Devilish

My 16th tea from The Book of Tea is another lovely Earl Grey!! I liked Earl Grey Darjeeling that I tried last time better because I prefer lighter black tea, but to all strong black tea lovers out there this is probably a perfect Earl Grey. The citrus flavour is intense, and the Keemun tea base is potent and uplifting (oh I am going to stay up late again tonight…). I desperately need something like this to cheer me up after a tiring day :D

Recently I’ve had a few chances to taste tea from Nilgiri and I think I like it! This is not a pure Nilgiri tea, but still it has all the characters that I liked in my previous Nilgiri teas – smooth, aromatic and no astringency. It really is perfect for a tea break! :)

The 15th tea from The Book of Tea – I am halfway through, yay! :D

Darjeeling is my favourite black tea, so it’s not surprising that I love Earl Grey Darjeeling. The liquor has a beautiful honey colour. Love the bright aroma of bergamot… it smells so good that I wish it could be made into a perfume. The flavour of bergamot is strong but not overpowering, so you can still taste the floral undercurrents of lovely Darjeeling. I know I should not consume black tea before going to bed, but this is such a satisfying cup of tea that I am willing to stay up for another hour because of it!!

My 14th tea from The Book of Tea. Hmm, I don’t think I have much to say here because it’s EXACTLY like how Lupicia describes it: full-bodied, smooth, light astringency… a “textbook” example of good Assam tea I’d say. :)

Wow, this tea simply smells amazing – yummy, creamy caramel candy!!! Though the caramel flavour is not terribly present in the liquor, it’s nonetheless a decent cup of black tea with mild sweetness. Very smooth, and I reckon that milk will work wonders on this tea :)

This is usually not my cup of tea but I am having a sore throat and I’ve run out of chamomile… most of the teas I have at home are black tea so I figure that this is the best for me. It really is, I think. With ginger this herbal tea is very warming… it’s gentle and soothing to my throat. I don’t like lemon myrtle but I guess I can’t be too picky under such circumstances…

Before I can finish my 1st Book of Tea, I have already started my Book of Tea for Ladies!! :P

I started with this tea because I bought a whole tin of this last summer but I haven’t got the chance to taste it yet. My verdict: there’s nothing like mint to me! It tastes only of grapefruit, which I don’t particularly enjoy in a cup of hot tea. Overall the fruity flavour is quite mild. Am disappointed as I was looking for something more refreshing!

I had this last Sunday at a girly tearoom, and I thought this was awesome! It smelled so flowery that I thought a flower was blooming in my cup. :) Even bees would love it because it tasted strongly of honey (I was not sure if any honey was added to the tea, though)! A delicate and sweet tea indeed. I was glad that I had chosen it from the menu!

No notes yet.

Had a pot of this at a quiet deli yesterday afternoon. I absolutely loved the honey aroma! :D Just as MF claims, it is a great afternoon tea because it’s smooth, mild and sweet. I had tried it straight and with milk, and it was lovely either way. :)

My 13th tea from The Book of Tea. An average Darjeeling, like one of those everyday teas in office pantry. Nothing worth mentioning as nothing stands out. It doesn’t taste bad but I am giving it a relatively low rating for being boring :P

Ok, this has become the worst tea in history… or at least, the worst tea in my own tea-drinking history. I didn’t like it last time (I gave it 13/100) because of the pungent chemical smell, and I tried to bring myself to give it a try again just now. But I couldn’t… seriously, I wanted to throw up as soon as I opened the tea tin. :( :( :( Conditioned taste aversion, I guess. So now, the tea leaves are in my rubbish bin. I have never done this to any tea before, and I really couldn’t imagine myself doing this to a tea that I had only drunk once! But what else can I do? I can’t drink the tea and I don’t want to give this disgusting (it’s also the first time I described a tea in this way!) tea to others!

A total disaster. It’s my first David’s Tea and I know I have certainly made a wrong start. I feel so sorry to Chris, who brought me the tea all the way from Canada! :( Hope the other samples from David’s Tea won’t be so disappointing…

My 12th tea from The Book of Tea… I gotta finish the whole Book ASAP because Lupicia will be launching their second book of the series (The Book of Tea for Ladies) in March! :P

I like this tea, even though it does not taste too special. It’s strong (which was why I kept the steep time short), malty and has a sweeter-than-expected aftertaste. I can imagine how nice it is when served with milk – just as everyone suggests – but I think the tea itself is delicious enough!

My 11th tea from The Book of Tea. Not as mild as it said, perhaps I had oversteeped a bit? A rich, bittersweet tea with the bright accent of bergamot and a bit of smokiness. It’s actually quite nice but I would prefer a more gentle Earl Grey :P

My 10th tea from The Book of Tea. So now The Book is 1/3 completed! :D

This tea has a beautiful and nostalgic name. Frankly speaking, I don’t really get what the “nostalgic aroma” means… does it refer to the fruity and earthy aroma that I got? Anyway, it smelted lovely and comforting, especially on a cold winter evening! At first I thought it was just an innocent cup of Darjeeling, but then I found out that it had a unique salty aftertaste that I had never got from other Darjeeling teas. Even more unexpected was that it had a tinge of spiciness that became detectable as I kept drinking. I don’t think I like the tea more because of the savoury aftertaste and spiciness, but they appear to make this blend special memorable. A tea that leaves a deep impression… perhaps that’s why they call it La Belle Epoque? ;)

I was really excited about this tea because the recipe sounded totally delicious. As a dessert and oolong lover, I was dying to try it – to the extent that I shamelessly asked my friend in Canada to buy that for me as a b-day gift! :P Thanks Chris!!!

