Caraway Tea Company

Sipdown! Thanks to Kittenna for a share of this tea. I may have brewed this a little funny but it’s not really caramel tasting to me. Well it’s like burnt caramel. This is more what i think of when i think of creme brulee. Not to say that this is creme brulee tea but it’s got more of that initial taste like the burnt topping on cremem brulee. There’s an aftertaste though that makes me unsure oh how i feel about this tea. Maybe with a bit of milk it’d make this a creamier tea.

SIPDOWN!

Thanks to Kittenna for the sample of this one to try. While i don’t mind this tea, it’s not a great tea. it’s a peachy tea with a hint of ginger, and there is an artificial taste to it as other have mentioned.

1.5 tablespoons for 375 ml of water
Infused for 10 minutes

The dry leaf smells overwhelmingly like cherry-flavoured “Jolly Rancher” hard candy.

Tastes just like a cherry-flavoured “Jolly Rancher” close to the end of the sip and very much so in the immediate aftertaste. There is a hibiscus-like tartness which complements the blend. Very fruity flavour near the middle of the sip.

There does seem to be a sand-like sediment at the bottom of my cup. I can tell that it’s gritty because it makes a scraping noise when I move it around my mug with a spoon.

Thank Kittenna for sharing some of this with me.

I don’t particularly like white tea OR champagne, but I love this tea!

The raspberry flavor is prominent, but not overwhelming. No bitterness or astringency that I’m picking up. I bet this tea would be DELICIOUS iced! But since it’s too cold for that, I’ll stick to it hot today. Still yummy :)

I got a sample of this in a swap with Azzrian. Thanks!

I don’t know that I’ve ever had a Chun Mee green tea. You know, it occurs to me that green tea is some of my least-craved tea. It’s not that I don’t like green tea, but I’ve never really been super interested in straight greens and now the flavored ones are getting boring for me. I don’t know what it is. Nevertheless, sometimes a green tea can surprise me.

Well, I was surprised at how dark the resulting liquor was from this tea. It is a light amber color, and it smells almost a bit like sauteed leafy greens. I agreen with Kittenna that the flavor on this one is kind of uninspiring. Those sauteed greens come through in the flavor, as does some nuttiness, but there’s also an almost metallic note. What seems like a promising initial sip kind of flattens out toward the end and the flavors get a bit deadened. Not entirely sure if this one is not great quality or just not my style.

Loose
Appearance: large broken sencha leaf, bits of red safflowers
Aroma when Dry: bright, citrus, slight grass
After water is first poured: bright, fragrant citrus, floral
At end of steep: bright fruity yuzu,
Tea liquor:
At beginning of steep:
At end of steep: hints of green
Staple? type yes, still exploring companies, would restock this one
Preferred time of day: afternoon
Taste:
At first?: crisp, slightly sweet yuzu citrus, hints of grass
As it cools?: yuzu, almost honeyed kumquat notes, gets slightly grassy
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, sour, tart yuzu notes, as it cools the citrus and grass swirl on the palate
Would be better chilled

Travelling tea box!

So I don’t hate this but I totally see how others have called it “pledge” haha I think this might actually be kinda good if you cold brewed it and added sugar so ill have to try that with the rest of my sample :) hot it’s a little intense, and there are more interesting teas that do this better heh

I liked this previously, but today I’m getting too much orange, and it’s coming off somewhat cleaner-esque. Still not a terrible tea, just not as good as I remember. It’s slated for the iced tea pile, though.

Definitely ended up taking this to go yesterday as well. A light fruit punch is pretty much what I get from it, and really, that’s good enough for me! :D Even waaaaayyyy oversteeped, it’s still good.

This tea is surprisingly tasty! A hint of ginger and yes, artificial fruity flavours that make it taste like a light fruit punch. But it’s somehow quite delicious. I drank the cup before writing this note and now can’t remember everything, so I’ll have to fill the rest in later. But, I think that will come quite soon as I think I may travel mug some for tonight :D

ETA: Second infusion is light and a bit citrusy. It’s good! I think this tea is what I want herbals to be like – light on the fruit so it’s not overpowering, and hibiscus-free! Seriously, if any of you ordered this one from Caraway, I’d recommend you give it a shot. My expectations weren’t high, but this is pretty darn good. I wouldn’t say it’s anything special, like a Butiki blend, but it’s good for what it is!

