kaybee

While this tea was steeping, it certainly smelled like perfume. No surprises, then, when it turned out to taste like perfume. None of the bergmont flavor from the earl grey was present. As far as I could taste, I was drinking lavender tea and not lavender earl grey. Not really what I expected…

This was my first darjeeling tea and I must say, I liked it. The taste was strong, for lack of a better word, especially when I didn’t drink the tea immediately, but not as strong as assam or some chinese teas I liked.

I didn’t like this tea, mostly because it really didn’t taste like lychee. While the tea leaves smelled like it, that smell didn’t carry over to the taste or the hot tea. All that I could taste was mediocre black tea, most likely the base.

This is one solid tea. It’s hard to describe what it is but what it isn’t is: smokey, harsh, needing sugar or milk, or weak. Just straight, this tea has a good “black tea” flavor and is easy on the tongue.

I thought this tea would be good iced, but so far this tea’s only been ok. I don’t like the stevia added; I want to be able to sweeten as I please and stevia isn’t my sweetener of choice.

Using up my last bit of this tea until it goes back on sale
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The first steep is smooth-incredibly smooth- and I’ve finally managed to get the buttery flavor other reviewers mentioned. Also, it smells wonderful. It smells floral without smelling like perfume.

1 tsp @ 135 F for 45 seconds
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The (fairly) cool water makes for a smooth tea. I can’t taste any bitterness at all, just floral hinted sencha. Almost too hinted; the trade off between temperature and bitterness means that there isn’t enough sakura in my sip at such a low temp.

What a smooth tea! The smell while the tea was steeping was fairly strong, leading me to expect a bitter tea, but it isn’t at all. Not sweet, but no hint of bitterness. It is a bit disappointing; the jasmine smell is stronger then the taste. It’s a decent bagged jasmine tea, and I would give it to people who never have had jasmine and those who love it.

This tea is the very definition of Irish breakfast, in tea bag form. Strong, well-paired with milk and sugar, while capable of giving some get-up-and-go. I don’t find it to be overly bitter, but admittedly, I’ve only had this tea with milk and sugar.

This is a solid, every-day drinking kind of tea. It took a bit of tinkering to get this tea to taste good, but it was worth it. When made with boiling water, the flavor of the rice comes out in full force, to say the least of the aroma. That said, I do wish the taste of the tea was a bit, well, stronger. I tried fiddling with temperatures, using cooler water (180 F ish), but not only did that not bring out the taste of the tea, it made the tea taste overly-watery. If you like your genmaicha heavy on the genmai, don’t be delicate with this tea; it can take it!

This tea is incredibly versatile; it really cant’ be overstepped, re-steeps excellently, and makes a good glass of iced tea. It also doesn’t taste much like a Japanese green tea, which helps in my book. Instead of tasting like vegetables, it tastes like roasted. Roasted something. Definitely going to buy this again.

This is an incredibly minty tea. So minty, in fact, that the taste of the tea didn’t come across. If this tea was just a peppermint herbal tea, I’d drink it by the bucket. Unfortunatly, it’s not. I’d like to enjoy this tea but unless there’s a way to steep it that brings out the tea in it, this goes on the not to buy list.

There is something incredibly enjoyable in a basic, unflavored, and simple tea. This tea tastes like the definition of sencha: savory, vegetable-like, and a bit bitter.

This tea is actually more, well, plain than I expected. There’s the taste of Japanese greens that no matter what always reminds me of pot liquor, but its not overwhelmingly bitter. No strong aftertaste, a pleasant smell and a mild flavor.

Round two of this tea. I used Shinobicha’s recommended steep time and water temperature, which made the tea significantly less bitter. Still, I really don’t like this tea. It tastes like I’m drinking water that someone cooked greens with, which really isn’t what I’m looking for in a tea.

This tea tastes strongly of vegetables; whether or not this is a good thing depends on the person. I say ick. It’s strong, which is something I usually like, but the smell and taste are massive turnoffs.

This tea is sweet and tastes mostly of vanilla and mint. Makes for a decent liquid dessert or a cup that smells like a candy store. Good thing it’s decaf; I could drink this by the bucket.

Broke in a new infuser with this tea and it continued to deliver. The water was warm but not boiling (IDK the actual temperature) and when combined with the short steep time, produced a light, rice-scented, tasty green tea.

How to best describe this tea…It’s bitter in the sense that it tastes like a green tea without being overly astringent. This may be due to the matcha; the first two steepings of this were not-bitter to the point of being kind of steep. Even when the matcha runs out, the tea is still tasty. Pretty too, and the rice makes the smell delicious, like the bottom of a rice cooker.

While this tea may be the poster child for meh bagged tea, it is very versatile. This tea goes with almost anything: milk, cream, honey, lemon, sugar….anything. It is still my preferred tea for making a quick chai or southern-style sweet tea.

I never thought I’d find a chamomile that I’d like; the smell is usually way too overpowering to me. Well, I was very wrong; this tea is a decent mix of sweet honey, fragrant vanilla, and chamomile. Naturally sweet, but not too much.

Basic genmaicha, good for everyday drinking. It’s almost impossible to over-steep this; I accidentally left it steeping for eight-odd minutes and it was still good.

This tea is excellent for a cup of builders tea. The first time I made this, I accidentally overstepped it for ten minutes, but a bit of milk and sugar transformed the cup from bitter and unpalatable to a good, strong morning tea.

Oh, how I wanted to like this tea. Chamomile tea is never one of my favorites due to its smell, so when I opened up a teabag of this, the strong mango smell was reassuring. However, while the smell is mostly mango, this tea’s taste is a mix of the two. If fruity tea and chamomile tea are your favorites, you’re in luck, but if not, avoid this.