CHAroma

OMG, this is horrible! Okay, it’s really not that bad. But it tastes EXACTLY like apple cider minus the apple.

All I’m getting is hot cinnamon/ginger water. If I poured this into some hot apple juice, it would probably be a lot more enjoyable. I drank it straight without any milk or sweetener in a bagged version (and I’m confident loose leaf would not have improved this any).

I was intrigued by the name. How can this tea be black AND green??!
The answer is: it can’t.

I didn’t even get any “tea” flavor. Nope. All I get is a blend of spices in my cup, no black tea, and definitely no green tea.

This just has too much going on: black, green, chai, organic, premium. Yuck. This company tried too hard. They should have picked one type of tea and concentrated on making it perfection. Instead, they created an apple cider minus the apple, which I’d rather have added back in.

Don’t be fooled by the name. This is not premium tea, and I for one could not care less if it was Certified USDA Organic or not. Okay, enough ranting.
Moving on!

I’m not sure why this tea appears twice on Steepster, so I’m just going to post the same review under both of them.

I first tried a bagged Darjeeling tea from Lupicia. It was a Second Flush and pretty light. I probably watered it down too much, which I tend to do sometimes with Lupicia teas.

But this Twinings bagged version was a completely different experience, and not for the better! This wasn’t watered down at all. It created a nice brown liquor and seemed to be a normal cup of tea. I drank it straight without milk or sweetener.

It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, but I did not like its taste at all. It’s hard for me to pinpoint what it is I don’t like. I think it’s just the taste of the tea itself. It’s not that it’s bitter or astringent. It just tastes…not good.

The first sip is unassuming, average, black tea. But then it’s just yucky. I couldn’t finish my cup. But my boyfriend drank his and the rest of mine down and said, “It just tastes like tea. I don’t know what you don’t like about it.” And neither do I.

But this is not one I’d buy again. Now I want to try the Lupicia version again for further taste comparison.

Anyone know why this is called the “champagne of teas”? It does elicit the same reaction from me as champagne: Blech. I’ll give it that.

I’m not sure why this tea appears twice on Steepster, so I’m just going to post the same review under both of them.

I first tried a bagged Darjeeling tea from Lupicia. It was a Second Flush and pretty light. I probably watered it down too much, which I tend to do sometimes with Lupicia teas.

But this Twinings bagged version was a completely different experience, and not for the better! This wasn’t watered down at all. It created a nice brown liquor and seemed to be a normal cup of tea. I drank it straight without milk or sweetener.

It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever tasted, but I did not like its taste at all. It’s hard for me to pinpoint what it is I don’t like. I think it’s just the taste of the tea itself. It’s not that it’s bitter or astringent. It just tastes…not good.

The first sip is unassuming, average, black tea. But then it’s just yucky. I couldn’t finish my cup. But my boyfriend drank his and the rest of mine down and said, “It just tastes like tea. I don’t know what you don’t like about it.” And neither do I.

But this is not one I’d buy again. Now I want to try the Lupicia version again for further taste comparison.

Anyone know why this is called the “champagne of teas”? It does elicit the same reaction from me as champagne: Blech. I’ll give it that.

Hmm, I taste something funky going on.

Lacking a good night’s sleep, I reached for this upon arriving at work with my eyelids still crusted shut. I don’t know if it’s just because I bought my first Brita water filter after returning from a vacation to find the kitchen flooded with dirty water and knowing I can’t possibly make myself drink water straight from that faucet again.

Or maybe it’s because my mind is considering the possibility that perhaps milk marked for expiration today shouldn’t go into my tea, especially since it’s the same milk that was in my fridge when the power went out for 24 hours. Thank you, Hurricane Irene.

Regardless, there’s definitely something funky going on here. I’m not at home, so the Brita water filter would have no effect on this straight-from-the-boiling-hot-water-tap water. And I haven’t even poured the milk of questionable integrity into it yet either. Yet still, funk. What could it be?

I added a little Truvia and it just made the funk more pronounced! Perhaps I need to re-roll this morning. I’m blaming the water quality at my work. What could be in this water to make my Irish Breakfast Tea have an aftertaste like cheese??? I’ll be back…

This tea = win.

