LauraR

First of all let me start by saying that pears aren’t my favorite fruit. This is pretty good though. It tastes so much like canned pears that I kept expecting there to be a graininess in the cup. There is a mild caramel undertone that develops as the cup cools. This gets too sweet easily and I enjoyed it best with just a couple rocks of German rock cane sugar and it was also delicious with a splash of dairy (really brought out the caramel).

This is a green oolong offering that is really unique. It gives off tons of pumpkin flavor and has a very spicy finish. The heat actually builds in your mouth similar to when drinking a peppery Yunnan or spicy chai. Very unique.

Tea Guys is one of those companies that does some really mind blowing flavored blends with lots of little extras in them at reasonable prices. This is possibly the most nutty tea I have ever tasted and I like it. Yes, even more nutty than a nutty oolong. This has a very full flavor profile that is a nice mix of nuts…walnuts, almonds and coconuts…in that order. I don’t really pick up much from the fruits but I bet they add something that I’d miss if they weren’t there. I also pick of hints of something maple or caramel? The one drawback to this blend is that the flavor profile is so full that it completely overpowers the green tea. Flavored tea lovers should at last pick up a sample of this when shopping with Tea Guys. reasonable prices. Thumbs up!

Bumping this up because it is that delicious….can’t stop thinking about it and can’t wait to order the 4 oz size.

This is a brand new offering from Tea Guys that is not even on their website yet. If you are interested in it, you can order it via telephone. I recently placed a large sample order and this was amongst them. The ingredients are organic rooibos, cocoa beans, organic honeybush, cinnamon, cinnamon chips, dark chocolate flakes, ancho chiles, pasille chiles, saffron, natural flavors.

While I am not getting much of the chocolate in this, the spice mix is really warming and amazing. It isn’t too spicy, but I bet it would flush the really fair skinned folks. The cinnamon and chiles play nicely together. I wish I could taste more chocolate. I might try stirring some actual hot chocolate into it. This is good enough that I would buy it even with the somewhat weak chocolate presence. Further, Tea Guys offers reasonable prices.

Incidentally, this best with a pinch of sugar and a splash of chocolate milk didn’t hurt things either :)

YUM!

One of the best Earl Grey offerings that I’ve had. Excellent Ceylon tea base that brews up rich and dark and shares the stage with the bergamot rather than being overpowered by it. Tastes best unadulterated.

Still a fav…in large part due to it’s simplicity and excellent tea base.

This is not a favorite of mine as a hot drink. It is much better cold and even best when blended with some Earl Grey or Earl Grey Creme. However, I like the nice full flavor profile and that it is both naturally sweet and tart——though not too tart like many blends that contain hibiscus.

So I recently found out the Tea Guys have a whole bunch of new blends that are not yet listed on their website. However, if you click on the Catalog button their website, you can see what they all are. You have to call in to order them and for more detailed descriptions. As a lover of really well done flavored tea blends, I just placed a rather large sample order with them. While Cafe Latte is not one of their new blends, I have started drinking coffee in the morning and have grown to love it. DARNITALL! Anyway, I have been curious about a coffee flavored tea and decided to give this one a shot and threw in a sample. Ultimately, I have decided that I like it. It is a fusion of coffee and black tea. They are nicely balanced with it erring slightly of tasting more like black tea than coffee. There is a hint of cocoa in the flavor profile making it taste sort of mocha-ish. I did find that I only enjoy this one when it served quite hot and a splash of milk is almost a necessity—-or even chocolate milk. I haven’t reviewed this one and don’t plan on writing a full review, but it was also reviewed by several other folks on Teaviews if you want to know more. I don’t know that I will order this in quantity, but will definitely at least get another sample on a future order.

Making a pot of this in my new Breville One-Touch. That thing is worth every penny peeps! I still love this blend. I have a full review of it posted on Teaviews. The puerh is largely overpowered by the flavor profile so even if you don’t love puerh (I really don’t), you should still give this one a try and buy an ounce next time you shop with Rishi.

This is one of those blends that lives in my personal tea stash that I just love. There are some things about it that I’d like to tweak to make it perfection such as a slightly higher quality tea base and a maybe slightly fuller flavor profile, but it is still delicious. It is a nice blend of cinnamon and fig flavors with the fig actually dominating the flavor profile and the cinnamon bringing some welcome sweetness. There is something about the hot cup that reminds me of the smell of baked goods making it an awesome treat in the morning. It takes sweetener and dairy exceedingly well. Despite it’s imperfections, it is a staple in my tea collection.

I received this as a free sample from Art of Tea after winning one of their Facebook contests. The aroma of the dry blend is a delish…smells of caramel, bananas and chamomile. I personally thought that the ingredients played nicely together with the chamomile, banana and rooibos running the show. I also noticed a nice coconut undertone. Not sure if I get around to submitting a full review for of this for Teaviews, but I do like it and think it makes a nice night time blend. That said, I think this is one of those love it or hate blends and those that don’t care for bananas or chamomile should stear clear.

Indicative of a good Yunnan Golden Needle the taste is very smooth and some of the Yunnan characteristics are somewhat mellow. There are consistent notes of tobacco and honey and even a touch of wood. It also had notes of dark chocolate, starch, and spice. A little malt, a touch of astringency and delightfully rich.

This is a very well done herbal. The citrus leans towards being more lemon that orange to be but that is a minor criticism. The star of this is the rich semi-sweet chocolate undertone that lingers in your mouth after you swallow. YUM!

