Moorish Mint

Tea type
Green Tea
Ingredients
Not available
Flavors
Cardamom, Clove, Ginger, Pepper, Peppermint
Sold in
Not available
Caffeine
Not available
Certification
Not available
Edit tea info Last updated by Jason
Average preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 30 sec 12 oz / 354 ml

Currently unavailable

We don't know when or if this item will be available.

From Our Community

1 Image

20 Want it Want it

  • +5

30 Own it Own it

  • +15

32 Tasting Notes View all

  • “Another wonderful sample from Takgoti. Mmmm…I love it! And my cats seem to love it too. Both Sarge and Mr. Mouse had their little heads hovering above my cup. They were doing that odd open...” Read full tasting note
    92
  • “Today was a very busy day. A busy day of classes and mind-numbing waits for various appointments. It was a CRAM CRAM CRAM w a iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii t CRAM CRAM WATNOROOM? MAKEROOM SMASH! day. After...” Read full tasting note
    94
  • “DH isn’t feeling well – his sinuses are attempting to secede – and I wanted tea, so I thought I’d combine tea-ness with being the good wifey. Takgoti sent me some of this and it is currently the...” Read full tasting note
    80
  • “What an enticingly introspective blend from Samovar! Ala takgoti, of course, and her wonderful tea swapping choices. I was out in the cold today because a few friends and myself decided to take a...” Read full tasting note
    87

From Samovar

Origin: Cardamom, ginger, black pepper, fennel, and peppermint from the United States. Organic, fair trade green tea from China.

Flavor Profile: Complex and earthy, minty and deep. Subtly sweet with light roasted notes.

Tea Story: Everybody loves mint tea. Relaxing and uplifting at the same time, it has a cozy, healing, nurturing effect that always makes you feel better. We searched long and hard for a mint blend that would capture all the traditional benefits of mint but that was also something different. We finally discovered this custom blend, after thousands of tests and tastes. We are really excited about our house blended Moorish Mint.

Grounded in the classic Middle-Eastern tea profile, i.e. sweet and refreshing, we just made it even better and healthier. Our blend is really complex, full, and rich. The blend of cardamom, ginger, black pepper, fennel, peppermint, and a touch of green tea make this unlike any mint tea you’ve ever had. Try this hot or cold, straight or sweetened with a dollop of honey or organic simple syrup. Refreshing, cooling, velvety and tingly-warming too.

Samovarian Poetry: The tonic of the ancient Moors…San Francisco style, robust & rich. Cardamom, peppermint, ginger, black pepper, and a touch of green tea.

Food Pairing: This tea is seriously amazing paired with so many dishes it’s difficult to narrow down the options! At the tea lounge we pair this infusion with our Moorish Platter: Grilled Hallomi Kebabs, dolmas, field green salad with olives, and dates stuffed with walnut chevre. You might pair the Moorish Mint Tea with lamb tangine, couscous, tabbouleh, hummus, and goat or sheep cheeses.

For dessert, pair the Moorish Mint with honey saturated pastries, vanilla bean, or mint chocolate chip ice cream, of ginger cookies. Yum….

About Samovar View company

Samovar's is dedicated to preserving the simplicity and integrity of the tea traditions and inspiring people to practice peace through drinking tea.

32 Tasting Notes

92
161 tasting notes

Another wonderful sample from Takgoti. Mmmm…I love it! And my cats seem to love it too. Both Sarge and Mr. Mouse had their little heads hovering above my cup. They were doing that odd open mouth smelling thing that cats tend to do when they really dig a smell. It’s cute. My husband and I make the Predator sound if we see them doing the open mouth smell. You know that mix of snarl/snore that the Predator aliens make? Riiight…I’m guessing not. Just a small glimpse into my life.

On to the tea. It’s great. No…it’s Wonderful for a mint tea. And fairly complex. The obvious peppermint taste, then the cardamom and ginger take hold. Mmmm! All held together by a simple, tasty green tea. It’s yum. It’s just YUM! I highly encourage everyone to try it. Especially if you like mint teas. I’m feeling perfectly well (knock on wood) but if I was feeling ill, I would want this on standby. Go Samovar!

