Jillian

Tea number nine from the Holiday Sampler today. It’s probably a familiar story – when Frank first blended this tea I dithered about whether or not to buy a pouch and of course by the time I’d made up my mind, they were all gone. It’s nice to see what I’ve been missing out on, although a little sad since once the two teaspoons-worth in the sample are gone – it’s gone.

The gingerale smell from this tea is lovely, sweet and gingery in an almost floral way – though maybe that’s the influence of the bergamot. The flavour doesn’t quite nail it, there’s a bit too much emphasis on the citrus flavour of the bergamot and not enough on the ginger itself. Maybe it would have been better to use lemon and/or lime peel instead to mimic the flavours. None the less, it’s a nice, enjoyable tea and the white tea base is perfect for it, supporting the flavours without overwhelming them.

“On the seventh (it is the 7th day, right?) day of Christmas, my true love gave to meeeee….”

…a lovely potful of of this delicious honeybush blend. This one is about neck-and-neck with the pina colada honeybush for my favorite from 52Teas.

I finally got my 12 Days of X-mas parcel today (not Frank’s fault, Canada Post is always slow this time of year – I should have ordered sooner) so I’ve got a fair bit of catching up to do.

This is wonderful tea to start it on, however. I actually have an unopened pouch of this one that I purchase earlier, but that didn’t make me any less excited about trying this tea when I saw what it was. I was dubious at first about how much marshmallow flavour the tea would actually have – sure it’s got marshmallow root bits, but to anyone who’s ever had plain marshmallow root tea (good for coughs) there’s not really much resemblance between it and the sweet, fluffy, corn syrup-based confections we’re used to in this modern day and age.

All my doubts fled though, when I opened the pouch, I swear if I ddn’t know any better I was smelling freshly-made rice krispie squares. And it carried over nicely to the flavour as well. I’m surprised that there’s no sugar added to this tea because it’s plenty sweet without me adding anything to it (not that I’d sweetened a green tea, but you get the idea). What a wonderful treat.

This one came as a sample with a Davids Tea order a while back, and I’ve been saving it for a cold day like this. I was a bit worried it would be too rank because I didn’t rinse it in case I ended up rinsing the flavouring out. Turns out I didn’t need to worry as this is quite a mild pu’erh, mildly earthy and dark without tasting like a mouthful of dirt or manure. The smell actually has caramel undertones though the flavour is mostly cocoa, though it’s not as chocolatey as Numi’s Chocolate Pu-erh. This tea however has a distinctly rich smoothness, perhaps from the addition of the coconut which is otherwise quite subtle.

I really enjoyed this tea, so it’s totally too bad that Davids Tea stop blending it. I voted for it a couple times when they were doing that Halloween Back From the Dead revival, but no luck. Ah well.

I dug this tea out again and I found that sweetening it a bit with agave nectar (which seems oddly appropriate) brought out the citrusy flavour from the orange peel bits. I’m still getting that odd creamy aftertaste and I think it reminds me a bit of chocolate – almost but not quite.

So after much careful rationing, I’ve finally come to the end of this little sample. I’m so sad that the Jade Teapot is no more because this was a lovely Tie Guan Yin and I wish I had bought more when I had the chance.

I’m revisiting a lot of my old teas in an attempt to use them up before they go stale. Looking back on my old note on this tea I’m a bit surprised to find that this time I can in fact taste the red fruits that I couldn’t before. They’re subtle but similar to the grenadine flavour in a Monk’s Blend.

Not bad, not bad at all. The dry tea smells like almond liqueur (ie. amaretto) with a touch of fruityness, though the fruityness seemed to disppeared when the water got added.

It was a bit heavy on the red rooibos when I firsh tried it, but after it had a chance to cool a bit the honeybush took over quite nicely. The almond flavour is very much there, though thankfully, unlike some, Tea Forte’s blend doesn’t taste like someone dumped a whole bottle of almond extract in it. I do wish there was more emphasis on the apricot flavour though, because I’m not really tasting it. I get the sweetness of the honeybush but nothing I can really liken to any sort of fruit. Still I think overall this tea is more ‘hit’ than ‘miss’.

I found that lowering the steeping temp and time just a bit really improved the staying power of this tea. I got three good steeps out of the leaves before the sweet, milk flavour petered out.

This tea doesn’t seem the worst for wear after being stuck in the back of my cupboard for awhile. It smells quite similar to apple juice or apple cider – from those tart, green, granny smith apples in particular, I think. The tea has a nice, subtle green apple flavout that blends quite well with the grassy sencha base. It yields a nice resteep too and manages to hold onto the apple notes unlike some flavoured teas that only stay flavoured for their first steep.

This tea smells amazing – like watermelon gummies or candies. It made me want to eat the tea right out of the pouch, but I managed to restrain myself. ;) Interestingly, when I added the water I started smelling apples as well.

