Uniquity

Stacy included this in my recent Butiki order as a free sample. I honestly don’t know why I didn’t order it, I really like Keemun teas. It must have been an oversight, but I am glad I at least get to try it!

I used my pre-measured sample and steeped for about 4 minutes (as the water at work isn’t boiling). The liquor is a warm orange and the aroma reminds me of sweet baked goods, I almost want to say cinnamon rolls. I get sweetness, black tea and almost a hint of cinnamon. Very appetizing and a little unexpected. I’ve been craving cinnamon rolls for a while, so maybe it’s all in my head. Either way, Mmm!

First sips retain that bakery aspect, I get a sense of yeasty baked goods with some innate sweetness and still something that reminds me of cinnamon. This is all very mild and complemented by the tea base which is flavourful and with a thick mouthfeel but no bitterness or astringency. All good things.

As I get further into the cup and it cools, I get a little less sweetness and a bit more of a bread/bakery taste. It is still good just a little less interesting. I think this is one that benefits from being consumed while hot at least if you’re looking for more flavours.

This was a really nice keemun and one I might stock up on if I were to catch it on sale. I can live without it, but it’s definitely no hardship to drink up. Yay!

This is the first of my batch of Butiki teas. The beau doesn’t like mint so I was allowed to bring it to work. Yay! This is where I get most of my tea drinking done so it is nice to have new things to enjoy. Looking at the leaf, I have a lot of chocolate chips, lots of peppermint and some fuzzy leaves as well. I am guessing the fuzzy looking ones are marshmallow leaf. Very cool!

Unfortunately the water available to me wasn’t boiling so I am steeping extra long to get maximum flavour. It got 10 or 15 minutes in the end, which is fine by me as I love mint. I have a number of pure mint teas and also a couple chocolate mint teas but I have rather fallen out of love with Read My Lips by Davids (the chocolate is too artificial) so I would love to have a new fave.

First sips are mint but tempered by sweetness, presumably from the marshmallow. Despite the plethora of chocolate chips, I don’t get too much chocolate, it is mostly at the end of the sip. The experience here is much like a mint patty with a bit of residual ‘burn’ from the mint. It is more sweet and ‘rounded’ rather than sharp mint and I am really liking it. I would almost like more mint but I could always add some or try again with boiling water.

So far so good. I don’t feel like I need to have it all the time, but I would definitely rather have this on hand as my chocolate mint than Read My Lips. A win!

So it’s been a year or two since I last had this one and I figure my tastes have changed enough that I might feel differently about it. You never know. It’s a bad time that the smell from the bag makes me tummy do little flips though. I find Davids chocolate teas sometimes make me feel a bit queasy. Not good.

Steeped a little over 3 minutes, I have a brown liquor that smells of chocolate strawberries and liquer. So pretty much the same impression as always. The chocolate actually smells a bit more cocoa-y and not as sweet as I remember. Probably for the best.

First sips are dark and richm but with a sense of sugar underneath all that. I get dark chocolate and some cream. The strawberry has muted with age but I still get the chocolate strawberry smell. Or maybe just chocolate cremes, but either way it’s okay. Nothing to write home about and maybe a bit of struggle to finish but I’ll give it the old college try. I have some old tea that REALLY needs to be finished up. If I added it all up, I probably have a couple pounds of way old tea. Yikes.

EDIT to add that I am gifting the rest of this to a coworker! Schwing!

This is a sample I bought in my last Teavivre order. Or one of the free, I actually don’t remember which. Either way, it’s new!

Dry, this leaf has a powerful smell. The more I inhale it the stronger it gets, but I am having trouble naming the aroma. Something reminds me of fresh herbs, like my basil with some honeyed cocoa as well. There is a note of something sharp like lemon zest as well. It is interesting and appealing, though more complex than many others I’ve been drinking lately.

