Compass Teas

The dry leaf smell of this is amazing. I’ve had the 52teas cinnamon roll honeybush but between the two, this one smelled far more like an actual cinnamon roll. So I was super excited to brew this one up!

Once brewed the scent of the leaf changes into a kind of citrusy note. It says there’s hibiscus in the ingredients so maybe that’s to blame? Regardless, think honey bun with orange marmalade. I added honey to it because without sweetener a kind of medicinal note was threatening to overtake everything else. With the honey in, it’s still there but I can ignore it at least.

I don’t mind that there’s orange in here, but I was hoping for more of a straight cinnamon bun taste. I will say that I am pleasantly surprised by the texture though – normally I find rooibos/honeybush teas to be a touch thin but this one is surprisingly full bodied. As it cools a tartness from the hibiscus is coming out more, making me like it even less. I’m still puzzled as to why this needed hibiscus in the first place, though…

Anyway, I’m glad I just ordered the try me size since the flavor wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. It was also a nice change from my sick tea – maybe I’m finally starting to pull out of this yuckiness after all!

3 minutes was a tad much to steep if I were going to have this plain. To be fair, the recommendation was for 2 minutes but I just can’t seem to fathom that would be enough with a black tea. I need to have more faith I suppose :).

Luckily, I wanted this with milk and sugar for breakfast so the fact that it was quite strong was not a problem – in fact it was probably a good thing because the flavor didn’t get overrun by the additives. I didn’t realize that this had some yerba mate in it until I was scooping the leaves into the Breville, though. I don’t think I’ve got a sensitivity to mate, but this will surely let me know one way or the other!

The smell is very much the same from dry to steeped leaf, and the subsequent liquor. There is mostly banana and kind of a hint of something bready underneath. It did remind me of the smell of 52Teas Pancake Breakfast, so I guess that association probably is due to some maple scent as well. I don’t get banana pancakes, but I do get banana, and then a stack of pancakes, if that makes sense?

Tastewise this reminds me of Hot Buttered Banana bread, from 52Teas – bread notes, banana, and honey. The honey note changes periodically to seem like it might want to be maple syrup – and when that happens it transitions from banana bread to syrup laden pancakes. I’m fine with whichever, honestly, and I like that it’s being so indecisive because that makes for an interesting cup!

Hands down the best part about this tea is that it’s going to be my substitute for the Hot Buttered Banana Bread I’ve been rationing. I’m so glad I was able to find something like this!!!

One of my various goals in life (shared with a lot of others, judging from the many discussion topics on Steepster) has been to find that elusive perfect Earl Grey for my palate. Given my preference for vanilla flavors in anything, I’m focusing my Earl Grey search on the cream variety.

I ordered this one as a part of my massive Compass Teas order recently, and the first thing I did was compare it with Upton’s version, which I’ve got a ton of still and which the boyfriend uses as his work tea. Ugh, I am so jealous he has the time to even steep and mess with loose leaf at work. The perks of an office job!

I’ve had a pretty limited experience with EGC so far – Teavana’s and Upton’s. The Teavana EGC was WAY too strong on the bergamot smell more than anything – it was really overdone. It gave me a headache to have any more than one cup, even though it tasted okay. The Upton pricepoint and non-headache inducing quality was what made me choose what I’ve been drinking ever since.

When comparing this to Upton, the Compass EGC was actually much more vanilla/cream heavy – I’d never noticed before but Upton’s Earl Grey has almost a lemony note mixed in with the bergamot. From smell alone, this is looking pretty good!

My biggest problem with Upton’s earl grey when steeped is how dingy it looks. It has a thin mouthfeel and when I add milk (whole milk, mind you) it turns greyish and still is really flimsy in texture. I was worried about whether this would be just a general characteristic of all Earls, because texture is a deal breaker for me. I can’t do a tea, no matter how nicely flavored, if the mouthfeel is flat. And from what I remember of the Teavana variety, it also seemed to be a bit weak on texture – though that could have been because there was SO MUCH flavoring it was overwhelming the base.

Luckily it doesn’t seem to be a problem here! There is no dishwater look to the tea when milk is added (I wonder if that was from the added flavoring used in the other one?) and it has a nicely full body! Cream is stronger than bergamot here, which is perfect for my preferences. It did well with sugar or without, and played nicely with milk. Yay for a well rounded tea!

And double yay for having several ounces of it to enjoy!

Mmm. This tea.

