The NecessiTeas

My dessert this evening: the fourth in a series of flavored green tea samples from The NecessiTeas.

In the package, it has a blended tropical fruit aroma that is somewhat reminiscent of the smell/taste of 5 Lush gum (which I happen to like a lot). There’s pineapple, but also something that could be mango and something else that could be tangerine. It’s sweet, but not very strong.

When steeped, the aroma becomes diffuse and ephemeral, and that repeats in the flavor. The tropical flavors are there as well as the tea flavor, which by the way isn’t bitter at all even when steeped for 90 seconds (though my water temperature was a little lower this time), but both the tea and the tropical flavors are a bit too thin for my taste. It’s not a bad tea, it’s just not robust enough for me.

I enjoyed this very much. I got the strawberry aroma and the taste, although I was not feeling the cake, which is fine with me. I was pleased and I will remember this tea if I feel a need to buy strawberry tea—you never know. I generally think that The NecessiTeas does a very good job with flavored teas.

Had some of a sample of this for dessert tonight, and am pleased to report a continuation of the upward trend in the flavored greens by The NecessiTeas. This one ticks up far enough to merit being out of orange-face land, though at this point an order for more is not in the offing.

The dry leaves have a definite orange smell from the orange peel, though sourer than that of a Creamsicle, and with something of a synthetic aspect as well which must be the “natural flavors.” I’m guessing there was a boost to the orange in those flavors. Interestingly, the brewed tea’s aroma is very Creamsicle-like, so perhaps the flavor also contained some vanilla. In any case, it’s creamy and pleasant. It reminds me of the way baby aspirin smells and tastes, but then, so do Creamsicles. So in that respect, it’s pretty true to its name.

There is only the very slightest bitterness to the taste, an improvement over both of my previous tastings (Caramel Dipped Apple and Pineapple Upside Down Cake). Possibly this is because, through sheer Pavlovian response, I went straight to the 1 minute steep and didn’t bother trying to go longer. I don’t know what sort of green tea was used for the backdrop for these, but it appears to my untrained eye to be the same in all of them and I’m nothing if not good at avoiding mistakes I’ve made several times. Eventually, I learn.

The orange is not very intense, but it has… what’s this? Sweetness! (Eureka! This is what I’m looking for in a dessert tea if I can’t have the real thing.) The sweetness gets sweeter in the minutes after sipping until the finish disappears. And there’s some creaminess as well, though it’s not very intense either.

So it does live up to its name, and though I realize hitting the drinker over the head with a sledgehammer is not a desireable quality in most teas, I would have liked this one to have at least poked me a bit harder.

And it gets another little point bump tonight, for showing consistency with the improvement of last night. There’s still a bit of bitterness around the edges, but apart from that it has grown on me some. There’s also the possibility that it just varies from cup to cup depending on the concentration of flavors that makes its way into the spoon with any given scoop. For example, tonight, I’m getting more custard and less pineapple. Last night I got more pineapple, and it was sweeter (likely owing to the pineapple as well).

It does make me want to try other pineapple flavored teas, and it piques my curiosity about The NecessiTeas’ flavored blacks.

It’s tasting better tonight and I really didn’t do anything differently that I can identify. I wonder whether it’s that I’m drinking it back to back with Tropical Green, and by comparison the pineapple flavor in this one is stronger? The bitterness is less too, even with a bit longer steeping time. Possibly it’s because I picked up a bit more pineapple in the spoon than the last go around. In any case, bumping it up a few points.

Trying this sample tonight for dessert.

All ingredients present and accounted for in the aroma of the dry leaves. The brewed tea has a definite pineapple/custard aroma to it.

Unfortunately, the tea suffers from the same tendency toward bitter that spoiled the Caramel Dipped Apple. Shortened steeping time seems to avoid most of the bitterness, and the brown sugar helps on the first steep. 45 seconds is about all it can take without the tannins starting to take over, and that’s about 20 seconds too short for the flavors to fully emerge. But at least it isn’t necessary to absorb or mask the bitterness with mint.

Despite the bitter tendency, I thought this was generally much better tasting than the apple. The pineapple and rum flavors are definitely there, with the rum taking a back seat as it should. There is nothing funky about any of these ingredients (there really was something about the caramel that didn’t sit well with my stomach).

I won’t buy this based on the experience of the sample, but I won’t shrink from finishing it and trying to think of ways to improve it along the way.

My very first swapped tea! Huzzah for Doulton.

I’m getting some strawberry and definitely banana here (although more in the scent than in the taste), but not really any chocolate, and it’s a lot lighter than I expected. It’s just barely sweet, not cloying at all. All in all, a nice frilly dessert tea. I might try it with milk next time.

(Thank you, Doulton!)

My last note on this as I sent the last of the sample to its eternal rest tonight, but just wanted to mention that a tiny bit of spearmint works to cut the bitterness as well (perhaps even slightly better than peppermint does as it seems to boost the other flavors a bit without contributing its own at all), and 45 seconds with spearmint is even better than a minute steeping time as it seems to cut out some of the funkiness to the caramel flavor that I was experiencing before.

This was the last thing I drank last night and I was trying to get the taste out of my mouth with a minty flavored chewing gum right before I went to bed. Surprisingly, as I lay awake (too much caffeine I suppose) in bed, I could still taste the caramel THROUGH the mint flavor. And it was much sweeter. This gave me an idea.

This morning I am starting off with a cup of this before I ramp up to black temperature, with 1 tsp of tea and 1/16 tsp of peppermint leaves in the filter steeped at 45 seconds.

Bitterness solved! And that amount of peppermint doesn’t deliver much minty taste, certainly not as much as the gum did.

But there’s still something about the caramel that isn’t sitting well. Or maybe it’s the caramel/apple combo. The apple is very green and when I think of caramel apples I think of red apples. Bumping it down a bit for not improving significantly with the removal of the bitterness. I might continue to experiment with it. Might use spearmint instead of peppermint, that sort of thing. There’s not much sample left (fortunately) but with what’s left, I might as well look at it as a sort of science project…

I got a sample of this when I ordered the Carrot Cake. My first attempt with this one was much like Cofftea’s experience. Bitter and disappointing.

On a second try, I’ve been able to get rid of most of the bitter in the tea by using less tea (1 tsp and not very rounded at that) and by steeping for no more than a minute. In fact, I think 45 seconds might be even better and will try that next time. It’s still not great, but it’s not quite the red yucky face this way.

However, there’s a secondary problem which is that the caramel seems to be coming across as bitter also. A weird mix of bitter and sweet, which is not very pleasant going down. (The apple seems to be fine, a green-apple type flavor.) That said, it improves with age on the palate; it sweetens up a bit in the aftertaste. But it’s still not working for me, unfortunately.

Steep Information:
Amount: 5 tsp – the entire sample bag
Additives: none
Water: 1 cast iron teapot full of filtered boiling water
Tool: Cast Iron Teapot with Mesh basket strainer
Steep Time: a little over 8 minutes (did 5, it was too weak)
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell: strawberry, kiwi
Steeped Tea Smell: strawberry rhubarb pie
Flavor: Strawberry, sweet berry
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: slightly tangy (hibiscus)
Liquor: store bought cherry pie colored

Purchased this sample to help find a tea to fill my nightly no caffeine niche.

Where are you hiding my kiwi? I can’t find it. And I am not sure why there are rosehips in there, and not sure I could find them, but I wonder if there would be less weird ‘other’ in this tea without them.

I was happy to drink the whole pot, but it was straightforward strawberry so not interesting enough for me to purchase more of.

Post-Steep Additives: none

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/thenecessiteas-loose-leaf-herbal-tea.html

Sipdown no. 25 of 2017 (no. 306 total).

The end of an era.

This is the last bit of one of the very first tea orders I placed. Any sane person would have sipped this down long ago. But I liked it a lot, and I hoarded it.

Now it’s time to let it go. But boy, did it age well. Tastes just like it did when I first wrote about it. Bumping the rating.

I haven’t tasted this in a long time, and I’m a little surprised that I still think pretty much exactly what I thought about it the first time I had it. I’m sometimes bemused by that sort of accuracy because I wonder whether it means my palate hasn’t developed over the past few months?