I love reading fantasy. I’m currently eleven books into Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. The characters are often drinking mint tea. “Mint tea?” I thought. “I have to try that!”

I looked around for a while, but jeez! There’re just so many different mint teas out there. Moroccan mint, herbal mint, mint melange, citrus mint, white mint, so much mint!!!

Unfortunately, much of what I found had mixed reviews and was on the expensive side. I also mostly found a lot of herbal tea blends. Herbal tea is okay, but I can never get over the fact that it doesn’t have any actual tea leaves in it. How can it be tea then?

Trying to avoid drinking a cup of hot water with mint leaves floating around in it, I finally stumbled into this box of Twinings tea in the super market. Black tea leaves with peppermint and spearmint. Kaching!

I can smell the mint right through the box. Upon opening a packet, it smells exactly like spearmint gum. Uh oh. Not a good sign.

Two minutes later…I’m drinking my first mint tea!!! Mmm, this is good!

I drank it straight without any added sugar or milk (which I usually add to black teas). Twinings did not let me down! This is expertly blended and balanced. And it’s only 18 cents a cup!

There’s no bitterness or mint overload. It doesn’t taste oily or flaky or like mint bubble gum (thank God). It’s just a perfect cup of mint tea. Yum yum!

No longer wondering what I’m missing, I can plunge into my book and drink mint tea right along with the characters. Hooray! :)

Mmm, the smell of freshly sliced kiwis!!!

The dry leaves have a nice fruity aroma that translates well into the aroma of the brewed tea. The taste is sharp! It nearly bit me back!

Lupicia recommends adding lemon and honey to this tea, and I bet that would help cut back on that sharpness. I don’t want to immediately say bitterness because the aftertaste is actually quite lovely and fruity. So, I’m going to stick with “sharpness.”

The dry leaves had ample kiwi shavings as well as some weird little brown sticks. I have no idea what those are. From looking at the black tea leaves, I don’t think they’re stems because they are a much much lighter brown color than the leaves. But who knows? I guess they could be stems. Or maybe it’s some sort of added spice or something. I doubt it’s from the kiwis…But okay, moving on.

I added a tiny splash of skim milk and that made the tea much smoother and more to my liking (I’m a cream and sugar kind of gal).

Overall, this tea isn’t WOWZA! But it’s not bad either. It’s getting a middle of the road rating from me. Good, but not the best.

The brewed tea smells exactly like the salted shell of a peanut. You know, like the kind you get in a bucket at some steakhouse restaurants.

The taste is even nuttier than the aroma. The smokiness is very slight and complemented perfectly by the nuttiness. The aftertaste is mouthwatering and tastes just like the aroma. The shells, not the peanuts themselves. So strange.

This doesn’t taste too much like an oolong to me. There’s no vegetal flavor. The liquor is a very dark brown. It’s quite smooth but the astringency becomes more pronounced the more you drink it.

It doesn’t taste sweet to me either. There’s definitely no peach notes. It pretty much just tastes like a salty peanut shell. So weird. Instead of quenching my thirst, it just makes me thirstier.

Not an oolong I would drink all the time. I’m interested to see how subsequent steepings turn out though.

The second steep (for 3 minutes again) still has an extremely mouthwatering aftertaste. The nuttiness is much less pronounced. The third steep (for 5 minutes) is very bland. Perhaps it needed longer to steep, but I don’t know how you could get 8 steeps out of this as other users have said.

I’m not really a fan of the peanut shell-like nuttiness, so that’s why this is getting a lower rating. If you like nutty teas, then go for this one!

Now this is what I’m talking about!

This has the beautiful smooth mouthfeel of pouchong with the lovely sweetness of coconut. This tea has what the plain, bland pouchong was missing: flavor!

The aftertaste is literally mouthwatering. After every swig (yes, swig. I can’t just sip this, it’s too good!), my mouth waters and begs for more. The more I drink it, the more complexities of this tea come across.

Big beautiful leaves open fully with just one infusion. The liquor is a gorgeous shade of pale yellow.

It has a slight astringency in the after-aftertaste. It’s not immediately apparent and could probably be diminished by steeping this in less than boiling water. But every time I smell the luscious, subtle coconut aroma, I just want to keep drinking it!

This tea is delicious and exactly what I was looking for! It’s still a very light oolong and more reminiscent of a flavored white tea due to the lacking vegetal “oolong” quality.

