Ottawa Tea

Working at home this aft, and Earl Grey was just right for this rainy afternoon.

This lovely black has a very bold bergamot kick. The base of organic Keemun and Yunnan blacks carries the flavour well while still standing up on its own. A perfect accompaniment to an afternoon of working from home.

This was nice considering I have no idea what it is. It’s been sitting in my husband’s office for a few years. Still a good tea, surprisingly. Which is nice, as I don’t like to waste!

Got this in a swap recently, and threw it into a travel mug before heading out to run errands.

Smells like coconut. Tastes coconutty and like a milk oolong a little, although not at all as complex. The fruit didn’t come out at all for me. Weird!

No notes yet.

Back logging.

If all chamomile was like this, I might have not stopped drinking it. I mad a cup of this skeptically the other night, since I don’t really like chamomile. Well now. I guess that’s what you get for drinking celestial seasonings as a teenager!

This chamomile is a nice, soothing cup of bedtime tea. It actually smells really good while steeping, and there are a few layers of subtle flavor underneath the primary chamomile note. While it’s not clearly citrus or spice (and I’m glad of that, I don’t tend to like spiced teas too much), it is very enjoyable and not just a boring old cup of chamomile.

I steeped this up with some long jing, as I got the last 20 grams at the store which was mostly nuts, apple, and green tea powder and bits.

The long jingo base was definitely present, and the Geisha Plum added a subtle sweetness to the overall tea. It made for a very green, grassy cup with fruity top notes, which was rather pleasant for sipping over morning duties (including the dreaded referencing!). I would have liked a touch more almond, although I was pleased that the almond was very natural and not at all a cloying baking essence type flavor.

Probably not a regular tea, but nice on occasion..

It will do. I bought some this morning along with a great new cup for my tea at work, since I dropped my tea pot.

I was hoping for a steadfast standby for when I was wanting a plain cup of tea. Unfortunately, This tea was not robust, and rather flat. I steeped a second cup using water at a full boil but with not much improvement (earlier I was in a rush and my first cup was with hot water from the water cooler, which is better for greens). There is definitely a floral note to this tea, but it is lacking the depth I have become accustomed to.

My husband now declares me a total snob. Bridgehead, I love many things about you, but not this tea.

Life in Teacup never fails to please. This is my go to source for unadulterated great tea.

This Keemun Black is a really nice tea. A little smokey and woody, it smells a bit like a Finnish sauna. Its liquor is warm and steamy, along the same theme. I oversteeped this cup but it’s not bitter at all, and the deep, almost chocolate coloured liquor is comforting, cozy, and complex.

I’m referencing a long paper right now, and this is just the cup to keep me company. Thank LIT, I love your teas.

I’ve run out of banana bread black by 52 teas (I may cease to exist until a reblend).

Luckily, Lisbet sent me a pouch of this in a swap, and while not quite the crack that banana bread black has become for me, it is really quite good.

The dry tea is definitely blueberry all the way. I could imagine myself sitting on hot Canadian shield rocks in late summer, picking and eating the ripe, wild blueberries. A great feeling to have from smelling a bag of tea!

Steeps up nicely, with blueberry smells wafting around the room. I’m not quite as fond of the black Assam base, but the blueberry taste is rich and lovely, not at all fake and just perfectly sweet. Definitely an overall good tea, although it won’t replace my banana bread sigh

My last cup…the rest is on its way to another Jen. I really liked this tea, and it was my second from DavidsTea (first was milk oolong!). I apparently have never logged it.

The scent from this tea is enticing. When I brew it at work, you can smell it throughout my entire section. It even caused a colleague to go buy some herself. It raises comments when I bring a cup in meetings.

The scent is heavenly, the chocolate and mint combination perfect. For anyone who likes a peppermint tea, this one is very minty, and marries the chocolate tones nicely. I could drink this forever — certainly I need to restock!

The only thing I would change, are the scary red lips. While pretty, I doubt they add anything but extra chemicals to my cup. I’d love to see them gone, or a list of ingredients to reassure me that they are not as evil as they look!

Meh… Far too much cinnamon here to taste anything else. It’s pretty to look at, and makes a nicely tinted tea, but aside from that, it doesn’t have much to offer. I’m hoping it was a function of what ended up in my cup… Maybe the next cup will be what I was looking for. (temp 95 stepp 3 min…iPad hates the slider bars!)

Here goes. It is the week of 52 teas.

This has a really nice smell as it is steeping. I was so enthusiastic, I forgot to smell it dry in the bag. Next time!

The strawberry comes out as well as the subtle butter smell. I’m not sure that I’m catching the brown sugar or cinnamon. Actually, there it is, a little bit of cinnamon, but just a hint, which I rather appreciate. Cinnamon can be overbearing.

