New Mexico Tea Company

Backlog from yesterday, this is the third tea that I received with day 3 for the 12 days of Christmas.
ahhhh so much tea to get through.

This smelt nice creamy, vanillaey but also floral like. I really don’t like floral flavours.
once steeped it smells quite floral.
definitely not a tea for me, but glad to try it.

Happy Autumn! My latest sample from the local shop. It has a nice mild vanilla scent. With a little sweetness. There is a mildly creamy vanilla flavour. Reminds me a little of pastries.

Nice to see that I’m not the only one enjoying this tea. It perks my spirits up a little after hearing about what happened in Boston. :(

I recently splurged on 4 ounces of this tea because I love it so much. It’s the perfect blend of black and green, mint and bergamot. Currently keeping it in the bag it came in but am thinking about getting some of those Adagio 4 oz tins.

I no longer add sugar to this tea, just steep it for 2 minutes in 160 degree water and it’s good to go. Thinking it will taste good iced in the summer. I am also beginning to wonder how this tea will taste with a little milk. But it’s so good on its own I do not want to risk spoiling it.

I also still really love the smell of this tea and think it would make a great scent for a body wash.

I love my bergamot.

I got this as a free sample from the NM Tea Company and I wish I had a couple ounces of it, this is good stuff. I’m usually not too crazy about mint teas because the mint tends to get overpowering, but in this tea I can also taste the tea and more importantly the bergamot. The mint blends well with it.

I only meant to steep this tea for 2 minutes but got distracted, I think it would be better with a shorter steeping time but it was still good. Added just a little sugar and drink it like I drink my regular Earl Grey – enjoying and trying to make it last instead of gulping it down too fast.

This tea comes across as pretty mellow for me. I like it and the floral notes add a bit of awesome to the mix too. It’s so funny that it looks like a black tea, but smells more like a green/herbal mix. Def. different! Many thanks LiberTEAS for this 2 of 3 teas on the 3rd Day of Christmas. Yes I know I’m behind. But I was out of town and away from proper brewing tools!

The second of the three teas that I selected for the third day of Christmas in the 12 Days of Christmas tea swap. If one enters in “French Blend” in the Steepster search, you’ll find a few different brands of teas with “French Blend” teas. I ultimately decided upon this one for a few reasons: 1) it was a blend of black and green teas, and since the other two teas that I selected for this day are both black teas, I thought that a blend of these two teas would at least offer a slight variation to the base tea. 2) It had lavender in it, and I wanted a lavender tea included with my French teas. 3) I liked that there is jasmine and rose in this tea.

My first couple of sips of this tea were a bit astringent, but, I found that the astringency has waned since then. I attribute this to the fact that the tea has had a chance to cool slightly. Other than the astringent start, this is really quite a flavorful tea. I taste all the elements that I was promised in the description: I taste the black and the green tea (I brewed this at 180F) and I taste jasmine, lavender, rose and vanilla. It’s really quite a pleasant cup.

Sipdown! Totally not allowed to buy more tea until i can get my cupboard down to 150. That means i need do some swaps in the new year!

I’m not overly a fan of floral teas. This is a really nice tea but i just do not like the floral notes.

Day 3! of the 12 days of christmas tea swap! Thank you to Liberteas for your egg-cellent idea :)

I opted to try this tea first since “floral” and i generally don’t get along and i’ve tried della terra’s tea before. The scent of this one brewed, reminds me faintly of "red rose’s orange pekoe tea. However, the first sip of this is pretty delicious. While i can taste the floral notes in the tea, they’re REALLY subtle and don’t clobber me with flower power. I’m not as familiar with green and black teas but this is an interesting blend. I don’t get much “creamy” flavour, but i may add a splash of milk to my next cup to try that out. Overall, this is a pretty enjoyable cup!

