Alphakitty

I was craving something ginger-y after thinking about Rishi’s Ginger Pu-erh, but I am currently in samples-only mode to try to clear out my ridiculous tea overflow. This is one of my samples from Fusion Teas, but I hadn’t tried it yet because I usually don’t like peach blends. However, I had a relatively pleasant experience with the Peach Fuzz Chai (even though it didn’t pack enough punch for me), so I decided to give this one a try. Plus having them so close together means it’s easier to compare and contrast!

There are big chunks of cinnamon bark and peaches in here, which right off the bat is a good sign. Steeped it smells divine, like fresh from the oven peach cobbler. There’s definitely a lot more going on here than the Peach Fuzz, which is funny because this isn’t even advertized as a chai-like blend. But cinnamon + ginger reads like a chai to me, and this is definitely a warming, comforting tea. The peach is delicious, juicy, and present consistently throughout the sip. Darjeeling was a good choice for the base: it doesn’t overpower the spices and peach but it also has enough oomph to make it taste like tea instead of mulled peach juice. Peach as a tea flavor is definitely growing on me!

Another from my box from LiberTEAS! I tend to be wary of peach teas since the flavor can come out very artificial, but I trust 52teas to blend up a juicy chai so I decided to make this today. I iced it the lazy way, aka let the cup sit out until it was cold enough to put ice in. I usually take chai hot but it felt like a peach version would be better cold. I tried a sip when it was still warm and I definitely prefer the iced version!

This is not overly peachy, but has a nice juice-like quality. It doesn’t really feel like a chai to me though, more like a spiced peach drink. There are certain flavors that I associate with chai—particularly clove and ginger—that I am not picking up. They are listed in the ingredients, but I am really only getting up the cardamom. The white base isn’t that strong either, so there’s not really a stand-out flavor. It’s good but too mild all-around for my taste: a pleasant enough cup, but perhaps too soft.

A few months back I started a thread about what unique blends people would like to see, inspired by a sudden craving for tamarind tea—which mysteriously does not seem to exist! The awesome Stacy at Butiki contacted me about a custom blend and I jumped on the chance—I mean, it’s every tea-lover’s dream to have their own custom tea just for them! I was amazed that she liked the finished creation enough to add it to their regular lineup since it means that everyone can try what started as an idle idea and ended up being one of the best teas I’ve ever tasted.

Of course my review is a bit biased since the flavors are pretty much tailored to my palate—the original idea was to replicate the taste of those tamarind-flavored Mexican sodas, and boy does this deliver! The Guranse base adds a nice woodsy/earthy smoothness and there’s that bright pop of malty/sour flavor from the tamarind, followed by delicious brown sugar. But they combine to form something better than the sum of their parts: there are notes of caramel, vanilla, and yes, an almost soda-like fizziness! With just a pinch of rock sugar it’s somehow even better, and it really brings all the flavors together. I’ve had this hot, iced, lukewarm from sitting in the AC too long, and it’s perfect every way. This is definitely my ideal tea, and it’s amazing to actually have it in front of me!

Thanks to the very generous Azzrian for this sample! I mentioned offhand that I forgot to add it to my order at ETS and she offered to send me some, and I am SO glad I got to try this. This tea is enchanting! Usually I can pick out individual flavors quite well, but here they all blend so perfectly you just get hints of them: berry, citrus, floral, even some honey notes. With no additions it’s a bit sweet, but a natural sweetness that seems to come from the berry flavor. The floral is so light, almost airy, and the citrus is nicely in the background and not overpowering at all. Everything here is in perfect harmony: I can see why it has so many great reviews!

I was digging through my home cupboard, which has only about 5% of my teas in it, when I stumbled upon a tin of Bangkok that had a bunch of tea bags in it… that weren’t Bangkok. I got several Numi teas a few years ago but at the time I wasn’t really fond of white tea so I left them alone (though I gave them a fancy new house). They’re old (probably 3 years?) so I was a bit suspect, but upon opening one I smelled clove heaven so I decided to give it a shot.

