Culinary Teas

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

I bought a one OZ sample of this in late November, 2011, having brewed it twice.

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: All standard, all good.

Brewing guidelines: four TSP, four cups H2O; four-cup ceramic teapot, with ceramic basket; stevia added; my standard Chinese red tea steeping times and temperatures; three steepings; two separate sessions.

Flavor of tea liquor (based on today’s session):
1st: ….Good
2nd: ….Good
3rd: …. < Later >

Value: I judge that most Culinary are generally very reasonably priced; this is currently $7.80 / 4 OZ, which puts it at a little under $2 / OZ (less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities). Not a bad price, but I think Teavivre’s least expensive Yunnan edges this one out.

Overall: I bought a bunch of samples of teas at the end of last year; although I bought most for my wife, I got this one for me (although, now it turns out she likes Yunnans, woo, hoo!). I’m going to keep this short. This is a good Yunnan, and, yeah, although I’d prefer to buy from Teavivre, I’d buy this one if I am in need of an inexpensive Yunnan and we order from Culinary Teas.

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

I bought a one-ounce sample of this in late November, 2011, having brewed it twice (most recently on 6/11/2012).

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: medium grade CTC leaf, with lots of goodies mixed in; pleasantly strong, but standard, ‘spicy chai’ aroma.

Brewing guidelines: four good-sized TSP, three cups H2O with about 1 cup unsweetened almond milk (heated) added to the teapot while steeping; loose in four-cup ceramic teapot; stevia added; my standard black tea steeping times and temperatures; ; two complete steeping sessions (months apart); three steepings each session.

Flavor of tea liquor (derived from the latest session):
1st: …..We both liked it.
2nd: ….Good.
3rd: ….< Later >

Aroma of tea liquor: standard ‘spicy Chai’ aroma.

Appearance and Aroma of wet leaf: < Later >

Value: Culinary flavor-added tea’s are generally very reasonably priced: this one is $8.15 / 4 OZ (on their website it’s listed under Chai and not under Flavored Tea ), which puts it at about $2 / OZ (and even less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities).

Overall: Haven’t done the third steeping yet, but I still wanted to log this. This afternoon my wife requested a Chai, and so I complied, reaching for this tea (to continue with the foray into finishing off the flavor-added Culinary Tea Teas—this is our fifth of thirteen). Although it doesn’t stand out as any better than any other chai, and neither of us could taste any pumpkin (my wife loves pumpkin), we both liked it. So, since it’s not a ‘thumbs down’ we may choose to get some on our next order from Culinary Teas.

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

I bought a one-ounce sample of this in late November, 2011, having brewed it twice (most recently on 6/8/2012).

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: about the same as the rest of the flavor-added black teas from Culinary Teas: medium grade CTC leaf, strong aroma, smelled good (chocolaty and fruity?).

Brewing guidelines: four good-sized TSP, four cups H2O; loose in four-cup ceramic teapot; stevia added; my standard black tea steeping times and temperatures; two complete steeping sessions (months apart); three steepings each session.

Flavor of tea liquor (derived from the latest session):
1st: definitely an unusual flavor, with notes of chocolate (more prominent when cooled), and not bitter
2nd: a little milder, but flavorful
3rd: still a bit of flavor

Color and aroma of tea liquor: It has a nice amber color; oddly enough (for a pecan pie flavored tea), the aroma has a chocolate note to it (my wife was the first to point that out).

Appearance and Aroma of wet leaf: Mid-grade CTC leaf, with a very small amount of flavoring bits; we both though that the aroma had something a little off-putting about it.

Value: Culinary flavor-added tea’s are generally very reasonably priced: this one is $8.15 / 4 OZ, which puts it at about $2 / OZ (and even less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities).

Overall: This is the fourth of our flavor-added black teas we bought from Culinary that we finished off (nine more to go!). My wife and I both enjoy pecan pie (usually only at Thanksgiving), and we both like chocolate; yet this tea doesn’t really taste like pecan pie to us; it is better than the last few Culinary teas we’ve had, but still it’s nothing to write home about. Admittedly, I’m a little confused, as not long after we bought these thirteen flavor-added black teas from Culinary we had a chance to try them all (many months ago, now), and I remember that we really liked some of them (where are you, scrumptious teas?!). Oh well. We won’t be getting this one again. Maybe the next one.

