LiberTEAS

Thank you Doulton – you are the best!

The aroma of the dry leaf is magnificent! It smells like peaches and cream! There isn’t much fragrance from the rose petals, maybe just a hint of floral essence. Once brewed, some of the earthy qualities of the black tea emerge in the scent.

The flavor is also quite magnificent! Smooth and rich. The peach and cream flavor is there, however, the black tea is much more pronounced. This is black tea with peach and vanilla flavor, not the other way around. It has a very bright flavor. Astringent with a slight tannic quality – but not an overt bitter note. Just a little something that sort of rests upon the palate to let you know that it’s black tea that you’re drinking.

I can’t believe it’s been a couple of days without Oolong!

This is not a bad Oolong… especially when one considers that it is a bagged tea.

A nice roasty-toasty aroma and flavor. A pleasant sweetness. I love the “freshly baked” flavor of this tea – like a loaf of bread that just came out of the oven, it’s a very comforting flavor.

YUM!

I’m having coconut cream pie for breakfast!

This morning, I added a little more leaf to my smart brewer – there are so many huge chunks of coconut in the blend that it’s important to adjust the amount of leaf you use accordingly since the coconut doesn’t really add much in the way of flavor to the finished product, but I sure do love the way it looks! It gets my mouth watering before the tea begins to steep!

An extra teaspoon is just about right for my smart brewer (my smart brewer brews about 16 oz. of finished product, which is equal to about 2 “cups” of tea. So I usually add two heaping teaspoons to my smart brewer. For this tea, I add 3).

This tea is fantastic. It is one that really MUST be served latte to get the most from it, this time though, I didn’t get out the frother… so my cup looks a bit like coffee with cream – but it TASTES like a decadent, creamy, delicious dessert! Delightful!

I purchased this some time ago, but this is my first time getting around to trying it. I received it while I was sick, and since my taste buds were not up to par, I didn’t think it made much sense to be trying new teas.

But now that my taste buds are back on track, I am ready to try the ULTIMATE. I must say that when I opened the package, the aroma was pretty amazing. It smelled like chocolate syrup. Not just any chocolate syrup, either, it smelled like my personal favorite – Holy Kakow! YUM!

And since 52Teas is responsible for one of my favorite rooibos blends – Chelsea’s Chocolate Banana Rooibos – well, let’s just say that I have high hopes for this blend.

Well, it’s good…

Definitely cocoa-y, but I feel like the flavor of the rooibos is interfering with the chocolate coming through. There is a dominate cocoa powder-ish essence to this, like I sprinkled a sweetened cocoa powder on my tongue. And the rooibos flavor is coming through too, a woodsy note, but not the icky sweetener taste of the rooibos, just the earthy-woodsy flavor of rooibos.

I’m liking it, but, I think I need to try it a few more times before I can really develop my opinion about it, and I will wait until then before I give it a numeric rating.

A bit of a backlog: In between infusions of the Chocolate Earl Grey, I made myself a smoothie! Ingredients: 1 banana, about a cup of frozen peach slices, vanilla kefir, and a tablespoon of Mandarin Matcha. YUM!

My second infusion of these leaves was a different cup entirely! I now taste more of the citrus-y flavors. And the bergamot! The chocolate has developed into a savory cacao flavor rather than the sweet chocolate flavor that I experienced with the first infusion.

Both infusions are very delicious… and I think the fact that the two infusions are so different from one another makes this tea even more enchanting, so I am therefore raising the numeric rating just a bit!

This is one of the most unusual Earl Grey teas I’ve ever encountered, and yep… that’s just why I ordered the sample of it – I simply had to try a Chocolate flavored Earl Grey tea.

The chocolate in this blend is surprisingly strong, while the bergamot is a bit more subdued… I really expected it to be the other way around. A very pleasant blend! I may have to actually order more of this one. A very good chocolate blend.

My husband and I are fans of The Celebrity Apprentice, and so we caved in and purchased this as well as the Trop A Rocka diet flavored Snapple. Hubby is diabetic, so he is drinking the Trop A Rocka, and I am allergic to aspartame, so I am drinking the Compassionberry (we were both rooting for Bret, though)

I don’t usually drink many RTD teas, because, well, they’re generally way too sweet for my taste and don’t usually taste much like tea.

Unfortunately, that is the case here, as well. I can definitely taste the sweet (very sweet), I can also taste the passionfruit and the strawberry flavorings… but I don’t taste much in the way of green or black teas.

But it is a good cause… and it isn’t horrible tasting, just a bit too sweet for my taste, and a bit more like fruit juice than tea. It would definitely be better than nothing if I were out and about.

Enjoying a cup of this tea right now – it went really nicely with my multi-grain toast with Nutella. (A local bakery here makes the most incredible bread! YUM)

Nice, sweet, nutty. The pineapple of this blend is more of a background note, I can taste it but it seems to be there mostly to create depth rather than to focus on pineapple flavor. Not surprisingly by the name of the tea – the nuts are the real stars of this cup.

Light, fresh, and yummy! The more I taste this tea, the more I like it.

I am currently enjoying a cup of this, now that I have a chance to sit down and relax after a very busy morning. As I sip this, I am thinking that it might make a pretty good iced tea.

One of the strangest teas that I’ve tasted… Although I am glad that I did. It has a slight tang to it – definitely a vinegar note, but it’s not overly sour… I would call it a tangy, savory quality instead. I think that the next time I try it, I might just add a tiny pinch of salt to it, and see how that tastes.

