Divinitea

The first time I had this, it tasted a little murky and boring. I decided to try it again since there was only one serving left in a huge bag that didn’t seem worth passing to the next person in line for the TTB. This last serving had all the powdery goodness from the bottom of the bag, so it was much better. Now it’s peppery and maybe I taste a bit of cardamom, maybe ginger. It’s pretty nondescript and average, but it was a pleasant cup.

Very good second flush Darjeeling tea.. in my opinion the second flush is the most underrated of teas and should be given more importance

A full bodied, well seasoned, smooth textured and dark cup of tea, even on the 4th infusion with only one teaspoon. This is a full leaf tea with a rewarding spicy and sweet fragrance and taste in every sip. It’s a tea of amusing complexity and is evocative of hiking through a deciduous forest after an October rainstorm. Pairs especially well with rich foods or stands on it’s own as one of the best darjeelings I have ever tried.

This is a light, well balanced tea blended with high quality ingredients. It is refreshing and great tasting. The chamomile stands out the most for me and together with the bergamot and pomegranate, adds a natural sweetness that makes sugar redundant. Then again, I’m sweet enough.

This tea sets the bar high for all over breakfast brews. It’s strong yet smooth, energizing and satisfying. It has a familiar malty taste that pairs well with frittatas or crepes. If you enjoy Irish and English breakfast teas, you can’t miss with a cup of this.

This is the best premium loose leaf Earl Grey I have tried to date. The aroma of bergamot oil is strong but pleasant and does not overpower the taste of the organic full leaf tea from Nilgiri, India. It’s smooth and clean from start to finish. If you love Earl Grey and have no tried this, you need to place an order. If you’ve only quaffed EG brewed from tea bags, you don’t know what you’re missing.

I found a sealed bag from August 2011 tucked away in the cupboard. This six year old blend was still flavorful and brewed to a nice dark amber color. The real peach is most prominent, especially in the aroma. I’m going to have to swing by the Divinitea shop in Schenectady, NY to purchase a new package of this tea to compare it. I imagine this would make an excellent iced beverage and one could avoid adding sweeteners as it’s naturally sweet enough.

Divinitea’s been pretty hit-or-miss for me. Sometimes you get really good teas like the Persian Plum Rose, and then you get ones that are just…meh. Sadly this falls into the latter category.

It’s terribly finicky to brew. There’s not enough lavender in the mix to stand up to the base tea, so if you steep it a little too long it’s overpowered entirely by tart, astringent black tea. Not really what I was looking for. Too short a steep time and it’s little better than colored water.

I’ve gotten my best results steeping it for 3-3 1/2 minutes and adding sugar. The lavender gets slightly more prominent as it cools, but it’s still very mild. If you like a subtle lavender flavor, this tea might be something you’d want. If you want something strongly floral, skip this one. It’s not for you.

I probably won’t keep drinking it, but if nothing else I figure the remainder will make a nice tea rinse for my hair.

The second of the two teas I purchased, and by far the better. It’s an incredibly pretty tea with all the pink rose petals and green cardamom pods, and it smells just as nice. A lot like a bagged plum tea I bought once, but much more so, which at least tells me that wasn’t using some kind of fake plum flavor.

It has a good, strong plum/floral flavor more than anything. Since fruit and florals are my favorite kinds of flavored teas, this suits me just fine.

This is incredibly toothless. I’m not just saying that as someone who loves spicy food; for a tea that has cinnamon and crushed red pepper in it, it’s very mild. I’d add more pepper in if I wasn’t afraid it would overpower everything and I’d end up with red pepper water.

There’s a mild chocolate flavor which is almost overpowered by the bitter black tea, and that’s about it. Not necessarily a terrible tea, but not what I was expecting. I’ll probably finish it, but I won’t restock.

HGTTB

This is mostly grass and vegetal taste. Hot, I got nothing but bitterness but as it cools a tiny bit of peach comes out. Unfortunately not enough to combat the base or the rosehip flavor that pops up as well.

HGTTB

I probably should have read the ingredients on this before trying it out because I am not a lover of plain chais. However, I hoped “Mayan Chai” would mean it has either some chocolate and/or spice component. It did not. So I was left disappointed and sipping on a tolerable enough chai tea. Still, it was fun to try.

HGTTB

I pulled this one out of the box last night as well because ginger and i? we’re the best of friends. However, in this blend it just doesn’t work. The ginger isn’t there enough and the rooibos and “citrus” just makes this a sort of sour blend. Hopefully this will work for someone else!

This is the last sample from my Divinitea batch. I decided I could use a little green before work. I didnt want to bust out my Kyusu, so I threw this blend in my mug.

The leaves have small dried peaches in them and of course carry a strong peach tone (who’d have thunk). The actual tea has a different aroma. It smells of rotted leaves with peaches under them. It has a weird bog scent. The tea’s flavor follows suit. It has a spoiled peach undertone that is covered with a dry grass flavor. I could also describe it as wet hay with peach Crystal Light sprinkled on top. This isnt my cup of tea…

I wanted something calm and relaxing before I went to sleep, and I knew I had just a little bit of this left. I had to pull off some detective work in figuring what this was. I used process of elimination of Divinitea products to determine it. Upon brewing I know for a fact that it is Ginger Lemon Mint, hahah.

