Buy the Stars

This used to be one of my favourite Pukka teas (hence the 100 rating that I gave it before even writing a review), but lately I’ve just been… disastisfied with it.

I think it has something to do with the water I use, but I just can’t seem the get the same strength as what I used to be able to get? It may be that the few bags I have left are old, but I don’t think that’s the case, they’re no older than six months and I have Pukka tea that’s much older than that and it still tastes fine.

I do think this tea is better iced/chilled than hot, so that may have something to do with it. The vanilla can be hard to find and it tastes like you’re just drinking chamomile, in which case, you know, why not just brew some straight up chamomile if that’s all the flavour you get? The fennel seed and licorice barely come through, and calling something from Pukka bland is something I thought I’d never do, but I think just using one bag per 6oz cup of water for brewing may be just that: bland. I’ll be honest, I don’t have the best habits when it comes to the water I use (I use tap water and sometimes if there’s a bit of water left in the kettle I will just use that; atrocious, I know), so I’m sure that factors into it, but still.

My advice: this always tastes best for me when I brew a large batch of it and use 3-4 teabags in a medium to large pot, so unless I figure out what (if anything) is wrong with the remaining batch I have, brew this stronger than you normally would bagged tea/Pukka/tea in general.

I’m going to leave my rating where I had it before, but if I come back and it’s more of the same I might lower it.

I remember having this for the first time and being ridiculously surprised about how it tasted. It’s very savory, and if you’re looking for a traditional, camellia sinensis tea, this likely isn’t for you, but I love it.

I’m a fan of Thai food, and this goes perfectly with pad thai, Thai hot & sour soup, or a Thai curry; I’m sure it would go with any number of other dishes as well. It’s warm and soothing and, at the same time as it’s energizing, very relaxing with the mellow undertones from the licorice. I personally wouldn’t call it spicy, but then, I’ve talked about my love of spicy things before so take that with a grain of salt; the lemon verbana and licorice root definitely do make it sweet, but I unfortunately don’t know enough about amla fruit to really judge it and what it does in the tea. Pukka’s website calls it an Indian Gooseberry and says that it’s used in ayurvedic practices.

I like curling up with this when it’s cold out, so I don’t have it often in the summer, but it’s perfect for fall and winter. I don’t find it ‘energizing’ as in it gives me more physical energy to stay awake/be alert, but clears my head and helps me focus on doing one thing (especially when I’m multitasking out the wazoo, haha), such as… writing this review when I have a paper to be editing.

It’s not one of Pukka’s teas that I have very often, but I do think it’s one of their best.

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

I bought the remnants of this from Teaopia while visiting a store just before it became Teavana; it was very much a ‘well, why not’ purchase, and I haven’t been disappointed with it.

It is, like others have said, a very typical, sweet green tea. I think I may have steeped this just a bit too long because there’s a slight bitter undertone, but other than that, I’m happy with it. It’s not something I’m heartbroken over never being able to have again once I run out of the 50g I bought, but it is a nice green blend for those who like sweet teas.

No notes yet.

So, almost out of this, and I don’t think I’ll be making it a repeat purchase.

I love pu’erh and orange/citrus tea. The earthy-ness of pu’erh is so calming and relaxing and pu’erh is one of my favourite teas for a reason. But I don’t get any oolong taste in this, and, well, if you told me there was ginger in this before I’d read the label, I don’t think I would believe you for one second. Maybe the point is ‘benefits of the ginger’ and not ‘flavour of the ginger’, but still, with something that has extra ginger flavouring on top of the ginger root, you’d think you’d be able to taste it.

I have enjoyed what I’ve had of this, but my first impression still stands: I think I’ll stick with Blood Orange Pu’erh to get my fill of earthy citrus tea.

Have another mug of this right now and still love it; warm and mellow and soothing and so, so calming.

I feel like I should say that, for the record, I am a fiend when it comes to spicy food. So when I drink this tea I would describe it as ‘pleasantly warm’, and I wouldn’t even consider it spicy.

For me it’s smooth and does wonders to settle my stomach. It’s a sipping tea, but I tend to sip teas as is so that’s not a problem for me. And, for those who are so inclined, I’ve found that it actually mixes quite well with white wine, especially reisling.

So I’ve found myself becoming a bit too comfortable with caffeine lately, and decided it was time to step back a bit: new plan is no caffeine for the weekend, and after that only caffeine when it’s needed.

Which means: I’ll be getting reacquainted with my herbals.

I seem to be Steepster’s Sole Proponent of Pukka, if going by other people’s tasting notes. This didn’t even have a Steepster page so I actually had to make one. I haven’t touched this in over a year and distinctly remember not being that impressed with it, as far as Pukka teas went? I had better rooibos teas. But I had a cup of this yesterday and it just felt like a warm inviting hug, so I’ve decided to give it another shot.

It tastes exactly like typical rooibos. It IS mostly rooibos, with only a bit of honeybush, ginseng, maca, and Pukka’s typical licorice root. So if you’re not a big fan of rooibos, I can safely say that this tea probably isn’t for you. It doesn’t have a medicinal taste, but is definitely herbal. It’s sweet, smooth, and I may try it with a little bit of milk sometime even though I don’t normally have milk with rooibos. A bit weaker today, though that’s likely because I used more water when brewing it. I think this might be a ‘one mug only’ tea for me. As usual with Pukka herbals, I used boiling water and left the bag in for as long as I wanted and had no problems other than probably using a bit too much water.

If you want to sweeten it, go ahead; it’s already pleasantly sweet as it is, but adding your own sweetener is completely up to you. I imagine it would go very nicely with honey, taste-wise.

When I had it yesterday to get me through a three-hour lecture I could definitely notice the difference: I was tired the whole time and found myself closing my eyes because keeping them open hurt. So there are some things caffeine does that can’t be replicated with ginseng or maca, however ‘natural pick me up’s’ they are. But for someone who hasn’t been as wired on caffeine as I have, or doesn’t have much caffeine in general, it may help. It always depends, when dealing with brain chemistry and neurochemicals.

But the point is: this tea is lovely, and I will be paying much more attention to it!

Running low on this! Amazing my first 50 gram bag has lasted this long, but I really wanted to make this last as long as possible.

For me it still deserves the 100 rating because I just love it so much. It definitely solidified my love of pu’erh, that’s for sure, and I’ll probably be getting a full tin of this when I stock up again.

I don’t think I’ve blogged this or the reguar Echinacea from Traditional Medicinals before, but they’re actually one of my favourites!

Both of them definitely help sore throats when I get them, and when I feel a stuffy noise and dry, cling-y throat starting up? One of these with a good dollop of honey takes care of it. This is for minor stuff, of course, things that I doubt would blow into full-on infections or colds, but it’s still incredibly helpful when I’ve got a meeting to attend or late night finishing papers to get through. Between which one might be more effective… I honestly have no idea. The only difference I notice is the taste. The Plus definitely has more of a herbal, medicinal taste than the regular, and I find myself preferring a bit more honey in this, but other than that, sampling it over longer periods of time would be needed.

Finishing off with a very nice treat!

I’ll admit, I’m both wholly unfamiliar with darker oolongs and completely ignorant of darjeelings, so I’m not the best to score this in comparison to other oolongs or darjeelings, but an oolong from Darjeeling, apparently rare and an experience all by itself? I had to give it a shot. I bought a sample from Adagio months ago, but never got around to trying it, and having it now, it’s quite nice (and a definite palate cleanser after the other, not very good teas I’ve had this evening).

Dry in the bag, it smells sweet and husky. Brewed, the liquor is a dark hazelnut with some amber tinges, a very warm and inviting colour. It smells a bit nuttier in the cup, but I’m not sure if that’s the best word to use in describing how darjeelings smell. Either way, it’s not a disappointment. Brisk in the mouth, sweet and malty. As an introduction to darjeelings, I am very much not disappointed.

I’ve finally gotten around to trying this! Bought a Tea of the Month pack a few weeks back for one reason: it smells just like these amazing cinnamon rolls that a shop by my place used to sell. Right down to the icing. That’s it. Sometimes it’s a bit more chocolate-y, but, well, that’s not a problem for me. And, I’ll be honest: it even tastes like them a bit. I thought it was a long shot, because smelling AND tasting like my favourite cinnamon rolls? Too much to ask. But it actually does.

The assistant who helped me when I bought this said that it was a great alternative to hot chocolate, to which I thought: hah, ‘alternative’.

