Numi Organic Tea

I love teas naked, but chocolate or chai teas I need some milk or cream in them. I loved it with this tea. This is a nice, earthy tea. This is my first experience with pu’erh. This tea has coffee like components. It actually reminds me of freshly roasted Ethiopian coffee they serve at some good Ethiopian restaurants. Dark, smooth, and no bitterness. Not an everyday tea for me, but an every now and then kind of tea.

“Boxy” isn’t normally an adjective that would spring to mind in describing a tea, but in this case it may be apt. Yes, there is vanilla in it, but it is extremely plain tasting nevertheless. And the overall impression is that of chewing on a wet piece of cardboard. Sorry Numi, not impressed with this one.

Lounging in the hotel room, about to get ready for the day. So glad that this is the last day ofthe conference!! Have had quite a few cups of this tea this morning…and I do believe this one’sthe last of my stash. Here’s hoping the last few sessions aren’t mind-numbing.

I have solved the problem of my tea getting cold whilst I’m talking on the phone/away from my desk: a candle warmer. I feel so smart right now.

Restocked the office stash…and I love this stuff. Even gave it to a non-tea drinker, and she went and bought a box of it! Absolutely fell in love with it. It’s a great beginner’s puerh…unless you don’t like chocolate.

Good, thick, rich, delicious. I’m so impressed by this tea, and how well-balanced the chocolate and the puerh are. Very glad that I picked this up to try! I can see it being a staple in my house, especially in the fall.

Normally I don’t buy Numi teas, but I’ve heard so much about this tea (both good and bad), that I had to try it. I’ve only recently gotten into drinking puerhs, and am very curious about this one. It smells like dark, unprocessed cocoa powder. The typical puerh scent is there, but I have to really try to smell it.

It tastes unbelievably good. I’m picking up on the nutmeg and the cinnamon, but they’re in the background and enhance the chocolate flavor. Chocolate is the strongest flavor next to the puerh. And the puerh is a rich, well-developed flavor. It’s very earthy and dark. There’s a hint of orange at the very end of the cup. I’m loving this!

I’m drawing down my supply of random individual bags so I can focus on the teas I’m more interested in, and this one is on the chopping block today. The description on the package sounds promising, with its blend of Assam, Keemun, Darjeeling, and Ceylon. And I can see bits of leaf in the bag larger than the typical dust and fannings size.

In execution however, it’s less than wonderful. The color is a medium clear brown, and the aroma is light. The taste without additives is really bland; I’m not getting any of the distinctive flavors that I’d usually associate with the individual components used in the blend, but rather a very watered down “tea” flavor. There are vague notes of malt and pepper, but they’re very vague. With cream and sugar it’s tastier, but only because of the cream and sugar and not because it’s bringing out any flavors previously hidden. Disappointing!

I am NOT a chai fan. I’m learning to try things that call themselves “chai,” as I’m learning that there is more than one version of it. This was a happy accident. Husband asked me if I wanted anything from the store, and I’d told him about another brand I’d tried that was chai and asked him to look for some. He came home with this. “It was the only one that said ‘assam chai’,” he said.

I was skeptical. As I said, I don’t generally like chai. However, we were out of town and hotels – when they bother providing what could be considered tea – don’t exactly offer anything remotely drinkable. Luckily the grocery store across the way was able to provide what I’d left at the house (Bad me for not having my travel tea tin stocked. What? I have one! Don’t you?)

So, it was this, hotel “tea,” or nothing. I wasn’t about to send the husband out again, and I didn’t want to buy another whole box of tea to shove in my already-overloaded luggage.

Better than nothing, right? I brewed a cup and the aroma was pleasant. This didn’t smell like any chai I’d ever tried (and I do try them despite my prejudice against chai teas). I took a tentative sip.

Wow. That was nice. Light, flavorful, not at all spicy or bitter. This was chai? I drank the cup and made a second.

While not a favorite, it’s certainly one I will buy again. Though I prefer loose teas, this is a wonderful addition to my tea cabinet for those lazy days when I just want a cup of tea.

Because of this tea, I will give other chai teas a chance. Also because of this tea, I will give more Numi tea a chance. It’s not a brand I’m all that familiar with, but what I have tried I like.

Just wanting a nice mellow evening time cup right now, and have this bag along with me, so now is its time in the spotlight. Although the packaging says it’s 100% mint, the smell on opening the pouch isn’t as fresh and minty as other pure mint bags I’ve tried, or even mint/green blends. It does steep to the typical medium-dark green/brown mint tisane color.

The aroma of the cup once steeped is subdued too, and though the mint is there, I’m also getting an element which is more generically “herbal” that I’m also not used to in typical mint teas. The taste is okay – not as cool mint as I prefer, though there is some natural sweetness lurking around which is pleasant. I’m continuing to taste a medicinal herb note which is not so much to my liking.

Wow, not having much luck with bagged teas this week! I’m looking forward to getting back to my normal stash tomorrow.

Another sample packet I picked up, however my first impression of the concept – marrying berry with Darjeeling – isn’t very hopeful. The smell of the bag is lightly berry-like and pleasant, but steeping brings out the telltale bright red of hibiscus, which tells me to get the sugar ready. I don’t mind the flavor of hibiscus if I know that’s what I’m getting, just need to be ready with sweetener, as I find it really too sour otherwise.

