Jenier World of Teas

This blend is more herbal than Fairy Princess. The dry mix contains cornflowers, rose petals, blackberry leaves and what looks like lemongrass, as well as apple, hibi, rosehip, and orange. It smells distinctly more herbal, too. I gave it about 3.5 minutes in boiling water, and was rewarded with the normal dark red hibiscus colour.

According to the description, this one should taste very fruity, like a rocket blast, apparently. It doesn’t, really. There’s the normal over-tart, sour hibi-rosehip taste, but very little else reminds me of fruit. I can maybe find orange a tiny bit, if I’m really looking for it, but it’s not obvious. The main flavour, other than hibiscus, is more herbal than fruit. Rose comes through quite strongly, and something vaguely “green”, too. It’s not really a comfortable flavour combination. It’s not bad, though, and it’s certainly a more interesting fruit/herbal blend than some I’ve tried recently. I just wish it was a lot lighter on the hibiscus and rosehip – it would be so much better like that.

I really wanted to like this one, but it’s a bit of a miss for me. Looking at the dry mix, all I can really see are pieces of hibiscus, rosehip and apple. Consequently, all I can really taste are hibiscus and rosehip. Interesting, in a tea called strawberry kiwi. Saying that, I can taste strawberry a little, and the smell is right, so there must be some flavourings added here. Unfortunately, they’re just not powerful enough to stand against my nemesis hibi, and his sidekick rosehip. I’m not getting kiwi at all in the taste, and not really to speak of in the scent. Strawberry, yes, but only just. And that’s really all.

As fruit teas go, it’s no better or worse than the majority I’ve tried. I just wish it wasn’t called strawberry kiwi, because that had me hoping for a minute.

I tend to generally enjoy a flavoured oolong, but I’m not too keen on floral teas. I have, however, succesfully had teas with orange blossoms before and find them to be quite tolerable.

The dry leaves certainly smells like oranges. I suspect it’s not just orange blossoms, I suspect there is also some actual orange flavouring in here. It’s a very pungent smell. Almost perfume-y. And when I say perfume-y, I mean perfume-y as in sitting behind a woman on the bus who used the same perfume every day for so long that she no longer has any idea of how much perfume she’s actually wearing. (There’s a woman like that on the bus I take to work. I try to avoid sitting within two seats of her if I can. On a particularly bad day, it’s like I can almost taste it.)

Then, when I poured the tea, the strongest floral aroma wafted up from the cup. Very floral. Dusty and grey smelling and highly suspicious.

This lead me to study the ingredients list a little closer. True enough, it said ‘natural flavours’ so it’s definitely been just flavoured with orange. It also said ‘jasmine petals’.

Jasmine petals?!

I abhor jasmine flavoured teas! Why are there jasmine petals in something that’s supposed to be orange blossom? Why do the words ‘orange blossoms’ not even feature anywhere at all except for the name of the blend? It does not look like the picture and the description on the site even says it’s got orange blossoms in it. Now I’m sitting here with a cup that has managed to sorely disappoint me before I’ve even tasted it.

This is not at all an old tea in my collection, but it’s definitely going on the Consider-This-First shelf regardless, just so I can get rid of it quicker. Unless anybody wants it, in which case I’ve got somewhere between 20 and 25 grams, I think, and I will happily give it away.

Right, I’d better taste it.

It’s not actually as bad as feared right at first. At first I’m getting a strong orange flavour but none of the jasmine. The orange is so heavy that I can’t actually find much in the way of the base tea. I can only tell that it’s something rather more delicate than a black base, but I can’t say anything about the oolong used as such.

Just when I think it’s not actually going to be so abysmal, I swallow. And hello, jasmine! It doesn’t seem like it’s completely overwhelmed with jasmine, but for someone who dislikes the stuff even a little jasmine comes across as lots. Impossible to ignore it.

Yeah, I don’t like this tea at all.

Why is this stuff not sold as ‘Jasmine and orange oolong’? Because that’s what it is.

Seriously, Steepsterites. If anybody wants it, let me know. Husband is currently drinking the rest of my cup. I’m going to make something else.

(edited for grammar error)

A bit disappointed in this – the flavours were okay as was (as long as you don’t need your rooibos actually drowned out by other flavours!), but there needed to be a lot more vanilla to make it the kind of vanilla rooibos I like.

Steeped this too long, I think – everything takes SO long with your dominant arm out of real action! But I think this will be better when I just sit watching the tea brew rather than trying to get my breakfast cereal done.

