Lori

Forgotten how much I liked this tea- chocolate and caramel. Yum! It is VERY bold and definitely needs milk and sugar.. It is so bold (and certainly not frilly, perfumy, or prissy) I am even suprised that this is a French tea.

I read JacquelineM’s note on this one and she said it tastes like a cinnamon-y amaretto . Well, she is on target. I certainly don’t notice the ginger, rooibos, apple, pepper. cardamom, or the coconut. But this does taste like almonds…

Thanks to SoccerMom for this sample! I first sampled this last night and immediately thought it was a bolder, richer version of the Adagio version. Then this AM, I broke personal protocol, and tried Adagio’s GM (instead of my usual brisk breakfast) as a comparison and I was still leaning towards the Silk Roads version.

So finally, I did a side-by-side taste test of Golden Monkey from Adagio vs this one. And this one wins “by a nose”. The Silk Roads GM tea brews up a darker color and has a slightly bolder flavor. It is naturally sweet, no astringency, very smooth, not pariciularly smoky, not peppery…

As both teas are priced similarly, $17 for Adagio’s 4 oz vs. $20 for Silk Roads’ 4 oz, I would strongly recommend this tea.

This is just a fun tea. And this vendor has a great deal- 16 blooming teas (each one different) for $12. But, as a negative, there is postage from China to US.. Anyway, I randomly picked a tea and voila!, this is the one that turned up!

The flavor is pleasant, mild, smooth w/a hint of jasmine (but barely jasmine)…

When I previously posted this note, I was asked to compare this tea w/Mountain Malt. I would have to say this one is MUCH BOLDER as would be expected from a CTC tea. But even though it is bold it is in no way astringent or unpleasant. Just a solid, bold black tea for the morning. I will be placing a full order of this tea.

Simple Leaf provides $5 sample packs that are quite generous..

No notes yet.

Thanks to RICKY for this sample. This was a fun tea. …Neapolitan ice cream was a favorite at my house when I was growing up so I really looked forward to trying this…Of course, the chocolate disappeared first, and vanilla was the last to go…

On to the tea: First, honeybush is preferable to rooibos. The strawberry flavor predominates. I added sugar and then a bit of milk. Somehow, although I could not detect any individual vanilla and chocolate flavors, this tasted like melted neapolitan ice cream when all 3 flavors blend….

This tea came directly from China and was certainly worth the wait. As an added bonus, they do sell samples.

The leaves are whole, and golden with a malty aroma. They are similar to the picture on the website. When brewed, the tea has no astringency. In fact, it had a subtle sweetness and honey flavor (and I did not add sugar, which is my usual habit). The peppery and maybe malty flavor that is typical of a yunnan was not present. This is not a bold tea so certainly this would not be an AM beverage but it is a nice relaxing afternoon treat. I am thinking I like this black tea (well how can I resist a tea that is naturally sweet…)

This tea has a bold, toasty almond flavor. I can detect the slight butter flavor…. With sugar and milk, this makes a pleasant desert tea. The description references a cinnamon flavor which I did not detect. Personally, this is a plus for me-sometimes, I just don’t want a spicy tea.

So far, I have tried Almond Cookie by SpecialTeas (courtesy of Spokh) , Brioche by American tea room (courtesy of Doulton) and this one. If I had to compare, the Almond Cookie was tasty but cinnamon-y. So, the Brioche and this one is a tie. But Brioche captures more of a baked good flavor…so maybe Brioche wins…

No notes yet.

This tea is smooth, not vegetal, buttery, and slightly nutty…

This seems to be an unpopular blend on this website but I love it for a light night-time treat. This herbal blend mostly tastes of chamomile but the addition of mint and lemongrass provides a pleasant background to the chamomile. This is a soothing tea, so although lemongrass is present, it isn’t very noticeable and certainly does not make this “too lively” for night-time.

And the price is great at about $6 for a medium bag….

This is a CTC (crush, tear, curl) tea so instead of whole leaves, the tea leaves were ground into nuggets – I was expecting it to be bitter….but lo and behold- no bitterness. in fact, it was “meaty”. and perfect for a AM cup….I need to try this one a few more times but after experimenting with a gazillion breakfast blends, this one is defintiely a keeper….

This is another delightful DF tea from the Doulton order….

As Liberteas mentioned in her notes, the dried and brewed tea are both fragrant. And like most flavored French teas, these make a wonderful afternoon treat especially with a dash of sugar and milk. With a combination of honey, strawberry, fig, and lavendar, who could resist this perfumed concoction? I primarily tasted strawberry and honey and fig. The lavendar was hardly detectable. But as with most French blends, no flavor stands out strongly but seem to blend in magical ways….

No notes yet.

This tea mostly had a non-distinct sweet flavor that was pleasing….

My order finally arrived….This one tastes just like a spearmint snowball…

Thanks to Soccermom for this delightful sample…In middle school, kids (mostly the girls) would sit/marinate toothpicks in cinnamon overnight and sell them the next day as candy and kids would sort of suck/chew on them. Why in the world did we do this? I can’t recall and this was not that long ago-early 80s in fact…..So this tea tastes exactly like those cinnamon soaked toothpicks….Yum…I really like this tea and will purchase a tin …

Had this one again last night. After sampling some other yunnans, most notably the Leafspa’s yunnan, this one is missing a peppery note. But it is bold w/no astringency….And definitely more flavor than Adagio’s Yunnan Gold and less malty than Adagio’s Golden Monkey… So I am still unsure about this one but I seem to drink it and I enjoy it…

No notes yet.

This is a great tea. The leaves in the tin are similar to the photo: black leaves w/golden tips. The brewed tea is bold but not astringent/brisk/bitter. Definitely strong peppery notes were detected. As the tea cooled, I noted a malty flavor…

A few days ago, I brewed Adagio’s Yunnan Gold, which was a milder tea (almost bland) as I recall. Based on memory, this is a more flavorful option…Ideally, I need to try these side by side…

Another $3 sample (including shipping)from the Chicago Tea Garden. The tea is EXACTLY like the photo with tightly coiled golden balls. I followed the recommended steeping times of 1 minute for the first infusion. This was a very mild black tea- no need to add milk to this one. There was no astringency and only a mild malty flavor was present. The vendor suggested that 8 infusions would be possible- after about 4 infusions, the taste faded for me.

As this tea is so mild, this tea would be perfect for someone who is not a fan of black teas. Personally, I prefer a punchier tea but I can certainly appreciate this tea’s quality…

No notes yet.

I have had this tea for at least a month and I finally closed my eyes and went for it…I steeped this one for a timid 1 minute. Suprisingly, I liked this one. It was warm and earthy and not fishy at all. The taste was full and to me, slightly sweet…I think this is on one of my favorite’s list…possibly…..