TeaGschwendner

Roasty toasty goodness. Anyone who has roasted nuts in the oven, this tea has that taste. I got this iced at my local TG shop. A little sencha astringency. I think this is as good as SpecialTea’s genmaicha, but not as good as Den’s, which I think is truly the best.

Very nice strong flavored tea.

Aquired this tea from The Tea Haus in Ann Arbor, MI. Found it to be a very good breakfast tea to have with Fresh Fruit and Croissants. The liquor is a dark amber color and the taste is pleasing. Will add this to my favorite goto teas for morning.

This tea got me started as a tea snob.

You just can’t go wrong with peppermint. And that’s all this is. Straight peppermint leaves, nothing added to it. It’s recommended that you crush them up before steeping, which is part of the fun.

This stuff is great for those cold, windy days (note: today) or when feeling a bit under the weather (note: today). And you don’t get any funky taste by oversteeping, since they recommend such a long steep time anyway. Everyone needs a minty tea like this in his stash.

Quite a delicious tea! I could easily brew a pot and drink on it for hours at a time!

Another sample from Rachel!! Yes, I’m having pot after pot of tea today and will probably be shaking from a caffeine overdose soon. I’ll switch to decaf/herbals at some point. Maybe. Or not.

I’m thinking that this may be my first TeaGshwendner tea!! Lisa at Cuppa has a catalog of their teas, and I flip through it often whilst having tea there, drooling over the unique blends. I’m so excited to try this one! Thanks, Rachel!

Okay, it’s not what I was expecting. I was expecting a hardened-sugar, caramelly, peanut taste. Like dropping an actual piece of peanut brittle into hot tea (have you ever done that? If not, you really should). It is nutty and really creamy, but I’m not getting the “brittle” taste that I would expect to be there with the name of this. It’s possible that it would come out with some agave nectar or honey…but seeing as I’m currently wrapped on the couch with about 4 blankets, I’m not getting up until it’s time to make another pot of tea.

Overall, it’s a very good tea, but doesn’t quite live up to its name. As far as “nutty” teas go, 52teas’ White Chocolate Cashew is much better than this one.

Thank you to Mel for sending me a bit of this tea to try.

The aroma has a nice berry essence to it, although I must agree with Mel in that it doesn’t translate into the flavor quite as well as the fragrance would suggest.

It’s still quite good though. A pleasant enough black tea base with a bit of currant flavor lingering throughout the sip and finishing off with a hint of tartness. Not very much astringency. Nice cup.

Thank you Rachel for sending me a bit of this to try!

This is really good. Apricot and pineapple are two flavors I wouldn’t have thought of combining, but they work really well together. It is sweet and nectar-like, but not so much that it doesn’t taste like tea either. A nice balance.

Yum! Thanks Rachel!

The Final Sipdown: Day 14.2

I’ll confess: I dumped my entire sample of this [thanks teaplz!] into the strainer. I figured it was honeybush, so it wouldn’t really make a difference and I’d just steep it at the shortest end of the recommended steep time range. The tea brew was dark, dark, dark which made me nervous, but I could smell strawberry from a few feet away, so I figured it probably wasn’t horrible.

And it wasn’t.

But it also wasn’t fantastic.

This seems to be a theme for me.

The smell of the strawberry was strong. It was accompanied by a strong smell of caramel. Both of these components were present in the taste of the tea, albeit the caramel was rather weak and only appeared at the front of the sip and at the tip of the tongue, and the strawberry was disappointingly watery.

Also present was a medicinal taste that seems to accompany a lot of these honeybush/rooibus flavored blends.

When I think about this tea, I keep thinking, “That wasn’t too bad.” But really, when I have a solid stack of really great herbals at my disposal, why bother?

Also, does anyone else think that Smooth Strawberry Dream kind of sounds like a race horse name?

Teas Downed: 23

I got this tea from the Travelling Teabox – it was only a one-cup sample so it’s all gone now. :(

Consider me impressed over how un-rooibos-y this tastes. Actually you can taste it a little bit at the end, but the usual tart-woody flavour that I dislike mostly isn’t there. The flavouring is not a precise replica of eggnog but it still manages to be quite tasty and festive. It’s lightly sweet with a dash of nutmeg and cloves spicing it up – actually in this case I think the hint of rooibos flavour actually works for this tea instead of against it.

I’m usually not one for flavored teas but I love this blend. It’s delicious hot or iced. I’m almost out of it so I’ll have to make a trek to their NYC store to restock.

A delicious smoky flavor that I adore. Often called “campfire tea” or that it tastes like a cave by friends, this is a crowd favorite and one that I also deeply adore on many occasions.

This is actually an awersome oolong – kudos to TeaGschwendner with this one!

This tea has a bold color and is amongst the more potent of greens that I have tasted as of late.

With a steep time of only 1 minute. This is a blend that can be enjoyed multiple times. The dried rice complements this potent green rather well. A break of fresh air amongst a sea of green teas that feel almost identical at times. This tea will never be absent in my cupboard.

My favourite Second Flush. Really gentle taste!

So I did eventually get some of this, and over time I found I liked it less than my initial rating of 80. It’s good, certainly, but compared to some of the other assams I’ve had lately, it’s more in your face and less nuanced. I’m going back with Tiger from Damn Fine Tea.

I ended up getting some of this the last time I was in Raleigh. It’s a good cup. It’s much smoother than the other assam I picked up, and less astringent. If you’re looking, you can pick up chocolate notes…

I had a sample of this when visiting TeaGschwender the other day. I really liked it! In fact, I wish I had tried it before purchasing, because I’d probably have thrown this is the purchase as well. It was malty and strong, but sometimes that’s just what you’re looking for.

I got a cup of this, very excited because the tea shop I got it from knew how to brew properly. And it was a good cup! It actually reminded me a bit of burnt sugar, but it was in the background of the tea. I think I’d get a cup again, but I’m not sure I’d buy a large quantity of loose leaf.

This is a high quality Oolong with creamy vegetal taste and sweet aftertaste. Being a big fan of Taiwanese highly-oxidized Oolongs, I was pleasantly surprised by this tea.

Got this as a sample. I couldn’t taste much apple, almonds, or even cinnamon, extremely weak. teaplz pretty much sums it up, all smell, no flavor! Though the blend of green and black was nice, it supposes to taste like a baked apple? It doesn’t, not even close to it.

I have to thank Rachel for sending me a bit of this tea. I really love this tea!

bittersweet, robust, and delicious!

I’m off to write a review for this tea on the Tea Review Blog!