Uniquity

Here’s another one I’ve had for quite a well but never tried. Since I first started shopping at Davids Tea, this one has been strongly recommended. I’ve noticed that the newer sales girls tend to reach for the newest teas first, but this one used to be a strong seller for them, and I assume it still is as it’s still on the menu. Of course, for the first year or two of my tea life, I didn’t like oolong OR puerh – now it’s just puerh I can’t handle. I figured that after having a sample of this for probably a year or more we should probably try it out.

We steeped it in 85 degree water for 3 or 4 minutes, I didn’t want to scald the oolong as I didn’t know how well it would stand up to heat. The flavour was at first a bit strong, ginger and orange peel rounding out each sip and keeping the flavours together, but it became very palatable as I got deeper in the cup. I haven’t looked at the leaves, but it must be a roasted oolong rather than a green. I didn’t get any wet dog smell or taste from the puerh, so I was pretty happy with that. Altogether, these flavours work remarkably well. Unexpectedly, the beau LOVED it and wants to take it to work – this is one he would actually like to get a tin of. Will marvels never cease? He used to hate ginger, oolong and puerh. It’s interesting how our tastes have changed.

The second steep we just enjoyed came out a bit thin after five minutes of steeping, but it was also tasty. It was shockingly sweet (I assume from the oolong) and the ginger/orange were there just as a light background note. I would have preferred a bit more strength in the second steep, but the beau may have been light on the leaf so I shan’t blame the tea.

Anyway, this is a very respectable tea. Not sure what it really does for fat absorption, but if it helps at all, I support it! : ) It went quite well as a complement to our takeout pad thai as well. Hey, a girl needs a treat sometimes, right? : )

I like pears. This doesn’t smell like pears…It smells like bubblegum with some sharp fake pear on the end. The “pearness” is reminiscent of a jelly belly rather than a real pear (bosc or otherwise!) The bubblegum smell is starting to really make me mad, I have experienced it in so many of the DT blends from the last year.

Steeped five minutes or so, warm yellow colour, reminiscent of a pale ale. The taste doesn’t match the aroma, but like some of the others, I get more tart apple than sweet pear. If I even got tart pear I’d be okay with it, but I don’t get pear at all. There is a creamy sweetness at the back of the sip that I think is the vanilla – it’s not a bad blend and I’m not getting bubblegum anymore, I just think it’s misleading to call this Perfect Pear.

Actually, as an apple tea it’s quite nice. I almost wish that vanilla weren’t there though. It’s not quite working for me.

Re-visiting this one today as part of the never-ending Herculean effort to diminish my tea stash, or at least the ones I’m not crazy about. I steeped 1.5 teaspoons of this for about five minutes and got an apricotty brew with a hint more cinnamon than I would prefer, but it’s not too bad. I find cinnamon to be a tricky ingredient in tea as it always tries to take over. The blend is still pretty lackluster but decent enough. Maybe this should be a cold brew tea for the beau? Hmm.

I didn’t realize I never posted a review of this one – I bought it probably a year or so ago when I went on a bender of trying all of Davids’ unflavoured teas. Now, of course I know what a typical orange pekoe tastes like from the bag – this takes that to a more refined level. It does remind me a lot of Red Rose or Tetley, but without the gritty bitterness I find typical of those bagged teas. It could stand up to additives, but when steeped carefully you don’t need them. There is a natural sweetness in the tea which is very nice on the sip and helps take this from standard fare to something nicer.

All that said, for a LOOSE tea, this is extremely standard. This is what I would use to convince bagged OP drinkers that there is more in the world – baby steps! It makes a nice base for a chai and is okay on its own but I don’t drink loose leaf for “okay.” : )

I’m revisiting this one today and am a lot more impressed with it than the first time I tried it (May). Since then I have become a lot more comfortable with oolongs and gotten a lot better at knowing how I like to steep them – I gave it less steep temp and time and what I have here is really tasty. MUCH more like a black tea than a green, which is something I appreciate in a roasty oolong.

That said, it’s not the most remarkable tea I’ve ever had. For me, this would be an every day sort of tea, rather than a special occasions, knock-your-socks-off kind of tea. I’m used to the latter with Teavivre, so this one has me a bit flummoxed but I DO like it. I don’t think I’ll keep it in stock as I’d rather deal with a black than an oolong, but this could be a nice one for those who find black teas too harsh or oolongs too green. It hits the spot, that’s for sure!