I like roasted mate, and almonds, so this tea sounded like a possible winner! Steeped, it smells like plain roasted mate, which is alright, but kind of boring. Kind of a burny, sweet-ish smell. The flavour is much like the aroma – plain roasted mate. Which really, is nothing bad, but nothing special, either. I can’t pick out any nutty flavours; this tastes much like 52teas’ Flaming Chocolate Mate or ChocoMate, minus the chocolate/malt/cayenne flavourings. As there’s nothing at all wrong with it though (just boring), I can see myself blending this in with other teas that maybe need a bit of that mate kick.

Past sipdown – pretty sure I mixed this with a bunch of other random teas to make a jug of iced tea which was acceptable when sweetened. Glad to get another one of these out of my cupboard.

So last night, I decided to go through a bunch of the teas I had and pick out a select few that I either hadn’t yet tried, or hadn’t tried properly, etc. etc. Ended up with a huge pile (probably 50+ teas), and my plan is to drink through them (not finishing them, just trying them all) until I’m done, without going for other teas! Of course, I’ll probably let myself slip up a bit, but hopefully I can get through these ones fairly quickly. Some are teas that I owe reviews for (e.g. from Teavivre); some are old things I need to use up, and others I just haven’t tried. It’s not an exhaustive pile by a long shot, and I didn’t go through too many sample boxes (just ones from Azzrian, and Mercuryhime) so there are plenty of samples baggies yet to go through…. eek.

Anyways, starting with a couple from Caraway Teas. Apparently nobody else had tried this one, as I had to add it myself; I was surprised, as it actually sounds rather good. A black tea, with pineapple and papaya. I find it interesting that instead of large chunks of fruit as other companies do, the fruit here is nearly indistinguishable from the tea, being in small brown pellety form. At least I hope it’s fruit (haha). Anyhow, it’s not likely freeze-dried fruit, more likely dried in a different manner. I’m brewing this at work, so not optimal conditions, but oh well – blacks at least don’t have stringent temperature requirements!

The aroma is of a strong black tea. Little, if any, fruitiness is apparent, although the aroma is not unpleasant. A few sips in, and it’s clear that this is too strong for my liking. It’s rather bitter and somewhat astringent, which leads me to believe that a 2:30 infusion would have been better, and perhaps adding a bit less tea may also have been beneficial (my work teaspoon is currently indisposed… I eyeballed). Unfortunately, I’m really not tasting anything fruity here. I think there are perhaps hints, and maybe if I compared an unflavoured version of this black tea base to this cup, I would notice a difference, but I’m just not picking it up. There is a bit of sweetness though, so this tea is palatable to drink straight (well, it would be better if not oversteeped), it’s just nothing special at all. I feel like I could put some milk and sugar in here and serve it in a restaurant as “tea” and nobody would be the wiser.

I chose to drink this tea tonight simply on name. I went out for sushi for dinner at Sushi Studio in Long Beach. They have a Caribbean Roll which is Asparagus tempura topped with salmon with lots of mayo and tobiko ontop! Yum! Though, I think the garlic edamame stole the show. I believe this sample comes from Kittena, ty!

STEEPED: pale brown/orange tea, smells fruity.

TASTE: Brisk green rooibos taste upfront with fruityness – some sips I get a zip of mango, other sips.. blast of soapy papaya (but for some reason papaya tastes soapy to me sometimes). The fruityness is pretty gentle, and lingers as an aftertaste as mango and papaya. Tea is on the light side. Not getting the orange or passionfruit. Not sure if I taste any floral. CP is not tart tasting.

COMMENTS: I should really get more green rooibos – the rooibos here is pretty good and not funky like red rooibos is. I love how the fruit waves in and out of this tea. However, I’d like the fruityness to be stronger. Though, this would make a very good ice or cold steeping to bring out the fruit flavor.

