790 Tasting Notes
After trying the Tortoise Green Chai, I ordered some and to get free shipping, I added this as well. :)
I’m not sure I can taste tea at all. That said, I can taste spices and definitely fruit. It goes together well. Sweet, yes, but not sickeningly so. I still probably don’t need more than one cup of it at a sitting.
Made with 7 oz. water and 3 tablespoons chai mix per package instructions. Curious to try with milk. I didn’t think this was too thin, but thicker would be good, too, I’m pretty sure. ;) I’d order it again if I was out somewhere and they had it, but I might or might not replace it in my cupboard when this supply is gone. Jury is still out on that.
Preparation
So, we made another pot of this for tea club today. Today the ginger really popped out. Made it with half 1% milk, half water and a low to moderate amount of sugar. Didn’t seem as rich today. Very, very good, even though the tea taste isn’t very strong. We only got one pot out of it today, but the infuser did sit in the pot the entire time so maybe we leeched all the spices out. :)
We have another pot, maybe 2 in this bag and then I’ll have to order more! Upping the rating a bit as until now I hadn’t thought I’d like it enough to order again.
Preparation
Every time I read your tea club posts, I smile and think about the first present my son ever bought me with his own funds: a mug with characters from the Tea Club webcomic (now extinct; a pic or two at http://www.pmbq.com/comics/tea-club/).
That sounds and looks far cuter than our tea club. :)
Smells strongly of chocolate after steeping. Doesn’t have a strong chocolate taste, though. I mainly get cinnamon and some cloves. It wasn’t bad but not as strong as I like my chais. Probably won’t reorder but it was fine for afternoon tea club at work, and the price was right. :)
Made in our usual way at work: half water, half 2% milk, sugar. Steeped in water, left infuser basket in after adding hot milk and sugar until tea was gone.
Preparation
Wow. This stuff unfurls to crazy size!!
And wow, does it ever sweeten. I used 3 pieces and steeped along with some Sungma darjeeling from Harney. There is a slight aftertaste that I associate with non-sugar or honey sweeteners. Enough so that I wouldn’t use this again with a tea not as light as this darjeeling. However, I will definitely try using it with the afternoon chai at work tomorrow. This should be a good compromise with those who don’t want sugar every afternoon and those of us who like our chai sweeter. :)
Rating is based on how likely I am to use it again, not as a tea to drink on its own.
Grabbed a cup of this to try on the way out of the grocery store today.
Not bad. Very much milky, mildly spicy, not so much tea-ey. Not overbearingly sweet, which was good. Main spice I taste is cinnamon, followed by what is probably ginger. Not bad but nothing I’d go out of my way to get again.
I was wondering, from reading the names of the teas they had, if they used Harney & Sons tea. Asking the kid at the counter, though, he said they came in packages labeled Caribou Coffee, so he didn’t know. But “Citron Green,” “Hot Cinnamon Spice” & “Pomegranate Oolong” make me suspicious. Plenty of companies probably have those exact names, though. Just got hopeful seeing several names I associate with H&S on a local menu board. :)
They definitely use Harney and Sons.
That makes me happy then. Though I would guess they don’t use as much tea as I do when they make their chai. :) or, more likely, they don’t steep as long as I do because the spice level was definitely lower than when I make chai with H&S
Picked this up at Dean & Deluca yesterday since I was in the neighborhood after work. I was trying to talk myself into some Mariage Freres but common sense ended up winning and saying that $24 for a whole tin of something you haven’t tried isn’t a good idea…So I got this instead. Hey, I had to have something to buy with my chocolate. Otherwise, the bag was going to be very empty. Of course, that philosophy led to more things like double Devon cream butter… :)
On to the tea. Brewed per package suggestions: 1 cup water to 1 tablespoon mix plus 1/3 cup milk.
Wow. First impression without sugar is BAM – pepper in yo’ face!
Add some sugar and it calms down a bit, but there is still a significant bite to this brew. Lots of flavor. I think there are other spices I taste that the pepper is trying to muscle out – cinnamon, ginger, cloves… not sure what all else. It’s not a bad chai at all, definitely packs more flavor than several I have tried.
I’m not sure I can taste the tea since my tongue is tingly and going numb from the pepper, though… :)
Off to get some bread worthy of the butter. :)
Preparation
I had this as a chai latte at the DFW airport on my way to vacation last week. I was looking for some breakfast before the flight and this jumped out at me. It was excellent. I wasn’t sure what to expect from a green chai, much less a powdered one. The guy making it told me he was also putting Japanese matcha in it but who knows. He was a little hard to understand and it was early in the morning. :) He did give me the extra that wouldn’t fit in the regular cup in a little tasting cup and gave me a medium for small price. I had asked for a small and he either misunderstood or he was bored because he made a medium and then told me he was charging me the small price. Not gonna complain about that. :)
At any rate, this was thick, rich, sweet and amazing. I’m going to have to keep an eye out for some. It was best hot, but cooled off to lukewarm it was still good, though the aftertaste got stronger and wouldn’t have been my favorite part of it.
UPDATE: The dude who made this for me did indeed add matcha to it. When I made this at home tonight, it was not green and it tasted different. Still had an odd bit of aftertaste, but not as creamy and not green. :) Tried adding some matcha powder I got from Teavana awhile back and blech. I think I need to figure out how to mix matcha before I try this again. That and I’m pretty sure I just don’t care much for matcha when it tastes like matcha. :)
Definitely bold, definitely sweet. Very vanilla. Very forgiving. I steeped for quite awhile by accident and it doesn’t seem to have suffered much. Going to have to try this next to Tea Merchant’s Silk Dragon and see if there is a difference and if I prefer one to the other.
I could drink the silk oolongs all day long, I think.
Preparation
Steeped according to package directions.
Yummy is the word for this. I think this is the first milk oolong I’ve had – at least that I knew what it was. I had wondered why the “milk” and to be honest, the idea of milk already being in dry tea was kind of a turn off. I realize that isn’t what it means, but the associations weren’t good. :)
It’s creamy, smooth and buttery. Two infusions so far and so good.
