The Republic of Tea

Tried this today for the first time. Two cups, first steeped 5 minutes, second 4 minutes. Tasted good. Think tomorrow I’ll try 3 minutes and see how that goes. Foggy this am since I stayed up for New Year’s Eve, so probably not the best morning to assess tea :)

For once, a fruit tea that is not overwhelmed by hibiscus. I honestly like this. “Soft” is a good descriptor for the blackberry flavor. Its not biting me with berry flavor, but its there. This was better without sweetener. After adding agave nectar, it took on a fake candle wax kind of flavor.

In the tin, this smelled delicious… until I realized there was a scent of something like bananas, and I started to try to break it down. I resorted to the ingredients list, which showed “vanilla and coconut flavor”. Which, of course, means almost anything but actual vanilla or coconut.

Steeping, it did smell enticing, but when it was ready to drink it seemed like nothing more than hot water. Reminiscent of banana.

Reading the 1st tasting note, I wonder if I used water that was a little too hot. More likely, this tea is just too delicate for my palate, which tends to prefer really tasty spicy chais.

I’ll keep it in my cupboard, but will be happy to send a sample (it’s in bags) to anyone who’d like to give it a try despite my experience…

Finally got around to trying my free sample from the catalog. The smell of the teabag is wonderful. The tea itself is not as flavorable as the smell, but still has an interesting scent to it. The tea is definitely flavorful, but not where near the promise of the smell. I get some of the numbing effect of the cloves on my tounge without the flavor of the spice.

I don’t know that I’d buy this tea, but I’m enjoying it more than others at this site have enjoyed it.

Backlogging…pretty good…

This used to be one of my favorite teas before I discovered chai. The aroma of this blend is really lovely. Definitely very vanilla-y, but I get a distinct honey scent from it as well, though that could be from the vanilla and almond mixing together. This tea is incredibly smooth and hard to brew incorrectly (like most teas you buy at a grocery store), so it’s good if you don’t want to fuss with loose leaf or high-maintenance teas that can turn on you if brewed too long.

This is one of my favorite berry/black teas. It really is a rich treat and since it is a limited edition, I will have to make it last.

This truly is a very subtle and wonderful tea. I tend to drink very flavorful and powerful teas, so the contrast of drinking a delicate pure white is fantastic.

I’m bound and determined to drink the rest of this tin down because it’s been in my cupboard for too long now and I have many other teas to drink!

I still like it, I have it at work mostly, but it’s time to move on to greener or oolong-ier pastures.

Also, I’m trying to turn my pee green for St. Patrick’s Day! ;-)

Okay I went on a tea shopping binge at Cost Plus World Market (one of my fave stores) and picked this up, along with 4 others! I haven’t been to Cost Plus in months, they have really expanded their tea collection, they even have loose leaf in foil bags! There are a few others I had my eye on, but my arms were full, I’ll have to pick them up next time.
Anyway, now that I drink this tea, I remember from long ago, I think this was the very first green tea I had, because I remember the powder floating out of the tin when I opened it. It reminds me of why I fell in love with green tea! The grassy taste, the beautiful green color, semi-opaque, it even frothed when I wisked it some! The taste is so clean and creamy at the same time, it is a very nice cup to sip! Not true matcha, because it has some green tea leaves also, but not a bad substitute and it’s bagged, so it’s portable. I can totally see me having this after lunch at work to get me through the rest of the day.

Just like their Ginger Peach, I find myself sniffing the tea cup even after it’s gone. Weird, huh? And just like Ginger Peach, I find myself wanting another cup immediately after finishing the first.

Got a travel tin of this today to give it a try. First impression is smooth, light, slightly sweet, mild. Nice difference from the regular Bigelow plain green tea I drink. Will have another cup tomorrow and log my second impressions.

This tea was given to me by an old roommate (I never would’ve bought it for myself), so I gave it a try despite my hatred for herbal teas. It does have a pleasant/fresh grassy smell, but the taste was not something I enjoyed. It’s a lemony, grassy herbal tea.

A mini-tin of this tea was bought for me as a gift and I just didn’t enjoy it. The peach was okay, but the ginger wasn’t. I’m pretty sensitive when it comes to ginger, because I just don’t like it for the most part. I tried two bags and then left the rest in the tea cabinet at work.

Cozy smell, nice taste. This is another tea that my girlfriend loves but I’m not nuts about. But, it’s some high-quality green tea to say the least! I’d recommend it if you want a stable staple tea.

nice fruity black tea.

12/25/09 I have been very anxious to try this blend and it was in my stocking! Thanks to my youngest daughter:) Very tasty. The sage does not overpower the black tea at all and you can really taste the blackberries. Nice.
12/31/09 drank this again today. Not liking it too much. Lowered my rating.

This was ok, not great, but drinkable. I did enjoy the fruity flavor and the bit of menthol like effect. I actually noticed being more focused on writing my paper (which happens to be on the magnificent and interesting wonder insert scar ism here of drilling for natural gas from Marcellus shale, 10 double spaced size 12 font pages) than i usually am. And that is coming from a major procrastinator. I am not sure if it is a placebo or if it really does what it is supped to do (the ingredients make scene for that) . Overall not bad.

4 minutes is a little long for a white tea. This gives it a bit more flavour without compromising the delicate nature of this fragrant white.