Michelle Butler Hallett

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @90C, steeped four minutes.

A very enticing blend. Creamy heft from the Assam, muscat from the Darjeeling, wineyness from Keemun, fruitiness from the oolong, and a hit of jasmine. Drinking my second cup in less than an hour. Soothing and delicious.

I find this one tastes better when made with slightly cooler water.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @ 100C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

An excellent Assam. Bold, not bitter. Notes of freshly baked bread, roses, and sunshine. Medium to heavy body. Drenching Assam taste. Good malty pucker but not so astringent as to tear the mouth off ya. Sweet notes. I prefer it steeped a little longer.

1.5 tsp for 330mL water @100C. Steeped 4 minutes. Drunk bare.

Oh my GAWD.

It’s been a long time since I’ve had any Black Needle Yunnan, and this tea from Stash is very, very good. Liquor is dark brass. Notes of honey, musk, pepper and minerals. Clean finish. My favourite Yunnan. I forgot the leaves can be re-steeped and am kicking myself for tossing my leaves after just one cup.

Worth every penny, even shipping.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @ approx 82C, steeped 3 minutes first infusion, four minutes second infusion.

So clean.

The jasmine seduces me. Potent but not perfumey. Never soapy. Just gorgeous.

Teagasm.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.

I am desperate for a hit of Assam.

There is Assam in this delicious blend.

There’s also a fair bit of Keemun, I think, which can get bossy, but the Assam notes come out as the tea cools.

Damn Fine has never let me down.

1.5 tsp for 300mL @ 100C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

I am completely OUT of Assam. How the hell did this happen? The Tiger is not roaring. The Captain is lost at sea. Even the Gingia Estate tin is bare. I have some Kopili Estate Assam on its way to me, but damn it, I need Assam right now.

Scottish Blend will have to do. It’s not got the assertiveness, deep malt or raisin-y notes of some Assams, but for a CTC Kenyan (?) blend, it does very well. Plenty of black tea taste and body, provided it’s not oversteeped — I find at around 5 minutes its get all acidic and dark. Clean and mild finish. Dependable, and always better than I think it’s going to be.

1.5 tsp for 300mL @ 100C, steeped 3 minutes, drunk bare.

A creamy Ceylon, lots of body and heft. I like it better at 3 minutes versus my former 5. Bright and brisk, with some pucker, and a very comforting scent.

There is no bergamot in this tea. It’s just straight up blended Ceylon.

This would be lovely cold-brewed for an iced tea. It also cries out for an afternoon tea party, with sandwiches and cookies.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

Some days, only Assam will do. My body craves Assam, craves something in those leaves that’s not in Darjeeling, let alone any non-India tea. No idea what that is. I still love Yunnans and Darjeelings and Himalayans and Keemuns and oolongs, but nothing can replace a good Assam. Steepsterite Claire recently commented she likes for her black teas to not only wear Doc Martens but kick her with them; a good Assam does that.

This Assam Gingia is a second flush and quite strong. Notes of malt, of course, but not suck-your-mouth-dry malt, molasses, honey, freshly baked bread,and sunshine. No bitterness. On a winter day, with yet more snow coming down, it’s a dire necessity. It’s TEA.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @ 100C, steeped 4 minutes 30 seconds, drunk bare.

I couldn’t get to my strainer right away … the extra 30 seconds makes this tea a little bitter for me. The smoke is starting to dominate, but the smooth malt beneath is still there. Mineral finish, but defintely tending to bitterness.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @90C, steeped 3:30, drunk bare.

A triumph. Gentle orange notes with toasty oolong and a bit of jasmine. Really good.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water @100C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

I notice the directions suggest 94C water; I’ll try that next time.

Rich without being heavy. Scents of honey and fruit, as the packet copy promises. Enticing and nuanced. And it seems to pack a nice caffeine hit, too. Very happy with this one.

2 teabags for 300mL water @100C, steeped 8+ minutes, drunk bare.

Even two teabags don’t make this taste any better. I smell more roses. That’s it. This could be so much better. Revising the rating down. Will never buy this again.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C. Steeped 3 minutes. Drunk bare.

I like this better on the shorter steep. The Assam (if that’s what I’m tasting) gets to show off its creamy heft without the Keemun (?) dominating with its toast and smoke.

This is a very good blend. At my first sip this evening, I just sighed in bliss.

2 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped 4 minutes, drunk bare.

Can’t. Wake. Up.

