Epi Tea

The only tea I had yesterday for St Patrick’s day was a bagged Wegmans green – shocker! I was at my roommate’s for the weekend, and that’s all they have in they have. Not that I’m a tea snot or anything :)

So I’m making up for it today. My trip to Ireland in April 2010 was what started me drinking tea, and there’s a special place in my heart for IBs. I need to wake up because (1) I’m about to drive 300 miles home, and (2) I just had breakfast and it’s 1:30 PM. Whoof.

Just tossing this sachet in and hitting the road. Doesn’t get bitter. YAY.

A little milk, doesn’t get bitter. Not bad.

Irish breakfast tea and porridge on Australia Day. Yep, I’m waiting for the hordes to kick down the door, burn my birth certificate and kick me out. (Btw, if is happens I’ll pack my tea supplies and move to Ontario. Maybe NS, apparently Halifax is my home town Hobart’s doppelgänger.)

Anywho, this is a lovely breakfast tea! Or brunch, as its 10am. Flavorful without being too strong, soft and not even a little bitter. I went with the soft side of Michelle’s recommendation (around 3mins), so I’m looking forward to playing with steep times.

And just because its been one of those weeks, I’ve added a little of the vanilla sugar I got from*Azzrian* in my swap with her. Swap melding is cool. Just another lovely aspect of this cup! Adds a little sweetness, which soothes my soul if not my taste buds (though it does taste delightful!).

This was one of the many many samples in the swap from Michelle that arrived for me today. Thankyou Michelle!

I brewed up 3 pyramid bags of this to make 2 iced teas for myself and the other half to drink while we did an at-home barre class. Now I have to admit these we’re drunk very quickly due to the need for rehydration during our class. I quite enjoyed it, the other half said he loved his. I think ideally I would’ve left it an extra few minutes but it was quite tasty. The rooibos was very rehydrating, the berries added a nice touch of sweetness. But yes, a few extra minutes would’ve made the flavour a bit stronger. Yummo.

YES! This makes more sense when iced/cold. It’s still not my fave but it’s much better cold. See previous notes!

I LOVE Blood Oranges but this tisane has me really nervous based on the other reviews – usually – I don’t really let that affect me – but – time will tell, eh!?

I chose to under infuse this hoping I would have better luck. I will say it smells like Blood Orange.

The color is lovely once infused…a nice orange/tan color…like sunshine!

Because I under infused this sachet it sure helped it NOT be cough syrupy on the tongue but it does have an intense rooibos flavor with a little bit of Blood Orange Flavor.

I’m drinking this hot and think it misses the mark but I think it would be pretty good cold. I’m going to ice it and add notes to that attempt shortly.

Not-Tea Review

Can we talk for a moment about how much I love Daylight Savings Time?

After our second night show (it was not a slump, but I’m not sure I should repeat our term for it on here ;) ), we all went out to Eddie O’s, a bar/restaurant downtown. By the time we got there it was late enough that no one was really sitting down and eating; most of us just got appetizers and split them. As the night wore on and everybody got drunker, we lost most of the people that had come with us. Finally it was almost 2, and we got up to leave – before realizing that we had to turn back the clocks, and it was actually only 1!

So we migrated outside, where it was cold, and those of us who were of age were very drunk. We ended up home around 1:30 ultimately, and I’m using this time to NaNo.

So I made a cup of tea to help me with that. I’ve already written about 1k tonight, and I’m aiming for another 800 before I go to bed. And then I’ll finish the other 800 sometime later today, and hopefully get ahead.

Tea Review

I haven’t had this tea in awhile, and I have to say, it’s still really just okay for me. It’s a delicate chai, which is good, as I’m not huge on strong ones (and we don’t have any milk right now), but it’s just not my thing.

This is a VERY mellow Irish Breakfast. It doesn’t taste bad but it’s not the KICK I was hoping for. I’ve always loved the strong, bold, dark, Irish Breakfast Teas…this was mellow and weak. I was hoping for stronger in the hot version but this is pretty good iced having said that. So this rating is for the ICED version instead.

Epitea is SHADY, they remove comments about their teas from facebook if they don’t agree with, thats kinda kills the honest feedback if ya ask me, oh well the teas they sent me were NOT that good at all. negative feedback is still feedback.

http://toadsteablog.blogspot.com/

Wow, way better than expected. I say this because when it comes to earl grey of any kind I tend to be a bit picky. However, in this case I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised. No flavors were overwhelming and the lavender and bergamot played very well together. If I ever reach for an earl grey in the future. Chances are good it will be this one.

