Sloane Tea Company

I believe this is my first straight Earl Grey tea I’ve had in loose form!! I have only tried EGC before this, so I was quite looking forward to it. I had my nap, so now I can actually write a decent tasting note on a new tea. Also, first tasting note, woo!

The dry smell is soo much bergamot. Wow. It is just crazy how aromatic it is, very perfumed, but not unpleasantly so. I tried steeping this for 4 minutes, again on the low end of the scale of 4-6. The steeped smell is also very bergamot, but toned down at least.

As for the flavor, it is pretty good! This being my first straight EG in loose form, and having not had any bagged of it in AGES, I might be easily impressed, but it seems to be tasty! There is definitely a robust bergamot flavor with a nice black base, a small hint of dryness at the end of the sip, but not overly drying. I don’t think it is bitter, but it is fairly strong, but not to the point where it’s soapy, which is quite a win, as I had a rough bunch of cups with the last bit of EGC by DavidsTea due to a horrid soapiness lol.

Overall, this is a pleasant Earl Grey! I think I still like the cream ones a bit more just because they are a bit more decadent, but this feels like a nice stable tea that makes me feel very alert and almost strong haha, it seems like it could become a solid staple tea for dreary mornings or something. I am definitely not an expert on EG, but I like this one, whether it’s super true to flavor, I couldn’t tell you because I don’t have much to compare to, but it’s enjoyable. Yay for tea :) and another tasty find from Sloane Tea Company!

i also had this a loooooong time ago today in a galaxy far far away. last minute impressions – almond, chocolate but less of that artificial almond taste than some almond teas i’ve had. Will have this again for proper notes before i rate it.

misslena made me do it. I’m barely awake…feel asleep at 6ish but she made me try this. so for starters, for those who don’t know my tastes. Bergamot and i are nearly mortal enemies. i dislike 98.9% of all earl greys i’ve had. I bought this tea once, but returned it when i opened the lid (there’s a second seal between the lid and the tea, so i didn’t ruin it) and smelled the bergamot. The tea description indicates NOTHING about bergamot. Instead it talks about vanilla and caramel and a wonderful black base….right up my alley.

and then sloane had a 50% off sale. So i caved, because who can resist getting a bunch of sachets for less than 1$ each. And i pretty much figured it might be interesting swap tea if i hate it since lots of YOU guys like earl grey.

Final verdict? i LOVE the caramel smell. I love the undertones of vanilla. I still hate the bergamot i smell. In terms of a brewed tea? This is a very smooth tea. There’s no bitterness that i can find and the caramel notes are quite nice…until the bergamot messes with it. It’s not an overly bergamot like tea. Those of you who wanna pick that flavour up and roll around in it, would be slightly disapointed by it. BUT i can see how this would appeal to all of the bergamot lovers out there. I’m not going to rate it, since i’m fairly biased…but for me? it’s like sitting in and around 65. So not too shabby. For those of you who love bergamot? it’d probably be up there with heavenly cream so mid 80’s? but that’s just a guess…because i’m tired. and i drank bergamot.willingly.and lived to talk about it. and i feel like i’ve said bergamot a whole lot. more than one person needs to. ever. lol holy batman i’m tired. bed time. misslena…to quote that wonderful movie… here’s lookin’ at you kid.

no, i’m not sure why i felt the need to say that. :)

This was my splurge yesterday hehe, 4 tins of Sloane tea! First of all, BEAUTIFUL packaging. I am in love with the small tins, they are sooo delicate! And the box is so pretty too, and it says how to brew all the teas + the ingredients on the box! Yay for ingredients, because I couldn’t actually find any on the site, and having a nut allergy, this made me a bit apprehensive lol. But I digress..onto the tea!

The dry smell is soooo yummy. It has a wonderful cream scent in there. I love that the EG classic also came in this set, because I could compare the two and you can definitely smell more bergamot in the classic lol. I might have to have a cup after to compare flavors too.

I steeped for 4 mins, as suggested time was 4-6 for only 6 oz of water, and I am super terrified of strong black tea, so I went with the min, although that even seemed a bit long, and also a bit more water. Oh, and I just used my brew basket, not the provided satchets, although those may come in handy at work hehe. The steeped smell is very nice, it actually is reminding me of Paris by Harneys quite a bit, must be the vanilla flavors. There is also a sweet scent underneath, similar to fruity but also like caramel? Lol, that doesn’t make sense. Well, that’s what the nose is saying today (allergies are also running rampant lol).

Ohh yessss, this is really quite delicious. It is SO reminding me of Paris, but without the fruity aftertaste. This is really quite good. Darn it, I don’t want it to be super good, because then I will have to spring for an order probably at some point….haha, not for a while yet though! And with the 4 minute steep, it is not bitter nor too weak, although I might try a short steeping next time just to see if it’s even creamier than it is now. I think I like Ceylon bases in tea as well, although I am not a very hardcore black tea drinker and don’t know much about them haha, but it seems like the blends I like list Ceylon as the base. But I’m babbling (sorry, I am excited about new tea hehe) so I will stop now haha.

Overall, a very nice tea. I am very pleased I finally picked some of this up, because it’s a wonderful blend of cream and bergamot with a delicious black base. +1 for Sloane Teas so far!

ETA – As it cools, more of the black tea flavor comes out, but it’s still tasting pretty good. Not quite as much creaminess, well, except in the aftertaste it is still there, yay!

Apparently it’s bagged tea afternoon, was…is… we’ll see. I couldn’t resist having another cup of this since i was able to pick up a couple tins cheaply at the sloane sale yesterday. I Still have some of the loose version from Lala that i’m saving for a rainy day but at work, the sachets will do in a pinch. This is still a really lovely white tea – coming from someone who finds most white teas to be boring and non nondescript (because i won’t touch floral or jasmine teas and that seems to be the trend with “good” white teas). Still digging this and i’m super happy lala shared with me so i’d know to get more!

Also, for anyone interested, this tea is likely going to be coming back in November in loose leaf form through the sloane company and not “chapters/indigo.” yay!

I had a sample of this today while visiting the sloane pop up shop for their RIDICULOUS SALE. As far as the guy i talked to remember, this happens maybe once every couple of years. sooooo self imposed may ban is out the window so i’m going to try and aim for mid june, and if i can make it through mid june, i’ll kick it all the way to my birthday in mid july….or 10 days before that so that Us orders have time to arrive before my bday lol

This one wasn’t too bad, though it wasn’t as exciting as i hope it would be. there was some astringency that i didn’t like to it but mostly there wasn’t much happening with flavour. Compared to some of the other sloane blends, this is much inferior. The cardamon was nicely done..but it wasn’t too exciting.

Thank you Lala! One of the wonderful teas i got in my swaps today that I had to try asap because it’s an “exclusive to chapters” for mother’s day so I needed to know if i had to get my other half to pick some up for me…because i’m not allowed to buy tea until June lol that’s no cheating…riiight?

So, some of you will know, i’m not the biggest fan of white teas. I find the vast majority of them to be too lightly flavoured for me to enjoy them. This tea though? it’s wonderful! For starters, the dry smell of this is amaaaazing! it really is candied peaches and cream as Lala mentioned.

The brewed tea? It’s creamy and peachy and delicious! I really do need to pick up…er get my other half to surprise me with this random tea as a present! lol This is one of those flavoured teas to be enjoyed and savoured. I do wonder how it would fare cold brewed….

Thank you Sil for this sample.

This is my first cold steep and I have been so excited to try it. I steeped 2-2.5 teaspoons (double amount I would normally use for hot tea) and used filtered water. Stored it in an airtight liquid storer (I think it’s for soup but works great for this) and left it in the fridge for approx 15 hours.

I’m glad I prepared these yesterday because I have the start of a hangover thanks to the JD I was gulping down yesterday. Big mistake!

Separating the leave out was easy with a strainer and piece of kitchen cloth to catch the small pieces. Left behind is a pale yellow tea with a very gentle and fresh pear scent.

In flavour it’s a delicate and refreshing as it’s scent. The Bai Mu Dan is still sweet and ever so slightly floral but in comparison to it’s warm form this is much milder in flavour. I think it works though, softer than an iced tea made traditionally but keeping enough flavour to be tasty. Instead of a tea this is more like a flavoured water drink, could be because it’s white based.

I think I preferred this being cold steeped than I would the usual hot method. I will definitely experiment with cold steeping in the near future. :)

Had a cup of this one tonight and it just wasn’t all that great. I have no idea if i’m so tired that i just did something silly or what. drinkable but not exactly much flavour going on or anything. hmmm

So Heavenly Cream is just another name for Creamy Earl Grey. And I am more than OK with that.

The dry tea smells very strong of bergamot. I actually had to double check the tin to make sure I grabbed the right one.

The brewed tea smells and tatse like a medium, smooth, black base, with strong bergamot flavour. There are also notes of creamy vanilla. The tea is very creamy and smooth, but also heavy.

Delicious!

So while I was drinking this tea, I was dreaming up my tasting note and what I was going to write because it is so awesome. But first I needed to take the laundry out of the washer. And guess what, the entire basement is backed up with laundry water. Thankfully not a sewer back up but nothing is draining down the sewer. Yuck. Now waiting for roto-rooter so I can pay them double time becuase it is the weekend. And I have never had sewer problems. Hrmph!

So lets see if this tea can make it better. First of all, the whole presentation of the tea is awesome. Awesome packaging, awesome tin, awesome smell, awesome looking dry tea, awesome that it is a Canadian company (Ontario), the price not so awesome – but I am sure I will get over that.

The smell of the dry tea is like candied peaches and cream. The brewed tea smells the same. The tea tastes like delicious peaches and cream. Fresh, fruity and delightful. It is a white tea base, so it is very light.

I bought this and there were 4 teas in a sample pack. Can’t wait to try the others!

This tastes much like a milk oolong, only roastier. Creamy fresh afternoon treat. :)

Thanks for the sample Sil!

Unfortunately I am not wow’d by this like other Steepsters. I’m kind of bummed. Maybe it was my perception. I was expecting something with a little more UMP in the creamy factor.
If it were not flavored I would be more impressed but since it is flavored – even naturally – I expected something a little more.
I am wow’d by the beautiful canisters (tins) the company sells their tea in, but not worth the expense of shipping to USA from Canada to try more.
Its not bad but I do get a perfume taste in it that is slightly off putting.
The mineral notes are nice.
Some creaminess but not enough.
Lingering floral note once the perfume flavor dissipates.
Meh.
Oh well. Passing on to someone else who may love it.

SIPDOWN! Thanks to Indigobloom for this sample :) This is a pretty decent mint tea, as far as straight up mint teas go. I especially like that it’s a rooibos that doesn’t taste like rooibos. I don’t think i could drink more than a cup of this at a time though, since the mint is fairly strong.

Sipdown! Yeah that’s right…i’m on a roll this weekend after organizing my cupboard and getting everything sorted out. Of course once i get through these single cup servings it’ll be a MUCH slower process, but it feels good to be getting down….

So this tea? Thanks to indigobloom for the hook up. It pretty much tastes like a nondescript ordinary not very exciting rooibos tea. It’s not bad, but it’s nothing i feel the need to drink again.

No notes yet.

This is my favourite tea. I like it best in the morning, especially if I have an early morning class. It’s sweet and delicate, and the aroma is wonderful! I don’t let it steep as much as normal earl grey, but I like weaker tea than most, so that might not be a problem for most. I’m on my last sachet now, and the place I got it from doesn’t sell it anymore, but it’s definitely worth searching for!

No notes yet.

oh man. So i cold brewed this one just for kicks. I am digging the cold brew quite a bit! Unsweetned there was a bit of pear hanging out in the background, and then with a little bit of sugar added to this, there’s more going on. Another white tea, so not my go to tea, but this isn’t half bad. It’s still not my perfect pear tea but it’s a refreshing tea nonethless that has a really nice base that it “pears” well with haha.

Incredible! I am Persian and this is the most authentic re-creation of a Persian tea that I had growing up that I have ever tasted… I’ve tried similar blends by Ahmad Tea, Tea Pigs, etc. and this one by far is superior! Very well done!

0.8 tbsp for 200 ml of water

Distinct woodsy note from the rooibos. There a bit of a wheat-like mouth feel. Fruity notes in the background with smooth sweetness.

Thanks to Indigobloom for sharing with me!

hmmm I’m undecided on this one. I think I’ll need to have another go at this to make my final decision. It tastes like pear, but not as much “pear” as i want it to have. Tentative rating for now…will write more when i get a chance to sit with it some more :)

No notes yet.

Backlog:

I really liked this Oolong. I enjoyed three cups (six infusions) of this tea and it is so sweet and creamy and delicious. Each cup was a little different.

The first cup (infusions 1 & 2) was so creamy that it really was a little difficult to discern any other flavors … but I wasn’t complaining because it was so delightful to experience the sweet, buttery, creamy taste.

The second cup (infusions 3 & 4) was still creamy but maybe not quite as creamy … I noticed more flavors here because the creaminess had diminished a little bit. I noticed a pleasing floral note, as well as notes of fruit.

The third cup (infusions 5 & 6) was crisp and lighter in flavor, but still very enjoyable. Slightly minty! Interesting note to taste in an Oolong such as this.

I like this Oolong quite a bit.