But the coconut is very well executed in this tea. It’s not overwhelming and still allows the subtleties of the pouchong to shine through.

And I don’t know what it is, but this tea puts me on point. I always set my timer and leave the kitchen while the tea steeps. But with this tea, I walked back in the room right before the timer went off! Whether I set the clock for two minutes or six, I walked in at the perfect time, every time! Maybe I’m the only one who thinks this is cool…

Coconut and pouchong just fit. This tea’s perfect!

First infusion was boiling water for 3 minutes. Second infusion was 190 degrees for 8 minutes.

EDIT: For whatever reason, this tea is just awful now. It almost tastes spoiled. Rating is sinking like a stone, from 80 to 47 to 12. I just can’t make myself drink this anymore. Yuck. I guess I thought it was fantastic when all I was drinking was bland oolongs. But I strongly don’t recommend this now.

Pro: very smooth, no astringency. Con: a little lacking on flavor.

This is my first Adagio tea experience! I bought the white tea sampler, dragon (aka oolong) sampler, and one sample of Coconut Pouchong. I’m excited to try out another online retailer and what I hope to be some fantastic new teas!

This is a very light tea. It actually seems to be more like a white tea than oolong because I’m missing that vegetal “oolong” quality.

The liquor is pale yellow/green. The taste is a very much like a white tea, subtle and somewhat floral. It’s a good hydrating tea.

I think I understand what others have described as a “buttery mouthfeel.” But I personally wouldn’t describe this tea that way. It’s not pronounced enough for me to compare it to butter, especially not movie theatre butter!

Overall, it’s a good light tea. But it’s not knocking my socks off with flavor. I’m more excited to try the Coconut Pouchong because I think this needs some added flavorings.

First steep was boiling water for 3 minutes. Second steep was 185-190 degrees for 5 minutes.

This is a super sweet black tea!

I have a major sweet tooth, so I tried this tea out and was not disappointed. Even over a year later, the tea still brews like the day I bought it.

It has a very sweet flavor, which I guess comes from the lychee fruit. Lychee kind of tastes like honey.

If you love honey in tea, you’ll love this! Don’t even think about adding any additional sugar or sweetener. It would be overkill.

I suppose this tea would also be good with milk, but I love it straight. I’m also sure it would be perfect iced, but I have yet to try that out either.

It’s the perfect tea for when I’m craving something bad for me (cake, cookies, ice cream, anything sweet that I know I shouldn’t be eating). Instead, I can drink this tea and relax knowing that I’m getting a much healthier sweet fix.

I steep about 1 tsp of leaves for 30-60 seconds in boiling water. It can be resteeped 2-3 times. Only by the third steep does it start to get weak, so I just increase the steeping time a little. I can’t imagine steeping this for 3-5 minutes as suggested (in fact, when I bought it the suggested steeping time was 30-60 seconds). To each his own.

Officially my last Lupicia tea sample! :( But I’m excited to continue my tea tasting adventures with other online retailers.

This is supposed to make a good iced tea too, but I’m going to have it hot. All I have had to eat today was a grande caramel macchiato from Starbucks. With all the tea I’ve been drinking, it’s the first espresso I’ve had in about a month. It’s making my tummy upset. Maybe a tea with citric acid isn’t the way to remedy that, but oh well.

The dry leaves have a strong grapefruit aroma, but I can still detect the green tea beneath it. Ah, green tea!

This tea has a lovely citrus-laden flavor. I’ve never particularly liked grapefruit, but this is a lovely summertime tea.

It has a slight tart fruitiness. Not real complex, but a perfect blend of complementary flavors.

This is a winner. I don’t often re-steep my samples, but I did with this one!

Overall impression: this is tomato juice. Definitely an interesting, one-of-a-kind tea experience.

Rose hips are used for a variety of purposes, one being tea and one being itching powder! I’m not sure if that will psychologically affect my rating or not, but it sure is weird. Hibiscus is a flower.

The dry leaves smell interesting, not really like tea at all. In fact, I wonder what actual tea leaves are in this (it says black herbal tea, but I’m not getting any black tea leaf aroma). The liquor is dark like a black tea though.

