Wissotzky Tea

Have had a few cups of this, both hot, and iced, and I got to say I am enjoying it. It has a nice sweet strawberry taste with just a pinch of tartness. It doesn’t need sweetener, thought it does bring out the strawberry more. The only down side is that there is supposed to be cinnamon in here, but I can’t taste it. Darn. Still a great bagged herbal. Thanks Yssah for the tea!!!

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Sweet, fruity, syrupy raspberry, blackberry faint rosehip
After water is first poured: sweet, syrupy berry notes, jammy
At end of steep: sweet, syrupy
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: deep blood red
Staple? Type perhaps, looking into loose leaf next
Preferred time of day: afternoons
Taste:
At first?: berry cough syrup
As it cools?: gets sweeter, syrupy, thick
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, cherry, raspberry, current and lemon, all cloying

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Sweet, fruity
After water is first poured: hints of raspberry
At end of steep: light woody raspberry
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: deep blood red
Staple? Type perhaps, looking into loose leaf next
Preferred time of day: afternoons
Taste:
At first?: sharp, tart,
As it cools?: berry notes open up, blackberry notes surface greatly
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? sweet-tart raspberry notes
would be good chilled

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Jasmine, floral, grassy
After water is first poured: soft jasmine notes
At end of steep: light floral jasmine and grass
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: faint green
Staple? Type yes, would not use brand again, will restock with loose leaf
Preferred time of day: Any
Taste:
At first?: grass with hints of mint, slight harsh close
As it cools?: sour complicated grassy notes
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, with a mellowed grassiness, that bitters as it cools

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: lemony
After water is first poured: lemon fresh, citrus
At end of steep: lemon
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: pale green
Staple? No, will not buy personally
Preferred time of day: before evening
Taste:
At first?: warm, watery lemonade
As it cools?: notes open up, tea is reminiscent of green tea’s answer to sweet tea and lemon
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, lemon zest bitter notes

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: warm, Spicy, peppery cinnamon
Tea liquor:
At beginning of steep (boil) clay brown-red)
Staple? Chai yes, this brand No
Preferred time of day: Afternoon, evening
Taste:
Black (right after being brought to boil)
Aroma: cinnamon, honey
At first: tangy, peppery, sour
Aroma, cinnamon, honey
As it cools ? Bright Cinnamon, light pepper

With 1 cup milk?
(after 2-3 min boil)
Aroma: spiced cream,
At first: creamy harsh cinnamon, pepper close
As it cools? Cinnamon mellows, gets buried in peppery notes

Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? Milk after first notes on flavour
With 1tsp of honey? Extends the creamy texture, lets it linger longer, before the pepper overpowers

Lingers?
With milk: short peppery cream note,
With milk and Honey: notes switch places lengths

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: tart, fruity
After water is first poured: sweet– tart, fruity
At end of steep: mellowed earthy, fruity
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: deep sunset-clay red
Staple? Type, yes, found some loose leaf options to look into for restock
Preferred time of day: any, as needed medicinally
Taste:
At first: warm, earthy floral, tart close
As it cools ? tart notes become more central in the palate, then mellow and blend, slight astringent note surfaces

Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No, but have had with some added sugar, often in summer

Lingers? yes, herby and tart at the back of the throat

Great chilled

An institutional cheap grade of tea bag that is drinkable – no more no less. Like an Earl Grey without the bergamot – a bland, super simple tea

Grassy and refreshing. Generally tasty, but smells a bit like burned wood (even if brewed in lower temperatures).

A one off sample from a friend that I have had for far too long. As far as I can remember I haven’t tried Wissotzky before so this shall be completely new.

Bag: Looked somewhat powdery and smelled strongly of ginger.
Steep: The colour is very yellow with a smell of subtle and fresh lemongrass.

Well while this tastes like lemongrass with a slight spicy ginger kick and that sounds nice I find that this is lacking something. It’s light and slightly spicy but with nothing to ground it…I can’t taste the green tea at all. It tastes like a Chinese remedy instant drink mixture that dissolves in water instead of a tea.

Pop a small sachet of chopped lemongrass and a pinch of ginger root and pour warm water over it and you will basically have this tea. Not very impressed at all and I am certainly not sad I only have one bag. Just not for me.

This comes from the travelling tea box. Thanks to ssajami for a sample!

It’s hard to find info on this tea. ssajami wrote (in the handy tea traveling book) “Local blend of black with safe, lemongrass, and cardamom.” This isn’t the exact same tea, since this doesn’t have lemongrass in it, but I didn’t feel like making a new entry.

