New Mexico Tea Company

I had Lapsang Souchong this morning. I had received this in a swap off of teachat a few months ago, and I wanted to wait until my tin of Bamileke was finished (I have at least 2 unopened tins left – Amazon has those deals). So now that it was finished here it goes!

WOW. My expectations weren’t that high since I wasn’t a huge fan of Bamileke but I eventually became accustomed to the Lapsang Souchong in the blend. This one, standing alone, was unexpectedly delicious! It was smokey and smooth without tasting or smelling like bacon. It smelled like a wood burning in a fireplace or a firepit. I love that smell! It was slightly sweet but maybe it is because of the sweetener my boyfriend put in there.

Last night he asked me, “Why do you love tea so much?” I don’t know… I just do! It makes me calm and I enjoy those quiet and peaceful moments with him and when I’m alone. :)

Having some of this in the evening with lime and honey. I’m using lime because I don’t have any lemon.

I am having this tea with milk and sugar with lunch.

I drink this tea with milk and two sugar cubes. It has a musky flavor that some people don’t like, however I find it pleasing every now and then.

Backlogging. Used up the last bit. This was delicious and just what I needed to end my day. Sad to see it go. I will definitely be purchasing kukicha in the future.

Yum! I steeped this and placed it in my rice cooker with the rice today. Yummy :)

Wow! The taste really stood out after I steeped it a little longer than before. So delicious! It reminds me of winter at an empty lodge or cabin with a fire roaring. I can’t wait to have some more. I even let it linger in my mouth for a while to absorb all the flavor.

Not so bad. Pretty good. I got this from a swap off of teachat. It looks like houjicha but mostly twigs and stems. It smells and tastes nutty, a little smokey, and very light. It is a milder houjicha… I have to try this again another time, but so far so good.

Mmmmm, vanilla.

Haven’t found many teas that do vanilla well but this one is really great. The vanilla is obvious and creamy with an ever so slightly floral quality which gives it an interesting twist. I think it helps the vanilla not seem so fake. I hate fake vanilla. This is smooth but with a tiny, tiny amount of astringency on the back of the tongue. There are cinnamon rolls calling my name in the teachers lounge and I think another cup of this will go wonderfully with them.

The leaves of this tea are simply beautiful when fully infused. They look good enough to eat. When brewed, they render a medium oolong with red-brown liquor and an aroma of black tea and earth. The taste is somewhere between black and green. Smooth and delicious, with some earthy notes underneath. Second infusion is as good as first, with very subtle peach and flower notes coming forward. This is one to savor in the aroma as well as the more subtle flavor, because they could be from two different teas.

This is an incredibly good tea, though I’m not really sure why. I steeped it for 4 minutes, per NMTeaCo’s website. The initial smell I got was classic barber shop, some kind of hard candy, and a little bit of old man cologne smell to it. Very strange.

Upon tasting it I found a pleasant light flavor, with hints of mandarin orange in there. It isn’t a dominating taste of orange, which is good, considering that it was encased in orange peel. Still tastes a little old man cologne-ish, but I guess that’s the aged pu erh at work, right? There’s a very light yellow tint to it as well, a bit different from most greens I have brewed in the past.

Overall I really do enjoy the subtle-ness of this tea, even if it has barber shop/cologney overtones to it. It has some kind of charm to it, that inspires me to drink it; weird. Definitely a tea to try, I’m going to give this guy a 90 Rating on the TeaCast scale. Just excellent!

There are no artificial tasting coconut flavors in this tea. This was the perfect complement to the huge breakfast I had this morning.

Softly green with rose strong in the nose and mouthfeel. Have to be in the right mood to drink a tea a rose flavor, but when I’m in that mood, it is lovely. Very pretty looking tea with the rose petals.

Sick at home and drinking this. Very soothing tea.

This is such a lovely, comforting tea. I feel a cold coming on and this is just what I needed to relax with.

Brew it really strong – Oh Yes.

This is a shop favorite green tea. It has a nice roasted flavor, but brews light green, not brown!

I really like this tea, It’s got a nice pu-erh flavor, but not as strong as the aged.
I can usually get 4 steepings out of it, though I’ve found that extending the traditional steeping times by 20 -30 sec makes a big difference. I also brew the first two cups at 185, and the second two at 195, it seems to help get a little more out of the later steeps, which unlike the longer aged pu-erh can get a little thin. I don’t notice any of the typical bitterness of the green pu-erh, and rather enjoy this one as it is.

I drink this tea most often as an iced tea. Rooibos makes a great iced tea because its rich and smooth.

one spoon of sugar, and heavy whipping cream. Its a little bitter this morning since I forgot about it. But still eye opening.

I drink this tea almost every morning with milk and three sugar cubes. When I put milk in Indian black tea I usually steep it 5-6 min. This gives it a slight tannic bite, which is softened by the milk.

My last tasting note of this was 8 months ago and I stated that I liked it even though I wasn’t a fan of black teas. I giggled to myself because now I adore black teas! How interesting and exciting it is to find that our tea tastes can change. And how awesome that we can keep track of those changes!

This tea has a nice full flavor. The grenadine and vanilla are just enough to make it sweet and interesting without adding anything extra to it. The black base isn’t overpowering or bitter but does have a slight drying sensation on the back of the tongue. Nothing extreme though and it doesn’t bother me. Not bad for a flavored tea!