Some other Steepster users have described it as similar to pasta sauce, and I can definitely smell the similarity. To me, the brewed tea smells like tomato with a hint of onion.

The blend does have ample servings of rose hips in it. I actually squished them with my tea bag squeezer tongs and this red paste oozed out. That’s a first! It only solidified the pasta sauce comparison in my head, but you have to appreciate Lupicia didn’t skimp on the ingredients.

With the aroma of pasta sauce fresh in my mind, I took my first sip. Wow, I probably shouldn’t be surprised, but this tastes EXACTLY like warm tomato juice! I think I could literally pour this over a plate of pasta and not be disappointed (except perhaps for the watery consistency).

It is quite tart when it first hits your tongue, but that tartness fades once you swallow. This is a very flavorful cup! It’s definitely not something I would want to drink when I feel like tea. To me, I can’t find any real tea in the aroma or flavor at all. Also, I get no hint of flowery hibiscus (unless hibiscus tastes like tomato).

But if you love tomato juice, you’d probably love this tea. I’ve never really been a fan of V8, so I’m gonna’ pass this cup along to my beau. He absolutely loves tomato juice. Sure enough, when I handed it to him he tried it and said, “I really like this! You’re really not gonna’ drink it? ‘Cause I will!”

Probably shouldn’t have used boiling water, but it’s too late now! After my earlier Muscat experience, I wanted to try a lighter green tea.

This tea’s aroma is very flowery & fruity! I wish I knew exactly what was in it. I can’t identify individual flavors myself.

It seems more flowery than fruity though upon tasting. Part of me feels like I’m drinking a liquefied Amazon Lily. It’s a little too much flower for me. It makes the tea heavy, not the light green I was looking for.

It reminds me of pollen coating everything in the springtime. Sure people think flowers smell great. But when there’s so much pollen that your black car looks yellow, people’s opinions on flowers shift. That’s what this tea is like.

This is a time when I would prefer a higher-grade sencha base. I did follow the instructions of steeping this in only 3.7 oz of water. I’m sure that’s a contributing factor in why I found the taste so much stronger than other users.

With this much flower going on, I couldn’t begin to call this tea weak! It might be a good idea to water it down a bit.

I put off trying this tea for so long because I was afraid muscat was going to be something really gross. Needless to say, I was surprised and pleased to discover it’s just grape.

I can only smell grape in the dry leaves. The brewed tea has a more subtle grape aroma with the black tea base coming through. But the grape taste is just okay, not amazing.

I don’t usually drink black tea straight, so I added some milk and sugar after tasting it. That made this tea more enjoyable for me.

But overall, I can’t get past the weirdness of drinking a grape-flavored tea. Something tells me this isn’t normal. Maybe that’s the artificial aspect others have pointed out. I’m not sure. But I do know this isn’t a favorite for me.

Oh, that blueberry smell from the dry leaves is amazing!

The brewed tea still has a strong aroma of blueberry with something else now too. I guess that’s the cassis. I didn’t have any idea what cassis was, so I googled it. Turns out, cassis is blackcurrant, a small perennial shrub with edible berries.

The aroma is definitely berry-laden! But I’m a little let down upon tasting it. That magnificent berry-ness was virtually gone in the first sip.

My second sip had a heavy sweetness to it that the first sip lacked. The third sip was more like the first. Strange. And now I’m getting black tea bitterness.

This review may be little off today since I’m slightly stuffy from allergies. But I agree with LP that the taste is a letdown after the aroma.

What a shame. I really wanted to like this more.

This is a black tea version of a houjicha I really love called Milk Caramel.
It’s delicious!

I first tried this straight, and it was good. It reminded me of The au Chocolat. The black tea base is blended well with the caramel and almond flavors. I like that there’s almond in it because it brings a new dimension to the tea.

I added a drop of milk and some real caramel. The milk makes it unbelievably smooth and silky. And the added caramel gives it that extra sweetness and caramel flavor I was missing.

This is a solid choice. But I’m still head over heels in love with the houjicha version.

I was a little apprehensive to try this tea. I saw the word “rooibos” and expected to hate it. But I found this to be a surprisingly pleasant cup of tea!

I can definitely smell the mango and citrus fruit in the brewed cup. It has a lovely sweet undertone I wasn’t expecting. It’s not artificial or overly sugary. It’s quite nice. Maybe the perfect balance of sweetness I’ve ever had in a cup of unsweetened tea!

