goodTea

Delicious, heady rooibos; fruity, wine-like, and almost sweet. It brews a dark liquour with a strong flavor. It is better than most rooibos.

It is especially good with milk. Adding sugar is unnecessary but does not hurt.

It contains no ingredients except rooibos, unlike most grocery store products with “Red Tea” or “Rooibos” in their name. It is one of the few very good teas that you will have a chance of finding at your local supermarket.

The vanilla and almond flavors mask the natural taste of the decaffeinated tea, which remains but is barely perceptible. The tea leaves are mixed with a light powder of vanilla beans and almonds, and this clouds the cup.

The taste of almonds is very strong and might remind you of the smell of the"McCormick Almond Extract" that can be found in the “Baking” aisle of your grocery store. The vanilla flavor is clearly present, but not as strong. The tea is free of bitterness, although it has a dry aftertaste as a result of the added flavoring. Neither bad nor good; heavily flavored.

I haven’t yet been able to try this tea with milk and sugar. I suspect its true virtue lies there.

This tea is decaffeinated by a CO-2 process.

No notes yet.

I found this an unexpectedly weak offering from TeaGschwendner.

This is plain rooibos tea with nothing added — and plain rooibos can be very good. But this rooibus tea has a weak and mild flavor, even when steeped for a long time. It tastes dry and watery. Twinings’ “African Rooibos Red Tea” is much better.

It is unconventional to blend Keemun, a black tea, with Oolong tea, because Oolong steeps better in water that is below boiling.

I prepared this tea with a pre-heated teapot and boiling water, and it turned out to be really good. It is an unusually interesting tea, earthy, sweet and slightly spicy, starting strong and finishing smooth and mellow. It makes a dark orange liquor, does not need to be brewed any longer than three minutes, and has a very appreciable flavor without milk or anything else added. It has no bitterness at all.

A very good tea. Save it for when you have time to drink it slowly and enjoy the flavor.

One of TeaGschwendner’s most expensive offerings, this malty Assam has a complex flavor that borders on the fruity and floral. It is, however, like most Assams, bitter and astringent.

Beware this tea! Strongly sour, bitter, herbaceous, and unpleasant. I get this result no matter whether I steep the tea for one minute or three, no matter whether I use boiling water and a hot teapot or water well below boiling. It is very hard to find a really good decaffeinated tea, but almost all are better than this.

Background: The non-decaffeinated version of “PG Tips” is sold bagged and loose in grocery stores across the U.K. It is known for its dark brew and strong flavor.

It can be found in many supermarkets in the United States, often in the “Ethnic Foods” aisle.

It is very hard to find good decaffeinated tea, and I have never tried a decaffeinated tea as good as typical non-decaffeinated black tea.

Still interested in decaf tea? Look for teas decaffeinated using the CO-2 process, rather than the Ethyl Acetate process. Then brew the tea for a shorter time than you would a regular tea — two minutes and thirty seconds should be your upper limit.

This traditional Lapsang Souchong is made from an Oolong tea — what must be a very good Oolong tea, because its flavor is still distinct and complex despite shining through a veil of smoke. The smokiness is intense, but not quite overwhelming. Think of a campfire made from pine branches. For those who like a real Lapsang Sounchong with a strongly smoky flavor, this tea is very good. But some will prefer a Lapsang Souchong that is not this smoky.

Excellent Darjeeling tea with a light color, very little bitterness, and a powerful and complex flavor. A floral, wine-like tea. Some of the leaves are still greenish; as is true for many Darjeelings, perhaps this tea was not cured for as long as other black teas.

This tea is best served without milk. To do it justice, you should warm the cup or teapot by filling it with boiling water and emptying it — before adding fresh boiling water to make the tea.

I have not been able to find this tea in the United States, although I have found other Twinings offerings such as “Twinings Darjeeling” and “Twinings Ceylon Orange Pekoe,” which are packaged in the same type of tin. I found this “Twinings Vintage Darjeeling” in a grocery store when I was visiting Austria.