Had this again today and the cheesecake flavour was completely absent. I was hoping that waiting a few weeks would allow the flavours to meld a bit better (like with other flavoured teas) but it doesn’t seem to have helped. There was something present in the matcha in terms of flavour, but it was mostly a light sweetness and not any identifiable flavours. Kind of a bummer.

I didn’t realize I never posted a longer review! We finished this one up today and it is on my re-buy list, honestly. The oolong is there but very subtle under the sweet pineapple. It puts me in mind of dried pineapple more than fresh, but that’s okay. It is one of the rare cases where a flavoured oolong meshes really well for me. It is a bit cost prohibitive, but it’s also an excellent treat to enjoy once in a while.

I continue to be amazed at how good it is!

Whoops, this is yet another overdue review on a tea from Teavivre. Out of the package, this one has a very bold aroma, roasty and rich with some completely unexpected cocoa notes, but also an earthy, mossy smell. That last note is one which I have grown to appreciate – this is a tricksy oolong, putting me more in mind of a black tea. I love black tea!

I used the whole sample in my perfect tea mug with water that’s probaby around 90ish degrees. The steep was around 3ish minutes, yielding a liquor that is dark for an oolong but would be light for a black – a warm yellow, reminds me of an IPA or similarly styled beer in colour. The steeped aroma is subdued cocoa, with some dark earthy notes – almost reminding me of peat and cocoa. I don’t know why I say peat as I’m not completely sure what that smells like, but that is what comes into my head.

First sips are rich, earthy. I get a fairly bold roasty oolong flavoured, with a hint of spice at the end. Maybe something cinnamon or nutmeg? It’s a little sweet at the finish, unexpected but really nice. I get the sense that there is a bit of bitterness lingering underneath at all, but it isn’t fully developing, so it just gives a sense of complexity. This is a fairly bold tea and could handle additions if you were so inclined but certainly doesn’t need them – the mark of a good tea, in my books.

I have had a couple Big Red Robe oolongs now, and I must say that I really enjoy them. The flavours remind me of black teas more often than not and they’re nicely complex but still drinkable. This one almost has a savoury aspect, it puts me in mind of of a nicely seasoned roast. What is going on in my head today?! IF I can get teavivre.com to finally accept my credit card, this one might get slipped onto the order. Very yum.

EDIT to add that as it cools, I get a smokey note. It explains the sense of tobacco I was getting earlier. This is the second tea I’ve had recently with that slightly smoke that develops late in the game and I am liking it. Maybe I’ll be able to try a Lapsang some day.

PS – This reminds me a lot of the Teavivre Dragon Pearls. What’s up with that? : )

Now THIS has a smell – strawberry matcha is bold and in your face once opened. It reminds me of strawberry lollipops and other strawberry candies. Definitely doesn’t smell like a fresh strawberry, but that’s okay since it isn’t one. I am thinking right off the bat that I will like this one better cold as the idea of hot strawberry is a little iffy, but I try everything hot first cuz that’s how I like my tea.

Sifted and whisked up 1/2 teaspoon of this bad boy, the steeped smell puts me in mind of a strawberry bath bomb. Unfortunately that means it smells good in theory but is not at all something you would want to ingest. I feel like I am about to eat playdough or something else equally ill prepared for human consumption.

The taste does not match the aroma (thank God!) but the aroma is there in my nostrils and not going away. I don’t get a taste of chemicals, but neither do I get the sweet strawberry I hoped for. Actually, I don’t get a lot of anything. There is that light bitterness I seem to find in all matchas but not a whole lot else. As I continue to drink, I get more of a buildup of flavour, unfortunately what is building up puts me in mind of chemicals. Ugh.

I’m going to add a drop of honey and see if that makes any drastic changes. With honey, the smell is the same but the taste has improved marginally. Now it tastes like slightly honey flavoured chemical waeter. With the foam I actually feel a bit like I’m drinking the suds in a bubble bath. Okay, this will be one to try cold, or as an addition to a smoothie. After having tried 4 flavoured matchas and 1 unflavoured, I am coming to the conclusion that matcha isn’t for me. Luckily, the beau likes it and will use it all up but I wish I hadn’t invested in it. It upsets my tummy sometimes too, which is annoying. I don’t know why green teas hate me, but it’s disappointing.