This chai intrigued me because I rarely see chai’s with lemongrass in them. It adds a nice flavor but doesn’t overwhelm the chai.

This tea blends also says, "The nomadic Bedouins traditionally drink this tea “strong and sweet,” so it is recommended to leave the tea to steep for at least 5 minutes before removing the bag, then sweeten."

I am a wimp about bitterness, so I probably steeped it closer to 2-3 min (I didn’t have an official timer), but maybe next time I’ll give it a longer steep since that’s the traditional way.

Oh, and if you were wondering what Bedouin refers to (because I didn’t prior to this tasting note), wikipedia knows: “The Bedouin are a part of a predominantly desert-dwelling Arabian ethnic group traditionally divided into tribes, or clans, known in Arabic as.”

$2 for a 20 count box
Imported from Israel.
In individual hermetically sealed foil packages.
This tea will last me a long time.

Reminds me of Lipton’s Green Tea with Honey.

Backlog from yesterday evening. I got home from traveling, and was extremely tired, but as it was early evening and not yet bedtime, I didn’t want to sleep. So, I needed a nice and strong caffinated tea, and quick.

On to the note!

Taste: For some reason, regular black teas, or mixtures kind of like English Breakfast always remind me of honey for some reason. I guess it’s just the bold, slightly sweet taste of tea. This tea delivers a nice, rich taste, and gives a sweet aftertaste. All in all, it was a nice tea, not too plain but not too jazzy.

Backlog from yesterday.

I HAVE BEEN AWAY TOO LONG! I’m sorry, Steepster peeps! It’s funny though, I’ve gained a few followers in my absence. So I guess there’s a plus.

Updates on me: Graduated, which I already put in my last tasting note, but it can’t hurt to repeat it. And now I’m prepping for college and moving into a dorm August 23rd. Still drinking all my bagged teas, so my notes may repeat for a while, but as I go back and re-taste I love or hate those teas more. So far, no hating though. :3

This time around, with this tea I made it in a pot on the stove and actually steamed vanilla soy-milk in the tea after it had steeped well enough, so I was able to fully mix the milk in, and it was—AMAZING. My friend made something like this a while back, which she called a Chai Latte, despite it not being that frothy, but instead of using an actual Chai tea bag, she used regular black tea, and then mixed in the spices. Either way, I guess you could call this a latte, but it’s missing whip cream and a bit more frothiness!

Either way, it was amazingly yummy, and I have finally found a way to properly mix Chai and milk to get the perfect taste.

Backlog from last night. Think I added a note for this a while ago. Either way, i still really love it. It’s very cinnamony and spicy and yummy and I have PERFECTED the cream-to-tea ratio!

And……..that’s it. :-) Lovely tea.

I’m drinking this now, so this review will be very fresh.

To start, I must confess I have not mastered the art of properly warming hot milk and mixing it with chai tea. So I happen to enjoy my chai either with or without cream. Luckily, all the chais I’ve enjoyed are good by themselves. (I’m a grammar nazi, and that sounds wrong? I don’t know though.)

Tasting now. Yum. I adore Chai, and W tea has done it right. It’s got all the wondrous spices of Chai, all mixed together to produce that cinnamony, spicy glory. I haven’t researched the ingredients In Chai to be able to name each one I taste, but the cinnamon is there. It has a rich flavor, and it tingles nicely on the tongue. It’s a warming tea, no doubt. I really love this tea!

Best with a medium amount of sugar, or to your own preference. Cream or no cream, that is the question. I take it either way, so do as you like. It steeps best at the longer end of the scale, and I have yet to over-steep chai. Make a cup, curl up in your favorite spot with a book, and enjoy!

I am re-visiting this one, because I was walking downstairs to make tea, hadn’t decided on what, and the smells in the air were mixing, somehow, someway, to remind me of Earl Grey. And I immediately was like, “I have to have Earl Grey!”

However, this Earl Grey has a twist to it, this time! For my 18th birthday party in April, I had a nice sized tea party, and we went all out. We also had coffee there, for my coffee loving friends (and me, since I can do coffee every once in a while) and my mother bought a lot of coffee creamers, all with a certain flavor. Well, I have been using some in my regular black teas, and they are all great.

