New Mexico Tea Company

A very soothing tisane. Somehow this reminds me of Sleepy Time tea — not in flavor exactly, but in concept. It tastes like something you would drink right before you go to bed. The balance between the lavender and lemongrass is about equal. The promised mango flavor is M.I.A., though. Still a pleasant cup.

Got a sample of this and it’s pleasant, but mild. I might try extra leaf next time, but as it stands, the flavoring is lightly fruity and the base has a light hay note. I guess this could be plum and pear, but it might just as easily be a mild tropical fruit. A little sugar helps the flavor.

I had received a sample of this a while back, but I decided that it’s due time to drink some samples down. I must admit that I was pretty happy with the way that this tea turned out. It had a nice nutty bite, with a slight dry plum note in the aftertaste. I didn’t care for the flavoring, but the base of the Wuyi makes this tea quite nice to drink. Overall, I had liked this brew, but I may not restock on it again.

I had received a sample of this a while ago, but just rediscovered it this morning. I’ve been trying to get used to the 4:30 a.m. wake up time, but it has been difficult. Therefore, making tea during the week can be a chore.

I must say that this was okay. The base was overly bitter/astringent. I had to add a good amount of sugar to kill that astringency/bitterness. As much as the blend had sounded nice, I couldn’t get myself to finish the cup.

I brewed this western style in my 16 oz Ingenuitea tea maker. I steeped it for 2-3 minutes.

Got this as a free sample in my order. The passionfruit flavor is convincing, and though I wish it was a little stronger, it’s still very enjoyable.

On a rainy day such as this, I like to have black tea. The scent is very nice, certainly honey and a bit sweet. There is a sweet flavour, nice but a little strong. Also somewhat floral.

Not sure what I was expecting, but overall pretty good.

Sipdown. By the time I finished my 1 oz package, I warmed to this tea slightly. I don’t know if my brain learned to sort out the flavors or if I subconsciously just got a little better at making it (because I can’t really think of anything I changed in the steeping routine). But still, this is not going to become a favorite. The fact that this is the last tea in my NMTC spring order to be finished — even though many of the other pouches were much larger — is the final proof of how I feel about it. Not terrible, but definitely not one of NMTC’s best. Despite the fact that it smelled amazing.

Not bad, but very mundane, especially coming after the strawberry notes in NMTC’s Lady Londonderry. Why don’t these two flavors taste more alike when, ingredients-wise, they have so much in common? As others have noted, the strawberry flavor tastes natural enough, but it is very muted here, and mostly what I get is just the rather muddled taste of the black base. Not one of NMTC’s finest.

Definitely meant to be iced, this is THE tea of summer for me.

As a vaguely fruity tea, this is pleasant enough, but as the mango with a side of lime tea that it’s supposed to be, this is rather a disappointment. The mango flavor is weak — even Adagio gives stronger mango than this — and the lime is non-existent. I’ve also tried it iced, and it doesn’t make any of the flavors more prominent. The base is fine, but overall I wouldn’t say this is NMTC’s best effort.

My latest sample from the state tea company. The blackberry scent is nice. There is a sweet berry flavour. Good with breakfast, and while playing Majora’s Mask.

Will have to try iced.

Steep Off!

This is my last cup of Metropolitan’s Monk’s Blend, so it’s my last chance to do a steep off between these two versions.

First off, these teas have a lot in common with each other. To the point where, if I was choosing between them, I would probably just buy whichever was most convenient at the time.

They both have a vanilla cream note and a vaguely fruity note. I don’t feel that either one nails the grenadine flavor. Yes, the fruity note might kind of sort of be cherry / pomegranate, but if no one had told me that, I don’t think I would have guessed it. They also both need quite a bit of sugar (a heaping teaspoon) before the fruity taste comes out at all. And letting them both cool slightly also helps. The base tea is not particularly distinctive in either — probably a good choice, as anything strong would overwhelm the added flavors.

The main difference in these teas is just where the balance of powers lies between the flavors. Metropolitan’s version has a lot more of the cream vanilla flavor, and this gives it a smoother feel overall, while NMTC’s has a sour-tart note from the fruit. Somehow Metropolitan’s doesn’t taste tart at all.

In the end, I can’t really say I have a preference, though I might choose one over the other depending on whether I’m in the mood for creamy or tart.

All this thinking about tea though did spur me to re-work some of my teacup designs. I always loved the silhouettes of the designs, but the colors of the different cups weren’t meshing, so I tried them out in a soft watercolor palette and also in all black:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/386278542/tea-cups-coffee-cups-in-watercolor-set

https://www.etsy.com/listing/386316148/tea-cups-coffee-cups-in-matte-black-set

Got to visit the New Mexico Tea Company shop in person! It was super cute, and of course smelled amazing. I picked up a sample of this because I wanted to compare it to Metropolitan’s Monk’s Blend. I haven’t done a side-by-side test yet, but I think I’m leaning toward this one, mainly because of the base. It’s very smooth, and Metropolitan’s seemed a bit on the astringent side. The vanilla and pomegranate flavors are nice and strong, but still blend well with the base.

The Lumiose Museum finally has an art exhibit. Or at least the start of one. Can be hard to find good art when you have to get it from a shifty fox.

Anyway, I had this tea to celebrate. There is a berry scent, even a little like blackberry. Very nice berry flavour. And I like the base tea too. (Will try iced.)

Picked this up in the store because it smelled really nice. It certainly has a nice strawberry scent dry. The flavour is somewhat tart, but still good.

Will have to try it iced.

Sipdown. I bought an ounce of this and it went pretty fast. While it’s not something I have to have around all the time, I would definitely like to drink it again, so I’ll probably get another package in a few months. I haven’t found the bee pollen flavor from any other company; it tastes quite unique.

First time trying this one and I really like it. Sometimes ‘honey’ tea just means the tea is slightly sweet, but the bee pollen is really coming through here in both the scent and the flavor. It does have a light natural sweetness, but it is also has that slight bitterness that is inherent to pollen. This tea is a good example of what I’ve come to expect from NMTC — they aren’t ‘fancy’ tea blenders — usually they only use one or two ingredients to flavor their teas, so the result is pretty straightforward. But the quality of the ingredients is very good, and the natural flavors strike a nice balance with the tea.

Sipdown. This was fine. The Assam always stood out the most to me in this blend. I wouldn’t seek this out just because I’m not especially into Assam, but it seemed like good quality.

New Mexico Tea Company actually makes two Monk’s Blends — one with grenadine and one without. I was trying to get the grenadine one, to compare with Metropolitan’s version, but it seems like they grabbed a sample of the other one by mistake. Oh well. This is a decent blend, sort of a light hint of everything.

Sipdown. So all the time I’ve had this I’ve been steeping 1 tsp. per cup and thinking it was pleasant enough, but on the light side and over all nothing to rave about. But for this last cup, I could see I was down to the dregs, so I just poured it all in. About 1.5 tsp, or maybe slightly more. It has SO much more pizzazz this way. The extra little bit helps enormously.

And now it’s gone. The irony.

As ceylons go, this tea is on the light side, probably because it is whole leaf. There is a bit of spicy earthiness to it — sort of like what you find in pu’erh, but much milder than that. Seems like there’s just a breath of muscatel in this too. A lot of nuance to this one.

My latest sample from the local tea store. The scent is mildly floral, and slightly earthy. There is a bit of a honey flavour. It’s a bit on the creamy side too.

Good for overcast days when you just want to play Harvest Moon.