Art of Tea

Found at a newish local coffee and tea shop. Tasty, very much in line with other Iron Goddesses and Monkey Pickeds…vegetal, a little more roasty flavored than others I’ve tasted. A very nice oolong! I drank a whole small pot, so I hope I can go to sleep tonight! I tend to overdrink oolongs and then the caffeine sneaks up on me!

I’ve only had a handful of unflavored whites, so I can’t really say how this compares to other bai mu dan teas, but I like it quite a bit. It’s my evening tea; enough caffeine to satisfy the addiction, but not enough to keep me awake half the night. In the cup, it has a delicate floral scent, perhaps a little powdery; the sip tastes every bit as delicate, but adds a grassy note. Its warm, smooth, and a pleasant end to my day.

This is really pretty good. I have been so apprehensive about it, but needn’t have been. The banana and coconut are the dominate flavors, and they manage to hedge out the woody tones of the rooibos, and some of the less than appealing flavor of the chamomile … leaving me to taste the tasty apple-y notes of the chamomile and even some of the fruitier tones of the rooibos that I don’t usually taste in other blends.

One of the tastier chamomile blends I’ve tried in a long time!

This is way better than I thought it would be. I guess I have that idea that if it’s rooibos, I probably won’t like it mindset, when the reality is that I’ve not really had a lot of rooibos blends lately that I’ve disliked.

The blueberry flavor is strong here, and it has a nice creamy taste in the background. The rooibos and honeybush compliment each other well. Well balanced, flavorful. Really tasty!

I love this tea, it’s sweet with floral taste but quite a bit sencha.

Not exactly my cuppa but glad I had the chance to try it. The base just wasn’t there for me. If you want to see the full review here you go…

http://bit.ly/nthnbs

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea! This is one that I’ve not yet tried from Art of Tea, but have been wanting to try for some time now.

This is an incredibly rich and flavorful Hojicha. The toasty flavor of the Hojicha combined with the white chocolate and vanilla makes for a wonderful combination. Smooth, sweet and creamy. Very yum!

Lemon Myrtle has become a favorite component of mine lately. It adds an aroma that follows through with a wonderful lemony richness without the tartness of lemon. Vanilla creme is a now a very popular flavor addition, so I think Art of Tea has been right on with their blending creations.

I enjoyed this blend very much.

I think that I like this blend a bit more than I did about 3 years ago. It could be that I’ve become more fond of banana teas, but this one is very unique and yummy. I first taste the sweetness of the banana and it reminds me a little bit of a banana dessert with graham crackers, caramel and whipped cream. The finish is almost pure chamomile, gently floral. I can taste a little bit of the coconut in the form of something sour, but none of the lemongrass. It does get a little bit soapy, but I like the sweet banana too much to stop drinking. This is a nice blend to have in the cupboard when you want chamomile with something extra!

It’s too late for black tea right now (I’ve got to get up early tomorrow morning) and I don’t want to drink my last bag of Caramel Creme Rooibos. Banana Dulce it is! This isn’t my first time drinking this tea. I’ve had it a few times and must say that I didn’t LOVE it right from the start. I messed around with the steep time and for me, around three minutes is best.

Very Long (and unnecessary) Nap: Check.
Pancakes for Dinner: Check.
A Hot Cup of Tea: Check.

I don’t do backflips for chamomile, but this blend is very enjoyable for me. The tiny flowers are cute and there are actual shreds of coconut, pieces of (kinda-soft) banana, something that looks like banana dusted in graham cracker, very small bits of rooibos and longer strands of lemongrass.

The taste is comforting. The chamomile flowers give you that VERY distinct chamomile taste, but it’s enhanced by the coconut and banana. I’m not sure if the coconut and banana are really strong, but weave themselves softly with the chamomile. My tongue doesn’t get a trace of rooibos, to be honest. I’m also not getting a ton of lavender or lemongrass. Strangely, when I sip.. I sense that everything is there, though. It feels FULL – like I’ve eaten a sachet kept in a sock drawer (without getting the individual components).

