Eastern Shore Tea Company

2020 Advent Swap – Day 17

A stronger black tea than I expected – a pleasant surprise. Less overkill fruit flavor, more a hint of fruit with almost straight black tea. Great hot

I split this one with James since he loves lemon-flavored teas, and he did love it. Surprisingly though, he tasted blueberry instead of lemon. I tasted no blueberry and only lemon. It was very much the flavor of an iced tea with lemon, except I drank it hot. My cup wasn’t as strong as Devon Bartholomew’s, so maybe I should have steeped it a bit longer. I wish I had tasted some of the blueberry flavor, but she was right about this being more of a straight black tea with a hint of fruit.

2020 Advent Swap – Day 15

My first floral tea I ever tried. :•) Enjoy!

I love floral teas so much. They are some of my very favorites. This had a light rose scent coming from the package once I opened it. Not strong, but noticeably floral. I happened to read some previous notes on this tea that mentioned curdling with milk, so I looked up the ingredients and saw that it has hibiscus. Also rose hips, not sure if those would have the same effect. No problem, I really couldn’t taste the hibiscus. The rose was just present enough to be noticed without overwhelming the base, which was also really nice. I did really want it creamy though, hibiscus be damned, so I added just a bit of cream to my cup and it turned out just fine! Maybe a little cloudier than usual, but still a delicious cup. Thank you, Devon Bartholomew – great pick for me!

2020 Advent Swap – Day 11

A great wind down with a book and a fireplace (which I wish I had!)

Growing up, my grandmother always kept spice drops in a glass candy dish next to her chair. My favorites were the purple ones. When I opened this bag of tea, that all-too-familiar scent hit me right in the face. The purple spice drops! What a blast of nostalgia this is. Devon Bartholomew says that this would be great to drink while reading a book in front of the fireplace, and I agree. I wish I had a working fireplace right about now!

2020 Advent Swap – Day 9

Vanilla, Peppermint, and Spearmint – mmm.

This reminds me of Teavana’s White Chocolate Peppermint Rooibos but without the artificial aftertaste of the licorice root. The primary aroma from the teabag is rooibos, but the flavor after steeping is a nice vanilla mint. I enjoyed this one! I added a little cream, and it was a wonderfully warm tea for a frosty morning. Thanks, Devon Bartholomew!

2020 Advent Swap – Day 5

I found this on vacation and had to buy it based on the description. A great tea for dessert on a cold night!

I’m not sure if there is chocolate in this blend, but that was my first thought as I opened the package and caught the aroma. It would make sense – when I think of Cupid, I think of Valentine’s Day, and then chocolate, strawberries, rose, raspberries, etc. I thought one of these flavors might be in the mix, but this is a blend of cherry, almond, and vanilla. And I can certainly taste the cherry/almond. It’s hard sometimes for me to distinguish between the two flavors. It isn’t fresh cherry, more like almond extract or amaretto. So even though there isn’t chocolate in this as far as I can tell, it tastes to me like a warm amaretto chocolate milk. Not so chocolaty as to be a hot chocolate or hot cocoa, but enough that the flavor stands out. It brings back memories of Christmas Eve dinner at my grandmother’s house – the women would clean the dishes together (while the men watched football on TV), and they would sit around the dinner table drinking coffee with amaretto. I remember feeling like such a grown-up when I was finally allowed to have a coffee and sit with the others. A great dessert tea, as Devon Bartholomew says, and a perfect tea for the holiday season.

Bought at a the Roasting Company recommended by a helpful clerk. This is fantastic blend of the rooibos and minty flavors. I enjoyed it at night to wind down but might also be nice during the day.

Red Bush tea (Rooibos) is legendary in Africa for its healing properties – for a relaxing sleep, to control appetite, to ease a hangover, to clean the blood, to reduce fatigue, and to provide energy. Studies in Japan have shown it to mimic the superoxide dismutase (S.O.D.) enzyme, a powerful antioxidant that limits the damaging effects of free radicals. Even higher in antioxidants then green tea, Red Bush is also high in flavanoids and low in alkaloids. It is also low in tannins and it is caffeine-free. Red Bush has no calories, however is wealthy in its mineral content, including Calcium, Potassium, Zinc, and Magnesium. With a rich red color, a robust body, a pleasant aroma, and non-bitter taste Red Bush is appealing by itself or as the base for fruit drinks. Serve it with milk or lemon and sweeten to taste. Jack Frost is soothing hot or refreshing iced. Redbush tea with Vanilla, Peppermint, and Spearmint. Caffeine-Free herbal tea. 20 Count foil wrapped tea bags in our classic white ribbon bag. 1.4 oz. (40g.)

I had the decaf version of this tea as part of a variety pack. Strong honey and lemon flavors great for nasal congestion.

I tried the decaf version of this tea in the Decaf sampler. Great blend of black tea and berry flavors.

I tried the decaf version of this tea in the decaf sampler. Great balance of green tea and peach.

Included in decaf sampler package. Delicious with warm spices and fruit

This is different from other Russian Caravan blends I’ve tried before, but the bag is from my aunt who may have had it for a few years. Maybe the smokiness evaporated with age. What remained was light and very drinkable. I was prepared to add a ton of milk, but I didn’t need any at all. It was just a light black tea!

I’m not sure why, but this one tastes a bit smoky? I tried one bag with milk and a different one with creamer, and I just wasn’t a fan. It was too harsh. The only flavors are black tea and smokiness. Definitely would not have guessed this to be EG. Maybe with a low temperature and short steep time, this tea could be tamed, but I only had the two bags, so I suppose I’ll never know.

I tried this tea while visiting family last week. I was planning to add milk, but it was tasty enough on its own. The black isn’t too bold and tastes pretty nice lightly sweetened. I like it better than some of the breakfast blends I’ve been drinking lately. It got a bit bitter as it cooled, but it was still drinkable. Definitely a pleasant blend!

Tried so many ways to drink this and couldn’t ever hardly taste anything. Milk seemed to bring out the flavor the best…

Sipdown (342)!

Thanks again for this tea VariaTEA!

This time around I tried it with some milk, and sipped on it on the ride home from work. It’s was pretty cold, so the warmth of the tea is honestly probably what I appreciated more than anything else. It’s weird though, ‘cause it was almost like a completely different tea flavour wise than the last time I’d had it…

- VERY STRONG creamy hazelnut
- With LIGHT milk chocolate notes
- Borderline Nutella like?
- Whipped cream notes in the undertones
- Somewhat watered down though overall

Thank you VariaTEA for the sample!

I’m sipping on this one now while catching up on tasting notes/before I have to get ready for work. It’s pretty nice; I definitely didn’t expect the chocolate notes to be as robust as they are but it’s a pleasant sort of surprise. The toffee isn’t coming through for me, which is a shame, but the hazelnut is here in the undertones and finish! It’s probably a little too sweet for me overall, but I’m still enjoying this teacup of it!

Sample from VariaTEA sadly i get almost nothing out of this one – tastes like water..maybe denser water. meh. ca’t win them all!

I really wanted to like this tea. It has lots of flavors that I like. Eastern Shore is usually very mild and not a strong tasting tea which I expect, this one was totally lacking. It didn’t really carry any vanilla, cherry, or almond flavors at all. It just tasted like a mild black tea. When I first opened the bag I could smell the vanilla and almond but it dissipated quickly.

It’s not a strongly peach green tea, rather light. One of my standard teas that I can always drink, especially when I want something comforting and not strong. Overall tea flavor comes together and not one flavor over the other sticks out to me.

Like most Eastern Shore Tea its not a strong tea, lighter in taste. Can definitely smell the ginger and the pear. They work well together and its a comforting tea. I drink it alone, without sugar or cream. I can easily drink this all day at work.

This tea is very comforting. I find most of Eastern Shore Tea to be on the lighter side, not super strong, which I like. Has a good scent and a light refreshing taste.

Today I got a wonderful package from VariaTEA in the post! So my cupboard has suffered a mini explosion and VariaTEA is entirely responsible.. hehe. I was so close to getting under 400, too! I wanted to play with my new teas sooner but I was out most of the day and then when I got back I made sure I drank a couple of Butiki teas to stay on track with my drink-a-thon. I’m in work early tomorrow so it’s almost bed time for me. I have time for one more cup of tea and I’m having this because it sounded yummy and relaxing and it was a teabag and I’m too tired to sort out anything loose leaf at the moment.

The scent while it’s brewing is a lot like most chocolate teas to me; chocolatey but artificial. I pick up some nuttiness from the hazelnut in the scent but no toffee. The flavour is pretty much the same as the scent initially – artificial chocolate with hazelnut background and no toffee anywhere to be found. It tastes quite a lot like a knock-off ferrero rocher! The base tea is present enough that I can tell it’s there, but for a supermarket teabag I’m pretty impressed because it’s really smooth with no astringency at all. I added the tiniest bit of sugar and the tiniest bit of milk and this brings out the hazelnut a lot more, and makes it actually quite a nice comforting bed time cup of tea. As it starts to cool a little the chocolate becomes far less pronounced and the main flavour is hazelnut, with a hint of the toffee finally peeping through at the end of the sip. Now it reminds me quite strongly of Adagio’s Hazelnut tea, only with a much milder base and a more artificial hazelnut flavour. It’s nice, but not so different that I could justify having them both in my collection and Adagio’s plain hazelnut tea has the edge over this one with it being stronger and more natural-tasting. Thank you again VariaTEA for sending me so many generous samples!

I worried that being a grocery store teabag, this might taste sort of dusty but this is not too bad. The base is noticeable and a touch brisk. It’s got a chocolate-type flavor, similar to a dollarstore nutella knockoff (not sure if you have ever had that but imagine nutella except less creamy and more artificial).