SpecialTeas

Trying the last of my sample of this tea. I measured out the normal amount for my thermos and had just a smidge left so I dumped it in too. What I ended up with is a very strong dose of tea. This tea is once again strong, very strong with the smidge extra tea leaf in the brew. This dark brew has a strong astringency even after steeping just 2 1/2 minutes. It’s stout…too stout to enjoy even with just sweetener so I added some dairy milk to it and wow that helps a lot! So with the addition of milk I bump the rating of this tea. As others have said, if you are a coffee drinker this might be the one for you to try first in the tea arena.

Had a mug of this today from a sampler packet I recently got. It’s the second time I’m sampled it. It claims to be a 2008 winner of some award so I figured it must be good. It is a strong blend as they claim. I’m not sure if I put too much leaf into my brew but it was strong, a bit too strong for my liking. Given it has Assam as one of the primary leaf varietals I steeped it 2:15 minutes and it still came out with quite a bit of astringency. It’s got a interesting malty and earthy flavor that I’m thinking their suggestion for adding milk might be in order. I also think rock sugar or at least raw sugar or Turbinado sugar might enhance this further. It was a bold wake up tea and while not a favorite I will give it some more tries making sure I measure it more carefully next time and try it with milk and sugar.

Good Yunnan black – I tend to find some Yunnan’s pretty boring, but this one was good. Very tippy leaves and brewed up a bit malty.

This is a top notch Earl Grey. It is sweet, I assume becasue of the white tips, so I use less sugar, and truthfully, it needs less milk too. It’s light, sweet, complicated, and lively. This is a truly wonderful tea.

Snowy week followed by a snowy weekend. I’m staying inside, and I’m sipping this tea with relish. It’s a nice smooth tea with a good flavor – neutral when compared to some of my flavored teas. It pairs nicely with just about any food. A classic!

Starting my day with the Darjeeling :) It’s cloudy out today and does not feel like spring, so this is comforting.

Sipping a nice cup of Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling – what a great accompaniment to reading about Victorian England :)

As they say, Darjeeling is the ‘champagne of teas’ and this one is a good one. Did you know that the letters that follow the name mean it’s a high grade tea? I learned that from a local tea merchant :)

“COOKIES!”

So I had a really awful day yesterday. Really, really awful. I attended a wake/funeral in the morning for a man who passed away at 48 after suffering 3 long years from terminal cancer. He left behind two little girls. So I was pretty much an emotional wreck.

Then I went for last-minute Christmas shopping, and I wanted to kick myself in the pants for doing so. I went to the huge Macy’s in Herald Square (the largest department store in the world), and could barely move. I’m short, so I couldn’t see anything. I nearly started crying from the frustration (tears in the eyes and everything). I managed to stop at Whole Foods and buy a tin of tea to make myself feel better (Rishi Ancient Emerald Lily, yay!), and at night, my boyfriend stopped by to make me feel better.

Anyway, I went without tea until 10:00 pm last night, when I decided to brew up a cup of this special tea that Auggy sent me. I shared the cup with the boyfriend, which was a wonderful experience. I felt connected to Auggy and to him in that moment, with a lot of the love just going around and flowing.

Of course, the cup smelled AMAZING again. Buttery and wonderful and bake-y. I found this time that I was equally impressed with how much this tastes like tea, but also manages to taste like cinnamon and almond and cookies! After each sip, the boyfriend and I were exclaiming in baby-like voices, “Cookies!” He couldn’t believe how realistically cookie the aftertaste is. “I feel like I just ate a cookie, except I didn’t eat a cookie, I drank some tea, and it tasted like tea, which is weird, but COOKIES!” That’s an exact quote from him.

So this cup warmed me up after an absolutely miserable day with its gentle flavors and deliciousness. The boyfriend said he’d rate it a 95, and suggested that they bake cookies under the tea and then the essence of cookie seeps into the tea leaves. I suggested it’s probably some sort of flavoring. You can pick which you like better.

But I have to thank Auggy a thousand times over for sending me this little package of love. Seriously, it made my night after a long and miserable day of crying and frustration and sadness. LOVE.

Okay, so can I say this was an absolutely DELICIOUS tea experience. Seriously. Auggy, you just brightened my day by twofold just by allowing me to taste the amazingness that is this cup of tea.

First off, the try tea is gorgeous. All sorts of browns and russets, mixed in with the eye-catching orange-red safflower blossoms. Nice slivers of almonds and a smell to die for. Seriously. I’ve actually been saving this tea since Auggy sent it to me, because I had a feeling that I would fall in love with it. And I’m one of those save-the-best-for-last kind of girls.

The leaves did a little dance (but not by much, really, since they’re kinda tiny), and I had a cup of absolutely amazing smelling tea in front of me. Seriously. This smells buttery and bake-y and almond-y and cookie-like. There’s the cinnamon mingling with a tea smell and the entire thing really does smell like an ALMOND COOKIE. Well, that would explain the name, then, right?

First sip gave me a little shiver of happiness. MMMMMM. You get the tang of the tea, followed by the sweetness of the cinnamon, which then mingles into the almonds. And somehow, on the swallow, this produces an amazing likeness to almond cookies. I don’t know if any of you shop at Italian bakeries, but if you do, try the pignoli nut cookies. They’re made with pine nuts (aka pignoli in Italian) and the cookie itself is made with almond paste. They’re soft and chewy and delicious. Sweeter than marzipan and sugary, with the absolutely amazing taste of pine nuts. I grew up eating them. They’re the epitome of an awesome almond cookie, and this tea really just brings all those feelings to the surface.

