All The Raj

I am finally able to dig into my samples from Krystaleyn! Took me long enough, and I feel a bit guilty for waiting, but I was separated from my stash this weekend and this is the first chance I’ve really had to drink any of my teas. This is also one I’ve been meaning to try for a long time—I opted for Three Wishes in my first DAVIDsTEA order over this one, but since that turned out to be not so floral I’ve had plans to pick some up. But the reviews seem…. well, awful, so I’m thrilled that I have the chance to try it out first.

Well, apparently I have odd taste in tea, because I LOVE this. It’s the most heavily rosy blend I’ve had, but I adore rose so that is definitely a huge plus. It’s mostly all rose: there’s a hint of sourness from the rosehips which balances out the perfumey notes well, and then the fennel and licorice kick in. It seems like licorice is a big nope for many people, but I like it… then again, black jelly beans are some of my favorite, so it’s no surprise that I like a hint of it in tea as well. This is so close to what I wanted Three Wishes to be—I think I might blend the last of my sample with some jasmine. Either way, this is definitely going to make it into my cupboard!

Dunno where to start with this one!! I’ve had it in my cupboard for so long… I think I was hiding from it? The reviews are so polarized that I was worried about being poisoned by perfume haha.
But ya know what, it wasn’t half bad. I fully expected to be tossing the rest of my packet (one serving left! Mucho thanks to whomever sent this my way)
So you could say that I am pleasantly surprised. And eager to make my last cuppa iced!
Now, starting off with the negative points, it is a tad soapy and peppery, when hot… except as it cools, I’m getting a citrus and caramel association more than suds. Hence, why I think this will go better iced.
Oh! also, I went with a really short steep. Two minutes I think? so I may get a second one out of it to!

Cold brewed for 10 hours. At first sniff I was a little put off. Don’t ask me why I was expecting it to be fruity and instead it smells like old lady perfume. Thankfully, it tastes a little better than it smells. Brews into a nice, light pink. The predominant taste is definitely roses, which isn’t as weird as I thought it would be. It’s a nice sweet tang that sits lightly on the tongue. I don’t love it, but I wouldn’t turn down a cup if someone offered it to me.

Dry Leaf Nose: Floral, with a hint of chili.

Liquor: Rosy-red liquor, with a very aromatic, floral nose.

Flavour: Playful notes of rose, coconut and fennel, skillfully blended with top notes of chilli.

someone on here said that this tea tastes like “rose-scented shampoo and panda licorice” which i found hilarious and i kinda agree. but i also kinda like it! haha! (yum soap)
it’s unique. and since i’ve really started to drink more and more tea, i’m realizing that unique vs delicious is a great way to test your palate and keep things interesting. (especially since i only drink herbal tea)
we’ll see how i feel about it later. i rarely trust my first impression.

http://instagram.com/p/Sn9GDWocwU/

ICED! not my favorite of my iced tea experiment. i will probably keep drinking this one hot and leave the iced teas to my others. i mean knowing me i WILL drink it iced again in the future. it’s light and delicate in flavor. refreshing for sure. but not like outta control delicious or anything.

I…I don’t even know.

I honestly don’t. The dry smell is amazing as in it’s something I want to sniff all day, but not necessarily something I want to drink.

I don’t like overly floral teas. Well, I usually don’t. Jasmine and other floral teas just taste like perfume to me, but this…this is a lovely balance. The more I drink of it, the more I like it. Hrmm.

At this point it’s been sitting out for so long that it’s cold, but I think I prefer it that way. I am enjoying the way the different flavors mix. The floral rose combining with the creamy coconut and licorice and the way the chili just gives a hint of heat on the back of my tongue…this may be a good summer tea for me.

I reached for this as my stomach was giving me trouble and it has fennel in it. It did help my tummy, for what it’s worth, and it has had a bit of a calming effect, so shrugs who knows.

I’m going to try and finish the rest of my 10 grams, but I don’t think this is a restock for me. However, I might get more just to use a potpourri! I love the smell of it! But the enjoyment of this cup is quickly fading.

Ok so i bought a sampling of all of the new Ayurveda line to try them.

