Teajo Teas

I can’t believe I got a sample of this and waited a year to review. I’m hanging my head in shame guys. This is what happens when you’re drowning in tea and always say you’ll write a review “later” .

This is my second to last serving. I wanted to make it proper style on the stovetop but then I realized that since we just moved I one—don’t have a proper pot, and two—have no sweetener. So I’m drinking it straight up.

It’s good. Not amazing but balanced spices and a solid foundation. This isn’t a fancy tea. It’s a no muss no fuss basic chai and it does it’s job well.

One more sample from TheTeaFairy bites the dust. I am running out of lots of favourites so this weekend when I’m downtown doing gay things during World Pride (yay, toronto!) I plan to use up my tea budget for a couple of months and stop at DAVIDs. In the meantime, no favourites means go through these samples I have around the house.

I left this toward the bottom of the pile because:
“cranberry: bleah.
chai: could be bleah, depending on mood”

I read someone’s tasting note and the person liked it cold better. I decided to go for broke and use the entire 2-cup sample. I tried it hot in a mason jar. Then I put a couple of ice cubes in to attempt “warm” and finally more ice for the “cold” version. I added sugar, it is a bit astringent. I’m also not getting much chai in the traditional sense, but that’s bonus tonight.

Really, a somewhat cranberry tasting astringent average black tea. Meh.

Thank you TheTeaFairy for your generosity!

This was pretty good. Strong chocolate taste, but gotta watch steeping time because my first try was bitter. My second try with shorter steep time was not bitter and more enjoyable.

Chocolate. Pure and simple. Yum. To me, it’s more milk chocolate than dark chocolate, but I’m not complaining, because this is a very well executed chocolate tea. I wish I would’ve overleafed just a bit. I feel like that would really make it YUM as opposed to Yum. Another sample from MissB :)

Definitely more mint than chocolate. I couldn’t taste the chocolate till after sipping, more like an aftertaste? The leaf totally puffed up in steeping, I was a little worried it’d taste horrible because I had too much leaf but it was alright. Not going to be one of my favorite teas so far but it’s not bad. Not really what I was looking for right now, need something sweeter…

I wasn’t too impressed with this hot, but the mango popped in the overnight fridge steep. There’s a nice combination of ripe and tart mango, with possibly a touch of cream.

When I initially received my teas I didn’t think I’d be sad to finish up all the fruity teas from my Teajo order; instead I learned to appreciate (and love) cold steeping in the fridge. I only wish tea didn’t run out so quickly this way.

This was different in a good way. Green tea with chocolate and mint is a surprising yet successful combination. This is more mint heavy, with the chocolate delicately in the background. It’s still there, it’s just more there for support than for taking center stage. Another yummy chocolate mint tea.
Thanks MissB for this one too!

I’ve had this sample forever and never tried it. I decided to finally go with it for my morning cup. I must have not used enough leaves, because I could get hints of tea but it was just really weak. I have enough for one more cup, so I will try again soon.

TheTeaFairy was kind enough to send me a sample of this tea.
I really, really like the peach flavor in this. Unfortunately there is something in the black base that doesn’t work for me. I know, I know she said “love in the summer cold brewed”. It’s not quite summer here, and I drank it hot.
Nice peach tea, is probably better cold than hot….

A sample of this from the lovely TheTeaFairy. merci beaucoup! Smells delicious and it is true to its name (I see iPad is having trouble with “its”, doesn’t want to let it go, keeps switching to “it’s”).

I much prefer Dolce Vita from rivertea when it comes to raspberry. Because that’s like raspberry juice whereas this is more… Chocolate raspberry. However, it is entirely a mood thing. Like, occasionally I wish for Love Tea #7 from DAVIDs, because of the chocolate and strawberries. But if I wanted juicy stuff, I’d go for Bear Trap or something.

Is this good? Yes. But you have to want chocolate more than raspberry.

TheTeaFairy who gave me this sample wrote “delicious cold brewed”. So I took her word for it and dumped the entire sample in a 500 ml mason jar the day before yesterday. I strained it this morning, maybe 36 hrs have passed, and took it with me to this Mother’s Day lunch where I was invited as guest (it was my brother in law’s house) but ended up practically cooking the entire thing except for the steak. Nobody told me when I became a chef that it would be the end of my days as a dinner guest. Now people either don’t invite me or of they do invite me, I end up prepping/cooking. Like “oh good, you’re here, can you do the potato salad?” And “I was planning to caramelize onions, can you do that?” And I’m handed a bag of onions. Umm… No, I’m the guest?!? I just got in the freaking door, thanks, maybe offer me a drink first? Anyway, that’s my beef. (Pun intended)

So I took this cold brew with me because I knew there was nothing but wine or water there as drink choices. So so so good. Peach Snapple has nothing on this puppy! This is full on peach juice you guys. I should have sweetened it more for full pop but I didn’t have time to make simple syrup. I have to buy this somehow, it would be a huge tease to just have this sample. Thanks for introducing me to Teajo, TheTeaFairy and with such a tasty one to boot! Shipping to Canada is $10 flat. Hmmm…

I took two teas to work today. This black for the morning and some oolong for the afternoon. I was anticipating liking this one, but not the oolong. As it turns out I liked the oolong better (see previous note in my log).
This did not work for me at all. First cup was WAY TOO STRONG, WAY TOO ASTRINGENT – suck the moisture out of your mouth – bitter coffee ish. OK – need to adjust.
Second cup – less leaf, way shorter steep time. Not as offensive, not as in your face, but still not to my liking.
This might be a really nice tea, if you are into this style. I prefer China blacks. I’m not the correct judge for this – all I know is that it’s not for me.
Thanks TheTeaFairy for sending this my way, but it was a miss. Weird that I would like a green oolong better than a black. Something strange is going on in my world…..

Thanks so much Marzipan for a sample of this tea!

Ehh, not my favorite chocolate tea ever. Not rich enough! Not bad though. I drank the cup with no problem, but I don’t think I’ll be purchasing any in the future. My favorite Teajo tea is the tropical mango. OH MAN it is SO GOOD iced!

The wonderful, generous TheTeaFairy sent me a sample of this. I know she loves it, and wrote “by far my favorite raspberry tea”. I just got my Lupicia order and now have their raspberry chocolate tea too. I wanted to try them close together to see how they compare.
I steeped some of this one last night – don’t listen fairy – and I didn’t like it. I know it’s dark chocolate – but it was TOO DARK for me, bitter chocolate (I don’t think it was the tea being bitter) – I actually added some sweetener to try and back the chocolate down. Yes there was raspberry but I couldn’t get past the chocolate. Nope, not for me.
Today, I made the last bit of the sample, and it is MUCH better – I don’t know what I did different. It’s still dark chocolate but not in your face bitter like it was last night. The raspberry is nice, not overly sweet.
I’m just confused now – two days, two totally different experiences. I’m voting – I don’t like this – too fussy but would be willing to try it again if I had the opportunity. Sorry fairy. :((

I’ll preface this with the acknowledgement that I’m not generally a big fan of chocolate in my teas…but with that said, this is a damn tasty tea.

The raspberry comes through cleanly and the chocolate sits as a sweet little background note that fleshes out the robust, earthy tones of the black tea base. A little added sugar keeps the flavours mellowed out and it’s a surprisingly enjoyable cup.

I brewed an afternoon cup of this yesterday and wasn’t really feeling the hot tea thing. I came back to it for dinner and poured it over ice. Yummy. This is awesome cold. This will definitely stay on my wishlist. Thanks again boychik!

I received a sample of this from boychik. Thank you!

This has been on my list since I started exploring EG’s. For some reason I had the impression that this was an EGC, but it is not. It is however a very lovely EG. The base is the first thing I noticed. It is so malty and delicious. It, for me, is what puts the silk in this silky EG. When I drink EG I get two flavors, a bit of citrus and a bit of spice. I am not sure how to describe the spice other just saying spice. This was missing the spice component and was just a lovely citrus. The citrus for me was hidden under the wonderful base of this tea. It wasn’t hiding so much that it wasn’t noticeable, it did make itself known. Everything was well balanced and so delicious. I hope to purchase more down the road.

I should preface this with the fact that I’m not the biggest fan of rooibos ever. I mean, it’s okay as far as tea goes, but it’s never going to impress me more than a nice “proper” sort of tea…and I’ve been really spoiled by 52Teas’ Dreamsicle blends (both the darjeeling and the puerh).

With all of that said, though, this isn’t a bad tea. The orange flavouring is a bit reminiscent of orange soda – not exactly true tasting – but it harmonizes well with the rooibos.

It’d feel disingenuous to rate it poorly based on how much I dislike the base tea, so I’ll be rating this one based on what I think a rooibos-liker would think of it. :D

True to name this one is just a solid, classic chai…the black base is smooth and well-rounded and the spices are just the right mix of heat and flavour. It’s rare to find a chai that’s this balanced, so this is actually pretty awesome.

It’s not outstanding in terms of having novel flavours or being really out-there…but if you just want a nice, dependable chai this is a great option. Two thumbs up.

I’m used to seeing choco-mint teas with a black base, so this one really surprised me when I opened the bag to find fluffy green sencha in the pouch…

It goes delightfully well with the flavours, though – there’s just a little bite of mint at the end of each sip and the chocolate is delightfully polite; it weaves in around the vegetal green notes without becoming overwhelming.

This is a delightfully light tea that dances just along the border of what I’d consider a dessert green. It’s an interesting cup that I really do enjoy while working on the computer, so it’s one I’ll likely buy again.

I feel rather surprised by this tea…I had two cups of it and it still didn’t impress me enough to write a note during it.

With that said, though, it’s not a bad tea. The black and green teas meld together delightfully and the fruit flavours – though a bit pedestrian in execution – are enjoyable enough. It resteeps and handles sugar quite well, so I really should be more into this tea than I am…but it just doesn’t manage to keep my interest the way it should.

It’s a good, tasty tea…but not the one for me, for some reason.

Today is one of those days that involves a lot of cramping and watching the Avengers. I needed a tea that could simultaneously coddle me and kick me hard enough to get me moving…this one fit the bill pretty nicely.

It’s a nice mid-range black. Not as strongly pushy as some of my breakfast blends and not as soft as some of my flavoured blacks…this just sits right at the intersection of yes, I’m awake and let me sit here and sip on you a while, you pretty thing.

A bit of sugar in the cup mellowed it out beautifully. I think it’d go really well with milk, also, but I’m not in the mood to try it out today…

Good cup, though, and I’m definitely enjoying it. Whenever I order from Teajo again – and I’m sure I will – this one will likely wind up in the basket…it’s not the best black I’ve ever had, but it’ll solid enough that I’d like to keep it in my cabinet as a way to introduce new drinkers without making them a cup of something I’m really in love with.