QuiltGuppy

When I took the first sip of this tea, I though, mmm… a refreshing Earl Grey! I drank it, formulating my review around the bergamot flavor, and then went to write my review. But, wait, it’s not an Earl Grey? Cinnamon!? Passion fruit!? Mango!? Really!?

This tea has completely thrown me.

It’s an Earl Grey. Only it’s not.

Dry, the tea looks beautiful. It’s black with long, yellow petals scattered throughout. It smells refreshing and clean, slightly spicy. 200/1.25 min. I went with a light steep. I’m really glad I did as this is one heck of a strong tea. It smells of Earl Grey. It looks like Earl Grey. It tastes like Earl Grey. It’s bitter like Earl Grey. Hm. It’s not Earl Grey?

Oh well, it’s still good.

Thank you, Indigobloom, for this baffling, yet lovely tea swap! :)

Thank you, Ricky, for this sample from my HoppiTea package!

I love Canton Tea Co. Everything seems so personalized. I love the handwriting on the labels, the non-uniform sizing of the packages. It feels so human and makes me feel so connected. Most of all, I love the tea.

The dry tea smells woodsy, almost like cedar, but with a deeper aroma. It implies strength. I love Dan Cong and am looking forward to this one.

190F(87C)/2 min – Because of the strength of the dry scent, I went with a lighter steep time and temp. The scent is now… sweet?! Yes, it has a sweetness to the scent, almost like peaches, but really ripe peaches. The taste has that peachy flavor (not the sweetness, but the essence of peach) with lychee, too, and it also has a slight vegetal flavor as well. It’s the fruitiness that’s throwing me. It’s delightful! The tea still has that woodsy taste that I’d expect from its initial scent when dry. It’s not bitter or astringent and I’m glad I adjusted the steeping parameters. It’s a perfect morning tea!

No notes yet.

Oh, lovely coconut oolong… where have you been all my life? Hands down, this is the best coconut oolong that I’ve ever had the pleasure of drinking. Oolong is most definitely my favorite tea, and I really love coconut, too.

This is by far the most aromatic tea I’ve smelled to date. The coconut permeates everything. It’s very nice, though, and not the sugary sweet coconut, but instead a fresh coconut scent.

195F (90C)/3 min – The scent is still very present and the flavor is extraordinary! I have to say that this tea gives milk oolong a run for its money. Because of the coconut, however, it requires a certain taste and if one isn’t in the mood, then it wouldn’t be as much of a pleasure to drink. The oolong is lovely. It’s not a roasted oolong, but more of a medium, fresh tasting one. It has a toasty flavor, which only enhances the coconut.

Thank you, Indigobloom, for the tea share! :) I loved it.

Every now and then I manage to make this tea perfectly, and last night was one of those times! I’m not certain what the difference is, but I’m sticking with these steeping parameters as they produced an absolutely wonderful tea drinking experience.

The dry tea smells amazingly sweet and fruity, with more than just a hint of floral notes. 165F (73C)/1 min. The tea’s aroma simply floats out of the teapot, pulling me in. I can smell it the moment I enter the kitchen. The sweetness of the scent is reproduced beautifully in the taste. The floral taste is quite pronounced, but it’s so lovely. The white tea, surprisingly, is not completely hidden. It’s there without bitterness. Each sip is a treat.

This is an interesting black tea. The scent is very mellow, kind of rich and almost smoky in scent, but when steeped, it’s smooth and there’s no hint of smokiness. It’s a very nice black tea without astringency and no bitterness at all. There is a tobacco flavor, but it’s not very pronounced and exists mostly in the finish, as if I had a tobacco leaf leftover in my mouth.

This was a surprise tea that Rachanac added in to a package from teatra.de. :) Thanks, Rachanac!

No notes yet.

A pretty tea, the leaves are greyish-green. It smells like a liqueur, though. Kind of different.

165/2 min. The scent is somewhat tropical. There’s the very sweet pineapple candy taste and perhaps an essence of coconut, but it’s not very clear. Overall, it’s an okay tea, but nothing really stands out. Into the compost after just one steep.

I’ve had this tea for a while, but wasn’t thrilled with it the first time around. Since that first attempt, I’ve learned how to lightly brew my black teas, which has resulted in a much more favorable outcome. Case in point, Honey Orchid Black.