I love the amount of info Jenier gives on each of their teas, so added the origin as well as ingredients here.

Jenier doesn’t seem to carry this tea any more.

Someone please drink and rate this tea! It sounds delicious…too bad the company is all the way in the UK. Any US distributors?

Of course I got some of this with my order. And of course it was a double quantity compared to all the others. Of course. Not doing that would have been like… not breathing.

The aroma is quite mild. Mostly it has a wood-y note, and I’m not noticing too much of the cocoa and grain that I otherwise associate with Fujian, but it seems to be there in very small amounts. It’s like I can sense it more than I can smell it. Or perhaps I’m just so tuned into it having to be there that I’m making it up? I don’t think so, though. I think there are trace amounts of it there.

Anyway, the important thing is the taste. Yes, aroma is very important, but it’s still only 30% of the experience. If the aroma was lacking the grain and cocoa notes, then the flavour has them in spades. Especially cocoa. It’s the primary note here, and all the wood and grain is going on underneath the cocoa.

I’m quite pleased with this. It’s my favourite ever type of tea, so it’s bound to score high on that alone (see the first paragraph of this post), but I really think that this one can rub shoulders with some of the best tan yangs out there. It lacks just a bit more body to push it towards the full 100 points, but we’re very close.

Om nom nom nom Fujian black!

I like lapsang souchong! I like it on its own and I like it in blends. What we have here is a blend with LS, Ceylon and Assam. It’s been ages since I had one of these!

The aroma is lovely smoky, but not as prickly as it usually is in a pure LS. It’s smoothed out by the other two ingredients, one of which adds a thick almost milky note to it. I suspect it’s probably a hearty malty Assam at play there.

A pure LS is, for me, a case of balance between smoke and fruity sweetness. Of course there should be some body to it as well, but it’s not the most important thing. With this sort of blend, however? This is all about the body. Here the smoke becomes just a detail. And so far, in the aroma, this tea has that down just right.

Flavour is primarily Assam. Again, the smoke is just a detail. An afterthought. This is almost more an Assam blend than it’s an LS blend. It’s Assam that I get in the flavour. Malty and hearty indeed and as I suspected responsible for that milky note in the aroma. It’s there in the flavour as well, telling me that this is one of the very few teas that I wouldn’t mind it if it was served with a little milk, because it almost tastes like it’s already there.

Then, to accentuate it all, there’s the smoke from the lapsang, but it really is quite discreet. Along with the smoke, I get the Ceylon addition to the blend. It tastes high-grown with a floral-y, grassy sort of note to it. Again, it’s just a detail.

All in all, I find this a very well-balanced blend and highly enjoyable.

So far I have to say this is my favourite of the Jeniers I’ve tried so far. Although, I’m willing to admit that I may be slightly biased what with the vanilla and all. I luuuurve vanilla flavouring in tea, and it seems like it’s a love affair that is only growing. Vanilla on its own, vanilla with fruit, it’s all good. I have a tea from AC Perchs with vanilla and cranberry which I’m ever so slightly addicted to. This one both smells great and it tastes great and I can clearly taste both vanilla and fruit. I’ll make a more in depth post about it later, I think.

Tell me, though, Steepsterites. When I searched for this in the database, and awful lot of Monk’s Blends came up. Is this actually one or just similar? I was under the impression that Monk’s Blend was more floral.

I thought I would start with this one today, since it has a name like ‘Good Morning.’ I thought it was pretty obvious.

I’ve seen a bunch of grapefruit flavoured teas about on Steepster but I’ve never had one myself before. Wait, I tell a lie! I’ve had some which was flavoured with grapefruit AND other things, but never one that was grapefruit on its own before.

The aroma is strong and citrus-y. Unlike the tea from Jenier I had yesterday, which was quite mild all-round, this one is very strong. It’s a creamy and very grapefruit-y beast we have here. It has safflower petals in it, which I believe is one of those flowers that haven’t got much in the way of flavour, but provides this sort of creamyness. It rather reminds me a bit of Girlie Grey from Jeeves and Jericho.

The same notes are also strongly present in the flavour. The base, just like the one I had yesterday, is once again a relatively astringent Ceylon. This is definitely a grapefruit tea, but it feels like quite a basic one.

I’m beginning to suspect that this company might be a little Adagio-y. Great selection, excellent place to start for beginners, but people with more experience and a more well-developed idea of what they like would probably want to explore a bit more in order to find their perfect versions. But yeah, seems like an excellent spring-board into the wider world of tea, if you know what I mean.

