Cinoi

Backlogging from yesterday. There is not a lot to say about this, I have already rated it, that did not change, but I can add how wonderfully this went with breakfast. I usually do not address what I am eating with the tea, however, in this case, the tea greatly complimented the food, so it is worth mentioning:

The brew, 4.5 minutes, hot with no additives went extremely well with breakfast: cheddar cheese grits. I feel the rich smoky aroma, with the full bodied black tea, seasoned with some unexpected sweetness and more of the smokiness definitely helped bring out the flavors in breakfast.

Since everyone has been posting about this, I broke my own rule and opened this one up without finishing the appropriate teas in line and…I’m SO GLAD I DID!

I like matcha, and as we know from my previous posts, I really like to put my matcha in anything that is not water: yogurt, ice cream, protein shakes, milk, juice, so on and so forth. However, I always try it in water before experimenting.

I made this one in my new fancy matcha bowl with whisk, hot water, no additives, 1/4 teaspoon matcha, 4 ounces of hot water, whisked one minute. Did not get this one to foam up in my matcha bowl, but let’s be honest, I am probably doing it wrong. Anyway, no worries, the matcha itself smelled deliciously like strawberries and barely at all like matcha. First sip: oh there is the matcha, it tastes mostly like typical, with a kick of the usual vegetal green and bitter matcha, then there is the sweet soft flavor of strawberries. Fantastic. I usually drink these pretty fast so that they do not settle too much, but I definitely enjoyed it.

Second bowl: made with Vanilla Soy milk. I used the same amount of matcha (1/4 teaspoon, I do not have the fancy matcha spoon/scoop thing) with cold Soy Milk. This is easier with room temperature soy milk (as in just opened the box) because it does not clump as much, but with the appropriate amount of whisking, cold soy milk is not an issue. I whisked this close to two minutes, and it foamed! Yay! The vanilla in the soy milk definitely makes this a sweeter matcha, the milk also makes it thicker than when it is made with water. Overall, this is how I am going to enjoy more of this.

I am really enjoying the flavored matchas, this one is my new favorite, I found the matca to be a little too bitter and was hesitant to mix it with my dairy products, of course I found out that it was fine to do so, but I am just more comfortable mixing strawberries with creaminess from varied dairy.

I have a freezer full of frozen berries, and one cup of plain yogurt in the fridge next to my premade protein shakes (vanilla and strawberry). Will definitely be making these over the next few days and let you know! Enjoy!

Edited:

I bought a sample of this from Adagio because I love using it to blend teas. The tea itself is made up of the small red-brown splinters similar to that of a rooibos, with a vanilla aroma.

I brewed tea, hot, no additives for seven minutes. The tea itself is a little bitter, but plain, light, rooibos-esq, with vanilla flavor. As I said, it is unfortunately a little tart/bitter in the front. However, the vanilla flavor and creaminess makes it very good.

I like to blend this one with other teas. Mates, chais, anything spiced. Adding the honeybush vanilla just mellows out any overwhelming flavors, brightens any underlying flavors and adds an overall creaminess with a slight vanilla flavor.

Overall, pretty good, especially for blending.

I’m not going to lie, I was really in the mood for coconuts for most of today. So I actually started my day with a pot of this, made it hot, with a tiny bit of half and half in each cup.

The tea is of course coconut with some nutty taste, the black and rooibos blend nicely together and then the half and half adds a smooth creaminess that it was otherwise missing.

Still one of my favorites :)

In honor of the Deal of the Day I decided to make a pot of this. Brewed hot, no additives, two minutes. The short infusion time gives just enough time to let the spices start to develop but enough of the coconut and lemongrass come through so that this tea is not overwhelming.

Finished off the last of my sample of this from Ricky (thank you!!) and I must say it was very good, probably one of the best from 52teas (that I have tried, at least).

The dried tea itself is what appears to be the typical black tea base with small and large flakes of coconut. The coconut smell coming out of this tea is fantastic, it smells like sweetened coconut milk, creamy, coconut-y and delicious. I brewed the tea a few different ways, and none of them were bad, they just varied.

The first way was hot, five minutes, no additives. When the hot water first hit the tea, the coconut fragrance liberated, as it infused, the tea aroma took over the coconut. Unfortunately, this actually smelled a little too astringent and strongly of black tea, that I was afraid I would hate it. That being said, I added some milk. The milk mellowed the punch from the black tea, and made an actual coconut cream flavor. It legitimately tasted like coconut milk, which one would associate with coconut cream pie. Very, very good.