No, I don’t feel like I’ve been taken away to a tropical beach nor do I feel like I’ve eaten a hefty dessert. It’s a very different and interesting tea. Floral? Yes. Slightly sweet? Yes. Dessert-like? Not really. Bizarre? You betcha. I’m not scared away by this tea and I might have another cup when I finish writing this tasting note. I really can’t put my finger on what this tea is, but it’s quite nice for tonight.

This tastes like foam banana sweets today. I had the first steep plain, and I am now sipping on the second steep as a latte since it is a miserable cold and rainy day here. I have made this as a latte quite a few times and it always comes out very sweet and syrupy, even without the addition of sugar. I was craving sweet today, so I am glad I chose this.

I get cravings for this every once in a while, and I got one today, so I dug it out of my stash. This tea is very soothing, I’m not really sure why. It smells like those foamy banana sweets I would eat as a kid! I think rooibos works well as a base for this becuase the woody notes of the rooibos sort of calm down the sweet banana taste.

Thanks LauraR!

I have had this one before, I just haven’t logged it. I don’t know why though, this is pretty good! In todays cup, the banana is very strong (I don’t remember it being so strong in previous cups – maybe I got a few more bits of banana today) but I can still taste a little bit of chocolate and the peppercorn kick, tiny as it is, is present at the end of the sip. I have never really got apple from this, and today is no exception. I’ve had this as a latte before as well and it is amazing, so it gets more points for being multi-purpose!

I am very impressed with the quality of Art of Tea’s teabags. Usually I don’t expect much flavor from teabags, but this almost had a bit too much! Like many others have said about their loose Earl Grey, the bergamot is definitely the most dominate flavor. I honestly didn’t sense any of the cream or vanilla, which was disappointing. It’s still a smooth and very flavorful cup.

This is a very interesting tea. Steeping, the scent was VERY strong.. and I was worried that it might end up a little too strong for me. The flavor tastes like something familiar, but I can’t figure out what it reminds me of! The classic lemon flavor comes through at the tail end of the sip for me. Its finish is something almost like lemonade. The majority of the sip, though, is something that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s the ginger or other dimensions of the lemon? Either way, this is a very strong cup of tea that is both refreshing and invigorating.

Actually had this prepared for me as an iced tea by Art of Tea at their office in Los Angeles. As is with ice, it was surprisingly sweet. No added sugar needed.

1TB of wing sauce added to my chicken yakisoba bowl for lunch… BIG mistake. Had to try to calm my mouth w/ matcha protein water. This was strawberry kiwi. I think pink lemonade would have worked better, but I haven’t been able to find it.

My first experience with an angry client at work today… I’m just greatful it was in an e-mail and not a real time phone call. I’m extremely sensitive and need to work on not taking things personal. You’d think working 3 months as a telemarketer would have worked, but desensitization thru exposure just isn’t effective for me. I need a matcha break. Full chawan.

Done w/ work for now. My position is newly created and my boss is really behind so I often don’t work for long periods at a time- that will DEFINITELY change in the future though. Paid my phone bill (for the next 3 months- YAY!) and my credit cards (not yay). It was my first payment since getting my computer fixed and it wasn’t recognized so I had to enter a verification code… that’s when I noticed 2 phone numbers were shown on my account. This can NOT be good. Grrr… I need matcha. Good ol’ fashioned hot matcha in my chawan. I may even have a full bowl.

Decided to sleep in so I chugged some matcha protein water before work. Didn’t help my headache though. :(

Matcha OJ- not a large amount of added flavor, but a nice freshness.

Matcha protein water and blackberries is the extent of my lunch today.

Have to get up at 2am tomorrow and breakfast isn’t til 7. Decided to have some matcha protein water before bed in case I’m too tired tomorrow.

Made my strawberry protein water w/ this today. Didn’t necessarily make it taste like ginger, but it did tone down the strawberry so it doesn’t taste like strawberry juice. Something I didn’t mention yesterday… this is a LOT foamier than the pink lemonade version… weird.