Art of Tea

Fruity, floral, goodness. Smooth finish. My afternoon cup of choice.

Sipping this one down as I write this. This is a jasmine oolong with a dark amber liqueur. Much too late in the day for medium caffeine, but it is so delicious & I am already pondering re-steeping☺️. Definitely worth adding a sample on to an order from Art of Tea. If you are a jasmine fan I recommend this one…

I got this tea in a holiday sampler collection of Art of Tea blends a few years ago, and of the different white tea chais I’ve tried, so far this one has been my favorite, as all the others are trying to duplicate each other on a certain specific flavor profile, and this one is quite unique and I haven’t managed to find anything quite like it anywhere else. Which happens to be a problem for me, because Art of Tea is one of those places that goes from a sampler size to a 4 oz. bag, and I loathe having a quarter pound of tea around… it takes me eons to go through that much and is just not feasible for me (not to mention storage is a big problem in my tiny apartment). But a little 5-7 cup sampler is just not economical for restocking when shipping prices aren’t getting any lower. So once this sampler is gone, it’s going to be a very sad farewell to this tea… I’m really going to miss this one! I really wish I could find something like it from a place that sells their tea in one or two ounce sizes… sigh

The leaf to this tea actually smells like fresh evergreen trees to me, and once it has steeped, it has a bit of a pine aroma that is very refreshing and really does evoke thoughts of winter as the name implies. The flavor has a nice spiciness to it. It’s just a little peppery, but more tickling rather than biting, with a lot of clove and anise in the finish. I’m one of those folks that is very “spicy-sensitive” and have to get all my food “0-star” and I can affirm that this is a nice, mellow, relaxing chai, not a “burn-your-mouth-off-where-is-the-milk-aaaaagh-it-needs-more-milk-and-sugar!” kind of chai. I take it plain and really enjoy the play of the spices and that sort of evergreen-freshness along my tongue. It feels warm yet refreshing at the same time!

Full Review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/12/12/tea50/

Omg. Just not my thing. I was so hopeful with the name alone. I tried it straight (my fave), then honey, then milk— nothing could improve this tea for me. Dividing what I have left to give to two tea loving friends to try. So glad I went with the sample size.

This is an excellent black tea. I had it hot but I could immediately tell this will be AMAZING iced. It is made with Nilgiri tea & Yunnan Black buds…delicious.

I love oolongs. This is a citrus and vanilla flavored oolong. I bought this one based on the reviews and that it won awards. I’m still on the fence about this one. I actually liked the 2nd & 3rd steep better than the first. 3rd steep I do get that hint of an orange dreamsicle at the end of my sip. Not one I’d for sure buy again but nice to try. I may rate this higher after a few more attempts.

Not overly perfumed and not soapy/oily as some other Earl Grey’s can be…found that the tea’s brisk flavor to be distinct but wholly not unified with the bergamot…a good every day Earl Grey – not exceptional but solid…

Sipdown no. 49 of 2017 (no. 330 total).

This had become my take-it-to-work tea for the last couple of weeks. Over time, I got used to it and its oddness, but it still isn’t a favorite.

I just found a Lupicia in my stash that may be similar — Milk Caramel. I may give it a try this weekend and see if it is in fact similar.

This is a strange little tea. It has a strong vanilla scent from the dry leaf, which I was going to call more creamy than beany — except that it’s really both.

The steeped tea is a cloudy orange brown and looks like an amber beer. The flavoring must have an oil component because something visible is swirling on the surface. It smells like creamy vanilla, and that’s pretty much how it tastes.

It’s quite sweet, and I’m not getting much of the hojicha. I was looking for a toasty edge and I suppose it’s there if I try really hard at the beginning of the sip. But from then on it’s all vanilla all the time.

I steeped following these instructions on time and temp:

http://theartofjapanesegreentea.com/how-to-brew-hojicha/

I am not really sure where I come out on this one. It’s not that I hate it (although it’s not really for me), it’s that I can’t figure out why I chose it. I think I probably didn’t and it was probably a tea of the month selection.

Sipdown no. 37 of 2017 (no. 318 total).