As the pot cooled (because I do not have a cozy and sometimes take entirely too long in between cups) I noticed that the astringency went away. So this time, I enjoyed the cup with no additives. I have to say that it was not that strongly of black tea, there is still a creamy almost vanilla flavor incorporated with the coconut and black tea that does make this creamy without any cream. Fears vanquished, still very good.

The final way, and how I finished my sampling today, was hot, five minute infusion, a pinch of rock sugar and some milk. The sugar made it sweet, very sweet, almost heavy with sweetness, but not unenjoyable, kind of like ice cream, or dare I say it, coconut cream pie. The milk cuts the astringency again and helps to meld all of the flavors, the vanilla creaminess, the coconut flavor, the sweetness from the sugar and of course the black tea flavor into one very delicious cuppa.

Overall, very good tea, highly recommended that if you like coconuts and you like tea, you will probably like this tea. Enjoy!

You ever have so many teas that you want to try that you do not remember them by name? Yea, me too. Anyway, this one was a sample from Ricky, thank you (!) and I have to say that I will DEFINITELY be purchasing this with my next Adagio order.

The leaves are tightly curled oolong, they are dark green but brew a pale slightly golden liquor. The aroma of the leaves is plain, simple, not complicated, almost a faint green tea smell. An interesting note is that I usually pour hot near-boiling water into a smaller teapot that I carry with me around the house, immediately after pouring water into the infusion basket and over the tea, a sweet, almost minty aroma was released. Now ecstatic, I let the tea infuse for four minutes (no additives). Unfortunately, by the end of my brew, that minty sweet aroma was gone and replaced with a mellow vegetal note.

The flavor is surprising, it is gentle, a bit vegetal, a little buttery, with a tiny hint of sweetness at the very end and the cool mouth-feel of a minty tea. Delicious.

Second infusion, two minutes, no additives. I did not get the minty smell again, but it was more pronounced in the tea itself. Still buttery, light, vegetal with slightly more mint. Overall, very enjoyable tea.

Still have some of my sample pack left, so trying to finish it off. Cut open the pouch and inhaled the delicate aroma of the tea. The dried leaves definitely smell like black tea, with a slightly floral note and sandalwood.

Infused hot, four minutes, no additives. The brewed tea smells like sandalwood, however, I am not picking up any more aromatics. The flavor is mostly a black tea with a slightly woodsy note, the aftertaste is sweet. I cannot actually identify any floral or specifically honey note, just a slight sweetness at the end.

Overall, the tea was pretty good, definitely better while it was hotter. Note, as it cools, the woodsy taste starts to disappear, it is taken over by the sweetness and (finally) a hint of the floral.

I try to live my life with no regrets, that being said, I regret not having purchased this tea. I love this tea! Ricky thank you so much! I have experimented with a few different infusion times, so bare with me.

The tea leaves smell delicious, slightly sweetened, smokey, with a slight earthy note. The first time I had it I did a strong brew. Hot, no additives, five minutes. The liquor is very dark, brassy color. The tea tasted smokey and earthy up front, which mellowed into a sweeter, richer tea. Absolutely delicious.

I was able to get three more infusions out of this spoonful of tea. Brew times lessened to keep similar flavor without a burnt, overdone flavor. 4 minutes. 3 minutes. 3 minutes. 2.5 minutes. The liquor color remained roughly the same, the flavors did not intensify or stifle out, each infusion had a new balance of flavor. There was shifting in the front-runner flavor between the smokey and the earthy, but it was always followed by the sweet, strong mouth-feel of the caramel note.

I decided I would write my rating today, so one more spoonful, three more infusions.

First infusion, hot, no additives, 3 minutes. Though the tea is still rich, the earthy flavor is lesser and the smokey flavor is a little more prevalent with a lesser brew time. This alteration in flavor does not hinder the sweet caramel flavor that this tea follows up with. The second infusion (3 minutes) I think added a little more of the earthy-ness and less of the smokey (in comparison to the previous infusion of these leaves). The final infusion (3 minutes) yielded a taste sensation similar to the first time I had it with a five minute infusion: balanced smokey and earthy notes with a sweet rich tea with a stronger mouth-feel than expected.

I have one more spoonful left, I am saving it for a special occasion. Again, Ricky, I cannot fully express my gratitude, thank you, this tea was fantastic!

Had a few cups of this and loved it, have not yet been able to describe the beauty that is this tea in a review yet, definitely will soon…

So I got two boxes of this and have been rapidly converting people to join in its wonder. I can see where people that want the strong, earthy mouthfeel of a pu-erh are disappointed, however, I think that regardless of it’s name, this is just a wonderfully flavored black tea.

Still converting followers to join me in drinking this tea, six down, many more to go…

This will be the first in a short series of backlogs, I have been drinking tea, including new samples from Adagio and Ricky, but I cannot rate them on first taste.

I have been drinking a lot of tea in effort to reduce my cabinets, I have successfully cleaned out three of the large teavana tins, yay! Working on some more. See previous review for this tea, my rating has not changed.

I did however try this one hot with half and half, it made it creamier, a little thicker, but still delicious.

It’s raining, it’s pouring, the cinoi is sn…wait, no I’m up and I still have plenty of tea to drink before it gets too warm to enjoy a nice hot cuppa. There is no need for a full new review, as I enjoyed one cup of this same as always, hot with no additives (see previous reviews) before work.

However, after I had this cup this morning, I was not fully satisfied with it, and insisted on getting some half-and-half to have another cup with dinner. I have never had this tea this way, and I do not know why I really wanted it this way, but it was very good.

The tea is accentuated in every way possible. The half-and-half (being half cream and half milk) was smooth, sweet and light, yet slightly savory and rich at the same time. I believe this helped to bring out all of the different flavors in this tea: I can actually pick up the orange, I still have my spiced cookie with the nutmeg and cinnamon spices, even a bit more of the chocolate, and of course the earthy richness of the black pu-erh tea itself. Adding the half and half might not be the best way to get the true experience out of this tea, but it made each and every sip slightly different than the last. Overall, still a great tea. Infused 4 minutes.

Had this again this weekend, made a cup for a friend yesterday and knew that I was done with all of my individual pieces and could crack open a new can. :] The aroma of the wrapped nests of tea all collected in the can is fantastic; it is natural and earthy and almost leathery, a little smoky and sweet like molasses. If I had smelled this tea right out of the can like this before, I would have had no hesitations about the tea. Furthermore, if I had smelled the tea unbrewed as I had today, I would have thought that the tea in the can was completely different from the tea in my cup, based on smell.

Like I said, I brewed a cup for a friend yesterday, got a 10 second rinse and then four infusions out. See previous review for how that was. PS, friend enjoyed the pu-erh. What is new and noteworthy is that up until today, I had been brewing each cake of tea for a cup, never had I tried to make a pot out of it. Today along with Madison we did just that, with a ten second rinse, we did a two minute infusion for a pot of tea (one of the two people Beehouse pots, 22 ounces I think). We infused this three times. (Infusion times per pot varied).

Each time was significantly lighter than when you brew for the cup, but there is a difference. When you brew for the cup, there is the dark liquor, with the nutty, earthy aroma, the taste is what we have come to expect and love and the heavy, coat-your-mouth feel dominates. When brewed for the pot, you get the nutty and earthy aromas, you get the natural, slightly smoky, sweet taste, but the mouthfeel has diminished if not disappeared all together. When brewing for the pot, it becomes smoother and thinner, lighter might be a good word, but not in flavor, just in texture. Sure, you are watering the tea down, by actually adding more water, but the flavors are not compromised.

Interesting, very interesting.

So been going pretty strong with this pu-erh kick, and here is another one. After reading Ricky a few weeks ago, I decided to order this sampler (7 different pu-erh teas) to give it a shot. The presentation is fantastic, individual sealed wax paper bags all housed in a silky drawstring bag, along with some pu-erh newsletters ad information sheets, lovely.

The tea itself looked actually purple, I am not sure if that is why this is named or there is another reason, but they were dark, very dark, practically purple. I used less tea than normal as I have been trying to get a few brews out of this, but a quick rinse (5 seconds) then two quick brews (1 for 20 seconds, 1 for 30 seconds).

The liquor is light in color, has a slightly earthy note to it, but barely any aroma at all. The aroma and then taste and mouthfeel is very light and pleasant, not what I have come to expect from pu-erh, at all. This one was definitely sweeter than others I have tried, did not have the overpowering natural smell, in fact I feel like either I could have used more tea or a longer infuse time.

Honestly, if this was my first pu-erh (Numi Chocolate aside) I would have never had any trepidations as this was sweet and light and gentle, with a slightly pu-erh-esqueness that I am familiar with but does not scream “pu-erh”.

Will brew up the rest and see if I can add more.

Today seemed like as good a day as any to try this one, and I must say I rather enjoyed it.

