MJ

This is the second time I’ve gone “Oh, what the hell” and bought tea for myself for Valentine’s Day, and it seems to work out splendidly every time. That said, I don’t want to imply for a second that this is any degree of subtle. It’s EXTREMELY rose. Like, straight up, if you don’t like rose, you will HATE this, it’s basically just like drinking a bouquet of them.

What makes me like it so much is that the chocolate part actually is subtle, and manages to accomplish “subtle but definitely present” rather than “the description calls it subtle but what that actually means is I can’t flipping taste it at all”. The chocolate comes in right after the rose is done kicking you in the tongue and makes the whole experience a lot better by being muted and sweet and cocoa-y and blending with the rose extremely well.

Eh.
Basically, this is the latest in Teavana’s streak of “Well, it’s okay, but it really could have been better”. Very caramely and chocolatey, but suffers from the same problem as Dokudami Umami did, where there’s something really lacking and watery about it. Also, there’s no sea salt in this. Teavana is not good at naming its teas after what they taste like.

I like the spiciness of the peppercorn and the sweet savoriness of the cocoa and caramel. I just wanted more from this, and it didn’t deliver.

This must be why people like oolongs! My initial affair with Kwan Yin left me really surprised when it seemed like every other oolong just tasted like wood, nothing, or nothing with a clean aftertaste of wood, but Da Hong Pao is quite tasty. It’s definitely got the clean, woodsy taste characteristic of oolong, but with more…I don’t know, flavor to it? It’s fuller and fruitier than, say, formosa oolong, and I like it infinitely better. There’s also a sort of sweetness to it that I didn’t really get from other non-flavored oolongs. I am a fan.

No notes yet.

WOO YEAH FREE SHIPPING! WOO YEAH GIFT CARD!

I like this, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for. First of all, there’s very little caramel in it, to the point where I was like “Really? You put caramel in the name?”. It mostly tastes to me like apples, cinnamon, and almonds; I’m not sure where the “Amaretti” comes from if they already have “Almond” in the name. For a delicious tea, its name sure is a liar. That aside, though, it’s pretty good. Very cinnamon-apple, neither of which I am really a fan of on their own, but I’m not going to judge Teavana for that (or, I guess, DavidsTea, since that’s where everyone’s saying the recipe was ripped off from) since that’s pretty much just what the blend was going for. It’s a very winter-holiday tea. The only thing I don’t like about it is the beetroot. I think I had another Teavana blend with beetroot in it, and just…I don’t like it in tea, it’s so loud and sour and even if it plays well with other ingredients, that sucks if the other ingredients are what you’re drinking the damn tea for.

In conclusion, not perfect but tasty! Probably won’t buy it again, but what I have is going fast.

I think I like black tea stronger than it should be. The vanilla and strawberry are very light and kind of overwhelmed, but I think this is because I steeped it a little too long. It’s a very tasty spring tea especially, I think, though it’s good whenever. The strawberry gives it this little bit of fruity sweetness that I enjoy especially. Probably not something I’ll desperately need again in the future, but I will thoroughly enjoy what I have!

Hey, everyone, it’s been a while!

So it turns out that when you study abroad in Japan, you have a hard time coming home without mountains of tea. :D This is one of the 3 I picked up. It’s kind of generic-tasting, but there’s this fruity-honey aftertaste that I really love—I only got it about 2 months ago and I’m nearly out already!

Bought this because I am in college and I could always use a tea that purports to aid me in studying. Alas, it did not. I’m also starting to think I don’t know how to brew oolong correctly, because Kwan Yin is excellent but most other oolongs I’ve had just kind of taste like wood to me, and this is no exception. It’s tasty and a very clean-tasting tea, and it makes a surprisingly great morning tea for not being that strong, but it doesn’t really stand out to me at all.

I’m just not really a fan of grapefruit. I love Lupicia’s springy green teas, so when I got this as a sample, I saved it to try some time around now, but unfortunately the green tea being delicious doesn’t balance out the fact that the grapefruit tastes like grapefruit. Objectively good, for a grapefruit green tea, but not my thing.

Interesting story about this tea.
The first time I ever had houjicha, it was one of those Yamamotoyama teabags at a sushi restaurant near my college. I had no idea how long to steep it, but I fell in love with the result of the union of this one tea bag with one cup of water out of the hot side of the cooler. My immediate reaction was “I need this in loose-leaf, DUH”, so I snagged a tin of this while visiting a friend in Oklahoma. I brewed it perfectly according to the instructions on the back. It tasted…not like the houjicha I knew and loved. No nutty caramel goodness, only that woody taste I know from oolong and most decidedly am not a fan of.
Approximately five billion fine-tuned brewings later, ladies and gentlemen, I have reached HOUJICHA EQUILIBRIUM, and I now have sweet toasted goodness at my beck and call. Bravo, Republic of Tea.

