Stash Tea Company

had a cup with honey this morning. i think honey really does bring out the bergamot flavor, as opposed to sugar. yay! found another interesting way to drink my tea =]

I didn’t get much aroma from the dry tea, but the hot liquor greeted me with a sweet, flowery scent. Tasting happened immediately, because I grabbed the gravy ladle (which scoops and cools off a tbsp of tea very rapidly), blew, paused, and slurped. Yum! Brisk and piquant, without being outright bitter. And the astringency is mild, as well. There’s a toasty component alongside the muscatel brightness. This may be the first time I’ve drunk a first-flush Darj. The ones I’ve had were sometimes oversteeped, too (back when I thought all black tea needed to brew for 5 minutes). Whatever the cause, I’ve been leery of Darjeelings because bitterness puts me off rather quickly, and the only one I’ve really liked was a 2nd flush from Mim estate. This doesn’t have the maturity and complexity of that 2nd flush experience, but its lightness and clarity are really enjoyable, letting the fruitiness shine forth.

If you gift this Wedding Tea or serve it at a wedding, you can hope the marriage is as durable as these leaves! Admittedly, I used a generous amount of the voluminous stuff, but getting five (5) good infusions from green tea was quite impressive. The first couple of infusions were one minute, with the last one (still tasty) going 5 min. The hand-tied mini-rosettes are made entirely of buds. The loose leaves are big and dark green. Stash claims there is yerba mate in small part, which may account for the touch of bitterness which didn’t vary along the steeps. The citrus rind flavor held up all the way, as did the melon flavor, and the green tea flavor, too. I added a dab of light agave nectar to a couple of the cups, and it was good either way. The dry tea blend is beautiful to behold, but I’d drink this to experience it’s uncommon and delicious melon flavor and its inspiring and amazing fortitude!

This is another of the ones free in the breakrooms at work. Not bad! Dark honey/amber liquor, not too overpowering on the orange scent, not bitter from the oranges either. The taste is nice and mellow, although I personally would like more cinnamon. Maybe if I used a cinnamon stick for stirring… Good with just a bit of sugar and it still has the caffeine I need in the am. Decent desk tea.

I was tired yesterday. So tired, in fact, that I slept from 5pm yesterday until 6am this morning. I guess that’s the nice thing about Christmas break for college students like me. If I need to sleep for 13 hours, I can. I don’t normally do this. I usually sleep for no more than nine hours but I guess my body clock is just that messed up right now. I start school again this coming monday so hopefully I get it righted in the few days ahead of me.

So I woke up at 6am this morning and then I laid in bed for about 45 minutes listening to music on my wonderful KOSS PRO4AA headphones. They’re big, heavy, and churn out a beautiful sound. I need to get alone with these headphones and my music more often. In any case, after that I kind of stumbled downstairs in the darkness of a winter morning and flicked on the kitchen light. A flash of pain… and a bright turquoise box! Stash Jasmine Blossom tea. Good morning!! I didn’t even know my parents had this but it was on the counter and I wasn’t about to say no to this and yes to my mother’s Red Rose tea bags.

The dry leaf smells… well, like jasmine. And that’s about it. The first sip was… subtly swell, fragrant, the taste a little murky and dusty but not bad. As I progress through the cup there’s more and more of a slightly bitter aftertaste. Perhaps I’ve over steeped it. Oh well. I’m groggy.

Not comparable to Oregon Chai, I prefer a Spicy Chai, rather then a Sweet Chai. Flavors a bit lacking, but over all a good experience. The subtle hint of vanilla is a nice addiction to the spices in their Chai Blend. Colors a bit darker then I thought it would have been.

Not bad for bagged. The spice aroma is definitely there, although it takes 2-3 teabags per cup to get the real strength of a chai. I also end up using about 4-6 of those little creamer cups we have at work since I don’t keep milk in the work fridge. Some sugar, maybe put it over some ice… It’s not the best chai I’ve ever had, but it suffices as a nice change from the cheap black tea during the workday without sacrificing my caffeine.

The only Earl Grey I will drink lately! Really wish Stash would start distributing on a larger scale on the east coast- it’s so hit or miss and drives me crazy…but it is really good bagged tea!

Made Stash and Twinings Earl Grey to compare side by side since I was on my last bag of Twinings. Both with boiling water and steeped for 3 minutes. The first thing I notice upon comparing tastes is that the Twinings tastes more flat than the Stash. Stash seems a bit more complex and I’m not sure why. Could be the blend of teas used and/or where the Bergamot was sourced? Stash tells me their bergamot oil is from Italy, but Twinings doesn’t say. I guess I would consider the Twinings as fulfilling a more traditional expectation of Earl Grey while the Stash is brighter and has a citrus note. I will say again that the Stash Earl Grey reminds me a little of Twinings Lady Grey because of that citrus. Both are good, but as I have been writing this I am drinking the Stash more than the Twinings.

Fragrant, citrusy and light, this reminds me a bit of Lady Grey by Twinings. I like that Stash puts more information on their packages like which varieties of black they use and where they get the bergamot, rather than just “black tea” and “bergamot flavoring”.

Playing catchup with this posting. Pulled it out for Christmas Eve and remembered why it had been sitting around for so long. Totally agree with the others that mentioned the strong mint taste. While I like spearmint gum, this is just too much mint and not enough tea flavor.