It’s yum! :)

Auggy

My cats liked it too! I think catnip is part of the mint family (or related?) so maybe there is a similar smell to this mint?

Thomas M. Frank

Haha. It’s funny that you guys mentioned that. It actually looks like some of the catnips I’ve seen.

LENA

Maybe I’ll just sprinkle a little of my Peppermint from Adagio instead of buying them catnip. :)

Angrboda

Lena, seriously, try that. My cat went absolutely nuts over a Lipton peppermint bag. She kept licking the paper and rubbing her face against it. Hissed and spat and bit and scratched when I tried to take it away from her.

teaplz

Hilarious! Who knew that cats would be so attracted to tea?

Sarge and Mr. Mouse are most excellent names for cats, I have to say.

I also have to say that Steepster has me mildly interested in cats (since so many people have them!) even though I’m way more of a dog person myself.

LENA

@ Angrboda – Wow!!! I bet my cats would play with a mint teabag for hours. I’ll see what they do with the loose peppermint. I’m sure their fur and kitty breath will smell minty fresh. Pets are better than watching TV sometimes.

Angrboda

I have some loose peppermint that I primarily use when I’m ill or to spice other stuff up a bit (like in a chocolate tea). I toyed with the idea of sewing something for her and stuffing it with some of the peppermint, but I can’t sew, so I never got around to it. Bit of a shame that I couldn’t make myself let her play with the bag. Considering the leaf-size in those things and that it was only a question of time before she would break it… Not really an option.
She did have a couple of catnip mice that she never ever played with in her life, except for the one time I tried tying one of them to a piece of rope, and then she was really more interested in the rope…

LENA

Thanks teaplz. Mr. Mouse is a Russian Blue and Sarge is an orange striped Tabby cat. You should totally get a cat. I was a dog lover for ages until I met my husband. He’s a cat man. Now, I love cats and think they are much easier to take care of. But then again, we also have a Great Dane named Tank.

denisend

LOL, a Great Dane named Tank, that’s FABULOUS!

teaplz

I’m always wary about cats because they seem so aloof and stand-offish. At least, my friends’ cats are. Or they’ve scratched everyone we know. Lots of breeds of dogs are super-playful, and that tends to match my personality more.

Of course, I could be completely wrong about the cats! And Tank is an amazing name. You guys have the perfect animal names, fo srs.

denisend

teaplz, it really depends on the cat. Yates loved everyone and was EXTREMELY outgoing and friendly. Hunter is friendly if we’re in the house (he hides from cat sitters and such). We’ve had houseguests who have totally changed their mind about cats just from meeting our two boys (the girl, Juliet, is standoffish, but she has reason to be).

LENA

Sarge loves everyone…especially men. ESPECIALLY men that have a little bit of stubble. He makes it his goal to get in their lap and lick their face. He’s an odd one but very social. Mr. Mouse loves me…only me. He tolerates my husband if I’m not there. If company comes over, he hides. It just depends on the cat. Mr. Mouse plays fetch with his little rattle toys. Brings it back and everything for me to throw again.

sophistre

Tea and cats do sort of seem to go hand in hand, for whatever reason. Ragdoll cats are pretty infamously friendly. I’ve got two Mainecoons myself, and they’re pretty independent (I named them Mars and Ares, perhaps that has something to do with it). Mars weighs in at about 20 lbs., without exaggerating, and is a big wuss; Ares sits closer to 12 and it’s his business to make friends.

I fear what would occur if they ever figured out how to get into my tea, given what I’ve seen them do to a bag of catnip in ten minutes flat.

Kitch3ntools

:D KITTYS! lol it deff depends on the cat as my cat is VERY high maintenance she has severe anxiety :( if she doesnt get human interaction for more than 2 days in a row she will pull her fur out on her arms :( she also has anxiety attacks if she sees me though a window because outside is scary and dangerous and she doesnt want me out there. luckily shes become WAY more social as shes gotten older :) she will come down and dust all my friends w/ her tail. shes also a secret daddys girl but doesnt want me to know lol. my cat at my parents house Kurtis (he gos outside and i live close to the main road and a college so i was not able to bring him to my apartment to live with me in fear of him getting stolen or hit by a car) is the exact opposite of Zoie, he wants nothing more than to plop in ur lap purr up a storm and suck on your shirt (its gross)

next visit to my parents ill bring him a peppermint tea bag :)

teaplz

Love the cat stories!

