Teabox

Wow, this experience was so different from my first one with this tea! This time I watched the timing more carefully, probably around 4:00.

First of all, I get the aroma of toasted nuts, sweet floral like honeysuckle or osmanthus. It tastes amazing, sweet; my favourite Darjeeling so far. Would rate this a 90 when drinking plain, but unfortunately does not stand up to sweet breakfast like raisin bread and turns bitter and astringent, so lowering to 86.

Let’s start with the positives. Lovely orange blossom, malty sugar, licorice aroma.

Unfortunately I over-steeped it for maybe 20 seconds (over the recommended 4:00) and it’s quite astringent. Tastes a lot like cucumber water, slightly spicy maybe from the fennel, but also kinda musty, which is unexpected in a black tea. Not my thing.

Rating: 68

Brewed at 187˚F for 5:00. Very lovely, savoury, complex white tea that’s different enough from Chinese white teas to merit a full purchase.

Aroma:
Cotton candy and Hay. Smells so much sweeter than Chinese white tea

Liquor:
Notes of Melon, Celery, Floral. Smooth, no bitterness or astringency.
I was actually eating walnuts with yoghurt at the time I drank this, so couldn’t taste the walnut notes in the tea but I’ll look out for them next time.

Delicious, rich, spicy aroma of ginger, stone fruits, woods, and cloves.

The taste is a bit dry and astringent even though I steeped at the minimum temperature (185˚F) for about 15 sec under 4:00. Tastes better with honey but I can still taste a slight astringency. Lovely aroma but I will not be purchasing more of this tea.

I like this tea, the most predominant flavor is that of wood, with hints of geranium. It is complex and interesting.

I can now tell where the gorgeous Taiwanese 18 tea got a lot of its parentage from.

The malted sugar and cherry fragrance on this Assam black is lovely.

Unfortunately the tea liquor isn’t sweet at all so I guess I could add some honey to it. It is mellow and has the same slight astringency that I get from 18 which is actually quite nice. Not bitter (yet… I must make sure not to oversteep this).

I added milk to the second half of my cup and it goes very nicely; the milk adds a touch of sweetness that enhances this tea a lot.

Rating: 82

Not a big fan of this plain as the spices taste sharp, but it’s decent accompaniment for a meal when I add milk.

2.5g, 6oz at 192˚F.

Brewed pretty free and loose, not sure what temperature. This tea is really good, not bitter at all. It is refreshing, citrusy and light like a white tea.

Increasing rating to 86. Possible purchase, but it’s sold out on Teabox.

Aroma is leafy and vegetal, like Chinese green teas, but also with a pleasant malted sweetness and hint of lemony citrus.

Liquor tastes of malt sugar, seaweedy umami. Very nice, I definitely prefer this to the MH Classic Black. Stands up nicely to my sweet yoghurt granola breakfast.

Brewed 2.5g at 190˚F in 7oz of water for 5:00.

Rating: 77

185˚F in 6oz water for 5:00

Now this time the first whiff I get is a spicy ginger aroma, followed by the malty sweetness, and there’s also notes of buttery pecan, and fresh lemon.

No astringency this time so I think lower temperature is better for this tea.

I tried half of my cup with a few drops of lemon juice and do not recommend that. It turned the tea slightly bitter in addition to the sourness.

Increasing my rating to 80.

This is my first ever Darjeeling first flush black tea––I’ve only had Chinese black teas before this.

Lovely aroma, malted sugar and toasted nutty, reminds me of Golden Monkey black tea. The wet leaf itself gives off a divine floral bouquet. But the taste of the liquor is totally average. I used a bit too much water to leaf, but even so it’s slightly on the astringent side. I can see tea beginners enjoying this, and maybe it pairs well with savoury food but not so good with yoghurt and granola.

Brewed 2.5g of leaf in 8oz of water at 190˚F for 4:45. Next time I’ll try 6oz of water at 185˚F. Then will try adding honey or lemon.

Rating: 70

Super excited as this is my first single-estate Indian tea!

Intoxicating fruity, spicy, malted sugar, and floral aroma. More complex and beautiful than many of my Chinese oolongs! Most resembles a dancong oolong or a white tea in aroma.

The liquor tastes tangy and citrusy. It is sweet but not a caramelised malty dessert sweet, more a natural fruit sugar sweet. Great tea body and mouthfeel, pairs well with my sweet yoghurt breakfast. I might try adding sugar to the tea another time just for laughs but it doesn’t need it.

Steeped 2.5g of leaf in ~6oz of water at 183˚F for 4 minutes, as per instructions.

A very strong chai, it was good and strong. I enjoy spice and usually drink my chai without additives, as I did this one. It seemed a bit strong for me, I had only one serving since it was from the Joy box, a Christmas Advent box. I wished I had added milk before it was finished, I didn’t think of that until it was too late. Oh well, a good chai but not my favorite, but then I didn’t really give it a complete try.

The dried tea leaves are olive-green and silver and very long. This can make it hard to pack enough into a tea strainer, since there’s a lot of air caught between them, making for an extremely mild cup of tea. The dried tea smells of wood and earth, dry grass.
The steeped tea is a very pale yellow-green. The scent is like leafy greens with a slight fruity sweetness. The taste is extremely mild, a bit like grass, with a burst of astringency in the aftertaste, which is quite nice after the previous mildness.
Overall a really wonderful tea, great on its own or with a meal.

Indain green tea is good to health.