This is what my mom bought for me to drink at her place on Christmas, so this is what I’m drinking. It’s okay; can’t taste the jasmine, but oh well.

Got lots of tea gifts, though! I prepared this using my new Adagio UtiliTEA kettle, which I’ve wanted for forever now. Also got some Golden Monkey, Milk Oolong, Monk’s Blend, and Vanilla Rooibos, so there should be new tasting notes soon – not to mention the Rishi order that just arrived. So much tea, so little time!

Chamomile? I was not expecting chamomile from the name of this one. Hibiscus wasn’t expected, either, but not totally unexpected, since raspberry is tart, so they could have thrown it in there for tartness… but chamomile? I really don’t like chamomile.

I’m not getting any green tea flavor (even though it says that there’s green tea and matcha in there).

The front is chamomile, and the back… It’s fruity – pomegrante, hibiscus, and raspberry. Maybe a tiny bit of green tea at the VERY back end as it cools.

Drinkable, as long as I don’t breathe in the front. I don’t like chamomile.

Okay, I overbrewed this one a bit since a coworker came in to talk to me while it was brewing, but it’s still REALLY WEAK. I have one more bag and I’m going to take it home and see if using hotter water helps.

I’m tasting spices, but no tea and no pumpkin. Bleh.

Oh, this smells funky as the teabag soaks. Like fish. That’s really a nasty smell for my first cup of the day. I hope it doesn’t taste like fish or I will have one seriously unhappy mouth.

The tea itself isn’t that bad…definitely tastes like dirt but with an almost sweet note. But ugh, that smell! Every time I lift the cup to my lips I am grossed out by it. I’m gonna go dump this out.

(I can’t remember if I’ve had Puerh tea before, but this Stash teabag is NASTY and I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone!)

So continues my “I’m too sick to make loose leaf so I’ll use up the bagged tea that I have” day. Unfortunately that means a lot of 1st infusions (I don’t resteep bags). So I may not sleep tonite… and I had to edit that because I typed “steep” lol.:)

Observations: Bagged -, convenience for 1st steep +, convenience for additonal steeps -, no licorice, anise, or fennel +x3, rum +.

Inspite of this being bagged, I’m REALLY excited to try this because I’ve never had a prepackaged chai w/ rum in it before.

Serving: 1 bag/6oz water… dang, forgot to weigh this. Hot and clean.

The aroma is light and a little sweet from the rum and so is the taste. I’m not sure this would stand up to milk. The only 3 improvements I’d suggest is adding a pinch of chili flake and vanilla bean, and making it loose leaf.

Conclusions: VERY good for a bagged chai, but since it is that contributed to a lower rating. Not sure if it’d stand up to milk, which also contributed to a rate reduction. VERY good if you’re looking for a unique bagged chai that you don’t neccessarily want to add milk to (deserves a 100 for that). If I find a loose version I may want to try it w/ a tiny bit of brown sugar.

been brewing this as slow brewed cold iced tea. love this tea – sweetness from the matcha green and the dried fruits added to the bag. also has all of the benefits of drinking matcha green tea. highly recommended.

Not bad for a bagged tea. This another of the ones free in my work’s breakroom. The jasmine scent is a bit strong, but I like that. Very grassy, a little acidic, it really benefits from a spoonful of sugar. But, all in all, a nice alternative to the sweet milky black tea of every morning.

nice blend of black teas and organic to boot. Held well with milk & honey. a nice alternative to my usual.

My son and I were daring, decided to buy this while out Christmas shopping.
Great coconut aroma, and then great mango flavor with a hint of coconut aftertaste that doesn’t stay too long on the tongue. The box said it had orange peel in it, but no orange detected at all. I think this would be great iced, might try that this summer if the box lasts that long.

I absolutely love Stash teas – this one, in particular. If you like chai, you really must try this brand.

I’m trying to find this tea on Stash’s website with little luck. I wonder if it’s been discontinued.

I got this teabag in a swap, I believe, and only have the one so this is my only shot to see how the tea measures up. So, of course, the first thing I do is oversteep it. Champagne Oolong is described on the tea bag as a ‘pale golden color reminiscent of fine champagne’ but if I were to pick a color I’d say my tea is more of an amber. Oops. I didn’t even leave the tea in the cup too long, no more than 7-8 minutes? The temperature may have been off, I suppose…

I definitely get a fruity note from this tea. It makes me think of a very faint cherry on the first taste, but as I drink more of this blend I’m refining that opinion to something more along the line of a muscat grape. The flavor left on the tongue after swallowing is more of a vegetal/grassy note.

This is a nice tea. I mean, even for a bagged tea it’s got a lot of flavor. (Perhaps because it’s been oversteeped. >_<; ) It wouldn’t rank a favorite but it’s waaaaay better than the usual junk Bigelow tea bags I find at work.

A nice blend of black teas with a hint of Jasmine. Added a touch of milk. Very smooth, round flavor.

My company provides tea and coffee in the breakrooms, and Stash teas are the brand we use. While better than Lipton’s, it’s still a plain black bagged tea. It does suffice to wake one up in the morning if I use two bags to the cup.