One thing I definitely would have done is brew this stronger. I used about 1 and a half teaspoons in one of my larger pots, about 2.5 cups, because I tend to be careful when brewing new black teas for the first time, but I would definitely recommend both steeping a bit longer and using more tea to get the sweetness and flavour from the chocolate bits, cinnamon, and everything else to their full strengths.

In terms of a creamer, I tried it with some vanilla soy milk and it was quite nice, but I think this tea deserves full dairy, at least 2% milk or Half & Half. The extra vanilla didn’t add much, but a chocolate flavoured non-dairy might be better. I imagine almond milk would also do very nicely with it. But for me, especially since it’s such a sweet and decadent tea by itself, I think going the full way with a creamer would definitely be called for.

I sweetened it with both honey and brown sugar and brown sugar was definitely better. The honey didn’t add sweetness so much as its own flavour, and I wasn’t particularly fond of the result when mixed with the tea. Your mileage may vary, I suppose, but definitely a sugar for me if I even do want this sweetend.

All in all, it’s a decent tea, and something very good for the fall and winter, but I haven’t fallen in love with it. The liquor is very dark, obviously, but there’s also a very definite oily sheen to it. I’ve noticed this in a few other blends from David’s, like their Blood Orange Pu’erh, but particularly with their teas that have flavouring added, whether it’s natural or artificial. Some might not appreciate seeing that in their cup.

All in all, it’s a warm, winter tea; not for icing, not something I’ll be stocking up on regularly, but I’ll enjoy it while I have it.

I’m bumping my rating up for this a bit; it’s really a lovely green, and I think exemplary of the best that David’s has to offer.

I used a bit more tea when brewing this and only made enough for one mug, rather than my usual 1.75 cup pot, and I think I prefer it lighter. A bit too bitter this time, and not as sweet as my last brewing. I think you could get away with multiple brewings, but I wouldn’t do more than two unless you only steep the tea for a minute or less. But it’s still a lovely tea, and I just wanted to say so!

So I bought a small $1 pack of this today because I always have an affinity for green teas and I’ve been meaning to try a Korean green for a while! This most definitely did not disappoint. The package actually contained twice the amount of tea that I usually use for a single serving, so I still have some extra to have later, but I definitely think I will be searching out more for purchase.

I’ve always been experimenting with steeping times when I brew green tea, and brewed this with a more mild temperature than my usual method for greens, and the results were fantastic. Sweet and mildly salty, with pleasant green after taste. The leaves, as others have noted, come in drastically different shapes and sizes, but I don’t know if that’s typical of Korean greens. Either way, I very much enjoyed this, and… don’t have much else to say! But will definitely be enjoying in the future.

Steepster! It has been a while. I have been very busy, not having much time to blog about tea, and unfortunately that trend is likely to continue. I was, however, enticed in by David’s $1 straight teas deal for the month, so I decided to try something new.

I’m a big fan of jasmine green teas, though I’m picky and particular with how I like them brewed. Between this and the new Genmai Hojicha I went with Jasmine Black Pearls, both because I’ve never tried rolled pearl tea before and I’m attempted to expand my knowledge and experience in black teas.

I hate to be the first to give an average review, but I do think most of my ambivilance with this tea comes from the fact that the service I received from the David’s location I got this from was atrocious, but that’s a different story.

I should have asked how many pearls were used for this, but I forgot to and didn’t keep the teabag when I took it out. Steeped for 4-5 minutes, but I honestly would have done it a bit longer. The jasmine notes are wonderful in this, though I didn’t get much of the Hunnan notes. When I got home I tried adding a little bit of milk and honey to some of it and I would not recommend for that. The jasmine becomes completely lost under it, but, well, it was an experiment.

I might like to try this again if ever I get a chance to pop by David’s, but I don’t think I’ll be making this a large or regular purchase for me. On top of being fairly out of my budget, I prefer my jasmine greens. It is still a lovely tea though, and I enjoyed this rare treat.

Conclusion: I think I just don’t like green rooibos as much as red rooibos. Even with lots of agave I’m just not getting any flavour. Someone who likes rooibos but would prefer it less sweet and a bit more medicinal might like this, or maybe I’m just spoiled by fantastic rooibos blends from local shops, but I’m just not a fan of this. Too bad, really.