Finishing up this sample today (in almost record time!) and wanted to share that I am getting a cuppa peaches and cream corn today. That is the smell and that is the taste – the dry smell actually makes my tummy a little upset (some greens and oolongs don’t agree with me) but the taste isn’t having that effect. It’s interesting how vanilla can lean so many ways in terms of flavouring – thankfully this isn’t coconutty vanilla, but more baked goods style. And apparently corn. : )

Full disclosure: I won this as a prize from Red Leaf Tea for helping to rename their Sugar Destroyer tea so I am not sure what the flavour strength is on this one. Thanks RLT! I would guess it’s not very strong as I didn’t get much aroma from the bag. There was some definite sweetness, but it smelled sort of generic, much like I found the cookie and cream matcha to smell. Actually, they both sort of smelled like the caramel matcha. For a non-green tea drinker, I think I need really high levels of flavouring in my matcha to make it palatable. Otherwise, what’s the point in flavour, eh? : )

The taste is..something else altogether. It is sweet. Not sugar sweet, but naturally sweet, rather than an addition. Sort of like how fruit is sweet but candy is cloying? Anyway, it’s yummy. Smooth with a sense of richness. I wouldn’t call it cheesecake if I hadn’t seen that on the label but it IS nice. Once again, a stronger flavour level would probably help distinguish the taste for me but that’s a personal weakness. I do get a bit of bitterness that lingers on the tongue – I’m not loving that. I think I will add a hint of honey to nix that.

Okay, honey may have turned into grapefruit agave. So sure me, it’s delicious. With the sweetener, the bitterness is muted and barely noticeable, which I prefer. I think this mixed with the caramel matcha would be super delicious – though it’s good on it’s own, it needs a little something to take it up a notch for me. It would be super yummy as an additive to a smoothie or cookies or something like that.

I tend to forget that I like Keemun. I recently finished off a tin of a low grade Keemun from a local tea store, and turned to this one today to try something I hadn’t tasted before. Teavivre graciously sent me this in my first batch of samples months and months ago – and though I thought I tried it, apparently not. Actually, I owe Teavivre half a dozen reviews. I feel miserable about it, but a lot of times I just want to drink a tea and enjoy it, rather than thinking about the review I owe. Anyway, on to the tea.

We did a steep with boiling water for around 3 minutes, the liquor was rich and surprisingly brown in our new glass bubble tea cups. If you want smallish double walled cups, the Bubble ones at Davids Tea are super cute. I love them. Anyway, the tea was rich in flavour, I remember lots of strong notes, reminiscent of chocolate. Why do so many of my favourite black teas remind me of chocolate?! I REALLY enjoyed this one and would consider adding it to the Teavivre order I am trying to make (for some reason their site is refusing our credit card as payment. I’m a little bummed). The flavour was bold but not harsh and it was very smooth with no bitterness. (all good points in my book!) See my note on Persian Apple for how the second steep went, heheh.

This is a keemun win, for sure. Now to get my order to process…

80 degrees, three minutes steep. The beau made this one for us (after accidentally steeping Teavivre’s Keemun Hao Ya for 20 minutes, hah!) so I didn’t get to smell it beforehand. His sense of panic when he oversteeped the keemun was hilarious. I had to point out that there is plenty of other tea in our house if he wants some.

The steeped aroma reminds me of sweetened boiled apples – like homemade applesauce with no cinnamon and too much sugar. Actually, really appealing. I don’t tend to like green tea and I have been on the hunt for the perfect apple tea for two years. Do we have a contender?

First sips are light on flavour – no green tea, but there is something appley. Tastes more like green apple jelly bellies than applesauce though. Though I LOVE Jelly Bellies, that means the flavour is coming aross as artificial to me. Good, but artificial.

As I keep drinking, I get a bit of the bubblegum flavour I tend to get from DT’s newer flavoured blends. It does happen to taste exactly like a green apple jelly belly though! Won’t have any trouble finishing the sample I purchased, but I don’t anticipate a rebuy. I might like to see a bit of sour apple in there somewhere to cut the artificial sweetness. Yummy, but too standard. If I were just starting out in tea, I would probably fall for this, but I’ve been around the tea block too many times. : )

Picked some of this up yesterday out of curiosity – the smell has a hint of matcha, but I didn’t find that to be present in the taste. I used it on supper last night and it really packs a salt punch – but be careful to use just a little unless you want a very salty meal. It’s neat, but more of a gimmick than a necessity for me, I think.

I don’t know what is wrong with me or my taste buds, but I did not get any cookies or cream out of this, either in taste or aroma! I prepared 1/2 teaspoon, sifted and whisked – then got sweetened matcha, but no flavour! I ordered the distinctive flavouring, and am wondering if I should have taken it up a notch. I will be trying it again another time, in case something was off in this experience, but I am a little disappointed. The aroma wasn’t even cookies and cream – it was almost more burnt sugar/creme brulee. I’m not a fan of milk at all, and don’t particularly enjoy it in matcha, but I might try that at some point to see if it brings out the creaminess. Hoping for better matcha luck with the cheesecake and strawberry flavours.

