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When I got home from work I had a sudden craving for cupcakes, so I baked some, but I overdid it with the icing (decided to go with vanilla buttercream, and made way too much) so I needed a refreshing tea to stop myself from feeling sick. I was going for mint when I remembered I had this and decided to give it a shot.

Very clean and light. Tastes sort of woody, and I’m getting a strange taste that’s almost like lemons but without the sourness – if that makes sense. Doesn’t taste of olives, which is nice. I think I might get this one in again, it’s a pleasant drink for cutting through overly sweet flavours without overwhelming them entirely (the way lemongrass and mint can.) Also, breaking up the leaves into my teapot is kind of satisfying in a weirdly tactile way.

later edit: The lemony notes come out more when resteeped.

I’m not regretting buying it, it’s reasonably pleasant, but I don’t think I’ll be too gutted when it vanishes off the shelves. The rose taste is quite fresh and subtle, not too perfumey like some can be, but I think it needed a better quality black tea; this one’s a little flat and on the bitter side.

Haven’t tried it with milk (I tend to avoid putting milk into favoured teas) but it’s good with just a pinch of sugar.

Soft vanilla flavours with a little bit of astringency from the lavender and the white tea. I like it, but I’m not sure if I like it enough to buy more in. I have a feeling that this is one that I’ll find myself craving every so often, but not enough to warrant it taking up cupboard space.

I have a single bag of this tea that the nice man in Nando’s gave me (the conversation went thus: me: “Can I buy that tea by the box?” him: “no, sorry, we just do the cups.” me: “Can i buy just a bag of it now then? My friends are leaving, I want to try it but Mighty Leaf’s p&p charges are scandalous, and I’ll pay for the price of a full cup…?” ::hopeful grin:: him: ::backs slowly away from the nutter:: “here, on the house. Enjoy.” The moral of this story? Acting eccentric gets you free tea.)

The problem is I really like it, so it looks as though I’m going to be paying those p&p charges. It’s sweet and fruity with a strong but pleasant hit of vanilla, and it doesn’t have that dry-mouth sensation I keep getting with rooibos teas. Once it’s cooled a little the vanilla becomes a little less intense and the flower flavours more apparent, so quite a complex tea.

This is delicious and I will definitely be keeping a stock of it in as much as I can. It’s the second milk oolong I’ve tried and it leaves the other (from oolongteashop.co.uk) in the dust; if that was milk oolong then this is cream oolong. Richer and heavier, more luxurious.

Leaves a little bit of dry mouth, but it’s nice for when I want a savoury, slightly malty tea without going as heavy as black teas.

It’s a basic chamomile tea, nothing to make it stand out from the rest. I drank it with a Stash honey stick (now while I am frankly baffled as to why their teas are so popular, credit where credit’s due: the honey sticks are genius) and it was a nice, soothing, relaxing cup. Not nice enough for me to restock from them though, I’d rather buy a cheaper brand when I can’t taste the difference.

At first I thought it tasted a little insipid – for fruit flavour it doesn’t have a patch on Celestial Seasonings or Ringtons – but after drinking for a little while I decided it was subtle. One for when I need something fruity but not too overbearing.

pleh.

I might be able to come up with a better tasting note if it wasn’t 2 am, but seriously, pleh. Fruit and liquorice, I didn’t even realise it was supposed to be blueberry till I went back to see what packet I opened in the dark.

Slightly nutty with a nice aftertaste of ginseng and liquorice. Still refreshing even though it coats the inside of my mouth. I like this tea.

After a few steeps the ginseng flavour seems to be used up though, IIRC it lingers much longer with the stuff I bought from Oolong Tea Shop.

I was dubious at first because when I smelt the dry mix there was a strong smell of off milk laid over the fruity scent, but that vanishes completely when steeped.

This is nice. Extremely fruity and quite tart, but there’s a vanillary taste that stops the tart from becoming sour. Very drinkable. I haven’t tried sugar in it yet, I’ll try that next, and I think this will taste really good iced (I’ll update when I try that.)

I’m upping my rating a bit because of more teas coming in at my lower end. I won’t be buying more of this from NBTea, but I’m at least drinking it.

Pleh.

It’s vaguely drinkable but out of five or six genmaichas I’ve tasted it’s the worst. Muddy instead of nutty. Possibly the loose leaf tea would taste better, because the contents of the teabags are very crumbly and dusty (though after tasting this I’m not dropping the money to find out.)

