Michelle Butler Hallett

1.5 tsp for 250mL water.

Not bad. Genuine ginger in here, for sure, but it still hasn’t got the kick of a blend from last winter’s collection — called Electric Lemon, maybe? Something is cooling the ginger in blend, almost like a mute in a trumpet. I’d keep some on hand for a medicinal tea, but I wouldn’t bother with this for pleasure.

Rating: 60.

1.5 tsp for 250 mL water.

Meh. Smells and looks lovely — I like roses — but the rosehip is so sour … almost like vinegar. That note ruins the whole experience for me. Could detect no coconut at all; in fact, I was surprised to find it on the ingredient list.

Rating: 20.

No notes yet.

1 tsp for 250mL tea, water @ 82C (roughly) for 5 minutes.

Okay, now that I know this is primarily apples and stuff, with green tea as the third last ingredient, I know what to expect: a really tasty apple cider that’s not horrendously sweet. But it doesn’t taste of green tea, either. Provided you aren’t expecting anything remotely like green tea, this is a lovely hot apple cinnamon drink. And water temp — yeah. I treated this like a green tea and enjoyed the result more than what got made for me at a DavidsTea with too-hot water.

1 tsp for 250mL water @ 100C. Steeped 4 minutes.

(I got the Winter Collection sampler pack for a Christmas gift and am sampling all of it today at work. I enjoyed a pot of Apres Ski, then a cup of Hot Toboggan, which was great this time as I knew to expect apple cider and not green tea. Am now on the Snow Bunny. Alpine Punch, already sampled, is home, waiting for me to toss it out.)

A good body to the tea, which complements the slight nuttiness. I don’t get much banana flavour, just a slight aroma. I love walnuts, so I enjoy the almost-bitter walnut aftertaste. I’d think this one could get bitter fast if steeped beyond 4 minutes. I like it, but I doubt I’ll buy it on my own.

4 tsp for 750mL tea, 3 minute steep, 100C water.

Okay, there’s got to be a batch issue with Apres Ski. This time I made it from a 25g packet in the Winter Collection set, which I got as a gift, and it’s totally different: no fermented smell or taste, just some decent China (?) black and some sweet figs and a bit of spiciness from the cinnamon. Very agreeable. Balanced and a bit luxurious. A totally different liquor from what I drank last time, which was made for me at a DavidsTea store. This batch is lovely.

1tsp for 250mL water @100C, steeped 6 minutes.

I wanted to like this but found it has a bit of that minty taste I get some from rooibos and a disagreeable fruitiness that reminds me too much of hibiscus. Got a 25g pack as a gift. I may finish it — rooibos being healthy and all — but I won’t re-purchase.

Rating:

Made for me at a DavidsTea store. Four-minute steep. Bare.

Another flavoured tea where all I can taste is the flavour. I didn’t get any of the “rotten garbage” scent that others have noted, but I did wonder if burdock was a good choice. I also wonder if some figs haven’t fermented.

Tea liquor was bronzey. Tasting notes: figgy and sweet and a tiny bit spicy. No hint of black tea whatsoever, which is, for me, an issue. Flavoured tea is great, but I do want to taste tea. I don’t expect to purchase this one again.

Rating: 60.

1.5 tsp for 250 mL water. 1st steep: 2 minutes. 2nd steep: 3 minutes. 3rd steep: 4 minutes, sometimes longer. Sometimes I don’t time the first steep and just leave it be til it smells right. But tonight … 2 minutes in 90C water.

I could develop a serious problem with Quangzhou Milk Oolong. It’s that good. Yes. Yes, it is.

I don’t know where my local indie teashop gets their Quangzhou, but it’s more affordably priced than at the only other place in town that carries it, DavidsTea. I find the variety at Britannia is a tiny bit sweeter, a bit more floral, but with all the creaminess and brulee notes and smoothness and oh oh oh that makes a milk oolong so blissful. The liquor is pale creamy yellow, darkening slightly with longer steeps. Each sip carries a slightly different balance of sweet, floral and cream. Good for at least three infusions … and, when you realize how muc tea you can actually brew for these leaves, really not expensive. But it is preciousssss …

I would give up dessert forever if I could always have this tea instead.

Rating: 100.

1 sachet for a 300mL mug. Water at 90C. Steeped 5 minutes, drunk bare.

