New Tasting Notes

Sample sipdown! This one came from Lariel as well. =)

Dry leaf: Smells like raspberry, with notes of bergamot and the earthy black tea base. Slightly sweet smelling.

Brewed: The raspberry and the blueberry come out a bit more, with the bergamot trailing not far behind. I’m also picking up citrus notes (most likely from the orange peel), and hints of vanilla/cream. It’s sweet and earthy smelling.

Taste: The berries aren’t as strong as I’d thought they’d be, given the smell, which is fine as it allows the other flavors to come through. I’m getting the raspberry more than blueberry, but that’s ok. I like raspberry! The cream/vanilla flavor is also quite present. It makes this a smooth, creamy cuppa, but vanilla for me is hit or miss in a tea. This one isn’t what I’d call a miss, but it does taste just a tad artificial for my tastes. I often feel this way about vanilla, though, so it could just be me. The bergamot and the black tea base gives it that “earl grey” taste that I love so. The citrus notes linger at the back of the sip, providing a refreshing aspect. This cuppa is mildly sweet and relaxing.

Overall, this is a pretty good custom blend. The vanilla aspect is something I’m not really feeling (this is just personal preference, I think), though I do like the mouthfeel it gives the cuppa. I also wish the blueberry was slightly more represented in the brew. I do really like the earl grey flavors, here, as well as that nice citrus finish!

Thank you, Lariel, for letting me sample this! Glad to have tried it. =)

I’m glad I wait until three or four cups later to review teas, because initially I would have rated this tea very low. However, it is probably one of the best teas as far as the hot/iced factor is concerned. It’s good both ways (although my preference is iced).

There is a trick with this tea, however – I use less tea than what they say to use. That way, the tea doesn’t get too tart. The first time I made this tea, all I tasted was tart and it was really terrible. However, I made a pot of it with about the same amount as a cup and it turned out beautifully and impressed ALL of my friends (yes, all).

I don’t get any of the crust flavour that people keep going on about. For me, it’s strictly strawberry, rhubarb, hibiscus. A bit of apple. That’s it. It’s going to make a fantastic fall iced tea!

I love my white teas, and this tea is no different… as long as we’re explicitly talking about iced tea. This tea makes the best peachy-mango-y iced tea ever!

Hot, I don’t like it, but I have a problem with most fruity teas hot. The white tea notes get destroyed when you drink this tea warm. Cold, however, I find the white tea quite prominent. I’ll miss it when it’s gone, but if I find a suitable iced tea replacement, I don’t think I’ll miss it.

Initially, I wasn’t overly impressed with this tea. But you know what? I keep going back to it. I’ve almost finished my 25g sample and I’m crying on the inside because I can’t justify buying more tea until some other have been drunk down.

It has a strange, murky liquor that I find unpleasant, but I just add a splash of milk and it seems to soften it.

Chocolate-y, vanilla-y, coconut-y goodness + black tea. What’s not to love?

Another that I got my cousin to pick up. Did I mention how much I love that David’s let’s you buy small amounts of their tea? I wish more places did this. One day when I own my own tea shop (which may be closer than we think), I’m going to let people buy small amounts of the teas they want to try.

I had received a sample of this with one of my orders, but there sample packs aren’t enough for me for the perfect cup. So I’m trying this again.

I really didn’t see much tea in the leaves & it brewed up quite light. The steeped cup smells amazing. Chocolatey, creamy, spicey. It’s creamy tasting, slightly spicey, but I’m not entirely sure its an anise taste.
This is super yummy though!

So I had a bit of a weird experience the other night. I was randomly trolling around the co-op job listings (basically where you work for a company every other semester) and sent out my resume to a few that I was qualified for. I get an e-mail the very next morning to tell me I’d been selected for an interview this Wednesday. My goodness you guys, I’m just a freshman! What am I doing! I don’t know how to do these interview things! D:

Just thinking about it works me up into a horrible panic, so I decided to finally break into my Ceylon Star sample to try and calm down. Chocolate based things are the best cure for anxiety, right?