I rather enjoyed this blend. I am somewhat afraid of certain blends that contain lavender as they sometimes remind me of drinking laundry detergent. This one, however, in no way had that quality. I found this to have a nice mix of lavender and mint with a mellow lemon backdrop. The mint tasted more like spearmint that peppermint to me. This blend was very relaxing and an excellent aromatherapy option.

Truly, no one does fragrance infused (flavored) oolong like Naivetea. I was recently lucky enough to receive a sampler of Naivetea’s oolong. I have tried several of them previously via Teaviews, but not all of them. After a tough workout earlier today, this Yuzu was sounding particular refreshing even though I already know that it is not my favorite amongst their offerings.

I did notice that Naivetea has slightly revised their infusion instructions from my original sampling of it. They are recommending a 50 second infusion time on the first steep rather than their original 30 sec. I must say that I am pleased with this tweak. While it is possible that the oolong base changed as well (I believe it is Ali Shan), I found a much stronger butter presence in the first infusion. The flavor profile is rather full and is of rather natural, sweet grapefruit flavor that is both zesty and refreshing. I originally scored this a 7.5 on Teaviews (a 75 Steepster rating) and given this new nuance, I am bumping the score up a couple of points.

This is a great vanilla black tea option. The vanilla flavor profile is kind of medium and doesn’t get in your face. It balances nicely with the black tea used here which is rich, malty and gives off chocolate notes. This is naturally sweet and I enjoyed this best unadulerated.

I was pretty surprised to see that this one truly does live up to the hype. This is creamy, buttery, floral, mildly vegetal, smooth, silky, rich, sweet, and keeps going and going. I followed CTG’s brewing parameters exactly and was pleased with results. Also, I have to agree with fellow taster, Adham and say that the first infusion kinda does taste like rice pudding! Good Call on that one Adham! The only downfall is that it is a bit pricey and requires a lot of leaf to give up the optimal results.

No notes yet.

This is the most bold and delicous chai that I have ever tasted. The chai spices come to you in huge pieces—-mostly whole. They are fresh and delicious. It requires a bit of a production to prepare this properly, but it is well worth it. This ain’t no wimpy chai and it packs a lot of heat from the ginger and other spices. However, it can really stand up to the milk. Further, if you add both milk and a bit of French Vanilla creamer to the cup, it becomes the most creamy and delicous dessert chai EVER.

This stuff is supposed to be a natural relaxant. When I sample this I was a bit wound up and needed to get up earlier than normal in the morning, so I decided to give it a shot. The flavor is nothing great. It mostly tastes like a mild bodied or watered down rooibos. This might be remedied by doubling up on tea bags though. However, when I went to bed I fell asleep quickly and slept through the entire night. Should credit be given to the sceltium? I am thinking maybe so… This would get an even higher rating if it was tastier.

Tea Spree sells their offerings in little silken pyramids. This particular chai offering contains organic black tea, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove and black pepper. The spice load is dominated by cinnamon and cardamom and the spice load is very mild. The black tea base is of a decent quality—-rather smooth and without bitterness. However, this one is too mild and cannot defend itself in milk. This one would be good for those that like a mild chai and do not drink their chai with any dairy. The only reason it is getting as high a mark as it is would be due to the tea base.

I did a taste-off amongst two Milk Oolongs today and this one was the slight winner as I think the oolong base is of a slightly higher quality in this one. I am of the school of thought that some milk oolong are treated or flavored in some way to give that in-your-face sweetened condensed milk flavor and think this might be one of them. However, it is so delicious that I do not care. This is sweet, creamy, milky and downright delicious. It tastes like the oolong was soaked in sweetened condensed milk in terms of flavor and mouthfeel. It also gives up some nice floral and vegetal notes. The Ti Kwan Yin used is not as syrupy as some and a bit more vegetal than many of its cousins. A dowright delicious cup and dessert oolong.

This is a delicious milk oolong. I am of the school of thought that some milk oolongs aka Jin Xuan or Golden Lily are natural and others are treated in some way to produce an in-your-face flavor. I believe this one belongs with the later group. However, it is so delicious that I, frankly, don’t care. This is milky, creamy, sweet and delicious. It stays quite flavorful through 3 infusions. There is also a nice floral component. This is a favorite and highly recommended.

Hmmmm….what to say? First of all, I only ordered a sample of this, which Samovar says is enough for one pot. It looks to be about a tablespoon worth of leaf. One of the dynamic things about this tea is that it is supposed to have split personalities. You can brew it like an oolong with hotter water temps and it reacts very much like a Bai Hao or Oriental beauty oolong, which rivals a good Darjeeling in my opinion. However, Samovar promotes that you can also brew this like a white tea and have a somewhat different experience in terms of the notes that this gives up.

Since I only have enough for one pot, I decided to go with the lower water temps. Specifically, 180 degrees for 3 min. This is good, but a little grassy for me to want to actually purchase it for myself. There are notes of muscat, fruit, nuttiness, and a floral component. It is a bit malty and somewhat dry. Doesn’t sound much different than a typical Bai Hao, does it. But it is…it tastes much more like a white tea than a typical oolong. With hindsight being 20/20. I think I could have gotten away with making two small pots of this and done a hotter temp prep (prepare like an oolong) and a cooler temp prep (like a white tea) as this is a bit on the strong side.

Overall, I like this and would recommend this to folks that like Oriental Beauty, Darjeelings, grassy whites and the like. However, I likely would not purchase this in quantity for myself as it as bit grassier than I prefer. I might, however, get another sample of it and try again.