Do not oversteep. With ooloong-temp water and a three-minute steep, Joy is lovely, light, a bit creamy, a bit astringent, a bit sweet. By 5 minutes, it’s getting bitter. Joy is quite the diva, but treated well, this tea delivers.

Made for me at a DavidsTea. Bare — no sweetener or milk.

WOW. I’v had guayusa before and liked it, but this is really good. The fruit balance gives a shart scent but sweet tasting notes which complement the smooth earthiness of the guayusa beautifully. Some spicy notes, too. Very easy to drink. I would strongly recommend sipping it first before adding a sweetener.

Rating: 95.

Full leaf sachet in 300 mL 90C water, 3 minutes for the first steep, 5 for the second.

A very nice blend. There’s a hint of cream to the oolong this year. I notice “natural flavour” on the ingredient list; I should really like to know what that is.

Try this one with oolong-temp water to coax out the sweetness of the oolongs and to pamper the Darjeelings. Light colour, light to medium body, mild mucat notes, gentle green notes, plus some cream and somt stone fruit notes. Really, really good.

Rating: 95.

Made for me in a DavidsTea store. No idea how much they scoop in.

If you want to drink hot caramel apple, this is your beverage. It tastes very much like a caramel apple to me. So much so that I had to double-check that there was any actual tea in the blend.

I’m getting old and cranky. I like straight teas more and more.

This is very tasty — it just does not taste remotely like green tea. The liquor is very pale; it looks like a white tea.

I hardly know how to rate it.

2 tsp per 400mL mug. Boiling water. Bare. 8-minute steep. Rating: 95.

I really don’t like licorice in tisanes, so I’ve been staying away from the DavidsTea Ayurvedics. But it’s all a matter of balance. As in the Shanti, the licorice here just adds some depth and sweetness without dominating. This tisane is bright and cheerful and really tasty. It’s herbal, so it needs a good long steep to get all the flavours out. Several mornings over the last week I’ve drunk this instead of a tea with caffeine for my first morning cuppa, and I’ve woken up just fine. The weather here in Newfoundland has turned relentlessly cold, dull and wet, so this tisane is a real help. Sweet, a bit spicy, minty — but all in a good balance. Definitely worth a try.

6tsp for 750mL, Breville, green tea setting, medium strength (3-minute steep) with basket feature on.

Yes, that’s a lot of leaf for 750mL of tea, but the older I get, the stronger I like my tea — except for some of the oolongs; those I’ll follow directions for. Also, this Dragonwell is fluffy for a green. The leaves are long, flat and lovely.

I’m not Dragonwell expert, but the Dragonwell from Boston Tea Party is delicious. I gotta ask myself why I don’t make this more often. My flashier teas tend to push Dragonwell to the back of the line. But when there’s work to be done and green tea to be drunk, a good Dragonwell or a good Sencha can make my day.

Notes from an earlier comment. These hold true even with the stronger liquor this time: “Body is light but creamy. Taste is sweet and very refreshing. No mineral or brine notes. Faint fruitness rounds out the aftertaste. Maybe some distant smoke — hard to say. Slight nuttiness.” The only difference now is a pleasant mineral note in the finish — very clean. Lots of buance and subtlety in this unassuming straight green.

Rating: 95.

1.5 tsp for 250mL, boiling water, 4-minute steep.

I love lapsang souchong and Carvan teas. Adore them. I drink them a lot when the weather turns cold, though on occasion I’ll take hot cup of lapsang on a hot summer day and get serious refreshment. (It just seems counter-intuitive to drink hot smoky tea on a hot day. Any hot tea on a hot day will help you cool down, of course.) This lapsang from my local indie shop is, as the copy promises, smooth and crisp. The smokiness is almost a bit salty. The tea does not gett bitter.

The main difference I find between lapsang and Caravan teas is the degree of smoke (natch) and the body. Lapsangs tend to be light-bodied, Caravans a little heavier. I am actually in the mood for a Caravan this morning, I’ve discovered, but I am still loving this lapsang.

Rating: 100.

1 TB for 450 mL, 100C water, 6-minute steep.

I like medicinal herbal teas. I like the idea of sipping on a hot drink that might help me feel better. So I’m always open to them.

This blend sounds enticing. Who doesn’t want inner peace? And I’ve wanted to try tulsi for a while but could only find it blended with lavender, which I generally don’t care for in a tisane.

