SpecialTeas

Still logging holiday teas—although several seem very similar. Usual blend of black tea, citrus peel, almonds, rose petals, vanilla, spices. Pleasant spicy flavor with developing orange note. Good with milk, probably sugar, as one wishes.

It’s a pretty liquor once brewed. And it has a nice scent to it, althought I wouldn’t have come up with “overtones of pear” without reading the company description.

I can’t come up with many descriptive terms around the black teas yet – I’m still learning about them. I know I like this. I know I’m going to enjoy drinking the sample I got. It may be complex, I’m not sure. It is however, yummy, and that’s pretty much what I’ve got to go with – right? :)

Hrm. I’ve been looking forward to having this iced. Tonight my hubby decided that’s exactly what we needed to do, so he made it up.

Yeah, this batch needs some help. It’s gonna require a light hand – too strong a brew and it tastes… off. Too light, and there’s no flavor. I will need to experiment with this more. I’m not touching the score because warm, it’s still a good tea, but so far, iced – not so good.

Needed something to break in my new teapot. Wanted something light, with no caffeine, and a lot of vitamin C (since I’m trying to not succumb to this head cold). Decided to go with this one. It’s perfect for tonight. Warm, refreshing, and won’t keep me up too late.

My father got me a gift certificate to SpecialTeas for Christmas, and I got myself a TON of teas. (Two sampler packs, 6 samples, and a few other 1/4 lb packages). (I warn you now, I’ll be rating a lot of SpecialTea over the next few days. )

This tea is one I picked because aside from Candy Cane Lane, my current favorite ever tea is Strawberry Lemonade from Teavana. So I thought, hey, let’s try something similar from SpecialTeas.

The tea is yummy. Really yummy. The aroma is subtle, and I’d prefer a little more in that arena, but the taste makes up for it. You can definitely taste the lemon-lime-y-ness of it. I can see myself making pitchers of this in the summer, iced with a bit of sweetener and having it be the savior of a hot, sticky, nasty day.

I still prefer the Strawberry Lemonade Teavana flavor, but that’s because it’s a hint sweeter. However, I really like this, and can see having both of these teas around for a long time.

Well, I’m certainly not tasting orchid!

Auggy sent this to me with fair warning that it was going to be merely average. I pretty much love trying all tea, so… this one was quite fun to dig into!

The smell of the dry leaves was black tea with a hint of something deeper… maybe cocoa accents? I really didn’t sniff them for long. This one is chopped into somewhat tiny pieces, a pretty standard black size. It isn’t anything to look at.

So I brewed this up in 6 oz. of water (per Auggy’s suggestions), and the resulting cup was very dark and beautiful. The scent off the cup reminded me of raw cacao, deep and powdery (don’t ask how I got powdery from a smell), with a chaser of a tart-like smell that I often associate with the Keemun taste. As for the taste… it’s pretty smoky, actually! Not a smoke like a lapsang or a gunpowder, which taste of actual smoke. More like a quality. There’s flashes of a cacao-like taste, and an underlying tart quality that gives way to a bit of astringency in the mouth. In the aftertaste (and in the flavors that linger on the palate after the sip has been swallowed), there some sweetness. Orchids? Hell no. Not even close. It’s just a general sweet. I couldn’t distinguish a flavor from it.

Even though Auggy advertised this as a “meh” tea, it was definitely serviceable. And as I described, very flavorful! I really liked that this wasn’t weak or lacking depth. Is it stellar? No… it’s a bit rough around the edges. I feel like the flavors don’t extend and lengthen. They’re stunted a bit. But that’s okay, because the ones that manifest are pretty good. I could see myself craving something similar to this. Of course, the only Keemun I’ve had in comparison is Adagio’s English Breakfast, which tastes very different from this. This is more full-bodied and interesting than that EB, which tastes more “default” and more along the lines of a variation on a Ceylon.

I jotted down some notes in a Word document about this tea because I knew I wasn’t going to have time to log this when I wanted to [yeah, I’m a nerd, etc. etc.].

Auggy sent me this tea with the caveat that it was a possible “meh” tea, but that it was good for comparison purposes. Really, I’m up for trying something that’s going to give me a better range of comparison, so that means I’m game for pretty much anything.

I was surprised to discover that this had a really full flavor to it. Which I probably wouldn’t have been, had I remembered what Auggy had written about it, but I’ve never made claims as to the strength of my memory. Well, maybe except to say that it can suck sometimes.

Anyhow, this wasn’t weak. And I liked that. What I’m not sure that I liked was that even though it had a fair amount of flavor, it felt kind of…flat. Not quite as dimensional Jackee Muntz. It also had a kind of salty quality to it, which I normally wouldn’t mind, but this was tap dancing just a little too loudly for me. Actually, this one probably had the strongest malt taste to me of all three of the keemuns I’ve had so far [Jackee Muntz, Keemun Rhapsody, this one].