The dry leaves smell lightly like pepper. They’re very long and light and it’s hard to get them measured unless you have a scale. I’ve been using 3g per 6 oz. of water. 195/1 min.

Now, the tea smells lightly of tobacco. I’m not certain where that’s coming from as I expected more of a sweet floral scent as per the name. The taste is lovely. It’s lightly sweet, yes, there is a hint of tobacco in the flavor, but there’s an aftertaste of something floral. Overall, it melds together quite well and I’ve enjoyed several steeps of this one, all of them very pleasant.

Thank you, teawing (who I will always think of as twing), for the sample of this oolong!

The tea leaves are dark, and smell woodsy. 195/3 min. The tea’s liquor, when steeped, is also a dark amber color. The tea is nice and robust. It has a very full flavor. I didn’t find it sweet at all, nor fruitlike in flavor, just that strength in the woodsy taste. It’s simply a solid, enjoyable oolong.

Thanks, teawing!

No notes yet.

I didn’t know that this was a yellow tea before I tried it. I placed it with my white tea samples. I was surprised to see the deeper green tea leaves and thought it could be a green, but I steeped as I would a white. 165/1.5 min

The color is so light that I thought for a moment that my Breville didn’t drop the basket. The scent, too, is barely there. There is the slightest hint of sweetness in the scent and perhaps a vegetal tone, but it’s so light that I can barely tell.

The taste… wow! From the first sip, I’m blown away. It’s so very light, but with a punch of sweetness at the end. The flavor gradually fills your mouth. At first, I thought it must be just watery, but not with this finish. It’s really wonderful. I can taste a vegetal flavor, but it’s different. It’s nutty, but with a sweet/savory taste of perhaps squash. It’s a great combination of flavors. Nature really knows what she’s doing.

No notes yet.

This is a very rich oolong. It smells roasted when dry and maintains that scent once steeped, but with an added earthiness that reminded me of a pu erh, which created a bit of unfounded anxiety as my pu erh experiences have been less than stellar. For an oolong, it’s a dark tea and has a dark liquor. 195/3.5 min. There’s no bitterness at all and I can most definitely taste a woodsy, chestnut like taste. It’s a very savory tea.

My daughter picked this one out. She thought it would make a watermelon. :) (She’s three.) Okay, it’s good, but I don’t know if I made it right. I’m getting a vegetal/watermelon taste, which isn’t what I expected. The watermelon is great. It’s not sweet, just the flavor is present. My husband even likes it, but added Splenda to his.

I used the Breville and brewed it at 205/4 min with the basket cycle to agitate it. I just dumped the whole packet in and then added 40 oz. of water (which is as high as you can do a tea cycle with the Breville.) I figured the amount of water doesn’t matter all too much as it’s going to be iced anyway, which adds more water. I’m just not certain why I’m getting such a vegetal taste to the tea. Any ideas?

Wow… this tea smells so nice! It’s a toasted, popcorn scent. The green tea is long and thicker than I’m used to. I had to taste the dry tea as I love to eat the American Tea Room’s genmaicha. It wasn’t as great for eating, unfortunately, and I’m not familiar enough with the different kinds of green tea to be able to point out the difference.

I don’t know the exact temp, boiling, then waited a few minutes for the water to cool down. I steeped it for a while as I wanted it strong. About five minutes. It’s excellent! It’s nutty, rich, not bitter (which I had worried about a bit, being a green.) The green tea is so nice. It’s strong, yet smooth and fresh. It’s a great combination of flavors that create a very different, very delicious type of genmaicha.

No notes yet.

This is an all around pleasant tea that I received as a sample from SpecialTEA Brew. Dry, the pineapple stands out the most. It’s a pleasant and clean scent.

165/2 min. Once steeped, I can now smell the green, which is very slightly vegetal. It transfers through to the taste as well. It’s nice, but the pineapple has become much sweeter and tastes very much like pineapple candy. It doesn’t have the tartness that I usually associate with it. The green is very pleasant and somewhat vegetal, which is lovely in a Dragonwell. It’s a very pretty tea with the pineapple and mango bits scattered throughout. I had hoped to taste more of the mango, but I think it may have been engulfed by the sweetness of the pineapple. This is a fun tea that I’d recommend as an afternoon or early evening cup.

