astrida

A marginal mint tea that’s rescued by the odd tarragon partnering. This is probably the best of the Tazo teas I’ve tried. I keep imagining this is due to the fact this is a tea made of herbs and actually has no tea in it (because the tea dust passed off generally as ‘tea of high caliber’ by Tazo is pretty awful). A decent tea when you need to come off a Starbucks buzz.

Tastes like old grass clippings mixed with cardboard. Seriously— this is not a good green tea. This is a box of something that is capitalizing on the fact that green tea reportedly has ‘health benefits’— or in other words… we’ll sell you any crappy green tea we can.

Caffeine, that pretty much sums it up. This is a strong tea, among the strongest black teas I have ever tasted. As for the taste— meh… blander than any Twinings black tea, and most other major brands. But you didn’t really walk into Starbucks and expect them to serve you a really wonderful cup of TEA??? Right, you didn’t.

A decent Earl Grey, but the bergamot flavoring seems a bit artificial, and a little bit heavy handed, and that’s what stops me from giving it higher marks. Its a good tea when faced with a tea box at a restaurant that stocks a Twinings sampler (which is often where I’ve had it).

Better iced, I think. Or at least, that’s how I like it. Its not a great flavored tea, but compared the most of the stuff at the supermarket it doesn’t taste too fake, and that’s already pretty remarkable. I think, this is one of the better Twinings teas on the market.

Fairly dreadful. If you want to have green tea that tastes like a cardboard box, start here.

In the bag, the tea smells like predominantly like buttered nuts, tumbled in a light date-fruit sweetness, tumbled with fresh cut grass. The dry tea has a metallic and iodine top note, that is strong, but not obnoxious. In the cup the smooth pale liquor has hints of umami and roasted vegetables, along with subtle grass and a hint of fennel in its aftertaste. A very nice oolong.

No notes yet.

An ceylon tea with a whiff of lead pencil shavings mixed with roasted nuts in the pouch that evolves into a rich, slighty smoky, black tea powerhouse. It tastes vaguely of roasted brazil nuts tangled with bitter walnut, melded with a chocolately smoothness that lingers under a lightly floral top note. A delicious and strong tea that is perfect for morning, and well-paired with milk.

The ass-kicker of all peppermint teas, and one of those longest in production. This tea has been around long before World Wars and our grandparents. Its a moroccan style mint tea— in other words it can be brewed as strong as coffee and sweetened to the point that it would keep any dentist in business.

You may opt to brew it long or short, and its mintiness will expand or dimish accordingly. I generally find one tea bag strong enough to make a full liter of tea.

Medicinally-speaking this tea is wonderful for an upset stomach and will even mildly numb a toothache, there’s that much peppermint oil in the infusion. I use it as an oncoming cold remedy, and even herbalist medicine says ‘it works!’

A classic Genmaicha tea, with a crisper note of rice than many other brands. The perfect tea if you enjoy this particular Japanese style of tea. I love it with sushi and its pretty tasty iced too.

No notes yet.

A lovely light oolong. From a sniff of the dry tea you’d expect this light, faintly smokey, slightly raisiny smelling tea to develop into something good. What comes out in the glass is a pale golden yellow tea, with well integrated hints of straw, smoke, and grass beneath a bright nearly floral (but not really jasmine) scented top note, that is delivered in an overall buttery smooth liquor. I can’t understand why the previous reviewer denigrated it, however we disagree on jasmine scented teas and perhaps that’s why.

A wonderful light jasmine tea, that is almost a green-white tea. In France this tea is available in two types; Grand Jasmin Mao Feng, and Grand Jasmin Mao Feng Bio. Although both of these teas are excellent, the Bio version is just a little bit better than the non-organic variety. When I get a bag of this tea in the house, I have a hard time not opening it every afternoon to brew a pot. Although ‘jasmine pearls’ are all the rage— I actually think this particular tea is better than most jasmine pearls I’ve had (even the $100/lb variety from TenRen in Chinatown).

A pleasant jasmine tea that has a bit more grassy green tea flavor in it than other jasmines produced by the same firm. I like this a bit less than their Grand Jasmin Mao Feng, although that tea is notably pricier.

For those who don’t like a hint of astringency in their morning cup of tea, there is Montagne Bleue. On the nose, this is a mildly floral tea. In the cup, it brews up as a dark caramel liquor that’s laced with a light fruity brightness, and very faint floral flavor (the strawberry and rhubarb show through). Tastes even better with a little honey.

The tea that launched 10000 steepings. Seriously, this is the first tea I ever tasted by Les Palais des Thes, and once I bought a bag of this, I turned into an addict. The green tea underlying this is a sencha. Its pairing with small bourbon vanilla pods makes for a smooth intensely vanilla treat. Its also delicious iced. Don’t steep too hot, or else it’ll be bitter.

Perhaps my least favorite of all the teas made by this company. The cherry scent of this tea is so dominant that the green tea underneath it, gets nearly entirely lost. I find it like the ‘cherry coke’ of green teas. TOO MUCH CHERRY. Then again, if you’re a huge fan of cherry coke, this tea might be for you.

A floral, fruity, green tea that has a kind of inherent sweetness without sugar added. I favor brewing this and then serving it iced, for any time of the day. The flavor of peach and citrus, combined with a spoonful of lemon tree honey makes for a great summer thirst quencher.

This earl grey has probably spoiled me for most of the others I have tasted thanks to its intense Calabrian bergamot. I will take a fresh bag of this and just open it once in a while to sniff it. Meanwhile, the tea itself, is probably among the most heavily bergamot earl greys I have tried (the only stronger one’s I had use a gross synthetic flavoring). It is a great waker-upper, and nice with milk, and honey.

Be sure to steep this tea at the proper temperature. Its silky and smooth, while having some astringency, and a hint of bergamot. A robustly caffienated tea for the morning, it will wake you up!