ESP Emporium

Saturday Sipdown Sample. The first time I drank this tea I just loved the fruity flavor and the mild touch of the green tea. This time, I don’t know, maybe because I have a minor cold virus, I just didn’t like it as much. I tasted the fruit and the green tea, it just seemed a little weak somehow. And I used plenty of dry leaf to make my cup. It was just OK.

Second tasting note on this. I still really like it. I have discovered that I am a Sencha fan, which is a good thing because as Awkward Soul noted, so many green tea blends use it as a base. Awkward Soul gave me a pretty generous sample of this so I should get at least two if not three more cups out of it! Thanks again!

Thank you to Awkward Soul for this sample! I loved this tea. The fruit taste is very smooth, no tartness at all. The sencha doesn’t really assert itself over the fruit flavor, but you can still taste it a little bit. I was surprised that there was so much flavor after such a short steep time, but wow, there is flavor to spare. I would definitely order this tea for my cabinet.

How am I the first to review this? I got this as a sample with my order a while back. The unsteeped leaves have a strange but nice scent. It’s hard to describe but it is different than any other tea I’ve tried.

First steep – 4 mins
The steep color is a lighter yellow but sadly the strange scent to the unsteeped leaves isn’t in the cup. The flavor is light and really good. It doesn’t have much of a floral to it. It’s more buttery. There is a slight tangy flavor too (not in a bad way — it makes it interesting), but there is also a sweetness to it to balance it. I recently read that some oolongs have caffiene. Now how am I supposed to know when they do? Sometimes oolong is my go-to late night tea, but now I’m not so sure.

Second cup – 7 minutes
This had more of that floral oolong flavor, but still buttery. On my oolong flavor meter where one is the lightest and most floral and five is strongest and could be confused with a black tea, this is a two! I love that all oolongs are so different. This one is simple yet very interesting!

This is a green tasting white. A stronger flavor than a lot of whites. It’s good enough that I’m ordering some more. I get at least 3 or 4 quality steeps out of it; might be able to get more, I just haven’t tried.

Thanks Azzrian for the generous sample. This is one I specifically asked for. Azz being Azz sent me a well-filled box of teas to go with this. She is one awesome person. :D

I’ve know about lapacho for a while now. I peruse wiki when I’m restless and find random things to learn. A very dangerous hobby, since it leads to many hours of research generally.

This is a strange duck, but I like it. Orange and vanilla are an excellent combination in my head and both are present here. The lapacho is earthy and deep. It does have a slight bitterness. Like if you let your pill set too long on your tongue before you swallow it. The bitterness goes away really quickly, so it’s not bothersome.

I’m glad I got to try it, thanks again Azzrian. :D

This was a treat from Azzrian, so a big thank you to her!

I’ve never had lapacho before, so this was a unique experience. I also had to go read a bunch on it, which was kind of interesting.

Per a hint from Azz that you’re actually supposed to steep this for 25 minutes, Missy let it boil on the stove for a while. The result is an earthy, cream-sickle-y, slightly medicinal brew with a bit of an almost-bitter bite at the end. The flavor itself is quite interesting and pleasant.

All in all, not something I would mind drinking. MountainRoseherbs also sells lapacho (under the name Pau d’Arco) for a fairly modest price of $2/4oz. I bet it would taste good with mint or cinnamon. I’d be a little concerned with combining the lapacho with Tea, as it’s most regularly-agreed upon physiological effect is blood thinning, and well, blood thinning and caffeine can lead to a pretty rough night ;)

Thanks again for the sample, Azz!

Amanda you spoil me! Thanks!

This smells fruity and floral.

This has 3 different kinds of green tea in it, white tea, 2 different flowers, and flavoring.

While sipping on this I can taste both the green and white tea – separately – but the green tea is the more dominant of the 2. It’s graciously flavored with various citrus and what I can only assume is berry of some sort…maybe strawberry? Regardless it’s lovely.

YUMMY

I brew this for 3 minutes at 185°F and then put in the refrigerator to chill overnight. I drink it iced. I’ve been able to get two steeps like this without diminishing flavor.

To me this tastes like an orange caramel green tea. The green tea base is nice and smooth without any bitterness and a nice green tea aftertaste. The flavoring is light. There is a candy orange flavor with caramel side taste. There is no artificial aftertaste, which I like. It’s a good tea.

This isn’t awesome or have anything subtle or special to it, to me. Nit just comes across as a general good black tea. Something to keep for daily want-something-good-and-basic tea times. It has a light black tea burnt flavor, almost not there. It has very little finish. But it is good.

I’ll probably give it a way or throw it out as it’s not a favorite and I’m having to slim down my tea collection to just favorites for a move.