But we have some mini Almond Joy creamers, and I put some in this Earl Grey, and OH MY GOOD GRACIOUS IT IS AMAZING!! Of course, you have to like slight almond, and lots of coconut. Best part is, even though the coconut is very strong in this cup (I’m using a teacup, so small oz size, anyway) you can still taste the Earl Grey. It’s a very sweet, smooth mix and I am really happy with it! :-)

I must apologize, Wissotzy Earl Grey. I have re-considered you, and have found with some patience, you aren’t that bad. Upping the rating and changing the note. The other note will remain, to warn of what can happen if you don’t get EG right, but I may drop the rating.

This Earl Grey is very time and temperature sensitive, that hasn’t changed. However, now that I know so much more about properly making tea, everything has changed.

Also, as a side note: I am going back over many of my bagged teas, partially because recently, my tea strainer has been buried beneath lots of dishes and I am too lazy to get it (yes, I know, shame) and I also just want to enjoy all my teas, not just my loose leaf.

Now for the new review:

Smell: It’s not strong in the bag, though steeping it’s there. It’s not fragarent, per say, but more bold and black-tea smelling than bergamot.

Taste: If steeped too long (four or five minutes) this tea becomes very bitter. But I steeped at 3 minutes this time, and found the taste to be a bit strong, but not horrible, and with sugar and cream, everything balanced out very well. It’s not a powerful bergamot taste, but the classic Earl Grey flavor is there, just more bold and black than usual. The cream makes it softer, and I put in enough sugar to give the mouthfeel a slightly (almost) grainy charateristic. (The sugar probably didn’t fully dissolve, but it was alright.)

Over all, this still wasn’t a superb awesome EG, but it wasn’t as bad as before, and I happen to like it enough to finish off the whole box, and I MAY order more in the future. (Especially if I keep experimenting. More notes will tell.)

Oh, yeah, FYI: I used boiling water for this, BUT I know that it could have been better with maybe 180 degrees, give or take. Boiling water, if poured directly over the bag, steeps it almost instantly. But it was still good!

Talk about bitter Bergamot. This tea……….is ok. Maybe alright. I wish I could give it an astounding review because…..I love Wissotzky Tea, and I love Earl Grey. But, unfortunately, this has a very bitter flavor. And the scent was amazing, it had a nice, dark rich color, and it steeped well and EVERYTHING.

And then I taste it and it’s……eh. A little bit more sugar makes it a bit better, and maybe some cream might have helped. I’ll enjoy it enough to finish the box, but I don’t think I’ll be trying this brand of Earl Grey again. sigh It had so much promise!

I haven’t been logging or drinking steadily for days. Backlog from…Tuesday morning? (I GRADUATED!) Or was it yesterday? I forgot. Oh well.

I had forgotten how good this was! It’s very flavorful, with just the right amount of rose without being too much, AND there is a cinnamony/spicy chai background to it. It’s really yummy. I was debating trying it with milk, but didn’t know if the rose would curdle it or not? Either way, great tea.

As you can see by my rating, I really like this tea. The first time I tasted it, I think I either steeped it wrong or sweetened too much or maybe both, and I drank it down fast so the taste wasn’t there. Now, I’m by myself, without any distractions, and I think I prepped it right this time. The taste of this tea is very delicate. The first taste is a light rose flavor, and then the sweet spicyness of chai, though this has been lowered compared to regular chai, to allow for the rose flavoring.

Note: My water temperature slider isn’t working. :( I don’t know what the typical kettle temperature is as far as the kettle SUPER whistling, but if water boils at 212 then maybe something above that? Sorry, unsure on this one.

Before I get into the taste of this tea, I want to talk about the color. This tea…when they say “Blood” orange, they mean it. The color has an orange color, most definitely, but it is red orange, to say the least. Put it in a black cup, and it looks a bit like blood. To avoid that creepy feeling, I’d stick to any other color of china, glass, mug, etc. So all in all, I love the color, minus the vampire scare. XD

Now onto taste: This is an orange lover’s tea. I happen to be an orange lover. :-) It has a VERY strong citrus-y taste, obviously, orange being the major one. You take a sip and you are greeted with a strong sour, which then quickly transforms to a sweet orange flavor. Proper sweetening to taste will change the speed of that transformation, or if there is a sour taste at all. I have just started using Agave Nectar, and about a tablespoon and a half (that’s guessing though, need to go back and measure exactly) gets a nice sweet without overpowering the tangy of the orange. So it’s a sweet-and-sour deal, and if you like orange, you’ll LOVE this tea.