987 Tasting Notes
This tea takes well to multiple infusions. It has a pale orange-yellow liquor that darkens as the tea is left to sit. This tea is floral and jasmine-y, but not soapy tasting.
As a bonus, you don’t need many pearls of this tea to make a good cup, so it’s very long-lasting. Despite this, I’m not sure if I’ll buy this again once my current package runs out – there are so many jasmine teas out there that I’d like to try so I can get a better comparison.
I expected this tea to taste like apple cider, but instead of apple and cinnamon, the strongest flavours are of plum and hibiscus. It tasted sour even after adding honey/agave nectar. On top of that, the dried fruit chunks in the loose-leaf mix are HUGE.
On the plus side, it does not taste much of rooibos (which I find a bit too resin-y to enjoy), and the liquor is a lovely deep orange.
Although I like masala chai I prefer green tea over black tea so I thought that this blend would be the perfect compromise: green tea mixed with mint and masala chai spices.
However, it doesn’t work. The green tea is really too weak to stand up against such strong spices (especially the fennel and cardamom) and the result tasted kind of thin and somehow artificially sweetened. This brew is better with some honey added, but still: if you want chai, just get the original kind.
This blend takes well to multiple infusions and has a nice orangish liquor. However, once I finish my tin I will not repurchase this tea. While the tea does smell and taste of fruit, I don’t really get a sense of pear. Both the dry leaves and the infusion have a smoky, dusty note to them that I don’t like. I want my fruit teas to smell and taste juicy, and this one doesn’t deliver.
Bonus note: the tins that Sloane Tea makes are both durable and beautiful. Once they’re empty, they make great storage containers for other things like pens or loose knick-knacks. I’m really looking forward to finishing this tea just so I can have another tin to use!
This is a very strong-tasting genmaicha – it’s a much bolder flavour than the kind of tea that you’ll be served at a Japanese restaurant. It seems a lot “ricier” than other varieties I’ve tried. Only a very small amount is needed for a good-tasting cup.
However, I don’t think that this tea takes well to multiple infusions. Perhaps this is because I tend to leave the damp tea leaves in the strainer overnight, but the subsequent infusions taste kind of limp in comparison.
This is my favourite tea, hands-down. The smell of the dry leaves is heavenly, and the fruity notes are there when brewed, but not overpowering. The liquor is a pale green/yellow that darkens over time.
As one of Teopia’s most popular tea blends, this blend is still around through Teavana. However, it is not available in stores – Teavana sells it online only.
Spearmint is the strongest flavour of this tea, though the overall blend is well-balanced. The lemon flavour is really subtle – it’s easier to smell than to taste.
I have a habit of not steeping my tea properly (using not enough leaves and overcompensating by steeping for longer). Some teas are quite forgiving of this, but this tea is NOT. If you want to have multiple good-tasting infusions of this tea, use the proper amount and steep at the proper time. Otherwise, the leaves of this one smell quite rank, and there’s a metallic taste to the later infusions.
