TeaGschwendner

Teagschwendner is now known as Chicago Teahouse. Things pretty much look the same on the website but they are no longer part of the Teegschwendner franchise.

You can read more on those changes here: https://teatiff.com/2023/02/13/chicago-teahouse/

I messed up a bit. In my morning hay fever delirium I added too much leaf. This one is like an oolong, you don’t need much. So my cup is a bit astringent and the taste is a bit more bitter then I expect it should be. The overall tones are nice and woody.

Brought this one back from Germany and, unfortunately, I can’t really remember what’s in the blend and the packaging is exclusively in German and doesn’t have a full ingredient list. Just a few ingredients called out in what looks like a bit of “romance copy”. Oolong, for example. But there’s also clearly black tea in the blend in addition to oolong…

Steeped up it’s very enjoyable, though! Really brisk and full bodied but with a bit of a creamy, buttery undertone that makes me think maybe it’s milk oolong specifically in the blend? Also very fruity and though pinpointing the exact fruits is challenging I think maybe there’s something in the citrus family like orange and then a more “red” tasting fruit too. Rhubarb, perhaps? It’s kind of ethereal but really lovely and immediately reminded me why I wanted to pick it up in the first place.

I shouldn’t kid myself by saying “one of the treats that I brought back” from my recent Europe trip because the reality is that I brought back many treats for myself, but this is definitely in the mix…

I was really fascinated looking through the matcha in Tea Gschwendner’s store because they had display tins of their three varieties, but the actual tins themselves were kept behind the counter in a little temperature controlled mini fridge situation. There was just clearly a lot of effort being made with keeping all the matcha as fresh as possible. So, I splurged and got the highest of the three ‘grades’ that was available.

Whisking it up last week, the colour is a truly striking vivid bright green and the aroma of the powder very fresh, aromatic and floral-leaning. The whisked up tea was so nice too. Just a little bit brothy and umami but mostly a very bright, crisp and clean floral note with an almost violet-like sweetness to it. I think I want to make it a few more times, and maybe a little thicker too, but my snap opinion is that it feels well worth that extra money I shelled out for it…

Cold Brew!

I thought I was going to adore this tea cold brewed, but I actually came out of this infusion thinking how much more I appreciated the tea steeped hot. At first I felt like I wasn’t getting as much of the silky, smooth creamy sweet lemon notes I enjoyed so much the first time I tasted this tea. Just a lot of grassier green tea and a bit of a pithy note. It got better as the tea got closer to room temp, and the green tea seemed to step into the background letting more of that limoncello note come through. Totally fine brew overall, just not as consistently delicious as the first time I made it…

Sipping on this currently!

Now that I’m back from Europe I have the long but exciting challenge of sipping my way through all the teas that my coworkers and I brought back with us. This was the one blend I saw at Tea Gschwendner that really stood out to me – and that’s saying something because I am not a green tea person typically.

I don’t know if it’s a seasonal tea for Spring/Easter (all the companies we visited seemed to have large Easter displays with cute ornaments) or if it’s a “core” tea that they were just featuring for the season, but in person at the store the display shelf with the premeasured out bags was fully bought out and only had the small sniffer tin. I could see why because it was such a beautifully sweet smelling lemon aroma that really seemed to capture the name inspiration. It really took me in, and thankfully the staff still had a small amount in the wall tin that they were able to scoop out for me.

I totally forgot I was steeping this as I began writing tasting notes today, and so I was worried I’d over brewed it and would have an awful cup. However, even with a ten or so minute steep I’m finding this delightful tasting. It’s a very fresh, sherbet-y sort of lemon that does remind me a lot of limoncello except for the slightly creamy sort of finish that it has to it. Very lemon curd, I guess. Or even venturing a bit on a lemon meringue!? It’s so nice with the smooth, easy-going grassiness of the green tea. I’m actually quite impressed!

I got this for Christmas last year and have enjoyed sipping it down, I think I have just a few cups left. I use a lot of leaf and a short steep to get all the almondy goodness without any bitterness. It is snowing in IL today so this is a nice warming tea to drink. My only complaint is that the second steep is quite weak, so I wouldn’t go out of my way to purchase more of this tea.

Straightforward and relatively mild black tea, tasty and inexpensive. Makes a good daily brew.

Can be a bit sharp if overbrewed or overleafed, probably due to the smaller leaf sizes. Still, nothing like a bad or bitter flavor just strong. I’m burning through this 100g size pretty quickly! It’s cool that I bought Vietnamese tea in Germany and I’m drinking it in The US. :)

Tiny sample from a TTB. Something in there tasted a little off, but otherwise it was just slightly desserty honeybush. Old almonds maybe? Very mildly flavored; didn’t taste like almond milk. The rancid almonds showed up a lot more clearly in the resteep, though since this was from a TTB, who knows how old it is. I’m sure it was better fresh.

Smells so amazing. One of my favorite teas.

Sipdown (220)

This seemed like a pretty obvious choice for a cream flavoured tea for Mastress Alita’s scavenger hunt. And it ended up being a surprise Sipdown. Yay! Thank you Sil for sharing this with me. It’s smooth and nice. I don’t know if I would have gotten cream without knowing the name but the more I drink it, the more I can see it.

I passed this one on to someone else today but I had some good times with Bossa Nova. This kind of roasted oolong pairs so well with nutty flavours (in this case hazelnut). It’s kind of creamy, smooth, and sweet – giving rise to thoughts of Nutella. It’s a comfort tea but I can’t help but think it could step up its game a little (it’s kind of.. pasty textured? I don’t know).

I had enough left from ashmanra’s sample for one more cup. Final verdict: this is heavier on the cream than the whiskey aspect. It reminds me a great deal of Adagio’s cream, which I liked immensely. Still quite good if you’re just looking for a sweet cream tea that needs no milk.

Ashmanra shared a little sample with me, which I gratefully enjoyed outdoors in the glider. (Cooler! mosquitos are on hiatus!) The cream scent and flavor definitely take the lead here, with the bourbon-iness sneaking up on you from behind. Very sweet; very pleasant; and Tazo-approved. He liked the scent and sat on my lap sniffing while I drank.

Sipdown (1457)!

I don’t know why, but I had just assumed this was straight cacao shells when I started steeping it; I really just didn’t look closely at the leaf at all. So, when I took my first sip I almost spit it out. Not because it was unpleasant, but just because all of the notes of spices caught me so incredibly off guard. Like thinking you’re going to take a sip of apple juice and it turns out it’s coke instead.

I did enjoy it though once I kind of adjusted to what I was tasting. Admittedly, I still didn’t realize there were quite so many spices – it really just tasted heavily to me of cacao with cinnamon, ginger, and a peppery sort of finish. I feel like chocolate and black pepper is actually a severely underrated combination so I was amused to be getting that combination of flavours.

Thanks VariaTEA for sharing!