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My coworker gave me her pouch of this — she didn’t like it! I am absolutely crazy for it, though. The caramel does such wonderful things with the rooibos base — it adds sweetness, heft, and such a delicious flavor. Authentic caramel and no fake-y drinking a Yankee candle business! A very tea-like caffeine free evening cuppa with a little milk and sugar.

Yet another one of my coworkers is a now a tea drinker! Horray! For her birthday, our department gave her a gift certificate to Premium Steap. Yesterday, she came back from her lunch break with a bag full of wonderment! When she offered me a sample of this tea, I took her up on it. What a terrible greedy gift giver I am!

Anyway – this is DELICIOUS. There are wee squares of caramel in it, need I say more? The rooibos provides richness and backbone, and the caramel is sweet but burnt and really, really good. I prepared it like a regular tea, with a smidge of sugar and a splash of milk, and I thought it tasted very tea like. Certainly better than most of the decafs I’ve had.

This goes on the to-buy list FOR SURE.

I have one tragic bit of news. When I was perusing the Premium Steap site to enter this tisane, I noticed that Emperor’s Red is no longer listed for sale! When I go to the shop I will try and find out the story. I have other teas that I think are very much in the Emperor’s family, but still…

It’s not often, here anyway, that the first semi-conscious thought that follows “I have got to change the stupid radio station on the alarm clock! I can’t stand those guys.” is “Oooh. Need Darjeeling.”

But it was this morning, and this was the DJ of choice. Even with an aged and none-too-carefully stored swappy bag, this is still rich and grape-juicy.

Margaret’s Hope. Isn’t that a nice name? Shades of a young wife standing on her widow’s walk with sea spray blowing in her face waiting for her true love to sail back home…

…which has little do to with this really fine, fruity and grapey Darjeeling. I have maybe just enough (courtesy of the lovely jacquelinem) to try a small pot’s worth chilled, which I’m thinking would be elegantly refreshing.

Overdid on leaf, time, and temp (all three, I’m afraid) and even so, it’s a good and juicy Darjeeling. Just had a touch of bitterness at the end. With a little more attentiveness, this will be grapey and excellent.

I oopsed and attributed this to the wrong company yesterday, will try to retire the wrong note. Previous comments still stand, though; to me, this isn’t nearly as dry and grape-y as many better Darjeelings, but I like the light-and-smooth consistency that doesn’t pucker my tongue.

I’m holding off on rating till I don’t have a sore throat.
Sweet and mildly astringent.

You know what? This might be one of those teas that makes a liar out of me. I like my spicy teas spicy – and that goes especially for chai – no messing around, plenty of ginger and cinnamon – pepper, cloves, I like ‘em. And then I got this one, and it’s so smooth and sweet from the vanilla and cardamom (both favourite flavours, but not without the other spices for chai), and the Assam works so well as a base, with its typical astringency tempered by the vanilla and cardamom, that it’s just a lovely cup of sweetly flavoured tea.

From the here’s hoping tea box

I love both lavender and jasmine. I selected this tea from the teabox because I am always on the lookout for Jasmine or lavender flavors and have never seen them together.

This is a great tea. I am also getting a citrus flavor which is an interesting addition.

The tea is an orangy-tan in the cup. The dry leaves smell GREAT. I love it if this scent came in an air freshener! I am really enjoying this tea and added it to my shopping list!

Just finished this off. I enjoyed this, especially with milk. The coconut added a creamy aspect. However, it was a bit weak for my tastes. I would really like to find a strong coconut chai!

The last time I had this, I accidentally drowned out the flavor with some almond milk. This time I used normal milk and went for a ten minute steep. I really enjoyed this one. It’s a less intense chai, with the coconut adding more creaminess than actual flavor. If you’re wanting a very strong coconut flavor, this probably isn’t the best for you, but otherwise it’s really good.

Another from my TTB.
Yesterday while shopping my mom and I found some unsweetened coconut vanilla almond milk. It just sounded so interesting that we had to get it and try it.

I thought it might be interesting to try it in a coconut flavored tea. I put it in this tea. Without sugar, it tastes like peanuts. With sugar, the milk flavor masks the taste of the tea, so I’m not even able to remark on the flavors of the tea! I can taste the almond flavor now, with some vanilla sweetness. This doesn’t add to the tea flavor like I was hoping, but instead seems to completely dominate the flavor. I’ll try the tea itself another time, perhaps with normal milk so I can actually give it a proper review!