I used the full 7 g packet in my 14 oz mug with 90 degree-ish water (from the tap at work), though it was way more leaf than I usually use so I only allowed it to infuse about two minutes. The steeped aroma yielded more honey and cocoa than the sharp herb and citrus smells from before.

The liquor came out a warm yellow, and provides a much lighter taste than expected. It is still very present and enjoyable, just not as bold as anticipated. I get some honeyed sweetness, and a bit of a tingle on the tongue that reminds me of those initial herb and lemon aromas. It is nice and dark and really quite appetizing. I think the second steep on this one with more time will really be impressive. This is a good balance of leaf/temp/time/water, I’m glad I might I made the right call for my tastes.

I don’t get any green or grassy flavours from this (that’s important for me). The cocoa has largely subsided as well and as I get deeper in the cup/it cools I find the citrus sense is really developing. It is pretty interesting but I don’t think I will stock it regularly since I already have a couple roasted oolongs I enjoy. This is a really nice one though, maybe I will alternate between this and the big red robe?

Edit to add: After reading the other tasting notes I could see grape/currant/grapefruit in lieur of what I was picking up on as citrus-y. Someone else also mentioned IPA and I totally see that. Now that this cup is almost gone, I am really digging this one. Might be a contender for a future order, I’ll have to see what the beau thinks of it. It’s also a great deal at $12.90/100 grams. Okay, I’m putting it on the shopping list, even though I won’t be ordering from Teavivre for a few months.

I am sipping on this one today while at switchboard. It arrived unexpectedly yesterday – I had won a Sororitea Sisters contest a few months ago and the prize was meant to be this tea. After a few months I gave up on it, but lo and behold! It looks like it was shipped on May 20th, so it took a little while, but such is the price of being Canadian. :)

I do not know a whole lot about oolongs other than that I prefer roasted ones. This one looks pretty dark in the package with long thin twisted leaves. I thought it was a roasted oolong but it steeped up surprisingly green. It must be somewhere in the middle, maybe? Anyway, I have an amber liquor which has strong sweet and floral notes, like peaches and flowers. The taste echoes the aroma quite strongly with a bit of astringency lingering on the sip (my fault as I thought it was darker!) It is quite nice and surprisingly unassuming. It doesn’t reach out and grab you but when you pay attention it is an experience to enjoy. I would prefer it to be a bit darker but for what it is I think it is an excellent oolong, just not the best one for me.

I got a sample of this one on my Teavivre order a month or two back and am finally taking a moment to enjoy it. I am using the whole packet which is a bit much for my tastes but not nearly enough to split into two cups at work. Ho hum.

The dry aroma is light and sweet, seems floral and with some fruity notes but once steeped it comes across as astringent and bitter in aroma. Very reminiscent of standard bagged black tea. Darn you slightly too large sample!! I even decreased the temp and time to account for it. We’ll see how it tastes.

Luckily I don’t get any astringency in the sip, but neither am I getting a whole lot else. It’s black tea. Maybe some light floral behind it all, but nothing impressive. I am getting a lot of Red Rose associations here. It is drying my mouth a bit so I guess it is astringent, but at least it isn’t bitter.

I was hoping this might be a replacement for Keemun Mao Feng from Harneys which I loved but this didn’t do it for me at all. Oh well!

EDIT to add: Wow, am I the lone dissenter or what? I love black tea but this was a disappointment. I wonder if it was mislabelled or maybe a weird batch as there was no cocoa and nothing I typically associate with keemun. Weird. I know the sample wasn’t very old either.

I tried a sample of this in store and found it way too sweet. Nonetheless, the beau talked me into picking up 50 grams. We made it hot last night (I still don’t really like iced tea) and it was, once again, way too sweet. Davids, you need to cut back on coconut and stevia. Like now. The beau enjoyed it (though he preferred it cooled) but I would be happier to never taste that much sweetness in a ‘tea’ again. I am considering adding some lemon myrtle or maybe a bit of a tart tea to try to bring it from sugar water to lemonade but for now it is just an unnecessary sugar bomb. I should have known better.

