Jason

I’ve been hearing about this type of tea a lot lately so when I asked about it the tea shop in my area gave me a sample to try. I was instantly drawn to it after the first sip despite it’s slightly fishy scent. They say it gets better with age and I must say I am a bit intrigued to taste that possibility.

It is cold outside and the snow is falling in clumps and that calls for a wonderfully scented warming tea. I picked up this blend after work today and am now relaxing back and thoroughly enjoying this tea . The smell is sweet and fills the nose with a creamy scent. The taste is very mellow compared to the smell, but just the perfect level to not be considered “too much”. As the name says, khali-kahwa or really good cup and it is just that!

I went in to the tea shop with no real plan. Just that I wanted a plain black tea. No clicks and no whistles. I was suggested the Russian Samovar Black Tea. This tea has a very traditional black tea scent and a nice dark coloration once steeped. The taste is a very straight up black tea as I hoped for. Though there is just a little something extra I keep noticing with each swallow. What it is I can’t figure out….and I am in no way complaining. It is just a nice extra bite with each sip. I will have to make a batch tomorrow and see if I can figure it out then.

Expanding my taste buds to the world of Oolong! This tea has very little odor to it prior to steeping though it does a nice job of filling the room with an earthy tone while it steeps. Overall this tea is very calm in every way. The taste is very laid back and woodsy smooth. It almost has a mouth filling creaminess to it. I do like this tea quite a bit. And to think the last time I raved about an Oolong was when Sobe came out with those Oolong tea drinks……….shame on me.

Up’ed the score! Went to the Tea Haus and bought a few new teas as well as got my free cup of tea (Frequent Buyers Card)! I got, of course, the Banana Walnut. The reason I moved the score up is because as they made my cup the entire shop filled with the smell of this tea and it put the biggest smile on my face. Just in case I haven’t mentioned it…….this tea is amazing!

So good! The perfect tea for this 7 degree day. I feel that I may need to make a dessert drink flavored with this tea tonight while I am curled around my heater.

How is it I always forgot how much I love the scent of jasmine. Maybe it is a quirk in my brain that resets a few hours after each experience so that the next time I smell jasmine it is like it is my first time. A quirk I am so glad to have! I can’t describe the smell of this tea other than to say its a treat all its own. The loosely wrapped curls are just a beautiful thing to watch as they steep. The color of the tea steeped is a deep golden color. The taste is an overall floral experience. The jasmine hits your tongue smoothly as well as your nose. Such a treat! I am just babbling at this point, but damn I can’t help it. This is good stuff!

After work today my girlfriend and I ended up at Tea Haus, a tea shop a few doors down from where we work. This is a fantastic place to end up at any point in the day. While browsing I asked about any green teas that may be considered similar to a current personal favorite, the China Lung Ching. I was given a sample of this Japan Bancha to try. The aroma of the dry leaves is just so inviting. Such an earthy warmness fills the nose. My favorite!!! Plus the tea itself is just so pretty. The color is slightly darker than the China Lung which I was told is due to how each is dried differently. Once the steeping is done and poured into a mug that earthy green smell carries on with a little more umpfh. The taste is quite similar to the China Lung but its earthy vegetal taste stays consistent throughout. Where as the China Lung begins as such then ends with a slight sweetness. Overall this tea is quite enjoyable and upon my next visit to the Tea Haus I am going to have to get a bag of this to add to my collection.

I can’t say my score is truly fair. I just bought this tea when I got to work before heading to my desk. I steeped two bags in a quarter cup of water and added it to a cup of steamed unsweetened almond milk with a little honey. For now though the taste is wonderful and I do enjoy how the green tea adds a great noticeable flavor to the drink. If it holds up on its own as just the tea I have a feeling I will enjoy it in that way as well. Which is what I will be doing for lunch. So, this is to be continued………

I picked this tea up while wandering around Chicago on a mini vacation I took to see the fantastic band, Mates of State. Not only did I get to enjoy an awesome town and a great band, I also got to enjoy several tea shops. This tea has a very strong sweet and wood like smell. A smell I would gladly have wafting around at any time of day. Though it seems most of the smell is lost through steeping. All that remains is a very faint honey like smell. The taste of this tea doesn’t have much for sweetness, but as the description says it does send off notes of wood and a slight peppery finish. Occasionally I noticed an aftertaste of the sweetness I was smelling earlier. This tea is such a wonderful and warm treat to enjoy!

