Flavia

When I returned to the land of hot tea drinkers about two years ago, I began by drinking the free Flavia teas provided in the office machine at my workplace. It had been so long since I imbibed hot tea (being a Southerner, I primarily drank my tea ice cold), that I actually thought this tea was great stuff. I guess I was then naive and tea-ignorant. After branching out considerably since those young and foolish days, and drinking several of the finer teas in life, I now find this Flavia tea to be bitter, muddy, and unenjoyable. If it weren’t free for me to drink, I might even use the word, “nasty”.

Some people in my office got together and purchased a Flavia beverage maker for their coffee, and one of them gave me a packet of English Breakfast Tea because they know I don’t do coffee. Unfortunately, I’m not finding it drinkable. The smell has a strange pasta-like redolence to it, and the taste is bitter and cardboardy. Not too surprised – I don’t know how they expect to get flavor out of the leaf when it seems like the only thing the machine does is inject super-heated water into a pouch of who-knows-how-old tea dust and then squirt it out again into a paper cup. Thanks for the chance to try it, but I’m sticking to loose leaf.

I brought some Kukicha green tea to work to brew in my ingenuiTEA, and after brewing this and brewing the Flavia green tea, I noticed so many similarities. I finally got too curious and cut open a bag of the Japanese Green Tea. It’s real tea leaves. And it even has evidence of stems, just like the Kukicha. Although I do have to say my loose leaf is way better haha. I just thought it was neat that at least they’re not using a powder…

I use this at work a lot when I found out the awesome ingredients it has. I do agree that it is a bit sour, especially since I brew it on the ‘strong’ setting in the Flavia machine. But I found that getting a handful of ice and putting it in the cup helps dilute it just enough to give it a great flavor. I enjoy this drink a lot!

It’s a unflavored rooibos, that dosn’t smell of much.
Very dusty liquid, very dark orange and very neutral all in all. This is not a tea that screams: “COME AND TRY ME”…

That’s fine also. It taste okay.
It’s you typical rooibos right there – but I am missing something vital. A freshness, a personality. If this tea was a human it would be a boring middleaged man who minds his work, loves his family but forgot to live a little for himself (so sad).

Let’s pep the tea a little bit (I usually don’t but now I feel sad for the tea because of the disciption!) brown sugar should do the trick adds sugar…
Hmm. It’s fine but it’s still off. Milk? Do people add milk to rooibos?
adds milk

Wauw! It’s a whole new tea. It taste of honey now…
I like this!!! Note to self: Add milk to this every time.

sweet, woody, rooibos, dull

Steep Information: Flavia machine

Tasting Notes:
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet, woody (red rooibos)
Flavor: woody (plain red rooibos)
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: astringent? a little dry wood
Liquor: dark, translucent orange-brown

It’s a plain red rooibos, surprise? it’s not a WOW tea, but it’s a good free tea from the Flavia machine when I need some caffeine free tea. It seems to be discontinued as I don’t see it on my.flavia.com

Images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/05/flavia-fresh-pack-rooibos-tea-african.html

When I’m lazy at work and don’t feel like digging out my loose tea leaves, I go for this. It’s the least offensive free tea option in the office.

It’s not terrible. At least, in comparison to the other free tea options. It almost smells like a candy cane, and has that faux minty flavor we’ve all come to love in processed food. I think I like the smell more than the taste, but hey… when you’re lazy, you take what you can get.

Steep Information:
Flavia machine

Tasting Notes:
Steeped Tea Smell: fruity, floral, citrus, hibiscus
Flavor: lemongrass, hibiscus, sour tang
Body: Full
Aftertaste: sour tang
Liquor: dark red

Apparently discontinued, I am not surprised. The tang was unpleasant and not fully describable. The tea was almost likable….almost and then at the end of the sip that odd flavor invaded and lingered.

Drinkable, but barely.

Steep Information:
Hot from the Flavia machine, about 8 ounces (it’s a mystery)

Tasting Notes:
Steeped Tea Smell: lemon head candy
Flavor: lemon, but slightly sweet (apple) and floral
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: apple, slightly sour tang
Liquor: bright yellow

I am at work, the flavia is free, this one is enjoyable (please note i enjoy lemonheads and other similar candy), and great when you aren’t feeling well (scratchy throat)

Post-Steep Additives: none

Rating: 1.5/3

…

How can people drink this!?

Seriously. How can you consume this beverage and enjoy it unless you hate yourself.

Or unless you have the world’s worst taste buds.

I figured, oooh, English Breakfast! Nom! And on top of it, this one is from Kenya! I haven’t had a Kenyan tea before (I have one on deck from Auggy), but yeah! Cool, let’s stick the little packet in the slot and see what happens.

Well, first off, this brews up really murky brown. Almost mahogany in color. It’s not clear at all. And the smell coming off of it smells like really strong Liptons, maybe jazzed up a little bit. It’s a fairly nice smell, and I enjoy sniffing it for a few seconds before I take the plunge.

I nearly spat it out.

This is SO BITTER. What the hell?! It just lingers and lingers and lingers. It tastes burnt and dead and awful. It makes you want to cry. I’m glad nobody was in my general vicinity when I took my first sip, or else they might have been worried. Due to the face I was making, of course. I imagine that it twisted into some mask of horror. I literally stuck my tongue out, scrunched up my nose, shook my head a few times.

Then I promptly ran to our pantry and dumped this in the sink.

No.

Just no.

It’s good for the flavia machine.. but… still.

It’s got the jasmine down but the green tea is a little tortured. Who was it that threatened to take a packet apart? I’m thinking about doing that sometime this week – something to do in the evenings.