I love cloves. I mean, I really love them—whenever I bake anything with them I need to hold back because most people don’t seem to have the same fondness for them. Me? I could have a pumpkin pie spiced only with cloves and be in heaven. Clove pie, mmmmm. Since that was pretty much the only smell I could discern here I was pretty optimistic. And indeed, it tastes like cloves! There’s a bit of cinnamon and ginger and some faint citrus, not nearly as in-your-face orange-y as other reviews point out. Probably because this bag is 3 years old, and age has changed the flavors to a different profile. There’s a teeny hint of sour (from the hibiscus I presume) that balances the clove well. I actually really enjoyed this cup and will definitely be drinking the rest of it—it’s quite good for a bagged tea, though I’m not sure if a fresh batch would be at all the same.

This is not the fanciest Earl Grey, nor the best, but sometimes it’s just what I am in the mood for. It tastes like… well, home! This was always a staple in my house as a kid so I find it very comforting. And for what it is, it’s delicious! Plus you can leave the bag in for 15 minutes while you wait for your PS3 to update and it doesn’t get bitter.

I am finally getting around to my generous samples from Angel and Teavivre! I meant to try this a few days ago but I was craving flavored teas, and I didn’t want to taste this until I was in the mood for it lest it be wasted on grumpy taste-buds. I just checked and this is the highest rated tea on Steepster, so I was definitely anticipating big flavors!

Right out of the sample bag it smells fantastic, very chocolatey and rich. I’m not that familiar with Chinese blacks, but it was definitely a good first impression! I used water that was a bit hotter than recommended because I’m a spaz, but I don’t think it adversely affected the flavor—there’s zero bitterness or astringency. I do like astringent teas but this seems like a more mellow black and it definitely wouldn’t be fitting with the flavor profile. This is suck a complex cup with notes of chocolate, malt, raisin, caramel/honey, and yeast. My dad tried some and picked up some hay notes, which I always enjoy in tea. It’s so smooth and rich without being heavy. I will most definitely be ordering more of this!

I had pretty high hopes for this tea. I love coconut, and I’ve heard great things about The Persimmon Tree. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a decent tea, but I wasn’t blown away. The coconut flavor was spot-on, nice and tropical and sweet, the white base was nice and light with a touch of floral notes, and the cream was… well, creamy. They didn’t work entirely cohesively for me though. Coconut + white tea = good. Coconut + cream = soft & delicious. But the cream with the white base was too heavy for me, and seemed to overpower the tea a bit. It was really a nice cup, but not as fantastic as I’d hoped. I think my expectations were pretty high, because this is tasty, especially as it cools. I kind of want to buy some for ice cream making… I could see this being so good when steeped in a custard base!

I love lavender. Half of the houses on my block have a big bush growing in the front yard, so everything smells of it in summer. It’s a smell I associate both with childhood and with sophistication, since it’s French and thus fancy (or at least my kid brain thought so!). Of course I love lavender tea, especially when combined with earl grey whose citrusty notes seem to balance out lavender’s floral nature well.

This blend is pretty heavy on the lavender, which personally I love. It’s very floral and rich, but you can still taste the bergamot and tea base. My favorite of the lavender greys I have tried by far!

Sometimes you just need cake. And when you don’t have cake, the next best thing is cake-flavored tea. Tonight, I really really needed a slice of moist, tasty cake smothered in cream cheese frosting… and this was pretty much the next best thing. I used up my whole sample from Krystaleyn on one gigantic steep of carrot-cakey goodness. I even broke out the big Starbucks mug!

The reason I needed cake is that I made the incredibly stupid mistake of watching The Body tonight. I’m re-watching Buffy in order and of course the day my kitty dies I happen to be smack-dab in the middle of season 5. Mourning often requires marathoning some of my favorite shows (it’s therapeutic!), and for some reason I decided not to skip the biggest tear-jerker of the show. My reasoning was “I can’t skip any episodes! It won’t be that bad!” Oh, how stupid I was. Much bawling happened, leading to a desire for cake, which I have to say this tea perfectly filled. It’s got the spiced taste you want, and I can actually taste the carrot—plus it’s an oolong base instead of a rooibos, which most carrot cake teas seem to be (and I hate rooibos). I’m not going to give this an actual rating as right now I think it’s the greatest thing on earth, but I’m not entirely objective at the moment. I think I might pick some up when I visit their store as this is definite “comfort tea.”

