133 Tasting Notes

Bought this during the very beginning of my tea journey. Earl Grey with lavender is a nice change from EG Créme, but it’s not something I necessarily seek out.

Brewed one bag in 6 oz of water. Added a bit of lavender syrup to bring it out over the bergamot (not such a fan of citrus alone in tea). Added 3 ounces of milk for a latte-style cup. It lacked the strength I look for in a wake-up tea.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec
gmathis

Oooh…I never heard of lavender syrup. Is it sweetened?

Will Work For Tea

Yes, its really simple syrup with food-grade lavender buds steeped in.

Vortegne

That syrup sounds good, does it make the tea very sweet?

Will Work For Tea

No, not really, but I didn’t use too much of it.

I made it using 2.5 cups (591.5 ml) of sugar, 1.5 cups (354.8 ml) of water and 3 teaspoons (15 grams) of food-grade lavender Bring to a boil, dissolving all of the sugar. Remove from heat. Let sit for about 15 minutes and strain into a jar.

Invader Zim

Ohhh, thanks for the recipe, I really like lavender so now I have to try this out!

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Had a few sips of this as is, but wanted a bit of zing in my cup. Overbrewed it a bit and added some fresh lemonade that was leaning more toward the tart side – delicious!

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 0 sec

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drank Doggy Tea by 52teas
133 tasting notes

Not all of this was consumed when I made it for the boys a couple days ago, so I poured the leftover in an ice cube tray for later enjoyment.

Both dogs like chomping on ice cubes. In the past, I usually put in small treats in water and freeze them into cubes. Usually they’ll chomp on it to get to the treat and leave the ice to melt on the floor. So I figured they’d enjoy these just as well, and they did! Both of them ate all the cube – Yay! This might be the preparation of choice for them.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
ScottTeaMan

I love Doggies. :)) Maybe I should get this tea!

Will Work For Tea

Yeah, dogs are fun – have had at least one for the last 10 years. Can’t imagine not having ’em. :)

CHAroma

How adorable!

ms.aineecbeland

I purchased this tea thinking it was a joke of sort on theme where the bacon (the dough, cash)without realizing it was a dog tea. How stupid of me. But then I don’t need excuse to expose my stupidity.

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Backlog: This is a delicious combination, one I wouldn’t have thought to put together. Both the watermelon and blackberry are equally present.

Used 3 tsp. in 16 oz of boiling water and let it steep overnight. Iced and with a little sweetener its pretty awesome! Makes a great iced tea! I’m already planning on ordering more! :)

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more

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HOLY MELON BALLS, PEOPLE!!!!

There’s a lot of melon in this tea! I LOVE it!

This is can be a chameleon of a cup!

First cup: 1 1/2 tsp in 6 oz of water, untarnished – Melon in the front, helichrysum in the back. Added a smidge of simple syrup mid cup – The sweetener brought the helichrysum forward and pushed the melon to the back. WOW!

Second cup: Resteeped leaves in 190º for 4 minutes, no additives – I’m finding there’s more balance between the melon and helichrysum. Interestingly after adding a tad of sweetener to this midcup, the sweetness muddles the other flavors.

Third cup: Resteeped for 4:30 minutes in 200º, no additives – Loosing the helichrysum, mostly melon.

Fourth cup: Resteeped for 5 minutes in boiling water, no additives – all melon. (I’m going to quit while I’m ahead…)

With that many steeps – this is a keeper!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C 3 min, 30 sec
Azzrian

Best melon Tea EVER

ScottTeaMan

Sounds fantastically delicious!!

Kittenna

This one lasts forever – I think I got 5 infusions out of my first set of leaves, and they were all delicious.

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This is a nice, smooth non-fussy almond tea. Its a little lighter in flavor than I like, so I might play around with it a bit to see if more leaf will bring out more almond flavor. The dry leaf smells sweeter than it brews up. I find I like this a bit better with a tad of simple syrup, not because its bitter. I think I just like my nutty teas with a bit of sweetness.

This being the second black tea that I ordered, I really like that the tea base Stacy uses doesn’t get bitter when steeped longer than recommended. So far, I’ve used much less sugar than I have with other teas. I think that’s a testament to how well her teas are blended!

This cup was prepared with 1 1/2 tsp. in 6 oz. of water at the below preparation details.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec
ScottTeaMan

Looks really good!

Butiki Teas

Hi! So glad you are enjoying this tea! This is a re-blend of our almond cookie so its not really heavy on the almond but I will be working on another black tea that has a strong almond flavor with nothing else added. I’m glad you are enjoying the base tea. For the base of this tea we use our Organic Kundaly which has a lighter natural sweetness with some walnut notes. We also make our Raspberry Truffle with that base too.

Will Work For Tea

Good to know – I was eyeing the Raspberry Truffle, but it’ll make it into the next order! :)

Kittenna

Raspberry Truffle is yummy :D

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Received my order from Butiki Teas this morning and am very excited to experience what others have already been raving about!

A cold, dreary, slightly damp June day here – it reminds me of Fall. I chose this offering from my order because it seems to be fitting of a Fall-like tea.

I like how Stacy has included brewing recommendations for her teas because I would have gone heavier on the leaf – that’s my natural default. I did only use 6 oz of water for the teaspoon of leaf and went 15 second too long (from the recommendation) on the steep. But the resulting cup is delicious – and that’s even without adding anything, something I never do! The taste is not really strong, but oddly I like that. Its just enough to stand on its own. Pumpkin and spice fill the nose and the mouth. No bitterness! To me it’s more like a pumpkin pie taste rather than a créme brûlée; I’m not getting the creamy, but that could be due to just having had a peanut butter rice cake before this.

