Tealish

YUM! This was a suprising treat! I went home to Ontario and one of my first objectives was to go to tealish. I studied the tea menu before I went and knew this was one I definitely wanted to smell, and taste!. As the girl brought the canister down and let me smell it, another customer was like omg that smells so good, I have to get it too. I ended up with 100g of this and 100g of the orange marzipan (my fave).. Unfortunately I was going to a concert so I didn’t want to carry loads of tea, so I didn’t get anything else. I will definitely be buying way more from this company as there hasn’t been a tea that has disapointed me there yet! This one is wonderful.. it is like regular early grey, kind of smoky, musky, and almost reminiscant of a good cigar.. layered with citrus, which enhances the flavour, and makes it quite distinctive. Usually people layer earl grey with berry, but doing it with grapefruit is so unique, and a wonderful taste :)

It is still ridiculously humid in TO, so I have still have not had any hot tea beverages, and I have so many to try!!!

Yesterday I went to ‘Toys R Us’ to buy a kiddie pool. Not for me…but for the furry beast (shep/lab cross) that I live with, to help him get through the heat. He still prefers the stink water creek a few minutes away…but will jump in the kiddie pool if encouraged.

Back to the tea….on opening the bag I smell over-ripe pears. This told me that this would be fairly sweet on it’s own, without any sugar additives.

Because of the heat, my first tasting of this one is as a cold brew, and I have to say…I am surprised that I like this as much as I do. When I first saw the fennel seeds as part of the mix I was like “What??!!!” This will not be good. WRONG!! This is my second fave cold brew…a real surprise to self.

Cold brew tastes like sweet pear. No tartness. Just sweet pear. Sugar is not needed here…it is sweet on it’s own. YUM!!!! I will be sad when it’s gone (2-3 cold brews left). But, maybe I will find something as good. The tea journey continues…. :)

When I saw this tea I was really excited…coconut AND chai!!! I thought this was gonna be fantastic. Reality? I am really glad I didn’t send out any of this in swaps because I’d never be able to log on here again.

To me the dry leaf smell reminds me of horses. I don’t know why or where or how, but I think horses when I smell this tea. I love horses, and I really miss riding. But I don’t want to drink a tea that reminds of horses. I had The Man smell it and he said he smells sweet spice.

Despite the dry leaf smell I proceed with brewing and drinking. I added almond milk and sugar, and it was ok. I’ll finish it. At some point. Maybe. If don’t have anything better to drink (unlikely).

Thanks go to scribbles for sending me this, I’m really enjoying all of the samples she sent me. When I saw it I wasn’t sure how I was going to like it, the combination of flavors seemed odd to me. I didn’t like it hot, the flavors just didn’t pop like I thought they should, but cold is another matter entirely.

I took the last of my sample and made iced tea. I used double the amount of leaf it called for, steeped hot for 4 minutes, then added cold water and put in the fridge to chill. It gave me a slightly buttery flavor with a hint of spice and almond. This ended up making a really good iced tea.

I’ll admit it, I don’t drink much white tea. I don’t think you get the bang for your buck. It’s usually pretty pricy and not much flavor. At least that’s what I used to think…….I really need to explore a tea before making general assumption based on one or two examples.

I LOVE this. This was exactly what I needed tonight. It’s light and refreshing, and is just oooooozes with peachy goodness. I was worried about peach not coming through in a tea. This is PEACH, no doubt about it. No fake candy, just sweet juicy peaches. Two thumbs up!!

Thank you scribbles for so generously including a sample (BIG SAMPLE) of this in my swap box. :))))

Thanks again to scribbles for sending this one to me.

This is probably the first tea from tealish that I don’t absolutely love. I sure don’t think it tastes like a pear. Perhaps I’m just spoiled by fresh pears directly from the tree (we live next to an orchard). It’s very sweet and reminds me somewhat of the canned pears that they served in the cafeteria when I was in elementry school. I thought the fennel was an odd addition when I saw it and I’m not really sure it is contributing much to the taste.

