1497 Tasting Notes
My LuxBerry order came in this morning, strangely in two separate bubble envelopes – I’m assuming because then they’d fit through the notorious Canada Post mailer slot that, if too big, increases the cost of mailing exponentially. This was the tea that kept on calling to me… even though it’s ambitious, to say the least. Okay, I’m throwing caution to the wind and having some green and mate tea at 4pm. Living on the edge!
I should note that I’m sick, so my sense of taste and smell are a bit off. I should just stick with my known favorites, and yet… this is new tea, dammit!
Opening the bag brought a strong, natural cherry scent, which concerned me somewhat. Steeped, it smells similarly, with a hint of cakeyness. Tasting it, I’m just getting black tea again. I really want to love this tea, so I add some Truvia. Uh oh, now the cherry is coming back after the sip, and it’s both astrigent and, dare I say, chemical-tasting. Which is odd considering there’s only natural flavoring in here. I get where the ‘cake’ bit comes from, as there is a cake-y mouthfeel.
Gr. I should just stick with the cold herbals until I stop coughing. :( Going to hold off on the rating until I feel better, or until my daughter gives me her opinion.
EDIT: My teenage daughter says, “Yep, it kinda tastes like cherry. I like the other one (Cinnamon Star) much more.”
Preparation
I’m sick, and wondering if I’m missing some taste bud awesomeness here, as this is tasting like… well black tea.
Opening the package, I smelled little other than cinnamon. Brewed, I smelled black tea, and tasting it was just like a simple black tea. Adding some Truvia helped bring the flavors out a bit more, and now it’s a nice, basic chai-like flavor. I’ll have to try it again when I’m feeling better to see if I’m doing this tea justice.
EDIT: Things must be clearing up as when I composed the tea leaves, I distinctly smelled cinnamon bun. Lovely!
ANOTHER EDIT: My teenage daughter says, “Yum! This is a lot like a cinnamon bun. Can I have the rest? No Mom, I’ll leave it without sugar.”
Preparation
Sipdown!
Liking this more with one tsp of Super Ginger added, as I’d predicted. Seems to mellow out everything a bit more, and I can actually taste the tumeric this time around. Will I order it again? Guess it depends if I wake up head cold -free tomorrow.
Preparation
Dry, this smells very much like a chocolate truffle, and I inhaled for a few minutes as soon as I opened the bag. Steeped, the smell is similar if more faint, and you can definitely tell this is a pu-erh.
Drinking it is interesting. There’s a thickness to it that was the first thing I ‘tasted’, if that makes any sense. Heavier than buttery or creamy, more like, well, a truffle oddly enough. The chocolate does come through in the sip, although it’s further along, and it lingers interestingly along with the pu-erh. Some Truvia amped up the chocolate flavoring to a more candy chocolate -like flavor.
It’s nice. I’ll have to drink more to really determine if it’s something I’ll reorder or not. Right now, it’s enjoyable and… hard to categorize.
Oh yea, and I’m really enjoying Tea Desire, I just wish they offered more details as to how much to steep their teas. This is the second time I had to wing it, and really, I have zero idea if I got it right.
Preparation
Cancelled a work trip this weekend because of the sneezing, watery eyes, sore throat and stuffed nose, as the last time I flew with a head cold, I blew an eardrum. Yuck!
Super Ginger felt like the best choice last night before going out, and then I finished off the pot of it early this morning in a drunken stupor. Yes, I think this was a perfect choice… just what I needed to settle my stomach and get to sleep!
Preparation
Is this a sipdown? Hm. Got a sample size of this, and forced it on my friend last night who loves Earl Grey, and who told me earlier last week he had enough tea to last him a few months – because I gave him a small pouch of DAVID’s Tea. Seriously? Sigh.
Anyway, it’s out of my cupboard now, even though I’m a bit sad I tasted zero of it.
Let me just put it out there that I hate the name of this tea. Why is it Slim and Slender? Makes zero sense.
Anyway…
Drank a cup this morning and another right now. Tastes like an unusual chai; lots of licorice in here, some cardamom, and a few flavors I’m struggling to identify. Has the mate really pepped me up? Maybe. Little more than say a black tea though, which surprised me a bit. Normally mate makes me crazy focused and a touch fidgety. Oh, wait, maybe I am fidgety today.
