Jessie

aisling of tea, thanks so much for giving me some of this one! I am SO skeptical with decaf teas, I don’t think I would have tried it otherwise. But I totally forgot it was decaf while I was drinking it. It was a deliciously sweet, candy-caramel, creamy vanilla in a hefty-but-not-bitter black base. I forgot about it steeping and while it did taste a touch over-steeped, it wasn’t bitter. This would make a good vanilla stand-by, I think. I don’t have a boldly vanilla tea that I can rely on but this could be it.

Thanks to Tina S. and her cute little box of surprises for this! It was the first one I reached for, and I made a big pot to keep me company as I assembled a monster-pot of chili. I’ve been on a tropical sencha kick lately (a lot of Tealish’s Get Fresh), so it suited me well.

It’s quite nice! Mango and strawberry are forever in competition for the title of my favourite fruit, but I want mango to be done right in tea. I think this one captures it well. It’s not overwhelmingly sweet; the mango kind of follows the sencha here. The vegetal aspects of the sencha are still there, and it’s quite a refreshing combo. Earthy but juicy-fruity!

Alright. I’ve never had Amaretto. And super-almond extract-laden things tend to be a little sickening to me. So I’m not really sure why I tried this! I suppose it was to try lapacho, though I now have another lapacho blend from Herbal Infusions.

That said, this wasn’t awful. But it was too potently sugary-almondy for me. I found myself drinking it quickly to get it down since it’s not bad enough to waste and not good enough to savour. It’s odd that I do like Alpine Punch, but so it goes.

I had this to go from the store today. I was pleased to find that it wasn’t super-rooibosy but, yeah. I see what others mean with the orange candy flavour. It was a little much for me, though not unpleasant. It smells good, but I kept catching whiffs of it sitting to one side of my desk at the office and wondering what the smell was. I kept thinking someone had just cleaned something before realizing it was the tea! Odd.

I got home from work tonight and the boyfriend had a cup of tea waiting for me (so well-trained it’s scary!). He then stepped out for a few minutes, so I couldn’t ask which tea it was. I enjoyed the bakey, sugary sweetness of whatever I was drinking, but could not for the life of me place what it was. It was this one. So, I think that says a lot! Tasty but not memorable?

Interesting, and unexpected. I was expecting a light, floral green and instead found this darker, rich, and earthy. The sepalika added a nice sweetness, but not floral notes in the way I was expecting, especially after reading the “jasmine” bit. I found it got bitter quite quickly even during subsequent infusions, but with that under control it was a nice experience.

So, of course, this is like Forever Nuts. But… better? Dare I say it? They are very similar, but I find this version a little richer, maybe a little sweeter with the tartness diminished a bit. A lovely concept and a lovely blend! So comforting, and a good dessert stand-in.

I have had this a few times now but not logged it! What’s happened to me?

Anyway, not bad! I was expecting really in-your-face maple flavour after DT’s Oh Canada, but this isn’t quite. It’s tasty, and it’s sweet in a brown sugary way, and it’s even a bit woodsy or maybe bakey. It reminds me of Pancake Breakfast but the base is smoother.

Oh, Steepster. My life is slowly returning to normal after a harrowing few days, and I feel that a tealog is a good step although I’m not feeling particularly eloquent. I spent a night in hospital thanks to a medication I was taking for a medical trial combined with a faulty insulin pump, and then the weekend trying to prevent myself from needing further hospitalization! My tea drinking has mostly been well-loved, comforting herbals while I was recovering from ketoacidosis which entails extreme dehydration (thanks, rooibos!).

Immediately before I got sick on Thursday, I picked this up at DT near work. Last night I thought I’d finally give it a try since my constitution had recovered at least partially and I needed some help getting the rest of the way. Turmeric is wonderful for inflammation, so this sounded about right.

It’s not terrible. It’s very earthy and very herbal, but I think it avoids tasting medicinal. I don’t like licorice but it doesn’t bother me too much in here. Mostly I get ginger, citrus, and spice. It also cleared out my sinuses, which I didn’t realize were at all congested, and made me feel pretty clear-headed. So that was nice. I think I would maybe buy some more to keep on hand when I need the help or think I’m getting sick, but it’s not something I would choose based on flavour. The man of the house didn’t want to finish his cup, but he ended up doing so anyway.

