Handmade Tea

One of the teas from my first traveling tea box! I love this box, it’s a great way to experience different teas. I hope to do more.

The dry tea had a very strange smell to me that I couldn’t place, definitely nothing delicate or fruity… Almost “mealy” like. Haha I’m so horrible at describing things in words! The smell once steeped calms down a bit, smells almost like a black tea but with a little something else added in.

So I’ve seen people describe the taste as tomato soup in tea form, and I think even one said cannelloni? There’s definitely truth to these! I can pick out the tomato and the sage gives me a feel for italian seasoning. So yes, tomato soup and/or cannelloni in tea form! Too bad it’s a black tea, as they just aren’t my favorite.

Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box I guess i’ll be consistent with Dexter :)

I am a fan of this one! I wish there was a little bit more lemon in it, but over all it’s delicious! This made me want to pick up a subscription to handmade teas, though I’ll likely want until christmas time just to give myself a chance to get my cupboard under a bit more control. I’m cold brewing the resteep of this just to see how it tastes as a cold brew!

Thanks, Nicole_Martin for this tea. This is pretty darn smoky! I drank the first half of the cup unsweetened and smoke was all I got. After reading Lala’s recent note, I added honey to the second half and the lemon flavor really popped! I may be getting a little blueberry in the background, but I may be imagining it just because I’m trying so hard to detect it. I don’t usually like smoky teas, but this one isn’t so bad.

The apricot flavor comes through nicely. The green base is light and delicate. This is my first time trying a tea with hops, and I’m not entirely sure what they’re supposed to taste like. I’m not getting anything malty or beer-like, but there is a vaguely herbal flavor – maybe that’s it? I can’t say it especially appeals to me, but it is something different. Thanks for this sample, Nicole Martin!

Tea #9 Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box

This is the last sample from Handmade Tea in the box. Again, I just made a cup of it and will leave the rest.
This is really nice. It has nice apricot flavors, delicate green tea base – there is no bitterness, really nice and sweet. Where are the hops? Dunno, not even sure I know what hops are suppose to taste like, but I thought they were the bitter part of beer. I don’t have anything like that in here. Having said that, I could/would drink this. Nice apricot green tea.

Tea #6 Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box

Interesting, I don’t like this one as much as the lemon mint from earlier. What’s up with that. I’m not getting much kiwi, and hardly any coconut. This – to me – just tastes like a generic fruit black tea. If I didn’t know it was kiwi, I’m not sure that’s what I would have said it was. I’m getting a little bit of creamy, that could be from the coconut, but it’s barely there. In contrast the earlier tea that was light and bright with the specific flavors, this one seems heavier with muted flavors.
Glad to have had the opportunity to try it, not sure if that changes my interest in the company. Still have one more to try, will not give up on them.

Tea #5 Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box

I’m interested in Handmade Tea, have been wanting to try a couple for a while now – possibly even subscribe. Was really excited to see some in the TTB.
I only made a little of this. Lemon isn’t my favorite flavor, mint isn’t my favorite flavor. This is not a tea I should like, but I wanted to get an idea of quality of ingredients, how strong they blend flavors etc.
I was quite surprised with this one. There is nothing fake or artificial about this tea. High quality, real ingredients all the way. It’s light and lemony (with out that harsh acidic taste I find from citrus), the mint was more spearminty to me – nice change from peppermint. This will still never be a favorite of mine, but I can appreciate the quality of ingredients and skill in blending. No number rating.
(I know Sil also wanted to try some of these teas – I’m just going to do a partial cup taste and leave the rest for her).

Ok so I think I got this one now. Finally picked up some honey. (Side rant: who keeps the honey by the bread, I walked around the the store 3 times – ridiculous).

I brewed with about 1/2 tsp of honey. It is much sweeter with the honey. There is a honey flavour to the tea now. But the biggest change, is the first thing I taste is blueberry. Like a thick blueberry jam. Then there is a light lemonish taste. Further on in the sip, there is more of a tart lemon rind flavour, which then changes into the smokey base. It is much better when it is hot vs when it starts to cool off. Much more of a complex tea with the honey. It was good with maple syrup too, I am surprised at how different the flavour profiles are between honey and maple syrup.