Backlog:

I brewed some of this last night, and it is delightful. I drank about half the pot hot, and then allowed the rest to chill for iced tea, and it is even better iced than it is hot. I think it needs just a little sweetener when it’s served iced, because it helps the flavors pop a little, but it’s well worth that little bit of sugar (I used coconut sugar, I love how quickly it dissolves in cold liquid, and even though I love coconut and wouldn’t mind at all if it did impart a coconut flavor to the tea, it didn’t. Just sweetness).

The sencha is sweet and fresh tasting without tasting overly vegetal or grassy… there are mere hints of it in the background, very slight. The mango is sweet and lush and delicious without being too nectar-like which would throw off the delicateness of this tea. The pineapple is not really so much an obvious pineapple flavor as it serves as a highlight of the mango notes. That is to say, I taste the pineapple, and it tastes like pineapple, but, it isn’t a strong, obvious pineapple flavor – more like an additional tropical note to enhance the overall tropical-ness of the cup. I like this one very much.

Backlog: I really enjoyed this tea. I had a cup of it hot, and then brewed some for iced tea. Both preparations are delicious. Sweet strawberry, notes of cream and a slight pastry note which is more noticeable when it is cold.

Really, really good. Here is my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2012/06/02/strawberry-shortcake-tea-from-culinary-teas/

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

I bought a one-ounce sample of this in late November, 2011, having brewed it twice.

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: about the same as the rest of the flavor-added black teas from Culinary Teas: medium grade CTC leaf, strong aroma.

Brewing guidelines: four good-sized TSP, four cups H2O; loose in four-cup ceramic teapot; stevia added; my standard black tea steeping times and temperatures; two steeping sessions (months apart); three steepings each session.

Flavor of tea liquor (derived primarily from latest session):
1st: strong, but bitter
2nd: no bitterness, but relatively weak on flavor
3rd: weak

Color and aroma of tea liquor: I liked both the amber color and the mildly fruity aroma.

Appearance and Aroma of wet leaf: Mid-grade CTC leaf, with a very small amount of flavoring bits; fitting aroma for the flavor it is meant to imitate.

Value: Culinary flavor-added tea’s are generally very reasonably priced: this one is $8.15 / 4 OZ, which puts it at about $2 / OZ (and even less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities).

Overall: I bought a bunch of samples of flavor-added black teas at the end of last year for my wife to try. My niece was with us this morning, and we all seemed to agree that the 1st steeping was unpleasantly bitter, and the 2nd, weak. I am currently drinking the third steeping (boiling, 7 minutes), and although there is some raspberry flavor there, it’s very light. I will say it doesn’t taste artificial (as it seems many inexpensive flavor-added teas can taste). I also remember being disappointed in the flavor the first time we tried this. That’s the end of this sample, and as much as we wanted to like this one—my wife loves raspberry flavored sweets, as does my niece—it just isn’t doing it for us; I don’t see us buying this one again.

So-so, needs dr.-up quite a bit. Not a huge chai fan anyways

One of my favorites of all time

Good sweet, summer caffeine free tea!

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

I bought a one OZ sample of this in late November, 2011, having brewed it twice.

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: about the same as the rest of the flavor-added black teas from Culinary Teas: medium grade leaf, strong aroma (of cinnamon, in this case).

Brewing guidelines: four TSP, four cups H2O; four-cup ceramic teapot, with ceramic basket; stevia added; my standard Chinese red tea steeping times and temperatures; three steepings.

Flavor of tea liquor: good, and very Cinnamon-y, but otherwise nothing noteable about it.

Value: Culinary flavor-added tea’s are generally very reasonably priced; this one is $8.15 / 4 OZ, which puts it at about $2 / OZ (and even less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities).

Overall: I bought a bunch of samples of flavor-added black teas at the end of last year for my wife to try. We both agree that, although this is a reasonably good tasting tea, it’s not one we plan to buy.

Tried this after a night of social drinking. Nothing like a “hair of the dog” tea to brighten your day. This stuff – unlike other flavored teas – actually doesn’t dilute very much after the initial dry whiff. The flavoring holds up after a good steep. As an added bonus, some of the natural floral characteristics of the Ceylon base also show through.