First time I’ve ever shopped with this company. I want to talk about them for a bit, because it’s not a name I’ve seen on Steepster before that I can recall, although they have a fairly large number of teas in the database. I know some of my other European Steepsterites are like me when it comes to looking up unfamiliar companies. There are SO many of them that are based in the US and therefore out of our reach due to shipping fees and/or customs fees or perhaps they don’t even ship outside the US at all. As a consequence we often don’t even bother checking and we are undoubtedly missing out on a bunch of interesting shops. Jenier Teas is based in Scotland and the shopping basket on their website calculates shipping costs automatically for you as you put things in in your own currency(!!!), making it a piece of cake to keep an eye on.

I ordered mostly samples (or mini-packs, as I believe they were listed as on the site), but it didn’t say anywhere that I could see what the quantity of a sample was.

I can now tell you that Jenier’s samples weigh a whopping 25 grams.

Fortunately, they come in ziplocked pouches, except one, which I’ve tinned.

I also received in my order a small handwritten, personalised card in an envelope with my name on it. I’ve commented on this sort of thing before. I believe it was the first time I ordered something from Verdant. It makes me feel a closer connection to the vendor, like I really am a cherished customer, and not just another face in the crowd of people throwing money at them.

So anyway, I bought a load of samples and one tea in a larger quantity. Had I known this would be the size of the samples, I might have shown a little more moderation, but I was not to know this. (On the other hand, knowing that I can buy a fairly significant amount without having to buy a LOT is another thing that will definitely make me want to shop there again.)

Unfortunately it seems that none of the teas that I bought, not one, are in the database already.

I’m feeling quite exhausted so I thought I’d have something that sounded like it might be sweet. When I saw cherries and almonds, I thought it would be some sort of dessert-y marcipan-y concoction, but it isn’t. Not even remotely.

For one thing, it’s quite discreetly flavoured. I can’t really find much in the way of cherries here, and the almonds aren’t marcipan-y at all. They’re more like eating almonds as a nut if you understand what I mean here. Both aspects are definitely almond, but they taste entirely different. It’s very nice, but not at all what I was expecting.

I wonder what the base black is here. It’s a bit tannic and harsh in the background there, so I’m guessing a rougher-end Ceylon or Ceylon-heavy blend. This seems to be a very common tea to use as a base for flavoureds. Checking the information from the shop, it turns out the Ceylon is correctly identified.

So yeah, I’m not wowed by this by any means, but I’m also not discouraged by it. Had it been horrible I’d have been concerned about the rest of my order, you see. I may try to beef the cherry aspect up a bit with another cherry flavoured black that I’ve got.

Terroso y fuerte.
Sabor ahumado inconfundible.

Según la leyenda, este té apareció durante la época de la dinastía Qing cuando las fuerzas armadas habían interrumpido la producción anual y el proceso de secado de las hojas. Con la alta demanda después de la interrupción, los fabricantes del té aceleraron su producción secando las hojas no solo al aire sino encima de un fuego de madera de pino.

As a lifelong (and therefore picky) lover of Earl Grey, I was a bit apprehensive about trying this tea. Now, I can’t imagine getting through the winter without it. If you love Earl Grey, you must try this tea.

The aroma of the dried leaves can be extremely sweet, but the dark and subtle heart of lovely black tea shines through when steeped. The bergamot note is ever present, but never overpowering. If you prefer a stronger citrus presence in your EG, this is probably not for you.

I just drink pot after pot. Sometimes, however, I do want a more subtle vanilla note (again, the strong aroma really brings it out). I’m trying to look for a version of this that might fulfill this wish. My theory is that a lower cornflower to tea leaf ratio is the answer. Or I’ll try one that gets the ‘cream’ flavor from a different source. Recommendations welcome!

In the meantime, I am happy to drink this until I’m blue in the face.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 tea spoon
Water: ~8oz filtered
Tool: steeping mug
Steep Time: 4 minutes and 15 seconds
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: VERY floral
Steeped Tea Smell: sweet black tea, floral, earthy
Flavor: sweet black tea
Body: Full
Aftertaste: a little astringent, sweet
Liquor: translucent brown

Gift from: grandma

This has now probably become my favourite oolong from Jenier.

Its just so mellow and creamy in flavour – coats the mouth.

Great ruby colour when brewed too

Forget chamomile dust in the supermarket tea bags – this is absolutely top notch – whole chamomile flowers that give a fabulous aroma and full taste.

staggeringly good Assam – doesnt get much better.

So gooood. I added some soy milk and agave nectar. It’s perfect for an afternoon tea.