Infusin_Susan

This is a smooth, delicious, flavorful black tea. It differs from some other Yunnans I’ve tried in that it lacks astringency and the flavor is not as “raw” and harsh as some. I’m not getting any spicy or peppery notes. It’s almost too easygoing to be a Yunnan.

There’s some kind of dark fruitiness in here that I can’t quite make out — perhaps that’s the “raisin” note others have mentioned. I do not find this malty, bread-y or biscuit-y. I’m not getting any vanilla, chocolate or pastry notes, either, or anything roasty or smoky. It’s just an excellent cup of smooth, silky black tea.

I like flavored black teas when they are done right. Unfortunately, I’ve tasted many inferior flavored teas that have an artificial twang to them, or which have so much flavoring the taste of the black tea is obscured.

I’m happy to report that Vanilla Bean Cream is an example of a flavored black done right. I brewed this for four minutes, and the flavors all came out beautifully. I can taste the tea and the vanilla — the cream note seems to add another layer of richness to the tea drinking experience. This is a rich, flavorful vanilla black. It would make for a delicious ice cream. It’s not overly sweet, though. It’s bold and strong without being harsh or bitter.

I’ll be interested to see how well the flavors hold up through a second steeping, but for now, I am impressed.

This is a delicious blend of black tea with berry and vanilla flavorings. The description says there is also caramel, but I couldn’t detect that. It’s a nice, smooth black tea — no astringency, and not super-strong. The flavors are delicate, not “in your face” like some flavored teas, and there aren’t little bits of dried fruit and such in the tea.

This tea is kind of like Mariage Freres Marco Polo’s older, more reserved sister. The two teas are quite similar, but whereas Marco Polo is practically bursting with strawberry flavor, Paul et Virginie is content to let the flavors slowly build and achieve more of a balance with the black tea. Even so, I think I slightly prefer Marco Polo, because when I want a strawberry flavored black tea, I want the flavors to be bold. I’ll definitely enjoy the rest of this tea, though; it’s a real treat.

I was skeptical at the idea of a powdered sencha, but this wasn’t bad at all. Now, it wasn’t great, either, but for what it is, it’s perfectly good.

The preparation is simple. You tear open the pouch and dump the contents into a 16.9 oz. bottle of (presumably cold — wouldn’t want to drink this warm, or even room temp) water and shake vigorously. The water turns a cloudy, murky shade of green. The taste is like a weakly brewed sencha over ice — mildly vegetal and grassy, slightly astringent — fairly decent for an iced, unsweetened green tea. It’s comparable in terms of flavor and quality to iced tea made from bagged green tea. I’ve certainly had worse. And I do like the idea that I’m ingesting the actual tea leaf when I make this.

The powder does tend to settle at the bottom of the bottle, but a repeat shaking blends it right back in.

My love for this tea has not dissipated. Today I was making breakfast and brewing tea at the same time. I forgot I had a cup of Milk Oolong brewing, and wound up accidentally steeping it for 10 minutes. Cursing myself, I figured I’d have to dump the overbrewed liquor, but I took a sip just for the heck of it — and it was fine. More than fine, in fact — it tasted good. Maybe just a wee bit of astringency, but I added a pinch of sweetener and was rewarded with a delicious and flavorful cup! Who would have thought this would be a tea that is not fussy about brew times? A very pleasant discovery, indeed!

This is a delicious tea. The scent when you open the pouch is intoxicating. It smells like a bakery. The flavor is like a lightly spiced bread or coffee cake on top of black tea. Some flavored teas are just too sweet or artificial-tasting, but Brioche is different. It really brings to mind biting into a flaky pastry or croissant. The flavors are well balanced; this tea contains almonds and cinnamon, but neither of those flavors overpowers the rest.

I really like this tea and plan to keep it on hand as a low-calorie indulgence — a way to handle my cravings for croissants, cookies, baked goods and other things I need to avoid, if I don’t want to put on weight!

A savory and toasty cup. Smooth and flavorful. Great way to start the day!

I wasn’t wild about this. It smelled wonderful — like a mixture of black tea and tropical fruit. But when I drank it, there was something unpleasant about it. I felt like I was drinking fruit-scented soap or some type of cleansing product. I could still taste the black tea, which was perfectly good, but that unpleasant soapy note really put me off.

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Dry: This tea is a mixture of small and large leaf pieces. Much of these leaves are already so broken, they could easily fit into a tea bag. Leaf pieces range in color from dark green to pale yellow-green, and there is a vivid medium-green dust that almost looks matcha-like. The fragrance is rich, dense and kind of herbal.