A bit of a backlog: I finished off the last of my stash of this one this morning. Since I had an early morning appointment, I didn’t have time for breakfast, so I wanted something that could be like my tea and breakfast all in one tea cup. :)

I will miss this tea. I say that about a lot of teas lately as I have been focusing on emptying my stash to make room for new teas. But it’s true. I really have enjoyed it. That being said, since I do have more teas on their way over the next couple of weeks, I can’t spend too much time or effort mourning the absence of these others… I’ve been hoarding too long! What matters is not that I do not have these teas any longer, but that I enjoyed them while I did have them. And this one I did enjoy!

I had a beautiful lunch out with my husband this afternoon, and this is the perfect dessert for afterward – smooth, creamy, chocolate-y matcha deliciousness.

So nice!

Yum!

I haven’t had this tea in a while, because, well, I hid it from myself so I wouldn’t be tempted. This is quite possibly the best black tea (at least, unflavored/non-chai/non-earl grey black tea) that I’ve ever tasted. It’s simply awesome.

Roast-y, toasty flavor, with a pleasant earthy quality to it. A savory cocoa note that I’ve not found in any other tea the way it is in this one. This tea stands alone! Amazing, delicious! Delightful!

Here is the review that I wrote for it on The Tea Review Blog:

http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=12247

Decided to go with this tea this morning… I’m drinking it as a latte – heavy on the froth!

This tea actually benefits from the milk addition, I think. The black tea base is such a strong presence, the milk seems to soften that a bit, but it doesn’t mute the caramel-y, creamy flavors in the cup.

A pleasant way to start the day.

This is a blend that I sort of threw together into my teapot this evening… red rooibos together with my special recipe of masala spice. I wasn’t really in the mood for my caffeinated version of chai… I feel like I am in need of a good night’s sleep so I want to do whatever I can to help facilitate that.

This is good. Rooibos has never been my favorite, but, I like rooibos with masala spice, because it offers a pleasant offset to the traditional rooibos funky taste that I’m not particularly fond of.

I purchased this as a sample at the same time that I submitted my personaliTEA profile for my own customized blend by Mad Pots of Tea. This is a blend that was created for Steph, who is the Tea Guru of The Tea Review Blog.

I really like the combination of Earl Grey and licorice root. Very unique and unexpected kind of taste. The lavender is also prominent in the blend (a big plus in my opinion). One down side for me is the addition of stevia to this blend. I am not a big fan of stevia, and I personally think that this blend would be so much better without it.

But, then, this blend wasn’t created for me. I do like it, but I so prefer my custom blend from Mad Pots of Tea!!!

Well, as it turns out, my friend (TeaEqualsBliss) didn’t need a sampling of this because she got one from Dens! So, I will finish off the last of it (which I am doing now).

Yippee! I really do love this Matcha. I also really love my new Chawan.

Smooth, rich, delicious. Sweet. A joy to the palate.

I started my day with this tea – and I only have enough for one more pot of it! It is one that will definitely be missed, I loved the buttery flavor of this tea, as well as how the other flavors came together… sweet cinnamon (not spicy), slightly toasty black tea, raisin, and butter, I can taste them all. YUM!

But, I suppose all good things must come to an end (something I am learning this week as I watched the final episodes of both Lost and 24 – two of my favorite shows) :(

No notes yet.

This is the last of the sample that I got from Den’s novice sampler.

Buttery, sweet, fantastic! I wish all Sencha teas could taste as good as this!

Just finishing up the last of this tea in my cupboard.

Yummy chocolate flavor, nutty, sweet. I really have enjoyed this one.

I bought a new chawan last week on etsy (purchased from this studio: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KoideStudio) and I just got the PO Box to pick it up today – and so to commemorate its new home I decided to make some Matcha… now that I think about it I probably should have christened it with some DoMatcha, but, that’s ok.

I’m using the last of this – I still have a little of this tea left, but will be sending what I have left to a friend.

Beautiful, lightly frothy (my matcha seems to fall between koicha and usucha), sweet, just barely there bitter, and just YUM!

Now that I have finished off this, I guess I should finish off my DoMatcha… Matcha is not something that should be kept forever, I suppose (which is bad news for hoarders like me).

This is my first cup of tea of the day. Last night was a late night for me, because we spent most of the night watching Lost, and then I spent a good amount of time contemplating it. So when I did wake up this morning, hubby wanted to go run errands. So I haven’t had time to make myself a pot of tea until a little while ago.

I just realized that I’m running a little low on this tea, so I guess I will need to buy more then next time I place an order with Lupicia. This is one that I cannot fathom not having in my cupboard.

I LOVE Earl Grey teas. This is the best of the best, in my humble opinion (although I still have yet to do a side-by-side with the Steven Smith Lord Bergamot, which is either equal to, or only 1 or 2 points behind this one). I love the black tea base, which is Keemun instead of the traditionally used Ceylon, which brings a depth of flavor to the blend that most Ceylon teas are incapable of doing. Rich, almost wine-like, slight smoky notes, even slightly toasty-ish.

The Bergamot is citrus-y with pleasing floral notes – and not too strong so that it comes off as perfume-y. It toes that line very well.

Of all the Earl Grey teas that I’ve tried, this one is just about as perfect as they can get.

Ah… my precious!

Of all the teas – yellow is my favorite. I don’t drink it very often (as you might notice from my tasting notes) because it is so precious… I tend to hoard it and only treat myself to it every once in a while. I really need to get myself out of this tendency… I deserve yellow tea more often. :)

This tea reminds me of spring at my gramma’s house. The room where I would sleep, just outside the window, there was a beautiful honeysuckle vine that covered that corner of the house… and when the windows were open in my room and the winds would blow (it was So Cal, so there was usually always a breeze) I would be treated with the most delightful aroma imaginable – honeysuckle and fruit tree blossoms! (she had a lot of fruit trees in the back yard too!) This tea smells like that… and tastes like it too.

I love this tea.