The Spice and Tea Exchange

A huge HUGE thank you to Invader Zim for sending me a surprise box of tea for some teas I had sent to her previously. It was totally unexpected as I asked for nothing – practically demanded nothing in return! What a lovely surprise today in the mail!
I do not think I have ever had a tea from Spice and Tea Exchange so this is new for me and I am quite enjoying it!
A nice pu-erh base with some wonderful notes and of course peppermint and chai spices.
I am not even minding the licorice note!
I am going to play with this tea a bit and do a review on http://sororiteasisters.com/
Thank you Invader Zim :) Happy dance.

Thanks Liberteas
This was different than I thought it would be…I’m thinking that is today’s tea theme with me…hum…

Anyhow – it’s slightly malty-chocolate tasting but with a pu-erh type flavor, too.

It was ok but not what I was hoping for.

Tea of the morning…..

Not bad, but not memorable, either. The Ceylon base is pretty good, but I think they should have chosen something more in the naturally choclatey tasting range. The tea base kind of fights with the flavor. It is roasty and bready, but it is missing a cocoa note in my book.

I do appreciate that The Spice & Tea Exchange does offer tea in small amounts, however, I do think they charge quite a bit for what you are getting.

Usual teapot method…..

I am not warming up to this tea. Maybe it is user error, steeping too long? Not fragrant, mostly a bitter tonic. Does it require sweetener or cream? Didn’t like it enough to experiment. Maybe I will, on a day when I have time to play around with it.

Another go round of this sample – last remaining bit taken care of :) Still enjoy this one as it’s a really nice berry flavour. It’s nice to bring a bunch of samples to work and actually have time to go through some of them :)

I think part of the problem with having 500 samples (thanks indigobloom) of tea in one place is that some of the flavours/smells blend together. there’s a hint of smokiness in this tea that i’m pretty sure comes from another sample of tea from Kittena And that ladies and gents is why you must be wary of canadians pushing tea out of the back of their car. haha but anyway…ignoring that, this is a really nice light tea. Not something i’d drink all the time, and something i’d probably rather enjoy iced. The colour is a wonderful purpley-red and the smell is great! Theres a tang as your first sip the tea that quickly changes to a warm subtle flavour. Not too shabby!

I love this tea. I put in a little bit of The Spice and Tea Exchange’s coconut sugar in it. It smells so good, too. Would be a perfect pair to almond cookies!

-Dry blend is a beautiful mixture of green leaves, pink and yellow rose petals and lavender. Wet leaves floated to the top during steeping. Wet leaves reveal long tea leaves and whole peppermint leaves.
-Dry leaves smell like a minty potpourri. Tea liquor smells clean and faintly of roses.
-Tea liquor is a clear, pale yellow.
-Grassy flavor with a wispy mint finish. Able to detect rose taste after swallowing.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Very delicate flavor, but sweetener enhances the floral and mint notes.

Hmmm. Thought I reviewed this before because I got a sample from Indigobloom and it was the reason I decided to purchase this….

Anyway, second tea of the morning…..

I think pu’erh is usually a cooler weather tea for me, but I decided to have this today anyway. I did pick this up on a recent trip to Williamsburg, VA where they have a Spice & Tea Exchange. It was a fun stop. I picked up an ounce of this, the Coconut Oolong, and a Hazelnut tea that I cannot seem to locate at the moment….This should tell me it is time to do some rearranging…. I do find their tea a little on the pricey side. I think $4.89 per ounce is very steep for some, but not necessarily for others like the Coconut Oolong. They did give $2 off for buying three ounces. I do appreciate the ability to buy in small mounts, though. Bulk amounts there are definitely cost prohibitive.

I really like this one. There is something wonderful about the combination of chocolate flavors and pu’erh tea. It is like they were meant to be together. The addition of the strawberry just makes it taste like a decadent dessert. I can’t really decide if I like this one or the one from Lupicia better. I guess it will just depend on where I am shopping at the time of needing more….

Mug method, 3 minute steep. Lightly sweetened.

This tea was quite good- sweet & chocolatey with a hint of strawberry and the earthy undertone of pu-erh. I enjoyed it, but I think I’d have liked if the pu-erh and strawberry flavors had stood out more. Maybe it’s just because I have a love hate relationship with chocolate sometimes, but to me the chocolate was a little bit of a show stealer. I tend to gravitate towards darker, more bitter chocolates though so maybe that was part of it!