For once, this tea tastes as good as it smells, I was dreading hibiscus, but it looks like my fears are unfounded as if there’s any in the blend I can’t taste it. The flavours are fruity and sweet – like watermelon but there are also other fruits in there – honeydew melon and apples are the ones I can most readily pick out. Ladies and gents, I think this tea is a winner.

I’m not really sure what neem is supposed to smell or taste like as I’ve never had it in anything before. It’s apparently something of an Eastern panacea, so perhaps it’ll cure all that ails me. ;)

The flavour comes across as being rather bitter, at least at first, but I got used to it as I drank my cuppa. I suppose it’s the neem that gives the tea a clean, fresh sort of taste; the bitterness is a bit much to get used to though, at least with nothing else added to the tea. Maybe I’ll do what LiberTeas did and add a bit of sweetener next time.

Adding milk does improve the tea and I think it gives the tea a more balanced flavour profile. I can taste the nutty pecans more clearly, though I’m not really getting anything that might qualify as the ‘pie’ part of the tea. Still it’s an improvement over taking this tea plain so I’m bumping up my rating a few notches.

I finally reached the end of this pouch as I was deliberatly seeing how far I could stretch it out. I have noticed that these last few cups have been a bit lacking in flavour so I guess it’s fair to say that this tea has reached its consume-by date. Not that I begrudge it; this was a great got-to tea whenever I felt like a flavoured green tea and it also made an excellent refreshing iced tea (which I forgot to log – oops).

So I bid this tea a fond farewell, and it’s definitely high on my list of 52Teas blends I’d bring back if I had a choice in the matter. ;)

I don’t normally add anything to yerba mate, but I was feeling adventurous today, plus this seemed like it would be a good tea for it. I found that it brings out the mocha flavours more and gives the drink a slightly more pronounced coffee taste rather than the chocolatey flavour I get when I drink this tea without milk. There’s not so much of a nutty flavour either, I’m noticing.

This is a fairly unremarkable black tea. I’m drinking it plain right now so it might be improved by soem milk and/or sugar. It largely tastes like black tea at first, then the pecan flavour sorta comes in at the end of each sip. Nothing special, but it isn’t gack-worthy either.

Oh man I love this tea. It’s rich and decadent without all the extra calories one would normally get from something this chocolatey. And man is it chocolately – like a sumptuous dark chocolate truffle with that hint of liqueur. The peppercorns are more of a background note giving the tea just a little touch of heat and spice. It’s simply delicious.

Yum, the tea smells a lot like margarita mix or maybe those lemon- or lime-flavoured hard candies. It’s almost enough to make me want to nom the leaves, lol. ;) In terms of the actual flavour, I’m getting more lemon and lime than I’m getting cheesecake to be honest, but I like it none the less. The sweet, smooth honeybush keeps it from tasting too tart from all the citrus which in turn gives the tea a nice, fresh, little ‘zing’.

Another good’un courtesy of Frank and 52Teas.

Finally finishing off this tea – I’m making it a mission to use up the older teas in my cupboard.

The yerba mate leaves are quite fine, the sort of caliber you’d usually kind in your generic teabags. Interestingly the smaller leave sizes doesn’t seem to increase the drink’s bitterness as is often the case with actual tea. The leaves do have nice staying power though, keeping their flavour through several steeps.

Meh, kinda bland, but at least it’s not hibiscus-rific. It has a vaguely coconut and fruit flavour, but nothing terribly distinct. On the other hand this little sample has been sitting in the depths of my cupboard for awhile and may have lost some of its flavour.

I finished off the last of the little sample pouch and found that the tea wasn’t as strongly medicinal-tasting when it cooled off. I also noticed that it has a nice, fruity, kiwi scent, particularly the dry leaves. But still…Buckley’s. *makes a face *

I picked up this iced tea at a new bulk foods store that just opened in my neighborhood recently. They also sell loose-leaf tea, but considering that it’s no-name branded and stored in unsealed bins next to the bulk spices I think I’ll pass on those. Call me a tea snob, but whtever. ;)

This iced green tea manages to NOT be sickly sweet and despite having two different sweeteners in it (cane sugar and honey) has less sugar in general than most other bottled iced teas. I think the jasmine flavours make up some of the sweetness, though I’m not sure if the flowery notes really mesh with the tart green apple flavours. It’s still nicely thirst-quenching so I’m not inclined to be too picky.

UrbanZen Tea seems to be a farily new company (and Canadian!) and I like their all-natural, no preservatives, non high-fructose corn syrup approach to iced tea. Too bad more stores don’t carry their products.

It’s not too bad with some milk in it, as this seems to bring out some smoother notes in this tea and tones down the cinnamon and cloves. I’m still not getting the creamy-tangy flavours that I can taste in Frank’s other cheesecake-flavoured teas though.