Teavana

Got this brewed at the store. They brewed it really strong. Tastes very nutty and kind of harsh. Should have bought the leaves and made it at home.

This tea was NOTHING SHORT OF AWESOME. I loved every last drop. It was sweet, chocolatey with lots of cinnamon goodness. Plus who doesn’t love marshmallows?

BIG THANKS to CCOPPENS for this one

Meh.

Another from the Tea of the Month subscription. I don’t have much to say about this one, good or bad. I made a big pot of this over ice, which I then used to create a sangria-style mixed drink I saw on Pinterest. That in itself was pretty nice, but nothing super special.

This morning, there was a bunch of the iced tea left in the fridge, so I drank a big glass. I find it pretty boring, actually. Mostly tart with not much else to it. The berries are nice, I guess, but you can’t taste the white tea at all.

It’s okay. I don’t hate it, but wouldn’t go out and buy more.

Literally my favorite tea ever.

From Ost’s stash sale. Thank you!

So, I picked out the rock sugar from this one and tried it two different ways. Once with milk, and once without. I think my conclusion is that most chai just tastes lacking to me without a black base. This would maybe be nice as an apple chai or something, but as is it doesn’t really interest me. It mostly tastes like sweet cinnamon, which is pleasant enough, but it’s just a bit boring. I think it would have been overwhelmingly sweet with the rock sugar, so I’m glad I picked that out.

Reasonably pleasant tea. I am enamored with the combo of lemongrass, lemon verbena, and spearmint, but this tea has shown me that it has to be the correct ratio of the 3 flavors with the green tea to really please my palate. It was overall a nice green tea, the flavor was just dominantly spearmint. I’d much prefer a more balanced combination of flavors.

I will finish the little tin of this loose leaf when I am in the mood for a minty tea. I don’t believe I will purchase any more when it is empty though.

Another office Sipdown. I love this tea! I’ll definitely be getting it, or something similar, again. I brewed it really strong but that’s partly because I was trying to use it up and partly because I just like my tea strong. (Maybe because I’ve drank coffee a lot longer in my life than tea?) Anyway I think it’s held up well for resteeps and I just love the way it smells and tastes, like Andes Chocolate Mints. :)

This stuff is potent! The dry leaf has a strong aroma of candied almonds with a bit of fruitiness. It brews up to a bright hibiscus pink. The flavor is mainly artificial fruit with a hint of almond. I’m not a huge fan of this one, personally, but my sister loves it so I’m keeping a bit on hand for her.

I was quite hesitant about this tea to be honest. I bought it with some silver needle and black dragon pearl when i went to teavana for some tea while i wait for my shipment from china. The main reason i bought it is it smelled nice enough, and it was 75% off a 1/4 lb tin, as teavana will no longer be carrying this tea. So $17 for 1/4 lb of loose leaf AND a large tin…

The leaf smells malty, and slightly of cocoa. I used what seems to me to be my now standard 2 tsp in my 4 oz gaiwan (i like a stronger tea, and i infuse the leaf until im drinking plain water lol) and after a quick rinse i brewed for 30 seconds at 195, adding 15 seconds or so every other infusion.

This tea has a nice, strong body while hot which backs off a little as it cools. For me, the taste quickly changes in my mouth. It starts with a light smokiness, then a bit of sweet potato, walnuts without the bitterness they have, and finishes with a slight floral aftertaste. This tea was quite smooth to me, probably since i used so much leaf with such a short infusion.

In a way, this tea reminds me of the black dragon pearl, but where the pearl has a nice cocoa profile, this tea has a sweet potato/walnut taste. IMO, the pearl comes out slightly ahead, but this is an excellent every day tea, and would most likely make a great iced tea. It is a fun tea to drink when you have the time to focus on it and observe the nuances of flavor it has. Overall, im extremely pleased with the purchase, especially considering i picked it up so cheap.

i was really excited about this tea when i bought it, and i couldnt wait to get home and try it. i have yet to brew a perfect cup of this, but it is getting better and better :)

the best cup so far has been from a 4 oz gaiwan (my only brewing vessel) and about 2 tsp of pearls, about 8 loose pearls. after a quick rinse, i use 195 degree water, and infuse for about a minute, adding 15 seconds at the third infusion.

tasting this is pure heaven :) it has a nice, full flavor, without being too “in your face” about it. it is lightly sweet, and has a nice taste of cocoa with a slight hint of molasses.

this tea changes its taste quite quickly with minor changes to how you brew it, so i highly suggest playing around with it quite a bit to see just how you like it :)

this is the tea that is introducing me into loose leaf teas. i always buy the bags of white tea from stash, and always wondered what the “good stuff” tasted like. so i bought this and was pleasantly surprised.

i use a 4 oz gaiwan, and about 2 tsp of buds, at 170 degrees, infusing about 45 seconds each time until i notice a drop in flavor, and add about 15-30 seconds after that.

this tea has the taste you would expect of a white tea, the light notes of straw, but fresh, good straw. it also has faint notes of honeysuckle, though depending on how you brew it, this will change to a very light taste of sweet corn.

all in all, i was pleasantly surprised with the difference in the taste of bagged and loose leaf. i find that i like a stronger flavor than is apparently standard, so i simply use a little more leaf. this is an excellent tea, as long as you keep in mind it IS a white tea, and will not Gibbslap you over the head with flavor.