I’m liking this one a lot! The pear comes through really nicely – which I was afraid would not be the case, because it seems too often with pear teas that the pear just doesn’t come through strongly enough. Pear is such a delicate flavor as it is. But the pear comes through in a really good way with this tea. It is sweet, the green tea is brothy and slightly vegetative, and the plum comes through as sweet at first, with a tart-y finish that lingers into the aftertaste.

I really like this one.

I’m going to be focusing on teas that I’ve already tried over the next day or so because I think I’m coming down with something (again … gah!!!) My taste buds are definitely impaired as I feel that sort of icky feeling in my throat and in my mouth where it feels like everything is lined with scratchy wool or something. Like I said, icky.

So, I’ll seek comfort with teas that I know. This is my absolute favorite Coconut tea. I don’t think I’ve found one that’s better. It’s so deliciously coconut-y. I love it, and even though my taste buds aren’t working oh so great I can still taste the goodness here.

I’m loving this tea. It tastes very coconut-y and it’s authentic tasting. It doesn’t taste artificial. The black tea is robust without being too aggressive, and the coconut flavor is smooth and creamy. I did not make this in to a latte, just enjoying it straight up and there’s lots of coconut flavor. I imagine that the milk would only enhance the creaminess of the coconut.

Really yummy.

Edited to change the rating … it deserves much higher than an 86. As this cools, it becomes so creamy and coconut-y delicious.

I got this tea at a Farmer’s Market – I thought the ginseng root in it might provide an interesting taste and effect.

DRY: Roasty mate + fruity. Weird hunks of stuff in this tea. Upon closer inspection, they are mango chunks that are crusted with mate and rooibos. Mmmm mate crust.

STEEPED: Very roasted and rooibos smell with fruity notes. Dark amber colour.

TASTE: The roasted mate and rooibos come through. A mysterious tangy earthy spice (ginseng if you ever drank those tiny ginseng shots) with a background of fruity.

WHO’D LIKE THIS TEA: Someone very tired in the morning and doesn’t mind a ginseng taste. Mate and rooibos drinkers (caffeine-free rooibos drinkers – come to the dark side and energetic side of mate)

COMMENTS: The market didn’t give me brewing instructions so I assumed a 180F for like 5-7 minutes. I checked the site and I was practically right! “180F for 5 minutes” off nmteaco.com. Can tell I drink mate a lot.

Okay, Mango Mate Energizer – I wish it was more fruity. The main taste is the mate and rooibos. However, that ginseng taste I do like and would love to try more teas with it. The pairing of it with the roasted mate is very good. I used to drink those ginseng shots in those teeny bottles. They taste horrible and sometimes they come with cute little straws for you to slowly suck down the horribleness. Rest assured, this tea isn’t that horribly strong, but that earthy zingy spice is present in this tea.

This is ultra energy tea – I’m feeling pretty zippy right now!

Azzrian sent me a bit of this and I sipped it down just now…see previous notes. This time around I did a half cup and it was much more bold :)

Thanks so much for this one Alphakitty!

This totally hit the spot this morning! I’ve already had 3 cups! The black and green blend/base is just what I look for in a black/green combo. There are various floral additions to this as well and they are nicely done. There isn’t one flower that speaks louder than the others…and I like this. It has a hint of smooth in it too! Not really a creamy-flavor but it’s nice regardless!

Sipdown! 292/365!

The leaves had a bit of an off flavour when I smelled them earlier; likely from another tea. Thankfully, it didn’t carry into the flavour, so I basically have a very lightly fruitily-flavoured oolong with a pleasant woody base. Definitely not what it used to be, but that’s what happens when you leave teas this long.

Another sample from Alphakitty :) Azzrian & Alphakitty’s boxes are the most conveniently located right now, so I’m making good progress on them! Have to get to everyone else’s stuff soon!

The aroma is very subtly of grape/plum, and a woody oolong base. The flavour follows; fairly light, with a bit of fruitiness and a light base. Very smooth. I’d like to try this with a longer infusion; I hurriedly looked up brewing parameters and probably confused some things (I think this amount of leaf was for 3 or so min, and I should have used more for 1 min). But I’m tired and stressed and this is what happened. At least it isn’t way oversteeped!