This was a nice and interesting change. I added a tiny bit of coconut sugar and some coconut milk powder to this to make it milky. The puerh made for a nice, earthy, solid cup of chai. I love the balance of spices that Yogic Chai uses, so it was pretty much a guaranteed success.

Also, it made my kitchen smell awesome!

I got a pre-packaged pouch of this some months ago for $1 during a sale, and I’ve had it a few times now. The man of the house seems rather taken by it, having made it last night before bed and then again for me when I got home from work today. I’m not complaining when tea is being made for me (and having him prepare tea means some of the non-faves that are lingering in the chaotic tea corner get used up), but I find it exceedingly dull. That’s about it. It’s lemony. It’s herbal-tasting. I think I’m starting to stray away from lemongrass. It’s too overbearing these days.

I was really surprised by the scent of this tea, opening the package. I’ve had a fair number of very nice jasmine teas and dragon pearls at this point, and my previous aversion to what I thought of as a soapy flavour has been overturned. With slight variances, they largely smell and taste the same. This one, though, instantly came across very markedly sweet. Very floral, but with a candy-like sweetness. It translated into the flavour in what is probably the freshest-tasting, least perfumey jasmine tea I’ve had to date.

I still don’t find this the most exciting type of tea, personally, but Teavivre’s is the nicest dragon pearls I’ve had. Several pearls yielded three great big flavourful infusions, too.

Oh, wow. The autumn harvest is incredible. I don’t remember the summer one terribly clearly aside from really enjoying it, but going from my notes on it I would say I’m finding this richer, and the toasty-grainy notes are more at the forefront here. It’s sweet but less so, still astoundingly smooth. I’m thinking honeyed, roasted barley with cocoa.

Complete love. I’m not often taken aback by a tea at the first sip like I was by this one!

Yep, no disagreement with all the glowing reviews of this tea! What a great Fujian. I find this type so calming for a black tea.

I needed to quickly snatch up a tea on my way to work to brew in the bottom of my infuser glass. Black is never really an option for that, but I had a susupicion that this one would hold up well. Indeed it does. It’s been hanging out at the bottom of my glass for two infusions over 45 minutes, and it has been consistently honey-sweet and delicious. No bitterness! just a nice, slightly roasty depth. I find it quite cocoa-y, which is really complementing the coconut flour brownies I made last night. Delicious! The lovely little packets are also perfect for work-brewing, but I’m hoping to try this one in my gaiwan soon. Thanks again to Teavivre for the samples.

I finally got to trying my sample of this tea this morning. I had a really hard time getting out of bed and wanted something gentle to wake up with. I’ve found Huang Shan Mao Fengs to be pretty great for that type of craving in the past, and this one didn’t let me down. There’s something very round and fluffy and comforting about it.

The dry leaves smelled wonderfully green, buttery, and sweet. They were also fascinatingly rich green and fresh-looking. I steeped it in the Breville for 3 minutes, which yielded a nice mellow cup. I was worried about bitterness at 3 minutes, but there was none in sight. Less buttery and more floral than I was expecting from the scent. A very nice stand-by. I do wish this had different packaging rather than coming in an not-reseable bag. I’ll have to drink this quickly since I have no spare tins at the moment, but that shouldn’t be a problem.

I’ve gone through most of a tin of this, so I’m not sure why I’ve never logged it!

I like it. I can’t say that I’m particularly drawn to it based on its flavour profile, but it is an excellent wake-up tea, especially in the winter. It’s bold and spicy. I don’t find the cayenne too overpowering. So the depth and earthiness clear my head but, most usefully, the cayenne clears my sinuses when they’re stuffy and painful due to the awful dryness that keeps my humidifier cranked up seemingly around the clock this week!

I don’t have much time to log this one, but wanted to record that I really liked it! I knew I would from the instant I opened the sample packet; the aroma was candy, cookie-sweet and intoxicating. The sweetness carried though the flavour through a couple infusions, and was accompanied by fresh, creamily floral deliciousness. I think I’ll need to grab some of this to try gong fu style since this one was, again, brewed bottom-of-the cup style today!

