California Tea House

It’s been a long time since I’ve had this tea, but I suddenly started feeling a bit queasy this morning and I knew I had to dig it out. It’s a lemon-ginger green blend, and I’ve used it many times in the past to settle my stomach.

Fortunately, it is working. Despite the fact that this tea is getting old, it’s still plenty lemony and there’s enough ginger to settle my stomach (though not really enough to taste in a big way. Lemon Drop to the rescue once again.

Being sick is getting really old. That is all.

Oh no you don’t, tonsils. You just calm yourselves right down now… I just got done being sick, I can’t be sick again! This is so unlike my immune system.

I needed this tea for it’s soothing lemon and ginger. This has become my go-to not feeling well tea, whether it be stomach issues or a sore throat. And my throat is being wonky enough this afternoon that I don’t really feel like anything else.

I have tons of new teas to try, but this morning I wasn’t feeling great so I decided I needed to fall back on my lemon ginger green. I could go for even more ginger in this one, but I love ginger, and this is after all primarily a lemon tea. Still very tasty and nicely soothing for the stomach.

I was feeling kind of bleh this morning, and at first I didn’t know if I even wanted any tea (I know, crazy!) but then I decided this lemon-ginger green might perk me up a bit. It’s totally working: lemony and a bit gingery, it’s settling me down just fine. This will probably become my go-to tea when I need something with ginger.

I suppose I could have had this one this morning as well, since its a ginger lemon blend. I’m feeling better now, but I decided to have it anyway since I’ve actually only ever tried this one cold steeped. The last time I had it I described the scent of the dry leaves as like a lemon drop candy, but this time I’m getting more sharp, spicy ginger aroma as well.

The brewed tea smells lemongrassy lemony… you know, in that way that is both lemony and a grassiness that doesn’t come from the green tea. It also smells a touch sweet and a touch spicy from the ginger. When still very hot, I didn’t get a ton of flavor from this tea. There was basically an inverse relationship of flavor to hotness. By the time it cooled to just warm, there was more flavor, but it was still pretty light. Light and lemony, with a warm gingery flavor that has the sweetness of a ginger chew candy. Once it cools down to this temp, I’m really enjoying it and I think this will do nicely for times when I need a ginger tea. Also when I just want something lemony!

My other tea from California Tea House. This tea smelled so incredibly lemony in the pouch. Lemony in a lemon drop candy way, not in a fresh lemon or a furniture polish way. Usually I wouldn’t do a cold steep for my first tasting of a tea, but I thought it might be nice for lunch today, so I threw it in the fridge and let it go overnight.

The tea was definitely very lemony, and the lemongrass especially comes to the forefront. Lemony and grassy, and all around refreshing. It’s a tiny bit bitter in a citrus-peel kind of way. This would probably taste a bit like lemonade if sweetened!

I had an Earl Grey this morning and a fruity oolong earlier this afternoon, so I decided to go with a nutty green now. Apparently I haven’t been back to try this one since my original hot steep (and a not-so-successful cold steep) when I thought it was a little weak on a 2 minute steep. I do tend to forget about teas sometimes…

Anyway, the three minute steep seems to have brought out more flavor, and it didn’t over cook the green tea. It’s an interesting combo of flavors, definitely that pistachio ice cream flavor with chocolate that actually almost reminds me of spumoni ice cream with out the strawberry (never my favorite part anyway). Pretty tasty, though the mouthfeel is a little drying. I think this is a tea that would be delicious sweetened to amp up the flavors that feel like they should be sweet.

I tried this one as a cold steep, which I had been kind of avoiding because it didn’t seem like cold steep material, but I got curious. I seem to like fruity blacks best for cold steeps, so a nutty, creamy green was a long shot anyway. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, but it wasn’t stellar. It tasted mainly ok, but had some weird issues probably relating to the green tea itself, but also to the additives. The weirdest thing was the somewhat greasy film on the inside of my cup. I think I’ll stick to hot-brewing this one, which wasn’t a surprising outcome.

I bought a groupon for this company ages ago and the expiration date is finally coming closer, so I went ahead and got the tea. I don’t know why I hold on to groupons and the like for so long… I’ve essentially already paid for the tea, and often, like this one, I only spent an extra dollar after the groupon was applied. I really prefer ordering sample sizes of teas I haven’t tried yet (and I know I’m not alone), but unfortunately CTH only offered 4oz packages on the teas I was interested in, so I narrowed it down to two (which basically equalled the amount of the groupon). I often forget how much tea 4oz is, but it’s quite a lot of tea! Especially of light-in-weight greens, which both of the teas I ordered seem to be.

This is one I knew I was going to order when I first bought the groupon. I haven’t seen this flavor around, but it sounded amazing. Nut gelatos are my favorite kind. The dry leaf does smell a bit like a creamy pistachio gelato, but also like a lot of other things: this tea has a lot going on in it, between the nuts (trois noix, actually, with pistachios, almonds and macadamia nuts), chocolate pieces, chamomile blossoms, and “cracknel bits”, which the internet tells me are some kind of biscuit.

I steeped it according to the instructions provided by CTH, and it brewed up a dark, cloudy yellow. I’m left wondering… where’s the aroma? It really doesn’t smell very strongly, which is surprising; I have to stick my nose right up next to it to get anything. The aroma I do get is actually very much like pistachio gelato; somehow, all those myriad of flavors come together. There’s a scent that I’m pretty sure is the chocolate, but it’s somehow fooling my brain into thinking I’m smelling a sweet pistachio nuttiness instead.