*Will rate another time after I re-try.

Holy Hannah, these are huge. I expected pearls, not marbles – and I am in love. Taste and smell aside, these things are beautiful. I requested a sample of these a few months back and Teavivre graciously obliged…then they somehow ended up in a strange place and never got used. My bad. Teavivre, thanks again for the sample – I’m so in love with the look that as long as they taste halfway decent, I’ll be ordering more (and some Bailin Gongfu!).

I used 4 marbles and steeped them in nearly boiling water for 3 minutes (my standard black tea steep setup). The liquor is amber, but lighter than many black teas. The aroma is bold, reminds me of cigarettes/cigars. Typically that would be unpleasant, but this isn’t. It’s like the sweetness of tobacco mixed with something musty and rich. Old leather? There’s a hint of “ashtray” which I don’t like, but hopefully that’s just a smell.

First sips are rich, very rich. Like very dark chocolate, sans sweetness. There is a smokiness in the taste which probably explains the “ashtray” aroma I was getting earlier. It is mild, but very there. Reminiscent of a campfire with dark chocolate smores. Now, typically I don’t enjoy smoke or dark chocolate, but this is working for me. It’s very smooth, there is no bitterness, nothing with bite. It is very different from other black teas I’ve tried, but I think this is something I want in my cupboard. I don’t think of it as an every day tea, but I could totally get a hankering for this.

I’ll need to try it a few more times (and get the beau’s opinion too) but I think this is definitely something I should order. I’m running low on good plain black tea, so I should stock up. Right?! : )

Wow. Iced, this is different beast all together. I threw the other half of my sample in a pitcher to cold brew for a day or so and I am NOT disappointed. It is crazy in your face strawberry kiwi flavour with no tartness at all (though it is red from the hibby!) It’s like a delicious and sweet strawberry kiwi juice, sans calories! Holy Hannah. Iced, this gets a 95 from me. Possibly 100, as I can’t think of a way to improve it. If/when I do a Della Terra order, I will be getting this one solely for the purposes of icing it. Seriously, y’all: ICE THIS!

Updated rating to reflect versatility: not great hot but amazing iced!

Giving this tea more props today. While it is pricey, it is delicious. It can take a beating and not get bitter, and it is very rich and cocoa with a hint of pepper underneath that. Could be my favourite DT tea ever. MMM!

Quick one: Received this in the second wave of samples from Della Terra Teas in their new packaging (thicker plastic, better smell blocking!) This one reminds me of David’s Tea’s Oh Canada, but the aroma is a little different. I accidentally steeped it for 8 minutes, an I used 1.5 heaping teaspoons to get serious flavour.

I get maple in the taste with a hint of rooibos behind it, like the syrup is coming straight from the tree. There is a hint of roastiness at the end that makes me think of melting marshmallows – I’m loving this! Thanks again, DTT!

I received this one as a surprise second batch of samples from Della Terra Teas in their snazzy new packaging. The new pouches are a thicker black plastic which eliminate the smell contamination I experienced with the old ones. Thumbs up!

Unfortunately, one of my picky tea tastes is that I don’t like pumpkin. Actually, i don’t like pumpkin ever. I will carve it for jack o lanterns, but that’s about it. No pie, no seeds, nadda! So, I got the beau to drink it, and the following is his review:

“The tea was good, it is much better then the David’s tea pumpkin chai! The cinnamon was subtle so it did not overpower and it actually tasted like pumpkin pie. I only steeped it for like four mins for fear of over powering cinnamon so it was a little weak in flavour but the next time I think I will steep it a little longer to see if the taste is stronger and/or better. I would give it a 88 out of 100 and I boiled the water for it since it is black.”

There you have it, folks!

The aroma of this matcha is unbelievable. I am not a huge fan of matcha plain – I tend to doctor it up with my grapefruit agave or some honey. It’s not necessarily the sweetness I’m after, but the flavouring. So, when Red Leaf Tea’s Caramel Matcha was promoted endlessly on Steepster (you guys are the worst influences!) I couldn’t resist. With true teas, I started with flavoured and came to love the pure teas – it seems my matcha journey is destined to follow the same lines. If you too would like to enjoy some primo caramel matcha, see here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html.

