LiberTEAS

Well, it’s late (about 1:20 am here) so it’s too late for caffeine. So, since I’m not headed to bed right away (hubby is on his way home – he works late on Friday nights) – I figured I’d brew myself something nice and relaxing.

Although it’s really nothing more than just pure peppermint leaves, this is one of the best pure peppermint herbal tisane I’ve tasted…… if not THE best I’ve tasted. The taste is so pure and clean and refreshing.

My order from Art of Tea arrived yesterday (which includes last week’s “Steepster Select” offer of the tasting set – haven’t used it yet, and I’m thinking I might save it and give it as a gift to someone, although haven’t decided on that either). I also ordered two teas at the same time, and this is one of them.

The dry leaf smells very strongly of melon (delicious), in fact, it’s like I just cut through a ripe cantaloupe! I must admit, though, to some disappointment that I cannot smell the jasmine. The brewed tea possesses a much softer fragrance, although hints of melon are still present.

The melon flavor is much softer than the aroma of the dry leaf lead me to believe. I mostly taste white tea, it is quite delicate in taste (as most white teas tend to be), fresh tasting, pleasant. I can taste the melon but, it is also quite delicate – which I suppose is probably good because I don’t know how I’d feel if the flavoring overwhelmed the white tea. The jasmine is also making its appearance on the palate. The two flavors – jasmine and melon – creates a very intriguing flavor combination, but I like it.

Art of Tea promotes this as a good tea for iced tea… although I am not completely convinced, as the flavor is quite delicate. I shall have to see whether the flavor develops or mutes as the cup cools.

Time for Oolong!

Formosa Oolong is where I got my “start” with Oolong, and so it will always hold a dear place in my heart, even though I’ve since discovered green Oolongs and I quite enjoy them. There is still something so delightful about a beautiful Formosa.

The natural peach-like flavor of the Oolong tea is a nice match to the sweet, nutty notes of the almond essence. It is a really tasty tea without additions, but, I think just a small dollop of honey accents it just enough to encourage some of the sweeter almond flavors to develop in the cup.

While this is certainly not the best Oolong I’ve ever tasted, it is good, and I’m really glad I had the opportunity to taste it.

Matcha! I was going through some of my stash and decided to have some of this – I hid it from myself for a while so that I wouldn’t be tempted to drink it!

So good! Better, in fact, than I remember it being, so I will up my original score just a bit. Creamy smooth and sweet. The sweet, juicy flavor of the mandarin cuts through some of the “matcha bitterness” I normally do not mind the matcha bitterness, and in fact, have an appreciation for it, but, it is also nice when a matcha comes along that is different.

I am still waiting for chocolate matcha, Frank. :)

I steeped this tea for 3 1/2 minutes, and I think that was too long for my taste. There is a bit more bitterness to this tea than I like. I also think this tea is much better iced than hot.

As an iced tea I can taste the peppery notes from the Yunnan, which I wasn’t getting when it was hot. Very pleasant. A hint of citrus and definitely a sharp floral note. Not getting as much lavender as I would like, nor am I getting much of the fig.

Overall, I like this tea quite a bit, although I think Noël en Provence is still my favorite (thus far!) from Dammann Freres.

This is a backlog from last night… I have just a little of my La Vert Pear left, and I blended these two teas to see what would come of it. Cherry and Pear work amazingly well together. Much better than I imagined. Delightful. Delicious… and a little sad because I only have enough La Vert Pear for maybe one or two more…

I ordered this last week (along with the Neapolitan Honeybush) after reading so many positive reviews about it here. Since I love Genmaicha, and I loved the Malted ChocoMate blend, I figured I’d give it a try.

And the order came so quickly! Fast – Free – Shipping! Awesome!

WOW! This is amazing. I think I may even like this better than Genmaicha with Matcha. The malted flavor works so well with the toasted rice. It’s a little toastier, a little sweeter, a little richer, a little nuttier. And a whole lot delicious.

Excellent!

This is another sampling sent to me by the generous Doulton! (thank you!!!)

The aroma of the dry leaf is like tropical fruit, and that fragrance softens considerably upon brewing – although the brewed liquor does smell quite good.

It has a pleasantly sweet flavor, and the fruit flavor reminds me quite a bit of a fruit smoothie. The black tea is very smooth and quite mellow and unassuming. A nice amount of astringency and no bitterness.

I like this tea best served iced! It is very refreshing.

Another very appreciative THANK YOU to Doulton for making this tasting possible!

One thing about these teas from Dammann Freres – at least the ones I’ve had so far – they all smell amazing! This one is no exception. The dry leaf possesses a very fruity aroma, yum! I can smell the strawberry and the fig! I can also smell subtle hints of the lavender.

