ESP Emporium

I had incredibly high hopes for this tea the second I opened the bag. The “tea” mix has a very strong, sweet fruity smell, like a sugared wine. It left me truly excited at the prospect of tasting this tea! The strong scent left me surprised at how light the brew was, and hoping that it tasted more like it smelled, less like it looked.

Hot, this tea just didn’t meet my expectations – it tastes weak, even after a long steep at the recommended temperature, time, and “tea” amount. It has the flavor of an extremely watered down, warm juice (which, I suppose, is what it is).

I was disappointed, thinking I’d just down this because I paid for it and thinking of people to pawn it off on, but by then the tea had started to cool, and it was like a whole new drink. The tart/sweet flavor really shone through, getting stronger the longer I let it chill.

Sadly, while I enjoyed the flavor after a while, I don’t drink much iced tea, so this one probably won’t be re-ordered.

This tea tastes distinctly of white grape; the white/grassy notes are not entirely present and the flavor feels slightly artificial, but I would definitely have several more cups when I’m in the mood for something light and fruity.

I used to love Earl Grey, but since I no longer take sugar in my tea the bitterness often ruins the flavor. Wild Grey is the perfect solution—the delicious Earl Grey tea flavor and smell without the bite.

Wild Grey smells strongly of bergamot, and that’s the most prominent flavor too. I used one tablespoon in a liter of water (I always brew my tea in a pot and drink cup after cup) and after 2 minutes the tea was light and delicate, after 5 it was stronger and no longer so delicate—just a matter of taste. Even when it looked weak (very light green) it was plenty strong for me.

This is a great tea if you want green tea with a bit of a kick.

Not one of my favorites… it was very tart, which for me is weird in tea, but if you like that then i’d give it a try.

I love watermelon and I love this tea!

I used 1.5 tablespoons of dry leaf for 400 ml of water.

The black tea is too prominent with the addition of the extra leaf (over 1 tablespoon per 375 ml) and drowns out the other flavours. More astringency comes through and borders on being bitter. Toasted flavour coming through. Bitterness comes through as the tea cools.

I used ~1 tablespoon of dry leaf for ~375 ml of water.

I notice a complex flavour profile. I’m getting floral notes on the sip leading into a spice taste at the back of the tongue. I can detect the cumin and it compliments the flavour profile rather nicely. I am really reminded of Indian food with all of the savoury spices. I can maybe detect a hint of pistachio as well. This tea has a creamy feel to it and a definite buttery quality. I can taste the black tea flavour quite strongly in the aftertaste.

The second infusion (5 minutes and 15 seconds) looses a lot of the spice flavour. This tea would not likely do well past its second infusion.

Thank you to Ellyn for sending this to me!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea… a very nice tea this is!

Quite floral in aroma and taste, I like that it doesn’t taste distinctly of one flower but of several. It evokes thoughts of a field of flowers. It is light and refreshing, with hints of fruit, strong floral overtones, and a very uplifting fragrance.

Good afternoon/early afternoon Steepster!

I haven’t had much time to write tea tasting notes recently, but I thought I’d brew up some of this blend I haven’t had in a while. I think I put this at a ‘65’ the first time I drank it, the licorice is very strong but maybe licorice teas are growing on me a bit because I raised the rating on this one today. Work was a bit better today, at least not as stressful, but there hasn’t been much down time for tea drinking.

Trying to drink some of this tonight… anti strain still seems like a weird name for a tea in my opinion. Anyway it was a stressful day and after doing some kundalini yoga and meditation I’m just winding down with this. It needs something to temper the licorice but I’m not sure what. Perhaps I’ll try a green or a white tea with it someday.

This is a very strange name for a tea, in my opinion. Anti Strain?

Anyway I purchased this from ESP a few months ago and I evidently did not get the chance to review it yet. Reading the list of ingredients it reminds me of a chai, but it’s all bits and pieces of herbs. Personally I feel the licorice is quite strong in this blend and I wouldn’t mind a little less of it, it’s quite sweet. I am also picking up a bit of fennel and ginger. This tisane is no doubt good for relaxation and also very healthy. Not sure I would get it again though.

I’ve had this one a while… just making tasting notes now. It was a sample included with my ESP order. First, I think the flavor has changed since the last time I had it, unless I brewed it differently (of course, it’s different every time). But I don’t trust these ESP packages that are not sealed air tight. The bags just fold over. I put all my ESP teas in one ziplock. The flavor seems very mild for a chai, and I steeped it for a while! It seems like any chai with black tea mixed with it is more mild.. less room for the spices. (Except for Zentealife.com’s Energizing Chai which had both pu-erh and mate added to it and the flavor was AMAZING.) I do like that this one had black pepper in it. I saw a bunch of those fall into my infuser first. But really, why is this so mild tasting?

Holy Hibiscus, Batman!
I happen to like hibiscus. A lot. And I think there is too much hibiscus in here. In fact, I really didn’t taste much else.
If I’m in the mood for something bitter and fruity I will actually make this again, but that said, it’s not at the top of my list.

