risako

Now here’s a tea that’s meant to be drunk with milk and sugar! Great chocolate flavour, strong without being overpowering. Sweet on its own, but not too sweet. I’d love to see a version of this tea with mint added, but it’s just fine on its own. A perfect dessert tea.

As I’ve mentioned before, I tend to prefer black teas with milk and sugar, but I’ve enjoyed oolongs before, so I decided to order a sample of this tea.

With a four-minute steep, it has a strong but not overwhelming flavour, no bitterness, a lovely flowery scent, and a slight sweetness. I didn’t notice a particular peach flavour, but that may be due to my relative inexperience with oolongs – I just don’t know what I’m looking for! It’s a good stomach-soothing tea and worth keeping in the cupboard for that alone, with that good taste and sweetness as a nice bonus.

I just got my TeaFrog order today (which Canada Post managed to screw up, but ANYWAY) and had quite a bit of trouble deciding which tea to try first, which is always a lovely problem to have. There were six samples as well as three of my favourite teas from the previous sample pack.

I’m glad I went with the Assam sample, because… wow! It’s bold, but smooth, with just a hint of citrus. A four-minute steep makes it strong enough to stand up to milk and sugar, but it would be great on its own as well. Yet another to reorder.

How will I ever go back to mass-market teabags?!

Minty goodness! Lemongrass flavour isn’t very strong but does add a nice kick. I find that steeping it for more than two minutes makes it rather harsh.

A nice smooth chai. Very good with sugar, which seems to bring out the spicy notes a bit more; this isn’t a particularly spicy one but it’s very good, and the flavour is assertive enough to drink with dessert. Holds up to a lot of milk as well. Good thing the sample pack is so generous!

I’m drowning my World Cup sorrows in tea….

What a lovely jasmine scent! Next time I’ll forgo the teapot just to watch the pearls unfold. A great green tea. (I’d rate it even higher if it weren’t that I prefer black teas on the whole – but this is an excellent tea of its type!)

If TeaFrog’s Cream Earl Grey is Earl Grey lite, then Earl Grey Special is Earl Grey plus. Strong and lemony, with a slight bergamot flavour – I think the lemongrass overpowers the bergamot, but with bergamot being citrusy, it’s hard to tell. At any rate, this is a very tasty blend!

As with the Orange Pekoe, there seems to be relatively little to say about English Breakfast – it’s such a standard blend. But as with the Orange Pekoe, this is certainly a very good one, and I went through the sample pretty fast. It would be strong enough to stand up to an actual English breakfast.

This was a free sample included in my TeaFrog sample pack. I’d considered getting it but decided on the Markesh Mint (which I’ve yet to try). Aaaand I’m going to have to reorder this one too.

I steeped it for three minutes and found the black tea slightly more pronounced than the green, with a strong mint flavour that was enhanced by adding a bit of sugar. This was my first green/black blend and I’m very impressed!

Yum! I’d never heard of a Cream Earl Grey before but it’s quite nice. Creamy with a slight vanilla flavour. The flowers really add to it. Stands up well to a bit of milk. Yet another to add to the reorder list….

There doesn’t seem to be much to say about any orange pekoe – I grew up with it as the standard “just plain tea.” That said, this is certainly a very good one, and it’s the first one I finished from my sample pack. I’ll probably reorder it.

I’m not ordinarily a huge fan of white teas; I prefer heartier teas that can stand up to a good dose of milk and sugar. (Does that make me a philistine? If I’m wrong, I don’t wanna be right!) Ahem. Anyway, I had to order this in my sample pack because the name was so intriguing. I’m glad I did – it certainly has the delicacy of white tea but with a good blueberry flavour. In other words, it does what it says on the tin. Excellent choice for someone who tends to like white tea.

Yes! I can finally post notes again! Firefox wouldn’t let me for the longest time but I think I’ve got it figured out now. And in celebration: 1001 Nights tea! This is definitely my favourite of the teas I got in the sample pack – light and floral, but not overly acidic, and strong enough to stand up to some milk. Definitely reordering!

Found an old box of this tea hiding in my cupboard (ah, the joys of moving). Still tasty! Nice deep rich smoky flavour.

Ran out of Second Cup Holiday Tea (but then, it IS March…) so I’ve moved on to Twinings Lady Grey. Good stuff, but it’s way too delicate for the milk and sugar I put in it. Next time, lemon juice. (Note to self: acquire lemon.) Ordinarily I prefer stronger teas, but this is a lovely tea with a beautiful scent.

Dark, rich… almost coffee-like in its strength. Needs quite a bit of milk! (I’m a wuss.) An excellent morning drink.

It’s bubble tea in a can! It’s… not bad, actually, although not the most inspiring thing ever. I also bought tapioca pearls and am looking forward to making bubble tea myself!

I tried a 4-minute steep but found it didn’t work nearly as well – a lot of the richer “aftertaste” notes seem to need the full five minutes to develop. Lesson learned!

One of my favourites ever! I’m not usually a fan of cherry flavour (and I must say the cherry drowns out any orange flavour here) but I love this tea. I bought two boxes the day it came out and will probably buy two more before the holiday season ends.

It’s like green tea ice cream, only hot!

A great English Breakfast. I somewhat prefer the Irish Breakfast because it’s stronger.

Delightful! I like it with milk.

Fairly traded. Very good, but I prefer the fuller flavour of Twinings’ Earl Grey.

This is my standard everyday tea. It’s a good Orange Pekoe and isn’t much hurt by oversteeping. Good with milk and sugar.