PureAromaTea

This one is from my tea sister, Sil. It’s not a bad blend, a little more floral than I tend to like, but it made for a relaxing light cup this afternoon. I didn’t bother to resteep.

Another tea from Sil.
I think these are the first teas I’ve sampled from PureAroma teas.
I love the aroma of this tea, and I do sometimes enjoy some florals in my teas, so that should come as no surprise. Flavor wise, it’s ok & drinkable, but near the end of the cup there was a less pleasant soapiness to the aftertaste. :p

Sipdown #2 of my Monday Sipdown Extravaganza!
This is another one from Sil. It’s also a very bold & brisk black tea, & although this one is chopped up as well, it’s in bigger pieces that are more recognizable as ‘tea’. Malty, Oaky, & bold.

From my most recent ‘monster box’ from Sil, LOL.
First cup of the day, & it’s a rich & potent one. The only downside is a slight metallic flavor lingering around on my tongue. Breakfast will probably take care of that though.

1 tablespoon used for 375 ml

Aroma of the brewed tea has a hibiscus-like tartness.

Dull bitter taste. Raspberry flavour in lingering aftertaste.

More tea to aid this hot day. I thought that something fruity would be nice while I play Left 4 Dead 2 on Steam.

Brewed with slightly cooler water than suggested.

Tea is bright red in colour and has a mild berry aroma.

Flavour is very bitter, strong and berry like. Not really what I had in mind. Going to have to throw this away and try again, maybe colder water and for less of a steep.

I’m rotating between this and the English and Irish Breakfast blends, but never managing to make the definitive tasting note on any. I think this might be my favourite, though I feel I should be loyal to the Darjeeling-less blends (which the Irish definitely is, and I’m guessing the English too). I make them all with two teaspoons for a cup about 300 ml, and all are nice and strong, round, and astringent enough to know you’re drinking a strong black without taking your mouth off. None is too round either, and someday I’m going to figure out what I mean by too round so it’s remotely comprehensible to others.

My wonderful tea-drinking day yesterday started off with the best cup of this. Good stuff!

My only complaint about this is that I wish there were more info about the teas in this ‘most traditional tea blend’. Love the sense of history you get drinking it, and obviously, love the taste (strong, smooth – very smooth – and just the smallest sweetness as the sip goes down), although there isn’t really “more” history to this than any other tea. Never mind! Like my imaginings as I’m sipping. I’ll probably end up prodding the nice guys at PAT for a breakdown, just out of curiosity. Wiki says Keemun, Oolong and Lapsang Souchong, but that still leaves a lot of territory, and probably isn’t true for all Russian Caravans anyway.

Makes a great breakfast tea, as do both PATs breakfast blends, which I’ve enjoyed and will note soon.

Oh, happy days – another new-to-me tea I really like! I’d never, to my knowledge, had a straight Keemun before the other day, so again had no idea what to expect. I ended up getting a sample of this and a small bag of the Keemun Orchid from Kent & Sussex Tea & Coffee Co. at around the same time. I tried the Kent & Sussex first (I’ll add that to Steepster eventually), expecting at least some of the promised “sweetish flavour”, the honey, plum and orchid. Getting instead the very mild smokiness I now know is characteristic of a Keemun, with a woody flavour and slight sharpness I didn’t find very pleasant, I decided to brew up a cup of the Pure Aroma Tea to compare. They say it’s delicate and “perfumed”, but given that the K&S was called orchid and the PAT was called spruce, I expected more sharp woodiness rather than less. Instead, I got a lovely cup of smoothness. The touch of smokiness plays nicely with the hint of woodiness, but here there’s no sharpness at all, rather a taste that balances beautifully this side of sweet. I wouldn’t describe it as perfumed, but that’s not a bad thing. I drank a bit without milk, as per the notes on the package, but then enjoyed the rest with a splash of milk. (I’m kind of funny about black teas, because of drinking so many strong Irish/English breakfast blend types daily over so many years. Sometimes a taste can be nice, but I get a bit agitated if I can’t find the right strength to drink it with milk, or perfect taste to drink it without. This was unusual in that it was easy to enjoy the same cup both ways.)