I made this yesterday and didn’t seem to get much other than a smokey black base. Caleb from Handmade Tea commented on my post to try it as a longer steep, lower temp and with honey.

So I thought I would give it a go. Except I don’t have any honey. It was one of those things where you use the last of the honey and think oh, I have to get more of this when I do groceries. Then you forget about it until you go to get the honey and it is not in the cupboard.

So I tried the first cup with some brown rock sugar. It definitely sweetened it up a bit and tasted better, but I still really only got sweet, lightly smokey, black base.

The second cup I added real maple syrup. Now it is pretty much a given that I will like this because I am Canadian and liking maple syrup is part of my genetic make up. This did taste much better. It brought out the blueberry flavour. Tasted like smokey blueberry compote. But I was only getting very little lemon flavour.

This is definitely promising. I will have to pick up some honey and continue experimenting with sweetening the tea. But definitely lower temps and sweetener is key.

Not sure about this one yet. The dry tea smells lightly smokey. There are peices of lemon peel and dried blueberries mixed amongst the black tea. After brewing, I can only smell the smokey tea.

The brewed tea mostly just tastes of a really light smokey tea, like a very mild lapsang. As the tea cools a bit, I am getting sour/tart lemoney notes mixed amongst the smoke. After it has cooled to room temp it has almost a milky taste and texture. I did not get any blueberry/plum or any sweetness. The aftertaste was a bit astringent.

I think I am going to have to play around with this one. Maybe adding some sweetener and trying cold. Not sure…

This one is totally hitting the spot.

I have been having one of those days where I am kind of hungry and keep eating but nothing is satisfying me. I have mostly been eating the Halloween Candy in the house that doesn’t seem like it is going to make it to Halloween :)

I started craving soup, but homemade soup. I neither have the ingredients nor the patience to make a big pot of homemade soup right now. So after drinking a few other teas, I settled on this one. It is savory, the slightest bit salty. It is full bodied and thick. There is a taste of sweet, ripe and savory tomatoes but it is not overpowering. More like tomato flakes not tomato paste. I feel like I am in Willy Wonka’s factory and I am having a piece of chewing gum that is really a 4 course meal!! I am hoping I don’t end up as a blueberry.

Delicious.

Of my handmade tea subscription, this tea was the one I was most excited for after it came out. It took a long time for me to get it, but now I have it and couldn’t wait to try it.

The dry tea reminds me of a cannelloni with a cream tomato sauce. It smells thick, creamy, and sweetly tomato-y. Now I am not a tomato fan. I mostly do not like tomatoes. I will eat it if it is sliced on a hamburger or sandwich, but other than that, I only like tomatoes in ketchup, tomato sauce and salsa. The smell is sweet tomatoes, with sage, the Yunnan is thick underneath the savory tomato scent.

The brewed tea tastes like a medium bold Yunnan tea, smooth. There is a sweet tomato flavour with the sage taste underneath the tomato. There is a slightly salty taste to the tea. I still get a bit of that pasta taste, which I presume to be from the Yunnan tea.

This tea is so delicious. I am still going to say I don’t like tomatoes, but I am going to hoard this tea to myself until it is sadly all gone!

Another from the TTB. This is really really nice. I’m drinking this hot because I have no impulse control at the moment, but think it would be even better cold. It’s minty, and lemony, and all sorts of tea goodness that make me sigh after a sip and close my eyes in appreciation.

This is not normally what I’d go for but I’m really really enjoying this.

My first Traveling Tea Box tea. The description was so weird I had to try it!

Initial impression: Weird. But I think I like it. I feel like I shouldn’t like it but I do.

Heavy on the tomato flavor, the sage is subtler underneath it. It’s like drinking tomato soup, but in tea form. Very very strange. But a good strange. I think. My brain and tongue can’t make up their minds on what I’m tasting.

