Numi Organic Tea

Lime. Just lime. Incredibly refreshing if you have a cold and might even aid recovery the morning after a hard night. But know this: LIME. In all its overpowering and possessive glory. Caveat drinker.

I keep steeping this too long to get more spiciness and end up instead with bitter Assam and a few bits of cardamom. The anise ruins it for me — I strongly dislike anise. Otherwise a bland chai. Expensive. Not sure this one is worth the retail price, though other Numi Teas definitely are.

My favourite Earl Grey, ever. The presence of bits of bergamot, versus ‘bergamot flavouring,’ with a decent black tea, makes an enormous difference.

Sadly, this tea is very hard to find in my part of Canada, and Numi doesn’t ship outside the US.

Really nice on rainy days. The cloves aftertaste is very nice…

This is truly one of the greatest Earl Grey teas available. I usually transition between this and Mighty Leaf organic tea.

Really nice wake-up tea.

After drinking too many “bland” Earl Greys (you know, the ones without a distinct Bergamot flavour) I found this Earl Grey by Numi to be quite a refreshing taste. The Bergamot taste is quite distinct, as it should be. The aftertaste is quite good as well, as others have remarked there is no aftereffect that leaves your mouth dry.

I can’t exactly feel my mouth right now as I had a filling this morning and 2 shots of Novocaine! My lower lip is numb, as is most of the left side of my face…but the taste buds on the right side appear to be working for the most part! What I can taste is pretty good, very hibiscusy as I remember! Chose this one as I knew it was fairly strong. I will not tamper with my rating as I don’t really trust my judgment right now! ;)

First tea of the day! Thank you Jenny Wren for including this in the tea swap! I read the reviews on this one, seems others have found it overly sour; I actually didn’t think so. I found it definitely a little tart, but still very drinkable. Would you really expect a raspberry/hibiscus tea to not be somewhat tart/sour? Is it a tea to write home about? No. But is it an easy little vitamin C wake up call? Sure. When it cools, the darjeeling is certainly more present.

Backlogging.

I remember liking this odd lime tisaine well enough the last time I had it. I enjoyed the taste and its uniqueness. This time the tisaine wasn’t as I remembered it being. I didn’t enjoy it as much and I struggled to finish the last of the cup. I suspect I need to try it another time or two to make a firm decision on how I feel about it. This steep maybe have been user error. Perhaps I steeped it three minutes the first time I had it. Either way, I have no more bags of it. I’ll not buy it again for the sole purpose of trying it again. But I may at some point get another Numi bagged teas sampler from the grocery.

The end result is that I’m rating it for this time drinking it. I thought I had tealogged it last time I had it but I see I did not. So it gets a 45, right in the middle of drinkable (40-50). I actually feel it should be even lower, closer to 40, but it gets a scant few points for the memory of having liked it last time.

Winding down a busy week, so I’m sticking with tisanes today. This is the last Numi sample bag I picked up somewhere along the way, and it feels like time to try it. The smell is straightforward chamomile/lemon, and it steeps up into a apple juice-colored liquor with a pleasant herbal aroma.

The taste is not surprising or unexpected – it’s chamomile, and lemon, and it’s pleasant enough. The two flavors go together well with the apple-like quality of the chamomile and citrus high note of the lemon myrtle, but it doesn’t make me crave more.

I love teas naked, but chocolate or chai teas I need some milk or cream in them. I loved it with this tea. This is a nice, earthy tea. This is my first experience with pu’erh. This tea has coffee like components. It actually reminds me of freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee they serve at some good Ethiopian restaurants. Dark, smooth, and no bitterness. Not an everyday tea for me, but an every now and then kind of tea.

“Boxy” isn’t normally an adjective that would spring to mind in describing a tea, but in this case it may be apt. Yes, there is vanilla in it, but it is extremely plain tasting nevertheless. And the overall impression is that of chewing on a wet piece of cardboard. Sorry Numi, not impressed with this one.

Lounging in the hotel room, about to get ready for the day. So glad that this is the last day ofthe conference!! Have had quite a few cups of this tea this morning…and I do believe this one’sthe last of my stash. Here’s hoping the last few sessions aren’t mind-numbing.

I have solved the problem of my tea getting cold whilst I’m talking on the phone/away from my desk: a candle warmer. I feel so smart right now.

Restocked the office stash…and I love this stuff. Even gave it to a non-tea drinker, and she went and bought a box of it! Absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a great beginner’s puerh…unless you don’t like chocolate.

