Tea Desire

Hot damn! I thought I was out of this tea, but it turns out I’m not. I was sorting through my tins.

I think I can taste the Age creeping up on this one, but it’s still bold and tasty. Apparently the Tea Desire that’s in my local mall is shutting down/has already shut down. This’ the only tea I’ll miss from there.

The photo taken is mine, as this tea is also not on their website.

I brewed this in the glass teapot to watch the leaves unfurl (“agony of the leaves”). I had it sitting on the windowsill so the natural light would filter through the tea. I should film it next time.

This is a dry, strong, spicy tea. The smell is strongly of honey, and there is definitely honey in the taste as well. This is a morning tea. The taste of honey is surprisingly strong. The taste is sort of like a very deep Yunnan. This province is farther east than Yunnan. But there are parallels.

The taste is smoothing out as I sip.

Finished this off as well. About as fruity as I remember it, and as drying.

I have a few things to say about this tea first. Hoping it doesn’t go cold before I finish.

Firstly, this and the other one I picked up from Tea Desire yesterday, are mysteriously absent from their website. But then, their website lists a very general look, I suppose—very few single estate teas, but they’ve actually got a surprising number of them at my location. Hmm.

Because of this, I had to take the picture myself… Flash makes the leaves look very sparkly and white. But there are some green bits and tan bits and dark and gold in there. It’s actually very pretty.

Secondly, I tried looking up “Shangrilla” as I do every time I pick up a tea I assume is named after its estate. Google returned nothing, but suggested “Shangri-la”. Turns out, this isn’t a real place—it’s a fictional place from a novel, but has become synonymous with “Heaven”. There are a lot of hotels named after it. Couldn’t find any plantations, so I’m guessing it’s just an artistic name choice, and it’s a blend of Nepalese first flushes.

The smell of the dry leaves is VERY fragrant. Fruity perfumy and delicious. Steeped, the smell dissolves into a very fruity dark oolong-and-black smell. Nepal teas are supposed to be comparable to Darjeelings, and I can see why. Although this is much fruitier overall.

Cooler, I’m getting more of the drying and it’s settled a bit into a more classic Darjeeling. But still very enjoyable.

Finishing off the last of this. Finished off CS’s Bengal Spice, but it turns out I forgot to add that to my cupboard in the first place. I got it way back while I was Up North.

There’s a faint swirl of oil on the surface; probably from the almond pieces, I figure.

I tried a sample of it in-store a few weeks ago, and planned to get it. It’s a wonderful, Christmasy caffeine free drink. Which I need more of for late nights.

It’s deliciously sweet, definitely getting almond and sugar in there—maybe some chocolate bits. I think it actually goes very nicely with the natural woodsyrooibos taste. Mmm.

Wow… after reading the reviews here on this tea, I was a little worried. But, this is actually quite nice when brewed only 3 minutes.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea to try.

The fruit flavor is “fruity” but I don’t think I’d call it mango flavor. It’s pleasant enough though.

Nice, smooth taste with sweet undertones. Not much else to say right now because I’m in the middle of a flood of assignments and midterms. :P

Honestly… this is gross. I don’t know what’s up with it (or how I’m making it), but I’ve given it to some friends to try and they agree.

A favourite light and fruity green tea. Also makes a great iced tea!

Courtesy of TeaEqualsBliss…

I’m admittedly pretty picky about my flavoured rooibos, but I didn’t even spend long enough sipping at this to pinpoint why I didn’t like it so much. I just don’t. Blech.

The husband is happily sipping away at the rest of this as iced tea, and he doesn’t seem too disturbed, but it’s definitely not for me.

I’ve concluded that the prominent taste in this seems to be the rose. Which would explain why it tastes a bit like the earl grey with rose tea I purchased and disliked some time ago.

I find I am not much of a rose fan. Perhaps picking the dried petals out will reduce the flavour… I get hints of bergamot and vanilla in the aftertaste, but no jasmine. The bourbon is in there fairly strongly as well.

Seeing as this is a Cream of Earl Grey, I’d hoped the bergamot and vanilla cream flavours would be the most prominent. Although it is an interesting take. I should try a second steep of this; see if any other flavours take over in it. And next time I have a cup, pick out all the rose petals and see if it makes a difference.

On another note, yesterday while drinking Irish Cream, I figured out the perfect temp/time pairing to overcome the horrible black tea base Tea Desire uses in their flavoured teas. Hurrah!

Dropped the temperature a bit. The smell of the bergamot is stronger, finally holding its own against the other flavours. Now it REALLY smells delicious. Like candy. Sugary and fruity and vanillay.

The tea base is still there, but the lower temperature has made it less bitter and sharp, so it now blends much better with the other flavours. Still, the base could be better. The temperature change only does so much.

For a Cream of Earl Grey this one sure goes over the top. They should have just made it a Grey Variant. They ALREADY have one called ‘Charming Grey’, which I was also considering trying. Bergamot, vanilla, jasmine, rose, BOURBON?

It smells delicious, though. Although the smell reminds me mostly of this company’s Irish Cream, and I’m picking up no bergamot.

