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This is my favorite chai, largely because it has a variety of spices (and there are big chunks of them, as in the picture) but no pepper! The ginger is also on the mild side – cinnamon, cardamom, and clove are the strongest spice flavors. I also love the bit of sweetness from the maple sugar. I think it’s the maple that gives this a really sweet fragrance in addition to the spice, too. The black tea isn’t a strong flavor, but it gives a backbone to the spices, so that the overall impression is of a strongly flavored tea (much more so than spices alone – I’ve tried). I would drink this all the time if it wouldn’t destroy my budget.

I’ve never managed to oversteep this (and I steep it like regular black tea, 1tsp/8oz, 3-5 minutes), but I might not notice because I always add milk. Seriously though, so much love!

Made this iced, as !amovar suggests, to take to a movie tonight. It worked quite well! Chilled with a bit of honey, I think the fruit flavor came out more (than when hot). Still quite light, and still rather floral, but neither of those are bad things – refreshing!

I used 1tsp leaves, with 3 4oz infusions and chilled to make 12 oz.

Got a sample of this from JacquelineM, like everyone else it seems :) This is a good breakfast blend: strong, dark (nice dark red color in the cup), takes milk well. There’s a bit of a chocolate-y aftertaste, and it’s fairly smooth relative to the strength, but I do like it better with a little milk. Without, there’s a bit of a harsh bite, though that could probably be avoided through steeping conditions. As is, this is just right for a kick in the morning, and I may be buying more when the sample’s gone.

Got this in a swap with JacquelineM. I’m currently steeping pretty much everything in Samovar’s glass oolong pot, because I’ve in love. The dry leaf is amazingly smoky, of course, the liqueur smells less so. G says it smells like rabbit food; we decided this might mean alfafa? Something grassy, anyway. It reminds me a little of puerh. The taste is a bit on the bitter side, but I think that’s my fault for over-steeping: I spilled a little water, so my ratio was more like 3oz/.5tsp. Anyway, there is a nice sweetness under the smoke. I have a suspicion this will be even better on the 2nd steep.

2nd steep (~ 5 minutes, still boiling, little more water) either smells less smoky, or I’ve adjusted to the scent. Definitely tastes sweeter, and milder, so I am well pleased. Still a dark savory tea, though. Smokier, or saltier, or something-er than Jackee, and still fairly strong.

Alright tiny pot, here we go. 1 level tsp/4oz water. I did rinse the leaves with boiling water, for about 10 seconds, but I’m going under the recommended temp here because the leaves look pretty green and I’m desperately afraid of cooking them.

Steep 1: 2-ish minutes, 195°F
The first steep, hot out of the pot, smells like the most delicious butter I have ever tasted. A little bit cinnamon, a little bit cream. It tastes buttery too, and something else I can’t put my finger on (of course). It’s strikingly like drinking a soft buttered dinnerroll, in any case. There’s a sweet floral aftertaste though, very pleasant. It’ll be fun to see how this one goes.

Steep 2:
2:45, 185°F (I didn’t warm the pot as well this time). The color has been a bright yellow-green for both steeps; still smells very rich and buttery, though the scent fades as the tea cools.

Steep 3:
3:30, 200°F Should I be smelling chocolate in an oolong? I’m getting chocolate more than butter on this one. The color is a deeper yellow this time, probably due to hotter water. The flavor is starting to get a little more vegetal, but only a touch.

Steep 4:
4:30, 195°F Still good color, but the flavor is starting to weaken a bit – I’ll up the steep time more on the next. Definitely getting more vegetal tastes.

Steep 5:
~8 minutes, 205°F Seemed to still have some caffeine in it, which I didn’t expect. A bit bitter, but plenty of flavor left. These leaves probably could have done more, but I am well pleased.

Got my Samovar order today, trying the lychee before tackling the Four Seasons. Let me just say – the glass oolong pot is adorable. It also seems to hold heat better than I expected, only about a 10°F drop in 3 minutes

Samovar’s description is good: this is light, sweet, and a smooth. It’s also floral. Read the description carefully and you’ll note that lychee flowers, in addition to the fruit, provide the flavor. I don’t mind, I like floral teas, I like the sweetness you can get from flowers of most types, but if you dislike rose teas you won’t like this either. The flavor is quite strong, almost perfume-y. The fruit is more noticeable if you take a big mouthful and swirl it around – there is a bit of a sour/berry taste.

I like the 2nd steep (5 minutes) at least as much, if not better. Less flower-sweet, more fruit-sweet.

So I kept track of the temperature of my water throughout steeping today, and discovered that I haven’t been steeping my teas in boiling water, ever. Even warming the pot with boiling water only got the starting temperature up to 205°F (though admittedly, I’m only filling my little Bee House teapot halfway – I know that’s a nono). Without warming it’s more like 195.

Anyway, the slightly higher temp today made for a notable darker tea, but I’m not sure I like the change – there’s less chocolate and spice, more of just a “black tea” flavor, but the aftertaste is a lot more fragrant and lingering. Will keep playing with this a bit.

This is the rare black breakfast-style tea that I prefer without milk. It’s fairly smooth and creamy on its own, and subtle enough that milk can drown out some of the best flavor points.

This is a good vanilla black tea. I find the flavor a good balance between authenticity (Adagio’s in particular always tastes fake, more like frosting, to me) and strength of flavor (vanilla teas flavored just with vanilla bean tend to be overpowered by the black tea). This will likely be included in my next order to Harney.

I’m backlogging from a weekend w/o internet, so I can’t remember anything more nuanced about the flavor. It was very satisfying though.