Finished these off today. I had saved four of the marbles for one last hurrah and it is proving delicious. If this weren’t so obscenely over-priced ($14.50/50g) I would definitely re-stock but at this price I won’t be. I will remain contended with my dragon pearls from Teavivre even if they don’t have jasmine.

Anyway, this tea. The black base can go bitter so I like to keep it around 3 minutes steep or use slightly cooler water. I know it will go two steeps with solid black tea flavour and fairly dominant jasmine. The jasmine gives it a sweetness that I really like – I never knew I liked floral teas until this one. The black is bold enough to remain present and provide a good base for the jasmine to dance on.

TL;DR: Great tea, too pricey.

So this was my first tea as a married woman – we have been so busy with wedding preparation, setup, enjoyment, take down and aftermath that this may be the only tea I have had in a week. I love mint so it really hit the spot, and it was thoughtful that my mother-in-law made it for me. We have been together for nine years so nothing really changed but it was amazing to get together with our best friends and family to celebrate. It was a true Nova Scotia kitchen party – we are thinking of having a celebration every year in the same style. Happy tea!

Well, the name is accurate on this one. I had been referring to it as mango bubble gum but mango fruit punch works better. This is a very heavy tea that smells delicious, like something you should eat immediately. I ended up using the entire 26 gram packet for our 24 oz teapot as it was very heavy and hard to get enough to flavour up. That basically makes this 1.75 a cup. Yikes!

Steeped, it has a yellow colour and a sweet aroma. The taste matches it closely, with a POW of sweetness, some identifiable candied mango and then bubble gum/fruit punch under that. To be honest, I don’t like it. I am not keen to finish my cup and I definitely won’t buy any more. I don’t know what I expected but the smell was so amazing that I got carried away. What I would want here is to cut the sweetness and add maybe some tartness to round it out. Rare for me! I should probably have used less tea or less time, but I know how difficult it can be to get dried fruit to flavour up. Unfortunately I went the opposite direction. Not for me, but would probably be very good iced or if you’re a huge fan of sweet teas.

Another poorly stored sample, but worth a go, right? This smells tart like hibiscus but I don’t see any of the typical pink tinge. I get some sour rooibos as well, masking what I would otherwise presume to be tart blueberries. At five minutes, this tastes mainly of smoke. Like there is a fire a few kilometres away but a bit of the smoke has blown in on the wind. No tart, nor sweet, nor blueberry at all. If I could get the aroma to match the taste I would be a happy panda.

At 15 – 20 minutes I can finally get some blueberry flavour in there but it is so dominated by smoke that I am not interested in continuing. This is my fault so no rating. I wish I had drank this two years ago when it was still fresh.

Dry, this smells amazing. I am thinking of the horse barn at the exhibition but in a GOOD WAY. Sweet clean hay, damp wood, hard working animals and minimal stink. This is contrasting with the cow barn which always smelled much more of excrement. Blech. I have come to really enjoy the smell and taste of hay and damp wood in my teas, and trying to get into puerh seems like the logical next step for me and my tea journay. Black teas and roasty oolongs still make me a happy panda but puerh might offer me just a little bit more.

Because I am a puerh noob I have used a bit less leaf than I probably should have, but that’s okay. Coupled with 95 degree water, I am ready to dip my toes in. I am using my smallish gaiwan and very small double walled cups. I have also broken out my tea feet (tea pet) to get their tea on too.

First steep at 30 seconds. Because of my conservative leaf and temp, I figure I can up the ante on time. I am tasting this one, though I know typically the first steep is a rinse. Not much about this is typical though. The smell is strong and smoky, like tanned hide or salted meat. Smoked wood, tobacco. I am developing an appreciation for a smoky note so this is actually enticing. The flavour is sweeter than the smoke note led me to believe, and taste more like the initial smell – sweet hay, damp hide and a hint of salt. Perfectly drinkable though not my ideal cuppa. Much more earthy than sweet though.