ETA: One thing I found interesting was the steep time. The person who contributed this tea wrote a recommended time of 10 minutes, which just seems like waaaaay to much for this tea. I decided to give it a try anyway, but since I couldn’t taste the tea, it didn’t really matter.

I cold brewed this one last night. I’m not a huge green tea person, but I love this sencha. I love it best cold because it’s an amazing thirst quencher. There is a smooth buttery note from the green tea, and a floral note that is strong but not overwhelming. Yum. I’m going to have to pick up some more of this one. I think it is going to be one of my go-to iced teas again this summer.

I probably shouldn’t be drinking caffeinated drinks right now, but this one was calling to me. I’m going to have to try some other Senchas because this one is quickly becoming one of my favorite green teas. It’s so light and clean yet full of flavor. Oh yeah, I like.

Bumping my rating up on this one.

Tea of the night. I just realized this is my third green tea today which is almost unheard of for me. I’ve enjoyed each one, so maybe I’m finally starting to warm up to green teas.

This tea smells sweetly floral. The tea has a brothy feel, but the taste is a bit cleaner with light hints of cherry and rose. The rose comes to the foreground as the tea cools, and almost all of the cherry is lost. That’s kind of a bummer because it’s a good cherry flavor. Nothing artificial or gummy tasting. I’m picking up some grassier notes from the tea which is really nice with the floral flavor. Wow. Good stuff.

All in all a lovely cup. I know I enjoyed cold brewing it during the summer, but this is much better hot than I remember. I’m glad I revisited it.

Cold brewed this again. It’s really nice. Wonderfully smooth and clean. The rose flavor is very light this time, but I like that it gives the sencha a chance to shine. It’s perfect for a hot day like today.

This tea is lovely cold brewed. The base tea is crisp and light which blends well with the rose flavor. There is a hint of cherry, but it’s subtle. Overall, it’s a wonderfully delicate tea. I can see this being a hit at a summer tea or garden party.

Upping the rating a bit.

Yesterday I took my daughter to the doctor for her well visit. Today I have a sore throat. Go figure. That is why I dislike walking into the petri dish that is any pediatrician’s office. It seems like anytime I take my kids there I come home with some sort of bug. Sorry, needed to vent. End of rant.

This sounded like a nice tea for a sore throat. I measured the leaves into my french press, and followed the steeping directions on the bag (1 tsp for 8 oz., heat water to 185F, steep 2 minutes). After it finished steeping I poured the tea into my teapot. The liquid is a pale green, and the scent is purely green tea – no cherry. The taste is clean. I want to say soapy, but not in a bad way. I still don’t taste the cherry. There is a floral note that I wasn’t expecting, but it’s nice. As the tea cools there is a hint of something that could be cherry, but because of the floral note I would say it’s cherry blossom, not fruity cherry.

I find that the absence of cherry does not bother me. The flavors in the cup are so light and pleasing. A heavy fruity cherry flavor would cover up all of the wonderful flavors from the tea itself.

A nice tea. It feels lovely on my sore throat. I might resteep the leaves later today.

Finishing off my last bit of this tea. It’s been a while since I’ve had this one, but I still give it a big thumbs up. I like that this is a Ceylon tea with notes of jasmine and lavender rather than overly strong floral notes and little to no tea flavor. Premium Steap did a great job with this blend. If I ever make it to their store I’d happily pick up more of it.

I was considering having this one iced, but I chose to have it hot because I love the smell of it so much. Just having a mug of this sitting on my desk makes the room smell divine. The jasmine and lavender are wonderful together, and even though the scent is unmistakably floral the tea itself can easily be tasted along with the floral notes.

There is only enough leaf left for me to have one more cup of this lovely tea. Yet another reason to make a trip to Premium Steap (Emperor’s Red and Organic Black with Coconut being the other reasons).

Cold brewed. Lots of floral, but the base tea is still there. A great way to cool down on a hot day.

This was a gift from a friend. It’s a tea I never would have chosen for myself, so I’m glad my friend was making the choices because this is a very nice tea. Nice to have a friend who knows me better than I know myself!

I have never been a fan of floral flavored teas because they tend to overwhelm me. Not so with this tea. The jasmine and lavender are there, but I don’t feel like I’ve stuck my head in a potpourri bag. The Ceylon tea has a chance to shine. The tea is rich and has a sweetness to it, again not overwhelming. It’s just enough to make you sit up and take notice. That combined with the lovely jasmine and lavender flavors makes this tea almost enchanting.

I can see myself enjoying this one both hot and iced. I have to say, I’ve been super impressed with the teas I’ve had from Premium Steap. Each one has been a delight!