Wow, this was so good! I don’t even know what osmanthus smells like and I was a little nervous about the prospect of tasting it without even that reference point, but I had absolutely nothing to worry about and ultimately I wish I had more of this than just a sample. The initial flavor didn’t wow me that much—I mean, it was good; it’s a light and refreshing oolong with a clean taste, but it didn’t really stand out, but then this gorgeous full smooth aftertaste that I’ve never had from an oolong before showed up and now I wish I could make my one-teabag sample last longer. I don’t know if I’m going to buy more right away, but I’m definitely considering doing so in the future.

The more I try of Lupicia’s stuff, the more excited I get about the idea that I might be able to visit their store when I study abroad this summer. This is really tasty, and I think because of the combination of flavors it would make a really good cold-weather or warm-weather tea (I think of blackcurrant as a winter thing but blueberry as a spring thing). It’s got kind of a colder-weather feel to it, but it’s really light and springy, and it does the thing that tea manages to do sometimes where it tricks me into liking a flavor I normally hate—in this case blueberry. So sad I’m out of samples now!

I like this a lot! It’s got that great floraly-savory Chinese green tea smell and a delicious light taste. I’m not sure Dragonwell’s going to be one of my favorites, but it’s a good standard green tea and I’m glad I have a bag in case I get a hankering for it.

Oh my GOD.

TEA IS OVER. EVERYONE GO HOME. THIS HAS WON.

I literally never want to be without this again. This was the other of the Dynamic Duo of teas (the other one being Brioche) that I received for Christmas and fell immediately in love with upon trying. First of all, I can tell it tastes different from other senchas, which is a step for me since Lupicia’s other senchas that I’ve had (Chiran and Kanaya ♥♥♥) tasted pretty much the same. Second of all, this being said, I am not kidding when I say this is the best Japanese green tea I have ever tasted. Yes, I have had Gyokuro. I have also had Teavana’s Gyokuro Genmaicha, which was basically two of my favorite things married to each other, and THIS IS STILL BETTER.

aaaaaaah I have to stop drinking this long enough to review it. Okay.

Starts off delicate and nice like any other sencha, but the astringent kick hits you sooner rather than waiting until the tea hits the back of your mouth. Also, the aftertaste doesn’t taste so much like nori. Instead, something happens between when the smoothness turns vegetal and when the astringency hits, and it’s the most divine, warm, savory, almost marine note that I have EVER tasted. I want to note that this is kind of subtle if you drink this on its own, but if you’re eating—I had this with sushi the first time—that specific salty savory taste will punch you in the face and make the world taste like God for about half a second.

This is the savoriness I wanted from Dokudami Umami that I didn’t get. I think I might die if I run out of this, but at least I know where to get more. Lupicia is, at this point, trying to usurp ZenTea’s place in my heart between White Christmas and this.

It pairs gloriously with homework on a foggy morning, and also everything else.

This is so lovely! I’d been looking forward to trying it for a while and it absolutely lived up to what i was hoping for. It legitimately smells like cookies in the tin and in the cup, and to be honest? It tastes like it too. I have no idea how this tea was accomplished. I want to give every single award to whoever said “You know what’s not fair? It’s the 21st century, and we’re still not capable of drinking a pastry. Let’s fix that!” I have to assume this was the intent. It tastes like delicious dessert bread or cookies or something, with an almondy-cinnamon aftertaste, which I note because I normally really don’t like cinnamon but this tea blends it so well that I don’t mind.

It’s a great autumn-winter tea, I think, and I will DEFINITELY buy it again.

Picked this up while visiting a lovely friend in Oklahoma!

My quest for the perfect morning tea is ongoing, but so far nothing’s beaten Monk’s Blend. This is not an exception. It’s…huh. To be honest, I think I might just need to brew more tea leaves, because I’m using one teaspoon per cup and it tastes pretty much like water with a slightly savory coffee aftertaste. I might try 2 teaspoons per cup, as per the suggestion of the person who used 2 tea bags per cup. In the meantime, though…I’ll be keeping it to wake myself up with the yerba mate, but I am not impressed.

What is it about Lupicia’s fruit teas that my first reaction is always “Oh this is so cute”? That’s not even an adjective you can use to describe food, but seriously, this is adorable. It’s very light, just a tiny bit astringent, and then the aftertaste is pretty much what I imagine might happen if you ate Hawaii—all these summery fruits everywhere!

This was a free sample with my Christmas tea, but I’m actually wondering if I shouldn’t get more for this spring/summer. I’m glad I got to try it! It brightened up a dismal day and did its job well.

