The Republic of Tea

Had a busy day and it was nice to come home to this tea.

Wanted this again to make up for ruining it earlier. Shorter steep time=delicious!!! I’m glad this tin has 50 tea bags, if it was 20ish like usual I would be out within a couple of days.

Out of curiosity, I steeped this tea at the upper range (3 min)…not a great idea. I know this tea is good because it was amazing yesterday, but the longer steep time led to a VERY bitter cup. I am not changing the rating because I know this was my fault, not the tea.

I love the way this tea smells: earthy and clean, like the smell after it rains.

As I have been curious about matcha, I saw this and thought that maybe it would help me determine whether I would like matcha. This tea has a nice green tea color with several specks of matcha that fell through the tea bag. The taste is very smooth and earthy. Some green teas I have had were really grassy, but this one isn’t. Yum!!

I tend to steep white tea longer than most…5 minutes give or take a half.
I was a little afraid of this, it ended up getting pushed to the back of my cupboard.
My first sip was reminiscent of my coffee drinking days. The initial taste was familiar—vanilla soy latte. The after taste is definitely coconut.
I’m on the fence.

The taste is fruitier and more pleasent with a reduced steeping time but I’m still getting a distinct tannic aftertaste that I don’t really care for.

When I opened the tin the smell was a wave of blueberry – not quite fresh blueberry, but more of a blueberry sauce. The taste, however, is a bit of a dispointment to me. It’s sort of a generic tart, berry taste, not at all sweet or distinctive.

The vanilla and almond flavors mask the natural taste of the decaffeinated tea, which remains but is barely perceptible. The tea leaves are mixed with a light powder of vanilla beans and almonds, and this clouds the cup.

The taste of almonds is very strong and might remind you of the smell of the"McCormick Almond Extract" that can be found in the “Baking” aisle of your grocery store. The vanilla flavor is clearly present, but not as strong. The tea is free of bitterness, although it has a dry aftertaste as a result of the added flavoring. Neither bad nor good; heavily flavored.

I haven’t yet been able to try this tea with milk and sugar. I suspect its true virtue lies there.

This tea is decaffeinated by a CO-2 process.

It is unconventional to blend Keemun, a black tea, with Oolong tea, because Oolong steeps better in water that is below boiling.

I prepared this tea with a pre-heated teapot and boiling water, and it turned out to be really good. It is an unusually interesting tea, earthy, sweet and slightly spicy, starting strong and finishing smooth and mellow. It makes a dark orange liquor, does not need to be brewed any longer than three minutes, and has a very appreciable flavor without milk or anything else added. It has no bitterness at all.

A very good tea. Save it for when you have time to drink it slowly and enjoy the flavor.

Another free sample. Apparently I have had it before, but I don’t remember. It is okay. I am not sure that I am a huge fan of lemongrass. There is something about it that tastes off to me. Almost grain like in flavor. It was a decent afternoon cup of tea though.

This tea is okay. I oversteeped it so the ginger was overpowering. I am not really the biggest fan of lemon or ginger but it was a decent green tea.

I used one teabag in a liter of water and steeped it for four hours… or so in a thermos. When I finally got to drinking it, it was absolutely divine. A rich almond aroma came from the cup, a vanilla flavor ran across my tongue and a deep, sweet almond flavor remained on my palette. Must remember not to take this to class, it distracted me from running my nuclear magnetic resonance spectra.

I’m surprised every time I drink this tea. I expect a Darjeeling that isn’t as good being that it’s not a first flush (probably not a fair presumption). I’ve yet to brew it in a way that makes it astringent. I really that it’s a full bodied. Overall a surprising good Darjeeling tea.

My second time trying this tea. This time I tried it with honey before adding ice, and though I am not a fan of ice tea or fruit flavored tea, I might occasionally do so once summer comes. Still mostly peach, and ginger is more of a supporting role, cutting the sweetness from being unbearable. Not my favorite tea, but something I might have once in a while for a change, especially since my local bakery cafe (Panera Bread) carries it.

Definitely more peach than ginger. You realize the ginger is there if you compare it with other peach flavored tea without ginger, but it can be slightly difficult to single it out. Good with honey (I think honey is better than sugar for this one), though you don’t need it. Pretty good.

Usually quite tasty as a tea but I will need to rework my milk-shake version of this. All I can say is “I had a craving.” I thought Match was like dust? This is like rough glitter… oh well. Still a nice cup of tea…

I love the color of this tea. I like to drink this on the ship but tend to forget to take the little baggies out of my cup. It has that wonderful matcha scent and taste until it turns bitter. This is my first and only experience with matcha and I am sure it is an insult to matcha purists. LOL When I lived in San Francisco I would eat green tea ice cream and this tea reminds me how much I miss it. :) So I am off to get an ice cream maker!

I seem to be on a bit of a lemon/ginger kick right now. Anyways this is my last teabag – I don’t think I’ll buy a full canister of this; it has potential as a tea but it also has some glaring faults too. Maybe I’ll try the fully caffeinated version and see how it compares.

This is really good with a bit of honey – it makes the ginger taste more like crystalized ginger and enhances the sweetness of the peach.