When I have a bad day, I reach for something herbal usually. Not really sure why, since perhaps a cup of rich dessert tea might be classified as more comforting, or even a really nice oolong. However, herbal is what I want when I’m not feeling my best, and I just happened to have one in my samples from LiberTEAS.

I was a bit worried about the hibiscus: I can handle some tart but it’s easy to overwhelm a blend. This is nicely balanced though, tart and a bit sour at the beginning of the sip from the hibiscus & rosehip, then minty and citrusy at the end. I’ve been pleased with the herbal blends I’ve tried from Marketspice so far and this one is no exception, though I think I’d like it a bit heavier on the mint and a tad less hibiscus—but that’s probably because I just really like peppermint.

This tea is the reason I ended up placing an order at English Tea Store, since I seem unable to resist teas with clever literature references in the name. Not that there’s a big market for that, but come on… Dorian Grey! A tea of fleeing beauty! Their “samples” are a full ounce so I ended up with quite a bit of a ton of different teas (I got 3 “sample packs”), but this is the one I’ve been wanting to try the most. It’s too hot for tea, really, but today that isn’t going to stop me!

I love earl grey and pretty much any variation of it (as long as it’s not, like, rooibos banana earl grey) but I have yet to have one with caramel. I was worried this would be a bit dessert-y instead of a nice afternoon tea, but the caramel is pretty light here. Sometimes caramel teas can get a little heavy, but the taste is quite soft and almost airy here. I found the same thing true of their chocolate mint—sweet teas, but not enough to push them into dessert territory. This looks like a very floral blend with tons of whole dried flowers (it’s so pretty!) but the floral tones are also quite soft and subtle. The bergamot is also there of course, since it is an earl grey after all! And the base is nice and malty, but not too overpowering and with no bitterness or astringency.

This strikes me as a very romantic cup, both because of the name and the wonderful melding of flavors. Soft, subtle, gentle, and warming. Definitely one of the best earl greys I’ve tried!

I drink a lot of iced tea every day even in colder months, and my consumption pretty much doubles in the summer. I really can’t afford to ice all the teas I’d like to since the bf and I go through about half of a very large pitcher a day—even some of the cheaper blends I like cold like Bangkok would cost an arm and a leg over the course of a hot NYC summer. So, I need a cost-effective tea to make, preferably one that I take no sugar in so I’m not ingesting a truckload of extra calories. I’ll be honest, I like most of my iced tea sweet, even blends that I wouldn’t sugar hot. To me, nothing screams refreshing like genmaicha, so when I saw a 400g packet of this in one of the asian groceries for $4 I absolutely had to get it. Ends up costing about 7 cents a day (15g per a pitcher cold-brewed), not bad at all! Plus no sugar… I can’t even imagine sugar in a straight genmaicha (though I did put it in the strawberry cheesecake one).

This is SO GOOD. Cool, refreshing, crisp and light from the green tea, earthy and nutty from the rice. I think cold brewing it brings out the green base a lot more, as hot this particular blend ends up being all nutty toastiness (which is nice and all, but I like it better with a bit more balance). Yup, definitely going to be drinking this alllll summer. It’s already 95, not really a great sign of things to come, but with the AC blasting and a glass of this in hand I just might survive.

EDIT: Seems like we actually went through an entire pitcher in a day since I just drank the last glass… seems like our cost will be raised to a whopping 15 cents a day!

You know it’s a really freaking hot day when Starbucks is all out of lemonade at 4pm. Thankfully I got the very last of it! The lady behind me looked pretty pissed…

When it’s 95 and not at all breezy, this is the best thing on earth. It’s also really nice to not have to make drinks yourself in this heat!

I’m in a bit of a tea funk today. I just can’t decide what I want to drink, nothing seems to be hitting me. However, I was determined to find something—if I get out of the habit of drinking tea every day I find it kind of hard to get back on the horse. So I decided to just go for it and put on water without deciding on a tea. My teapot doesn’t whistle when the water is ready so I have to time it, not the best idea looking back because I ended up with only a few seconds left, frantically digging through my sample bin in search of something. I have well over 100 different teas in there to try but I seriously couldn’t pick out any one that screamed “try me” so I went with a flavor combo I knew I’d love—caramel, chocolate, and hazelnut. This is from my box from LiberTEAS and I’ve actually been meaning to try it for about a week so it seemed like the perfect fit.

