Suzi

So I looked on the SBS Teas website and couldn’t find this tea, and my (admittedly half-assed) attempts to locate a description didn’t turn anything up. Oh well. I mean, the name’s fairly self-explanatory, right? Strawberries and Kiwis. Fairly fruity, I should think.

The dry leaves smell strongly of strawberry.

You know how some teas age better than others? It seems that way in my experience; the tin of jasmine tea I bought in Chinatown tasted the same as the day I bought it when sampled several years later, but my favorite Valentine’s blend from Adagio often loses much of its flavor over the course of a year. This ‘Strawberry Kiwi Tropicana’ falls into the latter category; as I drink it hot and fresh I can’t taste anything remotely kiwi. Heck, I can barely taste the strawberry.

As it cools the fruity flavor becomes a little stronger. It’s strawberry, but a tarter, greener berry. It’s like those orange strawberries that just aren’t ripe yet but pickers hide them at the bottom of your box.

It doesn’t taste bad, it’s just pretty meh. I think that’s simply because the flavor’s never strong. I’d rank this at a ‘weak teabag’ level.

For what it’s worth, the image/ingredients list of this tea mentions that there will be dried peach pieces in the tea, and in my bag of it not a peach bit appears.

This was a very vegetable-like peach tea. By this, I guess I mean that while there is a note that would definitely be peachish, it’s not a sweet tea. It reminds me more of an extremely mild asparagus or broccoli, with a bit of peach juice dribbled on the side.

I haven’t tasted a peach tea like this before, so in a way it’s nice. ‘Peach Oolong’ from SBS Teas doesn’t taste like the syrupy sweet tea you get pre-bottled from the major beverage companies (‘enhanced’ with mountains of high fructose corn syrup) or the lighter, fresher flavor found in Adagio’s blends. Trying new flavors is good, right? But it’s not what I was looking for, either. So I feel somewhat disappointed by that.

I received a teabag of this stuff in a traveling tea box (not the one currently circulating Steepster) and it fills me with dread. As a kid, I never liked bitter melon, and the idea that someone would grind one up and use it for a tisane grosses me out. But, since childhood I have learned to enjoy broccoli and to tolerate squash, so perhaps this won’t be as bad as I fear.

(Note: Supposedly this stuff will help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. Not that mine are abnormal in any way, but I thought I’d mention it. I only have the one teabag so I wouldn’t be able to monitor long term effects, anyway.)

Smells kinda like roasted rice. Hmmm. Unexpected.

Tastes kinda like genmai-cha, but without the green tea. So toasty rice. I can taste the ghost of the melon I so dreaded as a kid, but the dehydration process seems to have tamed it. It’s not nearly as gross as I expected.

That said, it’s not pleasant or tasty, either. It leaves an almost…dusty? aftertaste after I swallow. This isn’t something you drink for the taste, but for the health benefits. But to be honest, if I was worried about my blood sugar I’d find a tastier way to fix it!

This is a very interesting blend of tea. (Tisane to you herbal-free purists.) Every sip seems to reveal a new flavor. My first sip, when the tea is piping hot, is very creamy. The strong almond flavor makes me think of marzipan. It feels very smooth on the tongue.

As the tea cools, the hibiscus in the blend (nearly invisible at the beginning) grows in strength. It’s as if it floats to the surface, for it remains a top note, the tangy tip of the flavor iceberg. The middle notes are chocolate, that lovely almond, and the hint of something fruity. Perhaps the apple or the pear?

Now that the tea is cold, the blood orange’s citrus tang rises to the surface with the ever stronger hibiscus presence. Interesting.

“The base teas are Assam and Keemun; the addition of Chinese Lychee tea…and small amounts of Lapsang offer a hint of smokiness.”

HINT of smokiness my @$$! (I felt bad cussing in my review.)
My quest for lychee once again goes awry. This blend sounded like it had the potential to be very interesting, with the fruitiness of lychee and the other black teas to mitigate the terrifying Lapsang Souchong, but unfortunately the smoky flavor dominates the cup.

This will be jumping into that traveling tea box whenever it finally makes its way to me, for sure!

I drank this last night at PF Chang’s. Normally I don’t bother to log the teas I drink in restaurants, but this oolong was so good that it deserved an honorable mention. I didn’t think to ask for the brand while at the restaurant, but thanks to the magic of Google I was able to track it down.

