Jessie

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I only got two infusions out of this (spring 2011) before deciding I need something strong and black to encourage me to stay awake to study. It’s a shame. This is really nice, fresh-tasting, and refreshing. A little bit buttery, but lighter than the description makes me think it’ll be. Hopefully I will find time for the abandoned leaves in the morning.

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Mm, so refreshing and juicy cold-brewed!

Goin’ through a lot of cold tea these days, which is a nice way to use up teas I don’t find very exciting hot. I’m scared to run out of said teas, though, because for the amount we are going through I don’t want to use anything precious!

This is good. The green rooibos is a nice change, and has this tasting like a toned-down and slightly nutty version of the Tim Hortons peach drink.

Predictably more exciting/appropriate iced.

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This came out a bit bitter, quite smokey, and a little bit sweet. Not bad, but I had to add milk to enjoy it. That’s not really a bad thing. It made a good breakfast tea.

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Tried this cold-brewed this time. Nice, more toned-down.

I wanted to do some black tea sampling and ordered several samples from Narien Teas. They arrived this morning, and I was surprised at the generous sample portions. I even weighed it, and I got about 27 g of this for $2. Awesome.

This is a nice, solid Assam. Bold and rich and malty, quite peppery/spicy but also a little bit sweet.

This was too intriguing to resist throwing into my last order.

Dry, it’s interesting; the leaves are all different sizes and shapes, some tightly rolled/curled, some not. It looks fairly different from the photo on DT’s site. It’s also a more uniform and somewhat brighter green. It smelled mild but toasty and a bit nutty.

It made a nice green-gold liquor, and the taste followed the dry aroma: mild, toasty. It reminds me quite a lot of fired senchas I’ve had. Very tasty and refreshing, but not radically different from others in my cupboard.

This tea is very pleasant, has a tasty sencha base, and has made me some nice iced tea. But, it’s loosing its scent and flavour. Yikes! I need to repackage it badly but am out of empty tins.

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I received this as a gift at Christmas and am just now giving it a chance. It’s terrible. I have this idea that I don’t like gunpowder but I’m comparing with low-quality stuff I’ve had in the past. Shameful that I haven’t given it its dues. But, the experience of really smokey gunpowder put me off.

So, I thought I’d go Moroccan-inspired with this and added some fresh mint leaves to my cup. I don’t like mint in tea in general, but for some reason I always like it this way.

Okay. This is kind of smokey. Also, it came out bitter. Hm. It’s drinkable. I will give it another chance at some point, with a shorter steeping time.

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I bought this as I’ve been meaning to try tulsi but also been a bit afraid to. I have some vanilla rooibos with tulsi teabags but I haven’t tried them as they smell rather odd. This sounded like a much better blend of flavours.

Last night I had a rough night of extremely low and subsequently extremely high blood sugars. The highs cause pretty bad dehydration that leave me feeling hungover without the preceding fun. Anyway, I’ve heard honeybush and rooibos are good for replenishing electolytes and thought this might be good/comforting to take to work iced.

Okay, cons:
- tastes kind of medicinal
- I tried two very, very fine filters that have never let anything through before and I’m still stuck with a lot of tiny black floaties. Some debris doesn’t bother me, but this is a lot. I think I have some Tsacs somewhere but I’m not really into using those.

pros:
- while it does taste medicinal, the flavours work pretty well together. The lemon myrtle and citrul are prominent and I think I can identify the tulsi.
- very refreshing

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I got rid of the rest of this by making a big pitcher of iced tea.

As several others have noted, this tastes better than it smells. I don’t really dislike the taste; the creaminess and orange are there. But it just doesn’t work for me, for some reason. It was better iced, but still not something I would buy again. Also, I use stevia a fair amount in food but hate putting it in my teas. It leaves a weird taste and feeling in my mouth when I use it as a sweetener in tea. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad in this tea since it is stevia leaf and not concentrated stevia, but it still happens.

The boyfriend quite liked it, though.

I received my DT order this morning just in time to make this for my morning tea.

The leaves dry looked quite green, mixed with dark, and smelled delectably fresh and grassy. It turned out to be lovely, as expected. Very smooth, lightly astringent, light but rounded. It had a really nice sweetness, and I was getting some floral from it. Yum! I was hoping it wouldn’t stand out too much, discouraging me from buying more.

This is better than I was expecting. Thankfully, I got a sample with my recent order. I decided my best use of the small sample would be to try it iced. So, I steeped it in just-under-boiling water for a good long while (maybe 15 minutes?), let it cool, and then put it in the fridge.

It’s a nice, light strawberry taste. Not overbearingly sweet, which is a relief. This is making a nice alternative to water, though I’m not sure what I’d think of it hot. It might be too light for that. But, the bamboo makes a nice, slightly nutty and lightly woody base.

Also, I can totally feel the peppercorns in that tingle on my tongue the description mentions! It’s definitely a sensation and not a taste, but it’s interesting. I’m not sure if this is something I would drink a lot of, but I’m glad I got to try it. Perhaps I’ll pick up a small bag.