I sifted two scoops of the amazingly authentic smelling caramel matcha into my chawan and added some 80 degree water. The matcha is a bit more brown than others I have seen, I’m guessing this is from the added flavouring. My whisking leaves something to be desired, but I did manage to make some serious foam. I’m not sure how much water I added, but I tend to make my matcha a bit thin for my own preferences.

The aroma now reminds me of baked goods, which is unexpected. I am thinking some sort of cookie, but no cookie comes to mind that has caramel. There is an aroma underneath that which I associate with coconut and vanilla, but it isn’t dominant so I don’t mind. If it’s possible, the smell is very rich and warm, I continue to have associates with baking.

First sips are a big shock. I get an immediate sweetness and flavour – but not of caramel. Nope, this tastes exactly like cotton candy to me. What?! I’m going to go ahead and guess that I’ve somehow got the parameters wrong on this somewhere along the line – not enough matcha, too much water, too low temp, who knows. I don’t get any grassiness or bitterness, I seem to have completely drowned out the matcha with my robust flavouring. In fact, I would consider adding a bit of my unflavoured matcha to this if I wanted to tone down the sweet, delicious flavouring. Sometimes. On a side note, this gets the kitty seal of approval – while I didn’t let her drink the matcha, she gave it a serious sniff.

While I definitely need to work on my process to get this back to the caramel I expect from the aroma, this is the best bowl of matcha I’ve ever had. Now, that is admittedly a small number but this is just good stuff. For those of you that were afraid to try flavoured matcha because you didn’t know if you’d like it, I suggest you jump in. With this stuff. (Found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html). It may seem daunting, but really it’s just delicious! In the meantime, I’ll keep enjoying my caramel candy matcha. Oh man.

As an afterthought for my Canadian friends, the shipping on this was really quite quick. It was 8 business days from the order to my receiving it, and I live in an outlying province (Nova Scotia). There was a holiday in there, but it was still less than two weeks which is relatively unheard of in terms of shipping times. I think I paid around $3 for the shipping as well, so it’s certainly affordable.

Tried this one again today with the rest of my sample. This time it was approximately two full teaspoons of tea and 1/3 teaspoon of sugar to cut the bitterness I tasted last time. I get more depth of flavour this way, but it is unfortunately too sweet for me now. I accidentally put a bit more sugar than I meant to, so it’s my own darn fault, but I’m annoyed nonetheless.

On a different note, I received two surprise samples from Della Terra Teas today in a completely new packaging – the new bags are a thick black plastic with absolutely no smell contamination whatsoever! Big thumbs up for improved packaging – it is more plastic, but keeping tea seperate is essential. One of a pumpkin tea which will be drank by the beau (I’m a rare pumpkin hater) but the other has maple in it which I’m excited to try. Thanks Della Terra!

Finished up this one today. Steeped approximately 3 minutes at 80 degrees (because I remembered there is green tea!) it was quite nice. This is one of those ones that I enjoy, but get annoyed about because DT recommends boiling water on the label, but that makes it bitter and gross because of the green. It is lightly fruity and flowery, with decent black and green teas behind it. If I ever get my tea stash pared down to 1/4 of it’s size, I would consider keeping this as permanent stock. There is nothing else in my collection that is similar. Glad to have a sipdown though!

This is my third sample from The Tea Merchant, one of the two I selected for myself – Thank you TTM! The aroma of this one after opening the bag was powerfully blueberry. I was sold by the scent right away. Underneath the blueberry there is a hint of white tea – crisp and fresh but a supporting aroma. Steeped approximately 3 minutes, I have a surprisingly bold yellow liquor which maintains strong berry aroma, but the white tea is in competition. The steeped aroma isn’t blueberry, per se, but it does remind me of them. Sort of like a (mild) blueberry candle or candy.

The leaves on this one were broken up a bit more than I would like to see (much like the darjeeling) but it doesn’t seem to be enough that I think it would impact the taste. The leaves are still at least 1/2 an inch to an inch long but they have clearly been broken. This could be due to shipping or it could have started that way, I’m not sure.

The taste of this one is impresssively bold. The pomegranate/blueberry flavour hits you right off the bat and then subtly transforms into the white tea. There is a bit of sweet hay at the end which is supported by the berry flavours which don’t ever fully disappear. I am impressed at the strength of flavour in this one, I tend to find whites a bit of a let-down. This is what I want from David’s Tea’s White Tiger. As the cup cools I lose a bit of the berry, I think it is best drank quickly but that’s okay. I feel that way about whites and greens in general, before the tea has time to take over the flavouring. This one is very impressing, I must say!