Thanks Muppetlove

Ok…so…before I jot down my tasting notes…here’s a small rant…It sort of annoys me when companies name a tea/tisane something like “Roasted Almond” and then you find out it also has Cinnamon, Apple, Beetroot, The Kitchen Sink in it in addition to Almonds (or whatever the main ingredient is in which the company then named the tea) Do you know what I mean? If it’s straight-up Roasted Almond with a “whatever” base…COOL…but if you have a bunch of other ingredients along side with it I think they should come up with another name for it. Now…I’m not knockin’ the tea or the company or whatever because flavor matching IS an art that I appreciate and applaud BUT if you are going to have a create flavor combo give the tea a creative name, too! Having said that (and it will in no way affect my rating or thoughts or feelings about this company or other companies or their products….just a random rant from me and this was the tisane I was drinking at the moment! LOL)…

Actual Notes for this one…

This is pink/purple in color…thanks to the BEETROOT. I can taste the apple first and foremost. It’s not overly puckery probably because of the nuts AND Cinnamon. The Cinnamon is subtle which I like. It sort of tastes like a fruit/veggie/nutty/spice combo. It’s tasty enough and probably one of the better attempts at this flavor combos that I have tried. The ingredient ratio they used worked really well!

As it cools it sort of tastes like cinnamon apple sauce with almonds…maybe like a Almond Apple Cinnamon Cookie or Muffin, even…minus the cakey/bakey.

I know I don’t seam to be Posting much about teas anymore but that’s because this seams to be my reach for tea when i want something right now!
And of course i don’t want to Just keep Steeping the pot on this one but its SOOO GOOD! this really is my number one most loved tea right now and I must move the rating up!

Just can not get enough of this tea!!!

This has the Most AMAZING aroma! it smells like Almonds! I don’t know what this Forest cherry cake is but this taste like my mother in laws Butter cookies with almond extract, This is the First cup of green tea Ive ever had that I have actually enjoyed!! the smell is so intoxicating I just want to use it as air freshener lol

Funny this tea. Dry it smells just like butterscotch candy. Once steeped the butterscotch dissapears. Overall, this tea delivers a smooth, nutty and slightly astringent cup. I don’t mind drinking it, but I was hoping for more based on the smell and the name.

Not caring for this. I did multiple steeping times and temps. It is just not good. The vanilla is artificial and cheep tasting. I know teas that have wonderful vanilla flavorings. There is no reason for it to taste this bad. Shame.

Amanda Thanks for this one, too!

Honeydew, Lemon, Sencha…check X3. The sencha is a little bit on the sweet/bitter side but the flavors are quite nice on top! My fave temp is a lukewarm for this one.

Thanks to Rumpus Parable for this one! This is a delicious assam. It is a bit stronger than I thought assams would be for the first cup. The flavor definitely lingers on the tongue! The second cup was more milder, like I thought assams would be… like a sweeter black tea. But I’m not complaining — the stronger the better for me!

I guess I will go ahead and review this one and again Mercuryhime I am so sorry this was so bad for you! I have indeed had very similar flavors before that made me feel exactly the way you do. This one is not bad for me though. There is a saving grace in here and it seems to be much better as it cools.
I get a hint of vanilla somewhere in all of this mix – and there is a LOT in this mix. So much so I had to dig around in the bag to get enough equal amounts of ingredients!
I almost wonder if you got a good mix Mercuryhime I would ask if you want another sample and I will be sure to get all of the varied items in a second sample but I imagine you are DONE with this one lol.

Really? No one else has logged this? Hm. Well first, thank you to Azzrian for this sample. Whatever i say about this tea, I am always grateful when people share so generously like Azzrian always does. :) At first I had intended to save this for winter because of the name but I really wanted an herbal and this was the only one I had at the office today.

It tastes exactly like vomit. Vomit all mixed up with bile and stomach acids. How does fruit and spice combine into this horrid flavor? I have no idea. I had to dump this.

Such a pretty tea though! It just wasn’t for me.

Amanda THANKS SO MUCH for this one!
It smells AMAZINGLY juicy, sweet, and mouth-watering!

I knew right away that the fruit in this was freeze-dried because of the way it plumped up when I added the water! All of that FLAVOR Compacted? Let’s see, shall we?

I like this. Those were my first thoughts as I sip! I can taste the sencha and it’s lovely! The kiwi kicks in first with that apple quickly stomping up behind it! I am very pleased with this kiwi flavor – because, I, too – have been looking for a true KIWI Fruit Flavor in a tea – especially in a sencha! YUM!

I also agree with Amanda. The apple is nice but it’s not overly identifiable as a specific apple, if you know what I mean!

It’ juicy and makes my mouth water! I REALLY like that! This one exceeded my expectations! Nice!

Sipdown! Drank the last bit of this tea of a lovely, sunny day.

I probably won’t get anymore but I did enjoy this…

Optimistically, I was hoping this would be like one of Terry’s Chocolate Oranges but should have known I was setting myself up for a downfall.

I decided to steep this for 10 minutes because I find it really helps with rooibos blends. The flavor here is VERY strongly orange, especially since there are chopped up dried orange peels in the bag. I would say the chocolate is much more of a secondary note, it is present in the background after you get hit in the face by the orange…. :))

It is slightly sweet and better with a bit of soymilk. I didn’t like it as much as I was hoping I would but will probably finish off the bag I got. The good news for rooibos haters is there isn’t an overwhelming rooibos flavor here because the orange obliterates it…