New Mexico Tea Company

Thank you Alphakitty! This is such a pretty tea! I never, ever have luck with black and green blends. Their either too bitter or too weak. Sadly, this came out as too bitter. The aroma is lovely, though. The flavor is still very floral. The one I taste the most is rose followed by lavender. But it’s still bitter :( it would have been amazing if I didn’t ruin it.

New favorite peppermint/clove winter kind of tea. I love puerh and this blend is wonderfully spicy and earthy.

So this is my 2nd time trying this. I took the advice of NMTC and dropped the temp down to 170 and increased the steep time to 3 minutes (normally would never do this but sometimes you have to play with it a little).

Can vaguely smell the papaya, the whole tea smells “fruity”
Taste? Well I can taste more this time (assume due to longer steep) but it’s still REAL light on flavor for me. It certainly smells more like it should taste then it actually does. I’m going to move my rating up a little since it is a bit better but still not one I’ll be reordering.

Just loved the name on this tea so had to buy some.
Smells very fruity, it’s the dominant smell by far

Taste is something of a let down. I steeped for a minute and 15sec and the color is very pale. The taste is faint and washed out. I’m disappointed because I’m a big fan of everything that’s in this tea, but it’s just not doing it for me. :(

I’ll try some different tricks in the future to try and get some flavor out of this but for now my rating isn’t going to be the best on this. Such a letdown after trying the Ontario Icewine from the same company yesterday!

Fresh NMTC order in today!
This one caught my eye immediately and I had to try it.
Whites are still new to me so I’m somewhat leery on rating them…but here goes!
The smell does have a wine tinge to it. sharp and vinegary.
The first sip I immediately wanted to say I didn’t like it. But a second later I changed my mind. It’s one that grows on you. The more you sip the more you like it. No aftertaste. It’s smell is there in the taste but subtle. The more I drink (and the more I type while drinking), the more I like it.
All I can really say is that like most whites it’s a delicate and light taste. I personally enjoy it and feel if you enjoy white teas you would also. It’s a keeper for me. I’ll decide weather to reorder it after I try a few other whites for compairison.

I’ve been drinking a lot of stovetop Chai recently, and I started wondering if you could make other teas the same way to achieve a latte effect without the steaming. I didn’t bring a whole lot of teas to my parents’ house but thankfully my mom has this in her cupboard—though I could have sworn I logged it before, I apparently didn’t so I suppose this is the first time!

1/2 a cup water, 1 1/2 cups 2% milk, a generous spoonful of sugar, 1 heaping tablespoon Cream Earl Grey, simmered in a saucepan for 10 minutes. I always worry about black bases getting bitter this way but they never do! Maybe because the heat is so low? The resulting concoction is divine, like the best London Fog in the world only, well, better! Rich, thick, creamy and totally blissful.

This tea non-latte style is one of my favorite EGCs, creamier than many but also with a particularly strong bergamot kick so it is still definitely an earl grey.

Back to the stovetop latte part: I don’t think I’m ever going to prepare EG in any other way than this! It’s just… so good. Though usually I use whole milk so I’d change the water to milk ratio to 1/1. But for 2% I find I need to use a heavy hand or it’s just… watery.

Sipdown! 152/365!

Darn. I’d forgotten how floral this was; I was hoping for something a bit less. This tastes like a cup of perfume with some astringency. I think the concept is great, a black creamy jasmine could be delicious. But the jasmine is just too strong and fake-tasting.

ETA: Second infusion was lighter and much better, actually. This one perhaps just needs a really light hand.

Thanks Sil for this sample (via Nicole, I am suspecting?)

Brewed up, this tea smells almost ridiculously perfumey/floral… but somehow, I don’t mean that in a bad way. There’s jasmine, for sure, and I wonder if the rest of the aroma is “cream”? Tough to tell. As it cools, however, I can identify the cream moreso in the aroma.

Flavourwise, this is certainly interesting. I’m not sure I’ve had a black jasmine before, come to think of it, so this may be my first. However, I’m fairly sure that this is a jasmine green combined with a black cream, so this isn’t really a jasmine black either. Anyhow. It tastes like I brewed it too strongly (I used 1.5 tsp per 8 oz.), as it’s quite strong, and verging on bitter, although I steeped this as a black, so that could be my fault. The predominant flavour is heavy jasmine, with a strong but pleasant black base, and some definite cream notes.

