Doulton

If you like the flavor of cloves, you should love this tea. I’ve enjoyed it before but I just had a “critical cup”—i.e. one in which I thought about the qualities of the tea instead of just slurping it down. It’s one of the richest rooibos teas I’ve enjoyed. I let it steep for a long time and then drank it slowly. As time passed, the cloves became the dominant aroma and taste. That’s great for me because I’ve always loved clove.
I think that this will become one of those teas that I must have in stock—a destination tea for when I need to be perked up in the evening and caffeine is verboten.

If I were given one of those impossible philosophical chores—-you are stuck on a desert island and can only bring one tea, or if you had to pick one tea only to drink for the rest of your life, my immediate answer would be Earl Grey. I’ve loved Earl Grey teas and tasted quite a few of them. When I saw that I could try TWG via mail order, I was ecstatic.

The packaging is delightful. When you open the inner lid on the canister (yes, there are two lids) that Earl Grey aroma is overpowering in its seductive goodness. I noticed this first—many Earl Greys signal their presence with a whiff of vaguely citrus aroma. TWG most certainly has the full fledge bergamot odor—indeed, I felt that I was romping about in a Calabrian bergamot grove. The citrus aroma has overtones of pear, and you can make out the distinctive touches of orange, grapefruit, lemon, and lime clearly.

I loved this tea! Drinking this tea after another Earl Grey is like having the most expensive, exquisite, carefully made deep chocolate after a Hershey’s bar. They are from two different planes of experience. Compare the pedestrian, everyday life, which can be drab and dismal, with the most exquisite day you can imagine—a day in sun-drenched Italy, perhaps and you can conjure up the sense of discovery I had with TWG Earl Grey Gentleman. It’s deep, rich, satisfying, filling, and almost a full meal on its own. It does not need sugar and milk, but I tried some with my second cup and the sugar and milk are not strong enough to mar the flavor at all.

A second steeping was flavorful and satisfying. I plan to try other TWG Earl Greys.

They have nine listed on their website:
Breakfast Earl Grey
Earl Grey Fortune
Smoky Earl Grey
Earl Grey Gentleman
English Earl Grey
French Earl Grey
Earl Grey Theine Free
Earl Grey Buddha
Earl Grey d’Amour

This is simply a delightful, festive, holiday tea that works well on any cold evening.
Gingerbread Rooibos was the first in my “tea of the week” orders and I was thrilled. In addition to the very attractive packaging (such things do matter to me a little bit), they produced a dreamy and delightful tea. There’s the snap of ginger but also the sweetness and soothingness of a complexly flavored gingerbread.

I was thrilled with this selection—the odor, the taste, the experience were comforting in a way that is exciting. I felt returned to the age of innocence when Christmas meant spice and sugar and all things nice. Great tea! Different and versatile.

This is a delightfully rich and satisfying tea. It’s smoky, a bit malty, full-bodied, and complete within itself. Near the end of my cup I added a bit of honey and milk, which did not detract from the tea, but really didn’t add anything. I would drink this again, hot and golden. Golden Monkey seems to be the tea-drinker’s equivalent to a single-malt scotch.

TehKu is a local company with a wonderful tea-house, and I know that they do mail-order for those who live outside the area. No affiliation.

Another one-note tea from Numi. The clear mint taste reminds me of a wintergreen/spearmint/pepperming mélange. It’s an excellent tea for quite evening work.

I believe strongly that a local restaurant serves this precise tea as their special “Comfot Tea” and it indeed is a consoling, friendly, and generous drink.

This is a great tea for lime lovers. It’s got a single, solid note. People seem to love it or hate it.
I drink this occasionally with a small cube of demerara sugar. Mostly I use it as a base for a --(and please sit down and don’t get upset)—soothing drink for those who suffer from a bad cough or sour throat. Add one or two cough drops, some sugar or honey, and stir well. My children love it! And why not use tea for medicinal purposes?

This tea has a warm and spicy aroma. I don’t know if I would buy it again (I possibly will) but I have enjoyed it. It’s flavor is stalwart and a bit of milk is a nice touch. It’s a good late-night unwinder and has none of the insipidity that some “bedtime” or chamomile teas can have.

This is a nice tea. I tasted it at a local tea house—I order the magnificent “Florence” and my companion tried this one. The aroma was pleasant although the orange came through to my snout in a much more pronounced way than the cranberry.

I liked the tea but I don’t think I would invest in a tin. I might order it at a tea house if I were in the mood. Perhaps this review suffers because of my great enthusiasm for Harney & Sons’ Florence blend.

It seemed decent but a big pedestrian—-sort of like a B- student when there are a bunch of A and B+ students in the room.

Your mileage, of course, will vary.

I ordered this tea at a local tea house—how could I not select a tea named after one of the world’s finest cities?

