California Tea House

I received this as a sample with my recent order. Thank You California Tea House. I thought it was quite good and creamy. I did not enjoy the vanilla as much as I normally would a bergamot but it was very enjoyable none the less.

Upon trying this tea again a few times I simply can’t justify the high rating I gave it earlier. That one note is just overwhelming to me. It’s no better iced.

I was very excited to try this, so I was very disappointed at first sip. I find this tea, when plain, completely undrinkable. Adding some sugar helped a bit, but there is still too much of something (I think maybe cardamom?). Adding milk really tempered the punch and now it’s actually quite nice! It’s not the most chocolatey tea I’ve ever had, but it is a nice chai, overall. I look forward to trying this iced, too.

I have been spoiled by the divinity of American Tea Room’s Lemoncello, which is also a rooibos based lemon tea. However, the Lemoncello is so mild that it doesn’t do well diluted with ice. In searching for a tea to ice this summer, I discovered California Tea Room’s Lemon Meringue Pie. Though the dry tea is very astringent, smelling almost as if splashed with rubbing alcohol, the brewed liquid smells fabulous! The liquid tastes and smells unapologetically zingy, zesty, but not too acidic. It’s a strong lemon tea, yet the rooibos keeps it from being grassy. I put it over ice, and it remained strong and refreshing. With sugar added, it developed a whole new character. A delicious find! As long as I don’t inhale while the tea is dry, this is a wonderfully full, versatile cup of lemon tea.

This is one from the box of teas I bought from LiberTeas a year or so ago. As I think we all know by now, I’m not even remotely punctual in my tea-drinking but I get around to everything at one point or another. Dry, this has a jammy smell, very sweet and berry-ish without being able to name a specific aroma.

Steeped, I have a shockingly orange liquor with a relatively simple black tea smell but a delicious and complex taste. It’s tea, yes, but that berry/fruit/jam aroma I got from the dry leaf has translated beautifully into the steeped taste. I am not sure what muscat smells/tastes like but I like to hope that it is the ‘jamminess.’ I get a sense of bitterness that never fully develops, and quickly fades out to the sweet fruit I’m enjoying.

The leaves in my pouch are a bit more ragged than I might prefer, but they are large enough to avoid undue astringency, so they’re good enough. This is actually a pretty good tea – I know almost nothing about darjeelings so I don’t know if this is a good example of what they are or is a bit lower quality, either way it’s pretty tasty!

This tea is very subtle, which makes it a perfect tea for me to drink in between two other types of tea. I never get tired of this tea. It is very important with this tea to use soft water with few minerals, else the taste of the water wil overshadow the taste of the tea.

Love this tea! Iced or hot, the citrus is delicious and the flowers are lovely.

SIPDOWN!

Thanks to the lovely LiberTEAS for providing this one. It’s a solid Darjeeling. I’ve really enjoyed it! :) See my other note.

My plans for a tea tasting extravaganza got cut short yesterday. My fiancé and I are doing P90X together, and yesterday was Day 1. At one point, he turned to me and said, “Okay are you ready to start?” And I responded, “Umm, I’m practically sloshing with tea. I think I would puke if I worked out right now.” So, what did he say next? Solution = stop drinking tea! I started to protest and he thought I was just trying to get out of the workout. So alas, I stopped drinking tea way before I wanted to.

But today is a new day, so I’m picking up where I left off! I’m a little stuffy today, which means I’m not going to be able to describe the aromas or flavors particularly well. But so far, I’m loving this Darjeeling! I’ve only tried a bagged Darjeeling from Twinings once and it was awful. I’ve been afraid of trying it again ever since. But this is great!

It reminds me of Bailin Gongfu and Yunnan Dian Hong, with this being somewhere in between. I’m excited that I can enjoy this sans additions because that’s a rare event for me and black tea. I think I also might be starting to understand what muscatel means in a tea. It does slightly remind me of grapes and wine. But it’s also still prominently TEA. Time for a second steep!

This infusion was for 3 minutes, and I added skim milk and Truvia right away. Mmm, still delicious! Now I understand the hype over Darjeeling. This is a thoroughly enjoyable cuppa. Smooth and bright with no bitterness or even astringency to speak of. Thank you LiberTEAS for sharing this and re-opening my world to Darjeeling teas!

Backlog:

Sweet, a very strong vanilla flavor to this one. I am surprised at how much vanilla flavor is in this. I taste more vanilla than honeybush. The nutty tones of the honeybush are a nice pairing with the sweet vanilla tones.

Really nice, a nice treat for later at night when I want a warm, cozy, sweet cuppa but I don’t want caffeine.

This is decent. It takes me back to the days when I was flavoring/blending teas as I had a vanilla honeybush blend back then… although, I think I liked mine better than this. The flavor of the honeybush – naturally sweet, honey-like, with pronounced nutty tones – seems to marry very well with the creamy sweetness of vanilla. This is nice.

This was an excellent cup. It has a very smooth taste with hints of earth and roses. With a bit of milk and sugar it tastes almost like hot cocoa. This one will probably make my permanent on hand list. If you like black teas, you’ll probably love this one. Highly recommended.

Am convinced this is my all time favourite so far ! Love its sweet flavour and subtle aroma. Very close favourite is the Ceylon Golden Tips white tea ! :-)

It just gets better and better ! Mellow, classy, subtle aroma – am in tea heaven ! :-) I need to figure out regular supply of this one !

Lovely tea ! Went out of way to order this into India – you don’t get it here ! Worth the effort ! :-) Mellow, Sweet, Mild aroma – just the way a white tea should be for me !

To me, this is the perfect match of traditional and herbal tea. Aroma is great. Using about 9 pearls, I will steep them two times in a pot and get about 4 cups of jasmine delight. Seems the flavor goes quickly if you do not keep the package air tight…. compared to other teas.

Since I really like chai and I have yet to find my favorite sleepy time tea, I decided a mash up of the two could work well. This is pretty satisfying in both respects. I taste the appropriate chai spices and a bit of vanilla. I’m not sure I’m a big fan of the nutmeg in here though. Honeybush is definitely present. In my head it should be pretty bitter because of the Valerian root, but that’s not the case this time. I get a faint medicinal taste in here. It’s not a bad tea if you should be looking for sleepy time tea.

After trying their Silver Needle I had to try Golden Monkey Paw too. Now I have no doubt why it gets good reviews on here.
This is a full bodied tea, and I detect a mild malty flavor. I had this yesterday morning before work and really enjoyed it so I had another cup when I got home and I’m sure I will be finishing this bag fairly quickly.

I actually discovered California Tea House through Steepster. So glad I did! This is hands down the best Silver Needle I’ve ever had. According to the label it is USDA Organic which actually sometimes scares me in terms of flavor, but this came out perfect. Smooth, soft and still well rounded.

This is just the kind of tea that I needed tonight. I’ve had my share of lemon meringue pie rooibos teas and I have to say that I haven’t been noticing a huge difference between all of them. They all seem equally delicious and memorable to me. This one, however, seems to have a stronger lemon note with more of a dessert quality. I also have a weird teeth-coating sensation after drinking this tea. It feels like I’ve had a sugary soda — not terribly pleasant. Hm, well, anyway — I’m happy with this one. It’s a nice dessert tea with a heavy lemon note. I might say that this is my favorite Lemon Meringue Pie tea. I certainly wish I could detect a creamy aspect.. but for now, YUM! Thank you, MadelineAlyce!