MlesnA

I’ve had many teas by this company before, and every so often Santa buys me a box for Christmas. I must say…I can’t remember the last time I tried one of the flavours and thought “geez. This is good!” Actually, I can vaguely remember…

Back in the good old days, you used to be able to buy a 25-pack of this tea and it came in a little balsa wood box. It was almost like a mini tea chest, and the balsa box was patterned with the tea company’s logo as well as a design motif for that specific tea. Likely very expensive packaging for a mediocre tea, but it’s not like balsa wood is THAT expensive. It’s in little kids’ airplane kits for darn sakes.

And then this company went to “new and improved cardboard packaging”. And with a decrease in the quality of the packaging came a decrease in the quality of the tea. I used to LOVE their ice wine tea. It was some of my favourite tea ever made in a bag. Perhaps some of my favourite tea ever. Their maple tea was also very good, as was their cranberry. I tried another flavour, too…maybe apricot? I don’t remember. It wasn’t as good as the rest, but certainly not bad. When Santa saw the blueberry flavour in the store again, he thought it would be a good blast from the past. Bad Santa. Very, very bad Santa!

I’m always leery of bagged teas that don’t come individually wrapped, even if it’s just in paper. I find within days of opening the metallic baggie that this tea comes in, it seems stale the next time I go to drink it. So wrapping in individual wrappers would be a good step. Going back to their “old recipes” would also be a good step. Now all I taste is artificial flavour and astringent black tea. It’s not good. I just realized this is the third blueberry tea in a row I’ve rated. I must be on a blueberry kick and didn’t realize it.

Verdict: would definitely not re-buy once the last 4 bags are finished.

Not really satisfied with this one. The tea used tasted too strong for me to feel and appreciate the vanilla flavour: this tea gets bitter very quickly and covers the flavour. Still better than most vanilla-flavoured teas.

This Earl Grey is in my opinion tastier than most Earl Greys I’ve drunk up to now. It is decently strong and so is the bergamot flavour. I wouldn’t advise to sweeten it or put milk into it.

I’ve yet to experiment much with the steeping time (I brew most black teas for 3 minutes so that’s what I went with), and it brews so strong! Yummy and so very warming, but a little bit ‘heavy tasting’. This might be because it’s such a finely chopped tea, it’s almost like a dust.
Super-strength besides, it has a smooth and rich taste, no bitterness at all.

Nice Ceylon, made it for breakfast. We had bagels with lox and this tea was perfect for this.

A mere hint of what it says it is. I received this as a sample in a tea order and it was in an open sleeve, so I can’t really judge.

A great flavour, but perhaps a little too subtle. Hard to brew strong enough to enjoy the full flavour without turning it bitter.

Despite the many negative comments warning potential drinkers against this tea, I still ordered a box. It was meh, sad. The only tasting note detected was really the earthiness of the bag itself. Maybe if you put some maple syrup in it, it will justify the label. Don’t worry about this tea, there are other amazing teas by MlesnA.

I was excited for this tea because it smelled like maple when dry, albeit slightly artificial. Unfortunately, the taste was very medicinal and reminded me of paint thinner. Maybe I just got a bad bag, because I enjoy a lot of Mlesna’s other teas. I may give this another chance in the future just to see.

In theory, black tea and vanilla should marry and compliment each other beautifully, provided that neither overwhelms the other. Some time ago, I bought a tin of Harney and Sons decaffeinated Vanilla Comorro and was enjoying a mug of this each night before bed. I started looking around for another vanilla tea due to the lack of retailers in Sydney that sell H&S tea – none of which sell the loose leaf refills – and I have always found decaffeinated teas to lack a real depth of flavour. First stop was Mlesna, if only for the little wooden box that it comes in.

Does natural vanilla actually have a scent? I can only detect the merest hint of a ‘vanilla’ smell but then the tea base is very strong. One whiff of the tea, I can immediately determine the tea base to be Ceylon tea from the Uva region. This is confirmed after steeping two teaspoons in about 400mls for four minutes (although I’m going to end up with egg on my face if I’m wrong).

With a splash of soy milk, this brews an enjoyable pale liquor with a nice spicy aftertaste and aroma. It takes several mouthfuls to really grasp the vanilla taste. The spiciness comes from both the vanilla and the tea itself. The flavouring doesn’t have an artificial or surface taste to it, and there is a real depth of flavour, so I’m guessing that the flavouring is wholly or predominantly natural and doesn’t overwhelm the taste of the tea.

Now the bad news. The remaining cups of tea from the teapot are consumed black. Unfortunately, the tea base is very poor quality and bitter and the vanilla taste and aroma are completely lost in the brew. My favourite cup at the moment is a Ceylon Pettiagalla so the issue is solely to do with the quality of the tea base. To enjoy black, it needs a more subtle and better quality tea base and a slightly stronger vanilla flavouring.

