Georgia Tea Company

Eh, there’s nothing the matter with this tea. It’s orangey and oolongey, it gets a smiley face, but… It’s nice and orangey — smells fresh and good. The oolong seems more earthy. It’s a good balance. I had three nice steeps (adding a minute per steep). I guess that for the most part I’m not a huge fan of flavors added to oolongs. I just want amazing oolongs that show off all by themselves. I’ll happily finish off the generous sample that Daniel Mann sent me when I feel like having a fruity tea, but it won’t be on my reorder list. NE

Drinkin’ it JOEmo-style. Me likey :)

This has been my go-to tea for the day. From morning, through work, and now home it’s hitting me just right (so temps and times would be all over the place). Plus it’s named “Weight Loss” and that’s been on my mind a lot lately :P It’s still nice and fruity and tea-ey. TG

I’ve enjoyed this tea all day long. It was my post-run pick and then I took some of the already steeped leaves in my JOEmo to work. Now I’m home and threw in some fresh leaves into the pot and I’m thoroughly enjoying it. However, I failed in finding some balls-o-Toucha (I know that they’re there — hiding from me now that I want one) :P TG

When I popped open my larger bag-o-this tea I actually shook it around lookin’ for some Toucha balls ::insert inappropriate joke here:: I know that they’re in there! But this time around I was unable to locate one (those sneaky bastards) :P

Oh yes, this is still yummy. I had a cup before work and then one when I arrived home, and I think there shall be a final one before I go to sleep. Nom! TG

Weight Loss Tea
A Tea Dialogue in 3 PMs (paraphrased):

Rabs: Um, Daniel, I don’t know how to say this, but there was this big honkin’ chunk-o-fused tea thing in my Weight Loss tea sample. I thought you should know. Should I be worried? Do you know what it is?

Daniel: No need to be worried! What you found is called a Toucha ball.

Super-cool explanation follows regarding Toucha balls.

Rabs: Hooray! I’ve learned something new. Thank you :D

::runs back to teapot and adds the Toucha ball for her second steep:: TG

Oh yes — this is even nummy in my JOEmo mug. It’s brightening a quasi-dreary day :)

What an amazingly nice surprise! I knew that I wanted something with caffeine this evening, and preferably something from Georgiea Tea Company (I want to place an order soon, so I need to try all my samples STAT!). This one was labeled “oolong” so I went with it. Mmmmm…oolong… I thought I recalled that TeaEqualsBliss had reviewed this positively, but part of me still went “erm, anything named ‘weight loss’ isn’t going to taste too nummy.” For once I love being wrong.

The leaves (both dry and wet) smelled…planty? I couldn’t even say. I noticed some things non-plantlike in the mix, but couldn’t identify what the little nuggets were. I forgot about the nuggets until I finally looked this tea up on my second steep.

The taste? I don’t know if I can do this justice. What I kept thinking as I drank my first cup was “this is like drinking the happiest plant on the planet!” It’s like a subtly sweet plant — perfectly delightful. Happy plant = happy tea = happy me

The second steep is just as great (added a minute). I finally broke down and looked this tea up and saw there was green tea along with oolong, mango, and papaya. I can hardly believe it! I also read TEB’s note and have to completely agree with her. This tea is greater than its parts — it’s beautifully blended. This is going on my “must buy” list. TG

I received more of this as a free sample from Daniel Mann. This made it possible for me to try it the way it was intended — iced! I cold brewed this very colorful tisane. Oh yes, it’s definitely better iced. Still Twizzlers-like to me, but there’s still a little bit of tartness sneaking around in mah mouth. For me this is still a solid 75. NE

Usually when I receive samples it’s the Lapsang Souchongs and other smokey teas that I usually separate from the rest of the teas. With the Georgia Tea Company samples it was this tea that I immediately separated from the rest. This puppy is fra-grant! This is also the most confetti-like tisane that I’ve ever seen. I had a moment of panic when I scooped the tea thinking that a metal shaving had somehow gotten into the mix! But no — it’s some sort of uber-shiney petal. And I agree with Kristin that it looks like there are carrots in there.

The smell? It really reminds me of Twizzlers. Strange, but true! The taste is like a healthy, more tart version of Twizzlers. I think that the tartness would probably fade with some sort of additive (like Kristin did with the agave nectar). I also think that this could be amazing iced. I’ve never been a big fan of fruit tisanes, but this was a pleasant surprise. NE

Had a very long and busy weekend so I am backlogging from my teas that I have had over the weekend here and there. This tea is very smooth and naturally sweet with a slight nutty taste to it. I had this right before bed to relax and it got the job done, very enjoyable.

