TeaBrat select Send Message

I actually forgot I had this until this morning while looking around in my tea cabinets. I know that isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement of this tea but I do have a lot of stuff!

This is kind of a curious blend. It contains aloe for digestion and inulin – I had to look that up. The inulin is a polysaccharide which is slightly sweet and is also supposed to increase bacterial flora.

So anyway, this is obviously meant to be a theraputic-esque tea but it doesn’t taste too bad either. The chinese green tea is mild (I believe it may be a dragonwell) and I don’t mind the taste of aloe. If you’ve never had it before you might find it a bit weird. There is a nice touch of sweetness here and the rose petals are not too numerous, just enough to add a touch of floral. I rather like this. I might have to try it iced.

As for the other ingredients: natural flavoring, who knows what that means and there is sugar in here as well.

This came as part of a Teavana Japanese tea gift set I got for Christmas. Naturally since I love Japanese green tea I was very excited to get this!

As part of the description of this tea I read: it is steamed and molded into comma shaped leaves. When it is brewed, Tama Ryokucha has a mild taste with tones of citrus and berries.

I brewed about 1 tsp or so of leaf in the gaiwan with water I believed to be around 170 or so. I am got a very thick brothy tea which tastes very strongly of spinach, kelp and almonds. Slightly buttery. I did steep my leaves 3 times. The last steep was very short, around 30 seconds or so. I am not picking up on the fruit flavors but the tea is a tiny bit astringent in the finish. I might try making this again using even less leaf. Enjoyable and delicious.

Eh, it’s okay. I brewed a few short infusions of this up in the xi ying teapot. It smells very sweet and floral and tastes buttery but grassy and also I am getting the slightly bitter aftertaste. Perhaps this would be better after a meal. Definitely not one of my favorites from the sampler pack.

Time for some shu this morning…. :)

I gave these leaves a quick rinse and am using about 1 tsp. of leaf in the gaiwan. I tossed out the first infusion, a lot of times I don’t drink those.

2nd infusion: This tea has a very intense woodsy aroma, almost smoky like. Very assertive, a bit too strong. Steeped for 30 seconds.

3rd infusion: steeped for 10 seconds. This tea is a beautiful dark orange/brown. Color is like burnt sienna. I am picking up on so many complex flavors. Woodsy, smoky, but also with a tiny hint of plum. Smelling a bit of the camphor here.

4th infusion: 20 seconds – getting a bit more mellow. Smoke is leaning into mustiness. Some chestnut and caramel notes are starting to surface here and the camphor is retreating. This may be my favorite infusion so far. This tea is very meditative, almost spiritual.

5th infusion: 30 seconds. Here I am starting to pick up on the lychee flavor. This is turning into a delicate mouthfeel.

Wow, this really is a great tea! I think I would have rated it a little bit higher if not for all the camphor but it is really an intense and wonderful tasting experience. I do recommend checking it out! It is quite fun!

I am so excited – I ordered a raw pu-erh sampler and a cooked pu-erh sampler from the Bana Tea Company and picked them up at the post office today!

These are really very nicely packaged. Each tea comes in a glassine envelope with a label and then they are stored together in a sheer organza bag. Also included are little brochures about the company and the tea. You know I will have fun drinking these! :)

I first picked this one to try. For a sheng of this age I was very surprised at how mellow it was. Steeped in the gaiwian – first infusion for two minutes and subsequent infusions for 30 seconds.

First infusion is very intense – leaves have a honey like aroma after being brewed. It is a sweet, mellow taste with hints of peach and a bit of maltiness. You get that pu-erh aged flavor on the back of your tongue.

Second and third infusions – the leaves are smelling a bit like a clean mountain lake. Fruitiness is giving way to a mineral like quality which tingles on the back of my tongue.

Fourth infusion – I believe I am picking up on the flavor that others have described as adzuki bean. A bit sweet and caramely.

Overall this has been a really great raw pu-erh experience with lots of flavors and tastes. I am getting a relaxing buzz from this. It is very sweet and soulful. I wonder how it will get different with age? Might have to consider picking up the entire cake but will wait until I try the others! Very yummmy.

I came home to my tea collection today and made some of this. Oh sweet peachy, roasty nutty honey goodness!

It’s a herbal tea kind of afternoon here, rainy outside…

This came in a gift basket and I was pretty leery of it. Anything with hibiscus in it is not going to be a favorite of mine. I like the ginger and the orange flavor but it is definitely on the tart side. I do not think I would buy this for myself but I did not hate it quite as much as some of the other reviewers.

Are my taste buds off? Even though I prepared this myself it still tastes like it was steeped in a dirty sock. There is no water kettle where I am staying so I’ve been heating my water up in the microwave like everyone else. I can only assume this is putting a damper on my experience. :-?

This pretty much fell into the “meh” category – I actually love pu-erhs in all their odd, stinky, earthy, woodsy and dark glory. It’s hard to actually taste any pu-erh in here! This reminds me of a spicy chocolate milk, especially after I added soymilk to it. It isn’t terrible but definitely not what I was hoping for. I will have to try adding two teabags next time around because this was a little weak. Might be an ok dessert drink?

I’ll be glad to get back to my regular tea collection next week. :)

It’s difficult for me to to say anything redeeming about this – difficult to taste the green tea and then the hibiscus and rose hips are making it very tart. bluh, I am not a fan…