I’ll get better tea tonight! World Cup of Tea, here I come!

Oh NO.

Ew.

So I was a bit adventurous at work today, and I figured, let’s explore the options in the Flavia machine! Oh look! Here’s a Japanese green!

So I have no idea what the leaves look like, because they’re concealed in a foil packet thinger. I’m pretty sure there is leaf in this, and it’s just not powder. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if it was powder. If I get bored enough, I just might cut one of these suckers open. I wonder if I’ll be horrified at the contents.

Anyway, this steeps/pours/does whatever and it’s a neon green, akin to a sencha or ryokucha. NOT BAD, I’m thinking to myself. The smell coming off the cup isn’t half bad either! It’s grassy in a very Japanese green/sencha-like way, with a very faint hint of butteryness. Hrm.

So I wait for it to cool, and sip, and HOLY GOD BAD. Yeah. Um. What the hell. I feel bad for the poor person that had this, thinking that this is what sencha really tastes like, and then never had Japanese green tea again. It’s ridiculously bitter. You can tell that the machine has absolutely no clue about water temperatures and steep times and the like. The leaves taste like they’re screaming for help, dying as they’re engulfed in scalding water. It’s such an unpleasant taste. Blech.

I tolerated a few sips before I had to toss this one. This makes me only all the more eager to nail the sencha I have here in my house even more.

And so the work tea saga continues…

… I wish I could say something good about this tea, but I can’t
The color is deep raspberry red, with a thick dusted texture.

Taste sour.

Sigh
Thought my former discription of this tea was too useless, so rewriting the note.

As a start, the color was a green, with much dust and texture.
It tasted very bitter/sour. Like the rasberry tea of the same brand.
It tasted as seaweed, like a green tea that has been oversteeped or mistreated.

I wonder if it’s because of the machine, and not the leaves, that this tea taste so vile.
Normaly I expect a green tea to be sweet with a hint of “seaweed” but this is just too much bitternes. And the rasberry (before mentioned) should also have been sweeter, in comparison to other tea of the same kind.

I don’t know if the Flaviamachine adjust to the different needs of teasorts, like tempreture, but I think not. It would explain why the Earl Grey and the Yasmin tea didn’t fail completely.
Black tea takes high temp. just fine, and white tea is very forgiving. Not so with the teas before mentioned.

I give it another try, cutting the bag open and try steeping it manualy when I get the chance. Untill then – it gets a very bad rating.

So I started work today (yay!) and my company has free coffee and tea in the shape of a Flavia machine. I interned at this company, and I used to get the peppermint tea from the machine all the time. So I decided to see what it would taste like and how it would stack up against the other peppermints I’ve had subsequently. I actually drank two cups of this today.

The tea comes in these weird packets that are foil, and they have a little plastic nozzle. You insert the tea packet into the machine, the machine eats the packet, and out streams tea. This peppermint was pretty brown in color, but it smelled fairly minty…

Honestly, I wasn’t really paying attention to drinking this. And herein comes my big fear: my tea drinking is really going to die down to a trickle. It’s going to be hard, keeping up with measurements and steepings times. That’s why I’m hoping that the Finum basket I ordered helps a bit.

Anyway, the taste of this one is very, very minty. But there’s something off about this. Like it’s powdered mint, or something. It doesn’t taste fresh in the least, and I think that’s the problem. It’s almost musty. I mean, it definitely has a nice mint kick, which I enjoy, but this is probably worse than bagged tea.

So yeah, we shall see how tea + work ends up getting along! I’m still adjusting to my new surroundings and nothing feels like home yet. :\

Amount: 1 pack
Additives: white sugar, powdered non-dairy creamer
Water: hot water spigot
Steep Time: none, flavia machine
Served: Hot

Notes: My personal preference with black teas is to add a bit of sweetener and creme to smooth the flavor out. I find this a very drinkable tea for work, mainly because it is easy and free.

Smell: citrus
Flavor: smooth black tea
Body: medium
Aftertaste: slightly bitter (adding sugar / creme lessens or removes this depending on the amount)
Liquor: dark brown

Packaging: Fresh Pack (how do they make these?)
Amount: 1 packet
Additives: none
Water: hot water spigot
Steep Time: none
Served: Hot

Notes: When your at work with a flavia machine and don’t want caffeine this is the way to go. No sugar needed.

Smell: raspberry, lemon
Flavor: lemon, raspberry
Body: full
Aftertaste: apple, sweet

So, I’m in Nashville for the week at a training session. Are you familiar with the Kuerig coffee makers? The facility I’m at has a Flavia drink dispenser thingie. It’s similar, but with little plastic bags of “coffee” rather than little plastic cups of “coffee”.

I’ve been drinking their English Breakfast tea this afternoon. I’m rating it fairly low, because well, I’ve had tea that’s SO much better. However, for probably being more of a “tea flavored product” rather than actual tea, it’s actually not too bad. I’m much happier drinking this than their coffee, or plain water all day. And the scent is actually pretty nice.

However, after class today, I’m definitely running to a local tea shop to see what types of real tea I can find. (http://www.worldcupoftea.com/)

Strange color, like a tea that can’t make up it’s mind about being white or green.
Smells like such tea should, taste like such tea should, and the aftertaste is great.
So… B+ or A.

I am going to drink this again. Surprised beyond words.

I love rooibos because it has no caffeine.

This is one of the better teas that come out of the Flavia machine.

unfortunate taste

it’s a fine office tea. I agree with some of Jason’s comments, but I love the earthiness. This isn’t the greatest Rooibos tea around, but it gets the job done. It doesn’t hurt that it brings back memories of my trip to South Africa.