Brewed: The liquor is a vivid shade of light green. Almost fluorescent. A little cloudy. On first sip, I am struck by the intense flavor. There are notes of lemon, a grassy note, and a bit of seaweed. Further sips reveal that herbal note I noticed when I opened the pouch, and a very creamy sencha flavor. Now I’m starting to understand what reviewers mean when they say a tea is “buttery.” I’m getting a bit of spinach, as well, but it’s a fresh, raw spinach, not a cooked one. This tea has a very fresh, herbal feeling to it; it’s not “roasty.” The aftertaste is a bit dry, but not bitter or astringent. I’m the person who adds sweetener to almost every tea, but I did not sweeten this; it did not need it, and adding sweetener would have compromised the complex flavor.

Overall impression: This tea is very vegetal and the flavors are strong and savory. It is neither sweet nor astringent. If you are into flavorful green teas that reveal new notes with each sip, you should give this a try. This is an excellent one.

This is a good tea, but I really don’t like it very much. I know, that sounds like a contradiction. I admire the roasted, chestnut, smooth and sweet flavors in this tea — it has notes of honey and something else sweet that I can’t quite identify. But I really don’t want to spend a lot of time drinking this. I prefer flavors that are a bit more robust or in your face. That’s not to say this tea is weak or flavorless — far from it. It’s just that something in its flavor profile isn’t quite to my preference.

This tea has dark leaves (practically black) and reminds me quite a bit of Golden Moon Honey Orchid. So if you like that, I think you will like this.

I think all of the companies that carry black tea in “dragon pearl” form are getting it from the same place. This tastes, smells and looks the same as thepuriTea’s Red Dragon Pearl and the one from Teavana. It’s a strong black tea with notes of chocolate and a slightly roasted flavor, but not smoky. It’s rich and flavorful, fully leaded (in terms of caffeine), a bit malty, almost like an Assam. I like the ease of measuring (five “balls” per 8 oz of water @ 205 @ 4 min. = nice strong cuppa). Even better with a little sweetener, and makes a nice tea latte, if you’re into that.

I had a bad headache today, and a double-helping of this tea has helped tremendously.

I am skeptical of the much-touted detoxifying/cleansing attributes of this tea. I drink it because I think it tastes good. It’s overpriced, and I’ve noticed the quality of the white tea has gone down (Teavana used to put silver needle white tea in here; now it’s a less expensive variety), yet still, I have to keep this on hand. It’s the perfect tea for those moments when I really don’t know what I’m in the mood for. Black tea? Nah, too close to bedtime. Green? Sounds good, but I don’t feel like being super-vigilant about temp and steep time. Oolong? White? Both sound good, but I’d like a little extra flavor. I don’t want any artificial flavors, though — I just want to taste the flavor of tea, amplified. Bingo! It’s time for Body + Mind.

I generally dislike jasmine tea. This blend does have a lot of it. Open the bag, and the smell of jasmine tea nearly knocks you over. But somehow, in the cup, it works. The jasmine flavors are balanced by the oolong and white. The flavors all blend together to create a mellow, smooth, slightly fruity (without any fruit flavors or chewy bits added, unlike most of Teavana’s blends), softly floral, delicious blend. I have had this iced and it is just as good. The liquor is light amber, about the color of a glass of beer or ale. It’s not necessary to be precise with the steep time or temp, but I don’t advise letting this sit for more than 5 minutes.

You could probably create this blend yourself at home, and save the trouble of a trip to Teavana, but I like to buy it from them. It keeps me on my toes to have to run the Teavana Upsell Gauntlet (“you sure you don’t want a tin for that tea? an iron teapot? some rock sugar?”) and be amused by the so-called advice (“this will help slow down the aging process”) once in a while. I smile into their horrified faces as I request the tea in bags, even though they’ve warned me it will go “stale” in one week sans tin. Then I go home and drink Body + Mind and feel zenlike and calm.

(Caveat: The sample I received was labeled “Golden Yunnan” and advised steeping @ 200 for 5 minutes. I hope/assume it’s this tea).

Wow. What a smooth, full-bodied, flavorful cup this is. I brewed it for the full five minutes suggested, all the while worrying it might turn bitter, but such was not the case. No bitterness whatsoever. I did not get the tobacco notes — which is fine with me, because I’m not fond of tobacco or anything smoky — but I did sense honey, dark chocolate, caramel and a hint of fresh-baked bread. The mouth-feel is sort of thick and heavy, in a pleasant way, but there is no aftertaste. The liquor is golden-reddish-brown.

