Luthien

This is a nice, light floral tea. The leaves are full of flowers, including rosebuds. I can taste the jasmine especially, and right now I can really feel the antioxidants hitting my system and giving everything a little boost.

This is the favourite green tea of a friend of mine, so I’ve been looking forward to trying it for a while.

It makes a yellow brew with a distinctive aroma. It’s light but not as delicate as some of the white teas. The taste is mellow, with some subtle qualities that come out more as you continue to drink, and it’s not at all bitter so long as you get the water temperature right. I was careful to use water well under boiling point – around 60C (140F) – and to steep for not much more than a minute.

The longer I drink this, the more I like it.

Another pot of this. I’m getting seriously addicted to this one!

This sounds like a really interesting mix, but it brews up into just another red fruit tea. It has a slightly bitter aftertaste, and I couldn’t detect the mint at all. Drinkable but disappointing.

I’ve had this in the cupboard for a few months and I think it’s lost some of its flavour. The jasmine is still there, but I can’t taste the fruit. I think I’ll get some more before I make up my mind about this one.

This is the big brother of the Jasmine Dragon Pearls from the same place that I drank a few days ago. The added jasmine really makes Silver Needle tea for me, and this one is so fun to watch unfurling in the pot.

The scent is smoky, the taste smooth and mellow and difficult to properly put into words. I think I could drink a lot of this one.

This has a nice hint of lemon without being too overpowering. The ginseng is mostly in the aftertaste. Not up there with my favourites, but not bad at all.

This tea is okay. It’s nothing special, and there’s nothing much about it worth noting.

Having another cup of this. Mmmm.

This is a fabulous tea for easing head pain, which it’s doing right now for my post-chiropractic fall-out headache.

The lime and coconut flavours are really nicely balanced in this. I like it almost as much as Sencha Honey. Definitely a keeper.

Interesting tea! The tea itself (a mix of black and green leaves) is quite okay and produces a medium strength brew, but the fruit and flowers also included in the blend lurk around the edges and really make this tea memorable. I like it best with a little honey added.

The tea leaves are really pretty, like potpourri, and smell strongly of passionfruit. They produce a lovely yellow brew. Sadly, none of this translates into the taste. This tea had very little taste of fruit, tea or anything else. It was just a really, really dull drink. What a disappointment!

The taste is sweet enough not to disappoint the expectations provided by the scent, which is just like the cocktail. This tea left a slight afterburn, but that may just have been because I left it to steep a bit longer than I’d intended, and ended up with a deep blood red brew. Overall, I liked it more than I expected.

Mmmm. I never get tired of this one.

I generally find Silver Needle just a little too mild for my liking, but I love these. The jasmine accent sets off this delicate tea beautifully, and I love watching the pearls unfurl in my glass tea pot.

This has a really nice fruity scent. I wish the taste of the quince was equally strong in the tea itself. Still a nice cup of tea.

So easy to keep drinking AND it’s the best white tea I’ve found for easing migraine. Ahhh.

Okay, so I drank some more of this. I want to like it more than I do. It’s so-so. I’m a bit disappointed with it.

Still undecided about this one. At first sip, it doesn’t seem like much. It’s mild, like all white teas, and seems less flavourful than some, but there’s something about it that kept me drinking. Nothing for it but to have another cup…

A great balance of China Gunpowder and mint. Produces a medium brown brew. An excellent stomach-settler.

Like any green tea, brew with water around 80C (175F) rather than at boiling point to minimise bitterness. I love the honey scent and flavour, which gives it that slightly sweeter edge. It’s very smooth to drink. A favourite green tea.

Not bad. Not as overpowering as many fruit teas can be. Makes a pink-ish brew.