Dilmah

Thank you Josie Jade for this sample.

Almost seen all of the songs in this years Eurovision and some of the entries have been…interesting…to say the least. Still it’s nice to see so many different cultures in such a short space of time. Voting time!!! GO FINLAND!!!

The tea pyramids are quite thick and clothy which makes it hard to see the quality of the leaves. I can smell them though and can note a toffee/butterscotch type scent but no peppermint. It’s not overly sweet either.

Once steeped this tea is dark brown in colour and has a slight sweet and minty aroma. The Ceylon is a strong earthy base with delicate touches of mint and sweet toffee. It’s not as strong as I was hoping..well the flavours aren’t anyway. It’s almost like an every day black tea until you get that touch of mint and a sweet finish.

Overall it’s nice but the flavours don’t stand out enough for my liking. My husband loves it though.

I did not like this tea on my first cup but I think it was because I wasn’t used to the bergamot flavour. Once I got used to the flavour, I loved it. It’s fragrant and strong enough to keep me going through marathon study sessions. Although the flavour is strong, it isn’t bitter. However the tea may taste sharp if it’s steeped for too long.

Sipdown, 187. Yet another of the selection of rose teas that I got in my swap with ToiToi. Thanks!

I brewed this one both cooler and shorter than I normally would because I saw immediately that it is a CTC leaf, and I am scared of CTC. Steeped, it smells primarily of rose in a somewhat perfumy way. You guys know that I love strong rose and rarely associate it with perfume, but for whatever reason this one is perfumy. The rose flavor is powerful, but again it kind of like perfume or soap. I don’t taste the vanilla as a distinct note but rather it lends a creaminess to the tea. Unfortunately, the main problem here is not the perfumy rose but the sharp spike of bitterness and astringency from the CTC base is too much for me. I knew I was right to be afraid! :P

It’s quiet. Too quiet. Weird. Am I the only one up or is Steepster down again? I wanted tea to go with my Newtons. I was too unconscious for fancy steeping, so I grabbed this one. It comes in a bag inside a paper envelope. I love my loose white and green teas but you know what? My taster doesn’t seem to know the difference when it comes to Ceylon and Assams. I’m perfectly happy with this. It is medium bodied and tastes fruity. It is only slightly bitter. Would take milk well. Not a bad start to my day and it tasted good with Newtons.

The Barb & Bob Backlog – last tea for this week! Returning next Friday.

This one was Wednesday night’s late night tea. I had given my mom a few bags of this because she enjoyed a green mint tea she had when we were out in a restaurant and I’m trying to get her exposed to teas other than plain and flavored black teas.

Anyways, Wednesday evening was opening night of the season for the weekly wine strolling outside in the gardens of the plantation where my youngest sister works (she was recently promoted to daytime GM of the fine dining restaurant there and I’m very proud of her). Since it was the first night they did a sparkling wines and caviar theme with doubt the amount of wines to try as normal (and a higher price lol). Needless to say, I drank quite a bit and came home fairly drunk. Ate two delicious chicken enchiladas then promptly fell asleep on the loveseat.

I woke up feeling a bit of a queasy tummy and settled it quite well with this one. The minute and a half brewing time definitely produces a mintiness of a level I can handle.

I had a cup of this late Thursday night after a slightly too large pile of nachos too late at night. They were so good though. I am finding a lot of things to love about my broiler lol. Though I may not love this tea, it is soothing. And at 30 seconds less, there is a bit less mint and maybe some green tea taste. As with last time, I didn’t temp the water, just eyed it, but it was less than boiling both times.

I’ve given up completely The February Backlog which had leached into becoming The March Backlog.

I drank this tea Sunday night after a weekend of too much food and sweets, which I normally don’t eat very much, for general stomach blahs feeling. I see I haven’t logged it yet though I’ve already drank over half the box. This tea was my replacement for Red Wellness which was always very soothing to me. It’s a nice minty tea. I cannot taste the green tea. I think at this point I’ve concluded that I don’t really like plain mint tasting teas themselves. I do not mind it in some blends though. So, for me, this tea does not make an adequate replacement for Red Wellness. Though it is a decent mint tea if that is what you are looking for.

Very strong, pungent and astringent. Has a decent caffeine kick, but can be lip-puckeringly astringent.
I use it to power up weaker blends, but do not enjoy this stuff by itself.