I guess it really does sort of depend on the cat itself. I guess dogs don’t vary in personality as much. Nearly every single Golden Retriever I’ve encountered, for instance, has been very friendly and happy-go-lucky. Of course, there are probably exceptions, but I haven’t seen them yet.

takgoti

Squee! So glad you enjoyed this! [And that your cats did too, that’s funny.] I don’t know how many tins of this I’ve been through already, but I get seriously bummed whenever I run out.

I’ve also been noticing this tea/cats paralleling and I think it’s interesting. I think I’m one of very, very few Steepsterites who does not own a cat.

Kitch3ntools

@teaplz working at a dog kennel i get to see MANY diff dogs and owners. for the most part you are right :) but dogs tend to mimic their owners for example: we have this dog Cosmo who comes in (hes a Scottish terrier) he is VERY demanding we call him “the General” his owner has pretty much the same temperament lol, and Jenny (a yellow Lab) her owner is VERY high strung and makes a HUGE deal about bringing her dog to us (shes been bringing Jenny to us for years and jenny really likes us and always does butt wiggles when she sees us) she crys and lets on ALOT, well Jenny is a very nervous dog and if u dont call her a million times and make a big deal and make cutesy noises she will not come outside to play.

ive noticed Great danes tend to be lap dogs, LENA is Tank a lap dog? i love it when they try to curl up on my lap when we go outside to play cuz im 5’5" lol so i get dwarfed lolz :)

Teaplz do you have a dog?

LENA

@ Kitch3ntools – OMG…your cat pulls the fur out of her legs?!? That’s crazy…and sad…and a little funny. Cats are so odd, but that’s part of their appeal. And your shirt sucking cat…HAHA! Too funny. Both of my cats are licking cats. They are big on licking your hands and fingers like a dog would. It’s cute at first…then it gets kind of gross and I push them off my lap on to the floor.
Tank thinks he’s a litttle dog. He loves playing with little dogs too. His best friend is a little rat terrier. My sister-in-law has a Dane, but I think Tank likes the terrier better. :) If you sit in the floor, Tank will try to fit most of his body into your lap. I’m also 5’5" and he’s WAY taller than I am. It’s funny, when he sleeps on his dog bed, he curls up into a tiny ball. But if I let him in the bed to sleep with me (nights my husband is out of town) he stretches out to take up the most space he possibly can. Nice.

Kitch3ntools

@LENA yeah i talked to her vet and its cause by separation anxiety. i was really upset about it at first then i slowly went to making fun of it cuz its too weird lol shes getting alot better we went away for the weekend in sep and and i didnt kennel her like i did for our week trip and i used “bitter spray” on her arms and she was fine when we came home she actually seemed pleased with herself. she also licks my fingers i think because shes lazy cuz she’ll lick my fingers then rub on it so i think shes petting herself and cleaning herself at the same time lol.
yeah when i was in highschool and younger i would let Kurtis suck on my shirt but i dont anymore because no1 lets him do it so if you allow him to pretty much halfyour shirt will be wet he gets so excited lol.
LOL i love that! i love when danes think there little cuz they r always just so gentle and sweet but gigantic :D such fun dogs!!
our Collie (a lassie kind of collie lol) names Lucky growning up would sleep in small spots but when i would let him on my bed he would pretty much push me off lol :)

Shanti

@all Seconding the Ragdoll cat recommendation! I have a Ragamuffin cat (very similar to the Ragdoll but comes in more colors and has a smaller, more regulated breeding community) and my parents liked her so much they got two more for themselves! From what I understand, Ragdolls are good for people who don’t want a stand-offish cat, because they are so friendly. I think Ragdolls are also called “puppy cats” or something because they tend to follow people around from room to room. On the flip side, they’re more needy for attention than other cats, so if you are away from your home a lot, they’re probably not a good match. They’reknown for being “soft-pawed” (no scratching) and they go totally limp when held, hence the Ragdoll name. People used to think they genetically had a higher pain tolerance than other cats because they are so calm and tolerant! :)

Jason

I just stumbled across lena’s avatar which led me into this tasting note. The forces are gathering. You would be wise to loose your flippant ways and join the honorable foot clan…I’ll get you, you miserable turtles!