I don’t think I’ve had any particularly chocolate based teas before now, but goodness why not? Chocolate tea is wonderful! Like hot coco only I don’t feel guilty after I finish it. The coconut notes in this just help round it out perfectly. Almost reminds me of liquid samoas without the caramel. Speaking of which, is there such a thing as samoa tea? If not, there should be.

Figures I’d only try this after the winter collection’s gone away. Alas.

SIPDOWN! mostly because i am an awesome person…yes that’s me tooting my own horn toot! toot! haha. I picked up a sample of this ages ago but hadn’t gotten around to trying it. In the meantime Indigobloom has been trying to purchase a sample of this for eons. It’s been sold out for a while so this weekend, in preparation for our uber swap/board game extravaganza at my place (anyone in toronto area is welcome! lol) I totally opened it to drink some, and before even trying it, packed the rest away for IB.

I’ve got to say, this is a fantastic blend! I’m looking forward to other steeps but this initial steep is great. MMMMM! I can’t even begin to explain.

I love the spiciness in this blend. The ginger brings a really nice balance to the peppercorn.

Edit: Lots of really tasty re-steeps out of this one. the spicy is just becoming more blended and delicious :)

I was recommended this tea by some friends. I’m really starting to question my friendships (just kidding).

Again, I have this love-hate thing with rooibos. It can be used to blend teas really well (ie. super ginger, coco chai rooibos are some of my favourite teas on the planet) or it can just come across as woody and unpleasant. Alpine Punch does have this woody note, but luckily it is masked by other flavours in the tea. If I were to describe the flavour, it is nutty fruit punch. It sounds terrible, but it’s not bad. I can see why people enjoy it. For me though, it’s just not permanent collection worthy. I’ll gladly finish my sample and be done with it.

I tried so hard to like this tea. So. Damn. Hard.

It’s not that it’s unpleasant… It’s just so… rooibos-y. To me it tastes woody, and I really can’t seem to get over that. It’s not that I hate it… I just don’t really like it all that much.

I do, however, like the maple-y sweetness component of it. This component comes through better with a splash of milk. I’m glad it’s a crowd pleaser too – it was recently my birthday so I have a heck of a lot of it!

To me, this is a very typical cold tea with strong mint, eucalyptus, and juniper all playing a strong role in the tea. What I like (and I think what makes this cold tea different than others) are the citrus notes that come through afterwards, almost in the after taste. Being sick is no fun, but this is a good tea in your arsenal if you are congested.

Dry it smells like blackberry but brewed was wondering ‘This is supposed to taste like blackberry?’ Honestly I tossed it.

This is my second cup. Let’s say I was used to just brew my chai just like any other tea: Aprox 7 min, whip a little milk just to release the barista in me, add honey & ready. Tried this with the first cup & wasn’t pretty good. Today I followed the instructions & turned out perfect. I was a bit lazy but the result it’s pretty much worth it. The only thing that I’m confused about it that if this blend already has the black tea in it, the instructions says to add 1/2 tspn of your fave black blend, may be to add a little strength? but for me the amount of black in the blend is perfect. So far I’m liking Samovar teas a lot.

1.5 tbsp for 375 ml

There’s an artificial chicken-soup like overtone in the aroma and aftertaste that seems out of place in this tisane. It is quite unsettling. I’m having a lot of difficulty in finishing my cup. Maybe I picked up a bad batch of this?

I still have some left in the sample that I purchased that I will save for another day.

Bravissimo is an interesting tea – more for what it does than how it tastes. Taste wise – strong licorice and camomile, very similar to Sweet Dreams in that regard. Citrus notes also very prominent (from the orange and the goji no doubt).

It numbs your throat well. Really well. If the only symptom you’re experiencing is this, I highly recommend this tea.

This is an interesting tea for me. I love mint and chocolate together and the black tea puts them together well. The peppercorns add a little bite, which was much appreciated. After my first cup I said “OMG MORE NOW.”

Buuuuttt… it sort of ended there. Every cup I’ve had since has been all right. It’s a tea I crave on occasion, although I’m still debating whether or not it belongs in my permanent collection. Lately when I crave a chocolate black tea, I’ll go towards Stormy Night. Could be the changing of the seasons. Overall, a solid tea and certainly a crowd pleaser.