The flavor dynamics and balance here are absolute perfection. I really couldn’t ask for a better-tasting cup, especially after my very bizarre experience with lapsang souchong this morning. Yay for delicious dessert tea! And yay for Auggy and her wonderful samples!

One of my faves :)

I hate smokey teas, but have been on a quest to find one that I like. This tea is the winner. It is lightly smokey, more so I think than a Gunpowder, but less so than a Lapsang. I really like it.

The liqour is a dark brown, not too transparent, and the aroma is pure smoke. The flavor starts with a hint of smoke, followed by a medium-bodied tea flavor, then finishes with a stronger, but not overpowering, smokey taste.

I loved it without milk and sugar, but when I added milk and sugar it ruined the tea. I threw the rest out. Word to the wise: drink it straight up or with a little milk, but not sugar.

This is the first Darjeeling Second Flush I have had since I have really understood the difference between the flushes. I’ll say that this is a very good cup of tea, just not my cup of tea.

The liquor is light caramel, and highly transparent. Very pretty. The aroma is quite subtle, hinting ever so slightly towards cinnamon. The flavor is very, very peppery. The first wave of flavor is peppery, the middle notes are peppery, and the finish is peppery. It’s like someone added essence of green bell pepper to my tea. I am not fond of this tea.

I tried it with milk and sugar and without: with is slightly more pallitable, but I have a feeling I won’t be finishing this cup in record time.

Mild but anchoring tannins, fresh alfalfa nose with a sweet finish. Activates most of the front 2/3 of the tongue without overwhelming the palate. Subtle tawny in color. A nice tea to finish the day with.

I think it tastes like Lemon Chiffon and not Earl Grey. It’s a pleasant tea and one I’m sure others would enjoy, but I like my Earl straight up.

This is a decent tea. It’s not great, but it’s not bad either. The vanilla is a bit strong for my tastes, but a bit of milk and sugar really smoothes it out. What can I say? It’s warm and soothing and it’s tea. As with many of the flavored blacks, this is a good gateway tea.

This tea is pretty good. Decent black tea with coconut pieces and flavors. The coconut really coems through in the aftertaste. Good with milk and sugar.

Trying to use this up. Still tastes very bland to me. The chamomile overwhelms everything else, and I don’t taste any nuttiness or chocolate as the description says.

This doesn’t taste like anything..

This is a very subtle tea. I like it, but I am not wild for it. Truth is, I just plain like black teas more. But, nonetheless, I will continue my quest to better understand the tea world and and varieties therein.

Starts off tasting a bit watery. For a brief moment I thought I brewed it a bit weak, but I don’t think so. I think it is just very subtle, because right after the initial “Hey, is there any tea in here?” comes a wave of mild, light-bodied taste reminiscent of brussle sprouts. It’s ever so slightly bitter. Maybe my water was a bit hotter than I thought? I eyeballed it. The sip finishes with a stronger (relatively) floral taste and smell. The aftertaste is pure jasmine.

Being a fan of sugar in my tea, I added a pinch of sugar after making the notes above. Overall, it tasets about the same, with the sweetness from the sugar coming in towards the middle and back ends, somewhat boosting the flavor.

Overall, I like it, and it seems to be a very nice tea, but for those who, like me, are new to green teas, I don’t recommend it. Maybe for the advanced green tea lovers.

I found this to be an enjoyable cup. I added a little sugar and a splash of milk.

First off, the tea leaves were crumbled and broken, not full and long like in the picture. The tea still tastes fantastic however. The dry leaves let off a rich, full bouquet. Once wet, they smelled like, well, I can only describe them as smelling of tea!

The first wave of flavor is almost nonexistent, followed by a full-bodied early-middle note. The Assam really kicks in right in the middle, with that heavy, dark taste I love so much. The flavors move smoothly, with a lemony, nutty finish. The after taste is slightly astringent, but not bitter. The conclusion of each sip leaves me looking forward to another one.

This is a solid and dependable tea, and I daresay it is very affordable. I’d recommend it for all ranges of experience, because it tastes like what one would expect from an Irish Breakfast, but it has complicated undertones that those who are well schooled can appreciate.

I was sadly disappointed with this tea. I had recently discovered whites, and was really excited because I love the SpecialTeas black strawberry tea. Sadly, I found this tea to be weak and bitter, despite my many manipultions of the temprature and steep time, and just not good. Sorry SpecialTeas! I still love you!

This is by far my favorite Earl Grey, and a serious contender for my all-time favorite tea. EG was the first tea I fell in love with (as a child), and at any given time I have 10-15 different EGs in my pantry. This one is the best blend of a strong and sharp bergamot flavor with a solid, strong-bodied black tea. Smooth start, sharp rise in the middle, and a heady bergamot finish. Usually I find teas with either not enough bergamot, or with poor quality black tea. This is absolutely perfect. I very much recommend this tea to anyone looking for a nice cup of EG. It is particularly good with sugar, milk, and a few drops of vanilla.

This is one of my favorite fruity teas. Be careful: I first steeped it too long, and this particular blend does not do well with oversteeping. The aftertaste was bitter and overwhelming. That said, if you steep it for only 3-5 minutes, it is heavenly! The strawberry flavor kicks in about halfway through the sip, and lingers nicely. I like this with a healthy serving of sugar or honey and a splash of milk. I think this is an especially great tea for new drinkers.