For die-hard chocolate lovers however, I think this tea would be a huge hit! I definitely enjoyed it though and it was a nice rich cup to stir me awake this morning :)

The second infusion is noteworthy because the tones have all softened. Not really lightened as in diminished, but softened as in become quite harmonious with one another … melding into a more unified flavor that is floral and sweet and soft and creamy. I think I like this second infusion even better than the first.

I find this tea to be confusing … or at least, I think that the Spice and Tea Exchange is confused. The ingredient lists green tea, whereas the description and title calls this a White tea, and the leaves look like white tea to me.

This has a very romantic overture to it, the rose and the jasmine and the lavender are the most prominent flavors here, with the rose being the primary focus. The peppermint is rather soft, really, and seems content to sit off in the background. The white tea is not lost here, either, and offers a light, sweet, slightly creamy taste to the pleasing floral tones.

Quite nice.

Thank you Indigobloom for this sample!

I’ve been a bit unwell (I’ll get to that at the finish) so I decided to SMOKE it out of me! Teach that ol allergic reaction a lession I will! Ya’ll know I love me some Lapsang Souchong! With this sample I went past the recommended steep time by 1 minute because I like my tea full bodied. Um, smelled nice and smoky but not in a room filled with smoke sort of way. In other words, no one was going to call the Fire Department.

The golden brown liquor looked just right when I took my first gulp, hum, which was milder and sweeter than I was expecting. I’ve been drinking a bold and salty Lapsang Souchong with a slightly burnt edge for some time but this was different. This one was smooth and mild with far less salt, and with tannin at the finish creating juiciness.

I added sweetening (I know that Indigobloom does this too) and cream which created a nicely balanced morning cup of smoked, buttery sweet tea. Perfect pairing would be toast and jam or sweet bagels.

FYI
Just a note for anyone with food allergies (like me)…Rooibos is in the legume family which I found out by getting a reaction…arf…so you should avoid it! Who knew! Made my throat and mouth all scratchy and sore and swollen and I felt awful…could have been worse!

Sipdown! 829.

This one has definitely lost flavour over time, but I’m not sure it’s really a bad thing, haha. It was pretty darn potent before! Anyhow, I should have sweetened this, but it’s perfectly smooth to drink straight, therefore fairly enjoyable.

Ok… being brave tonight! Trying my first straight lapsang souchong, courtesy of Indigobloom!

I do love campfire, and smoked meat, so this tea does smell quite good. I just can’t shake the desire to eat a large piece of beef jerky .

Oh man. So smoky. SO SMOKY. Shocker, eh? Ooh, this may not be the best tea to mix with others, as the smoky flavour is lingering in my mouth. It’s pretty smooth… no astringency. Really tastes like liquid smoke in a cup. It’s not actually as strong as I was thinking it could be. I kind of like it. However, I think it’s better blended with other things… brings out the maple syrup Let’s see what this does!

OK! Added way too much. But… I like it! If I add salt will it taste like maple bacon?? Hmm, not sure I want to possibly ruin it. I like it sweet and smoky.

I think lapsang souchong will be a tea for me to mix with others for kicks, not to drink straight. This one’s perfectly drinkable, but I think adding smoky notes to other chocolate teas will be much more fun.

Thanks again for the sample, Indigobloom!

ETA: Second infusion is weaker, but I dosed it with maple syrup anyhow. I suspect the smokiness of this one could last a long time, so I think I’ll stop at two infusions. Or maybe three.

Awwww! Indigobloom was incredibly generous and gave me her last/close to last bit of this tea to try for myself! As part of an ENORMOUS amount of other samples! So excited; naturally I had to start trying things tonight, and clearly started with this one :D

Short note b/c I shouldn’t be on here at all. Too much work left.

It smells much like Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong to me. Kind of a toasty, tasty coconut flavour. Taste-wise it’s similar, but better. In which way, you ask? Damned if I know :P I suspect it’s the base, actually. I don’t recall exactly what I thought of Coconut Pouchong, but although I liked it, I seem to remember feeling like something was off. Definitely not the case here. I clearly should have brewed up about four infusions of it while I was downstairs, but now am going to have to wait until tomorrow (so tired).

Definitely leaving this on my purchase list for some time in the distant future. It is delicious. Thanks again Indigobloom! :D

ETA: Second infusion, same parameters, is pretty good. Quite coconutty. I would like to taste more oolong, but it’s quite lovely. Perhaps I’ll go for a third before I sleep tonight; we’ll see.