So while out on a tea run with my mother, we stopped in at a David’s to pick up some matcha. And while browsing and picking out refills of teas I still like from David’s, one of the workers recommended me some of this (apparently they’re one of the only stores in the city that still has it in stock).

It smelled? Amazing. Absolutely so, so amazing. I had to get some. This might just be the solution to my conundrum between loving the scent of coffee shops but hating coffee.

Dry, it smells very strongly like vanilla; think a vanilla bean latte. When brewed it’s not as strongly vanilla, but still sweet and aromatic and pleasing. I’ve never had a straight-up chicory tea before and Idefinitely noticed the bitter aftertaste drinking it straight. I used one teaspoon and 6 oz of water and set it to steep for 7 minutes, but I was a bit lax with watching my timer so I’m sure it steeped longer, which is why I’ve selected 8 minutes or more. I definitely see it as not being very forgiving, though, if the bitterness I’m getting is any indication.

With a little bit of milk and brown sugar it is delicious, and even with brown sugar on its own. I wish I had some almond milk to try it with, because I’m sure that would be even better. If it is being phased out of David’s I’d be sad, but I might go back to the same location and stock up on this to have it over the winter. I think it’s a new-found love.

So I decided to cold steep this today simply because I was lazy and I wanted a good tea that I could just toss in a mug and I didn’t want to bother boiling water so I just tossed a bag of this in a mug, filled it with some fresh water, and plunked an ice cube in (atrocious, I know). The results have actually been pretty good!

It’s not nearly as spicy as if I had brewed it properly, but the vanilla really comes through. It’s like drinking liquid vanilla with a hint of spice at the back of your throat, and I really love it.

I think I may need to use more tea when I brew this next, or use less water; my pot ended up being very light and flavour-less, so I had to add some agave to finish it. Going to hold off on the rating for now because I plan on brewing another pot tomorrow with hopefully better results, but I was expecting some really great things from this rooibos and was disappointed the first round—here’s to hoping next time gets better!

As far as bagged tea goes, Stash is one of the few companies I’ve had positive experiences with. And as far as straight up mint teas go, compared to Pukka’s Three Mint Tea (my grounds for comparison) this isn’t bad.

I don’t get much mint flavour immediately, I find, and it’s more of a mint aftertaste that it leaves in my mouth. It’s also subtly sweet, and and I guess would be good if someone wants a fresh taste in their mouth after a meal. I’m probably not going to buy any more once I finish my box, since I have lots of other mint teas that I prefer, but it’s definitely not bad.

This tea both confuses and disappoints me.

I first tried it on February 29th, when David’s was having a free tea to go special for either this or North African Mint, and since I already had North African Mint I decided to try Green & Fruity, and I absolutely LOVED it. I got a cup and immediately texted my friend to come and get some of her own, and then she had some and loved it, and we were both very, very pleased and she agreed that maybe rooibos was a pretty good tea after all.

I was so happy that I bought a 100 gram tin of it a few days later and every subsequent time I brewed it was continually disappointed.

This tea is everything I technically should love: rooibos, mango, and papaya. I was even willing to overlook the ever-more-present artificial flavouring, but after trying for… half a year now, I think I’m going to have to lower my rating for this drastically.

I can’t get any flavour unless I sweeten it ridiculously with agave or honey, and though I don’t mind adding a little bit of sweetener these days, a tea has to be able to stand on its own for me. And if I have to use THIS much sweetener just to make something palatable, I don’t see the point of trying in the first place.

It leaves a dry, artificial taste in my mouth that actually leaves me feeling thirstier than before I drank anything. So once my current stash is out, I’m definitely not going to bother with this again.

So it appears that I’m one of the few who actually quite enjoyed this! It has a nice toasty scent, but the flavour is sweet and subtly smoky, with a fresh mouthfeel. I was strict with the brewing this, since people on Adagio’s site tend to say that this can oversteep easily and usually I’m lenient with my steeping time, and I used what my best guess thought was a heaping teaspoon, but I was breaking in a new teapot so I probably used quite a bit more than a cup and a half of water (what I usually use when brewing tea for one). So I think my result may have been lighter even than most people say this is, but I quite enjoyed it and it was just what I needed for the afternoon.