Numi Organic Tea

I grabbed lunch at a cafe before rushing to work and decided I needed tea. I tried this, since I like the rooibos chai. Won’t be ordering it again. It was pretty bland except at the end of the cup for some reason, and the anise totally put me off. Disclaimer: I hate anise in the best of cases.

Another dip into the sample box, and we have a winner! I am a Chai nut, especially when the spices walk up to you and kick you square in the face! Very cinnamonny (if that’s even a word). I gave it my standard Chai preparation (milk and sweetener), and found it to be in very close competition with with my favorite Ultimate Spice Chai from Twinings.

Side note: I love reading the directions on the sac these Numi tea bags are wrapped in. This one said “While you dance with a loved one, steep this tea for 3-5 minutes.” Also, being very silly people, my sister and I literally danced for the 5 minutes I steeped this tea for. Heck! I should buy a box just for the calories we’ll burn while the tea is brewing!

I rarely purchase grocery store teas, but I was craving chai, had heard Numi was a good brand, and the box does say “full leaf tea”. After getting it home I just cut open a bag and put it in the teapot. That’s when I discovered that it doesn’t look like full leaf at all; it appears to be ground and twiggy. Well, I decided to try it anyway, just in case it was better than it looks. Cinnamon overwhelmed all the other spices and the tea was just weak. Not much more to say; I just really didn’t like it and was upset over what I feel was the false claim that it’s a loose leaf tea.

Got this just now from a tea swap. Have never had honeybush before! It brews up a clear rich reddish-brown, like oolong, and while both the dried bag and the final result are sweetly aromatic, the scent doesn’t resemble honey at all to my nose. What it is like is the slightly medicinal-fruity sweetness of dried longan meat or red dates, as used in Chinese soups and fortifying drinks. Based on that I’d assume honeybush is “heaty”. My mother says she finds it acidic, but I don’t. It doesn’t taste like much, actually (and it’s been steeping for 6 minutes at this point), but that’s fine with me in a late-night uncaffeinated brew.

I had 2 cups of this today and I must say that I love it. The earthiness of the Puerh and the cocoa that’s not too sweet.

I’ve been looking for this tea on seeing good reviews. I found it finally at the Vitamin Shoppe instead and had a coupon for a dollar off. Instantly smelled like chocolate chai to me. I really like the robust dense body of this tea, and the left behind cocoa residue. I thought it was like coffee with chai dipped in it….which I see that I’m not alone in thinking that after now reading Cofftea’s review of this tea. I like it. It reminds me more of coffee than any tea I have had. It’s not as dark as Dr. Tea’s Imperial Pu-Erh but still quite tasty.

The aroma and flavor profile of this tea are enjoyable – cocoa and cinnamon with a hint of spice. But that blend doesn’t carry the bland thinness of it, unfortunately. This is especially noticeable for puerh drinkers anticipating some depth to dive into. If you’re willing to give it a double or triple bag infusion its personality would probably pick up, but I haven’t taken that route. Adding a touch of almond milk added body and seemed to intensify the flavor a bit, so that’ll be its destiny.

Okay! So, I pulled this one out of the sample box and read the ingredients. Hibiscus. Rats. My last experience with Hibiscus in a tea was not a positive one, but as I didn’t have to pay for the tea bag, I gave it a shot. It’s not bad, but I wasn’t all that impressed either. Being a Darjeeling helped it just enough to make it drinkable, but I HAD to add milk. Even then, the Hibiscus insisted upon being the main attraction, and made every effort to overpower the Darjeeling with its icky over-sweetness. I suppose if I was somewhere craving tea and this was all there was to choose from, I’d be a big girl and deal, but I won’t be seeking this tea out any time soon. In fact, I think the only reason I’ve rated this one so high is out of respect for the Darjeeling. Sorry Numi. No winner this time.

Another pick from the sample pack. This one was nice, but it didn’t seem all that different from other regular Green Teas that I’ve had, which was somewhat disappointing to me, considering the name. I expected something called “Gunpowder Green Tea” to be a bit more… explosive. No, not literally. I like my eyebrows where they are. Let’s just say, I anticipated more of a bite, rather than a lack thereof. All in all, it’s a good tea. Just not as exciting as I expected.

Such a lovely experience to steep this tea in the little glass Numi teapot…the jasmine pearls are divine after first steep.

I don’t usually choose decafe teas, but since this was what the multi-pack offered, this is what I chose. All I can say is, WOW! I like Green teas, but I’ve never tasted one with this much zing! Even without the caffeine, I found this to be a refreshing and invigorating tea! As usual, just a bit of sugar to sweeten (though, perhaps I should look into this “Truvia” stuff). The ginger is very apparent in this tea, which is where I suspect I’m getting that delightful kick from. And The undertones of the lemongrass add a certain I don’t know what, but it’s a good thing. I will certainly have to look for this one in the grocery. This is another illustration as to why I love sample packages of tea. Absolute win!

Up date (1/18/2011): So I looked into that Truvia stuff. It’s rubbish. I’m donating it to the teachers lounge at the elementary school my mother works at. Hope they can enjoy it.