This does seem very sophisticated. Very ladies-who-don’t-need-jobs-and-who-do-charity-works-instead. And that isn’t a bad thing. It is a very delicate, high class tea. It reminds me of my grandmother. Totally not like me at all. I’m not a delicate lady. :)

The rose is very present, as is the lavender. The bergamot is underneath, but not as strong as the florals, by far. The tea base is somewhat overshadowed by the florals but again, I don’t consider that especially bad.

On smelling the dry leaf, I was about knocked out by the rose and I had my doubts. I am not a huge rose or lavender fan. My mom really likes lavender teas but she isn’t a huge fan of rose. I got this thinking maybe the rose would be faint enough that it might appeal to her. And, I’ll admit it – the advertising art swayed me. :)

All the not-fans-of aside, I like this tea, which does surprise me. Smelling it, both dry and steeped, would make me think this would be one that would be given to others. I am undecided at this point about purchasing again – that may depend on what Mom and the other tea party ladies think as well.

Because of the strong rose smell, I did err on the side of caution and steep this for half the recommended time. I think I’m glad I did but I’ll try it again with the full recommended time just to see what happens.

Made up a small pot of this tonight since the hub is out for the evening learning Russian. That means I can sit with the cats in one place and read long enough to do a whole pot justice. :)

Still very good. I brought down a bit of fat free half-and-half in case I thought I might want to experiment. I’m very glad I did. The milk ups the creamy factor a lot and mellows out the jasmine. It was good before, now it’s really, really good. I have sugar on the tea tray as well, but haven’t felt a need to use it.

I like jasmine but have some issues most times. I am more a black tea person and it seems that normally jasmine is paired with green or white teas. Also, sometimes jasmine is too bitter.

This blend solves both of my problems. I like the black tea base and the addition of the vanilla mellows the whole thing out. It does feel almost creamy and heavy. The jasmine smells very strongly of jasmine flowers when you smell the dry leaves. Not really perfumey, which is what I get a lot of times when smelling jasmine tea. Instead this blend is definitely more floral smelling. The taste is not overpowering to my palate but I would say that if you are so-so on jasmine, this blend will push you over the edge one way or the other. I love the combination of jasmine and vanilla. Pairing it with a predominately black tea makes this a win for me.

If you are looking for the green tea here, I’m not sure you’ll find it very present. My palate may simply not be trained enough to find it, but this seems pretty much like a very black tea. Good but the only place I find green is seeing a few green leaves in the dry mix.

Update: Best hot. I do notice astringency subtly hiding in the background as this cools off.

The package actually says “Peach Apricot Indian Black.” Not sure if that means the tea is an Indian base or what but the leaves are small and curled up in squigglies like the Nilgiri I’ve had has been (and I do lumme some Nilgiri). Smells very, very strongly of peach when dry. I can see some of the dried fruit bits as well.

The tea base isn’t omnipresent but the overall flavor is great. Excellent and strong peach taste and undertones of apricot. Good warm, but as the company notes, tremendous iced. I would think this might be a good gateway tea to serve to people who think they don’t like tea.

Second steep is still good but obviously weaker. Don’t think it will handle more than two steeps. But it is pretty reasonably priced (at least comparable with the other places I get most of my tea). I’d keep this in the cupboard for sure.

This was my first experience with NM Tea Co. Shipping was super fast and I’m pleased with the experience. They are going on the list of companies to do business with again. Thanks to Jubjubs for posting on their shipping deal. I would never have found them otherwise!

Finally getting to the last tea from my NMTC order (the pu’erh doesn’t count until my gaiwan arrives!). This was an impulse buy, and when I opened them all up to smell them this one seemed the least appealing—I love the taste of fresh plums, but this seemed… artificial. On somewhat of a whim today I decided to brew this up along with some chai spices, sugar plum style!