Full Review: Pending on www.teaviews.com

This is really very good. Sweet and toasty from the Genmaicha, and just the right amount of spices to create a warm and inviting cup. This is not a spicy chai, and yes, I do love spicy chai, but I like the balance here. The spices are gentle and do not overwhelm the flavors of the genmaicha, but, I can taste each spice. It’s a little peppery, zesty, cinnamon flavors are sweet and a little spicy too, the cardamom and cloves offer a solid background of spice, and I can taste hints of coriander.

I like the overall harmony of this cup. Well balanced and delicious. Very YUM!

Backlog from yesterday afternoon!

This tea was ok.

Smell: Dry, in the bag. Cirtusy, and a bit peachy. An odd mix, really. Couldn’t place everything. Steeping it was about the same.

Taste: Very subtle, though I swear there was something citrusy, so I added a bit of lemon. It was alright, actually. The peach was….there? Maybe? I don’t know. It was kind of bitter, too.

My guess is that I need to try again, maybe add more leaf, and also maybe try it cold. I’ll add more once I do that. Though it might be a little while.

I only have small, single-serving teapots at the moment, which means that the bf and I often end up drinking different teas in the evenings. I suppose this is for the best: while we have similar taste in teas we are often in different “tea moods.” But since I am in charge of actually brewing the tea, I end up having to wrestle out of him what he wants to drink. Sometimes it’s very specific, but some nights (like tonight) he’ll say “some sort of black tea.” I have 36 different blacks in my cupboard, not including samples or blends with green/white teas. So really, not a very helpful suggestion! I decided to go with the Orange Pekoe tonight, which I specifically got for him when I had my big Culinary gift certificate. He used to have a bagged version a lot and liked it, plus I can always go for more afternoon-type blacks.

This is an… unassuming tea. It’s mild, sweet, only a bit brisk and very mellow. Definitely more of an after-dinner drink than a mid-afternoon one, and with milk & sugar it’s definitely more likely to put you to sleep than give you a jolt of caffeine. But I certainly don’t need all my teas to be eye-openingly brisk, and for what it is this is definitely a solid choice.

This is the first in the lovely care package from Azzrian.

This is a very light, flavorful tea. I got more of the caramel and cherry in the aroma than in the flavor. However, the taste is pleasant and lightly sweet.

Decided to brew this as my last cup of tea (tisane) for the evening.

This is really good. Sweet almond flavor that melds deliciously with the rooibos’ natural nutty tones creates a very pleasant depth. The fruit notes of this are sweet and become very clearly apricot by the aftertaste. At first it just starts out with a tasty, sweet fruit flavor, but what type of fruit was not really distinct. But this flavor lingered well into the aftertaste, and at this point it was easy to identify it as apricot. Definite amaretto notes going on here.

Really quite good.

Sipdown! 824.

This one is definitely too perfumey for me. Sure, it tastes kind of grapey, and a bit reminiscent of ice wine, but honestly, Butiki’s Gui Fei Oolong tastes more like the real thing to me, and it’s not even flavoured! Also, there’s a bit of astringency here even with a 2-minute infusion, which I’m not fond of. Ah well! I’m not sure that finding the perfect ice wine tea is a huge priority for me (although I think a well-done one could certainly be interesting).

ETA: The second infusion wasn’t nearly as perfumey. But I hadn’t intended to re-steep this one, so once I realized what it was, it went down the drain. Needed to keep stomach real estate available for other teas.

Decided I’d compare the two ice wine teas I have tonight. Should have thrown 52teas Sweet Merlot in the mix too, but I didn’t think about it and probably have enough teas on the go right now anyhow. This one is courtesy of Azzrian!

Dry, this one smells sweet and a bit tangy. Steeped, it smells sweet and perfumey and OMG I’m such an idiot, I was swirling it around and dumped a bunch on my computer. Ok, all better, luckily I missed the actual keys part of the keyboard, just got some next to the trackpad. Funnily enough this is not even the first time I’ve spilled on my keyboard today… I’m usually better, I swear!

So back to the tea. Definitely surprisingly perfumey given the relative lack of aroma from the dry tea!

First infusion (boiling-ish/4min):
The taste is perfumey. Definitely reminiscent of an ice wine. Rather mild, which is ok. I can’t pick out the black tea base specifically, but can feel that it’s there. There’s also a touch of astringency, but not bad, just a bit mouth-drying.