Tried a second cup with (new leaf and) the same brewing parameters, but added a 1/2 tsp. of brown sugar to the cup, but tasted no difference. Another 1/2 tsp. later, it just tasted sweeter, still no creaminess.

A third cup using the combined leaves from the previous two cups and soaking for 3 1/2 minutes produced a still fragrant cup of pumpkin spice, but the spice is lighter in taste.

Nonetheless, I’m a happy camper! I really like that I can enjoy this without sweetener. Come to think of it, this might be the first black tea I like without it! Thank you Stacy!

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 45 sec

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drank Doggy Tea by 52teas
133 tasting notes

After a slight snafu with the postal system, my order from 52teas arrived earlier this afternoon. I’m particularly excited about this specific order because I threw in a bag of Doggy Tea for the furkids!

While I’m certainly no doctor, I do know after researching “valerian root” that its used as a sedative for nervous tension and excitability. Oskar (dachshund) and Sammie (chiweenie) both feed off each other’s crazy excited outbursts, no matter the situation. And there’s a storm a comin’ from the west… so with these two issues I’m looking forward seeing if this calms them down any.

First human impressions: It looks like small pieces of straw with broken pieces of dried passion flower. Smells like straw with a hint of smokiness.

First canine impressions: Both agree that Mommy described it accurately. It gets 3 sniffs per pup and 4 lip licks each – a good sign!

After brewing a half tsp. in 6 oz. of boiling water for 3 minutes the water is clear yellow with more of a smoky smell. We let is cool to a tasty 110º. (No burnt tongues here!)

Sammie tried it first after giving the cooled tea a good whiff – there was lots of lapping, followed by the licking of lips. He likes it! Seconds and thirds were had as well! :)

It took a lot more coaxing for Oskar to try it. He took a couple of polite sips, but hasn’t gone back for more.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec
Kittenna

Did you take a sip yourself?!

Will Work For Tea

I did! It’s a different taste – not horrible, but something I could understand dogs liking. There’s a smokiness in the background, but the foreground is very much straw and oats.

Kittenna

Interesting! Keep us updated on whether it does actually calm your puppies or not :)

Will Work For Tea

The rain has started – Oskar just went to hide in the back bedroom where my husband’s clothes are. That’s his comfort spot when daddy’s not around, but not scared enough to come to me. (He’s daddy’s boy.) Sammie’s going back and forth between Oskar and me. (Sams is mommy’s boy.)

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Breakfast for dinner – English muffin sandwich with smoked gouda, fried egg and ham and PG Tips decaf.

I’m really glad I picked up a box of these when I did – mostly for when I want a plain black decaf, but also now that I know the store I frequent no longer sells this (or any PG Tips for that matter – humph!)!

I really love this for the ease factor too! Two bags, 12 oz. boiling water, half-and-half, with enough sugar to lure an ant colony. Simple comfort in a cup with less caffeine!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec
K S

I have not seen this in decaf locally. I have been using Tetley British blend decaf. It is a major improvement over most grocery store decaf bags. I have read enough good reviews of PG Tips that I need to look harder.

Will Work For Tea

Not sure exactly where you are in the state but I have seen it for sale on Amazon. I picked it up at Meijer before they stopped selling it at my location. Saw the regular PG Tips (for cheap!) at Saraga Market, but can’t remember if I saw the decaf there….

Azzrian

My store carries PG if you need any sent to you ever let me know!

K S

Saraga? Is that a chain? I thought there was only one of them about 40 miles south of your stated location. We may be closer neighbors than I thought. If so I go to Sahara Mart often. I haven’t been in Saraga yet.

Will Work For Tea

There are a couple in Indy according to Google maps.

The Manse Hen

I was looking at your review of PG Tips decaf and I really identified with your profile (I recognize this review is 10 years old or more.) I’m from the east coast, moved west to Boise ID and then to San Francisco for 11 years, and am now in KY where my Dh is from. It’s been a very hard adjustment (not aided by the changes wrought by the pandemic everywhere) and I love my teas for comfort, that and favorite reads!

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Again the husband is away on yet another business trip and I reach for this tea… This better not be the beginning of a trend! Actually, I grabbed this in an effort to help decupboard it, especially after the poor results I had last time.

After looking at the previous results, I went heavier on the rooibos (5 level tsp.) and a tad less water (8oz). Brewed for quite a long time, probably a little over 10 minutes. The brewed liquor is a nice dark amber.

Sadly it still tastes like a stronger version of blah… Wondering aloud: Will putting rum in this make it better? It is Happy Hour!

Preparation
Boiling 8 min or more
TeaBrat

It couldn’t hurt! :D

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Profile

Bio

I’m a native Midwesterner (Iowa, specifically) who was happily uprooted to California twice. SoCal is what I consider home, even though I currently don’t live there. I hope to return home again!

Tea has really come to fill the void of my current displacement. My husband & I (with our two tiny weenies) moved to Indiana hardly knowing a soul. It’s been a tougher transition for me than I’d thought it would be. I have amassed a cupboard of teas to keep me company until I feel more familiar in my newer surroundings.

I will refrain from giving numerical values to teas because I am a faddist. My likes and dislikes are constantly changing. Flavored blacks are what I gravitate to the most. Having said that, I do enjoy a wide variety of teas – you name it, I’ll try it. I may not like it today, but I might revisit it later and love it.

Flavor note: I prefer my teas to be bold in flavor. I am starting to come around to drinking tea without additives. But I do like to dirty my tea with rock sugar/simple syrup and sometimes with half-n-half/milk. Unflavored greens are unsweetened, but flavored greens I usually add rock sugar. Lately I have been favoring flavored guayusa and matés.

Location

Indianapolis

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