I ordered more of this last night after the wonderful Daniel Mann from the Georgia Tea Company gave me a discount because of my car troubles. I waffled on this one a tiny bit because I’m still not sure how much my car repairs will cost, but then I went back and sniffed the sample bag and it’s still like my mom’s homemade angel food cake. SOLD!

Since I’m currently out of my Earl Grey Cream I decided to see how this one handled the JOEmo thermos treatment. So far this morning it’s awesome. Angel food cake inna cup! TG

ANGEL FOOD CAKE!!!!!

I’m not even 1/3 of the way through my huge mug-o-tea, but I couldn’t help myself because from the moment I smelled this tea I was transported to childhood when my mother would make angel food cake from an old family recipe (including homemade cherry frosting). The only difference would be if you substituted coconut frosting for the cherry and toned down the sweetness.

The cup is more coconutty, but the flavors still blend beautifully. I think that perhaps I may be transforming into a coconut fan. I think that the other flavors may come out more prominently as the cup cools, but I’m having trouble putting my cup down so it might not get a chance to cool off much before it’s all in mah tummy. I will edit if anything else needs noting, but oh my lordy: yum! TG

ETA: I think that I finished off my first cup in record time! The fragrance was pretty intense throughout all of it. I’m having my second steep now and I think that I like it even more than the first. The flavors are all meshed beautifully and I’m getting more of the tea base. I love the second steep of this tea. Another big thank you to Daniel Mann for this sample!

I had three rather pleasant steeps of this tea this afternoon/evening using my huge mug. I don’t think that I’ve had a plain “Formosa” oolong. I tried doing some research (i.e. I looked at two sites and then gave up), but I came up no more wise. My brain just sort of glazes over when I start trying to figure out locales/types of oolongs. I was really feeling impressed with myself when I could go “oh, that’s gotta be a Wuyi.” And then I visited Life in Teacup’s site and my head ’sploded a little.

All this is to say I can’t really grade this as an oolong. It has a great peachy smell both with the dry leaf and steeped cup. I got hints of “planty” oolongishness (as opposed to “veggie” or “earthy”). It’s a really pleasant tea but I prefer a bit more “oomph.” I’m quite curious to try it iced. NE

Well, I have to say that this one is not my favorite. I don’t drink almost any green tea ever because it gives me migraines (wanted to at least give this a tasting though since Daniel at Georgia Tea Co sent me a sample of it) and I don’t really like mango and papaya all that much… so it might actually be impossible for me to like it.

The smell before brewing was overwhelming in the fruitiness. Once brewed, the fruitiness is still pretty strong but not overwhelming. The Mango takes center stage here. I can taste the green tea in this, but it’s almost lost. Not my cup of tea, but someone who really likes mango & tropical fruit will surely love it.

It’s a nice day here and I’m sitting on the front porch working and drinking tea. The cottonwoods are blowing, so its a challenge to keep the fluff out of the tea. If you have never seen cottonwoods (a cottonwood is a tree) in the spring, imagine that someone took cottonballs and shredded them and then threw them in the air. It looks like it’s lightly snowing, but it’s not. It’s 70 degrees.

On to the tea…
The leaves unbrewed in the bag have a peachy smell. I don’t know if that is just that some other sample leached some scent or not. The leaves had some large pieces of vanilla bean mixed in. Brewed, the tea smells earthy with a hint of vanilla. The taste is a nice black tea without bitterness with a touch of vanilla. I’d personally love more vanilla in this tea but I like my vanilla teas to have a big punch (just my personal preference).

2.5 tsp to a giant mug.

There was an epic accident with Tim the Teapot yesterday and his lid got massively cracked. Remembering Ewa’s epic loss and revelation (through failed time machine) that teapots can still be used with patched-up lids, my lid is epoxied like crazy and waiting to set. But since it was a relative’s fault (who shall remain nameless), that relative offered to buy me a replacement pot. So new pot should arrive by next week :)

All that’s to say that my two options were to ice something and use my JOEmo today. So last night I decided to cold brew this tea to see how different it tasted since palate cleansing this week. It still just seems musty to me, but I did pick up some more vanilla, but just a hint (coconut was dilly-dallying around somewhere too). It was nice and refreshing. NE

I’ve had tea from my recently purchased Earl Grey Cream from GTC and held off doing another review until I could confirm that this tastes different from the sample that I had. I’m dropping points as a result (originally a strong 95). It’s tasting like a basic Earl Grey without the cream or coconut. There are the decorative coconut shreds in this, but again it tastes like an Earl Grey. There’s just no sweetness to it. :(

I have a feeling that Daniel will hop on and comment about a return, but I won’t return this since it’s still a really good Earl Grey. I’ll also try this in my pot (vs. my JOEmo) to see if it comes out sweeter that way since it could possibly have flipped — with my sample I loved this in my JOEmo, but a normal brew was just fine. NE