This is a nice blend. There is nothing unordinary about it or special. I think the fact that it is organic causes the flavors to be more clear and prominent. The initial sip is a strong mix of ginger and lemongrass. You can hint at a slight mint tone in the background of this brew. The aroma from my mug smells like a powerful natural cold medicine. Its off putting to be drinking this in fit health. I hope this doesn’t jink me hahah. This blend is otherwise a casual blend. Its a good thing for night time quick sip.

Good morning! I wanted a warm drink to wake me up and this was it! The leaves look similar to that of other chai. The only distinct difference is the yerba mate within the variety of herbs. I brewed it in my mug as I got ready for the day. Its a very smooth chai with little spice. The most distinct flavor is the cardamom which calms out the brew. The scent is strongly of cloves and spices. This wasn’t a bold chai and would be perfect for people just starting on the chai road. I enjoyed it and it worked to get me pepped up for the day. I love the smell of chai in the home before the day begins :)

I acquired this along with my Divinitea “sampler” from my local tea shop. I am very bias towards any teas that come from their. I have had a lot of issues involving this establishment, and I won’t be returning. In turn, I always look down on all their teas and believe them to be sub-par. I’m trying to shake this mind set, seeing as how its not the distributes fault.

I brewed this in my night time mug as I relaxed and unwound from the day. I wanted something simple and calming. The small forest green rolls had a very fragrant jasmine scent with a slight vegetal undertone. The aroma that arose from my mug was pleasant and floral. The initial sip was actually very bitter, and I was saddened to the thought that my water was too hot. Afterwards, this bitterness completely faded. The brew had a nice calming garden tone. It tastes alike that of jasmine pearls, only less jasmine and more green. My mug carried a very sweet and indulgent brew. I relaxed and took in my beverage. The jasmine was not overwhelming and balances well with the soft tones. I actually liked this tea to my surprise, and it did the job for the night.

Hmmm first review, no pressure hahah. I will start off by saying that this brew was very stubborn. I opened the package to reveal long black strands. The leaves were a frosted crimson and purple color. They had a light smoke aroma. I brewed these in my new yixing with a generous amount. I washed the leaves once to allow the leaves to breathe. I brewed in increments of 15 seconds, considering the size of my pot. The scent the steeped leaves gave off was intense! The sweet smell of maple, sugarcane, and brown sugar escaped from its spout. I was immediately captured by the air in my tea room. The liquor was a deep rusted orange. The brew had a similar scent to the leaves, but they carried a roasted and ash note. The taste was completely different. It had a dry charcoal flavor. The sweetness had disappeared and was replaced by granite and graphite. The reason why I said that this was a stubborn batch is that the leaves refused to unfurl. It took me about four steepings before the flavor was fully developed. This rock flavor was consistent and lacked any complexity. After, It had been steeped a multitude of times the flavor was finally peaking. The sweetness had returned and blended with the underground flavor. The hard rocky mountains and lush forests clashed together. I could taste sweet sap and the roots that gripped the tectonic plates below. The sweet syrup scent followed me throughout the brew. I enjoyed this tasting very much, but it was lacking and difficult to experience. I bought this solely on the purpose of seasoning my pot, and I had leftovers to brew. The aroma of the leaves is what saved this drink.

Sipdown (118)!

Thank you Anlina for adding this as a sample in the Secret Pumpkin swap! I do love my coconut tea, so I was excited to try another coconut tea cold brewed since I’m still looking for that perfect coconut cold brew.

- Pretty average coconut/black tea
- Definitely drinkable and good; but unremarkable

I finished all 25oz. and enjoyed it, but it took me all day to do it – my teeth were REALLY sore/tender and acting up so putting anything in my mouth was tough when I had this one on Monday.

So a new shop opened near me recently, that carries fancy olive oil and balsamic vinegars, bulk spices, cocktail mixers, and a nice big wall of loose leaf tea form Divinitea! They brought in Linda Smith, the proprietor, to do a tasting a couple of weeks ago. This was one of the teas she was sampling, and I was completely won over.

I’m not a huge fan of coconut in general, but that’s mostly because it’s usually cloying and I hate the texture of the dried, grated stuff. But this… it’s not that it’s subtle, the coconut flavor is very strong. But it’s well-blended, with notes of vanilla, and a strong black tea base to give it some depth and backbone. Smooth enough to drink straight (if not oversteeped) but delicious with a splash of whole milk. I did four short steeps and mixed them together.

Mmm quite nice. This smells delicious and coconutty.

The liquor is deep brown, and smells like the dry leaf. There’s a hint of bitterness that’s kind of chocolately, plus lots of sweet coconut and cream. Nice, smooth mouth feel, kind of thick.

This is rich and desserty, and quite nice.

Bright fruity flavor on top of a smooth black tea. Lovely! Not good if you over-brew it, though. This is a great fruity tea blend.