QuiltGuppy

This is definitely a vegetal oolong. Even in the dry scent, it’s reminiscent of celery or green peppers. 195/1 min.

Vegetal… confirmed. It’s actually not too overwhelming. I can also taste a woodiness in the flavor. And zucchini. It’s not exactly toasted or roasted, but somewhere light and in between. The oolong itself isn’t bitter. This would make a great afternoon tea.

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This is the third of the New Zealand oolongs that I’ve tried. Of the three, it is my least favorite… and I love it! All of the Zealongs are outstanding. Pure has a light scent in the packet, and, not surprisingly, it is a lighter oolong as well, both in aroma and flavor. I steeped this one longer than I normally do. 195/4 min. It produced a light colored, aromatic brew that has a roasted flavor. The oolong is beautiful and has no astringency or bitterness whatsoever.

What a delightful tea! This tea scented the entire package with its delectable peach scent. The coconut, while present, isn’t the dominant aroma. It is, by far, the peach.

175/3 min.

Mmm. The taste is really nice. It’s sweet with a coconutty finish. I have to admit that when I first saw this tea, I assumed it was an oolong. It’s a dark tea for being a white, but when it is steeped, it’s a light golden yellow. It’s difficult to make out the white tea. In fact, I can’t. The peach assaults my senses and, other than the finish of coconut, I can’t make out any other flavors in this tea. I do think that it’s a novel combination of flavorings and appreciate the sweet and nutty approach. This is a tea I will buy for serving in the summer at night. It would make a great entertaining tea.

As a side note, this tea was a huge hit with my French class. My students kept coming up to my desk asking questions. I found out later that hour that they were all coming up to smell my tea, which was in an open cup on my desk. I have a growing interest in which teas I’m brewing in that class. :)

Well, I had to use a bag on this one because I’m at work and didn’t bring my infuser. I guess that makes this Snowflakes in Green Lake? Mine didn’t have a chance to dance.

I don’t know the exact water temp, but it’s pre-boil, around 170 ish. 1 minute steep time.

It smells very floral, very fresh. Even the scent in the package had me thinking that this would make a wonderful soap. (For the scent, remember, I hadn’t tried it yet!) It’s just such a clean, fresh and invigorating scent. I really love it and if I get more, I might store it in my closet so that my clothes smell as lovely.

The taste is very floral. It’s still the nice, clean scent, however, it’s also quite strong. It’s not bitter, which is nice, but it’s still a very floral cup of tea. I cannot make out the green tea with which it is paired.

The dry tea smells like dried lemons or oranges mixed with a fresh, leafy green scent. The tea is powdery and there are lots of little bits and pieces that slip through the filter on my Breville One-Touch. 160/3 min.

Wow. This is one cloudy tea. It looks almost swampy with a light olive green color and a murkiness that makes me hesitant. The lemon scent and taste are very pronounced in this tea. It’s difficult to discern the green beneath it, but it’s there. The ginkgo comes through in the aftertaste. I drank this tea about an hour ago, but I can still taste the ginkgo on my tongue.

Refreshing, that’s the definition of this tea. I received this tea as a sample from SpecialTEA Brew. Having tried and enjoyed the teas previously, I was looking forward to seeing what’s new.

The dry leaf smells like citrus. It’s a mixture of the tiny green rooibos with small dehydrated pieces of what I believe is lemon. It smells very nice, fresh and clean. I’ve never tried green rooibos before. 205/4 min. The taste is interesting. It’s not as citrusy as I would expect from the name, however, it’s good. The best part is that the lemon is not overwhelming. I can taste some of the mint in the tea, but the interesting part is the slight taste of cloves that I’m picking up. I think if I were naming this tea, based on what I’m finding, I’d have gone with a Slightly Spiced Citrus Green Rooibos. (Okay, so naming teas isn’t my talent.) I wonder if it’s the green rooibos that is giving it this flavor. Who knows? The end result is pleasant.

The tea smells very leafy in the package. Kind of fresh and not nutty. 195/4 min. So, it’s not surprising that it brews up to be a fresh tasting TKY. It’s nice, but there is no nuttiness to it. It’s slightly floral in the aftertaste, but not for long. There are, unfortunately, no “rich, creamy undertones” as the description suggests.

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What a tea to wake to this morning! It’s lovely. I could smell the cinnamon and sweetness when I opened the packet and it was so nice that I actually pulled it back to my nose to sniff it again. Wonderful!

195/2 min. As usual, I steeped lightly having learned my lesson with several other strong black teas. It turns out that this was perfect for me. I haven’t been really into blacks lately as I don’t enjoy astringent or, even worse, bitter black teas. This isn’t one of them. It’s so nice. It smells sweetly of cinnamon and apples. Kind of like a pie. The taste, however, is just like a croissant aux amandes from my days in Paris. I feel transported. It’s amazing. Sweet and nutty, with a depth that fills your mouth and your senses. It’s really wonderful. I can’t pick out much of the black tea taste, which surprises me. If I didn’t know it was a black tea, I would say it’s an herbal. It’s just really, really nice.