Based on my phenomenal obsession with Della Terra’s S’mores tea, I was hoping I would like this. Marshmallow is my favorite part of the S’more, after all.

The dried leaf smelled like a bag of marshmallows – not toasted, not melted/charred – just a newly opened bag of them. So sweet, fluffy sugary smelling. The steep time on the bag said 2 minutes, but that didn’t seem like it would be long enough, so I went for 3 minutes. I knew 4 would be way too long after what I did with the donut chai 2 days ago.

There’s no real mystery or complexity here: it tastes like black tea and marshmallow flavoring. It was perfect at 3 miniutes – sweet and creamy with no astringence. It didn’t need any additives, either, though I did add some milk to the second cup. I think I prefer it plain, though – it just held its own really well.

I really like this one – I feel like I’m not giving it enough fanfare, though. It delivers what it promises and there were no surprises, and I am looking forward to the rest of my sample!

I’m not going to lie, this tea was the catalyst for my Compass teas order.

I mean – DONUTS! Probably one of my favorite desserts! In TEA!!!

The smell of this dry is exactly what those cinnamon sugar apple cinnamon donuts smell like. I think you get them from Krispy Kreme? Anyway, even the boyfriend admitted it smelled amazing – though he followed that up with his trademark “but I wouldn’t want to drink it.” Flavored blends just aren’t his thing.

Sadly though I think I steeped this too long. I went by my standard black tea steeping time but plain this is SO astringent, even a touch medicinal. This needs milk and possibly sugar…and even with it that medicinal note is peeking through – maybe that’s the apple-y note gone bad?

Anyway. So next time I’ll try a shorter steep and hope that helps things…

Mmm, there’s just something so comforting about the smell of hazelnut. Toasty, nutty, bake-y goodness. I’ve been dying to try this since I received it in a swap with TeaEqualsBliss but for some reason it got shoved to the back of my “to try” pile and I just noticed it sitting there all lonely and sad today. Well, time to remedy that!

I was about to prepare some earl grey when I dug up this beauty, so I decided why not mix them up? And of course with something as decadent as hazelnut I couldn’t have any regular old cup of tea so a stovetop latte it was—2 parts hazelnut to 1 part RoT’s Earl Greyer.

Wow, this is good! Really strong hazelnut flavor, and very natural tasting. It pairs so well with the EG, which tempers the hazelnut a bit so it’s not too strong. I have to say, the base on this is really fantastic too. That’s not normally something I notice with heavily flavored blends, but the base here is really strong and malty and definitely held up to a long steep in milk.

I won’t be rating this now since I haven’t had it on its own, but suffice to say it’s a real winner so far! I’ve been looking for a good hazelnut tea, and I think this one has just found a place in my cupboard where it will be staying for a long time.

I’m going thru this one WAY too fast! Not sure what it is but I’m LOVING it! Had 3 cups so far today!

Had a couple of cups of this and it was dandy this morning! See other notes!

Drank several cups of this earlier today. Even good cold!

This is another sample from Jackie T. Thank you!

This is the second time I’ve had this tea. The first time I felt like I spent too much time trying to dissect the tea, so I ended up skipping the review. After sitting down with the tea this time I can say that Jackie’s review is spot on. I don’t taste eggnog or rum. There is a good vanilla flavor and a robust, toasty, ever so slightly astringent black tea. While I wish I could taste something that hinted of eggnog I do like this tea. The tea itself is quite delicious, and the vanilla is very well done.

So, not what I wanted, but I’ll have no trouble finishing off this sample.

I think I converted a Facebook friend to a tea drinker last night LOL

Thank you for this tea, Jackie T! I think I should have stuck with my initial thought to steep it for 3 minutes because 3 1/2 was a bit astringent.

This is definitely banana, not really cakey at all but still definitely feels like a caffeinated kick. It does have yerba mate in there too so that’ll help.

The banana flavor is pretty subtle, and a little sweet. I left a bit in my cup and now it’s cooled off. At first it diddn’t taste like banana at all but it’s very sweet in the aftertaste, and almost tastes more like pancakes this way.

I actually thought this had yerba mate in it! It smells very mate-ish to me. And at first, it tastes almost off-puttingly herbal—just agressively green and earthy (in a “sawdust-floor, hippie, co-op grocery” kind of way). But then on cooldown, the flavor mellows out to mostly mint and citrus. This is very spearmint-y.

Get this if you like spearmint.

Backlogging from late yesterday. See previous notes!