The dried leaves smelled a little like a junior mint, strongly minty and refreshing. There is no hint of green tea. Brewed hot, three minutes, no additives. The brewed tea smells even more strongly of mint, and at this point I am excited.

The green tea is subtle, the mint is strong, there is a mint flavor up-front, green tea taste and then the cooling mouthfeel of the mint after the tea was swallowed. The green tea is completely a base here, it is hard to pick up at all even, it is not vegetal or grassy, there is no reason to even believe this is green tea except that the package said so (of course, the color of the liquor and the lack of flavor tells me that it is not a different type of tea).

Would definitely like to try this iced. Also, hot and sweetened. Also, I think it would make a fantastic mojito if I infused the tea in rum, but I am going to have to buy more to try these all out. :) Until then, enjoy

Fantastic day today, only seems fitting that this is what I had! I had an iced brew:

In a pitcher:
2 scoops Youthberry (Teavana)
1 scoop Peachberry Jasmine Sutra (Teavana)
1/2 scoop Rock Sugar
Add 1/3 pitcher of hot water, steep 3 minutes, fill with 1/3 ice to shock the tea and the rest of the way with cold water.
Refrigerate/Steep overnight

Drank this with and after lunch today. The Youthberry gives a fruit punch red colored liquor, it is tangy and fruity. The tang comes mostly from the rosehips and hibiscus, but the pineapple and apple are not helping to reduce the tang. The Peachberry blend helps to mild out the Youthberry in that the Jasmine, though entirely lost in the brew, will kill some of the tang making this palatable. The blend of kiwi, strawberries and peaches in the Peachberry, plus the green tea, add a slightly sweetened note to the brew. I am pretty sure that the Youthberry also contains grapes, as there is a slightly wine-y (not a word, sorry, essence of wine?) taste to it. Sugar also helps to make it palatable and I highly suggest adding some.

I say today was fantastic because I had my lunch and was still sipping some of my tea as I strolled into my local mall on my lunch hour and low-and-behold, as I window-shopped and hit my favorite store (Sephora) across the way, I saw a new store coming, and I bet you can guess what it was…TEAVANA! I do not know when it will open, but I can assure you that when it does, expect of flux of Teavana reviews!

Back to the tea: this blend is good, albeit still a little tart/tangy, especially if oversteeped in any way. I mean oversteeped hot or oversteeped as left in the fridge too long, either way will make it tangier. I do not mind the tartness of this, but it can get old making this a tea and tea blend I cannot drink everyday. As a note, neither tea is really all that great on it’s own, but blending them does make it better.

Another suggestion to combatting this tea’s tartness is to add Peachberry Jasmine Sutra AND a Jasmine tea, I suggest the Jasmine Pearls. But this will be another review.

PS Looking back, apparently I never rated this tea on its own, though I have a four ounce tin, how did that happen? I will write a rating of this following my usual format later on.

A while back I read the post about this tea that Auggy wrote, and I was ecstatic. I also, do not like licorice, however, during reading the review, I thought, well maybe I will like it, I should get some and give it a shot.

Much to my dismay, I do not like it. The tea was not bad, it was exactly what it said it was, white tea with licorice. I do not like licorice, and I did not like this tea.

This is not a review in any way. However, I did make this for my fiance today, he was not feeling well, and said he wanted some tea. He loves Earl Grey, so since I was not planning on ever having this sample, I made it for him.

The smell, is much stronger, more fragrant, and maybe a little sweeter than other Earl Grey teas I have smelled/had. I did not taste it, but he said it was the best Earl Grey he has ever had. Take that for what you will, if you like Earl Grey, you should definitely try a sample of this.

I want to start by saying that I thought Snow Buds were white tea, but these are classified as green, go figure. Anyhow, the leaves are long and pretty, they smell light and faintly sweet. The sweetness is unidentifiable, it is not floral or sugary/caramel, but a natural, honey-like sweet aroma.

The brewed tea does not smell like much of anything, but I don’t mind that too much. The tea tastes very gentle, it is light and very white flavored, I would not have picked this as a green; there is no vegetal or normal green flavors. Oh well. The tea is sweet without anything having been added, it is smooth and light and goes down easy. Good for an easy-going, relaxing day.

Overall, it was very good. Brewed hot, three minutes, no additives.

Bought this a few weeks ago and had it once, but it was not enough to write a proper review or give it a rating. I do remember it smelling and tasting very predominantly oolong. So hanging out at home and with the weather today I decided it would be a good time to brew some more of this up.

