Rachel Sincere

Just got my order in from the English Tea Store, so I’m excited to have so many new teas to review. This morning I tried Angel’s Dream, which is one I was very excited about.

In the package, it smelled strange, like there was this weird artificial odor to it. I think it might have been from the plastic bag it was in, because when I stirred it around, the smell dissipated. When I brewed it, it smelled fine. No obvious scents other than a slight fruitiness.

After I tasted Angel’s Dream, I had to look it up online to see what flavors I was supposed to be getting. Maple? Really? Blackberry I can see, kind of, but to be honest this seems more like a nice, smooth, slightly fruity black tea. It’s closer to an English Breakfast than to a flavored tea to me. I definitely am enjoying it but I wouldn’t seek it out again because I have plenty of fancy plain black teas.

Thanks to another sample from Awkward Soul, I got to try a brand new tea this morning!

When dry, it smells strongly of strawberries. I wasn’t surprised. After steeping and waiting for it to cool a bit, I took a sip and thought, hmmm, I really don’t taste a heck of a lot of strawberry here. There is definitely a creamy mouthfeel to this tea. I would suppose that is the custard element. But I barely taste any strawberry, and some people mentioned wine—I didn’t get that at ALL.

Regardless, it was a pleasant enough cup of tea to start my day. Thanks again to Awkward Soul for the Ziploc of Goodies!

Awkward Soul was kind enough to send me a sample of this tea. Every other sample she has sent me was spot on as far as my taste goes. This one, well…the first thing I noticed when pouring the hot water over the pearls was that strong, strong smell. It was very unpleasant to me. My girlfriend immediately pegged it as floral, but I didn’t get that. I sweetened it and hoped for the best.

The first 1/2 of the cup was all right, as long as I didn’t inhale while I was drinking. It was light, sweet, a tiny bit fruity maybe? The more I drank, though, the more it tasted like that scent. Obviously it’s the scent of jasmine and I just don’t fancy jasmine. So I’m not going to rate this tea. It would be unfair. That would be like rating a chocolate bar a 0 because it tastes like chocolate. :-D

Thanks to Awkward Soul, I’ve been having a great day full of new tea tastes! Here’s another sample she sent me.

I love the taste of blueberries but I don’t like to eat them plain because often the texture goes mealy or they are too tart. This tea is like drinking the essence of the best blueberries in the world. I just made one cup using a tea ball but the smell has gone all through my living room and it smells like blueberry muffins in here!

This tea is a real winner. I drank it sweetened with Splenda and didn’t taste any “off” stevia taste that others mentioned. I’d say this would be a great tea for someone trying black tea for the first time, as long as they like blueberries!

Another wonderful sample from Awkward Soul! I’m really enjoying trying all these new teas.

Right after I poured the hot water over the teaball, I took a good sniff and smelled peaches and grass. Interesting! Once it cooled, the first half of the cup all I tasted was fresh, juicy peaches with a hint of apricot. No almond or orange peel or oolong. Toward the end of the cup I started to taste the earthy, grassy oolong. That was fine, but I preferred the juicy peachy part! :-) I never did get the flavor of almonds or orange peel. Anyway, this was a nice tea to try, and I’d recommend it for stone fruit lovers who like the grassy, earthy taste of oolong.

I am reviewing this tea thanks to a lovely sample sent to me from Awkward Soul! Thank you! When I first smelled the dry leaves, I thought they smelled a little soapy. But I love coconut, chocolate, and tea, and the thought of all three together made my head explode, so I thought I’d steep it anyway.

I’m glad I did! In the cup, this tea is very dark. The taste is smooth and rich and there is a creamy mouthfeel. You can definitely detect the chocolate; the coconut is more muted. I finished my cup several minutes ago and I still have a creamy aftertaste on my tongue.

I’m not experienced enough to figure out how pu-erh tea differs from regular black tea in taste, especially because I usually drink flavored teas and sweeten them. But I’m pretty sure that this would be a good introduction to pu-erh tea because it’s so smooth.

Thanks to Awkward Soul for this sample! This was a great tea to start my day. First I should mention that I put two Splenda packets in every tea I drink; I don’t even taste it first, I just automatically sweeten it. This is the first time where after tasting the tea, I thought I could have gotten away with one packet. At first, the taste was very sweet. It mellowed out more the more I drank. The flavor that I was reminded of was raisin, but in a gentle way, not an in-your-face way. I would definitely drink this again.