Second steep at 45 seconds yields the same aroma of smoke and salt. The taste is much sweeter though, more sweet hay, less earth. Much nicer, though it tastes a bit light. This is very sippable, the contrast of the taste and the aroma is very interesting. The smoke really develops as the tea cools.

Third steep at 1 minutes results in a brew much like the second, only amplified. I am getting some floral tastes now. I didn’t get any fruit or spices before now but I hardly know what I’m doing and I’m okay with that. This is my favourite so far, the smoke is mellowing out and allowing the taste to dominate the aroma.

Will likely steep more later but taking a break to put together our corn chowder now. General impressions are that this is a nice tea, but not my favourite. Something to enjoy occasionally. Will try it more traditionally at some point (more leaf/less time) and see what I get. Might do a cup western style too.

This is an impressive tea, especially for it’s cost. For a long time, my favourite black tea was the Wild Black Yunnan from Davids Tea. For me, this one is even better. Stronger, bolder flavours with less (read: no) astringency or bitterness. It holds strong through multiple steepings but is so inexpensive that I don’t mind calling it quits at just one steep. I actually prefer it to the other Yunnans that Teavivre offers, as this one has the cocoa and earth POW that I love. I am very glad to have 100 grams on hand, and will re-stock this one rather than the Davids when the time comes. Mmmm!

The beau and I picked up 10 grams of this last March and promptly forgot about it. Though it smells appetizing, I fear the hibby is strong in this one. So many of Davids blends over the past couple years have been lackluster for me, with the notable exception of Berry Good which I adore.

Steeped, this is a coral liquor which smells very tart, like pink lemonade – that would be the hib, I assume. The taste is a shock of tart with some herby flavour in the middle and then all ginger and hibiscus at the end. I am not really liking it but it isn’t the worst herbal I’ve had. I am not getting any strawberry though, which is a definite problem. Strawberry was the selling point for me but all I have is tart ginger. I will try cold brewing the rest, I think, and see how that goes. If nothing else, the beau likes iced tea.

I got a sample of this one a long long time ago and finally had the presence of mind to steep it up today. There is enough there for two cuppas so I have half of it in a filter bag as that stuff looks too fine for my filter. I hate when floaties escape into my tea!

The aroma is fairly strong with cinnamon dominating. Cinnamon isn’t my favourite part of a chai but I do appreciate the necessity, so on we forge. I went through a mega chai phase about two years ago but really lost my taste for it somewhere since then. I am not sure what happened, though I suspect I put too much milk in it at some point and it was ruined by association. I am not a milk drinker and never have been. Blech.

Steeped, I get cinnamon in taste and burn, with some gingery/nutmeggy baking type flavours. There is a bit of heat, but I am not really getting the cardamom which sometimes balances chai out for me. The black tea base is also pretty assertive. I know it is blasphemous, but I don’t really like assams and the ilk. Their strength of flavour is interpreted by my tongue as bitterness, even with the most careful treatment. Then it needs milk, which I don’t like. Hmm, I guess I just figured out why I don’t like chai. :)

Anyway, this is a perfectly respectable chai and if you are a chai fan it will likely impress you. This might make a good latte (which interestingly I do enjoy, if it isn’t too milk heavy) but that is beyond my skills. I’ll just keep sipping.

Gave this another shot in a different way today. I forgot to clean out my Perfect Tea Mug so I put 4 or 5 pearls in a T-Sac and brewed them up for 3 – 4 minutes in a mug. I got a LOT more jasmine than previous infusions, and the black tea came through pretty nicely as well, but without any astringency. I remain a little disappointed by the quality of the base tea and prefer Teavivre’s Black Pearls for price AND taste, but these are definitely a nice change from the usual. I frequently forget how I feel about jasmine but I DO like it and these are a lovely way to get a floral hit. If that base tea were just a bit better..

