memoriam

Urk. I’m not sure what this is, but it ain’t lemons—grapefruit, maybe. Regardless, it is incredibly chemical-y; I actually poured the pot out.

This has remarkably fruity top notes, and a rich base without being overpoweringly malty. Not exactly what I was expecting from an Assam, but quite nice.

I found this to be immensely, overwhelmingly cocoa-y, to the point where it was more reminiscent of burnt hot chocolate than tea. Definitely prefer the Jig.

Once again, Adagio’s chai is excellent on the spices and flavoring, but the tea itself is a little weak (or weakly flavored). This is a lot more “autumnal” than I expected it to be—very, very cidery.

I steeped this eight minutes, per the instructions, and ye galloping gods, is this ever bitter, but I can’t tell if that’s due to the oversteep or simply part of the style.

It is also incredibly, over-the-top malty, but I really enjoy the strength of that flavor, so am going to try a shorter steep and see if that helps.

Icing really changes the character of this. The ginger is so prominent it actually burns my throat a little bit. I like it, but be wary!

This does in fact make delightful iced tea; so much so that I doubt I will ever drink it hot again, because that would be wasting it. :)

Got this as a freebie in my last order. This is extremely sweet and not really my thing, but I am intrigued enough by the vanilla rooibos that I shall probably order a sample of it.

This turns into a chalky, acidic mess when iced. Ick.

I need to learn to start taking tea-blenders at their word; this really does, no kidding, no fooling, taste like DiSarrono amaretto. The flavor balance is perfect, and the black tea base is very bitter, giving it an almost alcoholic bite.

Of course, this also means that it is way too sweet for common consumption (at least for me), but it’s a fun curiosity, and a great example of what a well thought out blend can accomplish.

My only previous experience with mate was via some bottled soft-drink sort of thing, so I simply put it off to that; but now having brewed my own, I can confirm that yerba mate really does taste like watered-down Snapple Iced Tea w/ Lemon. :)

It’s tasty enough, but I am mostly interested in finding out if mate’s unique buzz really is everything it’s cracked up to be.

I may have been unfairly maligning green rooibos; this is plain red rooibos with blended flavor, but it possesses the exact same “synthetic” taste I was complaining of in the Teavana blends. Looking over the ingredient lists, methinks “natural flavors” are to blame; but Tea Laden is at least upfront about theirs.

This is very sweet, almost like a fruit soda. Actually, that’s almost exactly what the synthetic taste common to all these blends is: I don’t know if it’s an actual ingredient, but it tastes like artificial sweetener (Splenda, aspartame, etc.).

This tastes like vaguely peppery water. :/

I was dismayed when I opened the bag to find it was essentially powder, but it still smelled strongly of both rooibos and spices. Gave it the usual seven minute steep at 180 and… well… nothing.

Turns out they suggest 2tsp per 8oz of water boiled for ten minutes… yikes! Will attempt again following their directions, but that seems like major overkill to me. We shall see.

Disappointing. This tastes more of candied ginger than anything else, and the Yunnan base is a very mildly flavored one. It’s nicely balanced—I’d love an “extra strength” version of this—but probably not for the real ginger fans.

I’ll try a longer steep next time, but as I already let this go for about six minutes by mistake, I don’t see much improvement being possible.

Yum! I’m not really getting any honey from this, but the apple flavor is very tasty and natural. It’s odd, though; I guess this tea is not particularly well-blended (or perhaps the flavors are too disparate to really go together), because it’s almost as if I’m drinking two separate things at once. There’s a kind of generic, brisk black tea—maybe an Assam?—and then, pow, apple!

Still delicious. This’d be excellent in fall, might work as a dessert tea now.

The lemon flavor only really comes through in the aftertaste, but the lemongrass itself helps add a lot to the rooibos’s own sweet, light top notes. A cup of this before bed time would be excellent.

Delicious! Good strong rooibos with ginger that is strong enough to be definite without stinging; the calendula petals provide a really interesting, dry aftertaste, almost like ginger ale.

If I could find this blend without the licorice in it, I’d be crazy about it; unfortunately, it’s a sour/dirty mid-note that’s really jarring. Still, this is a really impressive balance of so many different flavors, and it is very, very foody.

ETA about three hours later: I am pretty sure this is responsible for my splitting headache. Never have done well with licorice.

This is the first pu-erh I’ve tried, and I’m honestly not sure whether I like it or not, but it is definitely one of the most unique-tasting teas I’ve ever encountered. It is remarkably sweet, but still manages to taste mostly nutty, almost bean-like.

I steeped it for three minutes in boiling water. Think I’m going to try a weaker infusion and see how that goes.

Mystery solved!

About a decade ago, as a noob tea drinker, I bought a box of Iron Goddess tea because, c’mon, how cool is that? It was some of the most delicious stuff I’d ever had. Upon going to replace it, however, the next batch was… not the same. I’ve been sampling different varieties off and on for all these years, and have gotten a lot of “meh” green tea in return. I’d pretty much come to the conclusion that the first batch was some kind of fluke, or mislabeled package.

Then I recently learned that there’s an oolong variety. I finally managed to track some down locally and, yep, this is my long-lost love. :) A bit more perfume-y than I recall it being, but this is still one of the most robust and complex “light” teas I’ve ever had.

Lovely! The peach tastes natural, and there’s a sharp, not quite citrus note in the background that sets it off beautifully. I think I just prefer green rooibos with softer flavors; I wish I’d thought to get some plain before I started mucking around with blends.

It’s called Key Lime, but all I can taste or smell is papaya and mango; not bad, simply disappointing. This is the first Teavana green rooibos I’ve had that seems to lack the freaky undertaste, though, so it’s got that going for it.

Indeed. This + 7 minute steep + a teaspoon of agave nectar = just about perfect.

I just don’t think green rooibos is for me. The strawberry/citrus blend is wonderful—though my bag seems (happily) free of marshmallows—but there is an underlying wrong, chemical-y taste to the whole concoction. It’s not undrinkable, but I’m going to have to try icing it to see if that cuts the weird flavor.