TeaBrat select Send Message

Another sample from the Harney batch. Not really a favorite of mine – I steeped this for 4 minutes per the instructions of H & S. I fear this may have been too long. The website says this tea is light in body and a mellow brew. I am finding it to be fruity but quite astringent and with a bitter aftertaste. Reminiscent of a Ceylon to me and not an Assam.

I would like more of this to do some experiments on the steeping time but all I have is this one little pot and I won’t be getting more I suspect.

This is so good… it is even better when you follow the traditional chai cooking instructions on Rishi’s website. I used soymilk instead of milk. They suggest 3 tablespoons of sugar? Sugar is not required at all IMO. This tea will not last for very long in my house….

yum yum yum

It’s true you can’t taste a whole lot of oolong here but I am kind of wondering which oolong of theirs they used here as the base, I am guessing the bai hao but I could be wrong.

Again, more hibiscus what is up, I think someone at Rishi owns stock in a hibiscus plantation. Thankfully this is downplayed quite a LOT so the aftertaste is not really tart at all. Or perhaps the oolong is providing a nice counterpart to the tartness of the fruit. I am getting mostly plum here and it is done very, very well. Happiness!!! bliss! It’s fruit paradise!

please note: your mileage may vary… ;-P

I ordered a nice little package of this in my most recent shipment from Rishi. Although I like pu-erh a lot, I also like it mixed with other things sometimes.

I was a little worried about this because there is hibiscus in it. It seems Rishi is mad for hibiscus since it finds its way into so many of their blends.

This is VERY citrusy. When you open the bag it practically knocks you down with an intense fruit smell. I liked this, a lot. Mostly the flavor is of orange and grapefruit so it’s kinda hard to taste the pu-erh in here. I believe the pu-erh is grounding the tartness of the citrus with some earthy dark flavors, kind of like orange chocolate. I am finding it refreshing and delicious.

This is an organic and fair trade tea which is also a plus as far as I am concerned. I only wish I had purchased a bigger bag!

I received two small sample sizes of this from Golden Moon with my iced tea set. I am a bit puzzled by it. The dry leaves smell great but when this tea brews up it definitely smells like alcohol as a few other people have mentioned. It does smell like a melon scented beer. I am not sure if I like the aroma.

The taste of it however is very nice, perfectly smooth and sweet . I am not sure what else to say, it was interesting but not something I would purchase for myself.

I’ve been drinking this tea for a few years now, I like it pretty well but I just finished the tin and I don’t intend to run out and buy any more soon. I am used to drinking my tea strong so I normally put two teabags in a cup. I like the balance of flavors here between the blackberry, the sage and the black tea. Not at all tart and also no hibiscus because it’s really not a favorite of mine. Sage is supposed to be good for people with asthma so I got it for drinking during the winter season.

I have been daydreaming about this tea ever since the lovely Jenn sent me a sample a little while ago. Thank you, Jenn for fueling my addiction, hee hee. I had to buy a tin of it.

This is a yummy flavored tea. I am not usually much of a fan of chocolate in tea but here it works somehow. The hazelnut is definitely there as well, perhaps it’s the combination of the two that works for me. I see a lot of tea that claims to be nut flavored but the nut hardly comes through at all. I have no idea if people drink this kind of tea in Italy but who cares! ha! It is lovely here in San Francisco and taking the chill out of my November morning.

This tea also need to be tried with rum in it or maybe brandy! woo!

This is a free sample I got from the nice folks at Lupicia with my monthly newsletter. It’s one of those pyramid teabags made from fabric that are so trendy these days, blah blah blah.

I almost did not try this because I usually never like anything with red rooibos in it. This is pretty well done though, with notes of japanese sweet potato and pumpkin those flavors seem to predominate instead of the rooibos. Flavor is kind of like a pumpkin pie and I wish it had some cinnamon in it (although you could add your own I suppose). Nice herbal dessert tea.

I stand amazed that I actually like this. Bravo to the folks at Lupicia and please open your SF store again soon! =)

I’m done with this sample and I’m kind of sad to see it go. Luckily I just a pu-erh sampler today from Verdant. :)

One word: meh

Something I picked up on my way to work today, I am not the hugest darjeeling fan but this was supposed to have sweet strawberry zest so I thought the combination of the two would be nice.

Unfortunately the darjeeling and the berry are totally overpowered by the hibiscus. This tea was kind of tart and left a funny aftertaste in my mouth. I had to struggle to finish it but it wasn’t so bad that I threw it away.