I like this, and I’ll have zero issue sipping it down, however I doubt I’ll buy it again. It’s just okay.
Also, how am I supposed to steep this? Zero instructions anywhere, so I guessed.
Preparation
I left a cup of this to cool at my desk while I was out tonight, with zero sugar added. I can taste more of the pepper now, as well as the cardamom and ginger. Chocolate had completely disappeared however, yet ginger still lingered, co-mingling with the pepper kernels. I think I like it better warm and with a touch of Truvia, however I did gulp this two cup sized mug in less than ten minutes.
I’m wondering if you’d like their blend Chai Apricot. It’s a green tea, an it’s really interesting (it’s actually one of few of their teas which seems to have a fair amount of reviews here on Steepster). I really enjoy that one.
I avoid extra sugars and have an allergy to strawberries, so these two things really limit my tea consumption at times. I have looked at Chai Apricot a few times, however what with the cinnamon sugar… :(
Oh, wow. This is a complete surprise.
Out of the bag, this definitely smells like a chocolatey chai. Steeped, there’s more ginger than a chai smell, although I can smell the cardamom as well. Drinking it… wow. Really, wow.
The first few (too hot) sips were bold and strong, with a definite chocolate start. Now that it’s cooled a touch to be comfortably devoured, it’s amazing. Hint of chocolate first, followed by ginger and cardamom, and finishing with some sweetness and licorice. I can, and will, drink this contentedly for the rest of the day. I remember the website saying this isn’t a punch-in-the-face chocolate, and they’re right… it’s still lovely and adds depth.
EDIT: This took 2tsp of tea per cup. I bought 50g of it, and this will only net a total of 6 cups of tea. I’ve put the last two cups -worth in my tea swap box, just because I think it needs sharing (and I’ll definitely order more, soon). Works out to be $1.25/cup, which is just fine with me.
Preparation
Sounds delicious!
Tea Desire has pretty low pricing, which is nice (I have a local store, so no need to worry about shipping for me) – and usually you get a fair amount out of 50g (Champagne Cassis, which is my favourite from there, gets about 35 cups for 50g not counting resteeps). However, sometimes their blends are SUPER heavy (worse than the more heavy DAVIDsTEA blends), especially ones with Chocolate. My second favourite Tea Desire blend in Banana Tea “Chocolate Cream” and holy mother is that a heavy blend. I think it, also, works out to something like 6 or 7 cups for 50g. I currently have like 200g of it in my house, and I typically only pull it out for super bad days or super good days/when I feel I’ve REALLY accomplished something. It’s not a “casual” tea, for me.
Interesting…. 12 tsp/50g – that’s crazy heavy. I drink tea 2 cups at a time, so that would only be 3 sittings….I’ve never seen one that heavy…
I’ve yet to try a banana tea, so that sounds really interesting! I’ll have to add it to my next order. I also agree – they have great pricing. Plus, my order arrived a day after I purchased it, and with free shipping to boot!
Maybe my math is off, however I steeped a liter of water to drink this myself, which worked out to 4 cups – and that took eight teaspoons of tea. I’ve now packed up two, two teaspoon, one cup servings for tea swaps, and I have zero tea left. Part of it I think is the star anise, which was left whole.
Yep, me again. What can I say, I brewed a lot of this! :)
Now that it’s almost completely cooled and sweetened, it has a completely different flavor again. Faint chocolate comes first, then unmistakably black tea for a second, then a stronger chocolate flavor followed by… hard to describe. A creamy, cake-like feel that lingers, along with a lot more of the dates coming through. It sits on my palate for a long time. I’m upgrading it a bit because I like it more now, for the complexity and challenge in even describing what it is I’m tasting.
All your reviews about this tea are making me want to place an order for Tea Desire.
Ha! It’s pretty good. Hold off on the ordering (if you want), because you’re definitely getting some of this in our swap!
That would be great! I will definitely hold off ordering then. I am also getting a sample of Banana Tea Chocolate Cream so if I like the teas I will know to order more of them.
