bag, though.
The dry leaf is decent-looking. Very small rolled leaves. You can tell it’s a roasted oolong by how brown it is.
Flavor: Roast notes, a bit of charcoal and toast, but also plasticky? Plaster… Something unpleasant is sitting on my tongue.
The wet leaf aroma is musty, slightly wet charred wood, and a bit of deep forest berries.
