 Hello and Welcome to Day 9 of the Tea Series Challenge! I am under the weather today so my husband (being amazing) made me tea. He even took some pictures and timed the steep for me! This evening’s tea is Lemon Lavender, an herbal tea, with the description saying “This bouquet of garden herbs and flowers features sweet apple.” Since it is later in the day I wanted something without caffeine that would be relaxing and, hopefully, not keep me up late. Alright, this is a shorter intro since I’m feeling blah so let’s move on to the ratings:  Appearance/Color
It’s a kind of light yellow-brown (brown-yellow?). Aroma What I really smell is the lavender, which is nice since it’s the primary ingredient I wanted for relaxing. Flavor Still lavender, but also lemony which is hopefully good for my slightly sore throat. I had a good-for-colds tea with lemon and honey in the morning so a hint of lemon in my evening tea was perfect. Body or Mouthfeel This had a smooth mouthfeel, which felt good on my throat. Astringency/Structure It was definitely on the brighter side I think. Aftertaste/Finish This is another one of those teas where it just tasted like the tea after I finished drinking. Conclusion This was really good, in part because it matched my expectations pretty perfectly. It also felt good on my throat and, in general, was what I was looking for. I find that I like teas better when they meet, or exceed, my expectations.
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 Hello and Welcome to Day 8 of the Tea Series Challenge! This morning I went with an herbal tea as I wanted the ability to make the tea and let it sit, not worrying about steeping times or anything else. I know, herbal teas have a recommended steep time as well, but I find that they tend not to get bitter if they over-steep so I normally don’t worry about it. It’s probably a bad tea habit but it only affects me so I don’t worry too much about it. Today I chose Ginger Lemongrass, described as having “Citrus notes balanced by cool spearmint and mellow licorice.” I get that the citrus comes from the lemongrass but I find it interesting that ginger isn’t mentioned in the description. I’m beginning to suspect that there’s a tendency with this tea company to ignore one of the ingredients, if not both, from the title when writing their descriptions. Ah well, at least I know to temper my expectations based on the description. Also, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised and they’ll be notes of ginger after all. So, let’s get to the ratings and find out:  Appearance/Color
The color is a kind of yellowy-brown, fairly dark but I think that’s because I’ve let it steep for so long. Aroma I can smell the ginger. That doesn’t necessarily mean much for the flavor but it’s a good start. I’m a bit stuffy this morning so that’s the main thing I can smell. Flavor This is complex in a way I wasn’t expecting. Everything blends together but sticks out at the same time somehow. I can taste the ginger but it’s a little muted by the other flavors, not a bad thing as it can be overwhelming if not balanced correctly. Similarly, the licorice is there but muted. I had wondered about that as, while I like the flavor, it can be a controversial one. Citrus is definitely in the background but comes across to me as more brightness than lemon. That makes sense since lemongrass is different from just lemon. It almost tastes sweet as well, almost like I added honey except I didn’t. I’m not sure I’m getting spearmint but maybe it’s just so well blended it’s not sticking out to me. Body or Mouthfeel Similar to how it tastes a bit like I added honey, it feels a bit like I added honey as well. There’s a kind of, not quite syrupy but not just watery feel to it. Astringency/Structure It’s bright and sweet, almost cloying but thankfully not enough to put me off drinking it. Aftertaste/Finish The sweetness is my main note in the aftertaste as is a faint echo of the actual flavor blend. Conclusion I actually really like this tea. It is a bit sweet but next time I just wouldn’t let it steep as long. It would be a good tea for when I want ginger and lemon but I don’t want to be blown away by the flavors of it.  Hello and Welcome to Day 7 of the Tea Series Challenge! Today I am drinking another green tea, Passion Fruit Papaya. Intriguingly, the description has no mention of either passion fruit or papaya but instead says “Mango and sunflower petals create a fresh tropical taste.” Thankfully I chose this tea based on the mango and the tropical aspect, not with a yearning for passion fruit or papaya. Hopefully this means my expectations for today’s tea will be more in line with the description and the actuality of the tea. So, let’s get to the ratings and see if I’m right:  Appearance/Color
