80

Made the mistake of trying this AFTER the Mayan Chocolate Chai (sweet and spicy… oops!)

Anyhow, I think this is the best savoury flavoured tea I’ve ever tried. Definite tomato and basil (and a hint of pepper!), though none is so overpowering that one would feel they are drinking a cup of soup instead of a cup of tea. The tea base is nice here – it fills in the background enough to again make clear that this is tea, not soup, but I can’t pick out any flavouring notes distinctly.

Upping the rating because although I probably wouldn’t drink this tea often, it’s very well-executed and a novel flavour experience (and I can truly taste the tomato – which I believe I felt was lacking in my sample of the original blend).

LiberTEAS

Yay! So glad you enjoyed this – this was one of my all-time favorite blends and I was so excited to actually reblend it and I do like my reblend better than the original too. (Is that a horrible thing for me to say?)

Evol Ving Ness

Nope, it is not a horrible thing to say if it is true.

MrQuackers

Don’t necessarily get too caught up on the soup idea. I’ve had basil in icecream before too.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Comments

LiberTEAS

Yay! So glad you enjoyed this – this was one of my all-time favorite blends and I was so excited to actually reblend it and I do like my reblend better than the original too. (Is that a horrible thing for me to say?)

Evol Ving Ness

Nope, it is not a horrible thing to say if it is true.

MrQuackers

Don’t necessarily get too caught up on the soup idea. I’ve had basil in icecream before too.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

I have always been a tea fan (primarily herbals and Japanese greens/oolongs) but in the last year or so, tea has become increasingly more appealing as not only a delicious, calming drink, but as a relatively cheap, healthy reward or treat to give myself when I deserve something. I should clarify that, however; the reward is expanding my tea cupboard, not drinking tea – I place no restrictions on myself in terms of drinking anything from my cupboard as that would defeat my many goals!

My DavidsTea addiction was born in late 2011, despite having spent nearly a year intentionally avoiding their local mall location (but apparently it was just avoiding the inevitable!). I seem to have some desire to try every tea they’ve ever had, so much of my stash is from there, although I’ve recently branched out and ordered from numerous other companies.

I like to try and drink all my teas unaltered, as one of the main reasons I’m drinking tea other than for the flavour is to be healthy and increase my water intake without adding too many calories! I’ve found that the trick in this regard is to be very careful about steeping time, as most teas are quite pleasant to drink straight as long as they haven’t been oversteeped. However, I tend to be forgetful (particularly at work) when I don’t set a timer, resulting in a few horrors (The Earl’s Garden is not so pleasant after, say, 7+ minutes of steeping).

I’m currently trying to figure out which types of teas are my favourites. Herbals are no longer at the top; oolongs have thoroughly taken over that spot, with greens a reasonably close second. My preference is for straight versions of both, but I do love a good flavoured oolong (flavoured greens are really hit or miss for me). Herbals I do love iced/cold-brewed, but I drink few routinely (Mulberry Magic from DavidsTea being a notable exception). I’m learning to like straight black teas thanks to the chocolatey, malty, delicious Laoshan Black from Verdant Tea, and malty, caramelly flavoured blacks work for me, but I’m pretty picky about anything with astringency. Lately I’ve found red rooibos to be rather medicinal, which I dislike, but green rooibos and honeybush blends are tolerable. I haven’t explored pu’erh, mate, or guayasa a great deal (although I have a few options in my cupboard).

I’ve decided to institute a rating system so my ratings will be more consistent. Following the smiley/frowny faces Steepster gives us:

100: This tea is amazing and I will go out of my way to keep it in stock.

85-99: My core collection (or a tea that would be, if I was allowing myself to restock everything!) Teas I get cravings for, and drink often.

75-84: Good but not amazing; I might keep these in stock sparingly depending on current preferences.

67-74: Not bad, I’ll happily finish what I have but probably won’t ever buy it again as there’s likely something rated more highly that I prefer.

51-66: Drinkable and maybe has some aspect that I like, but not really worth picking up again.

34-50: Not for me, but I can see why others might like it. I’ll make it through the cup and maybe experiment with the rest to get rid of it.

0-33: It’s a struggle to get through the cup, if I do at all. I will not willingly consume this one again, and will attempt to get rid of the rest of the tea if I have any left.

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer