Paul M Tracy Send Message

I didn’t think I was going to like this at first. The tiny, multi-colored leaves didn’t offer much fragrance. What was present, I would describe as a faint, sour licorice smell.

That fragrance carried over to the brewed tea. On my first sip, the thought that went through my mind was “Wow, not what I expected.” It has a light citrusy, tart flavor like a mild Earl Gray. Next, there’s a fruity-floral taste that ends in a subtle drying of the mouth.

This was really refreshing. While not “bold” in flavor, the complexity and the crisp finish make this a good cup of tea.

The leaves are green and gold and smell a bit “pastoral” (grass, hay, etc.) with a hint of white pepper.

Prepared, this has a strong malty caramel fragrance. From a flavor perspective, it’s simply an uncomplicated, smooth and rich black tea.

While described as strong and intense, I found this tea to be fairly mild; especially compared to some of Shui Tea’s other black teas. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t enjoyable, it’s just not as bold as I would have preferred.

I had this over ice after a workout. This is similar to another one of my favorites by Souvia called Regeneration, but this one doesn’t have all the fruit.

When you first open the bag, it smells like you’ve walked into a great Indian restaurant. This is full of exotic spices, but none of them carry too much heat.

There are so many different directions this can take that everyone’s palate will probably pick up different flavors. For me, this was heavy on ginger, fennel and cardamom. The cinnamon and clove were used sparingly, so they nicely rounded out the flavor. Finally, I had a licorice aftertaste.

This makes a sweet drink by use of the licorice. It’s not overpowering here though. This is a great blend with just the right amount of everything. The word “Amrit” comes to mind.

The leaves are extremely long, twisty and adhesive so this might be better prepared by weight. The dry fragrance is sweet and dusty with a touch of anise.

Prepared, the fragrance is caramel and vegetative. The taste is full and malty. There was a brief sour “snap” at the end of the first few sips, but that subsided as the cup cooled (or my taste buds were finally awake.)

Subsequent infusions of this were pretty good for a black tea. It picked up a mellow, biscuity character.

I love the fragrance of this tea; it has notes of black pepper and just a bit of citrus.

Brewed, the tea is bold, bright and crisp. The peppery fragrance remains but there’s also a subtle perfume about it.

I like black tea really strong. Subsequent infusions were more mellow and had a sweeter profile so this is a use-it-once tea for me.

This tea isn’t super fragrant in the pouch; there was just a subtle toasted-grassiness.

Prepared, the reddish-gold tea is slightly vegetal with a touch of smoke. It’s smooth, well-rounded and has a nice maltiness. It finishes with a taste of plum. Good stuff!

After my near poisoning with Soul Robber, I needed something to redeem the day.

I’ve been looking forward to trying this rooibos blend for some time. This is what initially drew me to the Shui Tea website which is turning out to be a favorite.

Opening the package, you could tell this was made from quality ingredients. Everything was brightly (and rightly) colored. I pulled out a dried peony petal that had to be 2 inches long.

The fragrance was incredible! I don’t mean this in any negative way, but the closest representation I can think of is cherry flavored cough syrup. This has some super cherry power and you can sense some underlying bite.

This brews to a bright red. The fragrance is a sweet-tart, rose-cherry-carrot mix. I was surprised by how much the rose stood out. I don’t typically care for rose or rosehips in my food, but this just worked for me.

The taste? Awesome! There’s a mild cherry-rooibos flavor, then you get a subtle flowery palate then BOOM! HOT chili. Finally, the carrot tries to quench the flame a bit until the next sip.

Not only was this a tasty beverage but it was actually fun to prepare and drink!

I admit I was taking a risk with this purchase. Etsy isn’t the first place I would typically go to make a tea or tisane purchase but the description of this one intrigued me. The package says it’s a “Men’s Tea.” It’s actually a tisane but we’ll overlook that for now. So, why is this a “tea” for guys?

1) The product looks like it was swept off the garage floor.
2) When prepared, it looks like used motor oil.
3) It smells like sweaty armpits.
4) It tastes like I would imagine all of the above to taste. (And it made my tongue numb.)

So, it’s obvious why this is a “tea” for men. This has to be one of the worst things I’ve ever experienced packaged as an edible item. I would say this goes straight in the trash, but I think this may require special hazardous waste handling. (And I actually bought one more tea from this same place- %#@$)

This tisane was visually similar to plain guayusa but also contained large pieces of raw cinnamon and strands of lemongrass. Sometimes lemongrass is like lemon scented hay, but this was close to freshly cut lemons. This blend smelled strongly of lemon.

I’m not a big fan of lemongrass, but what was used in this blend is either a better quality or a different species from what I’ve had in the past. It presented as a very clean lemon scent and flavor. This was very strongly flavored of lemon at first but it does mellow. As the cup sat, everything began blending together and I started to enjoy this drink.

I didn’t like this one as much as Amazon Swagger, but that’s because I’m not partial to lemon in hot drinks. I’m going to try this one iced sometime.