cteresa

I was expecting to lurve Marco Polo. I didn´t – very nice and our relationship might develop and grow, but no love at first sip. I was expecting to not particularly like Thé sur le Nil, it has lemongrass(? erva príncipe?), which I do not like. And it´s not subtle about that lemongrass, it is the main taste note to me, though there are also lemons and I thought (without any foundations since nobody mentions it) a chamomile-y sort of flavour.

But I did love this Thé sur le Nil, and left me with a very nice inner glow that nice teas leave you with. I still do not like citronella, but here it works, even for me. Really lovely and I am definetely looking to buy.

I had this with a slice of lemon meringue pie, and the combination is highly recommended.

This will probably make a fabulous iced tea.

I was expecting somebody taller, I think. More intense maybe. It was lovely the strawberry smelt natural and delicious but it felt a little bit short of the OMG-ness I expected.

Still I mean to buy some to brew at home and experiment with dosage. And yes, it is lovely, even if it did not awed me.

I am really really liking this. The twinings mixed teabag box now made me discover two of my favorite, staple teas (fyi, the other being lady grey).

This is a pretty “different” kind of black tea. It is supposedly mixed with green and oolong, and it does show something of that. It is lovely.

This is very british, but in a very delicate way. It is much lighter and delicate than most breakfast mixes. The official blurb compares its taste to roasted chestnuts – I would never have gotten there myself, but now I read it, it is a very good comparison. I had some teabags from a mixed Twinings box and this is the last, I am going to look for it, bagged (I am heretical, I do not mind that much, depending of course on age and circumstances) or loose.

I usually do not put sugar or milk (or anything dairy) on tea, but this is absolutely delicious with milk.

I do not like this at all. It is theoretically green tea “orient” mix. The packaging has star anise on it, and they are right, it tastes overpoweringly of anise ( not sure what kind) and a liquorice type of smell. I hate liquorice. After the liquorice there is mint (?) in a toothpasty way, too strong and too artificial and leaving a toothpasty after-tasting clean feeling on the mouth (I like that for toothpaste, for green tea no). Maybe some cinnamon as well. Green tea taste almost unnoticeable. I really did not like it.

PS – about brewing temperature, the packaging says to use boiling, even if it´s green. Well, I took their word for it, but I think no brewing temperature or steeping times could make this palatable for me.

This is definitely in your face flavoured tea – but a nice one. Ceylon tea, very nice base, strong but not bitter or tanninic and a lot of flavour. The flavouring does not seem too artificial to my tastebuds, though I am on expert on cranberry. It reminded me in strength and character of some russian brand (no idea which, packaging was in Cyrillic) flavoured teas, though perhaps this was nicer.

I am upgrading the rating to topmost. This is definetely my favorite rooibos based tea ever, so whatever, just as perfect as anything I ever had. Brewed very hot, with just a smidgeon too much tea, this tea makes me very happy indeed, and for hours.

Very nice, though I think I must brew it with more tea to really taste it.

A strange one, not quite what i was expecting. Though strange at first sip, I was definetely converted by the end of the cup. The cherries I suspect (and maybe the goji berries as well) add some texture to it. Otherwise a very light and delicate flavoured black tea.

Having this again, and I think this deserves to be brewed with non-tap water. It is as lovely as the other times I had it. It is a very ceylonish tea, though perhaps less strong than the usual. It tastes very coppery to me, and also malt-y – I like those! very orangeish in color. Not very tanninic, even when it brews slightly too long.

A bit meh, but not bad. A lot of flavour, tea not too noticeable. Flavour seems artificial-ish to me, but I am not an expert on cranberry!

I find red fruits black tea hard to find. Or if not hard to find exactly, hard to find one which is just right. They are either too strongly scented or not enough, too artificial or too diffident, the tea itself too strong or too weak. But this is as close as I have found yet to a good red fruit black tea, it´s perfectly balanced to my taste and not too strong, not too weak.

