HYLEYS

This tea is a very nice Ceylon blend. It has a rich flavour, and resteeps well retaining a full flavour for at least three resteeps. I quite enjoyed it.

The dry leaves are small to medium full leaves with some silver buds. It smells of sweet potatoe and orange, with a note of burnt sugar.

It tastes of burnt sugar, a hint of blackberry and orange, with a hint of vegetal. It is slightly flowery almost like a note of rose. The tea company suggests that this should taste of plum. My first steep was longer than I normally use and perhaps I would have found this note if I had shortened the steep.

It brews to colour of mahogany, with a medium body and little to no astringency and a hint of bitterness. There is an aftertaste of homemade brown sugar pull toffee. It leaves me with a feeling of calm wakefulness and is very smooth.

The 2nd steep similar flavour wuth citrus notes coming more forward and a burnt sugar flavour present with sweet potatoe. The 3rd steep has sweet potatoe, vegetal notes, and indistinct fruit notes. It has a sweet, lightly tangy aftertaste like having eaten ripe berries.

A nice tea to drink all day.

This tea is light and sparkly and captures the tart bright taste of passion fruit well. The base is tricky, if brewed at boiling it becomes very astringent, but when brewed at off boiling the base produes a pleasant sweet tea with any astrigency adding to the tartness of the passionfruit and lemon. The cinnamon is very mild and more acts in contribution with the passionfruit to add a light pleasant sweetness to the tea rather than a spiciness, though it does bring a little bit of warmth to the tea. The rose is barely noticeable and if anything adds a freshness to the fruit taste of the tea. Overall the flavouring was done very well in this tea.

Appearance: black, noticeable chunks of fruit
Aroma when Dry: Very sour, fruity, bitter
After water is first poured: sweet, powdery
At end of steep: sour
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: range/green ish
Staple? No
Time of day preferred: Unsure, first tasting.
Taste:
first notes: Sour, flat
As it cools? notes flatten more.
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No.
Lingers? Yes, hibiscus and orange surface.

Bagged, will restock with loose
Aroma when Dry: minty, hints of the green base grassy notes balanced
After water is first poured: desert minty sweet (western)
At end of steep: balanced fresh, herby green, hints of grassyness
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: light meadowy green
Staple? Yes, trying loose leaf next
Time of day preferred: any
Taste:
first notes grassy, herby, mint cools and closes
As it cools? Both mint and grassy notes open up, tea gets a bit sweeter
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, light brightness, hints of mint.
Want to try chilled

Bagged, will restock with loose leaf
Aroma when Dry: bright, floral, apple-y, green base noticeable
After water is first poured: sweet, hints of citrus
At end of steep: fruity, floral, faint grassyness
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: very light green
Staple? Yes, looking into loose leaf
Time of day preferred: any, primary use medicinal
Taste:
first notes: green base very noticeable, grassy, with hints of fruit and floral from the camomile
As it cools? floral notes open up quite a bit, then all the notes mellow out
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Very slightly, both notes

Bagged

Aroma when Dry: slightly sweet(western sweet),powdery
At end of steep: blended sweet, floral
Tea liquor:
First: light brown, almost sandy
At end of steep: deepens into a red earthy brown.

Staple? Probably, looking into loose leaf next.
Time of day preferred: Mid Morning, Afternoon
Taste:
first notes: light floral, mild woody note. Can distinguish between the linden and black. Honey notes complement nicely, not noticeable as sweet per se.
As it cools? Notes blend, but none vanish.
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, floral softens on its way out.
Want to try chilled.

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Herby, short notes. Can notice the lemon texture of the melissa and also mint distinctly.
After water is first poured: Sour, herby, fresh, slightly chewy.
At end of steep: herby, woody
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: bright woody green
Staple? Likey, looking into loose leaf option next.
Time of day preferred: Morning, afternoon
Taste:
first notes: slightly floral, not sweet. Balanced herbal
As it cools?. Herby texture deepens, floral “sweetness” dissipates slightly
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, hints of the chewyness, slightly woodsy texture over the floral. No bitterness.

The main thing I have to say about this is it’s very LIGHT, maybe weak is the right word. I’ve tried it twice and now I need to try it again brewed at double strength.

That being said, the flavour that did come through was sweet and pleasant, but that’s about all I can detect for now. Also the leaves are in fact “big leaf” as advertised. Not only are they large “pieces” of leaf but the leaves are larger leaves – not sure if that means they are from the Assamese variety or something else.