Still enjoyable with milk, but the search continues for the perfect vanilla tea.

I’m new to Steepster and writing reviews but I’ve lurked for a while (usually when deciding whether or not to purchase yet another box of some obscure tea for my collection) but thought it was a good time to start and this tea is as good as any for my first review.

I purchased this about a month ago and really enjoyed my first few cups. Soursop is one of those things that has lurked on the periphery of my consciousness for several years without ever trying it. I tended to confuse breadfruit, durian, jack fruit and soursop but I was vaguely aware of a similarity of taste and appearance. Soursop doesn’t have the repugnant aroma that durian does, but there is an immediate sweet – arguably, a sickly sweet – scent and this is present in the tea.

This was steeped with water off the boil, two teaspoons of loose leaf tea in approximately 400 mls of water for just over four minutes and then left for a few minutes to cool and for the flavours to develop. I haven’t yet experimented with different times and ratios, rather I used my default method of brewing tea. The tea is a light amber, and the tea base is medium strength, slightly bitter but with very little astringency. The immediate taste is the black tea with the strong sweetness of the soursop becoming evident after a few moments. It is similar in taste to Juicy Fruit (jackfruit is the alleged “secret ingredient” in the gum) but unlike JF the tea doesn’t loose it’s flavour after 30 seconds . . . There is a slight citrus ‘tang’ to each mouthful as well.

In all honesty, I really only bought this for the dinky little wooden boxes that the Mlesna teas come in, and also for the novelty of soursop but really liked this tea. I don’t think I would enjoy it with milk and it definitely doesn’t need sugar. It will make a nice iced tea as well so I will have to experiment with that at some point this summer. It is very similar to the Mlesna Blue Lady blend and I’ll post a review when I brew it next. I understand that Mlesna go by the name of Metropolitan Tea Company in the US and Canada but I haven’t seen Soursop tea of any brand outside of Australia and South East Asia.

Overall, I would give it a high score with a few points taken off for the slightly bitter tea base. This is not an every day tea – in the last month I’ve had it on about a four or five occasions – and I can’t imagine it would be a special occasion tea as the tea base is slightly bitter and the flavouring is not exactly “refined” but it’s a nice addition to a well stocked tea cabinet when you want something a little different especially if you have a somewhat jaded palate. I wouldn’t serve it with food as again the flavouring is too strong, except for maybe junk food, etc.

So, that’s my first review. How did I do? ;)

So after finishing the box that was at my bf’s place, I bought a packet when I was in Ottawa last year to see if it was the same. Packaging was slightly different and all.
Turns out it is indeed the same tea! only more potent. My bf’s version was several years old and the wrapping wasn’t very protective (paper).
The fresh version was even better. Tart and bitter in the way cranberries are. I added nearly a teaspoon of sugar since I accidentally oversteeped. Very nommy!

At my friend’s place again and having this tea while I babysit the kiddos for an hour. No disasters yet! Maybe they are biding thier time before bringing out the chaos party :P
I am in a very strange mood today. Surrounded by people I adore, and yet distraught over a situation with another friend. I kinda wish I was in bed with my tea and a romantic comedy to distract me. Sighs.

Bah. This cuppa will do. And hey,there is no better distraction than two cheeky monkeys crawling all over me :)

Not bad not bad at all!
I’m at a friends house and ended up not wanting the tea I brought so defaulted to bagged cranberry ceylon. I’m surprised, based on the reviews, I expected this to be terrible.
The tartness of the cranberry really comes through, along with that slight bitterness but not in an astringent oversteeped way.
I could really get used to this. Super tasty!

This is a very interesting take on Earl Grey. It’s clearly the classic flavours, but much more fragrant. I tend to brew it black with only a little leaf for a few minutes as a very refreshing pick-me-up. The other way is to brew it for 5 minutes with a fair amount of leaf, then have it with milk. This gives a good smoky Earl Grey and is excellent in the morning.

I was really disappointed by this tea. I bought it in a fit of homesickness – I’m very far from my native Vermont, and when I saw it in a Russian mall I thought it was too good to be true! It came in the coolest tin, too (UVM green and gold!) so I figured it would be worth an impulse buy. But I’ve been so disappointed! I’ve really tried to make this tea work – experimenting with steeping times, water temperatures… even cold steeping it! But nothing seems to make it taste good. Like Jillian said, it’s got a really weird, synthetic flavor to it that makes the whole thing taste frankly kind of gross.

This is the first time I’ve had a really bad experience with loose leaf tea… but I suppose it had to happen eventually!

you can buy this tea from www.ceylon-store.com

you can buy this tea from www.ceylon-store.com

you can buy this tea from www.ceylon-store.com