Teavana

Had a lovely time camping on Lake Winnipeg by Gimli over the long weekend. Hot and humid on Saturday. Rainy and cool on Sunday. Monday was beautiful, of course, since we packed up and left in the morning. On Sunday I attended a tea party with home baked scones, delicious jams, jellies, and clotted cream, and a variety of teas. I chose to drink this oolong. I enjoyed it very much. Not enough, I don’t think, to rush out and buy any. but it was very mellow and smooth. Also welcome, as Sunday was on the cool side and I was wet. The scone with ginger jelly was a very tasty accompaniment to the tea.

I had this prepared for me at teavana. The aroma was interesting and the flavour was good. The only thing is that I think the rock sugar coloured the tea brown.

I’m surprised I didn’t have this tea included in my cupboard or any tasting notes written about it… I got this last year when Culinary Tea was on sale at Teavana, and I grabbed a bag of this tea as well, since it was also on sale. I have drank it a few times since then (although it’s been a while), and I thought I had written about it already. Another case of the Steepster thief perhaps? Not sure this time.

Anyway, this tea is fairly basic. Not too sure what exactly the effect of it being rolled into balls is, but it does make it harder for me to figure out how many I am supposed to use, lol. It’s a smooth black tea base with faint notes of cocoa. Nothing else to add, the tea is fairly simple. It doesn’t have any astringency, which is nice, so it’s pretty alright to drink. Nothing amazing, however.

NOPE NOPE NOPE BYE

Seeing as this is my first time with a silver needle PERIOD, I probably shouldn’t have gone as far over the recommended leaf amount and steep time as I did, but I don’t think it suffered for it at all. I’ve been surprised in the past by how forgiving white teas can be.

The dry leaves are full and downy, almost adorable. I want to pet them. The wet leaves don’t unfurl very much; they stay pretty rolled (at least, mine did.)

Going to hold off on commenting about the aroma because I think there might be some influence from the last tea that was in this cup…

The flavor is light. It’s so. Light. It’s the lightest touch of pastel flower. I read “honeysuckle,” and I think that’s right. Bit of soap, but nothing abrasive. What else is there? There’s an airiness in the flavor. I read “hay” and I can taste that too. I don’t really know how to describe it… it’s not perfumey or artificial at all. It’s just very, very, very subtle, to the point where it’s almost a challenge to truly evaluate the flavor. At least, for me. But I can tell I really like it.

Got this from a teafriend as an extra, so I’m taking it they didn’t care much for it, heh. Have been grandpa-ing this one as I do pretty much all my dragonwell and it was alright, had the basic dragonwell flavor, but was also oddly… strongly perfumed tasting. Didn’t care much for that, but it was drinkable given that it was free. I would probably look to buy other dragonwells in my possession if I were going to restock, however, as it either didn’t have as much of the lovely sweet and subtle chestnut of other dragonwells I’ve had, or it was drowned out by that air freshener like aroma taste. Maybe I’ll try experimenting with home roasting it and see if that improves it.

Bought this in a recent purchase to make as iced tea. It is an excellent cold brewed iced tea. It’s got a sweet taste from the raspberries and a sour taste from somewhere. By this I mean a good sour not a bad sour. I would definitely buy this again if I run out.

I steeped this overnight in a 68oz Iced Tea Jug with 8 tsp leaf.

Giant, ridiculously complex federal bid we’re preparing at work
+ ridiculously close deadline
+ an extension that really should be happening but has not been announced yet
+ contract officers have not posted answers to the questions we were allowed to submit up until 2 weeks ago
+ our draft proposal is quite rough right now when it should be much more polished
+ homework
+ life
=
goodbye, sleep. Hello, tea.

OH MY LORD…. how long has it been since I’ve written a tasting note on Steepster? Years? It’s good to be back! (And I’m happy to see the interface is mostly the same!)

After living in a rural neighborhood all my life, I moved to a township in Dayton a few months ago and I still can’t believe things are actually close to me. Although Teavana is hit-or-miss for me, I was so excited to have one within a ten-minute drive from my place that I stopped by to pick up this and another tea.

It’s funny because BDP is my favorite kind of tea overall, but I haven’t managed to get this particular version to be quite satisfying. It’s either not flavorful enough or I brew it a little past its prime. I think I’ve had similar problems with some other Teavana teas in the past. This morning, I can taste a hint of the trademark BDP cocoa/raisin sweetness, but it’s just a little oversteeped. Might have used too many pearls, but with any fewer I can’t get the flavor to come out. Egh.

