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Chai to Stay Dry! We actually had a rainy April day today, though once the rain subsided our typical crazy 30 MPH winds returned. Meh. This is one of the oldest samplers in my collection (I’d say it’s about a year now… I’m a terrible tea hoarder, I know).

I found this one a little weaker than I’d hoped, and I don’t know if that’s the fault of the chai blend, or the fact the tea sample is now a bit aged. I prepared it with the given steeping suggestions of a single teaspoon, but next time I’ll make a double teaspoon and see if that improves things. As far as the flavor, it certainly isn’t my favorite chai blend. It only has three spices, and I prefer my chais to have a little more depth. Of the spices they are working with, it comes off as very cardamom-heavy. There is also something about it that tastes a little artificial? Like there is some flavoring in there that is coming off strongly. With so many chai options out there, I’m pretty unimpressed with this one. I’ll probably just make a big iced chai latte brew to finish off the sampler in a cheeky quick sipdown.

Decided to make another iced cuppa from my T2 sampler stash. Despite the name, this is far more of a fruity tea than a floral tea. The first flavor that hits me is a strong strawberry presence, which makes the tangy, punchy hibiscus/rosehip base come off a bit more sweeter and rounded. There is a bit of a deeper tart berry taste toward the end of the sip that must be the currant, and a very subtle floral touch right in the finish, almost as an afterthought.

Since I enjoy tart/tangy fruit flavors, I found it enjoyable enough. I think I would’ve liked it even more if the strawberry flavor remained dominant in the sip longer before the currant took over. Oddly named, though. Rose hip/rose may be in the blend, but they aren’t the show stealers here, so the name seems an odd choice and a little misleading to those that might be looking for a floral blend.

It took my whole workday yesterday, but I finished writing up my tea presentation for National Library Week next Thursday! Phew…

Felt in the mood for some houjicha this morning, so I decided to make a cup of this Amber Roast sampler by Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms that I got from Yunomi. It’s the first houjicha I’ve tried that’s made from a sencha rather than bancha, and I’m actually saving the rest of my sampler to sipdown when I see my bestie next month on vacation, since houjicha is his favorite kind of tea, and he’s never tried this kind of houjicha either. I could certainly tell a difference in the flavor, and I’m curious if he’ll be able to tell, as well!

The tea steeps up a bright amber color and has the woody, roasted nuts aroma common of houjicha. The flavor of the tea has a lovely roasted, malty flavor, with some slightly sweet notes that remind me of honeyed oats mid-sip, but the finish closes with a slightly astringent, smoky, savory seaweed aftertaste that I’ve never had from a houjicha before. I’ve never tried the Sencha of the Summer Sun this houjicha was produced from, but it’s obvious this particular note is left lingering through from the base leaves, and makes this houjicha very unique. This particular vegetal aftertaste fades a bit on subsequent steeps, leaving it tasting a bit more like a more standard (though still delicious) houjicha, but that first steep remains a truly unique houjicha experience and I’d highly recommend it to fans of houjicha and sencha alike!

Chai to Stay Dry! To go with the old “April Showers” motif this month I’m going to try to sample some of my chais and sipdown some of the chai tea samplers I have stashed away. (Though admittedly, Aprils in my area tend to be more windy than wet… ah well!)

Last October for my (now discontinued) tea blog I dedicated the whole month to trying different pumpkin teas, as I have a huge thing for pumpkin flavors/foods. Of all the teas I tried during that month, this one reminds me of the Pumpkin Chai Latte blend by Spice and Tea Exchange, which I found to have a more savory flavor rather than a sweeter, more dessert-like flavor profile like most pumpkin teas.

I have Anne’s reblend of this tea from last October. The leaf has a very spicy scent, particularly of clove and cardamom. The tea has a subtle savory pumpkin note, but the dominant flavor is a heavy spice note of cardamom and clove, with some light cinnamon and nutmeg flavors in the finish. The tea is not too spicy; there is a nice warmth to the tea, but it doesn’t create too much of a heated sensation in the mouth and is easy enough to drink straight, but has enough spicy depth it could work as a latte. I do however find that with such strong cardamom/clove notes, the tea takes on a much nicer, rounder flavor note with some added sugar. The black tea base is very smooth, and has a slight hint of smokiness. I don’t really get any vanilla flavor from the vanilla bean in the blend, or even any creaminess like vanilla tends to add, so drinking the tea latte-style with some warm vanilla almond milk may be the way to go if this is what you are after.

Not particularly pumpkiny or creamy, but a very savory chai that is a nice choice if you like cardamom and clove. It’s not my favorite pumpkin chai I’ve tried, but it’s a nice warm cuppa on a cold blustery spring morning.

Decided to have another of my T2 samplers from the great discount sampler purchase from T2’s Christmas Clearance sale at the beginning of the year. I made this one iced, though only made half a quart due to the size of the sampler (I usually prepare my iced tea in a quart size). It basically makes one tall glass of iced tea or two cups of warm tea, but this is a flavor I definitely wanted to sip on chilled.