First Review. I’m a bit under the weather today. Being careful of what I eat and drink with a nausea migraine, I thought this caffeine free Blood-Orange Smoothie might be a refreshing departure from my usual puerh’s and malty black tea choices. Thank’s again to a gift of tea from my son Aaron.

Even dry this smells good. All my life, until moving to Colorado, I’ve been around oranges, lemons, tangerines and all sorts of citrus growing in neighborhood yards. I love the bright and sunny orange in this tea which is so fragrant and scrumptious!

I let the steep go 6 minutes. The flavor is like those orange-slice jell candies with a vanilla smoothness that reminds you of orangesicle ice cream. Intense! I can’t imagine drinking this without sweetening and cream. It would not do justice to the intention of the blend which makes a splendid smoothie. I don’t like to sound like everyone else chattering “It tastes like orangesicle ice cream” but if it does it does..OK!

As far as the other ingredients: There is an aftertaste of uh…apple slice. Look for that. Odd but true. My take on the rose and hibiscus is that while you can’t taste them on their own, they are the hidden slight sourness in the blood orange…the ‘tang’. Clever addition.

This would be a nice tea to pair with a cheese danish…um…or bagel and cream cheese.

I’m going to have a chocolate day today. I have a couple of chocolate tea’s and since I LUV CHOCOLATE I decided to drink them all in one day! Binge!

This has been my favorite chocolate tea. It’s rich and dark the way I love chocolate bars. The other thing I love about it is that the flavoring isn’t sour. I HATE SOUR FAVORING! But as I said, this tea is dark chocolate GOOD!

There’s a sweet little restaurant in town called The Chocolate Cafe.
I’ve taken the grandsons there one at a time for Italian Soda and Chocolate dessert. Lava Cake, Mousse, Creme Brulee to delight my little Princes http://flic.kr/p/cRDTWS. There is something magical about sitting in a lovely space, having a chocolate dessert served on a white plate that is decorated beautifully with berries or chocolate squiggles or powdered sugar, that’s far removed from picking up a cupcake at Whole Foods.
Flowers on the table, Italian Opera softly playing in the background and my little guys know that they are special to Grandma.

Chocolate is never casual like a cheese sandwich or jelly beans.

I made a pot of this tea for my morning wake-up and steeped it for 4 minutes.
My addition of cream and sweetening to this tea didn’t dilute the dark chocolate flavor but made it creamy and rich. It’s so good. I had forgotten how good. I’m totally out! I’ll have to call my son to send me more from the store at Pier 39!

Megan (granddaughter almost 17) and I have been watching Tom and Jerry cartoons this morning on my Big Screen TV. Don’t-cha just love Big Mice in the morning?!
Her tea of choice was…ta da…Black Chocolate! (I like it too!) My son Aaron brought it to me from San Francisco last month as a gift.

Megan’s comments about the tea? Straight up the tea is suprisingly sweet, and with milk alone…creamy. By adding sweetening delicious with an almost marshmallow chocolate flavor.

Marshmallow?
I think what she was tasting was a bit of malt that I missed in my first go around review. This time I could taste it clearly. There was a bit of what I love in malt ball candy. ( I like that candy at the movies but they taste more waxy than I remember as a child). This is a great Black (the color is very, very dark) Chocolate flavored tea, very rich and creamy without bitterness or acidity.

Big, dense chocolate flavor like a Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Bar is what I love about this tea!

First Review. I Love Dark Chocolate! I buy a certain brand of dark chocolate that has sea salt on it… and I put the candy bar in the freezer…so that every night I can break off a square and eat it slowly all by myself…umm. I love this salty, creamy dark chocolate!

My tea cupboard was lacking a chocolate tea. I ran into a review by IndigoBloom some time ago about STE Black Chocolate…and my son Aaron was bringing me some tea from their store in San Francisco…so ah ha…I decided to put this on the “get me this one too” list.

I am fussy about my chocolate. I still was skeptical about a tea that could deliver the kind of REAL dark chocolate flavor rich enough and authentic enough not to make me gag! I was NOT looking for cocoa. NO milk chocolate. DARK CHOCOLATE ONLY PLEASE! I want a chocolate to play with… ( to add some chili, some maple bacon, some lapsang souchong, salt etc….mad scientist at work!).