From the time I found this in my stash (I’d forgotten about it) to sipdown was exactly 8 days. I’m trying to clear out the old before all the new tisanes arrive so I’m not completely overwhelmed.

I went back and forth on this one over the course of those 8 days. Sometimes I liked it more than others. At times it was a bit too woody. It was basically the luck of the draw with what showed up in the spoons — if there was sufficient caramelized pear flavor it rated an 85. If not, it was 15 or so points below that.

Wow. I think I forgot I had this. I found it in one of my tea drawers, one that doesn’t ordinarily house tisanes.

Have I tasted it before? I honestly don’t know.

I smell both caramel and pear in the tin. More pear than caramel, which is somewhat surprising. And also promising.

The aroma isn’t it’s strong point after steeping. It’s strong point, and it’s a very strong point, is it’s aftertaste. The sip is full of pear, with a hint of caramel. But the aftertaste sparkles! Little bursts of sweetness of both pear and caramel pop on the tongue, while the tea’s texture leaves a smooth, soft feeling in the mouth without feeling like a sugary coating.

I am not sure I’ve had a pear tisane before. If I did, I don’t remember. But any I have in the future would have to be stellar indeed to outrank this.

I used some of this to fill out the leaf for my Timolino full of Todd & Holland Copacabana last week, and was surprised to find I hadn’t written a note about it. I know I was drinking this pretty steadily for a while sometime back.

You can’t tell from the picture, but the dry leaf is really pretty. It’s the flowers, which add a dash of color. They have a generic tropical fruit (minus coconut) smell.

I recall this being very heavy on the pineapple to the exclusion of any other flavor, but this cup isn’t like that. It’s possible I got less pineapple in these spoonfuls. The aroma is rounder than I’d expect for pineapple which has a sharper smell, and I can definitely smell papaya and something lightly floral. I don’t really smell the underlying tea.

The color is a medium gold and clear. The flavor is pretty much just like the smell, though with a tad more pineapple and a definite, grassy tea taste.

I like this a lot.

I like my black tea medium light and so I followed the 3-minute steep time.

The tea was really strong and bitter. The aroma was earthy and woody. The aftertaste was bitter as well so I did not particularly like this tea blend.

I had kept some dried apricots on the side and they did come to the rescue. Tasting the tea after taking a bite of the apricot took the pedal off the bitterness. So a combination of dried apricots with this black tea worked for me.

I have never been a fan of Earl Grey tea. This is probably because the ones I’ve had were store bought tea bags and they would have never tasted that great. So I had my qualms when I saw this was an Earl Gret blend. But boy was I wrong.

The tea smells heavenly! It’s almost like this beautiful perfume that I want on my wrist. And the tea leaves look beautiful with the pop of the purplish blue cornflowers.

I tried steeping the tea at 3 minutes and also did a fresh steep of 5 minutes. And there was not a hint of bitterness. I just kinda shut up while I had this blend. It was such a calming blend with a magical harmony between the citrus from the bergamot oil and the touch of vanilla added this creaminess to the blend. I instantly classified it as a dessert tea that would also serve as a tea that could be had at any time of the day. The finish of the blend was silky smooth. With this blend, the aroma is what you taste and there is a richness that this tea has which sets it apart.

The Art of Tea’s Earl Grey Creme was my favorite blend from their box. Absolutely loved this one.

This tea blend has a sweet scent to it. I loved the packaging of the tea. It came in a fresh bright big package. When I opened the pack to get the teabag out, there were quite a few loose tea bits that had come off the tea sachet. And the same happened during steeping. So the con is that the tea bag was broken.

This interesting green pomegranate blend is a balance between tangy, tart and sweet. This is a tricky combination because there are 3 very diverse flavor profiles which are being explored in one blend. I really enjoyed this one. I was expecting a stronger pomegranate flavor though. The finish of the tea was tangy. Throughout the tea, there was the slight tartness from the raspberries and the sweetness was not overpowering.

There was a slight bit of bitterness while I neared the finish of the tea owing to the tea dust from the broken teabag.

I would love to get myself a loose tea version of this relaxing blend of tea.