This is very soothing. I usually stay away from fennel, anise and licorice, but they aren’t dominating the cup. Neither is the peppermint or the lemongrass. I can just catch the orange peel. A nicely balanced tisane, though I wish the licorice was less noticable. Hardly a fair comment to make, as I don’t care for licorce. Not a tisane I’ll turn to for pleasure, I expect, but for the effects. I definitely feel more mellow after drinking it.

Rating: 80.

4tsp for 750mL tea, Breville One Touch, basket cycle on, 3-minute ‘medium’ steep, oolong setting.

I made this last evening to have after a heavy meal of take-out Chinese food to celebrate hubby’s birthday. He also adores this tea, comparing it to cognac. Delicious and well-balanced, this nuanced blend is probably the only flavoured oolong that truly works for me. (I’ve got somr Citron Oolong from DavidsTea but still can’t decide if I like it. Similarly, I have some Smoked Assam Oolong (!) from Stash and can’t make up my mind on that.) Properly made, Long Life Oolong will delight you, so long as you like peaches.

Rating: 90.

Made for me at DavidsTea — not sure of the measurement, mayb 1.5 tsp for their hot cup (350mL?)

While picking up a new-to-me herbal and some blends I cannot get at my local indie tea store (what can I say? I steep around), I tried a cup of Assam Banaspaty. The hot water at DavidsTea is too damn hot for oolong, green or white, which baffles me, but it’s just grand for rooibos and black. With their $1 straight tea promo, and the hail and wet snow falling this morning, an Assam sounded good.

This is a compeltely acceptable Assam, with all the good Assam characteristics. It finishes sweet and a bit mineral and tastes pleasantly malty. It lacks, however, a good body and heft. It’s hardly a weak tea, and it seems to pack the caffeine, but Assam from the Gingia and Kopili estates seem to have aheavier body. (Damn Fine’s Captain Assam is in a class, or ship, by itself.) It’s a good Assam, no bitterness after a six-minute steep, no faults, but no real ‘wow’ factor, either.

Rating:78.

4 tsp TB for 750mL of tea, Breville One Touch, 3-minute steep, basket setting on, oolong setting.

Exquisite. I’ve not gotten the water right for this tea before. It is sweet and medium-bodied, heady but not suffocating with magnolia, slight atringency like white wine, and a sweet finish with a some creaminess. With the water at the right temp, there’s no bitterness.

Rating: 98.

1 pouch of loose in 450 mL water, bare, steeped 5 minutes.

I got a gift box of Forte single steep pouches a while ago, and this one was my favourite. That said, it can get bitter once you hit 5 minutes; it was more pleasant at 4.

A competent and pleasant Assam blend with, to my surprise, what looked like some CTC mixed in with very small leaves. Some malt, lots of body, but again, a tendency to bitterness at the end. Not the best Assam ever, but far from the worst.

My IE won’t let me access the slider bars, so I have to type out ratings. I give this one a 75.

1 TB for 450mL water @ 82 degrees, steeped 5 minutes.

So DavidsTea reformulated this one slightly … it seems to me there’s more green and less rooibos. They’ve also re-classified this blend as a green tea. I’d found that this new version sometimes got bitter, and I’d been avoiding it. This evening I tried it with water at 82 degrees, like you would for green tea. While it takes a bit longer to get the rooibos flavour out, both the green tea and the chocolate are smoother and more noticeable. Definitely worth trying at the cooler temp.

1.5 tsp for 250mL water, 82 degree water, 4-minute steep.

It helps. Any steaming hot beverage will, of course, but I did find the lemon and ginger very soothing. I could not taste the licoreice, which is fine. as I don’t care much for licorice. The tea itself started to get bitter at the 4-minute mark.

It’s hard to rate this one fairly, as I am too congested to taste properly, and as my throat’s got that fire-on-sandpaper thing going. But it did give me a little boost — I just feel a bit happier after drinking it — and who couldn’t use a little extra green tea and ginger in their diet?

Definitely worth a try when miserable, but I’d have gone for the dicontinued Electric Ginger (is that was it was called? a lemon and ginger tea from DavidsTea back in the winter) instead, if I could.

Rating: 75.

1 rounded tsp of leaves for 250mL water, bare.

The best jasmine tea I’ve ever had. I try not to hoard this one, and I do drink others for variety — and to remind myself of just how good these pearls are. Balanced, nuanced, clean and almost intoxicating. No bitterness, no bad flower taste, no sharp leaf. Magic potions must all start with jasmine.