I remembered to make today’s tea in a white mug! I am, perhaps, irrationally proud of this; it’s the little things. The tea is a light yellow brown that looks bright and light. Aroma Mango! Actually there might be some passion fruit and/or papaya as well. It smells predominantly tropical. I’ll be honest and say it’s been some years since I last smelled a sunflower (I feel like I should rectify this come sunflower season.) so I’m not overly sure if that’s part of the aroma or not. Flavor I remembered to time the steep today and, while the green tea flavor is present, it is not bitter. Another small win! Honestly the tropical aspect is more in the aroma than it is in the flavor. It’s definitely there, but it doesn’t top or even really come up even with the flavor of the green tea. Body or Mouthfeel Like yesterday’s green tea, it is smooth but watery. It’s like a slightly smoother, maybe a tad thicker, version of water? Maybe I’m just not great at describing this section. Astringency/Structure It’s . . . maybe I’m just bad at describing in general. This section’s description on the ratings website never made the most sense to me anyway. It’s tea. It doesn’t feel overly bright, or acidic, or anything else. It just tastes like tea. Aftertaste/Finish Not surprisingly, given the flavor, the aftertaste is green tea. Conclusion I’m not overly disappointed by the tea; I wanted a green tea and I got one. Like yesterday, I kind of wanted more of a tropical punch, but there were tropical notes so it wasn’t really false advertising. My expectations definitely aligned better with the description and just left me wanting a bit more. Overall, today’s tea was good and my reaction was ok.  Hello and Welcome to Day 6 of the Tea Series Challenge! Continuing my citrus theme, today’s tea is Lemon Sorbetti. It’s a green tea described by the company as “Our ode to the icy Italian treat, featuring citrus and lemony herbs.” I timed the steeping again so I’m hopeful that the green tea won’t be a tad bitter this time. I’m also looking forward to a lemon tea this morning, maybe a bit of summer on a winter morning. Alright, in case it wasn’t obvious, I haven’t actually tried it yet. So, I’ll get sipping and we can move on to the ratings:  Appearance/Color
I brown-mugged it again. Whoops? You would think I would remember that that’s not a great idea for this section of the ratings but apparently not. Aroma It definitely smells lemony (yay!), but also like tea which is to be expected. Flavor OK, the first sip has been taken and I’m a bit underwhelmed. It’s definitely a lemon tea, and it’s a good one, but it’s very subtle. I think I was expecting more of a lemon punch than the gentle blend of green tea and lemon. I might have been thinking it would be more like adding a splash of lemon juice which, I suppose, does not match up with the herbiness promised in the description. Body or Mouthfeel I’m realizing that I tend to think of green teas as being watery but this is fairly smooth in a way that water isn’t. It’s pleasant. Astringency/Structure Clearly I was hoping for some brightness and acidity, which is not really what’s going on with this tea. Instead I would same it’s got some lightness to it on top of a steady herbiness, if that makes sense. Aftertaste/Finish The aftertaste was interesting in that it was pretty much the exact same as the initial flavor, excepting the dryness that I’m finding is common for me with green teas. Conclusion It’s a good tea with well-balanced flavors. It’s definitely lemony but I find that I’m a bit disappointed. I’ll definitely finish drinking it but I really wanted a punchier lemon flavor. In all honesty that’s more a problem with me than the tea, I think. If I step back from my expectations I will admit that the tea is definitely lemony herbiness, which matches the description perfectly. I just had expectations that, in hindsight, didn’t line up with the description.  Hello and Welcome to Day 5 of the Tea Series Challenge! My tea this evening (even later than yesterday’s tea) is Citrus Mint, “An herbal infusion of peppermint & citrus. Fantastic hot or on ice.” I wasn’t quite sure, when I chose this one, how citrusy it would be or which type of citrus. My guess was on lemon, just because it seems a common citrus for tea. I’ll be honest, though, I chose this tea mostly for the peppermint. In the evening I find that peppermint tea is a tea that calms me down a bit, without being a chamomile or similar tea. I’m never sleepy afterwards, just a bit more relaxed. So, now that I’m a bit relaxed, let’s move on to the ratings:  Appearance/Color
Today’s tea was steeped in a small, white mug/cup so it was easier to see the color. It was a light golden brown color, which was quite nice to see in the mug. Aroma The aroma, no real surprise, was mostly peppermint. While it was easy to tell that it wasn’t just peppermint tea, the other aromas weren’t easy for me to discern over, or perhaps around, the peppermint. Flavor Similarly, the flavor profile of the tea was largely minty. Other flavors were underneath it, but peppermint was definitely dominant and, while sipping, the other flavors disappeared a bit. Body or Mouthfeel This tasted a bit on the thicker side. It was definitely not a watery tea but it was smooth and easy to drink. Astringency/Structure As advertised it was a minty tea, which came off to me as being fairly bright and light (despite