Excited for tasting this morning, I brewed a nice big 24oz pot. The pour was dark and promising. First gulp…CHOCOLATE! Not malt or mocha…DARK CHOCOLATE! Yippie (sorry)…but I’m so glad that this measures up to what I desired. Rich, dark chocolate that is deep enough to add sweetening and cream to (which I did of course). There is a little malt but it is natural and very subtle, a chocolate maltiness… not the sort that resembles yam or graham crackers. Thankfully, there is no bitterness, tannin or acid. The finish is smooth vanilla. I went back later after the pot was empty (didn’t take me long to swig down 24oz of this black velvet!) to taste the cold drippings under the brew basket. The rich liquid was still not bitter.
I’m going to have to order more of this tea! 1oz will not last long!

If you notice the new picture by my name, that’s Rocky Mt. Bighorn Sheep…a little picture I took on Wed.

I’ve been bagging samples to send off to people all day. I really mean it, ALL DAY.
For a person (me) who has no ability to multi-task (my brain misfire issue), bagging, labeling, making notes and keeping a list of who’s been sent what tea takes triple time. The only easy part is sweeping tea debris off the wood floors.

At about 5pm, I was beginning to nod off to sleep on the couch. Garumph! That would never do! “When was the last time I had some tea today?”, I asked myself. “Too long, too long ol girl.” So I rummaged around for a lonely tea that I’d been ignoring (feeling tea guilt).

Oh yes, the Green Tropical. I almost forgot about this little plastic bag. It certainly looks like it came from a spice store all green see through as though it’s filled with Rosemary or Greek Oregano. Hum. The tea had not impressed me the first go around at all.

I was very careful to steep the leaves 3 minutes. The flavor is flat at high heat…those who drink this tea comment on how much better it is cool or chilled. So I waited.

There is a strange astringency…not like a bite at the finish that lingers, but a stinging on the whole surface of the tongue. I don’t see the point since the tea is so faintly flavored. There’s hardly any pineapple to speak of. No strawberry. Almost nothing to hang onto.
The best thing this tea has going for it is a nice floral/fruity scent when dry…like a room freshener.

As a tea, not that interesting.

Really a boring, boring tea. But the caffeine will keep me awake! ;)

First Review. I’m back. I’ve been staying at my daughters house for a few days with her brood of 6 permanent children and 2 foster babes while my son et al were at my condo. He brought me tea from The Spice and Tea Exchange at Pier 39 in San Francisco. (Well trained!).
A highlight of this week was our venture to Rocky Mountain National Park about 1 hour from my house. We saw 8 Big Horn Sheep close up for the first time and several herd of Elk (50-100) which are very common and often run around town (Estes Park). We went up to about 11,000 ft to the snow line where the panoramic view of the valley below was spectacular! I wish that I could show you a photo…me drinking tea 50 feet from a huge grazing Elk with a meadow spread out wide and golden…then jutting, windswept mountain peaks topped with snow blowing high above and far beyond me.

Today…family is off flying home again. I spent 4 hours driving to and from the Denver Airport. I am home. Time for tea!

Green Tropical is a low caffeine tea and the packet says that it is great iced. I Am Not an Iced Tea Fan. “I may try it some time,” I said, “but not tonight.” I do like pineapple which this has in it, so I’m hoping for goodness. Green tea is not what I choose to drink as a rule. This is light and mild. I can taste some pineapple, a tad of strawberry but no other fruit. I’m not really liking this hot all that much erh. I have to take action!!! So, change of mind will mean a change of preference.
Dashing…to the freezer for ice, I have given in to chilling the tea! Also, it needs sweetening otherwise, it is bland. The iced taste is much better, still weak, but refreshing enough to enjoy on a hot day. I get it. This isn’t my favorite tea but not the worst and better than average.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this!

I really am enjoying this blend. It is one that I overlooked while shopping the other day at the Spice and Tea Exchange. It has a lot going on, and one might think that its too much for one tisane, but, they all work together very well. The cloves start out warm, and then I notice the licorice-y tones, and by the end of the sip, I notice a crisp mint tone. The pineapple comes through with a sweet, juicy note that really refreshes the spice melange.

The yerba mate is not a strong flavor here, I notice hints of earthiness that seem to unify with the earthiness of the clove and anise, but it never becomes a strong earthy flavor.

Very lovely, I enjoyed this quite a bit.