Cavocorax

Looks like I’m the first to review this tea. So, no pressure? :O

I wasn’t sure what temperature to steep this one because it has black and green teas, but I think the rule is that you steep at the lower temperature…

It smells mostly like cinnamon, but when you sip it the almond slides right it. And, oddly enough, I think I can actually taste the green tea in the blend too, which is amazing because I have a hard time noticing the bases under a lot of flavour. To me that is a sign that this blend has been balanced quite perfectly.

This doesn’t taste like it’s too strong either so it would be perfect for the afternoon or evening.

I’m not hugely into almond flavours, but this is very nice. I’d buy a sampler size of this!

Hmmmm. This is vanilla chai with cream? I’m not getting that at all. There are some chai spices, but it’s pretty muted. Maybe I needed to steep this for longer in order to get the full flavour.

I know Mycroft is mysterious, but this blend requires too much puzzling for me. Let’s see how I do with my second steep.

I probably shouldn’t have steeped this the same time as Mycroft as they have similar ingredients. I was worried I’d mix them up but the almonds in this gave it away.

I can taste the almond/marzipan goodness over a basic black base. Some people don’t like Adagio’s black bases, but I find that if I steep it for 2.5 minutes at slightly less than boiling, they taste quite nice.

I can take or leave this tea. Sadly, the same can be said for the namesake character too. He had some good moments in Doctor Who, but not enough to get me to try Torchwood.

Thanks for the sample Shadowfall

This is my first sample from Nina’s tea – I chose it randomly from the envelope it came in.

Before I looked at the ingredients in this I thought it was a chocolate tea – wishful thinking perhaps? This tea has a smooth base, and the caramel and vanilla add a bit of character to the profile. It’s simple. It’s sweet without being artificial. Like the girl-next-door of teas?

I’m pretty happy with it!

Another sample!

I’m not getting cake in this – mostly rooibos with a bit of almond and some sweetness. It’s very tasty though, and the low caffeine level makes it a nice evening brew.

Another free sample!

This one is an odd tea. It smells like perfume! Also, it kinda tastes like perfume! At least a little. Rose buds and jasmine seem like scents to wear, not taste, but when I get past that association, the licorice and cinnamon are quite nice. I’m not sure if this tea is for me, but it’s interesting. And I sipped my cup down faster than I realized.

I keep drinking this as a cold latte. I guess I’m too afraid to prepare it as hot tea?

Yes it’s a bit sweet, and a bit astringent, but it makes me want to experiment with matcha! Some day I will do a Red Leaf Tea order. (Just not today… Even with the sale on the new products…)

I received my samples/order!

This green tea is enjoyable. It starts off apple-y, and finishes with a ton of cinnamon/spices. It’s very warming – I can see that this would be a great tea in the autumn. I don’t taste the pomegranates at all though.

And I agree with everyone – the packaging on these teas is adorable! I’m happy I bought a pack of Vicky’s Sponge Cake so I can look at more little bluebirds. I guess I won’t put that one in a tin – that’d be a shame!

This is pretty decent!

As it’s a Murchie’s tea I was worried about astringency so I steeped a double-dose of leaves for 2 minutes and that seems to have been perfect. It’s nice and mild and fruity. I’m looking forward to drinking the rest of this sample!

You know what guys? This is pretty great. It’s maybe better than the Zen Tea one after all. I just need to remember to steep it at 80, instead of the recommended temperature.

How do you decide?

:P So this was the 200th tea that I rated – I went back to check because I just went over, and it looks like I didn’t even log it!

It’s crazy to think I’ve tried 200 types of tea. A few years ago I probably would have been surprised to hear there were that many types of teas out there!

Vanilla? Yes. Black tea? I guess?

This is a very soft creamy vanilla tea. I can’t really taste the base, but when I’m in the mood for vanilla this is a nice one to go with. I’m happy I tried it, but I wouldn’t push everyone to go try it.

I’ll try cold-steeping it like Incendiare recommended!

So the reviews weren’t kidding. This is a STRONG breakfast tea. I steeped it for 4 minutes, and the result was a tea so dark that it might be confused with coffee. It makes my whole mouth go numb with that tacky-dry astringent feeling. It does get better after a few sips, but I thought I’d just try a dash of milk – yep. This is a tea that shines with milk! (And thankfully not much because I don’t like having to add to tea in order to enjoy it).

I guess it’s silly to want strong tea but not astringent tea eh?

ETA: Oh snap! This was my 300th tasting note. I had planned to pick a more exciting tea (or a more exciting entry). Oh well! 300 is pretty impressive since I’ve only been active since October!

This looks like a crazy mix of ingredients, but it’s pretty tasty. I can smell apple, cinnamon and various spices. I really shouldn’t drink this now – every sip makes me think of fall! I like it, but the base doesn’t seem to be too pronounced.

Mmmmm. Apple Chai.

Thanks Shadowfall for the sample!

So I have two empty tins now, and while I ran off to DavidsTea TODAY, they are still empty. (And smelly. Am working on that.) Guess I’ll just fill them up with peppermint or something I have 2 oz of just to make room in my storage tins for smaller packs.

Grabbed this, and four other samples today that I had flagged to try. I guess, ideally, I’d like 30g of all the tea from David’s that I like. :) That’s enough to cover every craving I might have without being too overwhelming! But not enough to fill a tin. I think Mother’s Little Helper, Cocomint Cream and Pumpkin Chai are my only DT tin-worthy teas…

This is an oddball. It smells very strong and malty. Dark. Earthy. A few honeyed notes? Definitely. More honey, as it cools, but now it’s a bit grassy.

