LauraR Send Message

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.