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Getting caught up on reviews. I consider this my 50th review since 2 of my 52 notes are still backlogged.

Decaff for my reflux and just to have more tea drinking options later in the day.

I agree with the other review-this seems like just a regular caffeinated tea. Actually, every quality tea I’ve had decaffeinated by the carbon dioxide process has tasted normal to me. I love that it’s organic. I also like that all the spices have purported health benefits.

I brewed this by adding boiling water from my tea boiler into a pre-warmed cup with an infuser basket in it. Almond milk was added after steeping. I know it’s not “proper”, but I did buy a boiler for convenience-not to always be “proper”.

So, this cupping is tasting a little different than last time. Previously, I used soy milk and sugar. Tonight I am using vanilla almond milk with sugar. Not normally a huge vanilla fan but it is working very well here. The spices seem to be drawing out the vanilla. This is supposed to have extra pepper, but I don’t taste an inordinate amount-perhaps because of the vanilla. This is really good with the vanilla almond, but it does change the character of the tea-so I’ll probably have to review it using unflavored soy next time.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty standard quality masala chai. Like the addition of cloves though, as that is not always in masala chais. I can add this to Upton’s Rooibos Chai as another very good dessert/evening tea option.

Brew temp was 208

It’s in the water.

So many times I read how important quality water is for good tea. My parents neighbor-who knows less about tea than me-was going on about it this weekend. Myself, I have been using filtered water for so long, I can’t remember drinking tea made with straight tap water. So there I am at my parents house making this new tea for dessert last night and something was not quite right.

It was the water.

Unfiltered tap water that I had grown up on and thought tasted pretty good was overpowering this wonderfully aromatic and sweet tea I had just bought earlier in the afternoon. I could taste the potential here, but rather than enjoying the tea, I couldn’t wait to get home and try it with better water.

I’ve been looking for a dessert tea to have besides masala chai (which I enjoy, but not every night) and mint chocolate tea-which doesn’t go with everything and I get tired of anyway.

This is one of those teas that I knew as soon as I smelled the dry leaf, I would love it. It smells just like you would expect-of hazelnut and chocolate. This tea tastes almost like coffee to me. At least what I think I remember coffee tastes like as I have never really been a coffee drinker. It’s smooth and kind of heavy, it’s hard to believe it’s straight and translucent. Zero bitterness. Liquor is a nice shade of chestnut. As advertised, it tastes like chocolate and hazelnut. The flavoring is so natural. It’s really sweet and rich with nothing added. I imagine it would be exceedingly decadent with soy milk/cream and sugar added-which I will have to try soon. Water problem solved

Masala chai has some serious competition here.

Brewing temp-208 to be exact.

I’ve TRIED to get my mom and dad to go with loose tea and to brew their tea properly. I’ve given them loose tea, which they profess to like, but take forever to drink (if they finish at all). We wound up talking a little tea with their neighbor over the weekend and she was impressing the importance of good water too. My dad DID buy a mesh infuser basket for himself at the tea shop yesterday. However, I think they are still probably committed unfiltered tap, boiling water in microwave, tea bag users. The only tea they bought yesterday was bagged. Granted, some of it looked interesting and I gave them some of my loose leaf in exchange for a few bags.

This was the first pumpkin chai-type tea I’ve come across that looked vegan, so bags, the fact it was still on a store shelf in May, and nearly summer weather be damned, I’m trying it!

I added almond milk and a tsp of sugar to this tea.

I was expecting this was to taste like liquid pumpkin pie-I mean, I assume that’s what they are aiming for here. That’s not a bad aim either-I love pumpkin pie. I taste all the spices and even the pumpkin flavoring, but it’s not fusing together properly as a whole. It’s like they combined all the ingredients for pumpkin pie in a bowl but didn’t mix them together. Pumpkin pie is so good because the spices are fused together-not tasted separately. I think there’s too much of the nutmeg, too. One bag left, I might try it plain, although this is one tea where I think drinking straight is not the intent.

It’s not bad, but I can’t see me ever buying a box of this. I’ll look more seriously for a good pumpkin spice chai this fall.

Brewing temperature was 208, to be exact.

Ugh, trying to get caught up on reviews with new Harney’s at home and two more shipments of tea on the way.

Another sample from Upton’s.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from this unusual blend. It got some good reviews here and the samples are ridiculously cheap, so I took a flyer on this.

Dry leaves a mixture of dark brown, medium brown and olive green and are tightly rolled. I mostly smell the Keemun in the dry leaves. Liquor is copper.

This is my second cupping of this tea. I wished I had some notes saved from the first time, because I don’t remember it tasting like this. The only difference in brewing would be 208 water instead of boiling. Could it make that much difference? I can’t taste the Keemun or the Lapsang at all. The only thing I am tasting here is some 2nd Flush Darjeeling and I don’t like second flush at all-it’s dominant. I thought good old Sherlock liked Lapsang? I taste not a note of smoke. What happened to the Keemun from the dry leaf? This is just not to my liking at all. Oh, well it’s only a sample.

Hope all the mothers out there had a great weekend!

So, we traveled to see my parents this past weekend but they had a surprise for me-they took me on a short trip to a mom and pop tea shop they recently discovered. There are zero teashops anywhere near where I live, so getting to go to one is kinda a big deal.

The shop is in an historic building built before the Civil War. It had an unusual but not unpleasant aroma inside-like a mélange of spices that I smell when I go into the health food store-more about the aroma later.

Anyhow, the shop is all Republic of Tea, Stash, and Harney and Sons. RoT was in tins only and Stash was just bags. Harney was the big attraction since I have never tried any of their teas before and the only tea sold in bulk. Armed with notes from Steepster reviews, I began checking out the tea. This is just a shop-no food or drinks are served, but they brewed a cup of tea for my parents the last time they visited. Today (Mother’s Day), it was just pop there and he said no, they don’t offer samples. Fortunately, he sells tea in amounts as small as one ounce and the prices are about the same as Harney’s web site-so it’s no big deal if I don’t like any one tea. Disappointment right off the bat as they don’t carry Golden Monkey. They had most of the others I was interested in. The teas were in 1 or 2 pound zip-locked foil-lined sacks which were then placed inside giant Harney tea tins. I was at least able to smell the teas before purchasing. I’m not convinced the owner was that passionate about tea-he knew enough to suggest Lapsang if I liked smoky teas, but he had never actually brewed a cup for himself. He also didn’t have any First Flush Darjeelings. I think maybe a financial planner recommended the tea shop as a business for them to run when they retired. Still, I was comfortable enough with my own knowledge and the collected wisdom of Steepsterites to buy 7 teas.

First up-Queen Catherine tea. All dark and a few medium brown leaves. Maybe one or two golden tips. I wish Harney’s wasn’t so mysterioso about what is in their blends, but I did catch a whiff of what I think is Fujian black in the dry and brewed leaf. I also thought I smelled a bit of malty Assam in the dry leaf-that should not be possible as this is supposed to be all Chinese teas. Maybe it’s a Yunnan black. This is smooth and lively. I taste a bit of chocolate. Body is medium-full. Maybe a touch tannic in the aftertaste. This is very enjoyable. Maybe I can come up with better descriptions after a second cup. I could definitely drink this as a breakfast tea-probably always cupped plain, though.

This reminds me of the Vietnamese tea I had from TG. Dry leaves are tightly rolled, dark brown with some golden tips. Dry aroma-somewhat malty, with a note of orange citrus. Didn’t notice how much the leaves unfurled the first steep, but upon second steep they are completely unfurled. Brewed aroma is fairly malty. Liquor is nice and coppery. Tastes much like an Assam. Malty. Maybe a touch of citrus. Getting just the faintest note of cinnamon on occasion-wonder if cinnamon is grown nearby? Strong, but not bitter or astringent. Definitely a good solid morning tea.

I’m not going to lie to you-I bought this tea because it was Korean.

I’ve never had a Korean tea and this has good Steepster reviews, so I bought it.

This is the last of 3 teas that I purchased from David’s tea. Overall, I am happy with my experience buying from them. The $5 flat shipping to the States is great and it was fast. Tea was wrapped in brown paper and then white tissue paper with a sticker on top-nice touch. However, I ordered some colored tins and there was nothing underneath them but the bottom of the box-could have used a layer of brown paper there too. Tins are okay. Not as high quality as Teavana branded tins-but cheaper and colorful (sorry they were out of 2 other colors I wanted). Davids also included stickers for each tea I ordered so I could slap them on the tins. I would definitely order from them again if they had something I wanted to try. They did include 3 free samples, but I think they just grab them out of a basket because they certainly weren’t tailored to what I had purchased.

ANYHOW, Back to the tea. As others have noted, the dry leaves are various shapes and sizes. Some leaves are rolled and other look like broken unrolled leaves. Dry leaf aroma is not particularly fragrant. I detect perhaps of faint note of canned spinach. The brewed leaf contains slight vegetal and floral characteristics. Liquor is a very pale greenish yellow.

The flavor is light and delicate. Both slightly vegetal and floral at the same time. More floral than I would like, but not enough to significantly impair my enjoyment.

I was hoping for something truly unique with this Korean tea, but I don’t think it tastes that much different than some of the Chinese greens I’ve been trying lately. It’s good and I’ll finish it-but probably not that quickly.

Gah-I REALLY don’t like this! Giving this a lower rating. I dumped the mug and have decided that I won’t finish this tea. The artificial flavoring is overwhelming and nasty. There is very little tea in this “tea”. The dominant ingredient in this tea is cranberry, and I can’t taste it at all thanks to the artificial flavoring. I deleted my old review so as not to bury a tea with multiple poor ratings but you can read it below:

“Actual steep temp 208, to be precise.

My first order from DAVIdS and I had high hopes for this one-good Steepster reviews and a great flavor pairing with Cranberry and Pear. And it’s just, meh.

First off, the photo on here for this tea is misleading-I have hardly any tea at all in this. Basically, I had to look for stray strands of tea leaves. It’s maybe 10% tea. I would call this a glorified tisane, really. It’s not a huge deal, because then it means less caffeine and I could always use less caffeine, but I was expecting more TEA. Perhaps there is more tea on the bottom of the bag if I transfer to a tin and shake it around. However, I am not doing that because I imagine the oily and strong artificial aroma would be really difficult to remove from a tin. I only bought 50 grams in a quality, re-sealable foil pouch, so that is where it stays.

So, in the brewed aroma I smell some pear and the artificial flavoring (wondering if it is alchohol-based? Sure seems like it.) I don’t smell or taste much cranberry at all. The artificial flavor is really strong-shame there’s no cranberry in it. I taste some pear and apple. Had one cup with sugar, one without. Sugared cup is better. It’s not bad or bitter, but it’s kinda dull. The artificial flavoring is predominant and I don’t care for that. I’ll probably finish this-especially on days where I want lower caffeine. But I will do it without any enthusiasm. Won’t be buying this again. I am not big on flavoring added to tea, but after this, I think I am banning any tea with artificial flavors from my cabinet."

This is my first Nilgiri.

Dry leaves are dark brown and twisted. Dry leaf aroma is a little malty and similar to an Assam. Liquor is lightly copper-maybe just a bit darker than a Darjeeling.

I really didn’t know what to expect from this tea-I bought it because I had never had a Nilgiri. I like most Indian blacks, so it seemed to be a reasonable choice. I agree there is a resemblance to a Ceylon tea-in fact, until I’m more experienced with Nilgiris, I’m not sure that I could tell this apart from a Ceylon in a blind taste test. I don’t taste the Assam notes I detected in the dry leaf. I don’t taste the floral notes that Arbor promises-which is fine, because I’m not big on floral. I also disagree in Arbor describing this tea as “delicate”-when I think delicate, I think of a white tea. I think it’s rather full-bodied and brisk. It’s fairly smooth, however-is it possible for tea to have characteristics of both briskness and smoothness?

Although I disagree with Arbor’s descriptions, I did enjoy this cup and look forward to drinking more of it.

I’ve never had straight gunpowder tea before-always mixed in a Moroccan Mint blend. Since I bought the mint and the tea separately this time, thought I would try the tea straight.

The dry leaves unfurl very nicely (although I did not watch). The liquor is a golden yellow. The brewed aroma is slightly vegetal and slightly floral. The flavor is pretty similar. The floral taste is not that strong, but strong enough (meaning too strong). Reminds me a bit of a green oolong-which I don’t really care for. Straight, this tea is not for me. Fortunately, I have a giant bag of spearmint to blend with it and I would not hesitate to buy this tea again as long as I was blending it.