Teas Etc

Everyone MUST try it. There’s no hype around this tea. Bold, sweet, milky. By far one of the best black teas I have ever had. Put down whatever you’re drinking right now. Order this and sit at your front door. You won’t be disappointed.

Has a very grassy/alfalfa smell dry. A lovely, light, vegetal taste. Some astringent bite to it, but I found it lessened as the tea cooled.

Lovely, has a great nutty aroma & taste. Slightly sweet, not astringent, Dragonwell may be my favorite green tea. I don’t get a real buttery mouth feel, but maybe I just don’t know what to feel for yet? Second steep introduced a bit of an astringent taste.

Got this as a sample. I really liked it, reminded me of Harney & Sons Snow Dragon even though that one’s technically a green. Jasmine scent was lovely but not overpowering. Taste was very light, no real bite of astringency.

Backlog:

Amazing! This month’s steepster select box is the best box that I’ve received from Steepster Select (and I’ve been a subscriber from the start).

This golden monkey is fabulous. Even better than fabulous. One of the very best black teas I’ve yet to taste. Definitely earning its 100 rating from me.

LOVE!

Still on the hunt for an alternative to Teavana’s Zingiber Ginger in case it gets retired. This has a nice coconut/rooibos flavor, but there’s also a little extra something that smells weird to me. Can’t place it, & can’t really taste it but I smell it in both the dry leaves & brewed tea. I prefer to mix this with a rooibos/chai blend as well for more depth.

This smells of a very honey sweetness.

It tastes like that charcoalish burnt flavor of black tea, but pleasantly so. Not too heavy like some can be. It is very red and round on the back of the throat and under the tongue. The finish is faintly bitter and a mix of the red and black flavors, depending on where in the mouth you focus.

Over all, a very pleasant tea.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

This is a sample that I received from Auggy in swap, thanks Auggy! Being a rooibos, I probably wouldn’t have picked it up on my own, but I am really happy to get a chance to try it since I do love coconut. It is pretty to look at with the red rooibos and abundant coconut pieces. I sniffed it, and it smelled super coconutty with an aftscent of feet… Sweaty feet… Needless to say very confusing and unsettling. This didn’t stop me from continuing with my brew… The show must go on…

While it brewed the scent was creamy and coconut filled. The odd rancid scent was still there in the background. Now I start worrying… Is the tea going to taste like that? Oh dear…

First taste, unsweetened, was awful. It was pure rancid coconut. I sweetened it and it was bearable, but still had the rancid aftertaste. I added milk, still undrinkable. Since I was in my Mom’s company while I had my tae, I let her try it. She didn’t taste the stinky feet, but didn’t love it eather. I sadly ciuldn’t drink it and had to be dumped out.

While it was a disturbing tea experience, I am still happy I got to try it! Who knew that something that everyone loves I wouldn’t like at all… Oh well… There are still a bunch of things on my list to try! : )

Second tea of the morning……….

I have not had this one in a while. It combines so many of my favorite scents into one lovely tea. There is rose, Early Grey, and jasmine, and I think the tea base is a black tea. I do try to remember to brew at a slightly lower temp due to the jasmine. I am guessing it is probably best for an afternoon tea, but this sounded good now.

I did have a sample of this come in my foodzie box from LiberTEAS. Surprisingly, it was the only sample from the box of a tea I have tried, and I feel like I have been around the block a few times when it comes to ordering tea. It really is a fabulous tea.

Usual teapot method with a 195 temp.

As I was cleaning out and reordering my tea cabinet I came across this sample and thought “why not”? I noticed a really nice smokey scent as the the leaves steeped. Similar to Lapsong and yet different at the same time. I get a sweeter smokey scent is how I can best describe this one. The taste is interesting too. There’s a great smokey flavor there, but also a hint of sweet too. But I’m loving it and might need to order more. After all wasn’t that the point of clearing out the tea cabinet? ;)

Another awesome sample from RachanaC – iHeartTeas. WOO Thank you! The leaves looked so tempting, and I knew I had to try this today. The leaves were wet or damp-looking to me. There was a mix of green lime zest and shredded coconut and black tea. The lime and coconut scents predominated this mix. I couldn’t really tell what color this was since I mistakenly used a dark blue mug!

The lime was very strong in this brew. It is tart and has a sharp note in it. There is barely any coconut in this. This is tart just like a key lime pie. I love these tropical blends! There is a sweetness to this tea, as well as a bit of creaminess to it. I’m not sure what it is though, but there seems to be a strange chemical-like taste to the aftertaste. My mouth doesn’t seem to like it too much. Good tea overall! Probably not my thing. I am curious to try this cold!!! :)

I decided to use my gaiwan for this BMD. It was my first time using one for white tea so I was beyond eager. After boiling my water, I set the kettle down to cool a bit before warming up my gaiwan and cups. There was also no need to rinse this tea.

The first brew was a rather short one, at about a minute. In my opinion it was definitely the best infusion. This Peony had a soft vegetal taste and lingering sweetness. The liqour came a pale green, as it should. It was exquisite to say the least.

For every successive infusion I added about a minute to the steeping time and kept the temp at about 190 F. I was able to get 5 successful brews from this white tea before I knew its time was up.

I looking forward to drinking this tea again, and I will be trying different brewing methods to see which is best for me. Highly recommend this tea, in particularly for the price! Great everyday white tea.

For the first steeping, I used 195 F water and steeped 2 mins. The aroma was surprisingly and pleasantly strong. Minerally and slight fruity, but definitely dark for an oolong. Can almost smell the astringency. Didn’t enjoy the taste as much, felt thin.