The earthy oolong and fruity plum flavors balance well, but they’re not overly exciting by themselves, and I think the chai gave them a much-needed kick in the butt. With the spices this is a pretty tasty cup, though more holiday-themed than the current weather really calls for. The plum is a bit on the artificial side, and isn’t really… plum-tasting. It’s more of a generic, juicy fruit taste. It’s not bad, but I was hoping that it would taste like a freshly cut plum. The oolong base is innocuous enough: I like greener oolongs more than their darker counterparts, but the earthy tones definitely work better with the flavoring here. I think I am going to be using this mostly for blending, as on its own nothing really stands out or makes me think “oh, I want more of that!”

I don’t want to jinx it, but Steepster is finally loading a bit faster for me today after two days of painful slowness. Crossing my fingers it keeps it up.

Yet another sample from the lovely SimplyJenW! I am excited to try this because two of my favorite flavors are bergamot and rose, and I love Teas Etc.‘s Rosy Earl Grey sooo much. I am currently out of that one, so I hope this one helps fill that gap (since I know it takes me forever to get through samples). In the bag I didn’t get a much rose aroma from the dry leaf and it smelled like a fairly standard Earl. Steeped, there’s definitely something going on here in the aroma but I can’t tell what. I don’t get a distinct rose smell, but maybe it’s hiding behind the bergamot? There is an almost floral note, I just don’t really identify it as rose.

At first while still hot this tea didn’t seem to offer a lot to me. The flavors were surprisingly weak, and mostly an decent but not great bergamot. As it cools, definitely more is coming out. I do get a burst of rose right at the beginning of the sip, which is joined and replaced by a bright, bright, fairly citrusy bergamot, though it lacks those sweetish lower notes you can get sometimes. The Keemun base is in there rounding things out and it tastes pretty good, but I don’t think it’s quite as nice as the Keemun base on the Lupicia Earl.

Overall I get kind of a general decent-but-not-great vibe from thsi tea. I didn’t actually get much rose flavor in my cup despite other tasting notes saying they did get a lot of rose, so I don’t know what’s going on there. It’s tasty enough but I vastly prefer Teas Etc.’s Rosy Earl Grey, which actually also includes jasmine as well. Glad I got to try this one though.

I absolutely murdered this tea the first go-round. It was so bad I just poured the cup down the drain, but it was really my own fault. This is a green/black blend, but it doesn’t look like there is any green in there (though it is one of the prettiest blends I’ve ever seen!) and the instructions from NMTC say to brew it at 212 for 4-5 minutes. So, boiling water, 5 minutes, and no milk/sugar it was—and the results were horrifically bitter.

So for the second steep I cooled the water down a lot (perhaps too much, but I was nervous!), steeped for 3 minutes and added a tiny splash of milk to cut the astringency. And, like magic, an entirely different tea appeared in my cup. This tasted much more like a green than I thought it would—the hint of milk cuts the astringent of the black down to basically nothing, leaving behind a soft, sweet, floral tea. You can taste the jasmine the most, but the rose & lavender are there as well, with the vanilla adding a hint of creaminess. A great afternoon tea if you like floral blends (which I most definitely do).

I love chai and I love floral blends, so this seems like a match made in heaven for me. (Another match made in heaven: pretzel sticks and Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter, which I am eating in combination with this tea) Brewed, it’s pretty much exactly what I expected: a medium-strong chai blend with a seductive undertone of rose, jasmine & lavender notes. The spices are definitely more prominent than the floral note, which is what you want in a chai! They’re not TOO strong though, even though I added an extra teaspoon to my teapot after my weak chai experience a few days ago.

This is not the strongest chai, but I think if the spices were any bolder it would really overpower the rose. For me, this is a perfect everyday tea—I think it would pair really well with Indian food, I’m almost tempted to get takeout just to try it out!