Another from my box o tea from LiberTeas several years ago. Initially it smells as though it has been scent contaminated with all the rest, but when steeped 2.5 minutes it smells definitely like black tea with light citrus. More like cleaner than fresh fruit, but not unappealing. It looks and smells like a tea that will get bitter if over-steeped so I was careful with the time.

First sips yield a fairly typical black tea that starts out a bit sweet and then goes a bit astringent, with some light citrus in the background. Considering the age and storage of this sample, I am impressed that there are any flavours to distinguish at all. In the aftertaste I get a sense of bergamot but it is very light and not dusty at all the way bergamot can sometimes be.

This is a very pleasant (if mild) cuppa, and I will definitely be able to finish the sample. Yay!

Well, I couldn’t wait until I got home to try this one. The beau is not one for chocolate teas either so I doubt he’ll be bothered. The aroma of the dry leaves makes me think of a Crunch or Krackle bar – chocolate with some puffed rice. The beany malty laoshan black sits underneath all that, holding it together.

I went a bit light on the leaf but gave it extra time to balance out. I remember Laoshan Black as being strong on flavour under most circumstances so I am confident it can handle it. The liquor is a warm sunflower sort of yellow, with strong malt aroma that is tinged with cocoa at the end. I’ve always loved the idea of a genmaicha, but being a hater of green tea I have never really enjoyed it. This could be the way for me!!

First sips yield a fairly typical laoshan flavour. Heavy on malt with some cocoa and honeyed sweetness on the end of the sip. The nibs are working with the natural cocoa flavours of the tea and bringing it out even more. I love that. So far there is nothing here that screams toasted rice for me though. I will report back in a bit to see if that changes but for now this is mostly laoshan with chocolate, and I ain’t complainin’. :)

EDIT: I have had the new batch of Laoshan Black and I must say that I prefer the unadulterated Laoshan Black to this blend. I get much more cocoa from the Laoshan Black than from this one and I prefer the intensity of flavour. I think the addition of the oolong here (while nice) detracts from what I love about the Laoshan. Still yummy though!

Had some of this again last night. This is the first ‘new release’ from Davids in a few years that I have truly loved. We have used nearly 50 g in the last few months which actually is a lot for us. Typically we have different teas all the time but we return to this one frequently.

The first steep always delivers a strong strawberry taste with some earthy tartness in the background from the pu. There is no fishiness – I can barely even tell the pu is there actually. It also delivers a solid second steep though you do lose some strawberry flavour so it isn’t as good, but still worth steeping. This is the tea that has helped me to think I might be able to learn to love pu-erh.

I fully intend to go get a tin of this once our pouch is empty. Yum!

Way to go, Uniquity. This is another tea that I have been hoarding/savouring since ordering it from Verdant. 1.5 years ago. I have another order dreamed up and am just waiting to see if a co-worker wants in so I am really feeling compelled to finally drink up the beautiful teas I got last time. Despite it’s age this has been stored well (score!) and maintains a lovely sweet yunnan smell. I’m thinking more hay than pepper or cocoa. I am likely in a better position now to appreciate this tea than I was when I bought it, so this is for the best, right? :)

Steeped for 3.5 minutes, the beau and I shared a pot while he finishes Silent Hill Downpour. He’s been finishing it for days, but who am I to judge? I’m the “just one more page/chapter/book” girl. After pouring the tea, I even gave a bit to my tea pet (also from Verdant way back when). Aren’t I generous? Steeped, this almost puts me in mind of chocolate cake. It smells rich, sweet and decadent. Sweet hay remains a strong aroma.

First sips are clean and sweet, not as bold as other yunnans but very tasty. I get some light cocoa, and the sweet hay continues to dominate. For now I am going to sit back and enjoy it. Then maybe steep it again. Mmmmm. I think this is one of those teas that would be impossible to over-steep. I feel confident that I could steep this the whole time I drank it and it would only get stronger without ever going bitter. Lovely!