The leaves are an even blend of white, green and oolong leaves. The smell is the sweet oolong, with a hint of vegetal green, you cannot recognize the white by smell. The aroma of the brewed tea mimics this, mostly oolong with a hint of green. The white tea appears mostly in the liquor, the liquor is very pale green.

The first infusion, three minutes, hot no additives. The flavor is predominantly oolong. It definitely starts with the sweet oolong flavor, then comes the gentle white flavor, very neutral and clean, a hint of vegetal from the green, finished off by more of the oolong sweetness.

The second infusion of the leaves (hot, 2 minutes, no additives) all of the flavors were muted, not gone, but reduced by about 50%. I find this pretty disappointing because for one I usually use a lot of tea in my white and green infusions, so it seems wasteful, furthermore it tells me it would make a disappointing iced tea.

The bottom line with this tea is that it is good, very good, but the accent is heavily on the oolong. Personally, I like oolong tea, I do not mind that Body + Mind is heavily oolong, I would just classify this as an oolong and not a white tea, but Teavana has funny ways of classifying it’s tea. Overall, this was enjoyable and I will thoroughly enjoy the rest of my bag.

I love this tea. A lot of people complain about the large amount of fruit in Teavana’s variety of herbal, white and green teas. I can understand why, there is a lot of fruit in there and they’re expensive, but I tend to enjoy fruity teas, sometimes.

This tea is a white and black tea blend. There are pieces of pineapple and hibiscus and apple, all which actually blend together very nicely. The flavor is an evenly balanced blend of the three: pineapple, apple and hibiscus, to make a fruity, sweet, yet slightly tart infusion.

The liquor of the tea is pink; if brewed hot, it will be pale pink, and if brewed cold, it will be darker pink the longer you allow infusion. I mention this, because it tells me that there is not a lot of black tea in the blend, that it is mostly white tea with the fruit mixed in and maybe a hint of the black tea.

I enjoy this one a two main different ways:

1. As an iced tea, alone or blended. Start with double the amount of tea you would normally brew, add hot water about 1/3 of the way up the pitcher, add sugar if you like, allow to infuse for 2 minutes, add cold water and some ice to shock the tea and stop the infusion.

Suggested blends: Youthberry, Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls, Thousand Mountain Jasmine. When I blend the teas, I use 2 parts of the Tiki Twilight to 1 part of the other, that way the additional teas offer a hint of flavor but do not overpower the Tiki Twilight that I enjoy so much.

2. As a hot tea, brewed 3 minutes, no additives needed. You will still get a light liquor and more sweetness than tartness when brewed for this short of a time. If brewing longer, the tartness comes out more, so you might need some sugar.

Overall, I think this was one of the better fruit blend teas from Teavana, and though it is mostly white tea if any tea and not a lot of the black tea, I still think there is enough tea, with the generous amount of fruit, to call it a decent tea.

No particular reason why I wanted this, I just felt like giving it a try.

First I rinsed the cake, 40 seconds allowing it to unfurl. The 40 seconds may be a bit long, I understand, but it got rid of the soil, earthy, fishy smell. Then I steeped the cup I was going to drink for 20 seconds. The liquor is very very dark, cannot see through it at all, there is the slightly earthy aroma still, but you do not taste it. The flavor is very light, but it is the mouth feel that is impressive. There is a slight sweetness and an earthy, rich tea taste. This flavor comes across as light, but the tea itself feels heavy, almost like it can coat your mouth, a viscosity not common in tea, but more often in thick juices or milk. Though this mouth feel is not offensive, it is difficult to describe.

Would not want to waste a perfectly good pu-erh cake, so I steeped one more time, 30 seconds, the liquor is much lighter now. The flavor nor the mouth feel seem to have been changed, they are still light, sweet, and earthy, with a thick mouth feel.

Going to infuse a fourth and probably final time. Will update if anything changes :)

Overall, this is very good, and for my first pu-erh cake, I am impressed. I cannot wait to try more pu-erhs.

Cold, rainy weather…check. Long, rough day at work…check. Strong desire to get new samples of tea…check.

All of these things mean it is time for some comfort, coming tonite in the form of tomato soup and Lapsang Souchong from Adagio. I have had a few other samples of the souchong since I wrote this first review, and I have to say, that I am finding this to be different than my first brew, probably because of shorter infusion time. This cup went 3.5 minutes with no additives. The tea was still slightly sweet up front, full bodied black in the center finished off with the warming, smoky flavor.

Absolutely delicious, going to brew another cup right now.