I always like to get a sample of a green when I order from Adagio, and ordering one of their free Matcha Fruit Mix samples a while back was no exception. While I don’t drink greens often enough to justify buying a whole bag, its nice to have a small amount of it on hand.

Now, I absolutely love pomegranate, so obviously I would have wished for it to have a stronger pomegranate flavor. Most other reviewers described the flavor as ‘bland’, and I suppose that’s kind of true. It does leave much to be desired in terms of delicious fruity flavor. But lets look at what it is. Its a simple, sweet tasting green. It leaves a pleasant, grassy aftertaste, and doesn’t need to be sweetened. Would I order again? Probably not. I try not to order the same tea twice. (The exception of course, being White Peach.) But its nice to have on hand for now.

I have been wanting to try this tea for forever, and KittyLovesTea was nice enough to send a sample with our swap (thank you!) The dry leaves smell strongly of butter and maple syrup, yum! I’m wondering if having this tea right before breakfast will make me want to whip up some pancakes for my morning meal? Ohh, this is good! There’s a nice bready/cake-like flavor mixed in with the black tea, and then a rich syrupy finish. And with all of that a thick, buttery smooth consistency. I’m not sure how all of that is possible in one little cup of tea, but there it is. This one definitely has me craving some fluffy pancakes now!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of butter and maple syrup. Tea liquor aroma is of sugary maple syrup.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Pastry and bready black tea flavor with a rich maple syrup finish. Buttery mouthfeel.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Excellent tea. Reminiscent of warm buttery pancakes and maple syrup.

Final uber secret sample from stacy. lol Yes i’m having fun doing this, though mostly it saves poor stacy getting a ton of emails from me to give her feedback AND maybe sparks some interest in the rest of the world for her secret concoctions.

I have to say on this last one Stacy…WANT! I didn’t get much of the non red flavour in the first steep that i had but the red flavour is what makes me super excited about the rest of the sample bag of this one. I also don’t usually like non black flavoured teas as much but this one hits the spot. It might be worth having this on the website someday…or a blend similar to it. Just saying :)

This is one of the teas I had my cousin pick up for me. I didn’t think I let it steep more than 3 mins, but there is quite a bit of astringency.
Just behind that astringency is a delicious ripe banana taste, with a touch of chocolate & creamyness.
This is really good, I added a touch of rock sugar to kill the astringency & it did without sweetening the tea.
Another one to add to my purchase list.

Inspired by the “Mistakes you made with tea” discussion, after duly noting that most of distinguished participants confessed to oversteeping as the biggest mistake, I resolved to steep shorter and first experiment with what looks like a decent tea.
Oh, short steep – but 30 seconds?!! Seriously? Do I trust Garret enough? OK, he is a fellow runner, he can’t be too bad…:)
I would not dare to assign any rating numbers to anything I am so unfamiliar with – but – pleased to say – it does taste good! The package says “roasty, and full-bodied” – maybe next steeps will taste that to me, after Garret allows at least a 2-minute steep… the first I perceive as more jasminy.
30 seconds? Who would have thought?

Figured that I should probably try this tea since i’m sending it out for a swap lol. Not that i haven’t wanted to try it, it just kept getting put to the side since i have a bajillion unopened teas in my house.

I am totally digging this one. I really like how the plum is blending with the spices to make it better than your average spice tea. Looking forward to other steeps since the plum flavour comes out moerso for others.

Hum. Drank my second steep of this last night, added a bit of coconut palm sugar this time.

That made it taste a little better, but I realized that I’d probably really enjoy this tea if it didn’t have the word “cheesecake” in the title. I don’t taste that at all and given how much I love cheesecake, that’s the ultimate disappointment.

If it was just called Pumpkin Spice Cake or something I’d be easier on it and I’d definitely enjoy it more. I know that’s all subconscious but that’s how my brain works, friends! You call something “Cheesecake” and you’d better deliver the goods!

It doesn’t taste bad at all, it’s fairly yum, but I still like DT’s Pumpkin Chai better, it doesn’t require sweetening and at least it’s true to its moniker.

My rating remains the same!

This is pretty good, but no substitute for a good sencha IMO