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Although tea pleasure awaits me later on today, I started today with a new, to me, Lapsang Souchong. I’ve been drinking these for months and trying to find my favorites (that would be YOU, Narien, Upton, and Leland thus far).

This tea does not seem to exist. I use a lot of tea leaf==more than most people do so I typically use 2-3 tablespoons and I have large mugs. I use a spoon designed “for a perfect pot of tea” (it makes 2 or 3 cups). That has always worked out for me. Today I got dark, tasteless, flavorless water. Then I retreated back to bed in despair and slept for a few more hours and then tried again: one small (8 ounce) mug; two over-scooped spoons of tea-leaf (that would be 6 tablespoons). And the result barely registers.

This is an historic nadir: I’m throwing out the rest of the bag. I don’t think that this tea will do for those who like tea light on the smoke—this tea just isn’t there. I don’t know what is inside the bag!

Worst experience ever. At least with rooibos you know what you are in for. On to fresh fields and pastures new.

This is a good strong Breakfast tea. It’s not superb but I liked it well enough. As Randy Jackson might say, “It was just a’ight”. I like this type of tea in general, but nothing here “popped” specially for me and nothing said “You must buy me again.”

On the other hand, I would be perfectly proud to serve this to anyone at all. I just would not be likely to think of it instantly if asked to select my favorite English Breakfast brew. But I cannot think of any other I would name first. I guess I have not found my English Breakfast to die for; my English Breakfast that I would be devastated if it were not at my finger-tips; the English Breakfast I would call a romantic fervor.

I am a big fan of Harney & Sons and I like their Paris and Florence teas. I ordered Boston! I forgot that the tea has cranberry flavors. When I opened the tin I was overwhelmed by an aroma that was not entirely pleasant: i put my finger on it: Paregoric soaked in cherry and stored in a humidor! I was a bit surprised by the intensity of this aroma and after sitting with it for a few minutes, I had to conclude: this is a concoction of paregoric, cherries, and some cigar tobacco.

Steeped, I smell the cranberry quite clearly. And the enticement of the paregoric has gone, taking with it my opium dreams (I was of the generation where mothers used paregoric as a catch-all medicine for their children—indeed I can remember trotting off to the drug store to buy her a bottle of paregoric and a package of Parliament cigarettes all for less than 50 cents).

So aside from being a blast to the past, Boston Tea proves to be a reasonably strong, robust black tea with cranberry aroma and flavor. I cannot pick on on the almond flavor specifically, but I do recommend this tea. After the moments of strangeness, the tea itself offers a generous tea/cranberry experience which is much more authentic than some of the other cranberry flavored teas I’ve sampled before. I think this would be a great tea to serve with a holiday dinner and a good tea to keep in stock. The aftertaste is delightfully cranberry too.

Au fond, my only disappointment is that the paregoric seems to have been a temporary illusion! I could also see mixing this tea 50/50 with Florence to sample the result.

This is a very perfumed tea and its aroma evokes being at a busy, bustling perfume counter where a bunch of youthful girl scouts are spraying the air with all kinds of different and not necessarily complementary scents. Trying to deconstruct the riot of flavours and aromas is not easy.

Perhaps this tea is too much of a good thing: it’s as if a master builder had only one opportunity to create a building and tried to do a Bauhaus structure with Gothic gargoyles, rococo flying buttresses, and Frank Lloyd Wright glass.

Perhaps it’s not wise to gather up so many sages for one single tea. But it’s not cacophonous—-just a bit busy. I think that the citrus looms larger than the rest.

Or maybe a decent Earl Grey got loose in the kitchen one night and added all of the loose ingredients it could find to itself.

Sweet and nutty, this tea fulfills its promise. It is very good but does not pop quite as much as other 52teas have done. I want to go and eat the tea leaves, however. This impulse is unusual and indicates the nutty goodness of the tea.

Much gratitude to ANGRBODA for sending me this tea. I have been a fan of the Queen of Denmark for decades—since she was a young girl with her lovely parents and her two younger sisters. I was, therefore thrilled to try the tea that she drinks expecting a intelligent and feminine blend.

The aroma of the dry tea is magnificent: it’s like stepping into an exquisite flower shoppe. The floral scent is multifarious. The tea itself is like a fairly strong Earl Grey with added floral oomph.

What a pleasure!

I liked this tea quite a bit. If you like Irish Cream, you are likely to like this tea because it’s a superb replication of the aroma and the flavor of a good Irish Cream. True, they did not add the alcohol but everything else is there.

The dry leaves are very attractive and colorful. The aroma is quintessance of Bailey’s Irish Cream. The taste is lovely and I cannot disagree with anyone who would give this a rating of “100”. I don’t because I am using that rating for the flavors that make me lose control—-as Patty Duke reputedly did with a hot dog—-. I have always liked Irish Cream but never loved it.

I got the French label which seems to think I’ll engage in an Irish jig (gigue) upon drinking this. I feel as sedentary as ever, but I also enjoyed this tea a lot. I would not make a special order just for this tea, but next time I order from David’s tea, I will probably purchase Irish Cream again.

I could not find an English translation of this. I ordered this tea from Mariages Freres in Paris because it is smoky. As a lover of lapsang souchongs, I expected to like this and I love it.

It’s not as purely smoky and peaty as some Russian Caravans can be: there is a touch of a kind of perfumed sweetness which reminds me a bit of Upton Tea’s Black Dragon and which highlights the smoke very nicely. I feel as if I am in a Parisian bistro surrounded by a glamourous smoky atmosphere but the smoke is all sweetness and not the least bit offensive.

I’ll have to place another order with Mariage Freres in France later this year; they have so many delightful blends that I don’t think are available in North America: (Vivaldi, Confucius, Elixir d’amour, etc.) I also ordered their Lapsang Souchong jam which is just extraordinary.

What a delicious tea! It’s beautiful dry and the steeped tea has a very sweet liquer. I can most certainly taste the marzipan/almond flavor. The pistachio is a bit more remote, but it’s there. I also pick up on a big coconut flavor which is not puzzling considering that the written catalogue I have mentions the flavour of “Parisian macaroons”.

This is a perfect pick-me-up afternoon black tea and it would also be perfect for a special meeting…. Simply lovely! The flavors are exquisite but the black tea does not compromise its strength.

This is a tasty tea, no doubt, but I needed to use a LOT of dry tea for a decent cup and I don’t know how cost-effective it is.

There are dried apples in the tea: I tasted and tasted. It’s not caramel. It’s not caramel-covered apples; it is apple. But the tea does not taste much like apple, in any event.
It’s a nice tea—don’t get my wrong—but at the price, I don’t think it is worth it. I’ve had much better caramel teas and much better chocolate teas.

I’m also starting to realize that I don’t much care for teas named after desserts.