SpecialTeas

Earl Grey is my favorite tea, and I am sad to leave the only negative review thus far. I found the cornflowers overpowering, and couldn’t enjoy the bergamot aftertaste. Perhaps I should just steer clear of floral Earl Greys, though I love the Edwards Premium Tea Apres-Midi, which is black tea with rose, jasmine, and bergamot. I much prefer SpecialTeas’ Fine Earl Grey.

The Final Sipdown: Day 1.2

I know that it’s technically a new day [that crept up fast] but here’s sample number two. I’m going to have to up my rating on this because, in a happy mistake, I put waaaay too much tea in le Breville in an effort to finish off the sample and while it has resulted in a bit of an oversteep, it also made the flavor in this considerably stronger and so I think that after I order this I’ll be able to find a VERY happy medium.

Getting a whiff of this as I poured it out of the vessel, it reminded me very strongly of walking by Mrs. Fields in the mall – that freshly baked cookie smell wafting around in a ten foot radius around the small booth. Sugar cookies, almond cookies, chocolate chip cookies…all of them radiating mouth-watering scents as they came out of the ever-running ovens. Granted, I was typically of the mindset that the smells emanating out of that little cubicle of a bakery were better than the cookies, but every once in a while when I could catch sugar cookies just coming out of the oven? Mmm…

But I digress. The point is, that this tea emulates near exactly the delicious mixture of smells created by Mrs. F’s. The taste of the tea, and this is something that I believe was a result of me putting in about 50% more tea than I should have for the quantity of water, was really heavy on the cinnamon and clove. I can feel it, dry and slightly bitter and spicy, in the tea. But underneath that…

Oh. My.

Deliciously doughy with a puff of lingering cinnamon and that distinct almond flavor. On the aftertaste, this became stupendously fantastic. It felt like I had just eaten a cookie. Or perhaps a scone, or even biscotti, but you get the picture. Seriously. I mean, you know how after you eat a baked good you can still taste it on your breath? That was how it was after drinking this tea.

And so, while I am going to be sad to momentarily remove this from my cupboard, I know that this is something I will be ordering soon. So freaking tasty.

Samples Downed: 2

I got some mail today from Auggy and I did a dork-out dance by the mailbox. The first thing I did upon reaching my desk was find the almond cookie and get it started while I caught up on what I missed earlier today.

It’s raining again today, which has painted a gloomy background for the day’s activities. This is going to be a tea that begs me to be imbibed during any form of precipitation, because it is super comforting. But also, to be imbibed on most days.

I mean, let’s begin with the smell, shall we?

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.

I think that pretty much sums it up, but in the interest of fairness to the tea, I’ll elaborate a bit more. It smells like almonds. And cookies. Almonds and cookies. Maybe even almond cookies? [I know, OF ALL THE COINCIDENCES!] But also, sometimes mint and chocolate. I’m not sure where I’m getting that from; maybe it’s the plastic bag. Or maybe it’s because I sat there smelling it for minutes while I waited for the water to heat and the tea to steep and for my internet to stop re-enacting Chariots of Fire’s slow motion sequence and function normally.

The tea. Again.

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM NOM.

That’s like, three more noms.

The magic of this tea happens for me in the aftertaste. Letting it sit on the tongue brings out that dry spiciness that cinnamon gives you, and there’s not much else that I derive from it from the actual liquid taste itself. But after the first swallow, I was like, “Oooooh! There it is. COOKIES!”

The almond taste is there, and I get a little puff of the cinnamon. The base is reminiscent of a sugar cookie, but not quite as sweet. [Hah, clearly trying to avoid the now infamous “bake-y” here.] Sometimes I tasted almond croissant, too. All in all, there is no way that trying this isn’t going to result in an order.

Because, really, if a tea can trick me into thinking that I just ate a cookie, I’m all for it.

Too tart for me.

This has white tea and cranberries. I’t smells mostly like cranberries. You can clearly see the white tea and the cranberries. I steeped this for a couple of minutes or more. This taste was a nice white tea with slightly tart cranberries. Pretty good.

Not a bad tea but alittle too spicy for me.

Upping the rating a bit. These buttery-sweet notes really grow on me… the more I drink it the more I like it.
The second infusion is surprisingly good although less sweet and a tiny bit astringent.

No peaches or apricots here for me. The tea is sweet, creamy, almost buttery but not fruity regardless of what the description say. It reminds me of cookie dough actually which isn’t a bad thing but might be too overwhelming for a everyday green.
Great value too.

