Tea Desire
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Didn’t mean to let the water cool this much before steeping it, but it does bring the grenadine flavour forward much more. Very fruity. I’m actually starting to get low on this, and it makes me sad because although I’d like to get more, I’d rather try some from a different company. I still strongly dislike Tea Desire’s flavoured blacks base.
Still, finding this enjoyable.
Preparation
My first sip of this today came with a BURST of vanilla. It was quite nice.
Since the first note, I’ve lowered my steeping temperature to 190, eliminating pretty much all of the bitterness.
So it’s nice, the flavours come through strongly although the tea is still there (just very faintly now), and it goes quite well with my bagel. Mmm bagel and tea breakfast. I made a pot with my mother so she could try some as well. Bumping the rating up a bit.
Preparation
My Simple Leaf order came in today. THE TIMING. I splurged on Tea Desire because I figured I had another week before my order came in. Now I’m SWIMMING in resealable plastic tea bags.
The smell is so fruity and delicious; It must be the grenadine. And I’ll admit to you right now, I haven’t the faintest idea what grenadine is. Let me google it.
Oh! …Looks like a pomegranate.
Anyways, my first sip was quite bitter, but it’s lessened considerably to just the back of my throat coupled with the usual dryness.
The flavours come through nicely, more as a background flavour that accompanies the tea well enough. Although I think the bitterness is starting to come back as it cools. I don’t think I’m much of a fan of the black base used in their flavoured teas. Maybe I should try making the tea below boiling next time (190F, perhaps) and see if it lessens the tannins.
Otherwise, there’s a hint of the fruityness, and I feel like I can almost smell vanilla, but I don’t think I can taste it. The ceylon used is lending its own tart sort of taste.
My next cup from the pot I tried with a dash of white sugar and milk. I wanted to go with honey, but I didn’t want to drown out the flavours. Tannins problem solved, and it helps bring through the fruityness of the grenadine. It’s sweet, fragrant. Sort of perfumy. Although the sweetness is probably from the sugar. It’s a perfumy sort of taste though. Light.
Second steep still carried the strong fruity smell, although the taste of both it and the tea itself was MUCH lighter. However, not bitter! Second steep was for five minutes.
Preparation
Dear god does this smell delicious. It’s a heavy sweet creamy smell, with a dominant but not overpowering chocolate scent as well.
The initial taste is black tea, but the chocolate cream sweetness rushes in soon after, and lingers strongly in the after-taste. The taste is deep, and I think worthy of the ‘Irish’ in the name. I can see this going well with alcohol, actually, which is weird coming from a teetotaller like me.
This would be equally delicious with milk, I think. But testing that would require trekking all the way back upstairs to get some, and I’m lazy.
The tea base is strong and only faintly bitter. I’m sure the added flavours would be stronger with a loner steep time (the package said 3-5 minutes, I did 3 1/4). The flavours seem to have faded in later sips. They’re still there, though. I should try five minutes for my next attempt. I was originally going to go with five minutes, but changed my mind at the last moment.
It seems to be getting a bit more bitter the more it cools. Not good for the added flavours.
Also, it took a bit of will-power, but I kept myself from picking out the chocolate bits and eating them.
Preparation
There’s chocolate in this? Don’t get me wrong, I Iove chocolate, but I think the name should reflect all ingredients. This gives me the impression it’s just a straight Irish Cream flavored tea. I’m kinda tempted to order 52teas’ version.
I had originally planned to buy 52Teas’ version, but I was in the shop and saw this one; it was a purchase of opportunity.
I hadn’t actually realized it had chocolate in it until she started scooping it into the bag. However, it has more of a heavy thick cream taste than a chocolate taste. It’s more of just after-taste of cocoa. I think the chocolate drops themselves added are more for show. To tempt tea drinkers into picking them out and eating them.
I prepared this herbal infusion in my tupperware glass teapot with a metal infuser.
I drank it “black” with no added milk, sweetener or lemon.
Uninfused “Leaf”: The spices are all cut to a very consistent size. There is a bit of dust covering the walls of the tin. The smell is very spicy! There isn’t one spice that really jumps out at me; everything blends nicely.
Infusion: The liquor is a nice orangey-brown. When I poured the water in, it created a foamy “head” but that disappeared after a few seconds. There is a bit of dustiness in the bottom of the pot and I think some of the black pepper snuck through my infuser. The aroma is predominantly cardamom and cinnamon, and this definitely translates into the taste. The pepper quickly jumps in and together with the ginger create a very spicy beverage!
Overall I really enjoyed this tea. I think it would be a great base to use for “home-made” chai and would be nice with a little bit of milk and sugar. It was very spicy but I think the spiciness would allow it to pair nicely with pumpkin pie/carrot cake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I’m not usually a huge chai fan, but this one is definitely one of the top chais that I’ve tried.
Preparation
I got a package from Jillian today! thanks J!
I drastically oversteeped and it was bitter but it could be because I oversteeped too…not sure. Based on how long I oversteeped I thought it would be more bitter, actually. It was still drinkable, tho. I am going to re-attempt this at some point…so I am not going to rate it yet…it was ‘ok’ but I do have higher hopes for it…next time it shouldn’t be human error! LOL
Since I have been drinking loads of caffeine in the form of diet soda, yerba mate and oolong all day long, I thought I would slow down a little tonight and steep a little herbal “tea”. This is a fruit infusion that I bought from Tea Desire, and it came highly recommended.
The nose of the loose product is INTENSE. This is a blend of blood orange wedges, apple, lemon grass and mint. It smells candy-like and sweet and immensely cool and fruity. Normally I would choose a warming cup of rooibos for a non-caffeinated night-time drink, but I thought I’d give this a try.
The color of the steeped liquid is, well, it looks a lot like apple juice. The flavor is bright, a little bit acidic, but in a refreshing, thirst-quenching way. It is very fruity. I am sure that is the whole intention of this blend. The flavor of the lemon grass is more prominent on my palate than both the blood orange and the mint. Luckily, I love the flavor of lemongrass, but it may be a little overwhelming for some. I find the mint mostly comes out on the finish and it is very pleasant. The blood orange is a unique touch, and adds beautiful color and flavor to this infusion. This is definitely a candidate for iced tea. Blend it with a little iced white tea and a touch of honey, and I think the flavors would come out very nicely if not a bit more subtly.
I like this one, I enjoy the unrestrained intensity of the big, bold flavors and aromas. It’s not complex, it tastes exactly like it looks like it’s going to taste, no surprises. Sometimes, that can be a good thing.
When I added the water a distinct odor wafted up out of the cup at me. The odor of…raspberries??? That’s the only thing I can call it, and nary a hint of mango OR papaya in the scent anywhere. The flavour is predominently rooibos – not my favorite to begin with – with a rather faint, sweet, generically fruity taste.
Yeah…it’s not really doing much for me I’m afraid.
Preparation
I think I’ve completely given up on rooibos teas. I’ve never had one that didn’t have that awful dusty rooibos taste that I dislike so much.
When I lived in the UK, I found a few red teas that were nice, including one I thik was called 11 O’Clock Tea, but it is hard to a roobios here in America that doesn;t get bitter quickly or is nice to drink by itself.