What I did like was that it had a sweetness to it. It reminded me of honey. Not gonna lie, I would have liked caramel [still can’t quite let go of that], but I’ll take honey. You’d think that the saltiness and the honey taste would have combined to make something resembling caramel, but for whatever reason, they didn’t come together for me.

In the end, this didn’t combine quite as nicely for me as the other two. The components read much more as separate entities than anything else, and while I think this makes it easier for me to pick tastes out from it, it makes for an overall experience that isn’t quite as enjoyable. I guess it’s kind of like what they say about a well-composed dish. You should be able to both eat the components on their own and combined into a bite and enjoy it all.

This certainly wasn’t horrible, but it’s not going to make my favorite keemuns list. I’ll finish off the sample though, no problem. Thanks for the experience, Auggy!

Green, earthy aroma reminiscent of steamed edamame.

Its initial flavor is light and vegetal, mostly activating the back of the tongue but the aftertaste is where this tea shines, coming through with notes of fresh, green melon.

Slightly woody and surprisingly sweet on its own. Steep it a looong time. Honey is a compliment if you would like more sweetness.

Very nice as a down-home, nighttime experience and when feeling a little under the weather.

Its beauty lies in its simplicity.

Nothing too subtle and nothing glaringly crude, this is a very enjoyable everyday white which will please with its slight woody notes and typical sweet finish.

I drink this as a go-to when there is some bustle about me . . . not for the most quiet of moments.

Very strong, bold tea best served with a small splash of cream and sugar. Really, one of the only teas with an astringency that I enjoy (probably from the Assam SpecialTeas uses for this blend) as it comes through whatever is added to it.

Not for the faint of heart, it will wake your ass up and make you feel good about life for a while. Great substitute for morning coffee and highly recommended as the big gun of your arsenal.

The last few times I have tried this tea have been excellent. Not sure what has changed from the first few tries I had from the same package. The flavor of this is bold but smooth, sweet with fruity notes and a nice maltiness that lingers on. It’s a very good cup today and I’m enjoying this very much. Therefore I have raised my rating on this tea. It’s a very good assam and has me wondering if I shouldn’t try to get some more of this same batch!

This full leaf tea with some tips provides a bold tea with a mild malty flavor. Hopefully it keeps me more alert following my workout and lunch meal.

For a cold showery winter morning this tea hits the spot. It’s a full leaf assam with some tips in it. I steeped it my usual 2 minutes for an assam and the astringency/bitterness is mostly non-existent, so no need for dairy additives. I find the brew bold and dark, the flavor smooth and moderately malty. It’s a good cup to sip and reflect on this last day of 2009.

wow is this chocolaty! its a dark murky tea but the amount is chocolate pieces in the dry leaves is like looking into a bag of trail mix. the dry leaves smell like baking chocolate! the wet leaves dont really smell all that interesting. with this unsweetened it tastes like bittersweet drinking chocolate mixed with tea. i dont get a cream taste. i prefer milk chocolate so im not sipping this as fast as i thought i would. ill finish my sample but i dont hink i will be ordering more

im speechless! this tea is amazing! it is liquid cookie! the scent you can pick up the cinnamon but also the almond. no flavor over powers the other they play along with each other nicely. its very sweet but i like that alot :)
mmmmmm

it smells and tastes like candy. its very sweet on its own. its a very comforting flavor. the caramel is subtle but up front where the black tea flavor is strong but smooth. i dont think i will purchase a larger package but i will finish this sample with a smile :D

This is the 3rd place holder in my taste test with three assams from SpecialTeas. This is a complex malty assam tea that has some other notes that adds a bit of mystery, maybe a hint of pine or smokiness, but very subtle. It’s a nice assam, at 2 minutes steep doesn’t really have any noticeable bitter aftertaste. It likely would do well with dairy (milk or h-n-h) but I usually drink my assams black with sweetner. For this taste test I used just sugar.

Had this tea again and my opinion was lowered this time. Maybe because in comparison to some other assams it’s not quite as good. I would not likely buy this one given the other great choices for assam tea I’ve found.

I did a taste test today with three assam teas from SpecialTeas. This was the close runner up of the three assams. I like a malty caramel flavored assam and this one is a good one. It’s also a nice smooth medium strength flavored assam but has a little more bitterness in the aftertaste, which the first-place winner didn’t. This was even with a 2 minute steep. I added no dairy products so just the sugar for sweetner.

Did a taste test today with the last I have of this tea plus 4 other assam teas. This one came out #4 behind TeaSource’s Panatola, Ramanugger and InfusionOfTeas Halmari. Still a good assam but I think the age had it’s affect and it’s flavor was a little duller and did have a tad bit of astringency probably because I steeped it a tad beyond what I should have.

Pitted this one up against two other Assam teas in a taste test. I carefully measure the tea (by weight) the time steeped (2 min to prevent bitterness,) and the sugar amount so all are done the same. Of the three, this one came out on top IMHO. It’s smooth with very little if any astringency. Has a nice caramel malty flavor with no lingering bitterness. I added no dairy products and it’s a nice cup just with the sweetener.