Jason

sorry for the unrelated comment :)

takgoti

You’re goin’ down, Shred head!

LENA

Totally!!! Shredder is sooo bogus!

Turtle Power!

mpierce87

My cat totally makes the same face…my husband thinks its weird, but I think it is too cute. LOL at Predator reference…

Jason

Unrelated: Since I don’t see anymore turtles, I guess Shredder has conquered this dimension…

LENA

@ mrawlins2 – I think it’s cute too…just a little odd. I’m glad you know what I’m talking about in regards to Predator…lol.

@ Jason – we were only going to do it for a day. after we got in trouble we nixed the idea. lol :)

Jason

@LENA: Ha! I didn’t mean to punish you guys like you were in trouble…since Select is kinda its own thing and very prominent we prefer to keep it more focused. But I don’t see a problem with the occasional, off-topic comment on a tasting note (obviously :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

94
260 tasting notes

Today was a very busy day. A busy day of classes and mind-numbing waits for various appointments. It was a CRAM CRAM CRAM w a iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii t CRAM CRAM WATNOROOM? MAKEROOM SMASH! day.

After class tonight my brain was completely on overload. My professors are still trying to figure out what we’re going to do because of the time we missed from the snow, and so their apparent solution for most of them is to keep everything on the same timetable, but maybe change it at the last second. A winning solution.

So I came back in from class tonight, ready to watch Castle because that’s my Monday night unwind activity and it wasn’t on. It was the stupid idiot Bachelor. I should have known. Blerg. Blerg blerg blerg.

So I made myself a cup of this tea and just laid down in the middle of the floor because I didn’t want to do anything else besides drink some good tea and stare at the ceiling.

Which I did. I stared at the ceiling and I drank this tea. The ginger warmed me while the black pepper tickled my tongue. The fennel brought in a bit of sweetness while the cardamom whispered of places that aren’t here. And then the mint swept it gently away with a cleansing breath that told me to let everything else fall away and come back in, bit by bit, when I’m ready.

It’s not even like today was a bad day, because really it wasn’t, but you know those days when your brain just gets so stuffed with information you asplode internally and you need to go catatonic? Hi, welcome. Let’s be friends.

Lucky for me, I have really good tea, like this one, to fall back on when these days happen. That, and a rapidly approaching trip to San Francisco to visit my brother and a warmer climate, and hopefully catch up with some old friends.

Time to write that physics lab.

Woo-sah.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 2 min, 30 sec
Ricky

Laid down in the middle of the floor and stared at the ceiling while drinking tea. Now that’s some crazy physics, you have to teach me how to do that sometimes. I’m surprised the tea didn’t spill all over you ;)

gmathis

I hear you on that catatonic …last week it was all I could do to hold my head level so the drool came out evenly!

LENA

I’m glad my funky wannabe tea inspired you to make some of the good stuff. :) I totally have days in which coming home and staring at the ceiling seems like the highlight. Then, my Great Dane will come over and lay down next to me and I know that the world will be ok. Woo-sah indeed.

takgoti

@Ricky I’m going to treat this as rhetorical. Nyeh.

@gmathis Yeep. Glad to hear you’re through it! I find that a little savasana helps me out every now and then. You know, keeps the sanity in check.

@LENA Aww. My life has been lacking a fair amount of creature comfort since our Lab died. Nevertheless, the world will still be okay. And my brain has stopped ringing. All is well!

sophistre

@Ricky: The whole post was about her no-doubt learn’ed proficiency with physics. Do you even have to ask? ;)

takgoti

I also have forgotten to mention that I am working towards earning my PhD in magic.