Thank you EPI for this sample. :)

mmmmmm. berry berry. this is REAL Berry. like, straight up from the woods, which reminds me, i enjoyed this tea 2 Go in a travel mug as i walked the trails on a late summer evening. Wow, talk about one with nature…the tea i mean…cranberries, blackcurrants, almost like trying to describe a dark wine [which i don’t drink but i’m sure would taste similar] mysterious. intruiging. and delightful company in the bush [minus the bugs, lol]. i didn’t add anyting to this tea, but it is the kinda to sit and simmer sip on a long summer walk for sure.

ok… so me and chai, yeah a few years ago we hit it off really well in a local coffehouse…oh that sweet rustic aroma, cupping my hands in that yellow mug…infused with memories….
now years later, and many teas later… i don’t know if it’s me, or the tea, but i think chai’s have been saying to me , “Chow babe”.

don’t get me wrong, there is always room in a mug for chai…i think perhaps maybe it was the milk ratio, not quite balanced…because it only brought back memories of a long lost chai…and never connected since….

oh yes, the review – to any chai lover, this will do the thing. but to one who has had only former memories of chai, my suggestion, if you let it go, and the chai comes back…it’s true chai ;).

First off, thank you Epi Tea for the sample!

It was serene, but I didn’t taste any chai. The flavor was a bit on the weak side and reminded me of average bagged black tea. I got a hint of creaminess out of it and keep wondering where all the spice flavor is.

LOVE EARL GREY. LOVE LAVENDER…. . i think this was an interesting combo…i could see this being used to have a “spa” day, you know the kind where you need to feel like you are the king or queen of the day of lucious nothingness to do but just relax and BE. i could defintely taste the notes of lavender in the earl grey, but my milk/sugar combo only delightfully enhanced the experience. i used mine in a tea-4-1 set as it generously gave two whole cups worth, the flavour is rich. Very worthy of a book read, a bath, or just a silent moment with one’s self :)

I got this in the free promotion awhile back… and it must’ve gotten buried in my samples pile. This is actually a really good tea. It’s mild and I can’t taste the lavender (a plus in my books) This is the best of the samples I’ve recieved from Epi Tea and a true pleasure to try :D

Woohoo, I like this one. Maybe I’m also in a super good mood. Both of those are true.

I’m sitting here, and I’m supposed to be doing photo work, but instead I’m chairdancing to uptempo Billy Joel.

Yayyy.

But a really good cup! Dark and malty without being too strong. It tastes authentic to me. Ireland was where I first started drinking tea seriously, and I know I’ll get back there one day. But for now I feel like I’m sitting in a tiny little pub in Doolin, a tiny little drop of a town that has as many pubs as houses and is basically comprised of farms and cows and sheep. (bo and caora in Irish!)

Finally getting a chance to taste one of the teas from Epi Tea. This is a really good Irish Breakfast. It is smoother and a bit milder than I’d expect from a traditional Irish Breakfast tea, but, I like that it’s not bitter and that it has a very pleasing caramel-y undertone. Nice and malty, and invigorating too.

Tasty!

Thanks to Epi Tea for this sample!

Personally, I found this tea to be very smooth and only a small amount of bitterness towards the end of the sip. The boldness that I expected, really wasn’t present with this tea. That’s not saying it was weak, it was only more subdued than anticipated.

The leaves were very dark and had plenty of room to infuse in the pyramid sachet. It seemed the leaves turn more golden during the infusion and the liquid color seemed to mirror this slightly parched honey wheat tone.

I must say, this was more of a treat than expected. Plenty of sweetness and malty thickness – nice and mellow.

No notes yet.

Lance drank this one for me because I saw hibiscus on the ingredient list, He liked it said it was pretty good, he drank it up pretty quick so it must have been tasty :)

I just now tried this one, not very good at all.

Thanks sent out to Epi Tea for this sample! I love free samples, I sign up for free stuff all the time, including cat food samples even though I don’t have a cat. Stuff I can’t use I give away. But free tea? ohhhh yeah!

I assumed that this should be a boiling water temperature, wasn’t stated on the packaging.

STEEPED: Lavender with soft breezes of black tea. Clear dark brown tea.

TASTE: Black tea with a twang of lavender. No bitterness. I can’t really taste the bergamont… is it supposed to be in this tea? It isn’t listed specifically in the ingredients.

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: Black tea drinkers, someone wanting to try lavender tea.

COMMENTS: Good use of lavender – I’ve had a few lavender teas (but not a lavender earl grey) and they remind me of soap. Epi tea’s LEG has a good amount of lavender in it to be noticeable but not overpowering.

I don’t notice the bergamont whereas others who tea logged LEG noticed it. Maybe the lavender took over? Or it could be that I’m one of those freaks that drink double bergamont EG so I need a lot of beragmont to notice it? I dunno.

Overall, not bad and a nice relaxing tea.

I’m not sure about this one, its ok nothing wrong with it at all but seemed like something is missing from it, unfortunately I got only one pyramid bag of each of my Epi Tea samples which just wasn’t quite enough to really get a good impression of this one it was just gone too soon and the resteep just wasn’t happening. from what I could tell from one decent cup is that it’s not that bad but I really couldn’t say it was good either, it was different.

I didn’t care much for this one myself so I gave it to Lance he enjoyed it, he said it was a bit strong but that it was quite good.