The strawberries are sweet and just a little tart, as if they are just ripe, and not yet mushy. The is a really pleasant sipping tea. It’s very hot right now (I brewed it with boiling, as you can see), so I’m interested to see if other flavours pop as the tea cools.

Definitely glad I got this one to add to my nightime tea options. Which reminds me, I have to go review Frank’s chamomile. It was really, very, good – and anyone who can make chamomile taste good deserves serious props (a word I learned from my 17 year old, lest you think I’m hipper than I am!).

Interesting. Not interesting bad. Just interesting.

I’m not sure if I would have bought this if I had tasted it on its own. That being said, I’m not sad I received it! The cherry flavour is bam!, smack you in the face cherry. Cherry without sweetness is an interesting experience. Like a Halls cough drop without the methol. The tartness was nice, but I really want to reel the intensity back a bit. I’m going to think about what I could blend this with to make the cherry a little more subtle (chocolate, perhaps?). I almost killed a colleague with this, though, so share carefully, with fair warning!

I’m not going to divulge how many bags of 52teas tea arrived today. It will keep me happy for quite some while, which is sad, because it means I should resist the weekly teas for at least a month.

Anyhow, Hot Buttered Banana Bread is steeping in my pot. The scent of the dry tea is fabulous – most banana scents are overwhelming and cloying. This one is just right (Goldilocks would be pleased!). As it steeps, banana wafts up from the pot, with some nutty undertones. I haven’t had a black tea from 52teas before, so I’m much looking forward to my first sip.

The black base has a maltiness along with an astringency to it that really compliments the sweet banana, and the, well, nutty walnut. I would not have thought to marry these flavours, and yet this so totally works, I’m really very happy I ordered this. This would make a perfect breakfast tea or morning break tea.

I don’t know Frank, you’re making me rethink my rating system and my previously stated preference for unadulterated oolongs.

Happiness is right! What a cheerful blend this is. Definitely fruity, but not overwhelmingly so. The oolong still shines through, unlike many a flavored tea. Now I need to go research kombucha, preferably with a nice warm cup of tea to keep me and my iPad company…

Now that my cold is well and truly gone, I can actually taste my oolongs again. Milky and I spent the drive home together. Oh how I love this tea. Milky, buttery, creamy, smooth. Then a little bit of floral and a hint of green. I need to go do steep 2 now. I think monkey picked and milky are neck and neck for my fave oolongs. Time for a steep off!

I have this one a few times now, from the generous sample included in my order from about a month ago. The smell was very intense, and incredibly orangey – but a good orange, not that sickly sweet orange that some teas can carry.

I steeped this a little longer than my usual oolong, and I really wasn’t getting oolong at all, just ginger and orange as the water slowly garnered a luscious amber tone. It was a very enjoyable cup, stimulating and tastey. The orange and ginger were well balanced, but the oolong was overpowered. I didn’t mind, however, as I really enjoyed this and appreciated the clear tisane-like notes.

No notes yet.

Bought a tin of gasp tea bags at a local bagel shop (bags, because they did not have the loose leaf pf this blend). I don’t know how long these have been on the shelf, or whether I’m just way past tea bags now. I was really hoping to love this tea. Rather, it was flat, like a can of diet coke left on a hot deck midsummer (not that I drink much diet coke any more). I’m wondering if the loose leaf would be better. A girl can hope…

More sage, less hibiscus, and this would be a far better tisane. It smells lovely, but is a little too astringent. I love blueberries, so I was hoping for more. le sigh

No notes yet.

I love all that is mint. Flavored puerh is just wrong, but the other flavors with the creme de menthe base were calling – vanilla, licorice and cinnamon. Yumm!

Certainly no puerh to be found in this cup, as the other flavors overtake the base tea…however, that’s fine by me. It’s nice cup, not a perfect ten but certainly worth trying.

Nice for a flavored black tea. The rum, the butter, the coconut and caramel are all there, nicely balanced with a good black tea base. I’ve taken to drinking this one after work I’m not quite sure why, but the decadence is quite relaxing. I wasn’t sure if I’d like the buttered notes, but indeed they are just right. This one will likely knock Earl Grey off as my standard flavored black!

So this is a serious fave now. So much, that I’m being naughty and am trying to recreate it at home. I don’t think I’ll ever match frank, but I’m coming close.

His rocks though. This energy boosting, choco- satisfying, coffee-busting mate is a real winner. You’ll love that I originally thought I was buying the honey bush for a night time drink, though. This serendipitous mistake totally has turned my morning beverage at work around!