the mouthfeel being on the thick side - I promise it made sense to me while I was writing my notes and sipping the tea!). It’s possible that the underlying citrus added to the brightness and toned down, just a bit, the mintiness. Honestly, though, it was hard for me to tell. Aftertaste/Finish The aftermath was probably the one time where the citrus came through. Don’t get me wrong, the peppermint was still there as an aftertaste. Finally though I could tell that there was citrus, and it did taste faintly like lemon. Conclusion I’m pleased to say that the tea was delicious and it fulfilled my desire for peppermint. However, while the tea was one of the better peppermint teas I’ve had, it was hardly an earth shattering or surprising tea. As I wasn’t looking for a surprise this suited me just fine today.  Hello and Welcome to Day 4 of the Tea Series Challenge! Today’s tea is a bit late since I had a family obligation this morning and did not want to lose my memory of the tea before I could write this post up. For my afternoon tea I went looking through my sampler boxes looking at herbal teas. I try to only drink black tea or green tea in the morning, but also, after yesterday’s slightly disappointing green tea, I just felt like an herbal tea. A few days ago one of my nephews, who is into tea, had talked about liking a blend called “Blueberry Merlot” that had been in his tea advent calendar. I thought it sounded really good and was excited today when I realized that it was in one of the boxes. I’m not sure if it’s exactly the same since I don’t know which company provided the advent calendar tea, but I was nevertheless excited to try it. I know, I shouldn’t drink yet another tea I’ve gotten my hopes up about but clearly I’m an optimist, at least when it comes to tea. The description seems to think I should also be an optimist, labeling the tea as “An award-winning herbal with sweet berries and savory sage.” Let’s see how it did with the ratings for today:  Appearance/Color
Today’s mug has a brown glazed interior so the liquid looked brown. I’m not sure I have more to add to that so moving on . . . Aroma I’m not sure I have a good way of describing the aroma. I would believe that part of it is blueberry but it doesn’t jump out as blueberry to me, and the same is true for the merlot or sage. It smells good, I am just having a difficult time separating and labeling the different aromas. Flavor This is one tea where the flavor is more than the aroma. I have a tendency, or a bad habit I suppose, of leaving herbal tea bags in the tea while I’m drinking it. Naturally this leads to an increase in flavor intensity. The sage merlot flavor is very clear, while the blueberry is subtle but present. Again, a well-balanced blend of flavors. Body or Mouthfeel This is a little thicker-feeling than the green tea, at least to me. It shares some of the fullness of merlot as well, though without the addition of alcohol. Astringency/Structure This tea is a bit on the bright side for me. It’s not bad, just very present and a bit herby. Despite the blueberry, I would not describe this as a fruity tea. Aftertaste/Finish The aftertaste is a bit more blueberry, but again well balanced. I am left with a mix of flavors. Conclusion I agree with my nephew; it’s a really good tea. Perhaps I would not be as big a fan if I preferred white wines, though I’ll be honest and say that I hardly ever drink any wine at all. That said, it was a very good tea, especially for a cold, wintry day.  Hello and Welcome to Day 3 of the Tea Series Challenge! This morning’s tea was Cherry Marzipan which was described as having “Notes of cherry and toasted almond.” While it’s a green tea, I was hoping it would be a cross between my mother’s Christmas almond cookie bars and my grandmother’s cherry bell cookies. These are my two favorite Christmas cookies from my childhood and I got really excited to see that it was an option in my tea sampler boxes. A quick note before we get to the ratings for today: I was so excited for the flavors of this tea that I timed the steeping process. The last thing I wanted was for the tea to be over-bitter.  Appearance/Color
The tea today looked basically like my tea from Day 1, which makes sense given that they’re both green teas. So no real surprise there. Aroma The tea bag quite definitely tasted like cherry and almond, as did the tea itself during and after steeping. Flavor Here’s where my excitement fell apart a bit. While both the cherry and almond flavors were definitely present, neither was as strong or intense a flavor as I was hoping for. There was also, as I should have thought about, a definite green tea flavor which offset the cherry and almond. I suppose if I had wanted the flavor of the cookies I should have just made them and eaten them. There was nothing wrong with the flavor profile; it just wasn’t quite what I had built up in my mind. Body or Mouthfeel This felt pretty good, but not any different than Day 1. Again, it’s a green tea so no real surprises. Astringency/Structure This tea was fairly light and not too bitter thanks, most likely, to my timed steep today. Aftertaste/Finish Somewhat disappointingly the main aftertaste was pretty much just green tea flavoring. Again, I shouldn’t have been surprised as it is a green tea. Conclusion You can probably tell already that, while the tea was good, it didn’t live up to the expectations I had built up while making the tea. The aroma was promising but the reality of the drink itself did not measure up to that promise. Had it been an herbal tea, perhaps, I might have experienced more of the flavors I had been hoping for.  