The taste is pretty good, but I’m left wanting much more. The flavor is so light! Not just the “flavorings” but the tea overall. From what I can tell…the green tea is present at the beginning of the sip, but it’s light astringency is smoothed over (though it retains a bit of a drying texture) by a creamy, nutty flavor, and the aftertaste makes me feel like I was just eating a cone of pistachio gelato. The flavor is growing a bit as it’s cooling, or maybe with successive sips it’s building in my mouth. I suppose it is chocolatey, but again the combination of all of those flavors tricks my brain into thinking pistachio gelato. I must try this with a longer steep time to see if I can boost the flavor, because what’s there is awesome! I keep on bumping the rating as I’m writing this… it started out as somewhat disappointing, but the flavor that’s there is so delicious, that I like it more and more. Well, I have a lot of it to figure out the perfect steeping parameters.

I originally purchased a bag of this about a year and a half ago and just got another bag. I am glad that the tea is still pretty good. This tea is more vanilla than earl grey, and it is fairly sweet, and not super astringent. If you add some milk and sugar this tea turns out to really good.

Last year, I tried an Earl Grey Creme by Art of Tea that has left an indelible positive impression, and I’ve been searching for its equal ever since. Perhaps it’s better in my memory than in truth (I’ve ordered some to find out), but upon opening this Vanilla Creme Earl Grey, the fragrance alone was a let down. The Earl Grey base wasn’t as complex as I prefer; I enjoy being able to identify each ingredient—the base tea, the bergamot, the flower petals, the vanilla—while savoring how well they marry, and this one was, um, muddy?

My first cup was steeped a little long, to be honest, so it was more tannic than creamy. So, I tried again the next day. And it’s a decent tea. But I wouldn’t drink it for the decadence I want from a creme tea, and I wouldn’t choose it as an Earl Grey. Other teahouses offer better Earls. Other teahouses offer better cremes. The descriptions on the California Teahouse website are so personable and fun that I wanted to love this tea, but it just didn’t happen for me.

I don’t think of chai’s as bedtime teas because, however cozy, they are spicy, scintillting by nature. This chai is indeed a bedtime tea, yet not in the traditional sense of “Sleepytime” or the more common chamomile-mint blends. California Tea House calls it a “knock-out” tea, and they are not kidding. The valerian root is prominent; at first I thought I was tasting kava, and that very notion made me want to go to sleep. Both roots have a subtle chalky-sweet aftertaste, which is more reassuring to someone desiring sleep than offensive. The valerian flavor isn’t too strong, though—no stronger than the cinnamon, chamomile, vanilla or nutmeg. The honeybush base is woody, nutty, and goes wonderfully with the spices. As for tea critiquing, I hesitate to say much as I would consider this a tasty medicinal drink—a sleep-aid disguised as tea. Very well done.

It’s a good blend. It’s not gingerbread, and it’s even a stretch to call it chai—the lemon is too prominent for those previous descriptors to be comfortable. As a pastry chef, I have prescribed notions of what should fundamentally be in gingerbread, and I don’t think you can have an excellent one without molasses, ginger and cinnamon. Though the spices are there, this tea lacks richness, maltiness, “darkness.” The rooibos base is cozy, but not rich enough on its own to lend the molasses I’m missing. But it’s still a good drink if you aren’t looking for chai or gingerbread. A pleasant herbal blend of some lovely spices that’s fine to drink in the evening.

Check out our video-review here: http://healthyprofessionals.blog.com/2011/06/27/the-tea-show-episode-16-california-tea-houses-organic-silver-needle-white-tea/

The aroma alone is enough to give a person a cavity. I don’t have a sweet tooth, so I’m not partial to teas that are literally sweet instead of just giving an impression of decadence. This tea was sweet, very rich, very good. A touch of honey made it into the perfect dessert. Yet, since I don’t like sweets, I wouldn’t choose to drink this tea again. The smell of the dry tea was so good, though, I’d almost buy the tea so I could inhale it in lieu of eating dessert. I suspect tea drinkers with a sweet tooth would love this tea.

Check out our video-review here: http://healthyprofessionals.blog.com/2011/06/16/the-tea-show-episode-13-california-tea-houses-organic-darjeeling/

This is unlike any other black tea I have had. It’s very complex and yet very smooth. I just had a cup at a friend’s tea party. I need to get some of my own.

This smells like fall. The taste is interesting and difficult to describe as there is (for me) an odd mix of rooibos and chai. It is not good nor is it bad. I hope it is the get some zzz tea it says it is. Thank you KeenTeaThyme for the sample.

Sorry I’ve been away this week. Super stressful and I’m trying to get out of the funk said stress has put me in.

I can’t really drink this tea by itself, which is usually why I drink tea. I think that it is good mixed with some milk and some sugar, so it makes a great dessert tea. Definately not my favorite tea. I think the butter taste is too strong.

Another sample from KeenTeaThyme (KiTT), tried this with my dessert after Easter dinner yesterday and it was ok. The taste was great….the apricot flavor and aroma was there, but there was something missing here for me. I don’t think there was that spice taste that I’m used to with most Chai teas. In fact I couldn’t really taste it at all. Oh well.

Thanks LiberTEAs!

This is one of the better Darjeelings I have tried! It’s smoother than most. It still has that little bit of masculinity to it but it’s a fine tasting Darjeeling! A few extra points for being Organic!

This is another tea that Doulton sent to me. I’m very happy to have the opportunity to try it, because I love a good Darjeeling! Thank you Doulton!

This has a fantastic muscatel note to it – reminding me very much of a crisp, dry wine. Sweet, fruit-like essence (a smooth mixture of black currants and sweet grapes) with a bitter notation just nearing the end of the sip. A drying astringency. A very bright flavor – delicious! A great Darjeeling for those who are fond of Darjeeling tea!

Probably the best and very simple black tea I’ve ever had. I tried a second cup with cream just for fun, and it was good, but I think the first cup was best. I went back to California Tea House and they were out. I hope they get more soon!