The following is extremely rambly. I’m quite tired, so apologies. Anything actually having to do with tea starts at the third paragraph, beginning with “Anyway”. >__<

Does anyone else think that Lichee/lychee is the most floral tasting fruit ever? Maybe it’s one of those things where two tastes somehow remind you of each other without being similar at all. I’m convinced that it has something to do with how the smells activate this same scent receptor thingies…For example, things with cherry flavored syrup remind me SO MUCH of almond extract. If it isn’t red, it seriously takes a moment for me to decide which it is. Even though they’re different flavors, something about how I taste/smell them is the same. So maybe lychee and flowers are the same for me.That sounds crazy.

sigh I love the stuff. Actually, when I found out that my local frozen yogurt place had lychee as a topping I more or less flipped out. Frozen yogurt(from places like caliyogurt, etc) is one of my favorite things, so when you have lychee with it. I almost cried. Now, if only they’d had matcha yogurt that day…I think I would have imploded.

Anyway, this is appropriately cheery to sit with and listen to the steady rain. I find myself thinking of the weather as being romantic, rather than dreary. Seriously, lychee’s impact on my mood is ridiculous.

Now that I think about it, this may be my favorite flavored black. There is lychee flavor, but I’d more accurately call it a scent. My nose is definitely doing more work than my mouth. I can still detect it in the back of my throat and sinuses several seconds after a sip.

The black tea is smooth with slight astringency. It’s clean feeling and crisp. It doesn’t say what kind of tea it is…maybe a ceylon? It’s definitely taste-able, I’m just not experienced enough to say for sure.

In short (which is necessary since I ranted for so long), I’m a fan.

It’s a new batch of Poobong White from SpecialTeas and I’m struggling to brew it right. I absolutely loved the last year’s tea and this one seems to be noticeably different from it in the worst sense possible. Even dry leaf color looks somewhat dull and doesn’t invite you to take a whiff out of the bag.

First of all the flavor is very weak, I have to use twice the amount of leaf I usually use to brew White Peony. It doesn’t have the distinctive Darjeeling taste as it used to have, more of a woody-lemony pallet.
Secondly, the aroma is far from spectacular as well. Dry leaf has more distinguished smell to it than the brew which is pretty disappointing… actually I can hardly smell anything at all.

I will continue my experiments with this because I have 4 more ounces to go but it doesn’t look promising so far.

Got 2 steeps out of this at about 2 and 3 minutes. I didn’t really know what to expect here, thought it would be sort of boring but it’s definitely not. Both infusions are really good – slightly vegetal and slightly fruity. The leaves are very good quality with lots of golden tips.

This is perfect for when I’m gloomy and tired. I didn’t want anything complicated that I’d have to think about, just something simple and comforting. Drank, as usual, without any cup additions. Mildly sweet and maybe a little creamy with an almond extract, rather than roasted almond, flavor/scent.

Trying to keep this slow afternoon before Thanksgiviing awake. This brisk tea helps, a nice malty bold after lunch tea.

While this is currently not available on their web site, this SpecialTeas tea is a favorite assam I have found that is excellent value. I look for malty assams that are bold but not astringent. I steep for 2 min to avoid bitterness. I drink it without milk or cream usually.

Nutty, not very sweet and a tiny bit astringent. Slightly tingles the tongue as I sip it.
Interesting.
Can’t really judge the aroma because this sample has been sitting in my pantry for quite a while.

Yet another tea I’m finishing off today. I guess I’m just really picky with my flavored greens. I prefer them to be light enough that the taste of the tea comes through nicely. Most flavored greens seem to be more about the flavoring than the tea though, and this one isn’t an exception. It’s a nice flavor though, so I don’t dislike this tea. It’s just not what I’m normally in the mood for when I reach for a green tea so while I don’t hate it, I can’t really love it either.

I love this blend, its nice and strong and leaves a nice dark colour in the cup that does not wash out with milk like weaker teas do. Its an awesome breakfast tea but I drink it all day long, very great and long lasting flavour.

Comforting and mellow. Nicely balanced, no flavor takes over.

I finally managed to somewhat improve drinkability of this tea by reducing water temperature to 170F and using less leaf… I still don’t like it though.

First of all I don’t like the white tea used as a base here, it tastes very close to green tea and feels heavy for a delicate strawberry flavor. Strawberry pieces are extremely scarce, my 1/2 oz sample contained only one so it looks like all the flavoring comes from artificial additives.
The tea is very sensitive to water temperature, if brewed above 185F it gets bitter and unpleasant to drink.

I can never figure out how I feel about this tea. It’s pretty good if I’m in the mood for it, but there’s something unsettling that I can’t quite place. Maybe it’s just that it’s really, really sweet.

Smooth and sweet. The amount of rose is really nice. It’s present, but not overpowering. Pleasant.

This does make me a little sad that I don’t know what congou tastes like, though.

Very nice but the flavoring catches in the back of the throat. I would never turn it down, but I wouldn’t buy it.