Revolution Tea uses pyramid-shaped bags for their teas, and the Dragon Eye Oolong is packed full of fruity goodness. I was really impressed with it; normally you can tell right away if a tea is bagged or loose just based on the strength of the flavor, but I had to open up the teapot and confirm visually because it tasted so good.

It was a balanced tea that was quite peachy, with a bit of tartness that I attribute to the apricot. Compared to many peach teas I’ve had, which tend to be super-sweet with an aftertaste of orange rind (several American brands) or cloying, Dragon Eye Oolong had a more adult flavor. More subdued. More smoky?

Anyway, quite good. I plan to buy this one soon.

So I’ve never actually drank an English Breakfast before. Hmm. Well, I suppose I did when I was in London a few years ago and had tea every morning in the hotel dining room. That was certainly breakfast tea, and it was certainly an English breakfast, but was it officially an English breakfast tea on the label? I mean, if you’re in England wouldn’t they just call it breakfast tea anyway?

But I got this teabag in a giftbox of assorted flavors, so I’m trying it out. It’s nice. Kinda generic. Assam is the generic black upon which most flavored teas are built upon, right? I’m so ignorant about the various black tea…

I do tend to like flavored teas above regular black teas, so this tastes very uninteresting and plain to me. If I had honey or sugar I’d mix it in, but I’m at work and I’ve got nothing.

Meh. That’s all I’ve got to say.

A spicy, peppery brew, but slightly sweet. It makes me think of root beer blended with cinnamon, which ain’t much of a surprise since one of the ingredients is sarsaparilla root. It’s not bad. In fact, I suspect my boyfriend would enjoy it quite a bit as he’s a huge root beer fan. There’s also a strong licorice note.

It’s a bagged tea. A bagged tisane, I should say, since there aren’t any tea leaves here.

I’ve got a persistent cough at the moment, so if this could just pull out whatever toxins are causing the cough, that would be just swell!

I received a little package this morning from auraTeas this morning with six little tea samples in it. The first one I picked out to try – the tea that had sparked my interest in the company – was the Formosa Natural Wuhe Honey Black Tea.

This has the smoothest mouthfeel of any tea I’ve ever tasted. It’s amazing – it almost feels silky! There is sweet honey, but it isn’t cloying at all. It’s very delicate, and blends wholly with the black tea. There isn’t a hint of bitterness!

I feel very peaceful and blissed out as I drink this. It’s just so…balanced. I’m definitely going to have to order more – my sample’s already all used up!

So this is hardly an epic, awesome tea (Dynasty teas simply aren’t ever going to appear with such words attached to them) but I just LOVE the name. Chinese Restaurant tea.

Many of the Chinese restaurants around here will serve jasmine tea or oolong tea with your meal…not wishing to take any chances, Dynasty blends a mix of oolong and jasmine with a bit of green tea tossed in for their teabags, and I would swear to you that at least half the restaurants around here (the ones on the cheaper end of the scale) use the Dynasty blend. This leaves me wondering which came first. Did the Dynasty brand base their ‘Chinese Restaurant’ flavor on what Chinese restaurants are serving, or are all these Chinese restaurants serving Dynasty’s tea because the name implies it’s exactly what they should be serving? Chicken or egg?

Anyway, I like it. This is the flavor of tea I was exposed to when I was a child. I grew up on it. It’s a good, strong tea that cuts the grease and tastes great with most kinds of food, so it makes me happy.

Oh, this smells funky as the teabag soaks. Like fish. That’s really a nasty smell for my first cup of the day. I hope it doesn’t taste like fish or I will have one seriously unhappy mouth.

The tea itself isn’t that bad…definitely tastes like dirt but with an almost sweet note. But ugh, that smell! Every time I lift the cup to my lips I am grossed out by it. I’m gonna go dump this out.

(I can’t remember if I’ve had Puerh tea before, but this Stash teabag is NASTY and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone!)

This is my knockout tea for night-time. When I can’t sleep, I just brew a pot up and by the time I’ve finished my first mug I’m groggy and off to bed.

It’s got a strong herbal flavor; I can really taste the mint and the citrusy lemon but beyond that the flavors all blend together. (That and I’ve never tasted most of the ingredients individually so I couldn’t tell you what they taste like, anyway.)

It’s called ‘Psychic’ because this tisane is supposed to open your mind to higher knowledge, or something, but it’s not an effect I’ve noticed. It gives me very lucid, vivid dreams though. That’s pretty cool.

