Capital Teas

Just a plain old Earl Grey tea. The base tea is robust and flavorful and there is just the right amount of Bergamot flavor for me. (I am quite fond of the taste, it may be a little much for others.) This tea works best when only steeped for 3 minutes on the first steeping. A fantastic Earl Grey that is one of my go to teas. I enjoy it often, both hot and iced.

Seems to be very high caffeine, felt the effects almost immediately. Nice flavor.

Meh.

I had this at our tea guild meeting today. We made a spice rub, scones with (eeeeevil) Earl Grey soaked currants, and spiced lapsang roasted almonds. I can’t figure out which was my fave part! Seriously, what an awesome end to a really long day. I was at an HR conference/tradeshow schmoozing with the vendors. Whew, what a trip. I have alot of follow up emails to send tomorrow, before I do it all over again :)
Anyhow, this tea was made really strong. I had two tiny cups (as in gaiwan style). Very delicious though, and super lemony. I swear, it was as if someone added lemon.
I’d like to see what a shorter steep would do.
Also, I’m not sure if this was the first or second flush. I suspect it was the second… so I just went with that!
On a side note, you know what’s amazing?? having tea peeps. I honestly don’t know what I’d do without all my peers here on Steepster and at the guild. Coming home from a night of tea talk, and writing about it here to share with my other tea-ples… (yes I just referred to y’all as tea-ples!)
Does it get any better??

Not my style of tea at all. Very mild. No more non-Chinese whites after this.

I generally love anything pumpkin and this is no exception. This tea is exactly as advertised. It tastes just like black tea blended with pumpkin pie. The black tea is very malty and bold and the spices are strong and I find I generally enjoy later steepings much more than the first one. I generally will use the same teaspoon of leaves all day to make 4 or 5 10 oz cups of tea. It’s just like pumpkin pie in a cup and is great for late-fall and winter.

I am not brave enough to try this iced, but some people do insist it is a good idea.

Apparently a lemon drop is a type of candy. I’ve never had one, and I generally don’t add sweeteners to tea, so I may be missing the point of this tea. I bought this tea looking for a nice citrus flavored tea I could enjoyed iced. While there is a strong citrus flavor, I would not identify it as lemon, but it is pleasant. It was just OK iced. It’s not that it’s a bad tea, just not what I had in mind and maybe that colors my view of it a little.

I like this tea, even though I am an adult :)
It tastes just like a gum ball. The only bad thing is the gum balls that come in the tea are often hard as a rock. This tea can get bitter if it is steeped for too long.
It tastes great with milk or cream (kind of like bubble gum ice cream – yum!).
I found it is a great way to introduce kids to tea.

I picked this up for two reasons, well three really:

1. I love vanilla
2. I am really getting into rooibos as an alternative to black in the evenings
3. I very much enjoy Teavana’s Vanilla Honeybush and I am looking for others similar to it.

This tea smells like mellow vanilla, nice and warm, not so strong that it overpowers everything. It brews into a dark color. A full bodied liquor that smells nice and tastes sweet but not at all overpowering. It is enjoyable as a dessert treat or a late night yummy.

It is less sweet/strong smelling than Teavana’s but then again no surprise there.

This tea is incredibly juicy! It has an astringency almost sourness that you might get drinking orange juice. I am finding that fruity tisanes are not really my favorite flavor. However, this tea is so full of fruity flavor and it smells incredible. I think I will try mixing it with some plain rooibos or black. For those who like fruit tisanes this might be a great choice.

If I had to trim the pantry down to a dozen or so essentials (ha! put two tea packets in a basket and leave them unattended, they mate and multiply!) I think this one would be in it. Just a nice, clean, not-too-astringent Ceylon that needs no fussing, no additions.

Trying to re-start the digestive system after an evening of oh-no- I can’t-get-sick nausea, this was a good start. Basic. Sturdy.

My appreciation to Nicole for introducing this one to me!

This is a really lovely Genmaicha – thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for sending it my way.

Sweet, toasty, and delicious. I love the roasted rice flavor of Genmaicha, it reminds me of my favorite part of rice when I cook it, the part that gets slightly caramelized at the bottom of the pan in my rice steamer… sweet, a little crispy … just YUM! Combine that with the flavor of the sweet, vegetative taste of green tea. Just lovely.

Thanks for this tea, my sister!

A well balanced breakfast blend with a full bodied flavor and a crisp finish. It is my favorite breakfast blend tea. It also works well iced.

It’s crazy morning. Having some old faves that are easy to access in my stash! See previous notes

I bought this for a friend. Had a cup before giving it to her. I think it’s a very nice subtle tea. The fragrance is wonderful. The tea itself has a more floral taste with a bit of fruit and end on a chocolate note. The chocolate is not overwhelming it really warms the flavor of the tea. I like it and might buy it to add to my chocolate tea collection.

The smell of the dry leaves is worth the price of admission – the apricots and buttered popcorn scent is strong. The tea is bolder than other oolongs. I’ll have to try a shorter steeping time.

No notes yet.

Haha, wouldn’t think I’d find this tea here considering I got it from a local little tearoom in Canterbury! Actually discovered this during our Tea Society’s Christmas social where we had a “mystery tea tasting” competition: usually we are all served a little of a tea without knowing what kind it is or what’s in it and have to guess, but this time round, we were given a scorecard… And my team won ;) all because I guessed “peony” for this one, prominent as it is in Coquelicot Gourmand, I’ve come to recognise it in other places too.

And wow, did the flavours surprise me at first! Plenty of people said the aroma was like cherries, maybe cherry bakewell tart (with wild cherries it almost smells like… cough syrup? still delicious!); I found it tasted very much like frangipane, or almonds, or maybe amaretto, as well as rose and peony, but I couldn’t guess chilli at all.

This time round, brewing it at home, I was so fascinated by the miniscule chillies and rosebuds in the loose-leaf tea that I decided to use one of the tiny chillies in my brew. Big mistake. I’m terrible with spiciness. This absolutely burns on the way down, but only while I’m actually drinking it. All the other beautiful flavours are still there though! Cherry, still some marzipan there, peony, with a very smooth, fruity sip as though the chilli had never been there in the first place.

I definitely, definitely recommend giving this try if you can, it’s a really unique experience. I might just toss out all the chillies in my bag of this so I don’t burn my mouth off though!

Great oolong! Both the smell and taste are very dense and creamy. I was able to steep several times before the flavors began to subside. At $26 however, the tea was probably overpriced.

This has quickly become one of my favorite teas! It is smooth and has soft vanilla flavors. I currently steep this at 195 F, and leave the leaves in the teapot until I’m finished drinking the tea.

Initially, the fruity hints of citrus are pleasing. After a moment though, there is an overwhelming bitterness that seems somewhat out of place and unexpected. With a hint of sugar, it takes on a more “tropical” note as the fruity flavors are given a longer lasting impression on the palette.

No notes yet.

Tea of the afternoon here…

I have been seriously neglecting my tea log which is kind of a shame. Last night I was watching the storm coverage on CNN so I hope all the East Coast Steepsters are ok!

see previous notes for more info

I did not like hot. It is excellent as Iced only way to drink it.