But… the brewed liquor smells even better! It doesn’t happen as often as I’d like it to, where the brewed tea smells as good or even better than the dry leaf. It’s so nice when I happen onto an exception!

The taste – lavender is much more pronounced in the flavor than it is in the aroma. The black tea base is very pleasant – smooth, brisk, and pleasantly astringent. The strawberry and lavender together creates a very unusual – but enjoyable – flavor. The fig is also very nice. Not particularly strong but it is delicious.

So far, this is my favorite tea that I’ve tasted from Dammann Freres!

Wow, it’s really early for me, I am still in kind of a sleepy daze.

But I am enjoying my Masterpiece Chai. I decided to forgo the latte this time, because I’m battling my allergies still and I figured the dairy protein won’t help matters right now. It is delicious with just a drizzle of raw honey though… nice and spicy… just what I need on this sleepy day.

Thank you Doulton!

The aroma of this tea is very inviting. The strong citrus fruit fragrance mingles with a soft yet fresh grassy scent of green tea, with hints of spice and flower lingering in the background. It’s positively lovely!

The flavor is quite nice, as well.

The citrus flavors are strongest. The grassy notes of the Yunnan green tea are slight but very fresh tasting. I wish that the spices in this blend were a bit more pronounced. The peppery notes do come out to play in the finish, though, but this tea is not nearly as spicy as the description might lead one to believe.

Overall, though, it’s a very pleasant tasting tea.

Taking a little Matcha break in between infusions of the Amethyst Oolong.

For fun, I added a sprinking of “True Lime” which was sent to me in a swap package from a friend. It definitely adds a pleasant tartness and seems to cut through some of the Matcha sweetness (not that Matcha sweetness is a bad thing, I quite adore the sweetness of matcha). Nice!

it’s still smooth, creamy, and sweet though… just with a new dimension of flavor and I’m liking it a lot!

Time for some Oolong!

I am enchanted by this Oolong. I think it is the darkest Oolongs I’ve yet to encounter. The leaves do look like a deep, dark purple and even the liquor has an interesting, purple-ish color.

The first infusion possesses a slight smoky quality – not heavy, just a hint of smoky presence – woodsy, slightly earthy, and buttery… with some nutty notes too. LOVE this tea.

Off to write a review of it for Tea Review Blog!

I started the day with this tea (like I do most days! I just don’t always log it, I figured it probably gets pretty boring seeing me log about my own teas)…

Now, I am contemplating what I shall have next…

This Earl Grey is delightful. The more I drink it the more I am liking it. I still maintain that I prefer Lupicia’s Earl Grey… but, it certainly is NOT the worst I’ve ever had either. I find the bergamot in this tea to be quite remarkable as it possesses a fruitier flavor to it. Yes, I know that bergamot IS indeed a fruit… but my experience has been that bergamot possesses a very “fragrant” flavor that I can liken to a flowery quality (since flowers are fragrant). This bergamot is less flowery and more fruity. That is to say that while it is quite fragrant to the nose, it is less fragrant to the palate.

Eh… suffice is to say that I like it.

I blended this blend a while ago. I wanted to improve upon this flavor idea… so I used Jasmine Pearls and Japanese Green Sencha and flavored them with Passionfruit and Orange.

Pleasant, fresh and fruity taste with a whisper of jasmine. LOVE it!

This particular custom blend is a blend of Nilgiri, Assam, and a high grown Ceylon, along with a few spices that I tossed in, just for fun.

The tea is very pleasant. STRONG. Got a lot of “get up and go” to it. Nice malty backdrop. Smooth transition of flavors. The spices I used (ginger and pepper) add a nice, peppery kick that compliments some of the Nilgiri notes quite well.

Another tasting from the sample sent to me from Doulton… thank you so much!

As I sit here, waiting for the cup to cool to a drinkable temperature, I am smelling it. I love the aroma – the raisin scent smells so delicious… sort of reminds me of warm oatmeal… and it’s making me hungry!

The strongest flavor when I first sip is that of the raisin. The chocolate develops as I continue to sip the tea. I think that if I were to change anything, it would be the chocolate flavor of this… but I am a chocoholic, what can I say? Other than that, this is really a nice, rich, decadent blend.

I also really like the black tea base that 52 teas uses. It has a nice richness to it, but, it never seems to overpower the flavors that are part of the blend.

Today has been kind of a crazy day, and I haven’t been able to take a moment to make myself a cup of tea! This is the first cup of the day for me!