Hello and Welcome to Day 2 of the Tea Series Challenge! Today’s tea is Strawberry Apple, an herbal tea that I let steep for probably a little over the suggested 5 minutes at a temperature of “fairly soon after it boiled in the kettle.” This tea is everything I like about herbal teas. It has a smoothness that doesn’t tend towards bitterness and a fruitiness that I really like (on cold mornings especially). While yesterday I wanted fruity and green tea, today I just wanted fruity. If I’m being honest it’s also likely I wanted a tea that wouldn’t be too beholden to a certain steep time. Like yesterday’s tea it’s really well-balanced in its flavor profile. While I can smell the strawberry more than the apple, neither flavor really overwhelms the other one in terms of taste.  I’m getting dangerously close to writing about my ratings for today so let’s just dive on in:
Appearance/Color Today’s tea ws steeped in a green mug so it’s a bit hard to tell the exact color. In the mug it looks like a mostly green color, not too strong. The dry tea was sort of brown and orange? I did look at them but those are the colors that jumped out at me and I didn’t look overly long or closely. Aroma Intriguingly, while I can mostly smell the strawberry of the brewed tea, the dry tea smelled more like apple. Neither aroma is unpleasant, and both served to cause me to look forward to the drinking the tea. Flavor I’ve touched on this a bit already, but it definitely is fruity. I can taste the strawberry and something else that is not unlike apple but, if I didn’t know it was apple, I’m not sure apple would be my guess. The overall flavor is pleasant and it fits the flavor profile I had in mind when I made my choice of tea. Body or Mouthfeel This felt more smooth and a little less watery to me than yesterday’s tea. Not that I didn’t like yesterday’s tea but today’s tea was noticeably smoother. Astringency/Structure The herbal tea was possibly a little more bright, but was also definitely less dry. Aftertaste/Finish Mostly I just notice a sweet, fruity aftertaste, which makes sense given that it’s a fruity herbal tea. I definitely lingered on my tongue but not unpleasantly. There was no sense of needing to eliminate the flavor from my mouth right away. Conclusion While this was the tea I wanted this morning I think it would make for a nice midday or afternoon tea. The kind I could kind of forget about and then sip as I remember it exists.  For Day 1 of my Tea Series Challenge I chose to try a tea called Green Mango Peach. I was feeling like something fruity and something that would give me a bit of pep since Tuesday is the day in my cleaning schedule I like the least (more on this in a later post). The description for this tea is: “The sweetness of ripe fruit, sharpened by peppermint and ginger.” The tea comes in little pyramid-shaped cardboard containers and then in little pyramid-shaped infusers (read: fancy tea bags). I love the little leaf on top and was impressed that it didn’t get drowned in the water like I thought it might. The water was still mostly hot from my husband’s coffee-making so I let the tea steep while I made my breakfast oatmeal. I generally always drink my tea after breakfast so it doesn’t compete with the flavors and has a chance to cool a bit. My first sip was mostly fruity followed by notes of peppermint, but subsequent sips melded the two flavors a bit more. I thought the flavors would compete, as mango peach and peppermint are not, to my mind, natural flavor buddies, but they really do complement each other well. The peppermint really does “sharpen” the flavor and sweetness of the fruit and keeps it from being a fruit juice made into tea. Don’t get me wrong; sometimes I really do want a super-fruity tea, but not today. I had to try harder to find the ginger, but my guess is that it helps to balance out the peppermint which is not as overwhelmingly minty as I sometimes find peppermint teas to be. I will also add that, as I reached the last of the tea, I was getting more of a peppermint and green tea taste but it was also only slightly warmer than room temperature at that point.  In order to compare the tea blends I thought I would try a tea rating scale from Tea Review. They rate their teas by Appearance/Color, Aroma, Flavor, Body or Mouthfeel, Astringency/Structure, Aftertaste/Finish. So, using the link above as my guide for each category, my ratings are as follows:
Appearance/Color The tea leaves looked like tea leaves. Honestly I didn’t pay that much attention because I decided to use this ratings system after I disposed of the tea infuser. The liquid was a pleasant yellow-brown color that I tend to associate with green teas. Aroma I always smell the tea before I drink it and this one was mostly fruity. I could definitely smell the mango more than I could peppermint, peach, or ginger. Flavor I’ve already written a good amount on the flavors so, to summarise, there was a fruity and minty mix of flavors that was a bit bitter towards the end of the cup. The flavors were mostly well-balanced and complementary. It definitely tasted like a green tea and, while it did not seem to me to be a sharp or intense flavor set, I would not say it was mild or weak flavor profile. Body or Mouthfeel I’ll admit that I don’t usually pay attention to this but, since I’m challenging myself, I would say that the tea was light and maybe a bit thin? Maybe I’ll get more used to this system as I write about it more. Astringency/Structure I would say the tea was slightly bitter at the end which is perhaps due to over-steeping and not the tea itself. Perhaps this is another category I’ll learn to pay more attention to as I progress through this Series. Aftertaste/Finish I definitely noticed that it was the peppermint flavor that lingered in my mouth, as well as a sense of dryness that I think came from the slight bitterness of the probably over-steeped green tea. I could still detect a bit of fruitiness but only if I tried. Conclusion Perhaps this is a tea that works best when just cool enough to drink without burning your mouth, and when steeped properly, but overall I was delightfully surprised by my choice today. See you tomorrow for Day 2 of the Tea Series Challenge!  Hello and Welcome to my blog!! It hasn’t been updated in a long time but I’m back!
I’m starting the year with a series of posts I wrote in December about tea. A few Christmases ago I was gifted two boxes of sample teas. We moved, I put them into a cabinet and promptly forgot about them. Then, during a cabinet shuffle and reorganization session, I discovered them. When I thought about where to put them, I realized that I had this idea in my mind that I needed to save them because they were special. Then I realized that that was silly and they shouldn’t just waste away in a cabinet (how not special would that be?) so they received pride of place in our most-used kitchen cabinet. The next morning I decided I should try one new tea a day and then got the idea that I could blog about the different flavors. So that’s what this series is going to be: one new tea a day and my thoughts and reactions. The first of these posts should start tomorrow and continue on one a day. This is also a challenge for me as I have a tendency to lose track of time and not post for ages. The rest of today’s post is a compilation of some notes and disclaimers about tea. First, a story: When I was an undergrad I studied for a year at a university in the United Kingdom. During my time there I frequently ended up in conversations where stereotypes were discussed and, quite often, debunked. One such debunking occurred when I was called upon to settle a dispute about tea. The two students, both British, could not agree about whether it was acceptable to drink tea without milk or not. One of them said that all tea must be drunk with milk and how horrible it would taste without milk to balance out the flavors. The other student claimed that certain flavors would be diluted with the milk and that in other parts of the world, where tea historically originated, it would not be drunk with milk. Noticing that I was nearby and eavesdropping (I couldn’t help myself!) one of them asked for me to weigh in and settle their dispute. This then, cue the stereotype, led to a discussion as to my qualifications to weigh in since, as I was from the U.S.A, I must drink coffee and not tea. Once I finally convinced them that I don’t like coffee and don’t drink it, but that I do drink tea, I admitted to hating tea with milk. It is this experience that has led me to write a post including a disclaimer about tea. So, in case it wasn’t clear from the story, none of the teas I write about in this series was drunk with anything other than hot water. If this is ever different (I have been known to sometimes add a bit of lemon juice or honey depending on the tea and the day) I will include a note about it at the beginning of each post. Also, I am not much of a stickler about steeping times and water temperature. Maybe one day I will be, or I’ll try it out during this series/challenge, but know that steep times and water temperature will likely not feature in these posts, at least at first. Alright, that wraps up the content preview. I will see you tomorrow for Day 1 of my Tea Series Challenge! |
AuthorHi! My name is Julie and I am a teacher in southeastern Massachusetts. In 2022 my husband and I bought a house with a bit of land and decided to implement some homesteading ideas and concepts. I'm late starting this blogging/journaling but better late than never, right? ArchivesCategories |
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