This was the free tea with Lupicia’s December 2009 newsletter. I’ve had it before – it’s one of their annual Christmas blends – and a tin of the decaffeinated Carol currently sits in my tea cupboard. But here I am, thirsty at work, so I might as well use this Carol teabag for a refreshing drink!

The strawberry flavor is pretty strong. Lupicia teas tend to be very fruity and heavily perfumed; Carol is no exception. When brewed I don’t really taste much vanilla, but the strawberry is rather creamy and I assume that’s the influence of the vanilla? Maybe?

I’m debating whether I want to buy a tin of the loose tea because the tin is so cute. Is that a silly reason to buy tea?

Every few weeks I’ll spot this in my tea cupboard and think, “That was rather expensive, I’d better give it a go and see if I can prepare it better this time.”

It never works. It’s always a bitter tea, no matter how carefully I watch the clock and fuss with the temperature. I tried following the instructions suggested by johnquix, two minutes @ 175 degree, and still bitter. Ugh. I really ought to swap this one away.

Last night my boyfriend’s aunt put a box of this tea in my Christmas stocking. I was so touched that she actually remembered that I like tea :-p Maybe she just asked my boyfriend behind my back, but it was still a great choice!

So I don’t have a refined tongue that can tell the difference between one sencha or another, but this is definitely the best I’ve had in a tea bag form. The flavor is strong with only a single minute’s steep, which is fantastic. It’s green and vegetal, with that fabulous roasted grass flavor. (Well, that’s the best way I can think to describe green tea to other people :-p ) I imagine drinking this tea with milk and I think it’d taste like green tea ice cream. If I had some milk, I’d try that out right now.

It’s really neat to see how the tea leaves expanded in the pyramid bag. When it was dry, the little leaves barely filled a third of the bag’s space. Now, after soaking for a minute, they’re pushing against the walls of the bag on all sides. There’s a lot of little fannings, but there’s some nice big leaves too. Pyramid bags are so cool – you can see all the action clearly!

I mean, loose leaves should always be the way to go, but for convenience it’s hard to argue with a teabag, and this World Market store brand ain’t half bad.

I’m trying to find this tea on Stash’s website with little luck. I wonder if it’s been discontinued.

I got this teabag in a swap, I believe, and only have the one so this is my only shot to see how the tea measures up. So, of course, the first thing I do is oversteep it. Champagne Oolong is described on the tea bag as a ‘pale golden color reminiscent of fine champagne’ but if I were to pick a color I’d say my tea is more of an amber. Oops. I didn’t even leave the tea in the cup too long, no more than 7-8 minutes? The temperature may have been off, I suppose…

I definitely get a fruity note from this tea. It makes me think of a very faint cherry on the first taste, but as I drink more of this blend I’m refining that opinion to something more along the line of a muscat grape. The flavor left on the tongue after swallowing is more of a vegetal/grassy note.

This is a nice tea. I mean, even for a bagged tea it’s got a lot of flavor. (Perhaps because it’s been oversteeped. >_s waaaaay better than the usual junk Bigelow tea bags I find at work.

My pal that works at Teavana (imabandgeek4eva) picked up a bag of Tung Ting Jade Oolong Tea for me when it was discontinued, which was pretty cool! The very first time I used the leaves, I put a spoonful of little round rolled leaves in my teapot and thought “Gee, there’s no way those little tiny things are going to flavor a whole pot!” and added another scoop or two. Now, if you’ve never had Tung Ting then you’ll be tempted to do the same when you try this – but don’t! The leaves unfurl and expand like crazy in hot water, so when I peeped into my teapot after a few minutes the entire thing was full of leaves and completely oversteeped! >_< Well, live and learn, live and learn…

So when I brewed the tea today, I was careful to use a more reasonable amount of leaves, and I may have gone a little too light because the flavor’s not very strong today. But then, I also took the leaves out after 5-6 minutes instead of steeping for hours and hours, as I sometimes do, so I think this is closer to the “proper” flavor of the tea. It’s light and rather vegetal. It’s nice, but one of the reasons it has taken me so long to log it is because it’s also rather bland/neutral and difficult to describe.

A nice tea. Rather nice with a drop or two of lemon juice, which most oolong teas (in my experience) are not.

It tastes like ass.
That’s my initial reaction here.