To sum up, it’s better than any of the other Necessiteas rooibos blends I’ve tried (including the Rootbeer Float, which has a lot of fans) as well as some others, but not as good as the Teavana Rooibos Tropica or the SpecialTeas Rooibos Lemon Chiffon. The rooibos is mostly concealed, but not quite enough for my taste to be up there with the other two. Still, it smells unbelievably just like the real thing, and the taste is more than halfway to the real thing which seems something of a feat to me in and of itself.

It’s something I only see myself making an occasional cup of, but there are times when I need a caffeine free alternative that I can see it hitting the spot.

I’m certain there’s more in this one than what’s listed in the ingredients. For one thing: coconut. I think. I’m pretty sure. I can see dry, sort of curly white strips in the dry mix that had the texture of coconut when I bit one, but it was too small to emit any significant flavor on its own. I can see the little orange pieces of carrot, the chopped nuts, and brown spiky bits of sweetened cinnamon. The dry aroma is delicious. Really. It is exactly like carrot cake. Amazingly, given the spiciness of it, down to the scent of the carrots.

It’s a pretty reddish orange color. The red must be from the rooibos. It smells very cinnamony and rooibosy. The multifaceted smell of the dry mixture isn’t obvious in the brewed version, but it can be detected.

The flavor is enjoyable; spicy, not too sweet, and yes, there’s even a little bit of carrot in there, mostly in the aftertaste. It’s definitely the cake minus the icing, though. Carrot cakes tend to have that creamy, lemony icing, and only the very tiniest hint of that is present, and only a number of minutes after the last drop of tea has been consumed.

This one may be better a little on the strong side, so I plan to steep a bit longer next time and maybe increase the quantity some.

I wish this tasted exactly like it smells. If it did, I would have given it a 100. As it is, I think there’s a lot yet to be discovered and appreciated about this one and I’m looking forward to giving it many more chances to impress me.

has the last of this today, 5 tsp, 750ml, 212, 9 min
it does taste like root beer, but not float
yummy
it will be missed

1000 ml in breville one-touch, herbal, custom (212, 10 min)
YUM

Steep Information:
Amount: 4 tsp
Additives: none
Water: 2 zarafina cups
Tool: Zarafina Strong-Loose Leaf-Herbal
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Dry Leaf Smell:
MilitiaJim: It smells like root beer with a hint of overcarbonization.
AmazonV: Minty birch beer.
Steeped Tea Smell:
MilitiaJim: This tastes “funny,” And by “funny” I mean exactly like root beer. Except hot. And flat.
AmazonV: smells minty, birch beer, just like birch beer I tried to save too long and kept until it went flat and was warm…with mint.
Flavor: rootbeer, followed by mint
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: mint
Liquor: deep dark reddish-brown

I was skeptical of this tea. There have been many teas in the past that sounded good, maybe even sounded and smelled good but didn’t taste like I wanted.

So i purchased a sampler from the website. It holds about 6 tsp. I like that it comes in a nice ziplock bag.

I do not like that the website does not have ingredients listed. The sample bag does have them listed.

This tea is confusing….it’s hot root beer…it smells the part, and tastes the part perfectly. I think the float part is a bit of a stretch though.

We need to try this iced, and buy some more, it’s delicious!

Post-Steep Additives: lactose free milk, makes it creamier and hides the mint in the sips but not the after taste.

A touch of German rock sugar only makes it better.

images: http://amazonv.blogspot.com/2010/03/thenecessiteas-loose-leaf-rooibos-tea.html

I’m here listening to This American Life (episode 401: Parent Trap: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/401/parent-trap) and packaging up tea. So why not drink some tea.

Well, I won this tea through Leafbox Tea’s Giveaway, which is pretty awesome! Got this and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, and both of them came in today. So I figured, this one is caffeine free, I’m sleepy-ish, and it’s here… why not?

Anyway, this one smells ridiculously like root beer. Not even kidding. When I opened up the box, I could just smell it coming from the tin! The rooibos here are a lot tinier than I usually see, really finely chopped.