In the bag this tea smells almost identical to robotussin. Weird. Besides that start off the tea steeped shows off one beautiful brown almost red shade. The smell coming from the glass is most definitely that of a rooibos but with that added zing of ginger. The taste follows that of the smell. The rooibos stands out a great deal while the ginger faintly pops up. Which to me is just perfect since I am weary when it comes to anything ginger. Overall, even the smell from the bag, this tea is a wonderful pick-me-up!

So, the time has come to do a new fast. With this comes several restrictions that exclude everything but fresh squeezed juices, water and caffeine free teas. I would have a world of options if I were to stick with a rooibos or honeybush variety, but I decided since this is my first fast in two years I better start it off with something full of beneficial herbs. Enter Yogi’s Healthy Fasting herbal tea supplement. In the tea bag this tea has one heavy licorice smell. One smell I have never really been able to enjoy. This was one of those moments were I should have left curiosity at the door. For the ten minutes I let this tea steep I starred at it in a semi fearful way. The color of the tea started off innocent enough, but slowly bleed into what it would look like if you made a green tea then left it for three months to sit in the sun. The time came to finally drink it. The tea has a scent of ten-plus ingredients. It was all over the place, but as a whole just did not come out smelling pleasant. The taste of the tea itself was the least troublesome part of the entire experience. Though that is not saying much considering the taste is what I would imagine a parsnip and ginger juice would taste like. YUM!……………..blah. This makes sense because around half of its ingredients are of the root family. Overall this tea does not make me happy nor is it a great way to start the mornings, but this is one of those situations were you just bite your lip, hold your nose, bear with it and say “this is beneficial to my health, this is beneficial to my health, this is beneficial to my health…”.

My initial view of this tea may be a bit skewed since I just downed a chipotle chocolate chip cookie. The tea makes me sad that it isn’t rhubarb season any longer. The rhubarb is the champion when you first smell this tea with the raspberry creeping up faintly behind it. The color is that of a traditional green tea and once the steeping has finished the wonderful sweet smell is nearly gone. Though while you sip the smell slightly charges and reminds you of whats to come. Once again the rhubarb rules this tea as you drink it. At first you get that slight earthy green tea tone quickly followed by the slightly bitter sweetness of the rhubarb. Overall a very enjoyable tea, though I suspect that once the heated treat I just recently consumed fades away the teas flavor will stand out even more.

Wow, I don’t believe I did anything correctly with this tea yesterday (though it was still very tasty). The smell as the tea steeped today filled my office area with a fantastic strawberry scent, it was even easy to pick up on the caramel in the air! The color was spot on with some of the most beautiful crimson fall leaves. As I was leaning into the cup for my first sip and had to close my eyes and just savor the air around my warmed face. The taste, as it was the last time I had a cup, was smooth and subtle. Which is perfect considering how pronounced everything is leading up to that point. I am quickly falling in love with this tea as a great way to start any morning.
*WARNING (Cheesy line time!)* “This tea must be the joyful tears of Merlin ‘cause it’s damn magical.” :p

The smell of these tea leaves remind me of some of my walks into work while I lived in northern Michigan. A subtle sweet smell in the air as maple syrup season was in full swing. These leaves send off an equally pleasant smell when you open the container they are in. Fantastic start! The tea upon steeping adds a very faint coloration to the water. The taste is a wonderfully cared for green tea. A soft calm drink with a very light touch of sweetness at the end of each sip. This is one beautiful green tea all around!

The smell of this tea after steeping is, like the name, of a smooth strawberry scent. I expected the taste to be similar to that of flash frozen strawberries that all the cereal companies use these days. Thankfully I was wrong! This Honeybush tea is naturally sweet, yet the flavors of strawberry and caramel add perfectly a dash more sweet in a warm and subtle way. This was a great tea to start a chilly Monday morning with!

From the moment you open the bag and smell the tea it is a treat! The taste has more of the nutty side while the smell is reminiscent of a banana split. A great dessert tea all around….and the perfect evening treat for your sweet tooth!

Delicious green tea taste with a powerful peppermint aroma that is able to clear up the stuffiest of noses. Great tea for a chilly night.