CHAroma

Wow, this is a really green green tea!

It’s obviously a very high quality dragon well because I don’t even like this type of green tea, but I thought this was pretty tasty. Did I mention the cool, flat leaves? So cool!

My boyfriend appreciates authentic, grassy green teas more than me, so I gave him the cup to finish. He said, “I like it a lot! Just my style!” Which I knew it would be. :)

I’m afraid this tea is a little too green for me. But even that being said, I can still tell that it would be amazing to others. There’s not even a trace of bitterness. In fact, as soon as I tasted it, I forgot what bitterness tastes like. I can’t even imagine it while drinking this tea.

I’m giving it an 81 because it’s clearly a fantastic tea. It’s just not my tea. So, I don’t want to be responsible for dropping the average because my tongue can’t appreciate Chinese green tea awesomeness.

This is just pure, wonderful tea and the perfect tea to be my 100th tasting note!!! O_O

Wow, this tea is a conundrum!

It is quite similar to mulled apple cider because of the blend of spices that’s in it. But it’s missing the strong apple component I expected and wanted, despite the fact that it has large chunks of dried apples. If you had mulled apple cider, took out the cider, and replaced it with black tea, you’d have a cup of this tea.

It’s pretty good, but strange at the same time. I keep thinking I’m drinking hot apple cider, but then it tastes like tea instead! You’d think I’d get over it, but every sip surprises me.

It tastes better with milk and sugar, which I added one at a time after trying it straight. I’m going to make it as a chai tea latte next time. That oughta be really good!

I should really make this iced next time. I hear so much how everyone loves this tea iced, but I always brew it hot. I wish it were summer. Oh, how I love the heat! But on to the tea.

This is a perfect lychee tea, in my opinion. It tastes exactly the way I would expect a lychee black to taste. No disappointment here!

I wonder what those rose notes are that everyone else is tasting and Samovar includes in the description. I’m not smelling or tasting rose at all. It’s just very strong lychee to me.

Either way, this is a strong black tea that requires a little bit of milk added. Maybe I’ll use a shorter steep time next time. I think I’ll like it better that way. Although as it stands, it’s still a pretty great tea.

Pro: high quality green tea, no bitterness. Con: flavoring isn’t very strong.

The dry leaf aroma is green tea and ultra sweet strawberries. The brewed tea aroma is green tea, strawberries, and that ultra sweet aroma from earlier has morphed into what I can recognize as maple.

Hmm, I’m not sure what to make of this one so far. The initial flavor as it hits my tongue is a little weird and off-putting. I think it’s the maple. I’m not sure I like maple and green tea as a combo. But it has a very pleasant aftertaste: clean sencha grassiness with authentic strawberry flavoring. No artificiality in 52teas blends!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t really taste like strawberry pancakes. I’m getting a light strawberry flavor with an added component that’s something akin to butter. But overall, the flavoring is quite light. I’d prefer it to be a lot stronger.

I’ll have to play around with the steeping parameters to see if I can make it stronger. I really want to love this! But right now it’s just like. Good, not great.

I’ve quickly replaced my morning cup of Pancake Breakfast Black Tea with BOO-berry. I just love it! I’ve always thought that blueberries would make a wonderful flavoring to tea, and I’ve been on the lookout for a great blueberry tea ever since.

Well, I think I’ve found it in BOO-berry! This has the perfect blend of blueberry and marshmallow root. The black tea base is simple and complementary as well. I really can’t think of any improvements to be made to this!

The berry taste is clean and fresh, not artificial in the least. The dry leaf smell is a little…strange, for lack of a better word. I think that’s probably the marshmallow root. It’s quite strong in the aroma, but more natural in the brewed tea.

The tea also has perfect ratios, although I can’t seem to find any actual freeze-dried blueberries in the leaves. Maybe they’re chopped too finely or I’m mistaking marshmallow root for blueberry (is that possible?). Nevertheless, you can’t miss blueberry in the taste, and that’s what matters most!

Ahhh, I just love this tea. I’m raising my initial rating of 85 to 98. The more I drink it, the more I love it. It’s great straight if you’re going to pair it with food. The blueberry taste cuts right through whatever other flavors you might have in your mouth, which I found quite impressive. But if I’m going to drink it without food, I prefer milk and a little sweetener.

It’s quite a versatile blend, and I’m going to miss it when it’s gone. It sold out before I even received my weekly sample, or I would have stocked up! But I’m glad that others get to enjoy it as well. If I bought all the bags, no one else would get to see how awesome this tea is too!

And the name? How cute is BOO-berry?! Perfect! Just perfect! My favorite tea in the world!