Made this a bit stronger, and it’s great. I can taste red velvet cake, and I can taste black tea. Win.

1 bag for 300 mL water @100C. Steeped two minutes. Drunk bare.

I drank this a lot when I was younger, but then I abandoned it for Stash’s Orange Spice. Stash reformulated, and I find their new Orange Spice way too sharp and strong. In the supermarket before work this morning, buying something for lunch, I saw the Bigelow teas were on sale, and I thought I’d pick up some CC.

I used to steep this to death, leaving the bag in the cup. I’d get a caffeine charge, but the tea could get bitter. I never, ever read the box, never saw the ‘steep 1 to 2 minutes’ recommendation.

Guess what? Steeped for just 2 minutes, this is quite lovely.

It’s not a brilliant black tea base, but the whole effect is one of balance. It’s smooth; it tastes of real oranges and cinnamon and probably cloves; it still tastes of black tea.

It’s easy to turn up your nose at bagged tea like this, but sometimes there are treasures out there. Constant Comment’s been around for decades, so clearly Bigelow is onto something with this blend.

9 tears for 235mL water @82C, first infusion at 3 minutes. Drunk bare.

So clean. The liquor is almost that of a white tea. Jasmine, jasmine, jasmine. No bitterness, no perfume, no soap. Just jasmine tea perfection.

1 bag for 250mL water @100C, steeped til I finish drinking it, drunk bare.

First, I gotta complain: that’s one stingy pinch of leaves in the teabag.

The formulation of Get Relaxed I’ve got contains no kava. Ingredients: organic rooibos (leaf); linden (flowers); passionflower (aerial parts); chamomile (flower); English Lavender (flower); Damask Rose (petals). Chamomile, lavender and passionflower each can help me sleep; together they’re a potent team. Scented with rose, they’re nigh-on irresistible. Sometimes I think of old-lady perfume when I smell this tisane, and that’s fine. It is floral. And it tastes like a blend of rooibos, lavender and rose. But the leaves in the bag are quite stale, and the portion is small. It takes at least eight minutes to steep anything worth tasting. I could do much better making my own blend, but I bought this silly stuff and spent quite a bit of money on it, so now I need to drink it.

It works, it tastes mostly as you’d expect, but it could be fresher. Especially for the price: $14.00 for 36 teabags.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.

I love this tea.

Light body, mineral and crisp, good hit of Caravan smoke, an elusive sweet note, smokey finish but not heavily so. I would guess this blend had some Keemun in it. Solid performance tonight. (Ahem. From the tea.)

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.

I love this Assam. I don’t know which estates it comes from, or how many different offerings are blended in here, and I don’t care. Shiny brown leaves with lots of tips. Good body and heft, maltiness without bitterness and some really good nuances. Wakes me up nicely, too, especially during tedious office work. I may have two servings left in my tin. I could easily see keeping Tiger around all the time. This tea is well worth the price, and Andrews and Dunham are a joy to do business with.

1.5 tsp for 300mL. First infusion at 90 for 6 minutes, second infusion at 85C for 5 minutes.

I used to make this with hotter water. (The packet copy says to use boiling water — yuck, I didn’t care for that at all.) Tonight, I cooled it down a bit.

First infusion: Formosa oolong from Britannia: A darker oolong. Toasted. Smells like tobacco flowers and stonefruit. A strong taste that’s nuanced with oak, peaches, minerals, and distant smoke.

Second infusion: More stonefruit and some creaminess. Toast and oak in the scent but none in the taste. Upping the rating from an 80 to a 90.

Packs a caffeine punch, too.

1.5 tsp for 300mL water @100C, steeped four minutes, drunk bare.

Assam bliss.

And it’s gone. All High Seas sets have been sold. I have maybe 3 servings left. I am weeping into my pillow, clutching my last love letter from the Captain, not caring that many other tea-lovers in various port are likely doing the same.

No notes yet.

1.5 tsp for 300mL, 5 minutes, drunk bare.

I over-steeped, and the tea got bitter and murky and acidic. Steep carefully. Treated well, this tea is a great basic black. Pretty sure there’s a lot of Kenyan in there.

1.5 tsp for 350mL water @ 5 minutes, drunk bare.

Got a BIG mug as a Christmas gift at the office: snowman’s face, with a hat … a lid. Hot tea!

I steeped a little extra on this one because the mug takes so much water. As ever, a good hit of Keemun. Some days I say on Facebook that I’m ‘powered by Keemun’. Love love love.