This is robust without being rough. Elegant, even. But not delicate. It’s bursting with smooth, addictive flavor. This is how black tea should taste. I’d love to have more of this.

The main problem with Starbucks’ Earl Grey Tea Latte is that, when allowed to brew for a few minutes (which is necessary if you want that Earl Grey flavor), it becomes bitter. You really do need to sweeten this one. I use more sweetener in this than I do in anything else. I don’t even want to tell you how many packets of stevia and Splenda I put in here, because you will laugh at me. But once it’s adequately sweetened, it’s a real treat, and you can definitely taste the lavender and bergamot. I get this on my way to work in the morning and I have it with a few of Starbucks’ mini vanilla bean scones. Dipping the scones in the tea is the way to go.

Overall, not what I’d call a high-quality tea experience, but it’s tasty and easy, and a great way to start the day at work.

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This tea smells lovely, and brews up promising. The liquor is golden yellow. Upon sipping the tea, one is greeted with a very pleasing, sweet, fruity flavor. However, the aftertaste — sharp and artificial-tasting — is a deal-breaker for me. It leaves a lingering stickiness/taste in the back of my throat, and I have to use another tea to get rid of the taste.

I’m sorry Butiki Teas; I really wanted to love this but it was not to be.

This is definitely grape, all right. Make no mistake about that — the scent is strong in the bag, even before it is opened. Steeped, it produces a yellow liquor. A little bit of sweetener is needed. The oolong flavor is present, but is greatly overshadowed by the grape flavoring. This is grape not like biting into a grape, but like grape Kool-Aid or grape jelly. Not that that’s a bad thing. I have two young daughters with whom I sometimes have tea parties — this flavored tea would be perfect for a child. It would also be good iced on a hot day, or maybe even blended with a mild green or white tea. I might consider getting this just for the novelty of it.

I have had a tin of Sinharaja for several months, and today I just polished off the last of it. I’ve been fond of this tea for some time. It’s one of those black teas that brews up a bit astringent, but once you add a touch of sweetener, it’s delicious. Full-bodied and smooth, with a rich, almost molasses-like flavor. I’m getting some notes of pastry and vanilla as well. The color in the cup has a bit of a reddish tinge. It’s the perfect tea for morning or afternoon — a good all-around black tea, a polished alternative to English or Irish breakfast teas. I’m going to have to buy more the next time I place a Golden Moon order.

I tried this at a recent tea tasting at Chicago Tea Garden. Everyone there seemed to like it, and I was no exception. If you like your oolongs roast-y, with almost a charcoal flavor, this tea is for you. This tea holds up well for several steepings — I’m on my fourth, and it still tastes good. The charcoal flavor dissipates a bit with each steeping, but it still tastes like a roasted green oolong. Not sweet, but doesn’t need sweetener. A little bit grassy and lightly floral, not buttery. Just a great, full-flavored green oolong.

I am a Japanese green tea lover on a mission to sample every gyokuro I can get my hands on. This one, from American Tea Room, is amazing.

I could tell this was going to be a special tea from the moment I opened the packet. The fragrance nearly knocked me over — to say the scent (and for that matter, the flavor) is vegetal is like saying Shakespeare is a competent writer. This is some serious stuff. I brewed it for the suggested 2 minutes, but at a slightly lower temp than suggested, because I am always paranoid when it comes to gyokuros. The liquor is pale green. The flavor? Sublime.

You want to talk umami? This is “swimming in a salty sea of seaweed” umami. I have never tasted anything like it. Other gyokuros I’ve tried pale in comparison. I am getting notes of seaweed, spinach, and very strong vegetal notes. I know some people hesitate when they hear the term “vegetal,” but there is nothing off-putting, bitter or unpleasant. This tea is delicious, strong and flavorful, with a lingering sweet finish. I did not add one grain or drop of sweetener, and that’s rare for me — I tend to sweeten almost every tea I drink, if only a little. But to corrupt this incredible flavor with sweetener would be very wrong.

As far as caffeine goes, this tea has it. I’m suddenly feeling very alert, and maybe I’ll even be productive with my work today instead of slacking off in my typical lazy fashion.

I would drink this every day if I could. Highly recommended!

Assam Harmony is a good black tea with a smooth flavor profile. Slightly astringent at first, it benefits from just a touch of sweetener. Then other flavors begin to emerge — drinking it, I am thinking of stroopwafels and chocolate covered biscuits. It doesn’t taste like caramel or chocolate, precisely, but it brings those to mind. There is a bit of maltiness, as one would expect from an Assam, but it’s not overpowering. Overall, it’s a fine breakfast tea, very easy to drink, and I think it would go with a variety of foods.