This was a pleasant surprise! I found this to be a very good, easy-going, light-bodied tea. Now it just needs a more appropriate name than savage garden. I’m thinking: Secret Garden or Mango Paradise. And I bet this would make a pretty awesome iced tea too.

What a disappointment.

This is advertised as one of the rarest teas in the world, a delicacy and imperial reserve. I read a lot about it before heading to Teavana to try it out, so I thought I knew what I was in for.

My past Teavana experiences haven’t been ideal. Overall, I’m not thrilled with their overly spiced blends, unreasonably high prices, and kitschy health benefit claims. But I wanted to give them a second chance and figured to do so with one of their most expensive teas (thinking it must be expensive for a reason and therefore is probably really fantastic).

This tea was so not worth my time. First off, I don’t think my tea barista was very well educated. I went in describing this tea, and she directed me to a Jasmine Dragon Pearl blended with some kind of tropical rooibos. Umm, what?

I picked up one of the tea catalogues next to the register and immediately found the name of the tea I wanted…on the first page…in red font…with a big picture. sigh

Even though this is an expensive tea and I expected her to try to sell it to me, she continued to pull out other “silver” teas for me to smell. I explained yet again that I was there to try the Silver Yen Zhen Pearls, and she finally consented to sell me a cup.

Can’t I just try it without having to pay for an entire cup? Nope! Not an option at the lovely Teavana. So, I spend almost $6 just to try a new tea. I’m already feeling like this was a mistake. But I’m finally getting what I wanted, so I try to keep a smile on my face and let the frustration melt away.

Upon receiving my cup, I knew she had messed up. The tea catalogue I had picked up earlier said very clearly to steep the leaves for 4-5 minutes in 175 degree water. She couldn’t have steeped the leaves for more than two and a half minutes, and this water had to be boiling. I took the top off and tried to smell the tea. I got nothing.

Puzzled, I looked up at another tea barista who was watching me (the one who served me had disappeared into the back). She looked at me like I was weird for wanting to smell the tea’s aroma. So, I smiled and told her which tea I was trying.

She said, “Oh that tea has virtually no flavor or smell. But it can be blended with any of the other teas!” Umm, why bother? I stared at her blankly and she seemed to hear my silent question. “It’s very good for you,” she said with a big smile and a nod. Of course. I should have known they’d try to sell me on its health benefits.

But back to the tea itself, the liquor was a fairly deep shade of brown. Shouldn’t it be lighter, I thought? It almost looked like a weak black tea! Did they use hard water?? Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had white teas before. But I’m expecting perfection with a tea that’s $22.00/2 ounces.

After all this build up, I couldn’t wait for the tea to cool off any longer. I tried it a bit early, which just made me burn my tongue. But what did I taste? I’m searching for the words to describe this other than “tastes like water.” I do taste something more than water, but just barely and only when it’s actually on my tongue. There’s no aftertaste of any kind.

Very disappointing. At almost $6 for a cup of burning hot water, I’m convinced yet again that I really hate Teavana. I know white teas can be bland, but this is ridiculous. There’s no flavor at all!

I gave Teavana a second chance, and they failed miserably. Why can’t I try tea before buying it? I thought that was the common practice. That’s the way I’ve been treated in every other tea shop I’ve stumbled into. I thought about buying a package of tea samples, but it’s just as expensive as trying one tea in the shop. Four tea samples for $70?? They’ve got to be kidding! Their only free samples are 2-3 overly sweetened iced teas spread throughout the store. I don’t want sugary juice water! I want tea!

As I’ve always said, Teavana is great for teaware and accessories. But I can’t recommend their tea blends, and I’ll never buy their tea for myself. The rarest tea in the world was nothing more than over priced, tasteless, brown water.
Epic fail.

First impression as I inhale the dry leaves: kimyou. This is going to be weird.

I think I can smell the maple in the dry blend. But once brewed, phew! This tea is stinky! :P

I’m pretty sure I’m not going to enjoy this one. I have to make myself try it and not just immediately dump it out. But I’m not holding out hope.