So, what did I think? I think this ‘tea’ is perfect if you like drinking lavender. Which I have discovered I don’t, despite my love of all things lavenderish. But, I’ve made this for myself 3 or 4 times now, and each time it’s gone like this. Go to take a sip and my senses are yelling that it’s TOO LAVENDERY. Yuck! It’ll be like pouring a bottle of essential oil into my cup! It’s just wrong! (Drama queen about tea? Me??) And then I take a sip and it’s so smooth, and it’s lavendery, and I can’t really taste much else over the lavender, but it’s smooth and soft and leaves my mouth feeling really clean, and comforted. And this goes for most sips, although with less internal yelling, and then it’s finished and my stomach joins my mouth in feeling soothed, and I look bemusedly at the bottom of my cup and wonder whether I liked it or not.

Cara won’t even try it, given the strength of the lavender, so I probably won’t reorder, but at the same time, it’d be a wonderful thing to have around for soothing. Maybe? And for sure, anyone who straightforwardly likes drinking lavender tea should be right on this one.

Well, that’s a surprise – I just drank a cup of this and thought it was absolutely delicious! I only ordered it (the 10 g sample size) on a whim, because I have thought for a long time that I don’t like lapsang souchong. It’s good to find out things about yourself, even if they’re “You don’t even know what YOU like” kind of things, right? Er, right??

Anyway, I don’t think I’ve even tried one since moving back to Ireland, almost 20 years ago. Maybe tastes have changed, maybe I was drinking it ‘wrong’, or maybe this is just a really good tea. (I think I’m going to send some to cteresa to see what she thinks.) Whatever the reason, I brewed up a cup this morning, with about 1.5 teaspoons (big cup) and then drank it without milk, which is both weaker and milk-less-er than I usually drink the morning caffeine blast. (By milk I mean either soy or almond, and right now it’s almond, as our local grocery store has started stocking Alpro Almond – yay!) I meant to add a small splash of milk about halfway through, but found myself with an empty cup before I knew it. Smooth, slightly sweet and smoky. Not even a hint of bitterness or over-astringency.

I’m so glad I happened to see PureAromaTea’s 25% off Steepster discount, which pushed me into ordering from them! Really enjoying working my way through the teas.

sipdown! I’m kind of cheating on this one because i found a pureaoma tea that i don’t want to drink. I was wondering about this one when i got it because of the flowers and it turns out my suspicions were right. however, the tea is a smooth blend…i just personally don’t like the flavour. So of course…this is totally going to terri’s place LOL

had this one tonight too. falling asleep. will review tomorrow.

This is a pleasant and inoffensive tea. The base is smooth, but doesn’t really stand out, and the fruit is good: naturally tasty without loads of artificial flavourings etc.

I’ll have to order samples from them some time as I’ve been happy with what I’ve had!

Thanks Sil!

Oh and it’s my birthday and I ended up getting the new Kindle Paperwhite and I just want to go home re-organize my entire digital library because I’m cool like that. :P But I am working instead, and will watch the Hobbit later with friends and eat ice cream cake. I’ve got all weekend to organize my books. (Well realistically, I have the next few years to do that unless I break it). I absolutely LOVE that I can add books/fanfic to it just by emailing it. I was considering the Kobo but that feature is an absolute must for me.

Guys – I am SO spoiled. :)

I don’t always do well with fruit flavored black teas. I quite often find they are too much tea not enough fruit. I hot steeped this one, tried a couple of sips hot, and knew I had found a winner. I quit drinking it, made a second steep, combined it all together and put it in the fridge to cool. I’m drinking it now cold. AWESOME. Great peach flavor, nice black tea in the background (right where I think it belongs). I’m not getting any bitter or astringency. This is really really nice.

Thanks Hallieod for this sample. You hit another winner for me.

Well this is nice! Nice even-steven green tea base – a bit on the sweeter side. There is a nice drier yet flat bubbly type champagne taste but the strawberry is a bit weak. Not bad tho!

A very interesting tea! To me, it’s very fruity, reminiscent of cherry blossom teas (with the juicy fruity taste, not overly floral), with a nice black base. I can see why this would be labelled a “spring” blend. It’s quite nice – better than I expected. I haven’t ever had bilberries before, so couldn’t say whether that’s what I’m tasting, or if it’s just a nondescript fruitiness that happens to come across as cherry-blossom-like… ah well, it’s good!

In response to Sil – I didn’t specifically notice an oily film, but I get one even with straight teas, so as long as there isn’t greasy sprinkle stuff on the edges of my cup, I don’t really pay attention. Every tea seems to leave something behind (except some fruity/herbal ones).

Woo! Sipdown 147!

It smells like peach! It tastes very similar to a peach drink too – a nice juicy without the buttloads of sugar you’d find if this was a canned beverage. The black base is present too, but it doesn’t really add or take anything away from the tea.

This reminds me of the peach version of DT’s Pom Tango though. Very bright and refreshing. Maybe someday I will place an order for PureAromaTea as this was good.

Thanks Sil!

what is it with me and green teas lately?
green teas seem SO popular with so many of you that have brilliantly refined taste. you are my role models and i want to embrace the green too. i want them to speak to me like they speak to you. but, idk, they all kinda come out flat lately. and when in doubt, i have a black tea.
the strawberries were fresh and tiny teeny tart and nice.
the champagne notes were in there which was zingy.
i’ll try it again when i feel my green tea framework shift.
thank you moraiwe!

now,
if you were having a small tea party for 4 or 5 people what would you make to eat?

Buh-bye sample from Sil ! You were not all that cherry, just so you know. Actually, you were more nori than cherry at my second attempt. Not a fan on the liquid nori, sorry! You would make a good sushi tea I think.

I keep thinking there is something I am not getting about green tea. I’ve had two today — the other one I have to add to steepster before I can review, I guess nobody is into lychee green tea?!? — and they don’t taste like much. Now I’m trying to remember have I ever liked green tea?

I was so excited about this one, from Sil, that I have been holding on to it until the mood was right. I mean, Japanese Cherry sounds so beautiful. Now I should add that I’m trying to drink this without any sugar. The brewed tea is clear, pale yellow. There is indeed a slight cherry aroma and a slight cherry aftertaste. Aside from this, I am not getting much. It is mostly warm water with cherry aftertaste. I doubt sugar would do much here but let’s see. ..

I was right. Sweet water with cherry aftertaste. The cherry is so barely there that it tastes even more faint than those vitamin waters, if you ever had them. Someone remind me why I’m drinking this?

I steeped for one minute, about a rounded teaspoon (that measure sounds a bit vague to me) like it says here on Steepster. Water 2 minutes off boiling. I even timed that. Not much is happening in the cup. Sorry. Am not a big fan of warm water that I have to pay a lot of money for. Granted I didn’t pay for this, Sil shared it with me, but it is quite possible I would have bought it.

I’m willing to give green tea a good honest try and to be fair i will try a few more but so far it’s failing in the flavour department.

sipdown (223) I promise it won’t just be sipdowns today but i DO have lots to drink up if i’m going to reach my goal for this weekend. The rest of this is off to my tea sister so that she gets a chance to drink this as well. Part of the fun of having similar tastes is that it makes sharing that much more fun :) I’d order this again if i needed a decent black brew :)

mmmm some good stuff in this one. Sadly i absentmindly sipped this one while on a conference call today so i have nothing more to say than it was a pleasant distraction from my conference call hahaha there will be better tasting notes in future!