All the talk about maple teas on the discussion boards had me wanting to try this one which I just brought to work last week. I haven’t tried it before but it does have an appetizing maple smell – it’s a bit more Aunt Jemima than maple syrup (if you’re Canadian you will probably understand) but it is definitely appealing.

Steeped, the liquor is quite brown, and has a smell that puts me in mind of boxed pancakes and Aunt Jemima. Again, yummy but not quite the real deal. There is some sweetness that comes off as maple syrup and the tea is very prominent beneath that. They are pretty well balanced with each other but the tea does have a hint of bitterness. I wonder what the base tea is, cuz I think I steeped this appropriately but the bitterness is a bit disappointing.

I would like a smidge more maple in here but it is a very old sample so I may have just lost some flavour over time. A drop of syrup or honey in here would do wonders (if I had any here at work). All in all, very nice.

EDIT to add – this reminds me of a couple Monk’s Blends that I have had. Interesting!

The beau brought a silken satchet of this home from his work for me to try. While I’m not the biggest rooibos fan anymore I do love him so try it I shall. The aroma reminds me of Ruby Red from Joy’s Teaspoon – some sweetness, tropical fruit of some sort and some rooibos. Nothing objectionable, but not too snazzy either. A quick comment on the satchet though – I love it! For a rooibos, it had plenty of room for spreading out and getting fully steeped. Actual tea might have needed a bit more room, but this was great for a non-expanding tea. It was also fine enough to keep the rooibos in which is important for me. I hate small floaties.

First sips are nice enough. It echoes the smell with some undistinguishable fruit flavouring and sweetness. There is almost a hint of bubble gum but it doesn’t quite go there (luckily). Still reminds me of Ruby Red, which I have 4 or 5 ounces of at home. One of the better rooibos teas I have had lately. Generic but good. :)

Oy. Another from SimplyJenW that I drank but did not review. I recall a lot of people saying that Paris is similar to Tower of London (which I love) but for some reason I always think of it as heavy on bergamot. At the moment, that doesn’t seem to be true. Actually, I am starting to think that Paris is the mystery tea that scent contaminated all the rest of my samples. Either that or it is fairly heavy contaminated. Can’t be sure anymore.

The smell is sweet and light, I am not getting much by way of bergamot. Actually, I do get some sweet stone fruit that DOES remind me of ToL. Perhaps I have had false memories of this tea all along. First sips are light and sweet, much like the aroma but with a bit more of a honey note. I am not picking up on any citrus or bergamot but I am really liking the honey/stone fruit notes. Why has this sat neglected for so long? This is a nice little sippable tea. I am glad to introduce it to my work stash, I’m sure it won’t last very long now. :)

Wow, another I didn’t review. Whoops. SimplyJenW sent this my way probably a year and a half or two years ago. This is a prime example of why I almost never do swaps, I never seem to get around to drinking the things I get in return. I have had most of this one though, so I’m not sure how I managed to miss reviewing it.

I am not much of an English breakfast drinker as they tend to be bitter assams and other bold teas I don’t drink a lot of. They are nice for a treat though, and I will add a bit of sugar or honey if necessary. This one got the kid gloves treatment of a 3 minute steep so it should be good on it’s own. I get a lot of malt in the aroma, and it has a smell that frequently translates into bitterness. I’m not sure how to describe it, but it’s easy to recognize.

First sips are a bit lighter than I expected, and with a surprising level of sweetness. This tastes more like Chinese blacks than Indian. Wait a minute, I’ve finally read the description. This is a Keemun? Win! I get some sweetness that is almost lightly floral, not much of a smoke note like I sometimes get. This is a nice keemun and extremely affordable. I don’t see why they don’t just label it as a Kemmun, but whatever works. :)