Cornelia Bean

This one is from my Secret Pumpkin Anlina who very thoughtfully read my whole giant profile thing to figure out which teas to send me (it’s really long; so reading it must have been an endeavor). She ended up sending me a whole bunch of Cornelia Bean teas (quite a bit of each, too!) that I had never tried – and all were definitely thoughtfully picked out, as well as a few smaller samples from assorted companies.

I steeped this one up because I was in the mood for a black tea, and based on the ingredients list this one seemed like a simple enough blend that I wouldn’t have to put a lot of “thought” into while drinking it – I could just sip on it casually while enjoying the other blends I have brewed up.

Taste wise, this isn’t nearly as smooth as anticipated, though it’s not exactly bitter or astringent either – more so that maybe the black base is conflicting with the sweet, tropical passionfuit? The passionfruit aspect is very nice though; it’s pretty strong and fairly accurate to the fruit. Some sugar might round this one out a little bit more. There’s also another thing about it though; it tastes really familiar – as if I’ve had it before, even though I’m sure I haven’t. My brain is hurting a little bit trying to figure out why it seems so familiar.

Overall; this is a nice cup and I’m enjoying it, but I might have to play around with it a little bit more to really make it pop.

I smelled this in store yesterday and just had to have some to try! The leaves smell amazing, like seriously good enough to eat. Brewed up, the coconut is beautifully creamy while the pineapple adds a nice tart bite to the sip. The base tea is definitely present, and a little stronger than I like my black bases to be. I like a lot of things about this tea, I think I just need to drink a few cups to get a bit more used to the presence of the base tea notes. Overall, I am glad I have some of this to try and I could see it becoming a tea I am very fond of.

Sipdown! Thanks for sharing some of this, VariaTea! This reminds me somewhat of Tsaa’s Sweet Temptation (or whatever it’s called), although even in my teeny package of this, I think there were far more little bits of nougat than I had in multiple cups of the Tsaa version. Result? Pretty yummy! Sweet, light, nougatty blend. This (and the next tea I’m reviewing) got an epic 28 minute infusion, and I’m happy to say that this tea didn’t suffer one bit. The rooibos is at that good level where it’s acting as a base flavour for the sweetness, but not contributing it’s own woody or medicinal flavours (and I’m not getting too much of the usual scratchy-throat feeling, which is also a plus).

Anyways, overall a pretty good tea! I prefer Bayswater’s Divine Temptation because I don’t care about caffeine, but this is a pretty good alternative.

I had this again, not at home and not brewed by me, so once again it was oversteeped. But it’s still pretty tasty and with a bit of cream and sugar, worked well. I may have to pick up some for home one of these days.

Okay, so what’s the deal with gravity steepers like the Brewt? They seem to be really popular in restaurants, but I just don’t get the appeal. I never have a cup large enough to drain the whole thing, so unless I’m drinking something very forgiving, half my tea always ends up terribly oversteeped. This does not sound like a good or appealing design. Why??

Mmm nice and creamy. Good balance of bergamot and cream. The pot I had was slightly oversteeped and started to feel pretty astringent by the third cup or so, but overall quite good.

Sipping down the last of my sample as a latte. It’s alright but not awesome this way. Pineapple is the only flavour that comes through strongly.

I was going to make this with coconut milk, but I didn’t want to open a whole can to make one drink, since it never keeps very long after being opened.

I might rebuy.

Mmm lovely. The dry leaf smells very strongly of pineapple and coconut. Steeped for 4 minutes, the pineapple and coconut flavours are strong and well balanced with each other. The black tea is there but not really distinctive, it just carries the flavours nicely.

I added a wee bit of sugar to this which was a good choice. Straight there are some hints of sweetness but not quite enough for these flavours, and the coconut felt a bit oily. With sugar, the oiliness became creamy.

Sipdown! It appears that I drank this four years ago and was unimpressed – I remain so today. It wasn’t the worst cup of rooibos I’ve ever had, but it was basically just a cream rooibos, as I concluded previously (I’m unsure how old it was when I first tried it). Meh. I still drank it, though.

Thanks again to mystery swapper! This tea is kind of a bust – tastes just like a rooibos cream to me. Seabuckthorn is pretty sour and astringent, and I’m not picking up any of that here. Probably for the best; although I wanted to try this tea, I’m not entirely sure I thought it would work anyhow. Kind of makes me think curdled… Anyhow, average rooibos cream, and that’s about it.

This is really great. It has a lot of chai characteristics but is really unique. The start of the sip is sweet but is balanced by the charred notes of the gunpowder green tea. Distinct notes of cinnamon and clove, with pepper spiciness, and then a mouth full of juicy, slightly tart apricot that lingers long into the finish.

I usually add a lot of milk and sugar to my chai, regardless of the base, but I really don’t think this one needs it, or would really be improved by it.

Meh. This tea is not for me. This is the second time I’ve had it and been unimpressed. There’s a strong soapy flavour to it that’s off putting, and dominates the malt. I thought maybe it was soap residue, but I think this happened last time, and I know that this time the tea ware was rinsed before using.

Ah well. It’s not terrible. I’ll still finish it, I just wouldn’t reach for it, and I wouldn’t buy it. Without the soap flavour it’d be fine.

Edit: This improves as it cools. The malt and a fruit note become more prominent and the soap fades out a bit.

Yum! Used three tsp (as per what OMGsrsly wrote right on the sample bag – thank you!) and it was delicious. I got less fluffy orange and more smoked orange though. No, wait. Sage orange. Yes, that’s definitely it. I’d order more of this were I to grab a bunch of things from Cornelia. Must admit I have a soft spot for them.. my first ever Tea & Coffee exchange on RedditGifts gave me a huge Cornelia Bean package of a variety of teas. Gosh, four, five years ago now? Someday, I’ll visit in person. Someday soon.

Er…. I don’t remember who sent this tea to me :( It was whoever the last person I swapped with was… who I also got some 52teas from…. maybe if I check my Steepster messages I can figure this out…

Anyhow! My first tea from Cornelia Bean, and unfortunately I’m not overly impressed. The strawberry flavour is very similar to a bunch of other strawberry teas I’ve had previously, which is ok (of course, I’m completely blanking on their names. One I had a sample of from *Sil*… and sometimes teas with this flavour are labelled as “strawberry + papaya”, I think… bad memory today, it seems.). It’s kind of light though, but that’s to be expected as a consequence of old age. I’m more disappointed in the meringue bits – they didn’t even fully dissolve for me, so I have no idea what they really add. I may try a second infusion in less water, adding the other half of the packet into the infuser, and see what results. Otherwise, this tea is probably very similar to those other ones I mentioned, that I’ll have to look up.

ETA: I believe the tea I was referring to would be “Yaya Strawberry” by Steep City, and I believe the swapper in question was Courtney, although I am nowhere near 100% sure about that.

ETA2: This also ended up being a sipdown. Loved the strawberry flavour, but didn’t find any real meringuey-ness, and as I’ve had that same fruitiness before, this is a bit of a miss for me for sure.

Oh this is so nice. There’s a hint of the medicinal note that some roobos has, but it’s very faint, and mostly, there’s just a very pleasant apple and currant flavour. The currant is particularly distinct and delicious.

I think I might need to try steeping other rooibos blends for a shorter time. I did this one for 4 minutes, which is shorter than usual, and I’m really pleased with how well it turned out.

Trying this again since it’s been ages. This time around it’s not terrible but I’m not really into it either. It mostly tastes like a cinnamon rooibos with a touch of the iron flavour I noticed last time, and an odd slippery/watery texture to it.

I think this will go into a pile to pass on to someone else who might appreciate it more than me.

This is weird. It smells like it should be fantastic, with citrus peel notes and lots of spices. The smell really is evocative of sitting by a fire all cozy and bundled up. And there’s lots of cinnamon, clove and nutmeg flavour. But at the start of the sip there’s also this odd taste that’s kind of dry and minerally, almost woody but not in the way that rooibos often is. My partner said it tasted like chard and I can see that – the iron notes of it.

So I dunno, very weird.

I’ve had a few excellent honeybush blends lately, and so during my last visit to Cornelia Bean, I grabbed one of their only honeybush tisanes.

The dry leaf smells amazing – very fruity and tangy, like citrus peels.

Steeped though… I’m not sure what to make of this. There’s the citrusy fruit notes like the dry leaf, but there’s also this really odd fragrance of olives. There’s a bit of tropical fruit flavour on the sip, notably papaya, and the fruit intensifies on the finish, but then transitions to an olivey taste that fills the back of the mouth. It’s weird and off putting.

It’s like there’s two competing things going on in this cup – fruity honeybush and then olives trying to horn in.

I’m going to let this cool and see if it gets any better, because right now, I feel reluctant to finish this cup.

I’m grumpy as hell because the water is off in my building again, and all I’ve eaten for breakfast is cookies, so I’m rapidly becoming over caffeinated which does not bode well. So, trying out the decaf Earl Grey.

This is not bad for a decaf and it’s not a bad Earl Grey. There’s a good amount of bergamot, and also a black currant note, which is interesting. There’s a kind of juiciness on the finish, which is not something I really look for in an Earl Grey, typically, but it works. Very faintly astringent.

This would not be my go to Earl Grey, but it’d be awesome to have in the evening, if you want that black tea flavour without the caffeine.

Smells delicious, sounds even better, but it’s mostly woodsy rooibos with hints of lime. Not getting any sage, even after a ten minute steep.

OMGseriously you rock, as per usual, for sending this along.

Oh this is amazing. It’s like gyokuro and milk oolong had a delicious, delicious baby. Nutty and buttery with notes of umami and a slight roasty flavour. A bit drying in the mouth but subtly.

My morning cup, which I think I understeeped a bit. There was a lot of flavour at the front of the mouth but not much at the back.

This is a nice CTC. A bit brisk but not overly astringent, and very bready tasting. More dry than sweet. Not as bold as most Assam CTCs I’ve had, but this is a nice afternoon tea and would be a good first cup of the morning too.

Nice to drink straight, but also good with a bit of milk and sugar.

This is such a beautiful jasmine tea. The dried leaf is just gorgeous. Deep green, shiny spears of sencha, with the paler green angular bamboo leaves and a scattering of white, pink and blue from the flowers. It’s fluffy and the different colours and shapes combine artfully.

On the nose the jasmine is the dominant note, but there’s also a juicy, sweet fruity note from the bamboo leaves.

This has quite a delicate flavour. The jasmine is very present but not overpowering, with some rose and the sweet fruitiness of bamboo leaves. The base blends beautifully with the rest of the flavours, and for a sencha, is surprisingly not vegetal.