I actually love hibiscus and rose hips, so the base of this tea is that refreshing, slightly tart flavor that tastes somewhat like fruit punch to me, but it has a very strong floral note to the cup. The rose adds just a hint of overall sweetness, a nice rosey flavor, and since I’ve been drinking a lot of rose teas lately, I’ve noticed that it has a somewhat distinct peppery note on the tip of the tongue.

This is a really refreshing iced tea, I enjoy the blend of tart/tangy floral notes mixed with sweet and delicate floral notes. It is like a rosey punch, and gives me those pleasant sweet-tart notes that I love so much.

The name of this tea is a bit misleading, as it isn’t really much of a replication of actual Thai Tea. I love me some Thai iced tea and can’t recall ever having a cup with such a coconuty flavor, and think they should’ve gone with a different name. That said, for what it is, it’s a pretty enjoyable black tea. I like coconut flavored teas, so the strong coconut notes are quite enjoyable. There is a small hint of vanilla (which is really the flavor they should’ve played up if they wanted to taste more like Thai tea, in my opinion!) but it doesn’t stand out as much compared to the coconut. I’m a bit sad that none of the cardamom presented itself in the flavor. The base comes off a bit stronger than I prefer my black teas; I can tell that a lot of things were added to try to naturally sweeten this tea up (apple, honeybush), but it is still pretty astringent, at least to my tastes. So I have to take this with just a dash of vanilla coconut creamer, which helps sweeten the tea up a bit while adding a slight creaminess and emphasizing the vanilla and coconut flavors.

Honestly, this just comes across as a coconut black tea, and there are better coconut black blends out there. If you are looking for a tea that tastes like Thai tea like the name suggests, this certainly isn’t it.

This was the free sampler I got from Strand Tea when I placed an order with them last July. July?! Goodness, I really need to work through some of my older samplers! Hopefully this one still has some oomph left (though admittedly there is a big clump of sunflower petals all fused together on the top of the package… eh, I put them in my cold brew mason jar, hopefully it’ll be fine!)

The sampler looked quite small, but I was surprised to find I had enough teaspoons of tea to do a quart of cold brewed iced tea and had just enough tea left over to make a double-size warm mug at work to sipdown the sampler.

So, warm cup first. I’ve had one other mango green tea, which was a decaf green tea by Spice and Tea Exchange, which I found to have a very bitter flavor and a sort metallic aftertaste that I found very unpleasant. I figured it mostly had to do with the decaf nature of the leaf. There are certainly no metallic notes here, but I am experiencing that same sort of tart/bitter puckering on my tongue, so now I know that particular quality must just be my experience with mango flavoring. Some sips go down with no issue, but most of the time, I get this really strong tart/slightly bitter aftertaste right at the very back of my tongue, right near the throat. I don’t mind the flavor of the mango itself, which is very nice in the tea, and the base green tea leaves used in the blend appear to be of good quality and actually leave a bit of a vegetal flavor in my mouth even despite what appears to be me having a strong reaction to the flavoring, but when that bitter aftertaste hits, it’s a bit off-putting. I don’t seem to have this problem when mango is blended with other flavors, but it seems that mango as the dominant flavor note just isn’t my cup of tea. I almost wonder if this is some sort of mild sensitivity to the mango flavoring commonly used in tea blends, or mango in general (I’ll admit I don’t really eat the raw fruit, since the “mushy” textures of most fruits set off my gag reflex… I’m tempted to try some now just to see.)

Now, the iced tea. I used the cold brew method, and let the leaves steep in cold water in a sealed mason jar in my fridge for somewhere between 8-12 hours, then strained the tea leaves from the water, so I didn’t start with a warm tea base. This is probably a good thing, because that strange bitter sensation I experience on my tongue with hot mango-flavored tea is not present in the iced cup. I feel that puckering sensation slightly at the start of the sip (so I do still suspect I may have issues with mango flavoring), but it isn’t so strong that the cup is unpleasant, and the finish instead has a sweeter, floral taste, likely from all the flower petals in the blend. The fruit flavor is just a lot softer this way, and the other flavors, like the florals in the blend, are allowed to come through. Even without that weird sensation I’m left in the mouth from the mango, I’m reminded why I enjoy fruity greens more iced than hot.

I don’t think this is a bad tea… but I do think I’m coming to discover I have a sensitivity to mango flavoring (and possibly even the fruit itself). I’ll have to continue to keep an eye on that as I weed through more blends in my collection.

My head pain is (slowly) starting to wane, and I remember that last time my migraine was approaching the postdome phase a heavy lavender infusion seemed to help speed up the process. My nausea is getting a little better (oddly enough the only thing I’ve really craved the last few days has been straight-up pineapple juice, so I’ve been guzzling that rather than tea), but I feel ready to handle a warm cuppa again. Since I cashed-in my birthday giftcard to Tea Chai Te and that order arrived today, I thought I’d make this blend, which has a very heavy lavender aroma.