This has been tempting me for a while, even if I really do not trust this brand – it´s actually a supermarket´s own brand, which is not a problem except I do not usually like this supermarket´s own brands. But almond rooibos, pretty packaging and quite affordable I had to try it.

Sadly it´s a no-go for me. The almonds were there, visible but the taste is not noticeable. It tastes mostly of orange peel , too much of orange peel to my taste, and cardamom. Perhaps because so much of this tea is flavourings and other ingredients, the rooibos is not intense and hardy noticeable. But at the dosage i used the cardamom is piquant and almost overpowering, not sure I could dose this differently to bring out the rooibos.

Way too much wrong stuff going on this. For a rooibos with some almond done right (even if it does have hibiscus, in a miraculously subtle ammount) try Yumchaa´s Adventure.

This is indeed exquisite, and well worth taking extra care with brewing it just right – I would say mineral or filtered water is a must for this tea.

It might be the most bashful, diffident “oh, who me” flavoured tea I ever tasted – in a good way. The osmanthus is definitely there, by visual verification and scent before brewing, but it melds into just delicate tea-ness in the flavour. This is a wonderful very delicate tea. I was expecting something more like the standardish jasmine (green) tea, but it is nothing like any jasmine green tea I ever had.

I got to check about stocking another box of this, while the reseller has it on stock.

wow, this is very very french. Very very delicate and lightly flavoured, and I brew it wrong (tap water, maybe overdiluted and maybe too hot) but it´s very light and delicate in an exquisite way.

I have a major weakness for lapsang souchong. And the Twinings one, while maybe arguably not the best I ever had, is a rather canonical LS, and a comfort tea for me. Yes, it is smoky, but from somebody who hates cigarette smoke, it´s a very different type of smoke.

From experience, I do not think this is too high in caffeine.

From experience as well, and I know this is so heretical, i think I prefer the Twinings tea bags for this over the loose leaf. Perhaps I undermeasure, or the loose leaf has aged too much, or the contents of the british-market teabags are better than the continental tin caddy, but this is one of those instances I think the teabags (the black british no-string teabags) do taste more and better than the loose leaf.

It is certainly a different (to me) kind of tea, but this is one taste I might just adquire. Like it a lot, though to my palate I like it better when done with hotter water than the 70C recommended.

This is sort of a dud, I expected something different – more rose, more flavoured. As it is, it smells very nice, though not rose, a lychee like smell instead, not at all english! Pretty dried rose petals scattered round. It has some flavour, but it is a bit meh as a tea.

I overbrew this while doing some and NOT A GOOD IDEA. It´s still drinkable and interesting, but it gets a silty sort of flavour.

Like drinking tea flavoured with lemon cleaning product.

Very very artificial tasting. Just no.

And I think it contaminated the pot and mug for the next tea batch. urgh.

A nice green tea. The “other” flavours are not too pronounced. A warning, despite the name I do not think, from previous experiences, that this is low in caffeine!

a cherry tea, with a bits of other fruits, some apple for sweetness and some unexpected coconut which goes with the rest much better than i would have expected. Not bitter, and very natural, light taste. Supposedly kiwi which I could not detect, but I brew just one cup, maybe my spoonfuls contained no piece of it. No hibiscus or spices at all. Very lovely.

And the infused cherries on strainer are quite delicious!

Nope, not that Marco Polo, or even an “hommage”.

Red tea IMO is rooibos, but this is absolutely not rooibos but real tea. From description, twice fermented, I think this is a pu-erh, a type of tea of which I have drank very little (so far!). This is flavoured with red pepper, pink pepper and cardamom, and it is absolutely lovely. It is spicy, but not too hot (piquant) and the spice is very well balanced, none of the peppers or the cardamom rules. And it´s very tea-ey, earthy and deep, but not too much. If this is pu-erh, I am converted.

This has serious favorite potential (Obrigada P!). It has a middle weight body (Ok, light by british standards, deep by French standards maybe), marvelously fragrant, and tannins are just right for me.

any theories on what the secret blend is? I would swear there is some citrus on it, though it does not sound at all like some secret tibetan ingredient.