New Tasting Notes

Outstanding tea and certainly a keeper! The first impression on my palate was strongly of nutmeg and basil, however such sensation did not mask the original tea taste, rather lifting it to a higher level. It is exotic tea no doubt, yet it is excellent for every occasion. I was offered a sample and this was truly most welcome surprise. The depth and complexity are just unbelievable. The tea taste changes little even after 3-4 steeps, only mellows revealing additional earthly notes, but these are not ordinary, rather like a forest after the rain presenting a whole new aromatic spectrum.
I am going to give it 5 stars!

I got my Teavana order in the mail. All of them smell kind of.. not delicious, but whatever, for 1-3 bucks it was worth the try! Maybe they will taste awesome.. but first, the sample!

First of all, it smells delicious! I brewed up 2 teaspoons in a medium sized mug, took the rock sugar out of the strainer and put it in the bottom of my cup – I wanted to get the full sweetness, I was in the mood! Steeped for a short 2 minutes.

It was actually quite tasty! Nothing particularly unique or spectacular, but orangey and sweet. I think this would make an amazing iced tea, but I would never fork out the cash to actually purchase it, so we’ll see how far my sample takes me.

I’m with the masses, not the biggest Teavana fan, but thank you for this sample! It might be the tastiest part of my order!

Second steep of the first leaves.

I must say, the second steep brings it closer to the taste of Almond Biscotti, which makes me enjoy this tea so much more; increasing the amount of sugar helps a lot as well.

Unfortunately, the signature buttery flavor is still sorely lacking, it is quite evident in both taste and smell from the dry leaves to the brew that you are not drinking cookies.

Despite, there is less of the pale rose petals and more of the almonds, making this a truly great marzipan.

I’ve had my Breville tea maker for about a month, and I absolutely adore it. I have made black, green, and herbal teas, as well as chai, and it does a great job with everything. For iced tea, just make it a little more concentrated, and pour over ice when it’s done.

This certainly isn’t an appliance I would have bought for myself, but since I got it as a gift, it has been indispensable. Before I got this tea maker, I would struggle to drink any tea on work days because I wouldn’t have time to make tea and drink it before I left the house, and once I got in to work I would hardly have time to drink from my travel mug. Now I set the auto timer the night before, and my tea is ready when I get up, plus it keeps warm so I can put some in a travel mug just before I leave.

One thing that surprised me about this tea maker it its small size. It is really quite slim. The maximum amount of tea you can make in it is 1250ml, which is about 5 8-oz cups, and the minimum is 500ml, which is about 2 8-oz cups or approximately one large mug. This is a good range for me, but if you were making tea for a crowd or used to drinking tea in daintier amounts, you might take these limitations into account.

As far as maintaining the tea maker, it’s pretty easy. After I’m finished with my tea, I just rinse out the pot and shake and rinse the tea out of the basket. For easier cleanup, or to keep fine particles like rooibos contained, you can put the tea in a tea sac and tie off the end. You can also easily place tea bags in the basket — I just tear off the tag so it doesn’t get soggy and weird.

The tea maker does retain the flavor of the previous tea you steeped — the same as if you used a teapot. I’m use to drinking tea by the cup, so I do clean the pot by just soaking for a minute or two with a splash of vinegar and warm water after making flavored teas. There are instructions for cleaning in the manual, but the pot doesn’t need a thorough cleaning every day — just a rinse and wiping dry with a cloth is fine.

All in all, this is a great appliance. It only does one thing, but it does it very well. It is easy to use and maintain, and doesn’t take up much counter space. I would highly recommend this for busy tea lovers.

I had this at a conference in Austin, as Hojicha from a bag goes, it wasn’t bad, I have had better but it made my day during a long meeting. Its a good mid-grade tea roasted green tea. I enjoy Hojicha for those days I want something between a green and and a black, its smooth enough to make a nice daily tea. 

Still the most delicious tea I’ve ever tasted.

…Oh dear GOD, the smell.

A friend of mine who works at Teaopia recommended this one to me. And after reading about it, I was quite excited to try it. I love smoked meats and cheeses, and so thought – hey, why not smoky tea? Sounds intriguing.

When I stopped by the store to pick it up, I asked an associate if I could smell it first. Whoa. I have been told that I have quite a sensitive nose (finding scents overpowering from across the room that others standing over the source could barely detect), and the scent of this one nearly put me on the floor. I was honestly expecting the smoke in the scent to be more subtle, but this is like standing over the smoking ashes of a wood fire…in an enclosed space. I recoiled, and the associate said, “Yeah, it’s pretty strong,” and immediately put it back on the shelf without a further word from me. I had to tell him that, no, I would take it!

Perhaps that was a mistake. When I steeped this, I could barely breathe through the awful reek of smoke. I questioned the idea that I’ve ever liked smoky foodstuffs in the first place. It smells like my house burned down and there were no survivors!