It’s definitely better as it cools. It reminds me of the Keemun from DT. I’m enjoying it, but am hesitant about rating it yet.

Goodbye Red Velvet Cake. That’s the end of this, and while I’m happy I tried it, I’m in no rush to go out and buy more. Knocked my rating down a bit to indicate this.

Now what do I do with my tin? It’s red, empty, and smells strongly of this tea. Well, I’ve washed it, and am airing it out and hoping for the best, but an empty tin is just a waste… What the heck do I buy to put in there? The old me would have had no problem rushing out to DavidsTea and buying 100g of something, but the old me had a lot of tea that I was sorta meh about.

I love love LOVE this tea. I had it with the Pineapple Cilantro and the two just weren’t in the same league even. (Well, guess I’m not as big into cilantro tea).

This should be on my always in-stock list. <3

I’m finally trying this! :O After I brewed it, I smelled a dark malty odor with cocoa notes. We’re off to a good start!

The first few sips were very strong and nearly bitter. I think maybe I wasn’t ready for tea yet because after those sips I find this tea to be very smooth and barely astringent. Now that it’s slightly cooled, I am getting a little bit of honey or fruit, as well as lots of malt and cocoa. And is that cinnamon? This is very tasty!

The good news? I think this may be my favourite Assam! The bad? I have about 2oz left of my previous favourite Assam to drink down – (Assam Mangalam Second Flush FTGFOP1 from Zen Tea). Maybe I should sip them side by side one morning to get a better understanding of the difference, but this Butiki Assam has a lot more going on – I wish I was better at reviewing tea so I could describe what I’m tasting better, but it is one to sip slowly and savour.

I will resteep this and drink it later today too, which is saying a lot. (I really should re-steep my teas more and be less wasteful… Not so much for flavored blacks or herbals, but the rest… yeah. Now that I’ve gotten rid of a lot of samples I want to just enjoy what I have and not worry if I don’t sip anything down for days)

I had a cup of this last night and I just wanted to add that this tea is not as good cold. It’s mostly nutty – goodbye apple-cinnamon notes!

I decided to just go ahead and make this as a latte instead of using water because I’m so new to matchas. I took 6oz of milk, and added in the powder, stirred vigorously with a fork, and then used my latte frother thing to poof it up. The bubbles deflated fairly quickly, and some of the power clumped at the bottom so I guess I didn’t do it right. Maybe I should have used the water bottle method.

Anyway this tastes like sweet sweet matcha, and peaches and sugar. I don’t mind it though. I rarely have sweetened tea so this is a nice change, and I downed my cup before I knew it. I didn’t notice any bitterness, but maybe that’s bc the sweetener hid it all.

Would I order this? Idk. It’s about $12.80 for 127g which sounds like it’s a good deal, but I don’t know how many cups that would actually make, and if I would get sick of the cane sugar. Does anyone know?

My roommate has some teas that she offered to let me try, so I thought I’d give this one a shot. It definitely tastes like a milder Earl Grey which is more up my alley. It’s nice. The base has a bit of a warm caramel flavour that is intriguing, and the tea has only the slightest hint of bitterness.

Pretty good! This may be one of my favourite black teas from Murchie’s! That, or Earl Grey Cream!

Last tea review for the day! (Then off to bed, or try to knit some more… I had about 9 rows of cable stitching done, and some of it looked great, but one part was horribly ruined. So…. I frogged it and am restarting. I think I’ve done those first 3 rows about 10 times now – no exaggerating. But I’m really learning a lot this way, and I’ll be happier with the end result!)

Anyway – THE TEA:
This smells like cranberry, and it tastes sorta like cranberry and pine needles. That can’t be right? Maybe that’s a combination of the verbena and lemon grass. But it makes me think of Christmas!

There’s a bit of an odd aftertaste I can’t identity, and then another piney one after that! What is going on in my mouth? :P I tried looking up verbena on wikipedia to see if that was one of the odd notes I’m getting and I learned that apparently verbena is good for nursing moms, and it’s also a sex steroid. So… the more you know…

Gosh, I’m all over the place today. In summary, this is an odd tea, mostly because I haven’t had a lot of these ingredients before so I’m not really sure what I’m tasting. I look forward to trying it again!

This is my second tea from the Amoda tea box. I think the only thing I can really compare it to is Della Terra Tea’s Nut & Honey Crunch (which I enjoyed because it was like granola).

Anyways I think I like this more. When you smell it you get a whomp of cinnamon, but the cinnamon mingles with the apple when you actually sip it. And the nuts are strong but tasty!

This is actually making crazy. The apple-cinnamon, mixed with the almonds etc make me think of some kind of freshly baked treat but I can’t figure out what it is for the life of me. It’s warm, and sweet and very reminiscent of comfort food like “Mom’s Apple Pie”™. Or Apple Crumble.

Someone come here and bake me some treats so I can compare. FOR SCIENCE.

So, looks like I’m 2/2 so far on the box. Tomorrow I will try the Peach Matcha! (maybe steeped in milk as Kittena wasn’t impressed with it in water…)

Ok, that’s it for this sample!

It tastes like a bright vegetal green oolong, but as others have said before it just doesn’t taste as good as the price would indicate. I’m happy I tried it, but I’m not in any rush to go out and get more. Maybe in a year I can try 10g just to see if my tastes have refined…