The second steeping, I used boiling water for 3 min. I know a little unorthodox, but the tea was sitting out for a while before the 2nd steeping. Much better taste, with a slight bitter vegetal feel, however really pleasant “fruity” notes that pop across the tongue. Still tastes pretty mineral-like. Liquor was “foggy” looking with quite abit of “carbon on the bottom”, but did have nice downiness in the middle of the liquor – suspended.
Not my personal favorite, but decent. Good for eating with some prime rib, I think or beef and broccoli.

You can never go wrong with Lapsang. That smokey flavor is truly wonderful. I can get lost in this tea for hours. Highly recommended!

Thanks for the sample of this, silvermage2000!

This is so good, I’m sad to see it’s no longer on the Teas Etc website (not that I need more tea). It really does taste like pie in tea form. It’s just sweet enough, though I imagine it would be even better with some sugar, but I like it how it is. There’s a bit of a pastry crust taste, and the black tea base is nice and smooth.

Great tea! Not as flavorful as other Huang Jin Gui I’ve had, but a great Oolong nonetheless. Especially for the price! Recommend it as an everyday Jin Gui! :)

I was able to get about 15 infusions in my gaiwan with this tea. Not going to lie, I probably could’ve done a few more, but I ran out of water (of all things). Has the perfect amount of sweetness and zero astringency. Leaves did not unfurl as much as I’d hoped, but still a lovely flavor and aroma nonetheless. Definitely recommend this to anyone and everyone!

Steep Information:
Amount: 2 tsp
Water: 500ml at 212°F
Tool: Breville One-Touch Tea Maker BTM800XL
Steep Time: 2 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: hibiscus berry, fruity
Steeped Tea Smell: berry, fruity
Flavor: cranberry, smooth sweet black tea, berry end
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: hibiscus
Liquor: translucent dark brown

It is a nice not overly sweet fruity black tea, where the tea is smooth and present. Not fabulous, and being they have lots of nice teas I can see how this might have got cut.

Rating: 2/4 leaves

Blog: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2012/02/teas-etc-loose-leaf-black-tea-cranberry.html

I was in the mood for something citrus-y again (after drinking Paris) and so I grabbed this out of the selection that LiberTEAS sent me.

This smells.
So.
Very.
Very.
Very.
VERY.
Good.
I can’t even describe to you how much I love the scent, there aren’t enough words. It smells very bright and citrus-y from the bergamont and the floral scent pops through and adds a wonderful lightness to it. Oh my gosh I can’t even contain how good it smells. It’s also BEAUTIFUL. There’s so many flower petals all throughout the forest-green leaves. Oh my gosh. I have to stop I could go on forever.

Anyways, I steeped with boiling water (as par LiberTEAS directions, though I think I might let it cool a little bit next time) and steeped for 3 and half minutes (again by the directions on the baggy, though I think I’ll go a little shorter next time, maybe 2 and a half or just 3 minutes). I’m surprised at how much the leaves opened up. They literally look like leaves from a tree inside the infuser basket. I think that’s a result of the boiling water. The resulting brew is pretttty dark. Like if I didn’t know better I would say that there wasn’t any green tea in it, but rather a lighter black tea. The aroma is a lot more floral than the leaves. In fact it’s mostly floral, and I can’t detect any citrus.

I added some sugar to it as I do with most of the Earl Grey’s I drink (a bad habit, I know), and it really helps out. I can taste the bergamont’s tart-sweetness and a really nice floral taste is left in my mouth afterwards. Not something I would reach out and buy again, but it’s pretty good! Earl Grey is my dad’s favorite kind of tea (though he usually drinks Bigelow and other bagged varieties) and I think I might brew him a cup when he gets home from work and see what he thinks….

On another side note, I have a feeling that my next batch of samples from Teavivre are going to come today. I don’t know why, but I always get a certain feeling when I know that my teas are going to come in the mail…. It’s like my sixth sense :P. I could tell with my last batch of samples that they were going to come and, believe it or not, when I got home they were in my mailbox! I really hope they do come! I’m getting some black teas this time and I’m so excited to try those. I’m also getting their Milk Oolong, which I heard was amazing and I’m getting some of their pu-erh touchas. I’m so excited!

To wrap this post up, I like this tea a lot, but I’m more of a fan of original Earl Grey’s. Many thanks again to LiberTEAS for including this in my sample package!

Lovely!

I’m struck by the pure taste of gardenias and jasmine in this—yet it’s not “flavored”. It just tastes so…pretty!!

Creamy white flowers. Slightly toasty, steamy “green-ness”. HInts of peach and banana.

Like the tropics in a glass.

What a beautiful tea! :)

So I am almost, almost done with my rosey teas, or at least the ones that acutally are rosey. I mean, I still have a few that sprinkle a few rose petals into the mix, but nary a rose flavor is to be found. Those don’t count.

Guys, I am almost out of this tea. Like, I think I have less than a cup of leaf left, which probably means it’s getting blended with other things in a cold steep. Sad! I have quite a list of “standard panel” teas that are no longer in my possession, and it will be a while before I can restock; this one will soon be joining their ranks. I love the flavor blend in this, and that it always seems to wake me up even though it’s a black/green blend.

First sip…tastes like edamame! A bit briney and a bit sweet.

Next sips.. settles into smooth, slightly smoky, woodsy cocoa with hints of soy sauce.

Super mild—very easy to drink. Not tannic at all.

Another very subtle, easygoing tea. It’s nice, may be best for an afternoon or early evening tea. But for mornings, it looks like I need something with more “kick”.