My second cup I let steep to long and it has an overwhelming tartness form the hibiscus. I like this best when steeped around 4mins because it’s sweeter.

Thanks go to scribbles for sending me this sample. I’ve been wanting to try this out and she was generous enough to go buy some for me.

This wasn’t bad hot, but I really liked it iced and it makes a great iced tea for those days when I’m outside in the heat all day. I work outside a lot during the summer and try to avoid caffeine when I do. The flavor wasn’t as strong as I would have liked, but it was a good mixture of apple and blueberry and had a nice balance between tart and sweet.

I seem to be disagreeing with the majority here. I really like this. I don’t always get a lot of fruit flavor from flavored blacks. This one is really fruity. I get mostly berry, but there is some citrus in the background. Yep, this works for me. I’m going to hot steep and then cool the next cup and see how it is cold, but hot, it gets a thumbs up.
Thanks scribbles for sending me this sample, really like it.

I’m going to choose to reserve judgement on this one. I like how it tastes, I think the blend of spices is good. There is enough flavor, it’s not weak or watery. It has that “suck all the moisture out of your mouth” sensation going on. I don’t like that.
I may have over leafed a bit. The steeping instructions were 3-5 min in boiling water, that’s pretty vague. I thought you can’t really mess that up. Not sure what happened, but I have hopes for this one yet.

Thanks scribbles for sending me this sample.

Edit: I had the rest of this tonight. MUCH better. I think I abused it the first time around. I really like the flavors in this, and like it even more now that I’ve lost that “suck your mouth dry feeling”.

Thank you scribbles for sending me this sample. I hot brewed the whole sample – in a few different batches, and put it in the fridge to cool. I have pitcher of iced tea from your sample!!!

It’s blueberry, no doubt about that. It’s a little tart, not too bad though. I find that odd because there is no hibiscus listed on the ingredients. I like it, it’s a fun iced tea. Something I would drink again. Not sure it will make my all time favorite list, but there’s not much wrong with this.
Thanks for letting me try this, really appreciate it.

Scribbles sent this one to me this week as part of our swap. Thanks! I’ve never had a tea with nuts in it before so I was intrigued by this one, it looked a little like the trail mix I just bought at Whole Foods.

I wasn’t expecting this tea to be pink once steeped, so that was a bit of a surprise. I was worried that it might be from hibiscus (I wasn’t really looking closely when I scooped my tea in the pot), but it must be from the beetroot in the mix. I was expecting this to have more of a nutty flavor to it, but it was pretty subtle. Mostly I got cinnamon and sugar with a bit of apple and it reminded me a little of an apple crisp. Still, this ended up being a really nice herbal for the end of my day.

argh… i am experiencing tea guilt on two fronts: 1) this sample came from my dedicated tea buddy scribbles and 2) i really wanted to like this blend because it’s canadian and i loved the ingredients list.

i tend to like my teas robust, so 1.5 tsps for a steep and steeping for 5-6 minutes. now the smell of this one is excellent when it’s dry! but that’s where it stops. 6 minutes later the tea is weak, the scent that had appealed has vanished. i get a hint of fruit, no hint of the black tea and a heavy stickiness on my tongue from the caffeine (which to me translates as a rooky mistake in processing).

having tried several teas i am fairly comfortable saying i think tealish is great on the idea front, but seriously lacks in their follow through. sadly their teas all taste predominantly the same.

the caveat i will add to my review is this: i am recently out of surgery and things have tasted off to me. while i will not be finishing this cup of tea (yes, it is that bad… guilt guilt guilt) i will try it again in a week or so and review my score.

took another sip…. nope, won’t be finishing the cup. i am going to retreat to the comfort another of the favourite samples that scribbles sent to me…… bluberry jam i think.