I’m not really sure I should be reviewing this now—it’s sort of my post-surgery consolation tea, and I’m a little congested, so I’m not sure I’m tasting this right, but it’s been such a good little tea that I can’t really help giving it some props.

The love I’ve developed for sweet-flavored black teas, which I still blame on Zen Tea ( ♥ ), pretty much ensured that I wouldn’t be able to pass up an apricot and white chocolate black tea, especially being the sucker I am for seasonal teas now. And it did not disappoint at all! This is such a wonderful tea. Again, I don’t think I’m tasting this right, but I’m loving what I do taste—the black tea is great, the apricot really pops out and goes a lot better with the black tea than I thought it would, and what I can taste of the white chocolate is sweet and subtle and accentuates the other two perfectly.

Happy winter, everyone!

This is less of a tasting note and more of a CAPTAIN’S LOG, because i am venturing boldly into this variety of Dragonwell with no idea how to make it because I can’t read Chinese. Without further ado…

Attempt #1 (11/29/11) – 180F, 4 minutes.
Hahaha oh my god, this tea is a ride. First thing that happens when I take a sip is HOLY SHIT FLOWERS IN MY NOSTRILS. Then a weird, sort of musty-sweet flavor that turns into this delicate astringency at the back of my tongue. This stays for about two seconds and then everything turns into a slightly louder version of That Clean Chinese Green Taste. I am…I mean, it’s good, but I’m more distracted by how it manages to taste like four things.

This is a really pleasant surprise in more ways than one. First of all, I didn’t buy it—I’m staying with the same friend that hooked me up with the green tea from Charlotte, and she made me this before bed like a lovely person. Second of all, I have really, really not had pleasant experiences with Tazo lately—I keep having it made for me by people who just don’t know how to make tea and somehow get everything to taste like cardboard, so I was sort of expecting this to be similar. Turns out I just needed to taste it made by someone who actually knows how tea functions.

It has no astringency. It has that same kind of delicacy that stuff like Misty Mountain and Yunnan Emerald Buds had, except there’s no kick to it, it’s just super mellow and smooth and sweet, and I absolutely LOVE it—I know it seems not to be a favorite, from reading the other reviews, so I’ll note that it was made a little strong? Maybe that’s how it was different? I don’t know, but I love it and will probably attempt to get my hands on some in the future, as good bagged tea is a little hard to come by.

I have no idea how this tea is so good. It’s a bagged tea that I picked up beside the register at the wonderful little sushi restaurant I frequent at college. I’d never had houjicha and I figured I’d give it a try, having absolutely no idea how long to steep it or what temperature of water to use. I ended up just leaving it in for about 5 minutes (which i guess is the Standard Time You Leave Tea In When You Don’t Know How Long To Steep It) in water from the hot side of the cooler. I pretty much expected it to be disgusting.

This might actually be my favorite tea. Hands down, I shit you not. It’s so delicious. It has the same clean, woodsy taste that an oolong has, but not so overpowering, and balanced really really nicely with this comfortable, cozy sweetness that almost reminds me of vanilla.

If Houjicha is this good out of a bag for five minutes in a styrofoam cup of hot-side cooler water, I cannot WAIT to try making it properly.

I just can’t decide how I feel about this. It’s a really good tea, but I think I like the aftertaste better than the actual taste? When I’m actually drinking it, it tastes kind of like wood, but it smells great and the aftertaste is really clean and kind of earthy-sweet. I’m also not getting an incredible amount of flavor out of it, I think I’m going to try steeping it just a liiiiiiittle bit longer and see what that does for it next time—it’s like either I oversteep it and it tastes like a tree, or I understeep it and it tastes like nothing, but really clean nice nothing. I think as I experiment with this more, I’ll like it more.

Most of what I can taste in this tea involves strawberries and spearmint. There’s some chocolate there, too, if you pay attention and do the taste equivalent of squinting, but I think the other two kind of sweep it away. I’d be careful not to oversteep it, because if you do, there’s almost too much flavor in this blend? And it’s on the edge of that even when you do it right. It’s really, REALLY good, an excellent anytime black tea with a lot of great elements to it, but if it’s overdone, it tries to make them equally strong and ends up being overworked. If you steep it for the right time, though, it’s a great blend and, in my opinion, a wonderful tribute.

Zen Tea has given me the biggest weakness for black teas that taste like dessert—first there was the Creme Brulee, and now this. It’s a little strong, but that’s a pretty okay quality to have in a tea that smells like caramel and tastes like chocolate (there’s a mostly-caramely, kind of chocolatey aftertaste). It’s a really…comfortable tea, like something you just want to make a pot of while you snuggle up and read a book or spend a whole night doing a paper or something. I might try it at a slightly shorter time, but other than that, it’s very sweet and yummy.