Ricky

Well that explains it!

Shanti

takgoti, your work ethic makes me hate you/jealous. Sigh. :)

teaplz

takgoti, are you in school with NPH? If you are, I am supremely jealous! :P

Oh Cha!

Hahaha @Takgoti your reviews and the follow-up comments make my days!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
911 tasting notes

DH isn’t feeling well – his sinuses are attempting to secede – and I wanted tea, so I thought I’d combine tea-ness with being the good wifey. Takgoti sent me some of this and it is currently the only mint I have and mint is friendly to sinuses so I thought this would be a perfect time to try this out.

The dry leaf smells a bit like a chai so I was nervous I was about to fry DH’s sinuses instead of help them, but I went ahead. While I was pouring, I got a fantastic whiff of mint. But not plain ole mint. Refreshing mint. Mint with that fantastic feeling of cold whoosh.

Now, because this is ultimately being made for DH, I did add about a quarter teaspoon of sugar in there. Because, unless it is TheraFlu, I feel that any drink taken for medicinal purposes must be sweetened at least a little bit. I blame Mary Poppins. Normally, I would add honey but I’m really to lazy to do that right now.

Oh the taste! Minty and refreshing and wonderful. But better than plain mint. The spices give it a great full flavor without making me feel like I’m drinking a chai. I can’t pick out the individuals spices – they aren’t as strong tasting as the dry tea smells like they will be – but they combine with the mint to give this wonderful fresh feeling/taste without being obnoxious.

This is by far the best mint tea I’ve ever had. I rarely drink mint (I’m anti-peppermint as a general rule) but I definitely think I’m going to have to get some of this to have on hand because it is quite awesome. DH actually finished his cup before I did which is pretty much unheard of in this house. He did request I brew it a little stronger next time. I think that will be no problem. Initially I was hesitant to brew too long because of the spices involved, but after seeing how the flavors combine, I think a longer brew time will be happy-making.

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec
teafiend

I’ve only heard of Moroccan Mint, but this sounds like ten times better. When I’ve had the Moroccan version its been cavity inducing sugary, so maybe adding one scoop was too little?

Auggy

I’ve had Moroccan Mint once and it was okay. This is much better. The one I had didn’t have added sugar so it wasn’t sweet at all, though, so I guess I didn’t drink it the traditional way. I might have liked it better if I had!

takgoti

So glad you liked this one! Hope it helped DH out a bit. I read in someone’s review that Samovar has a syrup they add to this [this isn’t one of the ones I tried when I was out there], so I don’t think that sugar can’t be too far off. I like it straight well enough, never tried it with anything added to it.

Cofftea

@teafiend, cavity inducing sugary?

teafiend

@Cofftea, yes?

cherry_lime

i’m not stalking you, I swear. but you make me laugh. DH??? hahahaha… i love nicknames.

Auggy

You may stalk me. I will allow it. But only because I will stalk you back.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

87
187 tasting notes

What an enticingly introspective blend from Samovar! Ala takgoti, of course, and her wonderful tea swapping choices.

I was out in the cold today because a few friends and myself decided to take a trip to the Brooklyn Brewery (http://www.brooklynbrewery.com/) for a tour. BB is a pretty popular microbrewery and we just sat around, tasted lots of varieties of beer (I liked the Weisse and the Cookie Jar Porter myself). I’m not a beer person, though, so I was happy to get home to some tea.

I pulled this out because I’ve been chilly all day, and mint, while refreshing, is always such a warming and comforting thing to me. Like most of the Samovar blends, this one smells ridiculously complex. Lots of warmth from the cardamom and ginger, mixed with a spicy, minty aroma. The leaves are similarly intriguing, with the yellows and greens blending together in very pretty ways.

So I steeped this one up, and let me tell you, the steam that came off the wet leaves when I opened the top of my pot could have given me a facial. The mint and pepper combination was so strong that I could literally taste it and feel it in my eyes. The vapors!

The cup was a pretty orange-yellow, and the smell of it gave me pause. It’s rather herbal-like and woody. A bit medicinal. But the flavor profile? Boy is it exotic.