I finally made it into Tea Dynasty on New Year’s Eve. It was really lovely. I’m glad Toronto has it, but wish it was in a part of the city I frequented these days! I’ve been wanting to try black dragon pearls for some time now, and was happy to see them there. Unfortunately they are rather pricey. I decided to use three of the pearls (they are much larger than any green jasmine pearls I’ve seen) in my 100 ml gaiwan.

I took my habit to an all-new level of out-of-control this Christmas in asking for a Zojirushi, so I was excited to break it in today with this tea. It’s so great for quick re-steepings!

As for the tea: nice and chocolatey. Very mellow and earthy, with sweetness increasing over the course of the four infusions. I could see this one becoming a favourite if not for the price.

I’ve really enjoyed this the couple times I’ve made it, but yesterday I had a friend over for some New Year’s Day laziness and made several cups of tea for us, including three infusions of this one. I was shocked by how well it held up in re-steepings! The bubbly, soft, juicy qualities of the base and the peach and tangerine flavours just kept giving. Delicious, and bumping the rating a little!

I had afternoon tea on New Year’s Eve at a place that included a glass of one of their jasmine-fruity whites made into sparkling tea. I love that idea, and I think this one would be amazing that way. It already makes me think of champagne.

I’m not sure exactly when or how I got this one, so I think it may be rather old. However I brought it to work with me today and it’s serving me quite well. My current work tea set-up right now is typically using my 400 ml tea glass and having my 500 ml (awesome) Zojirushi thermos/travel mug full of hot water. I let the water cool a bit, add the leaves, and keep refilling with the thermos. Light Oolongs are my favourite this way, not surprisingly.

This started off very sweet, green, and floral. As I go on a nice creaminess is developing. I used the entire sample so I regret that I won’t be able to try this gong fu style, but I’m really enjoying it this way and it’s yielded a litre of tea so that’s pretty great. It could keep going if I had more water.

Awesome, awesome, awesome. I was always very into Earl Greys. Actually, until my tea obsession blew up big-time about a year and a half ago, it was my go-to. These days, though, I rarely drink any form of Earl as so many seem to be made with sub-par bases and sub-par bergamot flavouring. I love bergamot but prefer it to be pretty subtle (read: not strong enough to cover up a boring base). Yunnan golden buds have become my go-to black in the interim, actually. It’s become apparent that it’s my ideal morning tea, with their velvety smoothness and re-steepability.

So, this is brilliant. What a combination! I had to order it up during the Black Friday sale (can I also compliment Verdant’s not only free but actually fast shipping to Canada?). I was saving it to give it proper attention, and that’s what it got today. It’s lovely! I am drinking a cup of Verdant’s excellent Yunnan golden buds, which I already drink and love. But on the second half of the sip, a lovely citrusy flavour blossoms. The bergamot is just right, and I can just feel the lemongrass on my tongue. It’s there, supporting the tea, but not bossing it around. So far I think the Alchemy teas do exactly what they set out to do; the added flavours complement the teas beautifully without overwhelming them in the slightest.

I’m on my second steep of this (first at four minutes, second at five in the Breville) and the Yunnan has been tamed slightly while not dissipating at all. It’s still rich and creamy, but the sweetness has come out more.

I’ve been drinking this occasionally over the past few weeks but forgot to log it. I rather like it! It’s much milder than the powdered sencha. Sweeter, and hay-like. My boyfriend is a big fan of Den’s powdered sencha and stands by that, but I find this more pleasant to drink in the winter. It’s like gently flavoured water when I use it with more than the suggested amount of water, and even cold it’s warming somehow (I haven’t tried it hot yet). Plus, perfect format for work.

Yep, fresh and fruity. Mango and pineapple, fairly equally balanced. It’s the same sencha base I like in their other flavoured greens, but Coconut Blossom still takes the cake for me when I want a tea in this vein (the fruity sencha vein). Very tasty, and it’d be great iced. And mixed with Coconut Blossom! Yum. Too bad I never feel like cold drinks in the winter.

This is a lovely, lovely tea that does exactly what the description promises. The additions complement and enhance the already fabulous base perfectly. I’m drinking this from my tea glass at work. I used cooler water than I would normally since the leaves wer left in. I’m shocked to have got to the bottom after a good 30-45 minutes with zero bitterness! Very rich, sweetly floral, and delicate but not timid!