Anyway, I’m surprised I’m the only one to write a review here. Come on people! What do you think? Do you agree that this is the best blueberry tea ever?? :) After all, I think I used the word “perfect” about 5 times in this review. Thank you, 52teas! And bring us more blends like BOO-berry!!!

^{P.S. The only reason I docked it 2 points rather than giving it a 100 is because it’s not in the permanent collection. How I’ll miss you when you’re gone!}

BOO-berry!!!!!!!!! Finally!!!! You have arrived!!!

I thought about you all day. When will you arrive? Maybe today is the day! I ran home from work and opened my mailbox to find, not just my highly anticipated BOO-berry, but also the new Strawberry Pancake Green Tea!!!!!!!!!

Wasn’t I just saying yesterday to someone here on Steepster that it would be lovely if 52teas made a strawberry or blueberry pancake blend? Now I get the best of both worlds! And oh, my BOO-berry! You’re so good! Just how I imagined, and yet better at the same time!

This is the best day ever!!!

This tea is just so good! It has tons of actual vanilla beans!

My first experience with this tea was using my new owl mug (click here to see how cute it is: http://tinyurl.com/3rcj6ko). It has a dark brown inside, so this observation eluded me then. But today, I used my lime green mug because I was at work.

I noticed a bunch of little black specs at the bottom of my empty cup. At first, I thought the leaves had been chopped up too finely and had gone through the strainer. But then I realized they’re vanilla beans!

How can anyone think this tea doesn’t taste like vanilla when there are real vanilla beans floating around in it? I’m going to have to place an order now that my sample has run out. Welcome home, Vanilla Blossoming! :)

Wow! This is so interesting! I’ve never tasted anything like it before (and yes, I have had and love pancakes).

I definitely get the correlation to pancakes. There’s a buttery bread taste to the tea, which I guess is what I find so interesting. It’s strange to drink tea and taste buttered bread. And as Jenn mentioned in her review, this tea is much more complex than expected. It’s really amazing!

The aroma of the dry leaves has a very strong maple scent, but unfortunately this doesn’t translate into the brewed tea as much as I would like. It’s also quite tannic, so I added some milk.

Other tea drinkers here on Steepster seem to have no problem picking out the maple notes, so maybe it’s just me. Also, I tend to think of maple syrup as the sugar-loaded Aunt Jemima kind. Perhaps others are more accustomed to pure maple syrups, which this blend might be more representative of. I’ll add a little sweetener the next time I brew it and see if that helps me recognize the maple notes better.

It’s definitely a very good tea, and I’m sure no one else but 52teas could create such a unique, dare I say magical, blend! It’s early, so please excuse my criticism. Overall, I think this tea is fantastic! I will happily add it to my morning routine.

With over 50 tasting notes, fantastic reviews, and most ratings in the high 90s with quite a few 100s, I really hope this makes it into the permanent collection!

This is my first 52teas experience!!! I’m so excited!

I ripped open the bag and was assailed by a strong maple scent. The tea leaves are interspersed with generous portions of thin, curly, yellow marigold petals. I wanted to measure the tea with my small scale to ensure a perfect cup.

But as I was measuring out the leaves, something weird started happening. One little marigold petal was standing straight up! I looked at it and thought, hmmmm. Maybe a piece of my hair is caught in the leaves or something? I tried to pick it up, but it jumped away from my hand and landed on the countertop. Strange.

I kept measuring out more leaves, and that’s when I realized what was going on. As petals bounced away from the scale, I figured out they were full of static electricity! It was so funny, and such a weird way to start out my 52teas experience. It is kind of cold today (high 40s/low 50s), and I did open the package as soon as I brought it in the house. That’s the only explanation I can think of.

But anyway, on to the tea itself! It brewed up to a nice clear, slightly golden color. It still smells heavily of maple, but now there’s the added oolong vegetal quality to the aroma. And the taste? Hmmm, not what I expected. There’s definitely a slight maple taste and some lovely floral notes, but I’m not getting much cheesecake flavor. It’s definitely not creamy or milky or cheesy.

However, it’s still quite good! The first infusion actually is probably my least favorite. The oolong really develops in later infusions. I’m loving this second cup! This is a great tea, and although I’ll be sad when my limited bag is empty, I am happy that I got to experience it. That there’s not much of it makes it that much more special. :)

The aroma of the dry leaves is everything vanilla: vanilla bean ice cream, vanilla cake, vanilla wafers, vanilla extract. Yum! You can see where my mind is right now.

