Epi Tea

It’s an okay chai I suppose… I don’t taste any cinnamon though and that my favourite part. I can taste ginger and maybe the red pepper. I’m not getting any vanilla… I prefer the Twinings of London Chai to this.

I got this sample from Epi Tea and I’m not sure what is making me not like this. I think I just don’t like this particular blend of berries. I’m more of a raspberry, blueberry, strawberry type girl :D

I recieved this as a sample earlier this week (just trying it now) I’ve never had Irish Breakfast before so this is a new experience :D I think I like it but I’m not sure :)

This sample was generously provide to me from Epi Tea. Thank you Kyle and the whole Epi Tea Team.

Dry Leaf: Has a berry and rooibos type of aroma.
Wet Leaf: Has a berry and rooibos aroma.
Liquor: Was a dark amber color.
Taste: Has a berry flavor in the beginning then came the super light nutty flavor of the rooibos.
Overall Opinion: I give this tea from the way I rate in my profile a 84. Meaning this tea was “berry average.” This tea was really light with a decent berry flavor. I was looking more for that earthy, nutty flavor you get with rooibos but it never was there. I added sugar and yes it made the berry flavor taste sweeter and did increase the rooibos flavor some but not as I would want. May have to do with not enough rooibos leaf or a lower quality. My advise for the company is use more leaf. My other advise would be I would have been more impressed if you guys did a Honey Bush & Rooibos equal blends and be more generous with the leaf. I did steep this tea 10 minutes as suggested but I want to add I usually steep rooibos 2-5 minutes and it still seems stronger then this one. A side note to people, rooibos is a very forgiving tea so I don’t think you can over steep it.
Vessel SAMA DOYO Gongfu/Kungfu teapot. I used 1 pyramid sachet in 220ml or 7oz. of water.

Hmmm.. this is interesting. Almost done with my samples from Epi Tea, only the Blood Orange Rooibos left, which they’re not continuing, I’ll probably still try it anyway!

Hmmm.. this is interesting. Almost done with my samples from Epi Tea, only the Blood Orange Rooibos left, which they’re not continuing, I’ll probably still try it anyway!This makes a really pretty cup, lovely deep amber color. The smell is very very light though. The taste is fairly light as well, more rooibos I say! :) It does have an interesting taste though,I haven’t had any elderberry or current flavored teas (that I can reacall) so that may be what I can’t place. A little tart, but not overbearing. Not sure I’d get more.

Thank you EPI tea for this sample!

This was the best sample I tasted from EPI tea. I’ll tell you why.

The experience was like dancing a Tango with a stranger. Slow, moody and with no emotion showing up front at first.
The flavor was a little malty and dry from the Black Tea, sweet and citrusy. The burgamot and lavender were subtle and slightly astringent at the finish. I liked it. I had no worries. Everything seemed controlled and very mellow.
(This still was in the beginning while the tea was very HOT.)

I added sugar as a tempting tease like a quick wide sweep of a satin shoe. Ah ha!
What returned was a coco malty taste. A candied lavender flower flavor with citrus burgamot. Such restraint was as breathless as a hard cheek to cheek glide across the dance floor. Intriguing.

The cooling of the tea increased, and with the cooling the bergamot and lavender flavors increased and became very pronounced. The finish was big and juicy citrus.
That finish grabbed me and threw me to the floor in a manner that said “You should have known better than to doubt my power and strength”.

Ah Earl…..I hope we dance again.

I am really glad I got these free samples. I brewed this while watching Dragon Ball with my brother. I brewed it past 10, since I usually like to really steep my rooibos.

Smells like mixed berry juice! It makes sort of a cold toned pinkish red. This taster very berry, but in a different and unconventional way. must be the elder berry and currant. I liked this one more then the blood orange one.

I might buy this when it comes out.

A chai that doesn’t make me cough when I drink it, yay! I’m a bit sensitive to some of the more spicy teas that have a whole lot of ginger in them. I love the cinnamon in this (I put cinnamon on everything), and it’s nice a soft with just a hint of that chai bite. Yum!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8126244@N06/7718559360/

I’m finding a lot of Epi Tea’s offerings don’t blow me out the water, but they’re really great for everyday teas. Definitely a good option for wanting loose tea quality conveniently, like at work or when I travel. I’ve only got 2 left to try!

Edit: Upped the rating, as I drink more I like it even more!

I completely forgot I had this until I opened up one of my sample tins! Well now you all know what I had for breakfast :] Some delicious chai. This tea to me is a classic chai. But it’s a bit lighter with more of a black tea tone to it(which I love). I’m not one for a strong chai unless it’s snowing and I’m cursing the weather. It’s the perfect strength in spice without being TOO strong. Probably my new favorite chai :]
ALSO: Thank you Epi Tea for this wonderful sample :D

Not a huge expert on Irish breakfast tea (in fact this may be my first). Apparently this is supposed to be composed of mainly Assam. No idea what Assam by itself tastes like, so new mission: find a black tea sampler of straight black tea that is commonly used in blends. Then I will learn!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8126244@N06/7710006456/
Anyway, really nice looking dark cup (I do love my black tea), the taste is pretty generic “black tea”, but smooth. A nice hint of smoke. Definitely a tea bag I would take along for travel.

Out of all of the Epi Teas, this is the one I was most excited to try. I have never had lavender in a tea before and didn’t know what to expect.

When I brewed this it made more a of brownish color then a reddish black tea liquor. the leaves in the bags were bigger then I thought they would be. They filled up the entire bag! The smell of it was nice and balanced, since I thought the lavender might be over powering. The initial taste worried me, cause it had a soapy after taste. However, I think this was attributed to morning mouth. As it cooled a bit and tasted again I found that this tea bag made a wonderful cup. The bergamont flavor was there, but not over powering. The lavender wasn’t over powering either, and I think it added a nice creamy and slightly floral tasted to it. I think I should have brewed till around 4 minuets though, since it came out a bit bitter, but not overly.

I am really happy with this tea. I think when it comes out I will buy some more to have good bagged tea on hand.

Specifics
Water: 14oz (I think)
Bags: 1
Method: Mug Brew
Sweetener: 1 1/2 TBL

Overall I would recommend this to a friend who likes Earl Grey and wants to try something different.

Got my samples today in the mail. It was night time so I decided to give this one a try. It has a nice odor of citrus and rooibos. I brewed it for 13 minuets and let it cool to around room temp.

It tasted more of rooibos then of the citrus, which was more of an after taste. I think though I might have used too big a cup to brew it in though. I will have to use a smaller cup for the next samples I try.

Overall it is not bad. It is more for a plain rooibos lover with the citrus adding a nice after taste.

Thank you, Epi Tea for this sample!

This tea has many different flavors and aromas that rise from the cup, that make it a tough one to breakdown. The cinnamon is certainly dominant, coupled with a marsh-mellow creaminess.

The sip is both smooth and thick, leaving a crave to try more. The aftertaste is minty, along with a small amount of dry astringency.

There is something missing, slightly, on delivering an overall impression of a chai tea. I will need to try this tea again with other variables, such as milk and sweeter to get a better grasp on it complete character.

Thank you Epi Tea for this sample!

This was my first morning cup, and perfect to pretend that I’m not in the highlands of the American Western Rocky Mountains…but somewhere in Ireland in the high hills between that fair land and Scotland.
It’s a cooler morning today than usual. This will soon pass, and another of the record breaking over 90 degree days (now around 30 straight) will heat up only to be broken in the late afternoon by purple clouds…large and ominous, hanging over the high range ready to burst with torrents of rain.

Irish Tea it should be I had determined.

It did seem odd to have a sachet with no string. Am I old fashioned? Should I be concerned that I could possibly save a string making machine or a tree by the elimination of the teabag string? Am I lazy wanting a string instead of fishing out the teabag with my spoon, fingers or a pen?

No matter.

The brew time was long enough to walk away for 5 minutes and fix my tea tray with milk and sugar for a proper sit down.
I tasted the red-brown brew which was slightly astringent and smoky. There was no maltiness but the overall black taste with the smoke was hardy. The addition of sugar and cream was comforting, this being the type of tea that I would most likely drink in colder weather in the morning with toast and jam.

This is not an outstanding knock your socks off tea but the kind that we all look to for reliability in our cupboards. The good standard morning cup.

Thanks to Epi Tea for the sample.

Right away, the first thing I could think of after having sipped this tea was being six years old in poverty-stricken Russia, suffering from a nasty flu, and being forced to drink some strange raspberry-honey-pepper-medicine concoction from a thermos by my mother.

Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I took a trip down a certain memory lane that I thought I would never see again. The flavor is just about identical to what I drank all of those years ago, but far more tolerable. The raspberry flavors are overwhelming…I think the tea should be renamed to Raspberry Rooibos.

Not my cup of tea, but I appreciate the opportunity to try it nonetheless.

Thanks to Epi Tea for the sample!

I was a bit nervous to try this tea due to the lavender flavoring—I have always been a fan of plain Earl Grey tea, spiked with noticeable amounts of Bergamot. I was pleasantly surprised to discover, however, that this tea was not overwhelming in the least. There is a perfect amount of lavender flavoring and does not interfere with the nature of Earl Grey. My only recommendation would be to have some Bergamot flavoring into the tea, if only a little bit. Otherwise, great tea!

Thanks to Epi Tea for the sample sachet.

This is my first experience with Rooibos tea of any kind. I can’t say I was too thrilled with this tea…others have described it as having an orange cough-syrup taste, and I would have to agree. The tea smells a lot better than it tastes, in my opinion.

Thanks to Epi Tea for the sample. I have tried different kinds of Chai before, but none quite like this. The spices, while strong, were not offensive in the least and the aftertaste is rather pleasant (I personally taste almost exclusively the red peppers after drinking). A very nice and unique tea!

My first try of any Irish Breakfast, courtesy of the free sample sachets from Epi Tea. Very different from the varieties of English Breakfast teas I’ve had. Personally, not something that I would have again, but it was good for the experience of trying a brand new sort of tea. Seems like this is an acquired taste, so it’s not surprising that I didn’t really like it on my first try.

This is my first warm cup of tea all week, believe it or not—I’ve really been in the mood for cold drinks but I had a stressful day and hot tea always helps me relax. I hadn’t tried this one yet and chai is one of my go-to “calm down, brain!” teas so into the cup it went.

I’m a bit perplexed by this blend. I like my chais spicy, and this definitely delivers, with that back of the mouth heat you get from whole peppercorns. There’s a bit of a bit from the ginger too, but I think the other spices are a bit lacking. I’m not getting much cardamom/cinnamon, and the vanilla is also very faint. The black base is also a bit underwhelming, with no real strong notes to tie everything together. I prefer malty bases for chais usually, and here I kind of taste that, you know, “tea” flavor but it’s really overwhelmed by the pepper and ginger. So it’s both strong and weak, which is kind of a funny conundrum. I think with a little bit of tweaking this could be a nice blend though, I am loving the addition of whole peppercorns!

So this is my least favourite of the Samples that I received from Epi Tea and I think it’s largely because I don’t think I like lavender :) That being said the tea has a very pleasant aroma and a smooth taste to it…just not what I really enjoy.

I noticed the same odd, overwhelming scent that I can’t place with this tea as I did with the Lavender Earl Grey, so I’m going to assume that it’s something that has to do with Epi Tea’s sachets rather than the tea itself.

Unlike the Lavender Earl Grey, that smell is reflected somewhat in the taste. It reminds me of… bad coffee? Yeah, let’s go with that. I feel like that’s due to either how weak the actual rooibos is and/or how little is included in the sample — a combination, most likely. I like to be generous with my rooibos portions, since it’s not a very strong tea unless you steep a lot! But since I could have used less water and probably gotten a better taste, I’m not docking points for that.

I the little bit of berry rooibos I can pick up. The berry-to-rooibos ratio is spot on, and the tanginess of the berries is really nice. It’s just… barely there.

I didn’t find the orange in this artificial tasting or like orange cought syrup :) I really liked the hint of orange that came through on the tail end of the rooibos.