This is another sample courtesy of Nicole_Martin. The base strikes me as very smoky; I’d thought it might even involve some Lapsang Souchong but evidently not. The tea is quite savory, and quite lemony – I’m reminded of lemon-pepper seasoning (in a good way, promise!). The lemon adds a pleasant tartness to the mix. I couldn’t taste the blueberry at all, although the whole dried berries certainly added some visual interest to the blend.

This tea is bland. First it tastes like plain tea, then the sweetness and astringency from the hibiscus comes through and it finishes with a taste of hay. It does have a calming affect due to the St.Johns + Hibiscus

I had a nice package of sour cream and onion cashews (from graze snack box) and I wanted a cup of tea. What cup of tea goes with that? How about a savory one! I immediately thought of this fun sage and tomato tea. Guess what? It went amazing with the nuts! The black base is super yummy, the savory sage adds a neat depth and the tomato with some sweetness.

Still undecided on this blend – it’s good and creative, yet situational.

WTH

This tea is just weird! And I can’t stop sipping it!

Another Here’s Hoping Travelling Teabox tea – it’s a yunnan black with tomato, sage and peach. I really dont’ taste the peach, but there’s plenty of tomato and sage.

First sip I thought “Tastes like Turkey Dinner.” The tomato is actually pretty addictively good and the base is not bad. Sage is a little over the top is the only thing holding it back until I remember there’s supposed to be peach in there, which is not present.

I might have to jack this tea.. it’s so weird!

This is the month of July’s tea. The dry blend is strong smelling back tea with large pieces of dried coconut and kiwi, as well as smaller shredded coconut. It smells very coco-nutty.

The brewed tea smells very strongly of the black tea. On first taste, all I get is strong, bold black tea. It is astringent, but in a good way. As it cools slightly, I get a lot of coconut flavour. And as it cools even more, I start getting a light kiwi flavour. The black tea remains bold but it starts to fade into the background a bit. The coconut was not super sweet like some other coconut tea blends, which was nice, it didn’t taste fake at all. I think this tea tasted best when the last few sips were at a luke-warm temperature. It was much more kiwi and coconut. I think adding some sweetener may bring out a more fruity flavour, but I honestly liked it just the way it was. Looking forward to trying this one iced.

Alright, so i’m a coconut fanatic so I was really looking forward to this tea. I tried it hot on Sunday and I have to say I was disappointed. It just tasted like a plain black tea to me. As I let it sit the coconut peeked its way through, not all the way but subtly. No sign of kiwi tho and I even added an extra piece;). So I decided to cold brew it over night and I had it for lunch this morning at work and guess what?! I found the kiwi! It tasted like a kiwi coconut water and was not so bad. I really love the idea of Handmade Teas company and concept and I can’t wait for the months to come and the different blends to come:) Overall, not a bad tea. Not one that is a must have, but it was a good experience. Thank you Handmade Tea!

Decided to brew this one up today! I went .30 longer than I usually would and it turned to the bitter side…. Still has some flavor just a slightly bitter aftertaste that gives it a malty-ness. The coconut is in the background. As it cools a slight sweetness comes out.

Decided to have a lovely cup of this today. My mother is moving and told me to take a bunch of her old stuff and I found a cute little vintage sugar bowl.. So I took it :D Ever since I brought it home and put little sugar cubes in it I’ve been adding sugar and cream to my flavored teas… and honestly I feel kind of guilty about adding sugar and cream..
This tea is nice. I like the mouth feel it lends. Yes. I did add sugar and cream to this one. It’s ok. It lends sweetness to the coconut flavors and a bit of creaminess to the entire cup. I like it.

Ok. So this is the first month that I’ve been subscribing to Handmade Tea and I’m pretty impressed. You definitely get your moneys worth.
I’m not one for coconut but the aroma of the coconut in the dry leaf is heavenly. It’s rich and creamy.
I think I over brewed it a little bit but it’s still good. The first thing I notice is the black tea then the coconut. The kiwi kind of adds a subtle sweetness. The oil from the coconut kind of adds a creamy and full mouth feel. Like I said… I’m not one to like coconut but I really like this blend :]