The verdict: it doesn’t taste quite as bad as it smells. I definitely taste apple as soon as it hits my tongue. But the aftertaste is strong, just like the aroma. It’s a very heavy, spice-laden tea.

Overall, it’s gross red rooibos & I’m not a fan. Time to brew something else!

I can’t help but take deep breaths of the dry leaves. Mmm, apples!

As it starts to steep, the sweet aroma reminds me of apple cider. I’m already smiling.

Upon tasting it, there’s no bitterness. Definite acidity from the apples. Green apple comes to mind, these can’t be red. But those are all pros.

This tea brings me to an all-apple happy place. Apple pancakes, apple pie, apple picking in early autumn. The more I drink it, the more I notice sweeter notes. This is a really lovely tea. Maybe the best of all the flavored green teas I’ve tasted.

I know lots of people have complained about the bancha base, but I really like it. In my opinion, a fresher sencha would not complement the pairing with San-Tsugaru apples as much. (But I don’t particularly love the grassiness of senchas in the first place).

This is one of those teas where freshness is paramount! I found a few forgotten tea bags in the back of my cupboard, still sealed air tight. But upon brewing, the aroma and flavor was quite bland. It had lost all its apple flavor and acidity, leaving my mouth dry & almost flaky feeling. Make sure to drink all this tea upon receiving it because it won’t keep for long periods of time.

I’m curious to see how it would turn out when brewed at a lower temperature. Lots of people said they like this tea iced, but I’m not sure. It seems best enjoyed piping hot. As my cup cooled off, I couldn’t taste the apple as much.

Mmm! Smells like dark chocolate!

The aroma of the tea leaves amongst the chocolate is almost surprising. It reminds me that I’m about to drink a cup of tea, not sink my teeth into a Godiva chocolate bar.

Even straight, it tastes smooth and chocolaty. Part of me loves it! And part of me says, “This is so weird! I’m drinking chocolate tea!”

Adding milk and sugar makes it very much like hot chocolate, but nowhere near as thick and sweet. It’s really good!

I wonder if I served this as hot chocolate, would anyone guess it’s really tea?

What? My cup is empty already? How did this happen? Who drank my tea?! :)

This tea has a distinctive aroma! It’s hard to describe. It almost smells peppery.

Something in the aroma is off putting, but I can’t put my finger on what it reminds me of. Gander described this tea as smoky, and that’s probably it. Smoky is an apt description.

I bought a Lupicia sampler kit for my mom a while back. She said she loved every tea except for one, which she described as tasting like dirty diapers. As soon as I remembered that story, I started laughing. I think this might be the same tea!

Okay, I’ve put off actually tasting it for long enough. I’m not brave enough to try it straight first, so I’m adding milk.

The verdict: the aroma is scarier than the taste. I’m adding a little sugar now.

Yeah, this is not my cup of tea. On subsequent tastings, I’m afraid this one is going down the drain.

If you like smokiness, then this is the tea for you. I just can’t get “dirty diapers” out of my head. Thanks, Mom! ;P

This is a strong, fairly bitter tea straight. It definitely needs milk and sugar.

But even with milk, this tea still isn’t the best in my book. I like Assam mixed/blended with other black teas rather than alone. It’s not a very complex tea.

To me, it’s nothing special. There’s no unique, distinctive flavor that stands out. It’s just all right. I don’t see myself craving this one.

If you like strong black teas with milk, I recommend Lupicia’s The au Lait instead.

Pro: a very pleasant tea experience! “Beautiful golden tips” is a very apt description (although I would favor to say luscious golden tips).

The dry leaves smell really interesting. I wish I could identify the base, but I’m not quite there yet in my current level of tea expertise. The brewed tea aroma was at first slightly disappointing because I felt that it had lost that unique, unidentifiable, interesting smell. It smelled like a normal, average black tea.

But when time came to taste it, I was pleasantly surprised again! (Which was only slightly spoiled since I had just brushed my teeth. Is there mint in here?! face palm).

But this is a very pleasant tea! I drank it with lots of milk and a little sugar, as suggested. It’s a beautiful black tea and a nice change from all the green and oolong currently in my cupboard.

Again, I apologize that I can’t describe the finer details of this tea due to my inexperience as a tea connoisseur. But it’s a good one to keep around for days when you’re not craving any one tea in particular but definitely know you want something flavorful.