This is my favorite night time tisane. The pear flavor is nice and light and not artificial tasting. It’s very warming and sweet and smells like pear-heaven! I drink it without milk or sugar, and it does just fine.

Really nice chamomile blend. Not sure I get a lot of banana out of it but the overall flavor is indeed very enjoyable.

Sipdown of the last of my Ancient Forest! :(

I hope my local tea shop still has some in stock—I couldn’t find it listed on the Art of Tea website anymore, so I am not sure if they are distributing it.

I will miss this one—it was a surprise find and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

This was a Father’s Day gift from my family, so I have been excited to try it. They bought it at my local tea cafe which, as it turns out, only sells Art of Tea teas, so I will have to remember that for future use.

The dried leaves were well-curled, dark with lots of golden tips interspersed throughout. I found almost no stems in there. The leaves are broken—not whole, but that adds to the flavor, I’m sure.

I used my usual steeping measurements for black tea: 11 grams in 20 ounces of near-boiling water for 4 minutes.

The liquor comes out very dark—much like the teas of my youth. There is no astringency at all to the flavor. The primary flavors are both earthy and woody (wet wood?)—reminding me of what I’m told the better-quality puer teas are supposed to be like. There is also a very faint smoke flavor to it, but definitely more wood and earth than smoke.

Overall, it is a wonderful tea that I will be happy to have again. I don’t think I would’ve picked it myself if I had been shopping on my own since I usually stick with either muscatel/floral Darjeelings or breakfast teas and blends that have malt, toast, or honey for their primary flavors. This is completely different than my usuals but I really enjoyed it and may have to expand my purchases in this direction going forward. I am glad the family got this one for me — definitely an excellent choice!

Throwback Thursday! So I decided to make a cup of this tea this morning, as my memory of it was that it tasted like York Peppermint Patties or Thin Mints, and it is Girl Scout Cookie season, so it seemed appropriate. (I just got my haul: four boxes of Samoas which is obviously my fav, a box of Tagalongs, and a box of Trefoils, since I’ve taken a liking to dipping shortbread cookies in black tea). This is one of my oldest teas, so I may mark this for sipdown… but it also has a pu-erh base, so I’m hoping this has held up well despite the age, and may continue to do so if I continue to put it off a bit longer?

I don’t know if I would wax poetic as much about this tea as I did when I originally reviewed it, but back then, I still hadn’t tried as many teas yet. I’m sure at the time of that review, it probably was the best tea I’d had up to that point and deserved the rating I gave it then; dropping the rating from my previous 95 now isn’t so much that it “no longer holds up,” but more that I have a better baseline of comparison now. That said, I still really enjoy this one. It is a very smooth pu-erh without any overly fermented tastes that I often get from the pu’s used as bases in flavored blends. I wouldn’t even say this is a particularly “earthy” tea; rather I get these lovely notes of a very natural cocoa and a sort of refreshing, wintergreen pine sort of flavor that feels brisk and refreshing on the tongue. The tea has notes of chocolate but isn’t a heavy, sweet chocolate tea, leaving more of a layer of bittersweet dark chocolate beneath a very strong brisk mint flavor that really pops in the mouth and lingers in the aftertaste. The tea is even still quite nice as it starts to cool. I usually avoid chocolate teas iced, but I’m curious to try doing an iced tea of this as an experiment, because I think with the strong minty profile it would hold up nicely. That is going on the to-do list.

So, still loving this. I still attest it is like York Peppermint Patties or Thin Mints in a cup, though not quite as heavy as those two things on the chocolate. I’ll probably rebrew this on my lunch break because it’s really hitting the spot!

Of all the seasonal teas from Art of Tea I’ve tried, this one is by far my favorite, and has earned a spot as a permanent mainstay in my tea collection. This tea tastes like York Peppermint Patties in a cup to me; you can taste subtle chocolate tones beneath a strong, vibrantly fresh burst of refreshing peppermint. There is not a strong chocolate taste, as it is more grounded in the dark black tea, but it is noticeable, and the tea has a natural sweetness to it. It has a warm, hot chocolate sort of appeal, while also having a soothing, cooling sensation from the brisk peppermint. It’s a lovely winter tea and dessert tea, and great for fans of a choco-mint flavor profile.