This tea isn’t bad at all…. its a bit sweeter than your typical cold/flu/wellness tea, but still a little medicinal. I like it today though, its comforting on a day where its pouring like crazy! the clove and the cardamom comes through quite strong which is nice.. I think the juniper berry is what sweetens it a little. All in all, a very nice tea :)

ummm AMAZING. I am thrilled with this tea… definitely my replacement for when I run out of davids perfect pear… dare I say? I like this one better :) … when you smell it, the pear is not prominent… it made me skeptical about the tea… but once it brews… holy cow… it comes out nice and strong! with nice sweet fruity after notes…. delicious! :)

I’ve found my PERFECT coconut tea. This is amazing. It steeps up a clear, wonderful, pale yellow. The leaves are beautiful bright green. The star though is the coconut. I like coconut, but it’s not my “all time, OMG I have to have it flavor”. This does not taste fake, it’s just creamy and yummy but still allows the oolong to come through. MMMMMmmmmmm I need another cup, this one didn’t last long.

Thank you so much scribbles for sending me such a GENEROUS sample of this amazing tea!!!!!

Edit: MMMMMMmmmmmmm second steep is still really good!! Less coconut – more oolong, but still creamy and satisfying. It’s much better HOT, not as good as it cools. After my last disaster tying to cold steep coconut oolong, I won’t be trying it with this one.

woaaaaaaah I LOVE this tea… I got this in a swap from scribbles… I believe I have tried one tea from tealish, back when I still lived at home.. and I loved it.. but I haven’t fallen for a tea this hard, in a very long time. It starts out with a punch of orange, and then levels out with an amaraettoish/marzipan taste, that lingers slightly… I find that neither flavour overpower each other…. I tried this hot and can’t wait to try it iced :)

tea is a strange thing. an organic (predominantly) blend that we add water to and tea-appropriate condiments like sugar, honey, milk or cream. why does this steeped beverage give us comfort? is it the smell? the taste? the heat? i can’t answer, and i imagine the reply would vary from person to person.

my tea buddy, scribbles, gave me great comfort today: a package arrived in the mail with a selection from tealish. the teas smell lovely, but it is also that a friend thought of me when i am the human embodiment of a spagetti monster. i have surgery tomorrow, i’ve been bumped up so less waiting time where i’m starving and stressed….do i feel any great lessening of my fear? nope!

patisserie is one of the MANY teas i am taking with me. do i think i will drink 20 cups of tea between tonight and my surgery tomorrow? no…. am i going to stash any of my selection and not bring it with? no again. it brings me comfort. i cannot explain why.

i have digressed from the tasting note, as we are wont to do when we are stressed or excited, so i will get back on track!

this is a charming little tea! it isn’t a great, robust sample, or the very best i’ve ever had…. but they can’t all be that way or we’d never have any variety because we’d never be able to make up our minds. what struck me most with this one was the strong taste of pistachios! the nutty flavour is supported by a vanilla cake like base flavour. the spices weren’t as strong as the company wanted, i think, but regardless i absolutely remembered the bakeries that i wandered by when i lived in paris. i kept thinking of the marzipan croissants and custard danishes displayed in the front window.

thank you tealish for the trip down memory lane, and thanks again to scribbles…. your package could not have arrived on a better day.

i must go and pack my tea now….

My experience with this tea sounds pretty similar to everyone else’s. I find vanilla, caramel and grenadine a slightly odd combination – it’s like there are two halves to the flavour that don’t quite come together. Dry, there wasn’t much scent to this tea. It’s vaguely sweet, but that’s about all I was able to detect. It’s similar when brewed, except the faintest notes of vanilla and strawberry are detectable upon concentration. Mostly, though, the scent is of normal black tea.

The first sip surprised me by being a lot more astringent than I expected. I don’t think I overdid the brew time on this one, although it’s possible I overleafed the tiniest bit. I’ll try and remedy that next time. I can taste the caramel and vanilla in the initial sip, although they’re not strong, and they’re kind of overtaken by the bitterness of the base tea. The grenadine only really comes out in the aftertaste, and is rather like strawberry ice cream syrup. It’s very sweet, maybe a little too sweet, and somehow it just doesn’t fit with a tea that’s otherwise quite dry and flavoured more with creamy tastes than fruity.

Overall, I’d say this tea isn’t really for me. I like the idea of it, but maybe not this exact expression. I’m looking forward to trying my Mariage Freres Marco Polo, though!