Thank you to Awkward Soul for this sample! I loved this tea. The fruit taste is very smooth, no tartness at all. The sencha doesn’t really assert itself over the fruit flavor, but you can still taste it a little bit. I was surprised that there was so much flavor after such a short steep time, but wow, there is flavor to spare. I would definitely order this tea for my cabinet.

This is one of my top 10 favorite teas. I need to use my finest mesh strainer to steep it and still there are floaties in the bottom of my cup. Fair warning. But the flavor! There’s chocolate, nuttiness, spice, who knows what else—it makes a smooth, mellow taste all its own. I could drink this all morning. When I run out I will buy more. For me, that’s pretty rare.

Edited to add, I’m not a coffee drinker at all, so I can’t speak to whether this is really a coffee kicker. But it’s definitely a worthwhile tea on its own!

This tea has a definite apple taste to it, but you really have to look for the cinnamon flavor. One nice thing is you can actually taste the black tea base. It is a rich black tea flavor, the scent actually reminds me of pipe tobacco in a pleasant way. This is a great morning tea. Nothing too fancy but good for those who like their flavored black teas.

Ohhh, I love this tea. I think it’s the best green I’ve tried so far. It has a light flavor; I sweeten it so I didn’t realize it was sweet on its own. Tokyo is wonderful to drink after the evening meal for a palate refresher and to set you in the mood for the rest of the night. The flavors of caramel and sesame are exotic and delicious. The flavor of the green tea comes through nicely. All around great tea.

I’m giving this tea a higher rating than I would give this particular cup that I brewed right now. That’s because what I did wasn’t the tea’s fault. First of all, I have been enjoying this flavor of tea—one of my favorite anytime teas—for five years now. The problem? I’m still drinking from the same stash I ordered five years ago. I just realized that this morning. Time to overhaul the tea cabinet. Anyway, my girlfriend is worried about my Splenda consumption so she bought me some honey to try. I accidentally used way too much in this cup, not knowing the proper Splenda-to-honey conversion. The result? Not so good.

HOWEVER. You need to try this tea. I’m going to buy more. It’s got a wonderful smooth black tea base and the nutty flavor is just outstanding here. It’s a nice one to grab early in the morning when you want something flavored but not too crazy. I’m just going to buy smaller amounts, more often!

Sometimes I get up at 4:30 AM to feed the cats, and I’m just not in the mood to go through my stash to find a foofy tea. That’s when I reach for my tin of looseleaf Twinings English Breakfast. It’s just a nice, inoffensive black tea that I enjoy with Splenda. English Breakfast has always been a favorite of mine and I don’t have experience with any of the more expensive brands, but Twinings has always satisfied me.

I bought this tea a while ago but have never really had a craving for it. I decided to pull it out today. It has a nice mild pumpkin smell. I added 2 Splenda to the cup, as I do. When drinking it, what I notice the most is the creaminess. There’s a little spice flavor and a little pumpkin flavor and a little black tea flavor. Just a nicely flavored tea with a hugely creamy mouthfeel.

I had too much sherbet at lunch so I had a bit of a tummyache. And I’m out of Moroccan Mint, which is generally a staple for me, and great for gut-rot. I decided to haul this one out, hoping it would do the trick. Anyway, the taste is mostly of chocolate, with a minty aftertaste. It’s delicious, but I would like it better if it were mintier. I don’t get the taste of the black tea in the background at all. I’ll probably use this up or give/trade some away but it won’t be a go-to like the Moroccan Mint is.

Well, when I sniffed the dry tea bag it smelled exactly like the horse barn at the fair. That turned me off a little. I heated up the water anyway and steeped it for exactly 2 minutes, and added my usual 2 Splenda packets. With the sweetener it just tastes like mild, unobtrusive tea for me, a nice enough for evening tea if you feel lazy and want to use a tea bag. I wouldn’t drink it without the sweetener though.

This is one of my AM go-to teas. I can’t speak to the tartness because I sweeten all my teas! I have to say that my stock of this is on the older side but it still tastes good; the black tea flavor is a little weak but the cranberry and blackberry notes shine through. A great morning pick-me-up.