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I plucked up the courage to try this last night. It smells of forest fire and tastes surprisingly mellow, considering. I nearly set fire to my kitchen though. I was busy exclaiming over the burnt smokey smell of the tea, and didn’t noticed the burnt smokey smell from a pan which had burnt dry in the kitchen. Ruined pan, ruined dinner, good pot of tea. I won’t rate this yet as I haven’t drunk LS for ages and can’t compare it with anything. I added some to my breakfast tea this morning though. I think I’m going to really like this.

I went out shopping today looking for something smokey. I keep reading great reviews of smokey teas, and I’ve been enjoying Brioche, which has a slightly burnt flavour. I found a tin of Alberta Street Chai, and a tin of Lapsang Souchong, also by Townshend’s Tea Company.

I used to drink Lapsong Souchong as a child, but that was in England, and maybe we have a more domesticated version there, maybe smokey like an indoor log fire, cozy and safe. I definitely don’t remember it being like these teas!

This Lapsang Souchong is described as “having an aroma and flavor that brings to mind a campfire.” It really does smell of the American outdoors, and this isn’t RV camping, it’s hunters, woodsmen, maybe cowboys. I think this campfire turned into a raging forest fire though. I smell devastation! I haven’t dared taste it yet.

The Alberta Street Chai doesn’t taste like a traditional chai. It tastes like this Lapsang Souchong smells. A fire in the woodshed at the very least. I added some cream and it’s delicious! I’m about to make a second pot.

I may have to have a fireman on standby before I try the other.

So far I don’t like this. It tastes too strongly of hibiscus and stevia to me. Next time I try it I’ll try a much shorter steep time.

I’ve got through several tins of this. It’s my before bed tea. It’s warming, soothing, and doesn’t stain my teeth like a rooibus. (No chamomile. Many people, myself included, are allergic to chamomile.) I steep it 2 or 3 times. The first steep is very sweet and tastes strongly of licorice. The second steep is more firey with ginger. The third is a more gentle ginger. The orange lingers and is more like a Lemsip citrus to me. Again, soothing! Tonight I’ve added a little Wei Chi Cha, which I don’t really like on it’s own, but here it’s adding even more sweetness and warmth. I’ll be fast asleep very soon.

This is definitely an acquired taste, and I have acquired it! I wish I would acquire a taste for something cheaper. This is delicious, not burnt or bitter as I first thought. Not at all.

I moved my tea into a small tin. That brought lots of tiny pieces of broken leaf onto my spoon tonight. It seems stronger, maybe because of the broken leaves, maybe because I went back to the 3 minute steep. I was craving that roasty peachy taste. This is addictive.

Apart from the broken leaves, the dry leaves are long, dark, twisty and beautiful, and brew up an orangey pinky colour.

I think this is a really good tea!

I’m on my 3rd 8oz pot of this this evening. I drank it yesterday as well. It’s my first dark oolong, so I haven’t got anything to compare it to, but I think it’s delicious. At first I thought it tasted a bit phlegmy, but I’m starting to like what I’m now thinking of as the roasted taste. The aftertaste is of peaches. I’ve been using a large teaspoon, almost boiling water, and an initial one minute steep, which I prefer to starting with 3 minutes.

I think this is growing on me. The tea smells wonderful, almondy, bakey, yes, brioche, exactly.

I first tried it last week. I brewed it as instructed, with 1 heaped teaspoon per 6 oz water, and a 4 minute steep. Eeeww. Yes, brioche, but burnt brioche, and bitter black tea. Very bitter. Not nice. Way too strong.

I tried it again. A small teaspoon, 12 oz water, 2 minutes steep. Better. Not so burnt, not so bitter. A bit weak though.

Yesterday, I found myself craving a little something almondy, bakey, brioche-like. Ahh, I’ve got just the thing! One tsp? No, too whimpy, need two. Two minutes? No, four sounds better. Yum! Burnt brioche!

Today: must drink Brioche, must drink Brioche, must drink more Brioche!

I won’t rate until my thoughts about this are more stable.

I bought “Vanilla Blossoming”, which I’m guessing is the same. Wow! This is magical! This is a really evocative tea. The first sniff took me straight back to childhood. Suddenly it’s Christmas and I’ve got my nose in a big box of chocolates. I smell chocolate, but also the fillings. Lots of sweetness. Complicated. The taste is a dark, vanilla, but also the bourbon. I could swear this has alcohol in it. I love this tea.

I only used 1 teaspoon in 8 oz water, so much less than the directions say. 2nd steep was still good.

I disliked this at first. I don’t eat much sugar, so really notice “sweet”. For me, when I drank this on it’s own, the taste was overwhelmingly that powdery, coldness of stevia, which I don’t like. I didn’t finish the cup. Not wanting to waste it though, I tried adding a small amount to a pot of black tea. Yum! Chocolate liqueur tea. I may buy this again after all.

Ruby Chai in the teabags is my favourite chai of all I’ve tried so far. I bought a bag of the loose leaf version, hoping it would be as good, but thinking it might be just powder. I’m really impressed with the contents of the bag though, it’s got loads of whole spices, including lots of cloves and lots of round things I don’t recognize, which I think might be all spice berries.

My senses of smell and taste are off today. I haven’t been enjoying things I usually love. I tried a cup of Teavana’s new black chai when I was out and threw it away because it might as well have been dish water. The cloves in this are penetrating my bunged up nose and I’m glugging this back very happily. I won’t leave a numerical rating as I can’t taste it properly, but it’s definitely clove-heavy, which suits me over stewed black tea or cinnamon.

I really like this tea. It’s my morning standard. As an English tea-drinker abroad I tried a lot of breakfast blends that just didn’t cut it. Then I had to give up dairy, and even PG Tips didn’t seem right. This tea got me back to tea drinking. It’s robust, malty, coppery, and tastes of Essence-of-Tea. It’s great even without milk. The leaves are gorgeous. I resteep at least twice, so this is reasonable in cost.

When I first made this I made the mistake of following the instructions on the tin and adding a spoon of black tea to the simmering mixture. I forgot that I loath stewed tea, and that was the overpowering flavour I got from this first batch.

I tried again this evening without adding extra tea. It doesn’t look like there’s much tea in the tin so I decided to try to get as much flavour from the spices as possible. I simmered the mixture for 30 minutes. A first cup, with a little honey, was very nice, with a lot of cinnamon sweetness and a little ginger kick. I’m going to leave the rest to settle over night and see how it is in the morning.

I’ve been enjoying adding a spoonful of this to re-steeped black leaves when I fancy a little bit of spice and to keep them going longer.

I really like Samovar a lot, but I wish they would reduce their $100 free shippng threshold.

I only found Steepster a few weeks ago. It’s been such fun reading here and looking for the perfect tea. Now I’ve found the perfect tea, is the fun over?

I bought a sample, but it’s a good size, maybe 4 teaspoons. I brewed 1 tsp in 8 oz water. The first pot was the most delicious, starting as melted butter and ending as peaches and cream. I’m on my 5th steep and the flavour is mostly a memory, but there’s enough of a delicious hint of scrumptiouness to make me keep drinking this.

Thank you, Steepsterites, for leading me to this completely delicious tea.