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/02/28/tea09/

Green March! This was my first time trying a jasmine-scented tea, and as much as I absolutely love floral teas, I learned pretty much immediately that jasmine just… isn’t my cup of tea. I almost felt guilty about it, and tried to deny it, and for weeks I tried to force myself to finish off the sampler while my coworkers asked me why I was trying to force myself to drink a tea I was obviously hating by the nasty expressions on my face. “It’s so popular, everyone likes jasmine tea!” I tried to convince myself… but I just couldn’t shake the fact that to me, this tea just smelled so overwhelmingly of heavy perfume. The sort of perfume that gives me migraines. The sort of perfume that my grandma wears. And then I just couldn’t get over the fact that I was drinking grandma perfume. Bleeeeeeeeech. “Don’t drink it anymore, Sara!” my coworker begged me. And in the end, I finally tossed the sampler.

To be fair, I have no doubt this tea was quality tea. It unfurled nicely, and had very quality-looking green leaves. It had a very strong aroma, and was very naturally sweet. For the denizens of tea drinkers out there that actually like jasmine-scented teas, I’m sure they’d find no fault with this tea, which makes me feel bad that I’ve rated it so lowly. But what can I say? There wouldn’t be the saying “Not my cup of tea” if there weren’t some truth to it!

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/tea20/

I received a free eco-pyramid sachet teabag of this tea in an Art of Tea order. I enjoyed this spin on a lemon ginger tea; I’ve never had one using a rooibos/honeybush base, and the sweet flavor of those teas gives the whole tea a much sweeter profile than I’m used to with lemon ginger teas, which I found very pleasant. The citrusy lemon flavor was still quite noticeable, but the ginger had become much more subdued thanks to the sweeter rooibos/honeybush flavor of the tea (and I’m more of a fan of ginger in moderation, so as far as I’m concerned, this was an improvement). If you don’t like the taste of rooibos and honeybush it is quite prominent in this blend and you’ll probably be better off with a traditional lemon ginger herbal, but otherwise, if you like lemon ginger teas and want to try one with a sweeter edge to it, I’d highly recommend giving this a try!

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/tea16/

Throwback Thursday! This was one of my earliest teas, and certainly one of my first flavored green teas. I remember when I was new to teas I found it very fussy and had a lot of issues with bitterness/astringency if it wasn’t brewed just right, but somehow I feel revisiting it now, a good year later, I probably wouldn’t run into that problem. I have a better grasp on not overleafing or oversteeping greens now. I am more worried about age degradation than anything else, since greens are known to not hold up well over time.

I never did much iced tea in my early tea-drinking days either (that came later), so I don’t think I ever cold brewed this one, either, and that is pretty much my standard for fruity greens, now. So this brew was prepared as a cold steep overnight. The tea is such a lovely pale yellow and has a very pungent fruity aroma. The flavor is a crisp, clean flavor that is actually more of a floral flavor than strongly fruity. The green tea has a very refreshing clean sweet grass flavor, and there is a strong spring florality present, reminding me a lot of jasmine blossoms, and then a very gentle, subtle sweet-tart fruity note that is a bit like raspberry or pomegranate that lingers on the back of the tongue. The floral note to the tea is perhaps a little strong with a slight perfume-like flavor, but it isn’t perfume-like at all in aroma and doesn’t aggrevate my head in the slightest; the aroma is very berry-sweet and fruity. Overall, it’s quite nice and makes a nice iced tea for the spring weather. I do think I’d like it more if there was a bit better balance between the floral note and fruity note in the tea, but also appreciate that it isn’t swimming in a strong artificial fruit flavoring that overpowers the base green tea, and I can taste a nice clean grassiness.

It’s a good tea, but I think after having tried so many greens now, I am not as crazy about it now as I was when I first tried it, and had so little exposure to flavored greens (I originally scored it at a 90). So I’m lowering the score, only because after a good year or so of tea drinking, in comparison to so many other teas, it just doesn’t strike that high of a rating for me anymore. I do still quite enjoy it, though!