And sophisticated. That’s the word that just keeps coming to my head with Samovar. It’s not child’s play. This is real tea, blended very seriously. And it completely works. It’s grown-up tea. I’m not a big spice person, so I can’t pick out individual flavors, but I can taste just the tiniest of zings from the black pepper each time I take a sip. Leave it on your tongue for a while, and it builds up. The taste of the body is very ginger-like and rich, extremely smooth and supple on the tongue. There’s just a hint of a Chinese green vegetal note, which sort of holds the entire thing together seamlessly. I’m getting lots of sweetness (more than likely from the fennel?) on the swallow, which is followed by a rush of peppermint. It’s less about the flavor of the mint itself, but more about that feeling right after you’ve brushed your teeth of refreshing awesomeness.

The tea gets even sweeter as it cools, so I probably prefer it at its highest heat setting. I’m really enjoying the zing of the pepper. This is the first tea I’ve had that includes pepper as an ingredient that I can really pick it out of.

Samovar just feels luxe. takgoti sent me so much of their stuff. I really am so thankful for that, because I’m pretty sure at this point that they’re my favorite tea company. And I haven’t even had some of the greater, higher-rated stuff yet! This is one of the best mint teas I’ve had – and I love mint tea. It’s so complex and interesting that I can’t help but take sip after sip, working my way through all of the flavors and intricacies. Fun and WIN.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Jillian

I had to chuckle at your ‘vapours’. ;D

LENA

I love this tea. Complex and expertly blended=Samovar. YUM!

teaplz

Hahaha, thanks guys! And Lena, I totally agree! NOM.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

84
4843 tasting notes

Another sample from the order I received last week.

In reading the ingredients, one might think that this is kind of like a green chai tea with peppermint, but, it doesn’t taste like a chai to me. The peppermint is the strongest flavor here, and the other spices in the blend act more as an enhancement or an accent for the peppermint than as the basis for a chai blend.

Either way, it’s quite tasty. I like the ginger in this blend especially, it has a pleasant, peppery kick to it – a nice contrast with the crisp, vibrant flavor of the peppermint. The green tea base really is just that – a base, but not much definition to it.

Overall, though, a pleasant and soothing cup.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 2 min, 30 sec
LiberTEAS

I just finished submitting my review of this tea for the Tea Review Blog and have finished my second infusion of the leaves – I think I like the second infusion even more than the first!

LENA

I love drinking this tea and actually crave it at times.

__Morgana__

This is one of my all time fave raves so far. It was the beginning of my Samovar love.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

97
52 tasting notes

Oh. Oh wow.
Seriously.
I’ve had mint teas before, you know, the run of the mill altoid dissolved in water, or 1 part listerine 3 parts water. Those sorts of mint teas. Then I opened my sample back of this stuff from Samovar and WOA. Hold up. It’s Christmas all over again.

I heated my water, steeped the stuff for 3 minutes and plunged my head into my cup. I wanted to live in there. I also stuck my nose into my infuser.. the combination of mint and steam lit my nostrils on fire. Not a pretty sight.

From the second I took my first sip, I knew this was the good stuff. The peppermint was so powerful, but yet so complex. Okay, the peppermint was there. Candy canes, yes, check those off. Then what was this other taste? It seemed so familiar. It wasn’t a licorice taste that reminded me of Twizzlers.. no. It was reminiscent of an earthy licorice. Ah yes. Fennel. And I happen to love chewing on the stuff.

And the aftertaste… oh well I think that’s the best part. Sweet, yet with a strong minty taste. It’s still lingering. I found it amazing that I was able to get such a tingley feel on my tongue, like I just finished eating an actual peppermint. Did I mention sweet?

But seriously, this is one of the best teas I’ve had. Reordering… now!

Preparation
3 min, 0 sec
LENA

oh man, this one is sooo good! i’ve been out of it for some time now, so i’m eagerly waiting for my Samovar order to show up.

takgoti

Whee! [Sorry Matt, I’m stalking your account a bit since I was dying to see how your first Samovar run went.] Moorish Mint is a special [and my absolute favorite] mint tea, and I’m really glad to see that more people are trying [and buying] this one.