Overall, I don’t hate it, but I also don’t love it. For starters, I think it needs to be more dilute for me to enjoy it, as it’s just a bit overpowering how it is, and also the jasmine is coming off as a bit artificial to me. I’m not the hugest fan of jasmine to begin with, so I’m not too shocked. I think I was expecting a tea that would be slightly more subtle, which this is far from.

Anyhow, an interesting blend to try out! I think I have a generous cup’s worth left… we’ll see what becomes of it, haha.

ETA: Hah, it just occurred to me that what I’m being reminded of with this tea is bath products. Ah well!

2nd steep is so much better than first. It has an almost honey like flavor. I still think it is a great combo of English Breakfast and Oolong :)

Oolong meets English Breakfast.

I want something sweet and decadent.

Last night I had a bad night, so I went to the music building and played until I didn’t have the fine motor control to trill and playing forte actually produced strain. I was shaky and so, so tired, but I couldn’t stop. When the kid working in the music library left after security had locked the doors, he asked if I wanted someone to walk me home. “I’m fine,” I said, “I do this all the time. But thanks.” (It was about 2 in the morning). It was so unexpectedly nice.

Today, though, I’m falling asleep. My sleep schedule’s been so wonky because of things like this. And I don’t get lunch.

So I want something sweet and creamy and heavy, and I tossed in a teaspoon of mate. Which will either wake me up or give me a panic attack. Here’s to hoping for the former.

I’m leaving school and going home for the weekend. Hopefully I’ll feel better then.

This is the third tea I ordered from NMTC last week – I was on such a vanilla/cream kick. Still looking for a good one. Right now the Copley Square Vanilla from Tealuxe and the Black Jasmine Cream from NMTC are vying to be my favorites.

Today was not a good day – one of those days where little things just add up until it seems like the universe is conspiring against you. I was locked out of my room all day, and when I finally got back in around 6, I wanted a creamy sweet tea.

This was, sadly, a bit disappointing. Brewed according to the parameters on the website (1tsp/cup, 4min at 212), the black tea was a bit bitter. Fine, I expected to add milk and agave. So I did, and it was okay, but a bit one-note, and not as heavy as I had wanted it to be.

Ah well. I’ll probably send some of it out as gifts and drink the rest.

Song of the night – The Stowaway by Murray Gold… on repeat!

Have you ever been hit by a sudden tea revelation? Here I was, sipping my chai and watching Once Upon A Time and suddenly my brain was like, “HEY you got a sample of Jasmine Cream months ago! I want it!” Honestly, I had totally forgotten about it and it was at the very bottom of my sample basket (which has actually expanded into a sample basket and a giant bag as well).

So after much digging I managed to find it and was overwhelmed with the delicious smell. I wasn’t sure if I’d like this or not so I only got a sample, but I’m kind of regretting it now. Then again they have free shipping so I guess I could just order some!

Jasmine is often an overwhelming flavor, but it works so well here. I thought this was a black base instead of a black/green so steeped it with boiling water for 4 1/2 minutes… oops! Well, it didn’t come out bitter at all so I guess there’s not a whole lot of green in here. It really does taste like just a black base, with the floral jasmine tempered by yummy vanilla. Such a weirdly unique blend! It kind of takes some getting used to, but the floral and cream really do work together beautifully.

Interesting! There’s a cool fruity smell in this, and I love the dried jasmine flowers.

The jasmine itself is strong, but it mixes well with the cream, which gives it a little bit of “juiciness” back and keeps it from being too perfumey. I missed the note that it’s a black/green blend, so I used boiling water and it’s a bit harsher than I would like, but I’ll have to try it with a lower temp. I really like it so far though, and I’m impressed with NMTC.

I’ve found my Earl Grey. Plain, it tastes like a well-rounded EG: not too much bergamot, smooth black tea. With milk, the cream overtones come out. It works both ways. I’m very happy. :)

I like this one! My order from NMTC came in today – three cream teas. This one, their Vanilla Cream, and a sample of their Black Jasmine Cream. That one interests me the most, but the EGC just smelled so good!