Overall this is a pleasant tea. I was really looking forward to trying this one as it sounds delicious. However, there’s nothing extraordinary about it.

The tea smells like caramel that one would use with apples. (Mmm… my favorite in the autumn!) 205/3 min. The scent remains, but the caramel promise has morphed into more of a crème brûlée. I taste a hint of smokiness. There’s definitely a flavor of cream in the tea, but I don’t taste much of a nut brittle flavor at all. The tea is slightly bitter and is certainly astringent.

Dry tea smells as I’d expect, rich and woodsy. It’s prettily rolled up into little balls of oolong.

185/3 min. The color of the tea is a very light golden yellow. It’s pretty and smells delicate and floral. The taste is the same. For an oolong, it’s very light, with some floral tones, a touch of sweetness, but not much. It’s a little too light for me as I tend to prefer more robust oolongs, but still, this is a very nice one.

Delicious. Exquisite. Delicate. Forceful. Calming. I can’t really find the right words to describe this one. I received this tea in a swap with KiTT. (Thank you!) I must admit, I’ve been wanting to try this for some time now. I’m so happy that I’ve finally had that chance.

The scent is that of a typical jasmine green. It’s delicate, yet mysterious. I love jasmine. They are some of the best teas I’ve ever had. 175/1.5 min. Now, I can also smell something like berries. Strawberries. The taste is phenomenal! There’s definitely jasmine, even though it’s not the primary tea in there. I’d venture to say it’s the green rooibos. (By the way, either use a strainer with REALLY small holes, or try a teabag. I’m still brushing it out of my strainer…) I’m really not familiar enough with green rooibos to discern its flavor in a mixture. The strawberry is delicate, yet just about at the same level of the jasmine green. It’s really well done, a perfect balance. Bravo! (Maybe that’s the word I was looking for…)

Thanks, KiTT!

Thank you SimplyJenW for swapping with me…

The dry tea has an almost syrup-like scent to it. It’s sweet, yet the black tea scent is grounding. 205/1.5 min.

Now I can smell the blackberries. The taste is really nice. The flavors meld together and taste like a blackberry custard tea. It’s definitely a black tea, mildly astringent, but with a richness that combines so well with the fruitiness of the tea. The vanilla is present, but fortunately it’s not the super sweet faux vanilla that haunts many a blend. Instead, it seems almost creamy in this one. (In taste, not in mouthfeel.) It’s really nice and makes a terrific wake up tea.

Thanks, SimplyJenW, for a delightful swap!

The leaves are long, slender and bluish green. The way they weave themselves together is quite nice to look at. As much as I love the way this tea looks, I couldn’t have imagined enjoying a green tea, allow me to clarify, a vegetal green tea, this much. The scent of the dry tea evokes images of Halloween with pumpkins freshly scooped. I’m surprised. There’s a sweetness to the scent that is intriguing and I must have spent at least three minutes just breathing it in and trying to put my finger on it. Once steeped (165/1.5 min.), the aroma is still there and the flavor is divine. Yes, it’s definitely vegetal, but the most intriguing flavor of pumpkin and perhaps nutmeg emerges. It’s so lovely! This tea completely blew me away. I really enjoy green tea and have become accustomed to cups of asparagus and artichoke and even the occasional broccoli, but never something so delightful and unexpected. There is no grassiness to this tea, perhaps slightly leafy, definitely plantlike. The green is definitely present. It’s savory through and through with just a hint of sweetness. I will most definitely be adding this to my tea cupboard.

Dry, this tea smells vaguely of… tobacco. Hm. It’s interesting. It’s a darker tea, but not quite black in color. 205/1.5 min.

The aroma of tobacco is still present. In the taste, as well. It’s a slightly smoky tea, but with a tanginess as well that is surprising and pleasant. There’s a slight astringency to the tea, even at a lower temp and shorter steep time than recommended. The tea is well-rounded and has some complexity as I’m finding that the finish tends to change, beginning with a malty flavor, to tanginess, then the touch of smokiness lingers for a moment or two.