Mark T. Wendell

Everybody knows yerba mate has grand health benefits and wake-up properties, but it doesn’t really taste that good. Guayusa has about the same properties but with a sweet finish that compliments the leafy aspect. This tropical blend contains ginger and orange peel, and – frankly – the ginger dominates a little too much. The orange peel almost makes zero impression beyond scent. Thankfully, it’s still a good blend with a lot of the natural guayusa taste coming through when fused with the ginger. Think of this as a ginger blend with a dash of sweet leaf.

Full Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/12/16/review-mark-t-wendell-runa-guayusa-tropical-ginger-citrus/

I am drinking this iced this evening… even though it’s a little chilly outside, I am finding it so refreshing as an iced tea.

The flavor is smooth and sweet. I like the overall lightness of this. The mandarin orange flavor makes the natural taste of the rooibos go down so smooth. Very nice.

I think that this tisane is really better iced vs. hot. When hot I can taste the woody flavor of the rooibos, whereas when iced, the rooibos flavor becomes less distinct and the orange flavor really pops.

It’s good either way, but I prefer it iced.

This tastes much like a ‘precious eyebrow’ type but MUCH better tasting!

Another neat thing about this tea is that it’s a grey-green leaf when dry but when infused it brightens up to a REALLY vibrant green color…much like when you blanch a green vegetable…like Broccoli for example…and it comes out EXTREMELY bright green!? VERY neat leaf color!! Anyhow…

This smells almost slightly chewy for a green.

It has a tad of a vegetal aftertaste but not bad at all.

This is a very good, solid green and I like it!

Backlogging this one too and a sipdown…this one will be missed! Lovely fruit and spice with black tea on top!

Very strong this morning…backlogging…

backlogging and enjoyed!

Backlogging…one cup hot and one cup iced last night! Both VERY good! I think I like this one a bit more iced than I thought I would! Increasing rating a tad…

The cranberry really IS exceptional in this…the spice is JUST RIGHT for my spice threshold! :) YUM!

THis is better than I thought it would be! Sure, it smells just like you assume it would but this is a tasty flavored tea…juicy cran and the spices are just-right!

Gifting the rest! Azzrian, perhaps!
LOVE the mandarin flavor here :)

I still really like this…even hot…Mandarin is the key! Any other orange wouldn’t be the same…for this specific one!

I doubled the amount on purpose BUT forgot about it infusing and infused longer than I should of but I will tell you this is VERY forgiving and quite good! VERY juicy mandarin and absolutely LOVELY! Ahhhhhhhh!

Having another cup before sending the rest to Veronice.
It was nice!

I really like this one as you can see from my previous notes…I just had a craving for cranberries and a bit of spice and I knew this one was good…so…here I am! Upping rating a tad…

Backlogging 3 cups from yesterday…see other notes…

Backlogging a cup from earlier see previous notes…

WOW! Cranberry! True Cranberry! Highly scented and tasting cranberry flavored black tea! Not as bitter as Adagio’s from last year! I really like this for this time of year esp

This was a far lighter Lapsang Souchong than the usual campfire variety. There was even a welcomed floral presence I wasn’t expecting.

Review: http://www.teaviews.com/2010/06/30/review-mark-t-wendell-hu-kwa/

YUM YUM YUM! I was not expecting such a delicious oolong. I have a feeling that this tea could provide a lot of diversity in taste. Since I had such yummy results using boiling water with Samovar’s Wuyi Dark Roast, I went straight for the boiling water first. Apparently it was a good idea. I love it! I think the boiling water intensifies the roasted flavor. The liquor is dark amber. The taste is smooth and certainly robust…very flavorful for a dark oolong. The roasted notes are very prominent. I’m also picking up soba and a light sweetness like mild honey. There is also an earthy stoutness. I think if this tea was steeped at a lower temp and time, that it would yield a much different result. Milder and perhaps a little sweeter with heightened notes of orchid. I’ll have to play around with it. As it stands now, this is a power packed oolong…and great for breakfast.

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for such a fantastic sample! :)

Full review’s now up:

http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/1671/tea-review-mark-t-wendell-victorian-afternoon-3/

…though it’s not one of my better ones, writing-stylewise; it has come to my attention that I’ve used the “pork rinds” metaphor to describe lapsang souchong perhaps one too many times. Mike was kind to post the review anyway. In the meantime, I’ll work on honing my adjectival vocabulary.

Wrote a more eloquent review for future posting to www.itsallabouttheleaf.com. Okay, maybe not eloquent, but at least more wordy and full of adjectives and verbs and things and even a lame attempt at quoting Shakespeare. But at any rate, here’s the first sip:

My first experience with lapsang souchong was pretty disastrous—-reminiscent of sucking pork rinds—-so when I first opened this tea packet and the first whiff that hit my nose was souchong-like “smoke,” I was very apprehensive.

But, intrepid tea taster that I am, I persevered and was pleasantly surprised. The big, black loose leaves brew up a luscious, clear red-gold color. At three minutes with boiling water (again, I erred on the side of caution thinking this was going to be really strong) the smoke taste does lead the caravan, but the other teas in the blend add a little sweetness and balance.

I agree and like what posters have already said. Kenya has these fine nuggets that feel like what I imagine the minerally, dry and delicate African soil it grows in.
It is a minerally, potent brew, cost effective and I keep it for when I am getting repetitive with other black-tea varieties. It is also on the cheaper side, so cost-benefit score is quite high. In my next life I want to be a broker at the Kenyan tea exchange.