Now, the taste…it’s honestly hard to evaluate the taste of something that is so overshadowed by its own scent. It tastes like smoke of course, warm like winters in the ski lodge. My first impression of it was, “delightful!” and I only wish it had stayed that way, but the smoke taste was so much stronger than I would have preferred. A few sips seemed to scratch my throat much like, well, breathing in smoke would. But the next sip would be incredibly smooth, so I never knew quite what to expect. At certain points I started coughing – I’m not sure whether it was the aroma or the tea itself, but something was setting off my asthma slightly (something I foolishly never considered, even after smelling it). Luckily, mine is not too severe, but NOTE – asthmatics beware!

There’s definitely an underlying sweetness to it, and I taste the saltiness that Asiaticfox mentioned as well. I feel like there’s a lot to this tea that I’d like to explore in further cups, but the smell keeps making my head spin and scattering my ability to focus on the taste. It smells like a forest fire devastated Banff, and wounded deer are limping from the smoldering ashes! I think I can smell their burnt fur and flesh now. God, stomach-churning, and now I also have a headache. Oh, and my eyes sting.

So I just don’t know what to do with this tea. I have 50g left (minus one cup). Continue to try to drink it in the hopes I acquire a taste for it? A shorter steep, perhaps? Use it for cooking? Throw it out? Donate to charity? Does Teaopia have a return policy for tea? I’m going to have to go drink something as far from this as possible…like a flavoured rooibos, maybe. This may very well have ended the obsessive “straight black” kick I’ve been on recently.

And to think I was so snobbily convinced I’d like a tea with such a strong taste note to it. I feel like a boob, really.

But dear GOD, the smell…

I first had this at my brother’s in Copenhagen, when we visited him last year. We enjoyed it so he sent us some for Christmas and now it is in the regular line-up of teas in our house. The best bit is being able to experiment with how I brew it, instead of relying on my brother’s Philistine ways with tea! ;-) So, I started the pot with two teaspoons of the tea in my 250ml glass pot and brewed it initially for two minutes at 80 degrees. Not enough flavour came through. It was pleasant and a bit bubblegum, but not as nice as I remembered it. After a bit of experimentation, I finally got it right for me. Between 75 and 80 degrees was the right temperature and a 3-4 minute steep brought out the flavours nicely. All the fruit came through, but delicately enough not to be overpowering. I did not notice much of the white tea, except as a background to the rest. Still, it was very nice and perfect for when I want something sweeter to drink. I wonder if it will be sufficient to counter my addiction to jelly snakes and jelly dinosaurs?

After almost a year, I still can’t decide if I like this tea or not. One day I’ll only get through half a cup, the next time I’m almost craving a second. I drank it today to take a break from all my bagged teas, craving something green and flavoured. Got more coconut in this brew than I usually do and I liked it more. Maybe that’s the flavour that’s missing when I get a less-awesome cup? I’m going to have to watch it next time and figure this out! :D

Not so special, but it does make a nice basc daily green tea. Its lower in cost than other gunpowder green teas with a bit of a smokey flavor, I have used it a few times as an iced tea, not bad. Not my favorite but its good for a basic green. 

Average all around tea, yet quite mute, bitter, astringent, and at times sour?Plenty of tea to go around yet there are many brands to choose from that has a far better quality.

Hmm… a very interesting tea! It takes a little while for the flavor to develop on your tongue. I first taste an earthy tea flavor. This is closely followed by a tart fruit flavor that slowly finishes in a mellow, slightly astringent blueberry note. Very cool! I wish that there was more of a sweet blueberry flavor as I taste mostly an earthy tea. I will say that the tea base complements the subtle blueberry flavor. I also find the dry leaf to look awfully pretty as well. Love the cornflowers against the dark tea!

I’m not a huge green tea fan, but this is interesting. It’s the first time I’ve had genmaicha – it tastes kind of like rice krispies! It has a subtle sweetness, roastiness, and not too much astringency. I got this in bags from World Market, but it looks like it might be available as bags or loose leaf under the name “Tea of Inquiry” from RoT.

This tea is bold and wonderful. It’s just a little smoky, and then I get a lot of fruity flavor and honey.

I’ve never had a Keemun before this and now I’m like, why? This is exactly the kind of thing I like. I liked the first steep the most because it was in your face, but the flavors are still all there subsequently.

Great low cost Jasmine Tea, my favorite thing is this makes a great iced tea, very refreshing and good on a hot day

It smells fizzy! and sounds fizzy when I pull the basket out of the tea! It even tastes a bit fizzy! How is it doing that???

monkeeeeeey! my favorite british tea by far- you can never go wrong with the PG tips

I had called a Teavana location to inquire about their Almond Biscotti, to which they informed me Amandine Rose has replaced; they had also assured me that this tea is exactly the same as Almond Biscotti.

Right away, I expected the familiar and comforting buttery flavor Almond Biscotti is known for, which this tea is close to getting.

I can smell and taste more of the rose petals than the almonds, which makes for a pale yet sweet brew.

But, Almond Biscotti this tea is not, as it is more of a pale marzipan than a dessert tea.

I still enjoyed the tea, as it is now the best marzipan I have had.

what a classic tea! i love the musky tasty and the bittersweet kick that is the after taste of this lovely tea. most people enjoy without milk but I find this tea is the best with a splash of soya milk. yum!