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The scent of strawberry is unmistakable. It’s there, sweet and promising. 205/2 min. I’m glad I steeped this one lightly. It’s fairly strong. The strawberries are still there in the scent and in the flavor. There’s also a custard like taste to this. It’s similar to cream, but it has more depth like it has been mixed with dulce de leche. It’s a great combination for a morning tea. Lovely! The black tea holds its own. It’s strong, but not bitter. There is some astringency to this, but it’s not bad. The strawberries and custard flavors round it out.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

Here’s another BYOTea from Sanctuary T. I’m having a lot of fun making up these little tea bags. So, today was Soho Chai. It smells nice, but faint, not robust as I’d expect a chai to smell. I’m not a huge fan of chais, but this one came with the set, so I’ll try them all.

boiling/4 min. Now, I can smell the tea some more. It has cardamom, which I adore. It’s pleasant, but I’m finding that there’s a distinct squash-like (perhaps pumpkin) flavor to the tea. It creates a smoothness to the flavor, although I think I would prefer spiciness with a chai. It’s pleasant.

No notes yet.

I bought this one from iheartteas through the out of retirement effort with 52teas.

It smells tart. I can definitely smell raspberry, but the watermelon isn’t yet present.

170/3 min. The sencha tastes divine. It has a richness that blends so well. It’s thick and slightly buttery. The tea is very tart from the raspberry. Very tart. It makes me pucker. I cannot taste watermelon. I’m going to try again at a shorter steep time.

Another one of my little BYOTea packets. This one, however, surprised me. It has to be one of the messiest teas to try to get pinches into the little bags. I’m not convinced that this is the best tea for this system, not only for that reason, but also because the bags themselves don’t seem to allow the matcha to dissipate completely into the tea. Since I love genmaicha regardless, the absence of the matcha doesn’t disappoint me all too much. The genmaicha is really good. It tastes very nutty and savory. It’s slightly vegetal tasting, but not too much. I boiled the water and let it cool about five minutes or so, then put the bag in. It steeped for about four minutes. The result was pretty good overall.

I have this one in the BYOTea set. It’s the first one I’ve tried, even though I ordered the set a few months ago. If you haven’t seen it, it’s pretty neat for people on the go who like loose tea, but may not have the equipment with them. (Think vacation, work, commuting, etc.) It comes with 10 biodegradable tea pouches to put 3-4 pinches of tea in. I found that four works best for my travel mug. The tea is kept in these plastic folded pouches that remind me of a clutch handbag. When it’s folded up, the plastic seals shut and the tea is kept safely inside. Ingenious, actually.

I’m in class right now, so I warmed the teapot almost to boiling. I’ve burned myself so many times, that I’ve been working on guesstimating the temperature of the water and stopping it before it boils. I’ve got it down to sound, however, since I’m not all that certain of temperature, I’ve left it off. I did let it steep for about three minutes.

The tea smells fresh and fruity, both before and after steeping. The taste is refreshing. The green tea is somewhat grassy, but not like a really green, green tea. It complements the tropical fruit nicely. The passion fruit provides a fullness to the flavor. It’s not a weak taste, nor is is sickly sweet. I’d say it’s rather realistic. I also taste pineapple, although it could be my tropical imagination getting the better of me. I’m really thrilled with the convenience of these little packets of tea.

Dry, this tea reminds me of long, dark fingers. Some of the leaves are as long as my pinkie finger. It smells so wonderful, nutty and floral together.

195/3 min. The tea is a medium reddish color. Its scent is bold with a fruity undertone. I smell the nuttiness still and almost a chocolate like flavor. More like cocoa. The taste is phenomenal. Fruity and nutty, and definitely a cocoa note, like unsweetened dark chocolate. I am particularly drawn to the fruitiness in the tea because as it cools, it becomes more and more pronounced.

In the packet, I’m not picking up much of a scent.
195/3 min
This is a nice midday oolong. It’s not very strong or intense in any way. It’s floral and somewhat delicate. As it cools, it’s very slightly sweet, but just a hint.

Yet another milk oolong. This was one of three teas I ordered from TeaCuppa (the company who listed the tea as incense on the customs form.) The first tea was disgusting and I was so worried this would be the same, especially after reading the reviews. The scent was buttery, but not a natural butter scent. I was a bit worried.

195/3min. It’s not so bad. Frankly, it’s not the best tea I’ve tasted, however, it’s certainly drinkable. The milkiness is not very profound, not what I’d expect in a typical milk oolong, but I do like the floral aspect to it. It’s not perfume-like in its flavor, but more natural. That I do like. So, not a total flop.

Second steep: No flavor at all is left. It’s wasteful to buy a tea that’s only good for one weak steep.

This is so extraordinary from the moment I opened the container. I actually got this for my husband, who loves the Spiced Ethiopian tea we normally drink. It’s such a pain to clear the basket of the leftover leaves, so I bought this in sachets. It arrived today and I decided it was a good night to try it. Wow! Am I ever glad I did. It’s fabulous.

205/6min – It smells of cinnamon and oranges and the taste is the same. The real magic, however, occurs as this tea cools and an entirely new flavor profile emerges. It becomes sweeter and sweeter as the temperature drops. My favorite point is when it’s just lukewarm and tastes like a sweet and spicy cinnamon delight. It’s really a great tea!