Dry leaves smell like pickles, roses and spices…..weird i hope i won’t hate this…

steeped all i get is licorice, pickles and roses the liqueur is a tangy orange color

Time to taste: Wish me luck…. wow i’ve never GAGGED when drinking a tea….this is bad tastes exactly as it smells, pickles licorice to the power of ten and then roses, maybe the second sip will be better…ok no gag reflex this time, it also leaves a sweet note on the tongue but i will not take a third sip this tea is terrible.

. . . ew.

It tastes like rose-scented shampoo and panda licorice. Neither of those are good things. There are very few teas where I can’t even finish one cup.

1.5 tsp for 250 mL water.

Meh. Smells and looks lovely — I like roses — but the rosehip is so sour … almost like vinegar. That note ruins the whole experience for me. Could detect no coconut at all; in fact, I was surprised to find it on the ingredient list.

Rating: 20.

(This is my first review of this tea in which I gave a 90. For the second review I gave an 8.. crazy right?)

I saw this tea online and had to have it. It looks so beautiful, like rosy potpourri with the rose buds and chili strings.

Smell of the tea… well isn’t potpourri… i actually can’t figure out what the hell I’m smelling. Rose for sure, by a little…and the rest smells weird and not sure if that’s a good smell. Alas, I don’t care – I figure this tea would look ULTRA FREAKING COOL in my glass Libre tea mug as it shows off all the rosey buds and other pretty redness of the herbal tea. And I love drinking DAVIDstea “Citron Oolong” and “Checkmate” for their pretty factor. Especially when I’m in meetings at work – just so sophisticated.

Okay, back on track – “All The Raj”. Steeped this tea is a clear slightly peachy colour. Damn the flowers look pretty. I made sure to get it a good shake, there was some bits in the potpourii I wanted to get in to have pretty factor = tastey. I could see the large rose buds floating to the top of the dry leaves in the bag.

Tastewise… very rosey. Not tart at first. Not sour at all. I don’t taste coconut, but I found it’s probably what is mellowing out the taste. A little taste of fennel, but again, is evening out the whole experience and adding some freshness? I don’t taste the heat.. moreso just feel the heat of the chilis on the back of my throat. After all that, a tad of tartness aftertaste with more floral (surprise).

Overall, floral. Mellow with the coconut/fennel. A little bit of heat to perk up the experience, as if to bring you back to earth after dreaming in roses (okay, cheesy sounding, whatever :P). I like it – it’s complex, it’s pretty and it’s mellow.
I want to relax, drink this tea slowly in a rose garden while eating little sandwiches. Sandwiches with cream cheese, maybe brie.

I purchased 30grams.. will I buy again? I think so, most likely online to ensure I get a good mix of the tea (I want lots of rosy bits!) as I could see this tea potentially being different if you had too much of say fennel or rosehip bits. Appearance would be a 10/10. Taste 8/10 It’s good and complex, but not addicting and super-wow for me.

I was lucky enough to be in the store when they opened the bag of this one, and the staff hadn’t tried it yet. So they did a traditional tea tasting brew and we all got to try it!

Dry, I got a combination of true rose scent with extremely strong peppercorns. I’m still not sure if I like or dislike the smell, since I love both separately but together they are . . . unique.

The taste was much nicer than I expected. I expected peppered rosewater, but it is by far more complex. There were definite hints of the coconut, and I didn’t get any perfume-ness from it at all.

I definitely recommend trying it, although I’m not sure if I’ll be buying it, and can’t figure out exactly what kind of numbered rating I’d like to give it, either.

Well, I’m glad I just bought a teeny amount of this in store and didn’t get overexcited and buy a whole bag online.

I want to like this tea! I should like this tea! I like floral tea! I like roses, licorice, coconut, and chili! On paper, everything seems perfect.

The dry leaves definitely smell of roses. I don’t detect any coconut in my nose, and I can’t see any either. There’s also an acidic smell that reminds me of vinegar. I disregard this and continue on.

Brewed, the vinegar smell gets stronger, and I start to feel wary. I still smell rose, and maybe some licorice, but everything is sort of blanketed by that smell.

The flavour is definitely floral, there’s a lot of rose, and some sweetness from the fennel, but I still can’t find coconut, and I don’t feel any heat from the chili. But most of all, I taste sour. Not tartness, in your usual rosehip way, but sour. Vinegary. Not very nice.