So for my first cup, I decided I needed Oolong! I received my package from Old Wilmington Tea the other day, and I was just thrilled with their presentation. And not only did I get a free sample of tea, but a free sample of tea mints too! I like it when a company pays attention to the little details like this – it’s so special … it’s better than getting something I ordered … it’s like getting a gift!

Fun!!!

Anyways, THIS tea is the reason I placed the order with Old Wilmington in the first place. I saw someone else write a tea note about Amethyst tea… and I knew I had to get it. I probably would have even ordered it if it were a Lapsang Souchong! haha! You see… my daughter’s name is Amethyst. :)

But… as a bonus… not only is this tea named Amethyst… but it is an OOLONG tea too.

A very deeply oxidized Oolong, it possesses a delicate smoky quality to it and a slight earthy quality as well. There are buttery notes as well… but it is more of a savory buttery flavor rather than a sweet one. A very pleasant nutty tone as well. I’m really liking it.

Delightful!!!

Many more happy infusions to follow!

This is a tea that I received in a swap.

The dry leaf smells delicious. VERY fruity. I can smell the mango and peach much stronger than the watermelon. The brewed liquor takes on a different smell, kind of like Ceylon tea and fruit. (imagine that!)

This is a tea that absolutely needs sweetening to arouse the flavors in the cup. Without the sweetening, it tasted rather dull.

This tea doesn’t really taste much like watermelon or mango… I can taste some of the peach… and maybe a little bit of mango… but very little watermelon.

That’s not to say that it’s a bad tasting tea, it’s alright… it has a pleasant fruity taste, but, it is just not what I had expected or hoped for.

Of the three teas in the third series, this was the tea I feared the most. I am not a smoky tea fan by any stretch of the imagination. I can appreciate a delicate smoky back note to a tea so long as it enhances the overall tea flavor. But one that is so strong in its smoky essence that this is the first aroma I sense, and the first flavor I taste… not for me.

But I still ordered the collection as I was lured in by the Steepster Select offer… and I do love the Earl Grey and especially the Jasmine of this collection. And… I must admit, I LOVE the tin and its graphics. Reminds me of Motley Crue.

Yet, I am a taster, so I didn’t want to let this tea to without tasting it. It is smoky. I “rinsed the tea.” It is still smoky. I added raw sugar. It is still smoky. Then I heated up some milk, added a dash of cinnamon to the milk, and whipped it into a froth, and turned this smoky tea into a smoky latte. It’s still smoky. But, with the little touch of cinnamon and the latte… it’s a tolerable smoke for me.

My dear Doulton … if you don’t mind, I am sending the rest of this to you. I have seen how much you love it, and I truly appreciate the work you put into the Dammann Frères teas. I hope that this small token will show you how much I do appreciate it. I also hope you don’t mind… but, I took the tea out of the tin. I … um… collect tins. And I love this one… The tea, sans the tin, but safely deposited into a tea storage bag… will be headed your way in tomorrow’s post.

Thank you Doulton

This tea smells amazing! The fruity aroma is very strong. The blood orange is the most pronounced scent, but I can smell that there are other fruits there, and upon closer examination, I could detect a distinct berry-like scent as well as that of peach. I knew there was something else there too, but I wasn’t sure what… so when I checked the Dammann Frères website, I saw that this is a blend of blood orange, peach, strawberry and cherry. It was the cherry that I couldn’t discern, but now that I know what it is, it seems very clearly to me to be cherry.

As other Steepsters have noted, the flavors are quite a bit softer than the aroma would lead one to believe. But that doesn’t bother me at all, because I like that I can really taste the tea in this blend. The fruit flavors are there though, don’t get me wrong. I really like the balance of flavors in this cup. I like the sweet fruity flavors, the strong black tea presence, and the slight sharp note that I detect in the finish that I contribute to the sunflower petals.

A beautifully flavored tea!

This is a sampling from Doulton (Thank you!!!)

The very first flavor I got when I took a sip was that of raisin. Since that is pretty unusual for me when it comes to raisin teas (generally, I have to drink a little bit before I get much raisin taste), I was quite happy to taste the raisin immediately.

The chocolate is quite a bit more subtle for me. Now that I am about 1/3 of the way into the cup, the chocolate is more pronounced, so it just took a while for the chocolate to hit.

I am really liking this tea. Still not my favorite from 52Teas, but it is really good.

This arrived in today’s mail and I am so excited to try it.

It’s really good! Because it’s hot it’s difficult for me to say it “tastes like Neapolitan ice cream” but the flavors are all in there… I can taste the strawberry and the chocolate and even the vanilla. There is a creamy-ish taste to it too…

I like how the honeybush interacts with these flavors. Very good.