Sssshhhhhh! It’s a Secret :)
Traveling somewhere!!! See previous notes

This is one of the BEST smelling Hazelnut Black Teas I have ever smelled! And I’m not a Hazelnut NUT per say :)

Once infused it smells like hazelnut and a bready/bakey type aroma combo!

It does infuse to a dark brown…not like coffee-dark brown but a darker brown – darker than medium-dark brown! LOL

The flavor is strong! Both with the black tea base as well as the hazelnut flavor. The two flavors mesh well together!

Yup! I like this one just fine and dandy!

Today I am going to try and review as many teas as possible to break down some of my piles as I have to tide-E-up around here! PLUS – I really want to try a lot of my NEW teas!! AND – I’m busy divvying up swap boxes, too!

You’ll see a lot of me today – I apologize in advance! hahaha!

I started my day with 3 cups of this – backlogging – and I really enjoyed them – especially the aroma! See previous notes…

I got this as a sample in my Compass order and am just trying it today for the first time. I get no flavor, sweetness, or marshmallow in this at all. Just a basic black tea…however it is a really good basic black tea!! Like TeaEqualsBliss said it brews to a medium dark color; it has a strong taste but not an overly bitter one. I wouldn’t drink this if I were in the mood for a flavored tea but if I needed a caffeine boost and didn’t want any extra flavor (which is rare for me), I’d reach for it.

Backlog! I sipped this while watching The White House Christmas 2012 on Saturday night. I don’t think it tastes much like eggnog or rum, but it’s a creamy vanilla type black tea. This is great for flavored tea drinkers who want to taste the TEA!! Fabulous quality, plus this company has a strong mission and donates proceeds, which I appreciate.

I was skeptical about this one. But I’ll tell ya – I’m impressed and quite the believer now after trying it! It’s Green Rooibos based. In addition to that there are lovely flavors! The only way to describe it is Fruit Punch Flavored Green Rooibos! It’s tasty!

I’m sure it would be just as good iced if not better!
YUMMO!

I was so excited to try this today. The dry leaves smell like a banana cream pie, but the fragrance definitely lessens once brewed. I was afraid that would mean there wasn’t much flavor, but luckily I was wrong. It’s not a strong flavor, more like someone dipped dried bananas in your Assam tea for a bit…not that anyone does that. It’s a deliciously subtle flavor with a kick of caffeine, definitely going to drink it every morning during the work week. I got it during their 50% off Cyber Sale, I think it’s regular price now, but I’d say it’s worth it!

Smells like Cherry Cola
Tastes like flat Cherry Cola.
I used a little cooler water for this one – not quite a cold brew – but still not hot.

It has a gold/orange/reddish color to it – it’s really beautiful!

This one is tasty. Sweet. Flavorful!
Yup! I like this one! The more I drink it the more I like it!

It’s been a while since my last YELLOW Tea. I’ve been super excited to try this one but wanted to save it for the right moment. NOW is that moment.

First – LOVE the name! Very posh!

The aroma is out-of-this-world! Slightly peppery aroma meets yellow tea meets Mimosa/Champagne/Orange flavors all working hand-in-hand.

I would have to say I can taste the yellow tea along side the orange – first and foremost. Then I can taste a bit of spice – a mild pepper – perhaps – almost like a white peppercorn, maybe. Then…a subtle champagne type flavor on the end. Even with the flavors – it’s incredibly clean. There is a nice amount of ‘juiciness’ to it, too!

This is a very lovely flavored yellow tea from Compass.

I was reading a bunch of reviews here on steepster about Rooibos but I didn’t really want a regular Rooibos so I went with this one – a GREEN Rooibos. I like both Rooibos’s, tho! I also went with this one because it doesn’t have the dreaded hibiscus! YAY! Just Green Rooibos and 3 different berries!

This smells MARVY! Much like my Very Berry Cheesecake Blend I sell…Wildtree is the product line!

The flavor is more gentle and flowing than I assumed it would be but I like it. It’s calming yet fruity and fun.

The 3 berries work really well together to come up with its own flavor – of course by pairing it with the green rooibos.

This is nicely done!

Green tea, spices, nuts…oh my!

The green tea is a bit on the light side. It’s not grassy but it’s not really sweet, either. The spices are at a favorable level for a green chai. I do LOVE that there are almonds in this, tho! You can’t really taste them – individually – until you get to the after taste tho.

Overall this is pretty good, not my fave from Compass, but they have so many I do LOVE do it’s hard to narrow it regardless! Pretty good, still!