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Ok – goodbye White chocolate Mousse Cafe! I hardly knew you. :P

As I said before this is a decent blend with some strong coffee and chocolate flavours, but considering I paid as much for this as I could have for Pumpkin Chai or Stormy Night at DavidsTea, I won’t be getting any more.

I drank half an oz of it, and enjoyed it, but am happily trading it away to someone who I hope will appreciate it more! :)

Whoops. This is one of teas I bought when I first started shopping at DavidsTea and I bought 100g or nothing.

I like this one. The ginger is quite strong but the orange helps mellow it out. This isn’t one I would drink every day though. It’s good if I’m in the mood, or I want to settle my stomach, but really: when will I ever finish this tea up?

(Maybe I can drink enough of it that I can stuff it in a little foil bag, then fill the tin with…. Cookies dough?)

Mmmmm… The coffee smells pretty good in this. And I can taste the chocolately flavours in it. It’s rich but not as good as my Pumpkin Chai or Stormy Night dessert teas.

It’s really nice with the cream in it; this makes for a good alternative to coffee.

I’m happy I tried it, but don’t feel that I’ll need to replace it once I run out. It’s not as luxurious as I had imagined.

Time for another comparison! I wanted to brew Murchie’s Best Ceylon, and then I realised I had some Tetley’s Orange Pekoe in the cupboard as well.

Let the comparison begin!

I brewed both for 3.5 minutes as I was worried about oversteeping/bitterness.

Tetley’s Orange Pekoe smells like burnt earth, with a lot of smoke infused. The liquor is dark brown, almost like coffee. It tastes pretty much like it smells. I can see why I would normally add a ton of sugar and cream to this before consuming vast quantities of it. It’s funny because this is a tea I grew up with, but coming back to it after a year of drinking loose leaf teas, it seems like a completely different thing.

Murchie’s smells richer and clearer, with just a touch of smoke. Tetley’s is a dirty forest fire compared to this campfire. This one is a clear amber colour, more like I would expect from a black tea. It tastes nice too. I could drink this without anything, but I think it would benefit from cream. Murchie’s Ceylon is very nice, although still not my favourite black tea.

I was going to reward myself with Pumpkin Chai (with brown sugar and cream), but thought I’d give this one another shot. With chocolate, coconut, cinnamon etc I just feel that this SHOULD be an awesome tea. Yet, it disappoints again.

It’s still good. It’s almost like a hot chocolate with cinnamon in it. With the cream in it, it’s not as weak as I remember, but it’s just not amaaaaaazing. And not something I need to repurchase. The good news is that my tin is down to the “D” – I’m getting that much closer to filling it up with Cookie Dough or something else!

EDIT: As I sip away at it further I find I’m liking this one more and more. SO CONFUSING. But I’ll keep the lower rating b/c it’s not one that I"m consistently wowed by. :P

Thought I’d try some more of this to make sure it was as good as I thought. I brewed a whole pitcher of ice tea (7 minutes), and then used the same leaves to make another pot that was hot (which I’ve been drinking all afternoon). I accidently left the leaves too long for the second batch (about 14 minutes?) but it still tastes pretty good.

Verdict: Yes. Very good stuff! And now I’ve got some ready in the fridge whenever I want it! I’ve had too much for the moment so I better switch for a cup of Pumpkin Chai – haven’t had black tea for over 24 hours. DUN DUN DUHHHHHN.

Bought this one as Mulberry Monster – spooooky. What better to drink on Halloween?

I need more herbal teas as I’m trying to limit the amount of caffeine I consume in a day, and I picked up 40g on a whim after I smelled the dry sample in store. I’ve never had mulberry before, but the dry leaves smell so good! Fruity, nutty and sweet as well.

Figures – this is another one that smells different once you brew it. I’ve been caught by this before and should know better! Luckily (for me), it tastes GREAT, even if the liquor is murky and ugly.

It was really good as I sipped it hot, but I got caught up with a bunch of Halloween things, and am now sipping it cold – it’s still really good. I can mostly taste the nuts but it works really well. Some reviewers are comparing this blend to cookies and cake – I can’t say that I’m getting that, but I do appreciate the sweet nutty flavours in this and I like being able to drink an herbal tea that isn’t super fruity.

I drank the whole pot! Seems like it got nuttier as I got to the end.

I only used 1.5 tsp for the entire thing and that was enough. No sweetener required!

This one is a bit more expensive than I’d like ($9 for 50g) so I might not be able to justify keeping it in the cupboard all the time. We’ll see how long my 40g lasts…

It’s time for the great Darjeeling Tea-Off of 2012!

I thought I’d try Murchie’s Darling Finest Blend to compare to the one from David’s Tea that I’ve already been enjoying. Both were brewed for 4 minutes exactly and nothing was added in.

The Murchie’s blend seems bitter to me again. Perhaps the black tea they base their blends on is just more sensitive to steeping than I’m used to. It seems to me that the flavour in this would be improved with cream/sugar. Not that it’s bad; its just not as rich/complex that I would want to drink it black all the time.

I will try to brew the Murchie’s blend for less time next time and see if that brings out more flavours. Unless it does, David’s blend is by far the winner here. It seems smoother, mellower, and yet far more flavourful. It even smells richer. :) I wish I could describe it better, but I’m sure that’ll come with time, and reading other people’s descriptions won’t hurt.

I won’t rate it until I try it again – just to be fair!

Reviewed on Sunday (Oct 28)

I decided that my cupboard was sorely lacking in green teas, so I perused my David’s Tea catalog and narrowed down the ones that sounded tasty but weren’t super expensive: Genmaicha, Japanese Sencha and the Korean Sejak. I smelled all three of them, and the Sejak was the clear winner. The brown rice in the Genmaicha smelled interesting but I’ve had that type before and I remember it being one I need to be in the mood for.

Anyways… Today is when we do our weekly role-playing session (geeeeeks!) so I thought this would make a great pot that I could sip at all afternoon. I’m really enjoying this blend. It’s really smooth and refreshing.

I don’t have a fancy kettle so I don’t know what temperature I steeped it at, but I steeped it for 3 minutes for the first pot, and 4 for the second. I used 1.5 tsp overall and I found the flavour was still pleasantly strong.

Drinking it made me wish I had little ceramic tea cups. I imagine they would be great because they would keep the tea warmer longer (as smaller quantities are exposed to the air at a time). If I’m just wishing for stuff, a better tea pot would be nice too – one that traps the heat in better! :P

Anyways, I don’t have much experience with green teas, but I absolutely love this one. I’ll sample a few other blends to get a better idea of what’s out there, but for now this is one I’ll want to keep on hand.

I like the description too – about monks DEDICATED TO TEA tending carefully to the leaves. :O That makes me want to sit and sip at this tea in quiet mediation. :P

I thought I would give this a shot as I bought it to compare to David’s Tea’s Cream of Earl Grey (which I like, but Murchie’s sells for quite a bit cheaper).

The packet suggested steeping it for 4 minutes, but the result is bitter. Very bitter. :| There are some nice flavours in there, but I can’t get past the bitterness, so I’ll hold off on reviewing until I re-brew it.