Uniq Teas

Good

nice mixing of fruit

Downright aromatic in the bag. Saccharine even, as if vanilla soy milk was already added, with a snicker of lemon from the cardamom. In the cup, the liquor* is so dark that it looks like coffee, and the scent mellows out to a rich, baked goodness. Many chais have a substantial kick at the end from the ginger, but this one was smooth all the way through.

The first taste is a real treat. Although cocooned in silky black tea and clove, the rest of the spices go, “Wait, I’m still here!” There’s a significant clove base, a sort of softness on the tongue, which rides on the ginger. The only hint of cinnamon’s presence is the way it keeps everything smooth and neatly folded together. You get lemon lingering on your lips in the aftertaste–this tea really goes heavy on the cardamom. So much so, in fact, that you’d be better off calling it Black Lemon Chai instead.

Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/04/06/snooty-tea-review-uniq-teas/

Alright, a weird bag-smell. Very off-putting. There was almost an alcoholicness to the fruit, possibly the effect of the dried kiwi. While steeping, however, it smells scrumptious, and all weirdness goes away in the cup as that nutty coconut carries the brighter fruit notes.

As a drink, though? Not much to say for itself. The cherry flavor is dead silent, maybe a tone of kiwi in there, but you really have to dig to seek it out on your tongue. The coconut wins by default, but it isn’t much of a win since the overall drink is just weak, even infused at full-plus strength and steeped for far longer than recommended. The bag-smell returns in the aftertaste, too. Sadly, I wouldn’t even recommend this as a trail mix, which is a true shame because I had high hopes for this tea–two lovely fruits and sweet coconut, what could go wrong?

Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/04/06/snooty-tea-review-uniq-teas/

Definitely didn’t get “mean” from the bag. More like “whiny.”

If you’re looking for another fruity tea, or even a pronounced green, it isn’t this one. It could work if iced, so that the cool flavors of (once again) papaya, and the titular tangerine could develop more. It’s not a tropical punch to the face. Rather, it’s that quiet cousin who’s safe to sit next to at Thanksgiving because they won’t ask about your plans for grad school or the Peace Corps. A comforting tea for those who’ve had bad experiences with greens before–but it’s not going to make you want to go back and start pursuing them.

Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/04/06/snooty-tea-review-uniq-teas/

Caribbean Punch’s base of green rooibus makes this a very light tea, a fun one! “Punch” is apt indeed because that papaya really socks you in the mouth with bright tropical flavor. A tea of sun and beaches where the sand doesn’t get into your buttcrack and is never too hot to walk on. It seems to rely heavily on the papaya, which overpowers all the other flavors, but if you’re looking for a fruit-dominated concoction, then you’ll be satisfied.

Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/04/06/snooty-tea-review-uniq-teas/

I’d call this Pom-uhhhhhhh-granate White.
There was a pronounced candy smell right off the bat, predominantly cherry, which was likely the pomegranate doing that “I’m a dried fruit and smell weird” thing that we’ve gotten with mango before. This scent disintegrates with steeping.

In the cup, the dominant presence here is the white tea itself. Pomegranate comes in as a tang as the edge of the tongue but not a strong player on its own. This show isn’t “Pomegranate: The Musical” but rather “White Tea: The Musical” and you’ll have to open up the playbook to find out which middling part Pomegranate managed to score.

Full review here: http://snooteablog.com/2013/04/06/snooty-tea-review-uniq-teas/

The spice to the white chai remind me of Christmas! As soon as I take a sip it’s just like I’m hit with a taste that reminds me of Christmas when I was a kid…I’m not sure what it is…but man those were the best Christmases, I’m straight into remembering Polly Pocket.

As it cools it becomes stronger and I just kind of feel like I am drinking cologne, like something in there got incredibly woodsy so that’s what I’m getting with the blend of spices and what seems to be the caramel.

So this is a pretty aromatic tea, as you can see. Haha before that point I quite enjoyed it, definitely something that needs to be hot, but I imagine if you just went straight to it being cold it might not be so bad…lukewarm, just nope.

Yummers! See other notes…backlogging a few cups of this from last week!
http://blissfulyogajourney.blogspot.com/2013/02/aaloo-bhaji-fried-potatoes-dressings.html
Check out these fun foods while you are surfing today! The Potatoes were nice with this tea :)

Thanks so much TeaEqualsBliss for allowing me to be the first outside the Sororitea Sisters to try this blend, via the traveling tea box. It certainly sounds like an amazing combination of things. I was guessing on the steep temp and time though, since it’s a white tea but also a chai and black tea. So I probably didn’t steep this one correctly. It all seems to meld together well. It definitely tasted more white tea than black. The steep color looks more like a white tea too. A bit spicy, but not too much caramel or raspberry. I like it though.