The taste… Wow. I got a hint of bergamot, a lot of cream vanilla bourbon. No jasmine, I think. Well THIS is a cup of deliciousness. I had feared that it would be using the same base as their collection of flavoured blacks, and thus would get bitter as it cooled. It’s still too hot to tell, but it’s very delicous and sweet and tasty right now. And I think I’m getting jasmine hints in the aftertaste.

Hmmm the bitterness is starting to set in. I had hoped, being a grey, they would treat it differently. Ahwell, it just means the reduced temperature I had to do to the others to get rid of the bitterness. Still quite nice.

Although now as I continue to sip it, I realize I can no longer make out the bergamot and wonder if I imagined it in the first place. This really does just remind me of a milder version of the Irish Cream. Huh. Well, that’s disappointing. I knew I should have just gotten up earlier and picked up some Earl Grey Cream from Tealicious to try instead.

Went back and got a second steep of this, and although the whole thing is very watery and doesn’t resteep well, I think I can taste a touch more bergamot.

Finally finished this one off today in a little cast-iron teapot from my sister (she got it way back when she was in highschool, but soon lost interesting tea; she recently gave it to me). It gave everything a slightly off taste, and hot metal has a peculiar smell.

Ahwell. But this’ the last of THIS tea.

Drank this a few times, wasn’t sure if I liked it, but I think I do. It smells like a strong assam, but it’s really quite mellow in comparison to most of them. Or at least it is at three minutes steep time (although I steep most assams at two). I think there is some darjeeling hiding in this blend as well. It lives up to “Afternoon Blend”. I should be drinking this one more.

Unrelated, Damn Fine Teas has released Series 5 and 6, and I didn’t even notice. Now there’s no way I can get their Christmas blend in time (ten days to transfer money to paypal, order, at least two weeks to ship to CANADA). Damnit.

I’ve found I LOVE the idea of Christmas tea blends. I want to collect them all. Sadly, no marketplaces around here seem to want to sell the Christmas blends of the standard tea companies. I really want to try Stash’s Christmas Eve and Morning, and White Christmas. But no places sell it! And the site’s shipping to Canada is outrageous.

Thank you vague description that gives me no clue into the black teas used in this blend! You forced me to guess wildly at the steeping time.

It was marketed as an afternoon blend, but is said to have malty tones, so I couldn’t figure out if it might have some Assam in it—which would have had be reducing the time a bit. Floral notes as well, so.

I find that I prefer plain black teas over flavoured. Mostly tea blends—if they’re all black tea, or some black and green teas. I enjoy them more. Flavoured blacks are a bit more of a novelty. I enjoy them a lot as well, but.

The tea is quite a deep red, and has a distinct Assam black kind of smell to it. However, the taste is very mild. …This may be because I burnt my tongue earlier today, being in a rush. There’s definite notes that do remind me strongly of Assam teas, but lighter, and there is a sort of baky vegetalness that makes me wonder if there isn’t a bit of some oolong tea in here as well. I figure that taste is what they meant by the ‘floral’.

I’d suggest taking what I say with a grain of salt, because really, my tongue is quite burnt and that’s probably scewing my taste considerably. But I don’t know, I rather like it right now.

Actually, tasting this, I think I understand more what it means for something to be ‘malty’ than I ever have drinking just marketedly ‘malty’ Assams. Huh. And this still goes down very smoothly, with just touches of astringency as it cools.

I’ve never had anything quite like this, it’s absolutely wonderful. Mild chai flavour with the delicate scent and taste of apricots, I just love it! Can be resteeped at least once.

Just using up the last of this. I find I rather like Yunnans, or what I’ve tasted of them so far, so I think I’ll probably try a few more from different countries in the future. I’ve still got the sample from Life in Teacup. I think they’re a pretty brilliant company overall, so I think I’ll have to add Yunnans and perhaps Keemuns to my list of things to get from them.

This one was still pretty good, considering I am not much of a fan of Tea Desire’s other teas. I made a good-sized pot of this to finish it off. My breakfast today consists of a pot of this, toast (with a bit of honey spread on it), and Train’s new CD.

A really good morning tea for those that’ve gotten sick of Assam, which can happen because it IS pretty bold. This is bold without the sharpness. Smooth.

Slurping this quite noisily, since I have two icepacks tied to the sides of my face, but enjoying it all the same. Mmm. I’d like to try more Yunnans in the future.

The leaves are black and gold, and they brew into a dark amber-red cup.

The cup is bright, but doesn’t particularly hold any uniqueness. It reminds me a bit of Assam in the strength and slight bitterness (I brew Assam in two minutes to keep it from getting TOO bitter), but with more of a briskness as well. I don’t think I’m getting any of the pepperyness that people describe for Yunnan blacks. There is, however, a Keemun quality to it as well. …Sort’ve makes sense, I guess. Both provinces in China.

I keep wanting to pick out a peppery SENSE, although not taste, but I assume it’s more me trying to find what I EXPECT to be there, than actually getting any pepper.

It’s very nice, though. I quite like it. I realize I’ve really missed plain black teas. I’m glad I’ve got three new ones now. No flavours added, just single-estate black teas. Mm. I’ve been too busy attempting to dwindle down my overall supply of teas, so.