New Tasting Notes

Did something crazy and tried this one with milk (blasphemy! Earl grey with milk!); I wanted to see what it would do to the rose. Brewed five minutes so as to add the milk; the rose scent is VERY strong.

It sort of ruins the bergamot (to be expected), however the rose definitely makes it through, but it’s smoother. A bit of agave nectar as well, so the sweetness is from that, but there’s definitely a sort of perfumy taste—although perhaps it’s just the smell that’s interfering. There is definitely A taste that isn’t just the tea, but it’s not bitter. This’ probably the only way I could drink this.

Blech, rose.

Was pleasantly surprised to find whole leaf in the silken sachet Mighty Leaf tea in the diner I was eating in this evening (why was I in a diner on Thanksgiving? Long story short, we had our dinner at the place my mom lives, a care facility for wheelchair bound people (my mom has MS), at noon, and we were starving again by the evening!) ANYWAY! I was presented a tea chest and could pick which tea I would like, and I chose the Organic Earl Grey.

Maybe I was just desperate for a cup of tea, but I thought it was really quite good! At the diner, they give you a little metal teapot full of hot water – enough for 2 cups – and then your cup and the sachet. This is great because you can time your steep :)

I had my first cup with a little milk and sugar, and my second sans additions. Both steeps were flavorful, not heavy on the bergamot, and to my taste, slightly smoky! Sort of like an English Breakfast type smoky. The leaves handled the two steeps admirably. I wanted to pinch myself because I couldn’t believe I was getting such a good cup of tea in a diner!! Sure, I have much better loose Earls at home, but I would choose this diner over any other in my area not only because the food is good, but because I can get a really nice cup of tea there. Ponzio’s, if you are ever in South Jersey and hungry!

P.S. I finally saw the latest Harry Potter. I loved it. I cried and cried and cried.

Sweet! Sweet! Sweet! W a hint, just a hint of caramel…smooth and creamy. W milk and sugar, a delightful dessert tea. Thanks to French Vanilla for this sample.

Have to agree w others reviews. This is like infusing trail mix. Got this one as a free sample -likely won’t reorder it. Tasted of a mild banana flavored tisane. But if you like bananas give it a try…

The Final Sipdown: Day 13.1
[For the sake of clarity, I’m logging this one the day after. Blame the full stomach and the comfortable couch. Damn you, couch!]

Ugh, the only thing that rued anything yesterday was my stomach. I drank this tea, started to log it, and promptly fell asleep on my couch. So. Much. FOOD. I’m sure y’all can relate.

[That being said, I hope everyone had fabulous Thanksgivings.]

Grapefruit Green. If I liked grapefruit more, I suspect that I’d also like this tea more. Unsurprisingly.

The smell had a sharp grapefruit note to it that was tempered by the vegetal component of the green tea. Strangely, I got an overwhelming sense of cooked green beans at a few points while I was waiting for it to cool.

Not to be deterred, I drank. It was…kind of strange. The grapefruit didn’t appear to me for a while, and even when it did it tasted a bit of chemicals. The green tea was there, but eventually the grapefruit had it in a chokehold and I couldn’t taste it anymore, and there was a bizarre strain of bitterness that ran through the entire thing that I think was in part due to the fact that grapefruit has a bitter-sour quality about it and in part due to the strange chemical taste I was getting from the tea.

Also, at points I received a fleeting scent [and taste, but mostly scent] of fruit gum. Which is funny because Auggy, who was also the sender of this tea, mentioned gum in her log [I think]. Specifically it reminds me of Stride Gum’s Forever Fruit, which in turn reminds me of the one Japanese gum I have ever tried. It’s a unique flavor. This tea, however, is not playing out for me in a uniquely good way. It’s not something I’ll be buying. For the grapefruit lovers out there, however, it may indeed be worth a go.

Teas Downed: 21

I only found Steepster a few weeks ago. It’s been such fun reading here and looking for the perfect tea. Now I’ve found the perfect tea, is the fun over?

I bought a sample, but it’s a good size, maybe 4 teaspoons. I brewed 1 tsp in 8 oz water. The first pot was the most delicious, starting as melted butter and ending as peaches and cream. I’m on my 5th steep and the flavour is mostly a memory, but there’s enough of a delicious hint of scrumptiouness to make me keep drinking this.

Thank you, Steepsterites, for leading me to this completely delicious tea.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

I really like this one – very creamy and delicious. The vanilla and the bergamot meld together nicely and create a sort of “caramel-y” flavor. Really really nice.

After a month of airing out it has much less of a fermentation taste, the liquor is still creamy and smells like the forest floor. It isn’t my favorite although this is actually my first maocha so I’ll try some more later on.

I find the tea rather rich and thick with a somewhat gamey quality. Lots of spinach without much sweetness. Somewhat nutty. Very full-bodied and heavy-textured but mild flavours overall.

Love the stuff. Would definitely buy.

This is a nice cranberry cider drink. Which is not something I usually look for, but I have cider sometimes during the winter season. So it is a welcome addition to my tea cupboard.

The cranberry is not overwhelming, just a nice sweet and tartness to the cider. The spices make this a lot less boring than it could have been. Overall I like it, but it doesn’t really impress me a whole lot because I am not a big fan of cider anyways.

I added some milk to the tea hoping to get something that tasted like an ice cream float – unfortunately, no dice. The flavours just don’t go together – maybe if the tea was iced or if I added some sweetener it would be better. I’ve got enough tea for one more cup so I’ll try something different and see what happens.

This tea was really similar to sunny passion except that it seems to focus more on one flavor: pineapple. This is another refreshing and very enjoyable tea. I need to decide whether I want to order this or sunny passion! Flavored green teas = yum.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Had this for breakfast… err brunch. I slept in today. My boyfriend and I drove 3 hours away for my interview and came back last night. I have several more residency interviews to go, but I think I have found my top choice :) Anyway, this tea was great! Put some additives in there. Some sweet cakey goodness.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! We aren’t celebrating thanksgiving today, because my hubby has to work because it’s one of the busiest travel days of the year (he’s the night manager for an airport shuttle service), so we have our thanksgiving on his next day off (which will probably be Sunday).

I am finishing up the sampling of this tea that TeaEqualsBliss has sent to me (thanks again!)

Rich, delicious, malty. Smooth and brisk! A lovely tea for first cuppa. I like it with a little drizzle of honey just to soften the edge a little. The honey brings out some of the sweeter undertones of this tea very nicely.

One of the nicest Indonesian teas I’ve tried thus far!

The first thing I noticed when I went to drink this tea were the directions on the side of the sample package I had. They said to empty the contents of the package into eight ounces of water and steep for three to four minutes. I have to raise issue with this as there is enough leaf in the sample package to satisfy an eight cup teapot at three to four minute steepings. That being said, I chose to not follow the directions and instead used about half a teaspoon of leaf in my small gaiwan (six ounces or so).

Boil water, rinse the leaves, steep for thirty seconds, pour into the fairness cup, serve. Repeat. I was pleasantly surprised by this tea. Based on past experiences with coconut flavoured teas, including other companies’ coconut oolongs, I did not have high expectations. In general, it seems that most companies take a mediocre oolong or black tea and douse it in artificial coconut flavouring. This one, on the other hand, got it right. The initial taste is of oolong. Plain and simple. But then the flavour of coconut kicks in, and it does not taste fake! Rather, it tastes a bit like coconut oil, and provides and delightfully sweet aftertaste.

I enjoyed this tea very much. On my personal enjoyment scale, I give it an 85/100 and would definitely recommend it to lovers of coconut flavoured tea.

Drank this one this morning in my new glass mug… This mug lets the tea float around, and has an infused at the top so you don’t drink the leaves. This tea is so pretty to look at!! It also tastes amazing, like a key-lime pie :)

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.

This is another tea from this purveyor that has an incredible fragrance but the flavor is a off.

It smells sweet and strongly of berries, cinnamon and a touch of brown sugar. Once prepared, this takes on more of a tart, green fragrance.

The initial flavor was sour and tart. It eventually developed a bit of spiciness from the cinnamon and there was a subtle, lingering strawberry aftertaste. The tea in this, however, was completely obliterated. The lack of any tea presence and the initial sourness made this a mediocre cup for me.

I love Dr. Who, and was so excited to try this tea. Rachel sent me some! Thank you so much!

I can’t help but think our favorite Time Lord would not approve. I taste no pomegranate, nor tangerine. I taste tea and bitter citrus pith.

I can’t help but think that the Daleks would have only one word to say to this tea: Exterminate!!

draußen friert und fusselt der November vor sich hin, ich habe eine schöne Kanne meines momentanen Lieblingstees ….

Thursday Nov. 25 , 2010
1st Steep of the day
Breakfast with Pumpkin Spice.
Good Black Tea With a GREAT PUMPKIN SPICE FLAVOR
Its even Decaffeinated (for those that desire it)

I gave this another try, and I guess I’m just not a fan. The pumpkin flavor is just too odd on the first steep. I’m not sure how to describe it except lemony. I only steeped 3 minutes this time. Oh well. I definitely prefer Bigelow’s pumpkin spice.

Love Lavender Zen when I am want to curl up with a good book and a blankie. Probably one of the best plain lavender teas out there. If you love lavender try this tea