Jillian

I’ll reiterate what I said about this being a very nice roasted oolong. However I’ve noticed that it doesn’t have as much staying power as its counterpart from Life In Teacup as I only got two good steeps out of it before the flavour really fell off.

Used up the last of this in a fruit smoothie – not bad at all.

I first tried to order this blend when it initially came out on the 52Teas website – unfortunately that was also during the Canada Post strike and my parcel vanished into that mysterious limbo dimension where all lost mail goes. I was pretty bummed about this, so when Rachel offered it up on her website I was all over that. It was well-worth the wait in my opinion.

The naturally sweet honeybush gives the caramel flavours a nice boost and the apple flavour is easy to pick out and doesn’t taste like that fake green-apple flavouring stuff. Very tasty.

De-cupboarding another one. In a way it’s a shame that these are limited edition teas, because I wouldn’t say no to more of this one. It’s been serving as my morning wake-up call for quite awhile so I’ll need to find something else to replace it with. Adios amigo.

Time to de-cupboard this tea. I found that adding some honey or agave nectar really brings out the pastry flavours as well as the cinnamon. I’m glad this one was added to the permanent collection as I’d love to buy this again some time in the future.

I recently received an order of samples from auraTeas – they seem to specialize in oolong teas, but they have a good selection of chais (both herbal and tea based) as well.

I was surprised by the smokey scent that wafted up from the dry tea when I opened the packet – that mixed with the usual spicy chai scent made for an interesting combination. I brewed it up lighter than I normally would for a chai and had it without milk or sweetener so I could get a sense of what the tea itself was like.

There was still some smoke in the flavour, but not as much as the scent would suggest. The spices were mild with a slight herbal undertoneand I could pick up a touch of sweetness from the licorice root, but they were thankfully quite subtle with it. At the tail end of each sip I got the rose – lightly floral but not too perfumey. In my opinion they’ve put together a very nice blend.

Another sample from my Butiki Teas pack. I have to admit I’m a bit disappointed in this one as I expected something with ‘truffle’ in the title to taste richer and more chocolatey than it did. It might just be that I needed to steep it longer but unfortunately my sample was only enough for one cup. The raspberry flavour was strong and real, which was nice as I’ve found that many so called raspberry-flavoured teas don’t deliver. My verdict is that it’s nice but could use some work.

This is last cup I’m having of this tea as the rest is going off to a new home with Will Work For Tea. This tea is clearly made for coffee lovers among us – of which I’m not – so I think that colours my opinion of this blend somewhat. Still with a bunch of sugar and milk it’s not half bad and has a nice slightly-burned, malty flavour. Subtle it sure ain’t, though.

I received three of these in a trade though I’m afraid I forget from whom. They’re a little bit beat up so unfortunately the one I’m currently drinking lost most of its flower bits. Awe-inspiring I’m afraid this ain’t.

The tea itself is a pretty basic, rather bland black tea with some flowery jasmine notes – not something I’d write home about. However the age and condition of the tea ball could be a factor so I’m going to avoid rating this tea for now.

The dry tea smells lemony – an interesting combination of fresh lemon juice and sweet lemon candy. The green rooibos base was a good choice for this blend IMO as it already has a clean slightly citrus flavour that enhances the lemoniness. It’s maybe a little bit dull hot, but I bet it would be great iced – it’s next on my list when I make up a jug.

Smooth, soothing chamomile is definitely the focus of this blend but there are also some sweet vanilla notes that mix well with the apple/herbal flavours of the chamomile. There’s also a licorice note but it’s nice and subtle and I can smell it in the dry tea bag more than I can taste it in the brewed tea. This tea also seems to work great for relaxing me after a long day at work, which is certainly appreciated!

I love the smell of this tea, it’s raspberry but more of a confectionary flavoured with raspberries than the fruit itself. That sounds like it should come across as being artifical but it doesn’t for some reason – at least to me. The green oolong gave the blend a nice, sweet base that complimented the fruit flavour nicely. The tea is very smooth with a creamy vanilla note that together with the raspberry makes me think of raspberry truffles or something. Very yummy.

I love the fruity scent of this tea and it’s interesting to look at too, with white, green and brown leaves of varying shades. The flavours are quite a mish-mash though not an unpleasant one. There’s the nutty notes from the white teas, vegetal notes from the green teas, and toasty notes from the Formosa oolong. The fruity apricot notes are there too although I wish the tea was a bit sweeter, as I think that would accent the fruit flavours a bit better. Maybe if the blend had just a green oolong base maybe?

I must have received this tea in a trade as I’ve never set foot inside a Teavana store (their reputation proceeds them). That said, this was quite a nice flowering tea that had a nice strawberry scent and looked quite attractive when it opened in the water – though it was maybe not as showy as some flowering teas I’ve seen. The white tea flavours were delicate and slightly nutty and slightly vegetable with the fruity strawberry notes woven throughout. It also re-steeped fairly well too and never got bitter or astringent no matter how long I kept the blossom in the tea.

Yay, finally a pumpkin tea that tastes like pumpkin – which seems to be a difficult flavour to recreate as plenty of good tea blenders have tried and this is one of the only ones that in my opinion to have done it sucessfully. But there’s more to this tea than just pumpkin, the rest of the tea is smooth, slightly sweet and nicely spiced. The spices aren’t being used to cover up a harsh base or the lack of pumpkin flavour – they’re just a nice accompaniment. All around a tasty treat.

Alright here’s the rest of my little sample iced in the fridge. It does improve the flavour a little bit but there is still that intital unexpected hibiscus tartness that makes my mouth pucker. I’ll pass on getting a full pouch of this tea.

Nice and smooth without being tasteless, this earl grey goes nicely either with or without milk and has enough kick to wake me up in the morning.

This tea smelled like a ripe, juicy pear as it was brewing and I was eagerly anticipating that first sip. Too bad the intial impression was that the tea tasted very tart and nothing like the scent at all. It tasted like it had a ton of hibiscus in it, but when I looked at the ingredient list there’s nothing on it that should be causing such the tartness. 0_o

After that first burst of sourness faded I could taste some actual pear flavour, but it was subtle and left behind more tartness in my mouth after I swallowed it. I’ll try icing the rest of this cup to see if that improves the taste at all. Stay tunned until tomorrow.

This blend reminds me a great deal of Adagio’s chocolate chip black tea. It’s got a great cocoa flavour that goes well with the slightly bitter Ceylon base Adagio uses. I’m not getting much caramel though which is a bit of a disapointment. I’ll try adding milk or sweetener to see if that’ll bring out the caramel at all.

I was very disapointed when I missed out on the inital VIT teas so a big thank you to Amy Oh for giving me a sample. The hojicha gave this tea a really interesting baked flavour that was still smooth and almost creamy in nature. It mixed well with the banana flavour which tasted quite genuine, and while the coconut was more of an afterthought it worked well with the whole blend too.

A sample of this tea came with my last Davids Tea order and right now it’s perfect iced tea weather (ie. blazing hot) so I gave it a try. There was only enough for a single cup, so I drank half of it hot and then stuck the rest in the fridge to get cold. I’ll be honest in that I wasn’t expecting too much (fruit teas often taste the same to me), but in the end I was pleasently surprised.

First of all – no hibiscus, yay! The flavour reminds me very closely of a pina colada (minus the rum) with just the right dash of sweetness that I didn’t need to add any agave nectar. I think I prefere it iced to hot but it’s very nice both ways. Next time I’m in Vancouver I’m going to see if I can pick up some more so I can make a jug of this stuff!

This is another high-quality roasted green oolong. This time it’s a sample that RachanaC kindly gave me in a trade awhile back. It’s essentially everything its profile said it was – first lightly roasted, followed by sweet floral notes and an aftertatse that reminds me of both nuts and maybe a bit of honey as well. Maybe not quite as rave-worthy as the Charcoal-roasted An Xi Tie Guan Yin from Life in Teacup, but it manages to be an excellent tea on its own merit.

Steep down! For such a big box there actually wasn’t very many tea bags in it which strikes me as a bit wasteful. I found that upping the steeping time does help strengthen the flavour, but it still remains a rather dull chai compared to others that I’ve tried.

I’ve had this tea in my cupboard for so long that I’ve forgotten where it came from. It must have been from a trade as I don’t recall ever buying from Mark T Wendell.

I really enjoyed this blend, it’s a great afternoon tea that’s light and smooth enough to be drunk without milk, but is still full of flavour. It’s not nearly as smokey as, say, a lapsang souchong, instead being more like a light Russian Caravan. It’s more than just a one note tea as well, there’s a fruity sweetness that blends nicely with the smoke and gives the tea more body and character.

Thank to whoever sent me this one!