Once brewed, the tea’s aroma has a more natural vanilla scent. I’m so excited to try this tea for two reasons: 1) it just smells so delicious, and 2) it’s the first cup of tea I made in my brand new owl cup!

My boyfriend and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary yesterday by going to the Maryland Renaissance Fair! I’ve never been to a Renaissance Fair before, and it was so much fun!!!! I dressed up in a padded petticoat, green linen skirt, white chemise, and floral corset. It was such a blast! Everyone is dressed up and calls you “milady”, all the food is fried, the shows are hilarious, and people drink all day long! It was quite entertaining. We saw jousting and archery and my boyfriend bought a real, combat ready sword!! I bought this cute little pottery owl mug. Click here to see it: http://tinyurl.com/3rcj6ko

So, now we’re back to the tea. It should have cooled off by now. Mmmmm!! This is really good! It has a very nice black tea base that complements the vanilla flavoring well. Or maybe it’s the other way around, and the vanilla complements the tea base. Either way, this is delicious!

After sipping it with no additions, I added a little milk & sweetener. Wow! Now it really tastes like vanilla sweets! I kind of chugged it down actually. Time for a second infusion! The second cup is just as good as the first. This might be the first Samovar sample that I go for more than two infusions with.

I’ve had vanilla as a second or third flavoring in a tea, but never as the main event. With that said, I think this may be the best vanilla tea I’ve ever had!

Of course, it could also be the owl mug that makes it so good. I guess we’ll never know. :)

Backlogging…This tea is a very nice black tea, but I’m not sure I would order it in bulk.

When I first tried it, I thought it was very bitter. I waited a day and brewed it again, this time in the afternoon. I found it wasn’t bitter at all. Maybe my drowsy, morning tongue thought this was bitter, but I can’t comfortably assign that quality to this tea now.

However, it is definitely strong! You can’t call this watery. This kind of reminds me of Twining’s English Breakfast, just as Samovar’s Breakfast Blend reminded me of Twining’s Irish Breakfast.

I can taste faint cocoa notes. But there’s definitely nothing malty in this, especially when compared to Samovar’s Breakfast Blend. Now, that tea is malty!

Nor is it particularly shocking or surprising. It’s just a good, standard black tea. But lately I’ve been preferring more subtle, white teas to loud blacks.

However, I fear I’m being a little too harsh on this tea. It’s smooth, strong, and even-tempered and handles two infusions with ease. I can readily say it’s a high-quality Yunnan.

So, don’t let me deter you from trying it out. I think it’s just not my cup of tea.

I find I like this tea best with less leaf. It makes the tea less perfume-like but still remains floral, light, and lovely. Upping the rating from 52 to 68.

I read E Alexander Gerster’s review here, and I either got the same shipment or this tea is just bad to start with.

The leaves looked just like Samovar’s Breakfast Blend, but there was a weird yellow tinge to the packet. I didn’t think much of it and assumed it was from the bergamot oil.

I opened the packet and took a deep whiff. Phew!! What is this? It smelled heavily of lemon-scented, toxic cleaning chemicals. Not what I was expecting from Samovar, and I had been warned by the reviews here that it’s heavier on the lemon than most Earl Greys.

Now let me explain the setting when I first tried this tea. I just received a permanent job offer and have to attend a New Employee Orientation. It’s 5am, and I am not a morning person. The only reason I’m ever up this early is if I never went to sleep in the first place.

So, it’s 5am and I am in dire need of caffeine! I decided on a classic Earl Grey & steeped this for 3 minutes. I was already wary from the aroma of the dry tea leaves, but I took a tentative sip. Blech! It was extremely bitter and nasty and had no redeeming qualities. I added a little bit of Stevia and it only made the toxic lemon bitterness more pronounced. I added some milk and literally had to force myself to finish the cup. After all, I needed the caffeine.

So now it’s two days later, and I’m brewing the second half of the sample. I made myself follow the same steeping parameters. It yielded a gross, bitter cup of toxic lemon. I promptly poured it out and went on to the second infusion, hoping it would be better.

Well, it is a little bit better. I only steeped it for 2 minutes this time and immediately added milk, no sweetener. The toxic lemon effect is less pronounced but still present. It’s much easier to drink this cup without gagging.

But really Samovar, what happened? This isn’t Earl Grey; it’s Hurl Grey.

I stopped by Teavana in the mall today on my way to GameStop to buy another Sims 3 expansion. Finally, they’re releasing Pets!!! I can’t wait! And it’s going to have horses!!!!! AHHHHH!!!!