This smells a lot like Florence, with a hint of caramel. The dominant flavor for me seems to be chocolate, with the caramel and hazelnut about even. There’s a bit of bitterness as others have noted, but it’s not overpowering and I can definitely handle it. Definitely an enjoyable cup, but I do wish there was less chocolate—Caramel Praline in my mind is just caramel and nuts, and as it is this blend is just a bit too similar to Florence for me. Still glad I had a chance to try it out and it got me back in a “tea mood!”

On a hot day when you’re walking back from the post office and realize you haven’t had anything to drink all day and might die of dehydration before you make it back home (okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration) this really hits the spot. Unsweetened black tea + lemonade = thirst-quenching heaven.

I’ve been on a bit of a Steepster hiatus since my past few days of tea drinking have been kind of boring—I was at my parents’ house so I went to my old standby bagged earl grey and lemon herbal, and other than that I’ve been playing around with the sample of my custom blend from Butiki. I’m sure everyone would have been enthralled by 5 tasting notes for the same tea in 2 days! Time for something different tonight, so I reached for one of the Butiki samples I got from the awesome Krystaleyn. I love apricot and am in the mood for something new!

This is my first experience with guayusa—I’ve been a bit nervous to try it after reading some tasting notes describing it as plant-y. Well… it is! But not in a bad way. It tastes like fresh-cut grass, and smells like maple tree leaves in the spring when they’re bright and green and new. It’s herbal without a specific herb taste, and is wonderfully new tasting. It’s less plant-y than it is bud-y. It evokes some kind of odd nostalgia in me—when I was younger I used to go out after the rain and pull up blades of grass so I could see the new, soft green part coated in dew… and then I’d munch on them. I know it’s pretty weird, but it was so fresh and sweet, like veggies straight from the ground. That’s what this tea reminds me of! The sweetness is from the apricot, which is so subtle and light. I think I’m going to have to order some of this asap… as soon as I get some more tea funds.

This blend was reccommened to me by several people, so of course I had to pick some up at my last trip to H&S! I got more of this than usual—with a new tea I usually go for 2 oz, but based both on reviews and the fact that I plan on mainly cold-brewing it I went with 4 oz. I was expecting more of an in your face flavor with this, but the leaves smell very subtle, just a hint of caramel and sesame.

The brewed tea is similar, with a very mellow caramel flavor that’s quite soft. It’s not stick to your mouth sweet at all, it’s actually refreshing and light! The sesame is a nice counterpart, adding a touch of nuttiness. It really reminds me of the less-sweet Japanese confections, like the subtly green tea flavored buns or sesame rolls. Very pleasant, and I’m really looking forward to trying this iced.

So I made this for the bf tonight (since he requested “something black”). Usually he waits a while to drink any tea I make for him since he’s pretty sensitive to hot drinks, but this was downed in less than a minute. He was practically chugging it! Upping the rating since I think this is one of the few teas that we absolutely have to have on hand at all times—our cupboard rotates pretty frequently but some teas deserve to be here constantly!

I’ve been feeling kind of blarghy today and woke up with a fever—just my luck, right after finally getting healthy. Today is definitely a “comfort food” day but I’m nauseous so no actual food for me. I was hoping that I’d have something to approximate a pastry in my cupboard, and this sample from Krystaleyn immediately caught my eye. Pie in tea!? Yes please!

This smells phenomenal. Like… well, pie! The apples, the spices, even the flaky crust… I could just imagine that I was smelling pie fresh from the oven. The flavor, sadly, didn’t follow through because it was like drinking warm water with a little cinnamon. I used more leaf than I usually do too, since I’ve found DT blends can be a bit on the weaker side if brewed “regularly.” However, this tea smelled too good to give up on. For the second steep I upped the water temp a little and used a lot less water, basically making it double-strength like you would a chai. Into the cup went honey, cinnamon, a spoonful of caramel vanilla ice cream, and a bit of cookie butter (to imitate the crust). OH MY GOD. It’s heaven. Heaven! Just what I needed to brighten a crummy day, and it tastes just like pie now. However, I’m going to refrain from actually rating this since I adore what I ended up with but this tea took a lot of cajoling to be tasty.