Good, thick, rich, delicious. I’m so impressed by this tea, and how well-balanced the chocolate and the puerh are. Very glad that I picked this up to try! I can see it being a staple in my house, especially in the fall.

Normally I don’t buy Numi teas, but I’ve heard so much about this tea (both good and bad), that I had to try it. I’ve only recently gotten into drinking puerhs, and am very curious about this one. It smells like dark, unprocessed cocoa powder. The typical puerh scent is there, but I have to really try to smell it.

It tastes unbelievably good. I’m picking up on the nutmeg and the cinnamon, but they’re in the background and enhance the chocolate flavor. Chocolate is the strongest flavor next to the puerh. And the puerh is a rich, well-developed flavor. It’s very earthy and dark. There’s a hint of orange at the very end of the cup. I’m loving this!

I’m drawing down my supply of random individual bags so I can focus on the teas I’m more interested in, and this one is on the chopping block today. The description on the package sounds promising, with its blend of Assam, Keemun, Darjeeling, and Ceylon. And I can see bits of leaf in the bag larger than the typical dust and fannings size.

In execution however, it’s less than wonderful. The color is a medium clear brown, and the aroma is light. The taste without additives is really bland; I’m not getting any of the distinctive flavors that I’d usually associate with the individual components used in the blend, but rather a very watered down “tea” flavor. There are vague notes of malt and pepper, but they’re very vague. With cream and sugar it’s tastier, but only because of the cream and sugar and not because it’s bringing out any flavors previously hidden. Disappointing!

I am NOT a chai fan. I’m learning to try things that call themselves “chai,” as I’m learning that there is more than one version of it. This was a happy accident. Husband asked me if I wanted anything from the store, and I’d told him about another brand I’d tried that was chai and asked him to look for some. He came home with this. “It was the only one that said ‘assam chai’,” he said.

I was skeptical. As I said, I don’t generally like chai. However, we were out of town and hotels – when they bother providing what could be considered tea – don’t exactly offer anything remotely drinkable. Luckily the grocery store across the way was able to provide what I’d left at the house (Bad me for not having my travel tea tin stocked. What? I have one! Don’t you?)

So, it was this, hotel “tea,” or nothing. I wasn’t about to send the husband out again, and I didn’t want to buy another whole box of tea to shove in my already-overloaded luggage.

Better than nothing, right? I brewed a cup and the aroma was pleasant. This didn’t smell like any chai I’d ever tried (and I do try them despite my prejudice against chai teas). I took a tentative sip.

Wow. That was nice. Light, flavorful, not at all spicy or bitter. This was chai? I drank the cup and made a second.

While not a favorite, it’s certainly one I will buy again. Though I prefer loose teas, this is a wonderful addition to my tea cabinet for those lazy days when I just want a cup of tea.

Because of this tea, I will give other chai teas a chance. Also because of this tea, I will give more Numi tea a chance. It’s not a brand I’m all that familiar with, but what I have tried I like.

Just wanting a nice mellow evening time cup right now, and have this bag along with me, so now is its time in the spotlight. Although the packaging says it’s 100% mint, the smell on opening the pouch isn’t as fresh and minty as other pure mint bags I’ve tried, or even mint/green blends. It does steep to the typical medium-dark green/brown mint tisane color.

The aroma of the cup once steeped is subdued too, and though the mint is there, I’m also getting an element which is more generically “herbal” that I’m also not used to in typical mint teas. The taste is okay – not as cool mint as I prefer, though there is some natural sweetness lurking around which is pleasant. I’m continuing to taste a medicinal herb note which is not so much to my liking.

Wow, not having much luck with bagged teas this week! I’m looking forward to getting back to my normal stash tomorrow.

Another sample packet I picked up, however my first impression of the concept – marrying berry with Darjeeling – isn’t very hopeful. The smell of the bag is lightly berry-like and pleasant, but steeping brings out the telltale bright red of hibiscus, which tells me to get the sugar ready. I don’t mind the flavor of hibiscus if I know that’s what I’m getting, just need to be ready with sweetener, as I find it really too sour otherwise.

The flavor is indeed really tart, so I’ve added twice as much sugar as I normally would. And it’s still pretty sour. In its defense, it does do a good job of bringing together berry and hibiscus flavors, but I’m having a hard time distinguishing the tea angle, let along something as specific as Darjeeling.

Nice to try, but I won’t be angling for this one again anytime soon.