Michelle Butler Hallett Send Message

1tsp for 250mL water @100C, steeped 6 minutes.

I wanted to like this but found it has a bit of that minty taste I get some from rooibos and a disagreeable fruitiness that reminds me too much of hibiscus. Got a 25g pack as a gift. I may finish it — rooibos being healthy and all — but I won’t re-purchase.

Rating:

Made for me at a DavidsTea store. Four-minute steep. Bare.

Another flavoured tea where all I can taste is the flavour. I didn’t get any of the “rotten garbage” scent that others have noted, but I did wonder if burdock was a good choice. I also wonder if some figs haven’t fermented.

Tea liquor was bronzey. Tasting notes: figgy and sweet and a tiny bit spicy. No hint of black tea whatsoever, which is, for me, an issue. Flavoured tea is great, but I do want to taste tea. I don’t expect to purchase this one again.

Rating: 60.

1.5 tsp for 250 mL water. 1st steep: 2 minutes. 2nd steep: 3 minutes. 3rd steep: 4 minutes, sometimes longer. Sometimes I don’t time the first steep and just leave it be til it smells right. But tonight … 2 minutes in 90C water.

I could develop a serious problem with Quangzhou Milk Oolong. It’s that good. Yes. Yes, it is.

I don’t know where my local indie teashop gets their Quangzhou, but it’s more affordably priced than at the only other place in town that carries it, DavidsTea. I find the variety at Britannia is a tiny bit sweeter, a bit more floral, but with all the creaminess and brulee notes and smoothness and oh oh oh that makes a milk oolong so blissful. The liquor is pale creamy yellow, darkening slightly with longer steeps. Each sip carries a slightly different balance of sweet, floral and cream. Good for at least three infusions … and, when you realize how muc tea you can actually brew for these leaves, really not expensive. But it is preciousssss …

I would give up dessert forever if I could always have this tea instead.

Rating: 100.

1 sachet for a 300mL mug. Water at 90C. Steeped 5 minutes, drunk bare.

Do not oversteep. With ooloong-temp water and a three-minute steep, Joy is lovely, light, a bit creamy, a bit astringent, a bit sweet. By 5 minutes, it’s getting bitter. Joy is quite the diva, but treated well, this tea delivers.

Made for me at a DavidsTea. Bare — no sweetener or milk.

WOW. I’v had guayusa before and liked it, but this is really good. The fruit balance gives a shart scent but sweet tasting notes which complement the smooth earthiness of the guayusa beautifully. Some spicy notes, too. Very easy to drink. I would strongly recommend sipping it first before adding a sweetener.

Rating: 95.

Full leaf sachet in 300 mL 90C water, 3 minutes for the first steep, 5 for the second.

A very nice blend. There’s a hint of cream to the oolong this year. I notice “natural flavour” on the ingredient list; I should really like to know what that is.

Try this one with oolong-temp water to coax out the sweetness of the oolongs and to pamper the Darjeelings. Light colour, light to medium body, mild mucat notes, gentle green notes, plus some cream and somt stone fruit notes. Really, really good.

Rating: 95.

Made for me in a DavidsTea store. No idea how much they scoop in.

If you want to drink hot caramel apple, this is your beverage. It tastes very much like a caramel apple to me. So much so that I had to double-check that there was any actual tea in the blend.

I’m getting old and cranky. I like straight teas more and more.

This is very tasty — it just does not taste remotely like green tea. The liquor is very pale; it looks like a white tea.

I hardly know how to rate it.

2 tsp per 400mL mug. Boiling water. Bare. 8-minute steep. Rating: 95.

I really don’t like licorice in tisanes, so I’ve been staying away from the DavidsTea Ayurvedics. But it’s all a matter of balance. As in the Shanti, the licorice here just adds some depth and sweetness without dominating. This tisane is bright and cheerful and really tasty. It’s herbal, so it needs a good long steep to get all the flavours out. Several mornings over the last week I’ve drunk this instead of a tea with caffeine for my first morning cuppa, and I’ve woken up just fine. The weather here in Newfoundland has turned relentlessly cold, dull and wet, so this tisane is a real help. Sweet, a bit spicy, minty — but all in a good balance. Definitely worth a try.

6tsp for 750mL, Breville, green tea setting, medium strength (3-minute steep) with basket feature on.

Yes, that’s a lot of leaf for 750mL of tea, but the older I get, the stronger I like my tea — except for some of the oolongs; those I’ll follow directions for. Also, this Dragonwell is fluffy for a green. The leaves are long, flat and lovely.

I’m not Dragonwell expert, but the Dragonwell from Boston Tea Party is delicious. I gotta ask myself why I don’t make this more often. My flashier teas tend to push Dragonwell to the back of the line. But when there’s work to be done and green tea to be drunk, a good Dragonwell or a good Sencha can make my day.

Notes from an earlier comment. These hold true even with the stronger liquor this time: “Body is light but creamy. Taste is sweet and very refreshing. No mineral or brine notes. Faint fruitness rounds out the aftertaste. Maybe some distant smoke — hard to say. Slight nuttiness.” The only difference now is a pleasant mineral note in the finish — very clean. Lots of buance and subtlety in this unassuming straight green.

Rating: 95.

1.5 tsp for 250mL, boiling water, 4-minute steep.

I love lapsang souchong and Carvan teas. Adore them. I drink them a lot when the weather turns cold, though on occasion I’ll take hot cup of lapsang on a hot summer day and get serious refreshment. (It just seems counter-intuitive to drink hot smoky tea on a hot day. Any hot tea on a hot day will help you cool down, of course.) This lapsang from my local indie shop is, as the copy promises, smooth and crisp. The smokiness is almost a bit salty. The tea does not gett bitter.

The main difference I find between lapsang and Caravan teas is the degree of smoke (natch) and the body. Lapsangs tend to be light-bodied, Caravans a little heavier. I am actually in the mood for a Caravan this morning, I’ve discovered, but I am still loving this lapsang.

Rating: 100.