But anyway, I need to concentrate my excitement on tea now. I tried a handful of different samples they had out, most of them iced. As usual, I found them either too sweet, too watered down, or just otherwise not very enjoyable. But then they gave me a sample of this.

Finally, a great tea from Teavana that tastes like real tea should! This actually tasted really familiar. Before I could draw the connection, I almost walked out with a couple ounces of this. But something told me to hold off. Boy, am I glad I did!

This is a Ti Kuan Yin tea. A few days ago, I tried Life in Teacup’s Tie Guan Yin. They are quite similar indeed but have substantial differences.

The biggest difference is the price. Teavana’s is a whopping $12.50 per ounce, while Life in Teacup’s version is only $2.70 per ounce! That’s right, an incredible $10 per ounce difference!!! I couldn’t believe it myself and double checked the prices several times. How is this even possible?

But even when I compare taste, it’s a bit of a surprise. Honestly, Life in Teacup’s tastes better to me. It has more complexity, a more buttery mouthfeel, and an overall richer taste. I’ve only had the Moneky-Picked Oolong in the store so I couldn’t compare this, but Life in Teacup’s held up to multiple infusions better than any other tea I’ve had. This is a no-brainer.

Plus, I feel good supporting a smaller company like Life in Teacup. They state on their site that they don’t have money to spend on tons of marketing and advertisements. They let the tea sell itself and entice new customers with three free samples per online order!

Does Monkey-Picked Oolong taste good? Sure. Is it worth the money? Pretty much. But is there a cheaper, tastier alternative? Yep!

So, here’s the big question: which would you rather drink?

After a not so great Formosa Oolong experience, this tea really hit the spot. I’m enjoying its sweetness and floral notes a lot more now than the first time I tried it. I think I might have judged it too harshly. This tea is winning me over. I made three infusions and every cup was as good as the last. What a lovely green tea! Raising the rating from 67 to 77.

The more I drink this, the more I realize I don’t want to. That salty peanut shell taste is just not at all appealing.

It’s sad when the only reason you make a tea is to use it up so something else can take its place in the cupboard. Luckily, there’s not much of it left. Lowering the rating from 49 to 40.

The dry leaf smell is very similar to Adagio’s White Peony, but the hay aroma is more in the background. The liquor is the same light brown color, and the brewed tea has almost an identical aroma to Adagio’s version.

Hmm, the taste isn’t quite as strong, but maybe that’s because I used a little less leaf. I’m actually surprised how similar it is. I expected a bigger difference because I thought that Samovar was higher quality than Adagio.

It tastes a little bit woodier and nuttier, with more flavor coming in the aftertaste than what’s present during the sip. It’s definitely delicious, but I’ll probably keep buying Adagio’s version because it’s significantly cheaper (Adagio $5/ounce, Samovar $12/ounce).

I wonder if my palate isn’t refined enough to notice the subtle differences, or if there simply isn’t much of a difference.

This tea is so delicious. I can’t help but drink it and smile. It’s sweet and floral, and I just can’t get enough! Darker and stronger than the Silver Needle, it’s definitely my favorite from the Adagio white tea sampler. Overall, a wonderful well-balanced white tea. You can’t go wrong with this! Now, to compare it to Samovar’s white peony…

To see that review, go here: http://steepster.com/Charoma/posts/87632

Wow, this is malty! I need more English muffin with strawberry jam just to wash down the rest of my tea! This is what Twining’s Irish Breakfast was trying to be. If anyone wants to pinpoint what a “malty” flavor is, start and end your journey right here. This is fantastic! The leaves actually hold up to a second infusion pretty well too.

I’m so excited to try my first Life in Teacup tea!!! I bought a bunch of samples for a friend and one for myself. I was going to choose a puerh because I’ve never had that before. But after reading a review on here where someone described puerh as “fecal tasting,” I opted for this oolong instead.

The dry leaves smell scrumptious! I’ve been having a lot of weird oolong experiences lately with Formosa oolongs from Adagio. They’re missing that classic “oolong” vegetal taste, so I’ve started to question if that “classic oolong taste” is something else. Do I even know what oolong tastes like?

Well, this tea confirms that my instinct was correct. This has that classic oolong flavor and so much more! It’s silky smooth and buttery. The aftertaste is where the floral notes come out to play. It has a very interesting taste that I can’t quite describe. If someone made an edible wax candle out of vegetables, I think it would taste kind of like this tea. That probably sounds really gross, but it’s a good taste. Extremely unique.

The liquor is so pale that I can’t label it with a color. I’m sure it doesn’t help that I always drink my tea out of a lime green mug, haha. I actually really like that comparison someone made to a baby’s milky breath. That’s a very accurate description of this tea. I’m also getting grass, but not the same kind of grassiness of a sencha. It’s a completely different type of grass, like an autumn dry grass.

And did I mention what a cute little bag my sample came in? It’s a shiny gold & silver, vacuum-sealed bag with Chinese script all over it. Oh, how I wish I could read Chinese! I used the entire 5-7g sample to make this cup. I’m not sure I needed quite that much. The leaves may start out tiny, but they unfurled to fill my entire tea infuser! And it’s not a very small infuser either.

Wow, just so good. Buttery popcorn! That’s what that unique flavor is I couldn’t describe earlier. It just hit me on the second infusion. Buttery popcorn, mmmmm! One of my favorite foods. Just for that, I’m upping the rating.

1st infusion: 185 degrees for 2 minutes
2nd infusion: 185 degrees for 2.5 minutes
3rd infusion: 185 degrees for 3 minutes

Each infusion was exactly as tasty as the previous one. I don’t think I’ve ever encountered a tea before that holds up to infusions this well. It’s simply amazing. It’s late now though, so I’ll continue testing the infusions tomorrow morning.

BTW: I’m enjoying this tea while watching my boyfriend play Dark Souls. Has anyone played that game? It’s insane! My boyfriend is an elite gamer, so he’s doing a fantastic job. But still, this is the hardest game I’ve ever seen in my entire life. He got cursed by some weird, giant-googly-eyed, curse-spitting, anorexic frog thing. And apparently there are only three ways to be healed. Two require speaking to NPCs in the game that he’s already killed. The final way is to find an item and give it to another NPC. But he can’t find the item anywhere! I tried searching online for about an hour and could never find the location. Now he has to try to beat the game with half his hit points, which is what the curse does to you. Oh, and it can stack too. Ridiculous! But entertaining to watch. :)

I just drank Adagio’s plain Silver Needle so that I could compare it to this flavored version. The leaves are thinner, curlier, and darker than the Silver Needle. There’s also more twigs. I’m kind of surprised. I wouldn’t expect the addition of the jasmine to warp the leaves so much.

But moving on to the taste. This is a much better experience than my first one with this tea a couple days ago. The jasmine is much lighter than I remember. This tea is floral and sweet. I definitely can’t say it’s the best jasmine tea I’ve ever had. That would be Lupicia’s Jasmin Mandarin, a Chinese green tea. I’ve also had better jasmine tea than this at a local Thai restaurant.

Still, it’s not bad by any means. I’m not getting much in the way of the Silver Needle though. That doesn’t come through until the second infusion. The jasmine overpowers it too much in the first cup. The astringency also makes itself apparent on the first cup, instead of the third in the plain Silver Needle. That’s probably the most disappointing aspect of this tea. Though there’s not a trace of bitterness.

Overall, good, not great. I probably won’t place an order once the sample runs out. In fact, this really just makes me want to buy Lupicia’s Jasmin Mandarin!

First steep at 180 degrees for 5 minutes. Second at 175 degrees for 7 ½ minutes. Middle of the road rating from me.

Very light and sweet. Vegetal taste is more apparent in the aftertaste. A fantastic white tea for people new to whites. Not very complex, but it’s beautiful in its simplicity.

First steep at 180 degrees for 5 minutes, second for 7 ½ minutes, and third for 10 minutes. Flavor started to fade by the third infusion and got pretty astringent.

But the first two cups were so fantastic that I’m upping the rating from 73 to 80.

I drank this tea without milk today, and it still wasn’t what I wanted it to be. It’s too dull. No ginger. No piquance. Just diluted warm apple cider.

It would be so much better if it wasn’t so watery. I want to brew it with two tea bags next time, but it turns out very dark with just one. Plus, I can’t imagine how much caffeine would be in it then. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.

I’m sad Twinings can’t make a better chai. I’m not going to go so far as to throw away the rest of the bags, but I have a feeling it’s going to take a while to finish them all. I also might try pawning some off on other people.

It’s not that it’s a bad tea. It’s just not what I want in a chai.

The first steep at 180 degrees for two and a half minutes was kind of bad. It wasn’t completely bitter, so I’ll say it was halfway bitter. Not great.

The second steep for five minutes began normal and then went downhill. I think I might be letting the tea cool off too much as I drink it. It doesn’t taste nearly as good lukewarm as it does piping hot.

This is the last of my sample, and I’m not too sad to see it go. Though I am sad that I could never duplicate the same experience as that very first cup of tea. It was complex and beautiful.

Unfortunately, it never was again. Because of this, I’m lowering the rating from 80 to 70.