Honestly, it’s just so nice sitting on the couch in the morning, drinking a cup of tea and writing about it, that I don’t care!

A powerful oolong, with heavy roasted flavors and a darkness to it that is enjoyable. Also got this on firesale on clearance I guess. Sad because I would buy more if it was available.

The tea is pretty to look at, to be sure. There are good sized pieces of blood oranges. Smells good too.

I tried this tea both hot and iced, and noticed that the flavor profiles were very similar. The tartness, as well as the flavors, from the blood orange and the cherries were very noticeable at the beginning of each sip. It concluded with a very strong creamy vanilla aftertaste. The oolong base is somewhat present, but doesn’t add or take away much from the experience of this tea.

When I hear the word sorbet, I tend to think of an icy cold treat. With the creamy aftertaste, this tea reminds me much more of a cross between an orange sherbet and a creamsicle. That’s not a bad thing necessarily, but not what I was hoping for.

There is nothing wrong with this tea. I did find it enjoyable. However, if you are looking for either a blood orange or a creamsicle tea, I think there are better options available, but I wouldn’t stop you from trying this if you wanted to.

This is probably better than I expected. It was on sale for 75% off or I would never have bought it. It’s more sweet than spicy with a definite note of apples.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 minutes.

This is a tasty, mild tasting, slightly astringent white tea. I guess the dominant would be the peach but it’s not real strong. Nice tea though.

I brewed one tea ball in a 12oz mug with 175 degree water for 4 min.

This is a very mild tasting white tea. The pineapple is not real strone. The main note does not seem to taste like pineapple. Not sure what to call the main note. It seems to be naturally sweet. I like it. It is interesting to watch the tea bloom.

Brewed one tea ball in a 12oz glass mug with 175 degree water for 4 min.

A simple, malty tea good for anytime.

My work tea buddy and I tried this together. Our conversation about its taste made another person laugh at us.

“I’m not tasting caramel,” she said. “Here. Try this.”
Me: “I’m totally tasting the caramel.”
Friend: “What? It’s ALL ginger.”
Me: “Yeah. Ginger, too. But a sort of molasses-caramel, too. Like, maple syrup.”
Friend: “I think I’m hyper-sensitive to ginger.”
Other person in room 1: “Are you drinking the same thing?”
Other person in room 2: “It smells like a candle in here.”
Me & friend: “WHAT KIND OF CANDLE?”
Other person in room 2: “A gingerbread cookie?”
Friend: “GINGER. SO MUCH GINGER.”
Me: “Let’s add some almond milk.”
(afterward)
Friend: “THIS TAKES IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL. THE TEA IS ELEVATED.”

In summary, guys, there’s ginger in this. Possibly too much.
And possibly not enough caramel, or any at all.
And you might prefer it with milk.
Depending on who you are.

This is a totally subjective tea.
This tea might prove that we live in the Matrix.

Waitwaitwait, there’s oolong in here?! All I can see are huge fruit chunks. It smells great, steeps a pretty pink, but this to me is purely a fruit infusion. If I want tea, I want it to contain mostly TEA. It’s ok for a cold, afternoon drink. But to me, it’s basically like watered down fruit juice. Another one I got as a gift and wouldn’t buy for myself.

Waitwaitwait, there’s oolong in here?! All I can see are huge fruit chunks. It smells great, steeps a pretty pink, but this to me is purely a fruit infusion. If I want tea, I want it to contain mostly TEA. It’s ok for a cold, afternoon drink. But to me, it’s basically like watered down fruit juice. Another one I got as a gift and wouldn’t buy for myself.

This was one of the first teas I ever got from Teavana as a gift. It was before I realized that teas don’t have to always be hot (haha!). I hated this tea at first, but once I realized it was better iced, it became a bit more enjoyable. Still, it is really tart, almost sour. I’m also not a fan of hibiscus so that adds to my initial dislike. It’s not that I hate this tea… I just probably wouldn’t buy it myself.

Was kind of disappointed when I saw it had rose hips in it, since teAvana always overdoes it on the Rosehups but it had a nice flavor. I got it in a sampler set but don’t think I would purchase separately because it’s quite expensive and disappears pretty quickly. Plus you don’t get many resteeps. First time tastes best, second time is meh, and forget about a third time.