I mean, I’m not expecting greatness here. This is from the same company that brings you “Chinese Restaurant Tea,” a delightful name for a blend that is pretty decent, actually. But this tastes pretty bad. Very grassy, but not in a good way. This is like the scraps of grass that get blown on the sidewalk by the mower and get trodden on by people until they’re blobby little green smudges on the concrete. Also left out in the sun too long. Yucky and slightly rotten.

I’ve had genmai cha tea before, and it tasted OK, but in this incarnation it’s pretty nasty. This is a teabag, FYI. It was pretty cheap. And it turns out that there’s a reason for that.

GROSS!

I just LOVE this tea! The combination of strawberry and mint is so refreshing and light. It’s a perfect iced tea, which is how I usually get it made by Teavana’s barista.

Several of my coworkers have commented after drinking this tea it helped ‘clean things out and purge the system’ but this was usually only after drinking 2-3 cups. I’ve never had any noticeable effects on my food processing, but then I’ve never drank that much in a single day, either.

A sweet, nutty oolong. I never really picked up on the fruitiness of the blend that Teavana claims is present, but then Teavana also claims this will help me diet ‘naturally’ and I haven’t seen any evidence of that, either. Crazy ol’ Teavana.

When I used to order this at Teavana’s drink bar, I’d always get it slightly sweetened because the barista had a tendency to scorch the leaves. Now, when I drink it at home, it never needs any additives. It also oversteeps well, for those of us with a tendency to abandon our tea leaves for extended periods of time. The flavor gets richer and deeper but never overwhelming.

This is such a lovely ice tea. I mean, it’s practically melon juice – I can barely taste the tea in this – but mix it up with some milk and tapioca pearls and it is a perfect summer drink!

Right now, in the middle of November, it’s still quite nice when it is hot and milkless. Today I totally oversteeped it – I put the tea leaves in, went upstairs to watch a documentary about Haunted Savannah, and came running down the steps half an hour later to save my tea – and it tastes fine. It’s as honeydew-sweet as ever, with just the slightest bitterness from the overheated white tea leaves, but that only serves to help balance the flavor even more. Yum yum yum, it’s like a taste of summer.

So honestly? Guanabana tastes exactly like what it sounds like – the marriage of guava and banana. It’s a tropical, fruity black tea. It’s also rather sensitive. When I steeped the leaves for five minutes, the tea had a nice balance and pleasant flavor. When I steeped the leaves closer to ten minutes (webcomics can be so distracting) this cloying musky note that I associate with guavas overwhelmed the brew.

Trivia fact: “Guanabana” is also known by the name “soursop,” but there’s nothing sour in the flavor so I’m betting that’s why Adagio went the other route.

When steeped for the proper amount of time, I could taste the creamy banana-like notes blended with a bright pineapple – sweet and slightly tart – and a dab of that guava flavor. (Y’know what sucks? I’m trying to think of words to describe the flavor of guava but I’m coming up with nothing besides ‘sweet’ ‘tropical’ and ‘musky.’ Help?)

It’s quite lovely, but finicky, which is a problem for me. I am a very careless brewer.

Bleagh! Ugh! YUCK!

I don’t know what I did wrong but this is just nasty. Blackcurrant Tea smells about right – fruity and rich – but it tastes AWFUL. I can’t even describe the yuck, except that I don’t want any more of it.

I can’t believe I’m taking another sip, but I’m trying to figure out why I think it’s so nasty. It just tastes bad. Almost sour and earthy. It honestly makes me think of vomit. Maybe that’s just my body telling me what it wants to do if I don’t stop drinking it.

At any rate, ugh. I don’t like this tea at all!

For a bagged supermarket tea this is not bad. It has a strong peach scent when brewing. The drink itself is mild. I’d compare it to a bottled Snapple Peach Tea. The black tea element is there, neutralizing what would otherwise be a heavy, syrup-like sweetness, but it is not the dominant flavor.

I’m drinking this hot, but I think it would work better as an iced tea. It’s nice.

To borrow some phrasing from my work, if this tea were a gift it would not be a “WOW AMAZING I’LL REMEMBER THIS FOREVER” gift, but it would be a “nice gesture.”

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Edit to add: As this tea is cooling down, it’s getting a rather dusty note in the aftertaste. It’s weird and kinda gross. D: Knockin’ that rating waaaaaaay down!