Nice black base, not astringent. A bit of agave, a bit of milk. Not quite enough bergamot for my taste, but it’s still good. Ended up adding /too/ much agave, made it too sweet, but still finished the pot. I don’t regret buying 2oz of this!

I love Earl Grey and this is my first cream. I like the addition of vanilla in the flavors. It’s very smooth and bergamot-y.

I like the suggestion of making a London Fog. I may have to try that next. It is crazy foggy here, so it would be fitting.

Note: my oolong is greener and more balled up than the picture depicted on the website.

Disclosure: The fluoride treatment I always end up with at the dentist’s is orange creamsicle, the near identical flavour of this tea. It’s throwing me off a tad. I am clearly biased here so I will try to do a quick summary breakdown of the basic characteristics.

The leaves smell of the orange rinds found along with the oolong balls. The aroma of the liquor is buttery, milky oolong notes with a backdrop of candied orange. The broth feels oily and rich. The main notes are buttery, vegetal oolong followed by tangy orange peel which mellows out for the fruity and creamy sweet finish. Floral, buttery qualities make up the aftertaste texture, while citrus sourness linger on the back of the tongue.

When I had my first cup of this I was ready to drop this tea for reminding me of fluoride but today I can respect the solid floral green oolong and the milky orange. I’m actually enjoying this cup; it isn’t coming off as artificial and chemical-like as I first experienced. It’s very much the candy creamsicle tea, however.

I do not drink this one near enough.

This is your classic, straightforward breakfast tea with milk, and it’s all kinds of amazing. It gets huge comfort points. The wisp of smoke is an added bonus today.

As much as I like this straight I have to admit it’s even better with milk.

The variations of tea in this blend means it tends to come out tasting slightly different each turn. While predominantly malty, pointy, and consisting of a good brisk finish, when I get more golden tips in my strainer I notice the finish inclines to an awesome, yet very subtle, clove-like spice.

A lot of the black teas I’m learning to love lately are quite expensive and “fancy” but this one’s nice and casual; I don’t feel I need to get all dressed up for it or ration it out!

I’ve never been one for breakfast teas. They make me nervous. Are they a tea-lover’s equivalent to the black hole that is a cup of morning coffee? Are they robust? Aggressive? Some hideous demonic fiend, come to rip me from my comfortable sleep-deprived stupor? I don’t want that. Not at all. Leave me alone, scary black tea.

I love to force myself out of my comfort zone… really, I do, but I don’t think I truly left it by ordering this tea. It’s surprisingly mellow and non-confrontational, which is very misleading, seeing as the sticker for this tea consists of some dude in a chariot, clutching both a spear and shield. I was expecting to get shredded and then dragged along behind! I usually steep it underneath the recommended 4-5 minute mark but I think I would still be safe if I hit that time. It would be the perfect milk companion then.

Orange Pekoe is new to me, as are “Indian teas”. A peppery finish, while less new, is still a novelty, although I don’t always pick that up with this blend. A cup of this tends to be pointy and a tad bready- like a morning orange and bun. It has a zippy fresh quality that is invigorating, yet manages not to shred my tongue up with astringent talons. It’s pleasant and bright.

The liquid’s aroma comes off as pleasantly musky sweet. It tasted and smelled rather fine with the butter chicken yesterday. It’s been a good month for black teas!

I usually have this tea with milk but today I made a cup before finding out we were out of milk so I had it was just a little sugar. It’s still a good cup of tea, creamy and the bergamot is more noticeable without the milk so I might keep drinking it without milk because I love bergamot.

Loose
Appearance: dark loose leaf oolong
Aroma when Dry: fruity, syrupy, jammy, sweet plum notes

After water is first poured: earthy faintly sweet plum
At end of steep: syurpy, jammy, plum sweetness
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: meadowy green
Staple? No
Preferred time of day: afternoon

Taste:
At first: floral sweetness, plum, closes on a slight sour tang
As it cools ? All notes lighten, chalky note closes
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No

Lingers? Briefly, slight sweet-tart plum notes