The flavor is indeed really tart, so I’ve added twice as much sugar as I normally would. And it’s still pretty sour. In its defense, it does do a good job of bringing together berry and hibiscus flavors, but I’m having a hard time distinguishing the tea angle, let along something as specific as Darjeeling.

Nice to try, but I won’t be angling for this one again anytime soon.

I approach decaf teas warily, after reading so many less than stellar reviews here of both black and green decafs. Sometimes I don’t want the caffeine though, so besides having a stash of rooibos on the side for such occasions, I’m also on the lookout for a green or black decaf that can win me over. I picked up this bag as a sample recently, so it’s time to give it a try.

The scent from this bag is moderately strong, and features a little bit more lemon than ginger. As it steeps I can see the quite small chunks of ginger floating around with the other ingredients in the bag, but am still getting only a light scent from the cup. In three minutes I’ve got a medium-hued yellow-green liquor. One sip tells me to put the bag back in for another minute, as there’s not a whole lot of flavor there yet.

I’m taking it out after four minutes to avoid bitterness from the green tea. I can’t call this one a super successful blend for my taste – I can get the lemongrass and a light background wash of ginger, along with just a bit of astringency from the green tea, but it’s not really working well together for me. It’s just a tad too medicinal tasting and does not offer the kind of rich flavor I’m looking for.

One of the strongest flavors of mint I have tasted. It is fragrant and tasty.

This is my first puerh tea. I applaud Numi for using a generous 2g of whole tea leaves in each bag. However, I am not a fan of mint tea – it is like drinking tea with gum in your mouth. To my tastes, this would be a much more pleasant drink with none or half the mint although it is not completely overwhelming in this blend. When hot, the tea has a very earthy taste. The earthiness becomes less pronounced as the tea cools. I imagine this is not for everyone but it is an interesting tea. Package contains 16 tea bags.

Received this from Mel. I was really excited about this being Chocolate and Puerh. Then I read the description on the tea bag pouch that read, “velvety and vanilla.” So I got a bit worried. What happened to chocolate? Then I read the ingredients on the back of the tea bag pouch with more ingredients like nutmeg and cinnamon. Now it’s a chai? Darn.
I thought this was ok. Not being a fan of chai I could still drink it. The flavors seemed to mellow as I drank it even. But I thought the chocolate was the most distant flavor of the bunch. Not at all what I expected. But ok.

It’s black tea in a bag. Not bad, but nothing to swoon about. Definitely not my favorite from Numi. I got this bag at one of our commodity meetings…yes, they actually had a hot water dispenser and basket of Numi teas next to the coffee!

Would probably make a good iced sweet tea. But since I don’t drink sweet tea, it’s an okay cuppa for the morning.

I have been wanting to try this tea since I have made the switch from coffee. I blended this tea with fresh mint and found it very interesting. I agree it has a sweet flavor, however, a touch of honey makes it just wonderful.

Wow, this is a really dark-looking, dense tea – almost like pu-erh in some respects. It tastes quick ‘thick’ if that makes any sense. It has quite a strong flavour that verges of being bitter, but I can distinctly taste the slightly smokey, tannic (leathery? malty?) flavour that all Yunnan teas seen to have. It’s quite smooth- tasting initially, but it’s at the end and a bit in the aftertaste where the bitterness comes in. It doesn’t have those sweet, cocoa notes that some Yunnans have, but it’s likeable despite its rough edges.

I can already tell that this is a good, morning kick in the arse tea. Lord knows I’m going to need it today.

Another tea from my box of assorted Numi teas. It smells mildly tea-ish with an undertone of…raspberry? Hibiscus? I dunno.

When I added the water the tea instantly turned bright red – Y halo thar hibiscus. >.<

Unfortunately the hibiscus managed to dominate the tea with its tartness – I get the Darjeeling in the aftertaste and to be fair its wine-like astringency actually meshes quite well with the ‘berry’ flavour. The raspberry and strawberry flavours are there but the whole thing is just so frickin’ sour that I can’t really enjoy the tea at all. I drank it all, but it’s definitely NOT going to be on my Shopping List any day soon.

Well, if nothing else this tea succeeded in reminding me why I hate hibiscus.

Eh, it was a ok tea. I wasn’t much a fan. I like rose water in desserts, I like the smell of roses, but I don’t like a straight up rose tea. It wasn’t a strong rose taste, but it was too much for me. It seemed to be a nice white tea, without the rosy kisses, I would of enjoyed it.

It has a nice, prominent, bakey/malty flavour from the toasted grains, but the sencha base is somewhat lacking. Maybe I’ve become spoiled on decent, loose-leaf senchas, but to me this doesn’t have much flavour or depth.

However, to put it into perspective, it’s still quite decent for a bagged green tea.

I had this tea over the weekend and it was ok, nothing I’d write home about. It does have sweet note that is good, but it was missing the depth, but I guess I am expecting a bit too much from a tea bag. I guess, if I didn’t have anything else to drink, I would drink it again.