The aroma of chocolate is keenly sweet and the hints of hazelnut provide a dignity that does not take away from the chocolate but rather adds a grace note. It makes the tea less of a dessert tea and more of a scholarly treatise on good blends.

I drank almost the entire cup with great pleasure; at the end I experimented with a tad of sugar and milk and they seemed to obscure and not bring out the flavor. I won’t add milk again. And the sugar is not at all necessary.

Overall, I’m impressed and plan to purchase this in one of the handsome Harney & Sons tins.

I like Honest Tea. I like the little maxims under the top of the bottle. I like the convenience of having a source of iced tea if I cannot make some or if I need to run out of the house. I like the simple way I can sneak this in my pocketbook and get into the movie theatre with a decent drink.

Most of all, I like the way that this tea is not overly sugary. Once you try this, you can never return to bottled Lipton, Tazo, or Snapple.

The lemon taste is crisp although not overly citrusy. I can drink this without the sense that I have an IV of sugar flowing into my veins. It’s a great convenience.

This was an impulse purchase for me. I do like the flavor of pear. I see that other reviews call the tea “bitter.” That was not my experience: my experience was hot water tinged with so little flavor as to be meaningless.
I know that some tea bags can really work so I don’t shun them entirely but I am going to be seeking a stronger pear blend elsewhere.

Simply delightful!
I ordered a tin of the loose tea based on its reputation. The dense, compact leaves smelled as if I had somehow landed in a delectable strawberry field. I was transformed from a dreary November afternoon into a fruited dream world of sweetness. I thought of some of the lucious music I know—-if you like Puccini at all, this tea is the equivalent of that gorgeous candied aria, “Chi il bel sogno di Doretta” from “La Rondine”. Ah! mio sogno! Felicita!

But I really should be referencing the sweets of France—perhaps this tea has an Italian name because it well represents the robust spectacle which is Italy? It is based on tea leaves from China and Tibet, so it really is an international melange.

I am now lusting after the jams made by Mariage Freres.

I typically try a tea dark and then decide whether I want to add sugar and/or milk. I think that Marco Polo could handle those but I was into the deliciousness so much that I could not bring myself to change one single thing.
I understand that this tea is more costly, but it is worth it.

Culinary Teas had exceptionally speedy delivery service—thank you!

This evening I decided to try their Belgian Chocolate Rooibos and I was enthralled. The aroma is deep, rich, and exudes chocolate decadance.

After steeping for 7 minutes, I had a perfect calorie-free,, chocolatey dessert. The tea is smooth and lucious. I was open to adding sugar but simply did not need it. I often like the creaminess of a little milk, but this Belgiam Chocolate Rooibos was creamy “au natural”.

I’m still going to be sampling teas, but right now if I were told that Culinary Teas’ Belgian Chocolate Rooibos was the only dessert tea I could ever have, I would go to bed happy.

I cannot say that I hate chamomile tea, but my past experiences have been limited. I’ve had chamomiles that tasted like hot water with a faint spritz of hay seed. Back when I was in college there was the dreaded proffering of Celestial Seasonings Chamomile by those who took their earthy, hippy status seriously. Fortunately, tea has come a long way since then.

Mighty Leaf has me jonesing for more.

I just got a variety pack of Might Leaf tea-bags and decided to accompany “The Amazing Race” with a nice soothing tea. I decided, quite staunchly, that I was going to get the chamomile out of the way—the way I occasionally make myself do an unpleasant chore first thing in the day and spend the next 6 months using this one burst of virtue to justify my inherent sloth.

First I had to admire the tea bag. I imagined an artisan lovingly crocheting the string with a tiny crochet hook. As the tea brewed, citrus emerged. The typical old hayseed odor never appeared.

I was starting to get alert and to pay attention to this tea. I had regarded it as a chore to be endured and I now felt that I had arrived at the “sens de la visite” as French signs point out tourist attractions.

Mighty Leaf has concocted an impressive mélange of flavors to support whatever the essence of chamomile is. I still remain uncertain what was the chamomile–maybe the supporting cast is the star here. The citrus is strong, vibrant, but not a bit brash.

I made an immediate note to promote this Chamomile Citrus to full-time status at my house and to adopt it as a favorite evening child. I know that I really like this tea because I’m already slightly nervous that I only have one tea-bag left and the stores do not open for another 7 hours. I’m a convert!

I’m ready for more! Yannan Jig (I got it with the black tea sampler from Adagio) happened to be an almost random choice this morning but I’m quite happy with it.

It’s an easeful black with no sharp, strident, or bitter notes. I didn’t really get the peppery or smoky taste that others have referenced. I did feel, however, that this is a candidate for a great every-day wake-you-upper. My first cup of Yunnan Jig felt like meeting somebody who might be a candidate for a good friendship. I want to try more and audition it for my stable of reliable teas.

It’s not dashing or daring, but I think it could be lovable in the way that a somewhat plain girl like Jane Eyre manages to get under your skin and stay there.