Sipdown!! Woot! Have another sample off my hands. I enjoyed this blend. It was a nice combination of rooibos and fruit flavors.

This made a nice evening cup :)

Thank you Tattooed_tea! This smells so good! I was expecting a stronger flavor for this tea but it’s actually quite delicate. The fruit flavor is pretty light and let’s the rooibos shine through. It’s a nice combination and both are pretty equal. No dominate flavors going on here. I really liked this! Thanks again!

This tea is a little funny. Brewed up it smells like cherry. Cherry left in some damp gym socks. I’m a little scared to take a sip.
The taste isn’t bad but it’s a little blah. I get a hint of green and the idea of some kind of flavoring but not much. Woohoo it doesn’t taste like gym socks! But it is rather boring.

I think it was Azzrian who sent me this! Thanks so much!

LOVE the large HUNKS of Orange in here!
The Spice is quite nice – aroma-wise as well as the added color from the red peppercorns! I can also smell the sweet apples!

This infuses to a VERY light brown color due to the little bit of black tea base in the loose leaf mix I have in my steep-strainer.

The taste is delightful tho…all of the ingredients work well with each other – nothing is over done or too loud. The Orange, Apple, and spices are gentle and purposeful and comforting and warm. The black tea base is mellow and seems to work in unison with the other flavors as well.

I feel that perhaps I shouldnt be the first person to review a tea. My reviews may not he quite as eloquent as others around here. And this is a fairly to the point review. So here goes nothing.

I’m still working on my sip down, which I feel is taking FOREVER. I have thinned out the pack so to speak, uetuere just aren’t enough hours in the day while I am working to drink enough tea, especially sinceI don’t have a kettle at work (note to self: purchase electric kettle for work, Northern Ontario winters are on the way). I need another day off, especially since I am not feeling well.

The dry notes smell like a chocolate orange with a touch of spices. Once steeped it smells of the same artificial honey scent that I dislike.
In taste I get a green tea taste with light notes of caramel and orange at the end of the sip. It’s quite nice, a light tea with an earthy start and dessert finish.

I’m likely going to repurchase this also with their Tea and Cookies, because that is a definete gem!

Technically this is sip down #6. #5 was Blazing Strawberry, but I realized I had previously tried it jot and it still does nothing for me.

Onto the tea at hand. The dry notes smell artificially fruity. As it does once steeped. I saw a little chuck of kiwis in there.
Fruity… apple-ish… cherry, yum. So far no nuttiness. This should he called fruit salad. I feel like I can taste a million different fruit in this all playing off each other.
This is a good-un. Too bad i only got a sample. I bet this would also be great cold.

This is another sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks for the chance at a new tea.

This is the best of Caraway so far. I thought the pomegranate was well done and not overly tart like some fruity teas. The white seems to be very subtle as I can’t tell you much about it. It may just be beyond my palate at this time. I know there is white tea in here but I am not picking up the flavors I expect from a white tea. In any case, I enjoyed this cup of tea. Thanks again Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie. :d

This is a sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks again for the generous envelope of goodies.

This is a very light in flavor and color. I’ve not had acai berry on it’s own but it reminds me of several other berries. The white tea seems to be very subtle, so it didn’t live up to my expectations. I think this would be pretty good as an iced tea for the berry flavor. Thanks again Annie.

This is a sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks for sharing! Miss Anny was rather nice and sent me a surprise package of tea. Very considerate lady.

So this tea is not my cuppa. I like that word cuppa. I’ve been waiting to use it for a while now. The tea has a strong seaweed flavor which is some thing I don’t enjoy right now. At first I thought a vague citrus was teasing me but I do get tangerine in the aftertaste. The biggest problem is this was really bitter.

I don’t feel I used too much leaf. In fact, it looked like less leaf than I generally pile into my Ingenuitea. I brewed at a lower temperature and for less time than the instructions called for so perhaps that contributed to the bitterness. In any case, this isn’t a tea I would keep around, but I’m glad I got to try it. Thanks again Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie.