Tea Desire

There is a reason hibiscus is the first ingredient… BLECK! I wish I had some lemonade or fresh lemons, because that would fix this tea right up!

I have been on a Milk Oolong craze ever since I tried the one from David’s Tea. I bought this on a whim, because the Tea Desire at a nearby mall had a closing down sale and its price is hard to beat (CAD$5/50g). Please do not let its name fool you however. This is NOT a Milk Oolong. It would be better described as a Caramel Oolong, I think. Nonetheless, as a caramel-flavoured tea, it is sweet, pleasant, and lovely to serve when having guests.

Bold notes of Assam and Ceylon, that mix well. Wasn’t sure how strong the Assam was going to be, so I only steeped it four minutes, but could have gone longer. It’s not bitter.

I spent the day with my aunt and family, and showed her the Tea Desire in our local mall. She picked up a matte orange Bee House teapot (two cups or so), and purchased me a tea as a present. Any I wanted, but I am terrible at making decisions on the spot, so I pointed at this one. Even though I’ve been meaning to try their Japanese Cherry. Ahwell.

This one is still nice!

I love the sweetness of the cherries and the floral taste of the jasmine. Very nice blend.

As a fan of Earl Gray teas, I had higher expectations for this loose leaf tea than it was able to deliver. Perhaps the combination of the jasmine flowers and Bergamot Cream flavour were the downfall for me, as I found it to leave an astringent bitter taste after swallowing. I thought at first that I had perhaps brewed it too strongly, but after subsequent trials at later dates I still found it to leave a slightly undesirable after-taste. However, the opinions of others that I asked were generally favourable. Most drank it black with a bit of sugar whereas I added both sugar and milk each time.

I haven’t drank this tea in awhile so for some variety I had it iced. The green rooibos base lends itself really well to iced tea and the fresh flavours of the aloe make for a truely refreshing drink. I wish I had more as I’d love to make up a jug to keep in the fridge.

The dry tea smells like cucumber – which I think is the dried aloe vera bits talking – but as it steeps it gradually changes to a citrusy scent that made me think Neo Citron a bit.

It’s has a light, slightly herbal flavour with a bit of the cucumbery aloe vera notes (though nowhere near the strength you’d get from Adagio’s White Cucumber – thankfully). There are also traces of citrus fruits and I can even taste what might be kiwi after the tea’s had a chance to cool a touch.

I imagin that this could make a decent iced tea – green rooibos seems to lend itself to that sort of thing. Hot, it makes a light, soothing evening drink that doesn’t blow my mind, but that I still find enjoyable.

This’ the last of this. I’m going to miss it—it was a great morning tea, and sometimes I’d brew it in a glass container so I could watch the pearls dance.

Hot damn! I thought I was out of this tea, but it turns out I’m not. I was sorting through my tins.

I think I can taste the Age creeping up on this one, but it’s still bold and tasty. Apparently the Tea Desire that’s in my local mall is shutting down/has already shut down. This’ the only tea I’ll miss from there.

The photo taken is mine, as this tea is also not on their website.

I brewed this in the glass teapot to watch the leaves unfurl (“agony of the leaves”). I had it sitting on the windowsill so the natural light would filter through the tea. I should film it next time.

This is a dry, strong, spicy tea. The smell is strongly of honey, and there is definitely honey in the taste as well. This is a morning tea. The taste of honey is surprisingly strong. The taste is sort of like a very deep Yunnan. This province is farther east than Yunnan. But there are parallels.

The taste is smoothing out as I sip.

Finished this off as well. About as fruity as I remember it, and as drying.

I have a few things to say about this tea first. Hoping it doesn’t go cold before I finish.

Firstly, this and the other one I picked up from Tea Desire yesterday, are mysteriously absent from their website. But then, their website lists a very general look, I suppose—very few single estate teas, but they’ve actually got a surprising number of them at my location. Hmm.

Because of this, I had to take the picture myself… Flash makes the leaves look very sparkly and white. But there are some green bits and tan bits and dark and gold in there. It’s actually very pretty.

Secondly, I tried looking up “Shangrilla” as I do every time I pick up a tea I assume is named after its estate. Google returned nothing, but suggested “Shangri-la”. Turns out, this isn’t a real place—it’s a fictional place from a novel, but has become synonymous with “Heaven”. There are a lot of hotels named after it. Couldn’t find any plantations, so I’m guessing it’s just an artistic name choice, and it’s a blend of Nepalese first flushes.

The smell of the dry leaves is VERY fragrant. Fruity perfumy and delicious. Steeped, the smell dissolves into a very fruity dark oolong-and-black smell. Nepal teas are supposed to be comparable to Darjeelings, and I can see why. Although this is much fruitier overall.

Cooler, I’m getting more of the drying and it’s settled a bit into a more classic Darjeeling. But still very enjoyable.

Finishing off the last of this. Finished off CS’s Bengal Spice, but it turns out I forgot to add that to my cupboard in the first place. I got it way back while I was Up North.

There’s a faint swirl of oil on the surface; probably from the almond pieces, I figure.

I tried a sample of it in-store a few weeks ago, and planned to get it. It’s a wonderful, Christmasy caffeine free drink. Which I need more of for late nights.

It’s deliciously sweet, definitely getting almond and sugar in there—maybe some chocolate bits. I think it actually goes very nicely with the natural woodsyrooibos taste. Mmm.

Wow… after reading the reviews here on this tea, I was a little worried. But, this is actually quite nice when brewed only 3 minutes.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea to try.

The fruit flavor is “fruity” but I don’t think I’d call it mango flavor. It’s pleasant enough though.

Nice, smooth taste with sweet undertones. Not much else to say right now because I’m in the middle of a flood of assignments and midterms. :P

Honestly… this is gross. I don’t know what’s up with it (or how I’m making it), but I’ve given it to some friends to try and they agree.

A favourite light and fruity green tea. Also makes a great iced tea!

Courtesy of TeaEqualsBliss…

I’m admittedly pretty picky about my flavoured rooibos, but I didn’t even spend long enough sipping at this to pinpoint why I didn’t like it so much. I just don’t. Blech.

The husband is happily sipping away at the rest of this as iced tea, and he doesn’t seem too disturbed, but it’s definitely not for me.

I’ve concluded that the prominent taste in this seems to be the rose. Which would explain why it tastes a bit like the earl grey with rose tea I purchased and disliked some time ago.

I find I am not much of a rose fan. Perhaps picking the dried petals out will reduce the flavour… I get hints of bergamot and vanilla in the aftertaste, but no jasmine. The bourbon is in there fairly strongly as well.

Seeing as this is a Cream of Earl Grey, I’d hoped the bergamot and vanilla cream flavours would be the most prominent. Although it is an interesting take. I should try a second steep of this; see if any other flavours take over in it. And next time I have a cup, pick out all the rose petals and see if it makes a difference.

On another note, yesterday while drinking Irish Cream, I figured out the perfect temp/time pairing to overcome the horrible black tea base Tea Desire uses in their flavoured teas. Hurrah!

Dropped the temperature a bit. The smell of the bergamot is stronger, finally holding its own against the other flavours. Now it REALLY smells delicious. Like candy. Sugary and fruity and vanillay.

The tea base is still there, but the lower temperature has made it less bitter and sharp, so it now blends much better with the other flavours. Still, the base could be better. The temperature change only does so much.