I have been living under the impression that I don’t really like herbal teas which is clearly wrong since I love them. I’ve loved them all along since my go-to bagged teas (aka “lazy teas”) are all herbal. So why did I think I disliked them? I think I had one bad experience with over-steeped, bitter hibiscus and just wrote them all off. But I’ve since re-discovered my love for them and am on an herbal tea kick, so I was thrilled when I saw this in my samples from Fusion Teas. I’ve been debating over which of their samples to try first since they all sound tasty, but today it’s late and I need to go to bed so I grabbed this one.

You know those fresh from the fryer donuts you get when you go apple picking? The ones rolled in brown sugar with a crunchy crust and amazingly soft & fluffy insides? Yeah, the dry “leaves” smells very much like that. The stepped tea smells more chamomile-y, but the taste is still donuts! Donuts & chamomile. There are a bunch of ingredients that I’m not tasting individually (coconut, lemongrass, etc) but I think blended together they’re adding to that bake-y taste. Chamomile and vanilla are definitely the dominant flavors (which you’d expect given the name) and with a bit of honey this is divine.

After a god-awful tea experience today, I needed something that I know I like. Funny enough I’ve never even had Paris, but the reviews are so glowing I can’t imagine NOT loving it. And the leaves smell amazing. I’ve been sniffing them since I bought this but haven’t tried the tea itself yet… honestly, I’m a little worried that nothing can live up to the smell of the dry leaves. I want to take a bath in them and smell like Paris.

Steeped the flavors aren’t really as in your face as the leaves, but it’s still intoxicating. The base is a deliciously balanced black, and that’s really what you taste the most. A teeny bit malty, with some yeasty, bready qualities. H&S is so good at blending blacks! The vanilla and fruit flavors come into play at the end of the sip—a burst of fruity goodness followed by wonderfully smooth vanilla that lingers long after you’re done drinking. I can’t quite place the fruits, which is interesting—I usually dislike fruity teas like peach or strawberry. This tastes berry-ish, but not like strawberry. More like a brief hint of fresh-picked raspberries, blueberries and blackberries. Almost jammy! But there’s something else too that’s really intriguing. It reminds me of some of the pastries I had in Paris. With the yeasty base and the vanilla/jammy flavors, this is like a baked dessert in a cup!

I’m on a tea-buying hiatus in order to control the massive amount of space my tea cupboard takes up. I bought over 100 types (not including any samples) in only 3 months. ;~; So, no more tea buying! Even samples! But somehow, a small (5 sample) order from The Persimmon Tree snuck in. At $1 a sample + free shipping I couldn’t really resist since there were a few flavors I’d really been meaning to try. This was not one of them, but I’ve never had lotus flavored tea so I was curious.

I’ve had a lot of lotus-flavored snacks: one of my favorite things to pick up in Chinatown is candied lotus root (even if it does trigger a bit of my tryophobia). It’s got this juicy, crisp quality very reminiscent of watermelon with a nice earthiness too. So I foolishly hoped this tea would taste like that, despite it being stated as anise-like with a hint of vanilla. Well, those flavors are definitely there and quite pleasant actually, but the base green… oh my god. Mushy canned peas. I HATE peas, and this tea is all steamed veggies. Not nice, fresh from the garden veggies (I’ll even eat peas if they are very fresh)… canned veggies that have been sitting in a grocery store for 2 years. I had 2 sips and had to pour it out, it was making me nauseous. If it weren’t for the anise/vanilla at the end, this would get a big fat rating of 1. But really, you don’t want vanilla in your canned peas. It might actually make it worse!

Another from Krystaleyn! I got a ton of chais in our swap which has me all excited, since chai is pretty much my #1 tea love. I decided to start with a basic one and work my way up to fancy flavors. It’s a wet, cloudy day and I’m home alone, pretty much perfect for some warming & spicy tea.

I made this with honey and almond coconut milk, and oh my! This is an excellently balanced chai: there’s a little bit of everything going on, and no spice really takes over. Clove, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon and peppercorn are all there, playing nicely with the black base. This isn’t one of those POW spicy blends, but it’s not mild… I think it falls nicely between bland and overwhelming. Nothing fancy, but a solid and delicious basic chai.