LENA

lol..it was takgoti’s sample that got me hooked on this one (and others). but i’m sure that was part of her master plan all along.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

97
2036 tasting notes

I have the zorijushi on 175 tonight so thought it was a good time to try my sample of this. I almost didn’t bother to write a note because there’s not much more that can be said about this than has already been said, but I wanted to add my voice to the chorus of YES! about this one. I’m surprised to find that despite not being a tisane, it has vaulted to the number one spot in my personal mint pantheon.

Complexity. Yes, that’s what crossed my mind as well. But complexity not just for the sake of complexity. I get the feeling with some multiple ingredient blends that the people making them just throw things together because the combination sounds cool or like something they think no one else has done before, but however well-intentioned the flavors either aren’t balanced, don’t go well together, or otherwise were just a bad idea in the first place. I taste them and wonder: did the people making these blends taste them? Did they have testers? And did they and their testers really like them or were they just up against some sort of tea-making equivalent of a Black Friday shipping deadline without the time or inclination to go back and refine their blends.

The ingredients here could easily have generated such an experience. When I read them, I was skeptical, even though I thought it unlikely so many tea lovers could be wrong. Ginger? Strong flavor. Peppermint? Also a strong flavor. Cardomom? Yet another strong flavor. Fennel? Cloves? BLACK PEPPER? (and I saw something in there that looked suspiciously like anise seed, though it isn’t listed among the ingredients). Ye gods! And then there’s that green tea ingredient somewhere in the middle, and generally not a strong flavor or at least not strong enough to compete with this crowd. And yet….

Somehow, organically out of this mix of individually strong flavors, grows an amazingly gentle, subtle, mellow, smooth and harmonious blend. It’s like the best of a cappella choral groups, a true ensemble without any single one sticking out and calling attention all to itself. I think of the ingredients that have stuck out to the exclusion of other flavors and led me to give other blends less than stellar marks. Ginger. Licorice. Cloves. Black pepper. How the heck did Samovar make this work? Is it just sheer genius? (I’m going to have to try more of their stuff immediately.) I’m intrigued by how they did it, but however they did it doesn’t really matter as long as they can keep doing it for the rest of my natural life.

The most charming part of the whole experience is that through it all I can actually still taste the green tea, which must be responsible for the sweetness, and perhaps is what absorbs some of the more potentially offensive aspects of the other strong flavors. The sweetness lingers, along with the coolness of the peppermint and the tiny little kick of the pepper, ginger and cardomom combo right where the tongue presses up against the palate.

In a word, exquisite. I am placing an order for more as soon as I post this!

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

87
38 tasting notes

Very impressive tea. I’ve brewed this blend about 4 or 5 times now, with multiple infusions each time. Really getting used to the multitude of flavors associated with this particular herbal/green. The first time I brewed this tea, I deliberately made the batch a bit stronger than usual to really get a sense of the punch this tea can muster. I was really impressed with the strong mint aftertaste and the hints of fennel, ginger, and black pepper that I’ve really come to enjoy. Each infusion releases different aspects of the tea that were hiding before. One may be particularly strong in cardamom or fennel, while other infusions are more subdued, and tend to exhibit more minty, earthy, and sweet flavor characteristics. Great tea. Samovar continues to deliver on quality and tase.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 4 min, 0 sec
takgoti

I’d say that this is one of my favorite teas from them, but I have at least 5, so I’m not sure what that’s worth. Anyhow, I love this one. It’s also awesome if your stomach’s feeling upset. [Mint in general is – but this one tastes better!]

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

88
38 tasting notes

This is really delicious. It’s very minty, and very sweet. I checked the ingredients list thinking there must be sugar or stevia or something in here, but no. The spices are quite spicey and warming. Sorry, nothing sensible to say. It seems to be putting me to sleep. Delicious.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 4 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
248 tasting notes

(Backlogging) This was the third tea I served at my Murder Mystery Tea Party. It was served right after the “murder” because I felt that the mint-ish flavor would help calm everyone’s nerves.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.