Now, the last time I had a lavender-heavy tea, it was just too much (which was Lupicia’s Lavender White tea), and I ended up having to turn it into a lemonade infusion to drink it, so I’ll admit when I smelled how strong the lavender was in this, I was immediately worried. Plus the base in this was a mix of blackberry, strawberry, and… red raspberry leaf. My lowest rated tea to date has been Traditional Medicinals bagged Red Raspberry Leaf tea. But I wouldn’t have ordered this if I didn’t have a natural curiousity to try a new lavender tea so… crossing fingers and hoping for the best here.

I am actually honestly surprised. There is no doubt, lavender is the main flavor here, but there was something that came off so strongly in Lupicia’s White Lavender that it had this bitter bite right in the close of the sip, and the whole thing just felt overwhelming. This is not so. It has a strong lavender flavor, but still pulls off a delicate, floral mouthfeel. The taste actually has a minty note, if you were to take away the strong menthol feeling from the mint, and the finish is sweet and flowery. I thought with such a leafy base that I’d taste that distinct “cut grass” sort of taste I can get from raspberry leaf, but the tea just tastes like a very smooth lavender tea.

I love lavender and got a bit worried and put off by the last lavender tea I’d tried, so I’ll admit this is a really pleasant surprise… this is so nice! It has a strong lavender taste without hitting that edge that goes too far and becomes bitter from the flower, leaves a lovely minty, refreshing feeling in the mouth, and is incredibly relaxing. This is good plain, but if you are in the mood for a sweeter profile, a little lemon honey is great in it, as well! If you are a fan of lavender teas, this is a good one!

I’ve been down with another lengthy migraine, so I haven’t had the energy to do tea journal the last few days… and the nausea has kinda kept me from even drinking much tea, too. But last Thursday night I received a late birthday package from my best friend who was in Japan during my b-day, that had a gorgeous teacup with Jiji from Kiki’s Delivery Service on it from the Ghibli Musuem, and a bunch of Japanese teas (mostly sakura-flavored teas, as I specifically mentioned I like those and they are hard to come by, and they are in season over there right now, as well as a few other things). One of the stranger things included was an instant plum tea packet that was found at the New Otani Hotel (I believe the Osaka location). My friend’s traveling companion said it was thick and soup-like, so he told me I might want to use it for ramen broth (he knows I use tea as a broth substitute since I can’t use the flavor packets since MSG is a migraine trigger for me). I decided to do something a little different, and dissolved it into the water I was using to make my Minute Rice that night.

Since I only had one packet and I was making a double-serving of rice (which uses two cups of water), I was expecting it to be a little “weak”, but was hoping that the rice might take on a slight plum flavor as it soaked up the water. Ehhh… the experiment didn’t quite work out that way. The rice did have a noticeable taste to it, but it was a very salty flavor! Every now and again I thought that perhaps there was a hint of something slightly sweet or fruity to the taste, but it was extremely subtle; over all, it just tasted very salty. It certainly wasn’t anything to complain about, as it was more interesting than plain white rice, as soy sauce (fermented soy) is another migraine trigger (sigh, but I miss it dearly!), so at least the instant tea powder gave my rice some much needed added flavor. But I certainly wish it had taken on some plum notes like I had hoped. Maybe if I’d had more of the instant tea packets it would’ve worked? Who knows!

Green March! I’ve been using my gravity-well infuser at work to make Margaret’s Soother tea for a coworker with a terribly swollen throat, and haven’t felt like swapping the leaves out to make tea for myself when I want a cuppa, so I brought one of my last Teapigs samplers, since they come sachet-style. Like the Up Beet tea, this tea tastes more like an herbal blend but has a bit of green tea included in the blend.

I’m really enjoying this on a rather cold, dreary windy March morning. It tastes like a lemon ginger tea, with a nice lemony base and a warming gingery note that isn’t overly spicy and doesn’t leave too much heat behind in the mouth, which has been my problem with many lemon ginger blends (seriously, why do so many have to go so crazy with the ginger?) What I’m really enjoying here is there is a lovely noticeable sweet burst of coconut on the top sip that lingers in the aftertaste, that adds a new dimension to the flavor profile. I’ve never had a lemon ginger tea with coconut, and I’m loving the flavor combination! It works amazingly well. Though the tea includes licorice root, I actually can’t taste it at all; there is no pop of sticky sweetness (I’m a huge licorice root fan) so it must be used very subtly here; perhaps it is just enough to mellow some of the ginger out or bring out some of the sweetness of the coconut, which are both things I can’t complain about.

This is a nice tea, and for the coconut alone this is one of the best lemon ginger-style teas I’ve ever tried!