Second infusion (boiling-ish/5-6min):
Less perfumey in aroma, but almost more perfumey in taste, perhaps because there’s less black tea base there to disguise it? Actually – it’s reminding me an awful lot of some sort of similarly-scented soap. That’s not to say it tastes soapy, but I swear I’ve had a soap in the past that smell/tasted VERY similar. Or bubble bath or something… some bath product. Perhaps even shampoo/conditioner. To my knowledge though, I don’t think I’ve ever had an ice wine or even grape-scented bath product (unless it’s one of those little plasticky bubble bath thingers that I’m thinking of, in which case it could be grape). I didn’t get this association really until the second cup (and even went back and it’s just not quite the same in the first infusion).

Overall, an interesting tea, but I don’t think I’d choose it for myself. I’ll have to see what the next version is like! And perhaps at some point give the Design-a-Tea version a try, since that was Azzrian’s favourite.

After two pretty disappointing tea experiences in one day, it was time to fall back on something I know I love. I have a whole bunch of new teas sitting there waiting to be tried, but oh well! Sometimes you just need a familiar cup.

This is one of the teas I got with my $100 certificate. I bought a lot of teas with it that I wasn’t familiar with or even sure that I’d like, and this was definitely one of them! I’ve never tried anything osmanthus flavored, and descriptions I looked up seemed pretty vague (peachy? floral? vegetal? malty?)—but hey, it’s free tea, I might as well take a chance! Boy, am I happy I did. Osmanthus is a flower, and it’s certainly quite floral, but in a deeper way than some other floral blends (jasmine, rose, etc). It’s a rich, almost juicy taste, and underneath the floral tones is a bright, tasty citrus. I was not expecting that at all, but it’s fabulous! It’s like the love child of jasmine and mandarin orange. The green base is very nice too—not too vegetal, but with some sweet and lingering woodsy flavors.

This has quickly become a staple in my cupboard, and the fact that you can get 4+ good steeps out of it certainly helps. It seems like it would be fantastic iced, but I can never seem to wait long enough to cool it down—I just want to drink it right away whenever I take the leaves out!

I’ve been debating for a while which tea to have for my first tasting note—kind of silly, but it seems important! This one seems the most fitting, as I wouldn’t have it without Steepster. About a month ago there was a post about Culinary Teas having a $100 giveaway, and I entered and promptly forgot about it. Then two days before my birthday I got a surprise email and won! This was the first tea I added to my cart and my favorite of the 12 I got, so I shall christen my Steepster account with it.

I love earl greys, they were one of the first teas I ever had but there are so many varieties that it’s pretty hard to get tired of. It’s my go-to evening tea, but I’ve never tried a white blend and liked it… until now, of course. The cream elements elevate this tea perfectly—it’s light, sweet, creamy, with a mild hint of citrus. This is definitely a subdued and mellow tea, without that in-your-face bergamont a lot of blends have. It’s so comforting, like drinking a shortbread cookie with icing. I always put milk in my earl grey and it adds an almost overly creamy flavor here, so I take it with just sugar. Unless I’m feeling sleepy—while it has caffeine, this tea with milk puts me right to sleep!

No other tea says “spring” to me quite like a cherry flavored Sencha. It always evokes images of cherry blossoms and the beauty and splendor of spring. This is a really delightful cherry Sencha, sweet cherry with a hint of tart, and a slight sharpness from the rose. The Sencha is crisp yet smooth. A lovely cuppa.

I didn’t brew this quite the way the instructions suggested (by dropping a tea bag into a 20oz bottle of water), instead, I put five tea bags into my half gallon pitcher and added filtered water and allowed it to steep overnight.

This produced a strong flavored iced tea, but, I wouldn’t say it’s too strong, and certainly not bitter. Instead, it’s really tasty. I like that while the mango is a dominate flavor here, it does not overpower the flavor of the green tea, and the Matcha really comes through so deliciously. Sweet, slightly vegetative, and very restorative! Yummy!

Backlogging from a week ago

Experience Buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

I bought a one OZ sample of this in late November, 2011, and have brewed it once so far.

Appearance and Aroma of Dry Leaf: In the bag it looked dark brown (like a black tea), but when I took some of it out of the bag and looked at it in the sunlight, I could see that it was very dark green leaves with a few white-ish colored leaves here and there (looks more like a yellow tea, as in H&S Yellow Sprout, but with much smaller ‘pieces’); it does at least smell like a fresh green tea: vegetal, almost spicy (again, like H&S YS).