Backlog:

I really REALLY like this one. The combination of the strawberry green tea and the genmaicha is a delightful one. The tea is soft and smooth, the strawberry sort of creeps up on you, with the first few sips tasting very little strawberry, but by mid-cup there is a delightful amount of strawberry taste. So sweet and just a little tart. The genmaicha is toasty and deliciously nutty.

Really brilliant blend from my SororiTea Sister, Azzrian! Here is my full-length review of it: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/01/29/nutty-sweet-sororitea-green-tea-from-uniqteas/

Apparently I’ve been drinking a ton of genmaicha blends recently, three in as many days! I am trying out this one thanks to TeaEqualsBliss from our swap, I was looking forward to this especially after the lack of toasty goodness in Love Life.

The strawberry flavor in this is sweet and natural, in fact at first it’s not that apparent at all—the first half of the sip is pure genmaicha, a nice blend though very heavy on the rice. Then at the end, bam, a strong hit of strawberry!

The name of this blend is definitely fitting, a little nutty and a little sweet! Scrumptious and refreshing.

Backlogging a cuppa! Lovely!

TTB A sample #2
A black chai blend, this seems promising….brewing….brewing…..sipping….nice, very drinkable. Caramel notes come through nicely with an almond note at the end. I am drinking this with no additions.

Thanks to the SororiTEA Sisters/Uniq Teas contest for bringing this one to me!

The dry tea is gorgeous in this one… The varieties of tea and the chunky herbal pieces make a beautiful blend! And the tin it came in was very strong and well sealed!

The brewed tea smells really sweet and floral, almost syrupy… I would love to have a fragrance oil like it! The chai spices are there, but somewhat of a background flavor, since there are two other teas blended with it. The chai itself seems heavier in cinnamon/ginger, and I think a bit more cardamom would really tie this blend together, and in the future I may add a pod or two.

Overall, I really like this blend! Its definitely a sipper, and one of the only teas I take a giant sniff of with every sip.

Full Review on http://sororiteasisters.com/on the 23rd but here are the snippits:

Sororitea’s Tri Pi Chai from UniqTeas is really something different when it comes to a chai tea.

The raspberry and caramel seem to give more of a sweet, yet fresh backdrop and do not drown out the tea leaf itself.

The raspberry and caramel seem to give more of a sweet, yet fresh backdrop and do not drown out the tea leaf itself. I seem to taste the raspberry’s fresh tartness and liveliness more than the caramel which to me just seems to make the cup creamy more than flavored, yet adds to the sweetness which is nice.

This is really tasty!

I like that the white tea is prominent, and it tastes sweet and creamy but has a delicateness to it. The black tea is there, but not overwhelming. I would liken it to a resteeped black … what you might taste if you resteep black tea leaves twice … the flavor is still there but a bit paler than what you’d experience with that first infusion.

I really like how all the components of this blend come together in the cup. It’s a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet, a little bit tart, and a whole lot of tasty! Watch for my full-length review of this on SororiTea Sisters, it will be published on the 14th.

Check out my full review on http://sororiteasisters.com/ on the 8th but for now here are my snippits:

Nutty & Sweet SororiTEA from Uniq Teas is a blend of two of my favorite things, Genmaicha and Strawberries!

If you are looking for a strawberry flavor that is intensely sweet to the point of almost cloying, or an artificial soda pop flavor of strawberry then this tea is not for you. This is something very natural tasting, very refreshing, and of course add to that the genmaicha, which is savory, nutty, green, etc … its just delicious!

I love my blend and now you have a chance to win a custom blend of your own! Check it out here:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/01/04/were-back-with-another-giveaway/

This is Azzrian’s Blend over at Uniq and I think it’s just great! I’m having a cup now but will review more down the road. My favorite part of this is the flavor combo of the strawberry AND genmaicha! Excellent idea and perfect ratios!

As you can see from my last few posts I am working on replacing the ‘lost’ Traveling Box B. I figured I would throw this into the mix as I have a large tin from Uniq Teas and wanted other to try their service as well as some flavors inspired by the Sororitea Sisters!

I’m also having a cup of this now.

I found a perfectly rolled BALL of Caramel in this cups-worth! I gave it a little gnaw prior to infusing. It was lovely.

This time around it’s a bit different from my first attempt with this blend and that is what I love about it! It morphs! I will say the random bunch of loose leaf that poured into the sealed bag for the Box B batch seems to have more black tea than my last cup and this cup have so I’m interested in seeing how people put tasting notes for them.

This smells like Crusty Caramel Spice. It’s different and spicy yet dessert like to the nose.

As I sip I could first taste the white tea and then most of the other ingredients. My 2nd sip I could taste The White Tea with the Spices and the Caramel. The Raspberry comes out to play in the aftertaste and lingers and I really like that about this cup! As it cools at room temp for a while I can taste the savory vegetal notes and subtle floral flavors come out as well.