Delicious, bright tea with lots of lemon flavor. It tastes like a dessert tea, and it is a green tea besides. Very enjoyable, refreshing tea. I loved this one!

Classic Earl Grey sounds too plain for this delicious tea. I enjoy the Assam black tea, strong and brisk along with the strong bergamot oil. I enjoyed this Earl Grey a lot.

Both earl grey and green tea! The taste is refreshing, and light, it would work any time of the day. I enjoyed the subtle green taste as well as the trademark early grey flavor of the bergamot. The tea tastes smooth and balanced. I enjoyed this one very much!

I love Chai and have set out to sample as many as possible. This is my first chai from Teabox, I bought the chai sampler, so I will follow with more. There is a strong cardamon taste, I wish there was more ginger flavor. I do like assam tea very much so I do like the black tea taste, but the chai part is a bit too subtle for me. I steeped it according to the recommendations, I wonder if more tea would have made for more chai flavor. If you like subtle chai flavors, this one might work for you. Okay chai, but I have had better.

I nearly forgot to post this review. I finished a sample pouch of this tea back in January and just never got around to posting anything about it here. I think I knew I would likely have to add this tea and was simply too lazy to do it at the time, but whatever, I’m getting around to it now. I tend to be a huge fan of the black teas produced by the Margaret’s Hope Estate, especially the second flush teas, and found this one to be excellent.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material produced aromas of grass, herbs, and wood. After infusion, I noted scents of cream, earth, and dry leaves underscored by a hint of Muscatel character. In the mouth, the liquor offered notes of wood, toast, malt, caramel, cream, grass, earth, herbs, and dry leaves balanced by subtle Muscatel flavor and hints of dandelion and apricot. The finish was smooth and sweet with only moderate astringency that was not often all that noticeable. I found lingering notes of malt, cream, dandelion, and toast with underlying touches of wood, Muscatel, and apricot.

A supremely drinkable, approachable second flush Darjeeling black tea with more than enough character on the nose and in the mouth to keep one coming back for more, I found it to be flexible enough to suit multiple settings, though it was perhaps at its best as a late morning or early afternoon treat. I find that Margaret’s Hope does these Chinary black teas better than almost anyone. This was yet another winner.

Really soothing earl grey tea. I adore earl grey and here is one with less caffeine. The taste and scent of lavender are prevalent and wonderful! I enjoyed this tea from Teabox.

I’m so happy to be back on Steepster. Even though I have not been drinking a ton of tea in the past six days, I still have quite a few notes from the last two weeks that I need to post here. This will be the first. I finished a 10 gram sample pouch of this tea either at the end of last week or the start of this week. Compared to the Giddapahar Classic Summer Chinary Black Tea I reviewed back in the fall, I found this to be a much smoother, more appealing tea overall.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. I did not attempt any additional infusions.

Prior to infusion, the dry leaf material emitted date, raisin, plum, chocolate, and wood aromas. After infusion, I noted emerging earth, malt, caramel, Muscatel, and slightly minty herbal aromas. In the mouth, the tea liquor offered notes of malt, brown toast, earth, wood, roasted almond, caramel, rose, chocolate, black cherry, date, raisin, plum, Muscatel, and herbs with occasional hints of nutmeg. The finish was pleasantly earthy, nutty, woody, and malty with hints of black cherry, rose, Muscatel, and herbs.

Another excellent Darjeeling black tea, this tea was both quite complex and tremendously drinkable. To be completely honest, it was the sort of tea that made me wish last year’s harvests had not been cut short because it was shaping up to be a fantastic year all around. If you are a fan of second flush Darjeeling black teas, this one is well worth a try.

I did not start trying Lopchu teas until the spring of 2017 when I received a second flush black tea from Lopchu as part of a sample pack from Vahdam Teas. Since then, I have tried two other Lopchu black teas, with this 2017 second flush black tea being the most recent. Their second flush teas are unique in character, not seeming to possess a tremendous amount in common with many other second flush Darjeeling black teas. Compared to the 2016 second flush black tea from Vahdam Teas, I found this 2017 tea to be smoother while still displaying plenty of the unmistakable Lopchu character.

I prepared this tea in the Western style. I steeped about 3 grams of loose leaf material in approximately 8 ounces of 194 F water for 5 minutes. No additional infusions were attempted.

Prior to infusion, the dry tea leaves produced aromas of burnt wood and burnt chocolate underscored by hints of roasted nuts and spice. After infusion, I found strong aromas of smoke, black cherry, burnt wood, burnt chocolate, earth, spice, malt, and tobacco. In the mouth, the liquor offered notes of smoke, earth, burnt chocolate, malt, burnt wood, black cherry, Muscatel, and bitter, somewhat oily roasted nuts (black walnut, beechnut, chestnut, and hickory) underscored by hints of fig, prune, raisin, nutmeg, tobacco, and honey. The finish was mostly malty, earthy, toasty, nutty, and smoky, though I could still find fleeting impressions of burnt chocolate, Muscatel, and black cherry in places. There was a pleasant astringency that lingered after the swallow.

More drinkable and slightly less astringent than the 2016 second flush Lopchu black tea I tried in the spring of 2017, this was a very satisfying Darjeeling black tea overall. The aromas and flavors seemed to pop a little more in this one. I’ve liked all of the other Lopchu black teas I have tried, thus it should come as no surprise that I ended up liking this one too. It would be a great tea for Darjeeling drinkers who are looking to try something a little heavier, more unique, and more challenging without entirely having to leave their individual comfort zones.