Sipdown (121)!

So, I live in/rent out a basement suite – obviously there are stairs, right? Well in the year+ I’ve lived here we haven’t actually had railings. Not a big deal or anything, but they just didn’t exist. I’m quite sure about this because I remember when my Grandma came to visit she had a really, really hard time getting downstairs without something to grip.

I just walked out of the living room into the hall space that links to the bathroom and laundry room and our stairwell and… Railing! When did that get there!? When Tre gets home tomorrow I’m gonna have to ask if it was there when he left for Regina last week. I can’t imagine myself to be so unobservant to have gone a whole week without seeing it. Maye our landlord put it up Friday/Saturday when I was seriously out of it ‘cause of weird work hours? But even then, wouldn’t I have noticed leaving for work today or getting home?

It’s very obviously shiny and new…

Thank you TheLastDodo from the sample – this is a Teavana blend I haven’t tried yet, and while I know Teavana isn’t wildly popular here on Steepster I’ve had a few successes with their blends. Plus, where I live it’s actually really hard to acquire their tea so it was exciting receiving this one.

Dodo recommended trying this one cold brewed, and I was more than happy to oblige! I had the first half of it today at work, and I’m just finishing off the second half now. The plan was the drink it right when I got home, but then I got distracted by baking and had a beer with supper instead of tea.

Dry this smells pretty orange-y with not much else other than perhaps a faint but generic floral quality. One could almost say it’s the faint, natural floral tone of a fresh orange though, and nothing else.

Once the orange and hibiscus welcoming committee leaves, the flavour transitions into something a lot more floral; but rather a generic floral tone and less so anything specific. The oolong base is kinda weak when compared to the flavourings used here – but it’s obvious floral too, and I’d say greener with maybe some mineral notes? Finally, call me really crazy here but I’m also tasting the faint licorice flavour of fennel!?

I just read all the reviews – no one else has mentioned fennel, anise or licorice so I’m just gonna chock it up to possible scent contamination? I really do taste it though.

If I were to drink this again, it’d likely be with waffles or some other kind of breakfast food – but I think to be anything other than average at best this blend really needs sugar, and as someone who doesn’t sweeten their tea that means I’ve just lost all interest in having it again. That’s perhaps harsh considering this isn’t bad; it’s just not good either, and if it needs sugar to be good then it’s not worth more of my time.

Sorry TheLastDodo – I loved getting to try this, but it’s not one I love. Perhaps that’s for the best; like I mentioned at the start of this review it’s hard to access Teavana blends where I live.

I didn’t realize it had coconut in it when I sipped the sample in store! Came home, steeped a large cup, and realized it was giving me coconut allergy symptoms. :( Gave it to my sister. If it didn’t have coconut in it I’d rate it much higher.

Picked this one tonight because, if Teavana’s information can be trusted, it is low in caffeine. I was at the store the other day to buy a Glass Perfect Tea Maker and they were sampling this tea. I think it is pretty good. I am getting a barely perceptible vegetal note. I am getting a buttery note. The steepster writeup also says notes of broccoli and spinach. These are imaginable for this tea although not strong. Overall it is a very mild tasting tea. It is already one of my favorite greens.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 175 degree water for 1 min.

This used to be my go to iced tea blend. I swear it was a fruit/herbal tisane until I read the description for this tea, long after I have finished the blend. I would use this tea, cold brewed as a liquid base to all my green smoothies. ahh, that was the stuff.
I don’t know if I would purchase this again, I have been finding even better iced blends to fiddle with.

When you’re in the mood for a straight up, plain, Earl Grey, this does the trick. It’s nothing spectacular, but it’s not terrible. I added milk and a little vanilla flavouring to make the quickie version of a London fog, which I think made this taste better than it would have if I had had it just with plain milk.

This tea is amazing. To really enjoy the full flavor of the jasmine pearls, I highly recommend using a tea steeper like Tevana’s Perfectea Maker which allows the pearls to completely unfold. I love the sweetness of jasmine which doesn’t overpower the green tea.

I love this tea, but it has the potential to be a little overwhelming at times. If you steep for too long, the rose becomes overpowering. Lavender Dreams makes a good substitute for Earl Grey in a London Fog!

One of my favorite teas. It has a nice soothing quality that makes it enjoyable at any time of day.