Back to the sample pack! This one is pretty tasty as well. I’ve had Green teas with Jasmine in the past, but it’s been far too long to make a comparison. All I can say is, I rather liked it. Just some sugar to sweeten it, and away I went.

The first cup was a bit overpowering, but I’ve since gotten used to it. The scent overwhelms the taste just a bit, but the white tea is present in the flavor and quite good. The flavor is especially balanced after it’s cooled down a bit. A good mid-day “tea time” tea, I think, but not something I would drink regularly.

I once again dipped into the sample box, and this is the green tea I chose at random. I don’t think this is anything I might have chosen on my own, which is why I LOVE those sampler boxes! As soon as I poured the water over the bag I thought, ‘Yup, that’s rice.’ Strange, but not in a bad way. But I steeped it for the maximum recommended time (as is my way), sweetened it with sugar, and took a sip. The verdict? Rather tasty! I quite like this tea! And for something that I probably never would have paid to taste, I may very well be adding a box of this interesting tea to my collection!

Very nice. Another from the sample pack from my Hunny’s father. I tried it without milk at first, as I usually drink Chinese tea sans dairy. However, in this case, I wasn’t impressed. I added a splash of milk, and things got a whole lot better! I found it to be similar to my Scottish Breakfast Tea (weird), but certainly not exactly the same. I didn’t even think of it at the time, but in hind sight, I make that connection… Hm… Whatever. It’s a nice tea.

I’m a big Earl Grey fan, and this is no exception. One of the better ones I’ve tried, actually. And it’s all thanks to my Hunny’s father for sending me a Numi sample pack of tea for the holiday! More free tea. Sweet!

At any rate, I prepped this cuppa the same way I do any other Earl Grey. Sweetened with sugar and a splash of milk. Very nice.

This is one of the Numi teas that I picked up at my conference earlier this month. I had several cups of this during it, and really enjoyed it.

It’s very nicely spiced; I can taste the cinnamon and the cloves primarily, and the orange is absolutely delicious. Not much of a white tea taste, but I don’t mind that in this blend. This is a blend that is very forgiving on time/temp, as I had no control over either at the conference and it still turned out delicious. This is a blend that I would definitely invest in…and will keep drinking at conferences.

Cinnamon and that’s all I could taste! When I think of Orange Spice, I think of Pike’s Place’s Orange Spice. I love that iced. I think I tasted a hint of citrus, but the cinnamon wouldn’t let me taste anything else! This wasn’t desirable iced, definitely more a hot tea. I couldn’t stomach how much cinnamon this tea has. I love chai, but I am not a fan of the flavors of this, which is weird since the ingredient list is everything I like or love.

I think if there was actually more tea in here, I could stomach this tea.

I really like this one. There is some tartness, as others have noted, but nothing excessive. I think the tartness is about equal to a green apple. The flavor is more berry than tea. I’m sure it would be great iced. Prepared with splenda.

vanilla_bookworm sent me a couple bags of this to try out (thank you so much!!). Even with my stuffy nose (yup, I’m still sniffling), I can still clearly smell the roses. Reminds me of rosewater and my Aunt Della’s vanity…all that fancy old-fashioned jewelry and make-up containers. I haven’t thought of sitting there going through those bits and bobbles for years…if nothing else, I love this tea for that.

The taste isn’t all that different from then smell. Very rosy, and the white tea is still present, though rose is definitely the star of this show.

This one, like the Green Chai, confused me a bit. The spices are reminiscent of a Chai tea, but I have never added milk to a White tea before. The brewing suggestions on the back don’t even hint at how it would be best. It just tells you how long to steep the tea for. So I tried it with just sugar at first, which I did like. It was very spicy indeed! However, about half way through the cup, I decided it was too strong, and said “what the heck,” and added some milk. This was a good call! The milk took the spiciness and toned it right down to a nice, sweet, creamy flavor with just enough bite. No longer overwhelmingly spicy, I enjoyed the rest of the cup even more! It kind of made me think of the Ultra Spice Chai by Twinings (my favorite!), but lighter. I may have to keep my eye out for this one!

Side note: This tea bag was acquired for free from the cafe at my college when I was charged for the bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich I ordered, and then it was discovered that they had no bacon, which meant I had been over charged for an egg and cheese sandwich instead. So, 60c overcharge for a sandwich = free tea bag with my meal. WIN!

Not a bad tea, got from a Chaplain’s care package here in Afghanistan.

A little bit of sweetener makes it a pleasantly fruity taste.

If you are on the go, it’s worth it— if not, try Anjou Pear-adaise from Teavana instead!

I got this tea as a sample for following Numi on Twitter. I am a little scared on Puerh and I had never tried it before, but I must say that I am very glad I got this sample because this is one of the best chocolate teas I have ever had.

The tea did have kind of a weird earthy smell and I don’t think I would want to drink it cold but when hot this tea has a wonderful depth. The chocolate flavor has so many rich dimensions that I could swear I was drinking something bad for me.

I had this tea plain but it had a wonderfully creamy and sweet essence. There was also a lovely hint of cinnamon in the background that really enhanced the flavor. I am definitely gonna have to get myself some of this in the future!