Seeing the other reviews, I think I was probably very lucky with brewing process or there was some magic in my water´s reaction to it. This is a bag very kindly sent as a surprise in a swap with Toitoi and it is (I think) the nicest bagged black tea with strawberry I ever had (must try ahmad´s though). It tastes very strongly and somewhat accurately of strawberries (or at least of strawberry flavoured stuff), the tea underneath is not particularly distinguished nor strong (at my brewing details) but wow, the strawberry really is nice. I like it very much and it is a bagged tea I would buy if I ever see it for sale, it´s a convenient portable cheering little tea.

This was my morning cup. I brewed a single bag in a 4-oz cup. It was strong, but good. The aroma when it was still too hot to drink seemed very fruity to me, but when it cooled a bit it didn’t seem fruity at all…Maybe a bit of citrus. Anyhow, this is a sipdown. I am trying to finish some of the my teas that I have very small quantities of. Now that I am past my “must try every tea” phase, I’d like to start buying larger quantities of teas I love and not worry so much about having so many different kinds!

I had this first thing in the morning. It has a bigger, bolder flavor than the other Dilmah single estate teas I’ve tried so far. There’s not much to say about this one, but it’s good.

Thank you, ToiToi, for giving me the opportunity to try this tea!

Gift from ToiToi in our trade. This tea is surprisingly good, considering it is a bagged tea from a company I’ve never heard of. Possibly I’m just exposing my ignorance to the world of tea companies. But really, I can definitely taste the caramel and it is a surprisingly strong flavour. Not nearly as good as my Vanilla and Caramel Black from Ovation Teas but this is really good for a bagged tea. The Ovation Teas tea always leaves a complete sticky mess in my steeper. This is much more convenient. And I can try it 2 more times!

First, thank you ToiToi for this tea!

I brought a teabag of this with me to breakfast this morning, but the water I was given was not very hot. This resulted in a weak, slightly sour and fishy cup. I wanted to give it a fair review, so I brewed another cup this evening.

Many people said that this reminded them of a Darjeeling, and this in certain ways this was true for me too. It was brisk and woodsy but it did not have any floral or muscatel notes at all as far as I could tell. It had a little bit of unidentified citrus zest to it as well, but maybe this was more of a texture I was picking up on- the tannins are strong, but they don’t dry my throat as much as they cling to my tongue and roof of my mouth. There is a sweet aspect which almost tastes like skim milk was added.

What a difference the water temperature made! I really enjoyed this second cup!

A surprisingly tasty tea! It stands out from other everyday teas. The colour of the liquor surprises me too – it’s really dark. Fortunately, the tea is milder than its colour suggests. I love, love, love the intense bergamot flavour, even though it is more lemony than I’ve expected. Seriously, I can’t understand those ppl who hate Earl Grey. It’s one of the greatest inventions in tea history!!

The liquor smells of crisp fruit and a touch of cocoa. I was expecting the first sip to leave my mouth horrifically dry but that’s not the case! It’s so smooth and ‘juicy’. There is an astringent boldness near the end but it’s not in the same league of the Wanja Orange Pekoe I’ve been drinking for the last week. There is more fruit than bitter rind to this cup although rind still pokes through. I think there is a sense of creaminess too.

All in all, it’s a lovely evening cup. I’m not sure if I want to try this with milk or not as it’s delicious on its own. I will add that this is more of a sipping tea than a gulping one. It becomes more nippy and less smooth in bigger mouthfuls.

This tea makes me want to snack on grapes, oranges, and dark chocolate forever. Thank you, ToiToi! I’m sorry I put off trying this sample for such a long time. It deserved better from me.

Backlogging a quick cuppa from yesterday…

Speaking of sweets…I have a CONTEST on my blog today, be sure to check it out!

http://myblissfuljourney.com

I really thought I reviewed this one. I’m in the process of ‘paying it FWD’ so I am sending them out to a slew of peeps. I will do an official review in the next few days, tho…now that I see I never reviewed it in the first place LOL

what is the perfect excuse to procrastinate on finishing my homework? The delivery of a surprise tea parcel from teaequalsbliss! Mmm ceylon tea packed full of caffeine, grant me the strength to finish all this stupid statistics homework. Thanks a ton teaequalsbliss!!!

I have mixed feelings about rose. Sometimes I kind of like it, other times I hate it. I think I like it in this tea, the flavor isn’t too strong. Can’t really pick up on the vanilla notes, but oh well. Good with or without milk (: And it sort of tastes like turkish delight.