So I steeped up a heaping teaspoon, watched the water turn ruby-red. I should mention at this point that I’m actually not the biggest fan of root beer! I will definitely drink it if offered, but I probably won’t reach for it by myself. It’s a pretty good flavor, but it tastes a lot like bubble gum to me. I’m more of a ginger beer sort of person.

That being said, the infusion smelled exactly like root beer. And I’m happy to report, the taste is pretty awesome as well. It’s not as thick and syrupy as I thought it’d be. It’s actually a lot easier and lighter to drink than real root beer. The rooibos isn’t really a star here; the flavoring is, and that’s perfectly okay, because the flavor is deliriously authentic.

Halfway through my mug, I decided to get a little frisky/creative/adventurous and add a bit of Very Vanilla Silk and a tiny pinch of sugar to the cup. This was actually better than the plain! It was creamier and silkier, with a nice milkiness that complemented the root beer flavors. Definitely something that was very sippable and comforting.

So yay to Pete at Leafbox Tea and TheNecessiTeas for having the giveaway. Still in shock that I won! And shocked that I liked this one as much as I did, because novelty teas are sometimes not my thing. GOOD tasting novelty teas, however… I’m ALL over that.

Another man’s trash is another man’s treasure! Zeitfliesst doesn’t care for this so he passed it on to me. I love both carameled and sour apples so I’m on an endless quest for teas flavored as such. The trick; however, is that I don’t care for black based flavored teas and they are more common than green or white based flavored teas. I definitely realize that everyone’s taste in tea is different, but there are a few (like Ricky’s cocomint/nail polish comparison LOL) that I just can’t fathom or understand… someone not liking this is another. Oh well, maybe I’ll understand by the end of my cuppa.

As soon as I opened the tin I can smell both the caramel and the apple… infact mom said she could smell it steeping from the other end of our house. Because of the flavorings I decided to measure this by volume (1 heaping tsp) instead of weight. Infact, it smells so good I decide to skip the steeping all together and just grab a spoon… lol! Kidding. It’s tempting, but I decide to steep it anyway. I didn’t have any steeping suggestions, so I just used the general “here, this is a green tea” suggestion. I’m further questioning what could possibly be wrong w/ this tea…

The liquor is kinda cloudy due to the flavorings and the aroma is almost as strong as the raw leaf.

Craaappp… So this is what he was talking about! Have you ever been so excited to try a tea that when it failed to meet your expectations you were almost brought to tears? This is one of them. This tea is bitter. But, and this is a 1st for me, it’s bitter and weak. Weird. Don’t get me wrong, the flavor ratio of green tea/apple/caramel is pretty decent, but it’s just very weak across the board. And bitter. I feel bad giving this tea such a low rating because, except for a little bitterness, the flavor that is there isn’t bad… there’s just not much there to be bad… Now what to make to cheer myself up?

Hmm wow, this tea is certainly growing on me. After some experimenting, I could steep it to my liking and I’ve come to appreciate its taste a bit more. The cinnamon is quite present and might even be a little too much, but it’s still a good tea.

OK this time I didn’t add any milk like the first time, but added a few tsps of sugar. Steeped it for a bit longer than usual and it turns out that this tea isn’t that bad afterall.

The tea in the tin smelt pretty good, it actually did somewhat resemble a carrot cake. So far, I’ve tried this with different amounts of milk and some sugar and I’m not that impressed. I’ve used a tsp of tea for each cup, so I might have to use a little more next time because the taste was subtle and not enough for my liking.

Second try. I’ve used 2 tsps to bring out the flavor a bit more. I still don’t like the bubblegum smell, but this time I could actually taste the green tea which is much better than last time when it felt like drinking colored hot water.

This tea is not so good.
The tea leaves in the tin smelt very strong, but it wasn’t a pleasant one as it reminded me of cough syrup or some kind of medicine. When I steeped it, the scent remained the same but turned out a bit weaker, now reminding me of bubble gum. Well, I thought I could get pass the weird smell and at least enjoy what’s most important, the taste. It turned out that the flavor of the tea was overall very weak and I couldn’t really taste the caramel nor the apple. I might have expected too much, but this tea just didn’t work for me.