I don’t know that this would be everyone’s experience. Maybe I had a bad sample. Maybe others will find a way to brew this that totally rocks my world. But for now, I will be letting this pass.

Haha this is me to a T. I’ll definitely be on the lookout for this one as soon as it’s released on the tenth! I’ve been happy with the other vata ayurvedic tea I’ve had from David’s so I’m sure this one will be excellent as well!

If we were rating teas strictly on a “looks” scale, this would be the supermodel-perfect-10 of teas. Holy crap, is this tea gorgeous to look at. Beautiful big brilliant pink rosebuds, petals, a scattering of fennel seeds, and chili threads strewn throughout.

The taste doesn’t quite live up to the promise this tea has dry. It tastes rosey, but not as overwhelmingly so as the dry smell would imply. It is tempered quite a bit by the fennel, which gives it a bit of a licorice aftertaste. It is quite yummy, but perhaps a bit too strange for an “everyday” tea.

I just received this tea this morning. On opening the bag there was a weird pickle like smell, but as it had settled in it’s tin I only get a floral smell. This tea reminds me of rose candy I had as a kid. Very light, not too overwhelming with the floral taste ( no soap taste…), I great tea to have while reading.

Not everyone is into floral tea’s but I myself love floral tea’s to me its a very unique tea.. very relaxing and soothing both when smelled and tasted. every sip of all the raj from my ice tea mug from DAVID’s puts me into a relaxing trance. I really like this tea!

This tea was recommended to me at DAVIDsTEA shop after I responded with an enthusiastic yes when the salesperson asked if I liked rose. I didn’t get the chance to sample it before purchase, but it seemed like a good gamble because it contained everything that I like. Rose! Fennel! Coconut! Chili threads! Set me up!

I happen to like this tea, but I would advise caution, since it certainly won’t be to everyone’s tastes. The smell when dry is… interesting. Rose dominates, but it’s not quite like any other rose tea I’ve had. The very first thing it brought to mind, bizarrely, was a toy my sister had as a child. The toy had some kind of scent added to it that was reminiscent of roses and sugar cookie dough, and this tea had precisely that same smell. It didn’t put me off completely, but it was unexpected.

This is a very mild tea; I have to steep it for several minutes to get the flavor strong enough. Just as in its smell, rose is the dominant flavor, with a mildly spicy aftertaste from the chili. The fennel tends to get overwhelmed, and there’s nothing in the smell or taste to indicate there’s any coconut involved. The combination of rose and chili, however, is enough to make me happy; I enjoy it with milk and honey when I want a tea to help me relax or warm me up. It’s nice to have around when the mood strikes, but I could easily do without.

nope nope nope :(
tastes like perfume. a beautiful tea though!
it gave me a headache it was so strong!
my brother liked it though, so the 50g i got won’t go to waste, thankfully!

So.. I went in expecting to purchase a little bit of Rose Congou Green and the tea lady talked me into this one instead. I am a little angry about it.. but I could have stood my ground I suppose!
Keeping in mind I was feeling a little iffy in the tummy all day prior to sample..
I disliked this tea a lot. Dry smell = awesome. Steeped smell = awesome but suspicious. Steeped tea = tummy ache.
I enjoyed the rose taste which was the whole point of checking out a floral tea, but the chili strings or whatevers do not jive with me. I will try it again, and then try it AGAIN without the chili things. But really made me nauseated, I hate to say. Very sad. Love the smell though, if I dont drink the rest of my 25 g, I will make it just to smell..

Admittedly, I was first enchanted by this tea’s description. When a lovely tea guru @ New York’s store offered me a look and sniff, I became infatuated. After my first cuppa, I fell in love.

Granted, I added a good amount of honey to compliment the tart rosehip-ness (and I don’t mind tart teas). However, once the sweetener-to-tea ratio was figured out, I became an All the Raj believer.

The tea is very floral so if you’re not a fan of flavors like rose, jasmine, or lavender this may not be the tea for you. If florals are okay in your book, or you are open to trying them, please “stop and smell the roses!”

After my first taste, I bought a bag and brew a cup whenever I want to sit down and get some writing done. This tea invokes the muses, I tell you. Enjoy!