This was in the travelling tea box and I believe it came from momo. The name definitely intrigued me. It makes me think of fairies. Speaking of fairies, I think I’m going to buy this for my bf’s 8-year old niece (http://flitterfairies.com/). It seems like something an 8-year-old girl would enjoy, right?

This tea sounded really cool. Green tea AND green mate. For some reason I thought this might be better as a cold brew so I did it over night and .. I don’t know if I’m really feeling it. It’s not as amazing or interesting as I thought it would be. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and brew it hot?

There’s kind of a toasty smell and taste to this tea, along with the orange flavor. I guess I agree with the other tasting notes that the orange flavor is a little bit artificial, but it’s not like Tang or anything. I would rate this tea as an “OK.”

I believe this sample is from Rachel Sincere, ty!

DRY: Interesting little cubes in this tea, mixed with leaves and orange peel bits. Checking ESP, these cubes are caramel pieces.
STEEPED: Orangey smell mixed with a distinctive caramel smell. Pale yellow tea.

TASTE: sweet orange (a more artificial / candy taste) with a base of green tea – the tea is nice and mellow. Bit of a caramel smooth taste.

COMMENTS: I really enjoyed the green tea taste as it’s a perfect mellow and tasty. However, the orange was kinda weird tasting being artificial. I think this would be better as an iced tea

I actually really liked this one. I had a cold when drinking it but I could taste the fresh cherries and whatever gives it that “black forest cake” feel. Nice tea background too; I’m getting pickier and pickier about that.

I’m not sure when I got this tea, but I found it in my cabinet after doing a recent cleaning.

Here’s what’s in this tea blend: cinnamon, fennel, ginger, rosemary, peppermint, cardamom, carob, damiana leaves, licorice, sage, black pepper, cloves, sarsaparilla roots.

So yeah, there’s a LOT going on.

Taste-wise, it resembles a mix between Samurai Chai Maté from Teavana and Comforting Tea from Aveda. STRONG notes of fennel and sarsaparilla overpower most of the other flavors in this blend, and there’s a slight aftertaste of the black pepper. This would be a great tea to have if you’re congested or feeling a bit under the weather. It could even serve as a good holiday tea.

Overall, it’s good, but not great. If I ran out of Samurai Chai Maté from Teavana, this could be a close replacement until I pick up more.

Additional notes: In more OLD tea news, this genmaicha is six years old and one of my oldest teas but I had the inspiration to mix a genmaicha with a flavored milk oolong (which ended up being the also ancient Tealux Milk Oolong). The genmaicha kind of takes over, probably because the oolong ended up being brewed with very cool water. I think it’s an awesome concept, but I just need to mix the right two teas…. however, I didn’t want to use any 52Teas marshmallow genmaicha because I have verrrryyy little of that left, and that can stay awesome on its own. (even though that also sounds great too — marshmallow genmaicha/ milk oolong. Ooooooo Anne should make a marshmallow oolong! Does anyone know if Anne already did make a marshmallow oolong?)

edited to add: The second steep today is MUCH more like I imagined this lovely flavor profile. I think it’s because the previously steeped tea had time to sit there overnight and ‘soak’ — the toasty things were probably expanding and flavor was released. And then the oolong unraveled more. It’s so so good, even with older teas. I’m glad I didn’t toss my leaves out, so I can do a third steep later…

No one has reviewed this yet? Hm. This was my splurge from my ESP purchase (even though I had a good deal anyway… it was still a bit steep in price for me.) I love Genmaicha, so I really wanted a full size. I’m not sure the ESP are “full size” anyway. The pouches are only 1.76 ounces and they look pretty small to me. It’s interesting that the dry leaves smell so fresh but the tea itself while tasting is toasty and roasty. The flavor of the fresh and bright green tea isn’t there anymore. But I love the mix of a fresh green tea and roasty and toasty popcorn! Is this the best genmaicha out there? Probably not, but I’ll settle. I feel like it should have more flavor, even though this blend has a TON of both kinds of popcorn in it.. very accurate to the above picture! I did get three good steeps out of this though. The second steep was more buttery. I do love ESP Emporium’s occasional coupons though. I think this was $25 worth of tea for $15 if I remember correctly.

Gosh I really like this tea. I had it last night while watching the Presidential debates. It has such a nice sweet creamy lemon flavor to it. I’m glad I got this one. This is a 2nd tasting note.

This tea really does taste like lemon merengue. The lemon flavor is quite strong but it’s mellowed by the merengue flavor, so you aren’t left puckering your lips. The black tea base is quite nice as well. This tea lives up to expectations, a very nice mix of flavors.

Thanks to Awkward Soul for this sample! This was a great tea to start my day. First I should mention that I put two Splenda packets in every tea I drink; I don’t even taste it first, I just automatically sweeten it. This is the first time where after tasting the tea, I thought I could have gotten away with one packet. At first, the taste was very sweet. It mellowed out more the more I drank. The flavor that I was reminded of was raisin, but in a gentle way, not an in-your-face way. I would definitely drink this again.