YUM! I’m looking forward to more attempts with this as well as what others have to say about it!

See previous notes as my first attempt was different than this one :)

Again, not rating as it’s a blend I put together.

OK, so I held off on trying this one again until I felt it had some time to cure … and it’s been a little while so I think it’s had the time it needs.

Today, I brewed two cups of this tea … the first, I served straight up with no additions just to see how it turned out after a couple of weeks left to cure. Then I had a latte with this tea, and while it is tasty served straight, it is even better as a latte. The milk brings out the creamy notes of the caramel and the sweet, luscious notes of the almond.

This is really yum. I’m very happy with this!

I plan to review my blend soon. I have been letting it meld for a week or so and can already smell the difference. It is smelling amazing! Can’t wait to try it maybe next week :)

I wanted to log this one because I did drink it but I am going to wait to give it an official tasting note when I can dedicate more time to fully explain. It’s much sturdier than I thought it would be and I DO like it!!!

As LiberTEAs mentioned yesterday with the review of her tea from Uniq – they got in touch with The SororiTEA Sisters who are made up of the two of us and our girl Azzrian to blend a series of 3 custom teas as well as review them!

The Tri Pi Chai was the one I blended thru their wonderful service!
(Therefore I will not rate my own blend)

You can find this blend here
http://www.uniqteas.com/products/sororiteas-tri-pi-chai#ixzz2DRbhkaPT

It’s made up of:
70% White Chai / 15% Caramelicious / 15% Raspberry

I wanted to do a Chai but not a ‘regular’ chai. I’ve always been intrigued by WHITE Chai’s – I can’t really explain why but I like them and like the tinker with them. This was the very first thought I had when I saw that as an option on their site!

But I also wanted both WHITE and BLACK Teas in them. I didn’t want the black tea to over power the white, tho. BUT…I did want to taste both. Most of the other attempts I have tried with the black and white combined you can’t taste the white…so…fingers crossed!

I also wanted this to be just a little sweet and a tad fruity so that is why I went with a little bit of the caramel and raspberry combo-ed offerings!

I wanted to try infusing this a 1 minute or under FIRST so that is what I did.

Here are my findings:

First…the DRY leaf aroma – right from the tin – smells like white tea, gentle spices, raspberries, citrus, a pinch of sugary and I am chalking that up to the caramel, as well as a little woodsy. It has some interesting yin and yang or masculine and feminine type aromas to it. I like how the opposites seem to attract in this!

This blend – at 1 minute or under – infuses to a medium brown color with a neat copper glow.

To the nose – the liquor smells warming, comforting, mellower, and slightly fruity, floral, and woodsy…all at the same time! WOW! How different…but that is what I was HOPING for!!!

Now the taste…

“Oh…WOW!” were the first two words that came out of my mouth! WHITE TEA! YAY! But there was MORE to it!

It has a nice white tea flavor up front that is mellower but still pushing thru and noticeable. The Chai Spices are subtle and I am ok with that! I didn’t want them to over power! The white tea also provides an interesting floral flavor working with the spices or maybe just a tad more than the spices. The Caramel is also hiding out in the background and does contribute an oh-so-small-hint of sweetness to possibly tone down the floral flavor. More importantly – I think the Caramel assists with the texture and gives it a nice creaminess to the middle of the sip. However, as it continues to cool at room temperature I can taste the caramel more and I like it! I also think the black tea working with the caramel works well, here, again, I didn’t want it to overpower the white and I really don’t think it did. YAY! Also as it cools the Raspberry started to come out to play more and it’s really welcoming and fun! It’s just enough to make you say “What’s that? Fruit!?” So, yeah, I guess I just really wanted this to be complex…but I wanted it to be interesting and diverse, but jive in it’s own certain way. Just like a Sorority I guess. So far…I think this reached those things.

I named this Tri Pi Chai for a few reasons! One being…The SororiTEA Sisters are made up of 3 Tea Lovin’ Sista’s…Liberteas, Azzrian, and myself. We are all different but we all love tea and we all work well together. I also named this Tri Pi Chai to do a little Play on Words to work hand-in-hand with SororiTEA Sisters. Also because I used 3 different offerings Uniq Teas offered.

The more I drink this the more I like it and as it cools the flavors dance around and become more youthful and seem to morph at different temperatures…very neat!

I will experiment with this at different temperatures but I am really liking it with a shorter infusion time, so far.

For more information on the Sororitea Sisters and our upcoming contests and Liberteas and Azzrian have been working so hard on – please visit our website – http://sororiteasisters.com

Special THANKS to Uniq Teas for this awesomely-fun opportunity!