Brewing Guidelines: Six shallow tsp = six cups water; glass Bodum pot, leaf free to roam; stevia added; my standard Chinese-green tea steeping times and temperatures (although I went a little cooler than planned with the last two steepings); four steepings.

Flavor of Tea Liquor: My wife and I both generally liked it; the front-end was mild, but it had a good ‘finish’ (I think that’s what you call the end of the tasting note) in that it had a flavor similar to a fresh spring green on the first steeping. After second and third steepings: (me): “Decent, passable,” (wife): “And not nasty” (my wife calls the taste of some greens ‘nasty,’ so that’s meant to be somewhat of a compliment for the tea). It still had some mild flavor on the forth.

Color of tea liquor: Somewhat cloudy, yellow-green color.

Appearance of Wet Leaf: There was lots of movement of the leaf while steeping; it was mostly chopped bits of leaves with a number of stems.

Value: Good: $7.25 / 4 OZ. Any green tea under $2/OZ that has at least decent flavor through three steepings is notable in my book.

Overall: Again, I bought this as a possible candidate for an inexpensive green tea. And it turns out this one’s a keeper, as in, worth buying the next time we order from Culinary Teas. My wife and I both thought the flavor of this one was reasonable on all four steepings (I am reasonably impressed when I can still get flavor out of the forth for a tea priced below $2/OZ). If we do order a few flavor-added black teas from them this fall, this green will be a good candidate to add to the order to help get our total over $75 for the free shipping (otherwise the shipping can easily cost $7, or higher, as they price by weight).

Experience buying from Culinary Teas http://steepster.com/places/2981-culinary-teas-online-milford-indiana

UPDATE (6/14/2012): Yesterday I completed a second session of steepings with this tea (a total of three steepings) and got the same results. My wife noted that although it was different than the other greens we normally enjoy it was still drinkable (she’s kind of picky, in my opinion). I upped the rating by two points.

I bought a one OZ sample of this in late November, 2011, and have brewed it once so far.

Appearance and Aroma of dry leaf: It is a medium brown color and looks like large coffee grounds; it has a surprisingly strong aroma (surprising as it doesn’t look like a green tea to me), that smells like just about any other decent green I’ve had.

Brewing guidelines: six very shallow teaspoons (as this stuff is very fine) = six cups water; glass Bodum pot with metal infuser/plunger; stevia added; I basically used my standard green tea steeping times and temperatures; four steepings.

Color and Aroma of tea liquor: Not much aroma; it was an unusual color for a green tea (my wife even noticed this), as it was very yellow-ish; it was clear, though.

Flavor of tea liquor: Not anything that interesting to report here, as, in general, it tasted like many other green teas I have had; it did have decent flavor on the third steeping, and even some on the forth; and there was some astringency when I tasted a bit of water that was hiding in the bottom of my Bodum strainer when I went to do the next steeping (not a big surprise though, especially for a green tea at this price range).

Appearance and Aroma of wet leaf: It basically looked the same as when it was dry, which was VERY surprising; it looked almost like finely ground, and cooked, hamburger (I was expecting to see tiny fragments of opened leaf); it had almost no aroma (at least when I composted it and smelled it then).

Value: This is where this tea has something notable about it; I think it’s Culinary tea’s least expensive green, at $6.10 / 4 OZ, which puts it at about $1.50 / OZ (and even less with any discounts and/or if you buy it in larger quantities).

Overall: I’m trying to go through the samples left over from all of the sales near the end of last year (I still have about eight left). I bought this tea for two reasons: one, it was inexpensive, and I am always on the look-out for a decent tasting, inexpensive green; two, it was from Kenya, and since I have never had a green tea (or any other tea that I am aware of) from Kenya, I wanted to try one. I admit I didn’t put much effort in trying to ferret out all of the different flavors in here (maybe I will when I brew up the next pot of it); so with that in mind, all I have to state is that it’s flavor was a little different than the standard Chinese green tea (I hope to flush this out when I do the next go around with it), and it’s better than some other lower-end teas like a chun mee (which commonly is too smoky, or something, to me). Nothing great about this tea, but nothing off-putting about the flavor, either, which is not uncommon at this price range. Still I’m glad I tried it, and I hope to try other teas from Kenya when the opportunity presents itself.