Relogged because I’ve figured it out.

This tea is fussy. Or maybe I’m just used to teas that can take abuse, IDK, but basically if you go even slightly over 2 1/4 minutes it’s overbrewed (I mean 2 1/2 minutes brings out a bitter note.)

It’s actually kinda nice if handled carefully.

I don’t even know, seriously. It’s not particularly icky, but there’s nothing special about it. It’s not nice enough to go back on my shopping list but I’m not going to chuck it out or anything.

Sort or fruity, sort of tart, sort of sweet. It is perfectly average in every way. The only thing I can say with any clarity is it’s a damn sight better with boiling water than it is with 90 degree water.

A one cup sample I got from Leaf:

The leaves are nice and big, not like the finely cut stuff from my local herbal shop (when I run out of my home-grown, home-dried stuff) and it smelt good dry, but I think it might have been cross contaminated or something because the overwhelming flavour when I drink it is liquorice o_O Quite pleasant minty liquorice, but it’s still liquorice.

I don’t particularly mind since I was drinking it for nausea anyway (oh epilim, how I despise thee) and liquorice helps, it was just very unexpected.

(brew notes: as always with herbals, splash of cold water before adding the boiling.)

This is more like it.

In my first cup the flavours tasted a touch artificial, and there was a lot of dryness in my mouth, however since then I’ve splashed the dry leaves with cold water before adding the boiling and it seems to clear those issues right up (well, there’s still a little dryness, but I think that’s a honeybush/rooibos thing.)

Not quite at the level of TeaNoir’s Bangkok, but unlike most it’s at least playing in the same (Premier) league and will help stretch that precious last 2 ounces a bit further.

Edit: Chris has decided it sounds like a Bond Girl’s name and is now doing Sean Connery impersonations. My day is complete.

This also tastes lovely cold-brewed. 2 tsp of tea to 500 ml of filtered cold water, put it in the fridge for 3 hours to brew, then filter and drink. Very delicate cherry flavour; I could drink it all day but really like taking it with me to drink when I’m swimming laps.

I’ve tried it hot, I don’t like it; I’ve tried it iced by flash-chilling (make with hot water then pour over ice), I don’t like that either; I’ve tried it iced by cold brewing, and I don’t like that.

If I brew it for 5 minutes I can taste the cola, cherry and vanilla, but the tea has stewed and tastes unpleasant, if I brew for less time the tea tastes okay but the flavour mix is insipid. Basically, to me it tastes like watered down panda pop that’s been in the back of the car for seven or eight months (I was seven and I still remember that flavour quite clearly.)

DNW!

At first I wasn’t keen, but I think it might have been washing the taste of Merry Mint out of my mouth (bleurgh). It’s actually not that bad. I’ve had a lot better flavoured rooibos, but this is palatable and comes in a bag so Chris can manage to make it (he just goes to pieces around loose tea. Fr srs. It’s kinda sweet.)

Fruity flavour, not too tart, not too sweet, and the rooibos is still distinguishable rather than being completely buried under the fruit.

What can I say? It starts getting better about halfway down the mug, but the first few mouthfuls were like dishwater with a dash of toothpaste. The ‘spices’ muddy the mint flavour rather than complementing it.

It’s drinkable, but as minty greens go it’s definitely not a strong contender in my book.

OMG, this tea is so fuzzy and soft and cute. I played with it for a good few minutes before it went in the pot.

Nothing But Tea say to brew for four minutes, which seemed pretty excessive for a white tea, but it doesn’t taste bitter or overbrewed. Slightly sweet, with a mild malty sort of flavour. I really like it, I think it’s going to go on my shopping list as a ‘special treat’ tea.

I really, really love this tea.

It’s light and refreshing but still has taste, it’s sweet without being cloying, the aftertaste is fruity and well flavoured with no trace of chemicals like I get from some other ‘scented’ teas. I’ve found myself reaching for it a lot.

I’m not impressed, which saddens me a litle because I like Rington’s other teas. It’s very grassy and light, so someone else may adore it but I prefer deeper and more malty flavours from an oolong. It’s drinkable though, so I’ll finish the rest of the bag.

I made the ‘pleh’ face when I took my first sip, but in fairness I’d just been eating Haribo bears.

I actually quite like it, and I don’t like flavoured blacks. Soft strawberry with a mild peppery bite. I think it’ll taste good iced so I’m going to try that tomorrow. I think I’ll be buying some more of this.