Sadly, this tea is a HUGE disappointment. I hate to say this, but it is just awful. Before I tried it (but after Chris had already bought it), I was shocked by the massive reviews by displeased Steepsterites :0 I thought, it couldn’t be that bad, could it? Yet it IS really bad, and much worse than I have expected! Like many others, I am put off by the strong, unnatural “carrot cake” aroma. At first the smell wasn’t that strong so I could drink the tea… which tasted mainly of coconut and perhaps a bit of carrot. It did reminded me of carrot cake but definitely not a very tasty one because it lacked creaminess. Now the tea has cooled, and the synthetic carrot cake smell has become sickening enough to pollute the air in my room. It gives me a headache and makes the whole room stink! God, what should I do with the rest of the 100g tin?? X_X

I have been obsessed with anything Moroccan lately! I am browsing accommodation in Marrakesh and drinking this tea at the same time. ;D The tea is actually different from traditional Moroccan mint tea because it contains lemongrass and is not sugared, but being not exactly Moroccan doesn’t stop me from loving it! I absolutely enjoy the lemongrass + mint combination; it makes the tea doubly refreshing and soothing! This is my ideal night time tea as it cleanses my palate, helps me relax and gets me ready for bed. :)

This reminds me of Lupicia’s Bonne Nuit, another champagne-flavoured black tea. Both Champagne Rose and Bonne Nuit taste exactly like real champagne! God knows how Lupicia has managed to do that! The dry leaves of Champagne Rose smell of grapes and muscat (quite similar to Fanta Grape). The liquor has a fruity black tea base, which complements the sweet, candy-like grape flavour very well. I am not getting the strawberry flavour that everyone has mentioned, perhaps the grape flavour is so potent that my taste buds have become too occupied to entertain other flavours :P As I am drinking the Japanese version, there are tiny pink and silver pearls among the tea leaves. I am not sure whether they contribute any flavours to the tea, but it certainly is a nice decorative touch! Next time (I think I still have a sample from Lupicia?) I am going to try it iced! :)

Btw, just want to point out that the name of this tea is Champagne Rosé instead of Champagne Rose, so I guess it should have nothing to do with rose flower at all. ;)

This is yummy. :) The black tea itself tastes pretty generic, and there isn’t any fruit in this tea, yet it is a very fruity and satisfying cup. It will make a great dessert tea because it smells just like a fruitcake! Isn’t flavouring amazing? :P But remember to drink it hot as the honey fragrance can be quite overwhelming (seriously, it makes me a little bit light-headed) after the tea has cooled!!

My 9th tea from The Book of Tea, a Ceylon tea which I found very special! I was expecting this to be a strong black tea because the dry leaves had a pronounced malty aroma. But I was totally wrong; this had to be the mildest Ceylon I’ve tasted so far! It’s extremely smooth and I love the subtle flowery taste. Will take milk very well I am sure. What really struck me was that unlike many other Ceylon teas, this tea had hardly any astringent aftertaste… or perhaps more precisely, it seemed that there isn’t any aftertaste at all! It had such a clean finish that immediately after every sip I would be ready to taste another tea. Interesting! :)

My 8th tea from The Book of Tea! Somehow I regret drinking this tea because it has taken away my excuse of NOT working on my report tonight – I was feeling rather drowsy just now but this tea was a pick-me-up. Like many Ceylon teas I’ve tried, it’s not the strongest black tea but rich enough to leave a slightly astringent aftertaste. Didn’t get the minty aroma though.

I had really high expectation in this tea because the name was so delicious! Knowing that it was included in Gryphon Tea’s “Treasures” box (a sample of 10 differents) and it was only available at a shop at Dempsey Hill, I decided to visit the shop when I was in Singapore. Dempsey Hill isn’t a place that you can conveniently get to without a car (especially when the stops for the free shuttle bus are not signposted and can be a problem to tourists!), but after trying this tea I think it’s worth every effort!! ;D

The tea was as wonderful as its description had promised. The liquor had a beautiful light green colour that was characteristic of sencha, and the seductive caramel-y aroma filled the cup as the tea brewed. It looked so palatable that I took a sip right after 3 minutes! It was soft and smooth, at the same time sweet and creamy. :) It tasted very similar to T2’s milky oolong – refreshingly delicate, only sweeter. I liked it so much that I had re-steeped the tea bag several times, and I was surprised that the lovely flavour and creaminess was still there after my fourth steep. My only complaint would be the complete absence of osmanthus flavour in this tea, despite a fair amount of the flowers in the tea bag.

My 7th tea from The Book of Tea. My love for The Book of Tea grows every day. I almost never paid attention to the properties of black tea from different regions in the past (they were all just black tea to me!), so I am really happy that The Book gives me the opportunity to do so! I am amazed by the great variety of black teas – some of them are so wonderful that I wish I can drink it every day, while others taste so “special” that I think a cup would be more than enough. I hope that by the time I finish all the samples from The Book, I would have a better idea of what kind of black tea I like and also what to avoid. :)

I believe Nilgiri FOP will be one of my favourite black teas. It’s medium-bodied, very smooth and I love the mellowness. There’s little astringency in it and it’s on the sweet side. This is a perfect afternoon tea and it will go well with any kind of food. It delights your taste buds instead of overwhelming them or keeping them busy! ;) A bit of milk would make it even more enjoyable.

I am so going to try Nilgiri (also in The Book of Tea) this week! :D

My 6th tea from The Book of Tea, which is quite nice! I was worrying that it would turn out to be a tart cup but it didn’t. It was very fruity and tasted like real cherries (though the taste reminded me more of nectarines I must say!). It’s mostly sweet but also had a light note of sourness. Tea companies tend to throw in a lot of fruits and flowers to create fruit-flavoured black tea, often with disastrous results. I was glad that Lupicia didn’t do the same to this tea… after all there’s no need for them to do so given their wonderful range of flavourings! :P