The Spice and Tea Exchange

Yesterday, my husband took me to Portland to visit the Spice and Tea Exchange as I’ve never been there. It is a difficult task to convince him to take me to such a place, as he is convinced that I have enough tea and I don’t need to be shopping for more. sigh But, I had a Living Social voucher, so, he had to take me. (evil grin)

This is one of the teas that I purchased (I didn’t spend much time checking out the spices, as I already have a favorite spice merchant). The description suggests malty tones and I get those, but, the chocolate notes are a little more difficult to discern until the tea has cooled somewhat. They are more pronounced now, but, as the description also says, they are indeed subtle. I taste more of a caramel tone than a chocolate-y one.

A pleasant breakfast blend, although as breakfast blends go, it isn’t as invigorating as others I’ve tried. Pleasant, but, not amazing or anything.

Perfume!!! In a cup!
When I saw other people’s notes about tea tasting perfumey, I didn’t quite get it. All I could picture was flavoured ethanol (never-mind the health implications! ha!)
But then this tea came along… and there it is! perfume. Rosey perfume.
At first, when the cup was hot, it was overwhelming. Almost nauseating. I was plotting ways to get rid of it almost immediately after my first sip. But then the cup cooled somewhat and before I knew it, I’d sipped away at it to the bottom! The floralness had mellowed out quite a bit, so I tried a second steep and ohh yes this was much better. Floral in just the right way. There wasn’t enough “tea” flavour in there for my liking but that’s ok, maybe I will add some after tweaking the settings a bit. Perhaps a 30 second steep would fare better than my initial 2 minutes.

Hey, I cold brewed this Oolong in the new Steep & Go (why does this name remind me of a Tupperware party gadget?) and it tasted very, very D-liscious!

I jammed a bunch of tea nuggets into a big 1 liter bottle of Dasani and screwed on my purpley/pink filter top (there are 4 colors) and stuck the bottle in the frig.
5 hours later….ZAM! Coconut Oolong Magic!

I like this Oolong hot. I like this Oolong cold. I like this Oolong!

(Steep & Go is a Tea Spot product but available many places)

Yesterday I cleaned out my closet and purged it of old clothes and shoes. Today, my daughter and granddaughter (who is 5’9 like I ‘was’) came over to ‘shop’ from my closet before I haul everything away. (We’re at different stages of weight loss)
We inevitably get the giggles. I have no idea what sets us off…but I end up crying with laughter, they laugh…and pretty soon we can’t stop. Every little thing is hilarious. There were clothes scattered about while we trapsed in front of the mirror like proud teenagers posing outragiously. We had no shame! The women in my family have fun together, and act crazy!

I really am a Blessed woman.

After my laughing and silliness was over and I was alone again, I chose this silky Coconut Oolong for my evening tea. It had been some time since I last tasted a fragrant, tropical coconut tea.

I let the steeping time go about 3 minutes before pouring. The flavor was exactly as I wished, floral and very coconuty. It reminded me of a creamy coconut milk. There was juiciness with very little tannin.
I added sweetening, prefering a coconut cream pie dessert tea to add the finishing touch to a good evening. I tried adding some cream then coconut milk but prefered the tea with sweetening only.

This tea is a naturally flavored Coconut Tea,…one of the things that is becoming important to me. I can taste the difference. There isn’t any sour aftertaste from chemicals. The flavors that linger are delicate, pleasant and authentic.

A Really Good Coconut Oolong!

First Review. Natural Coconut Oolong…now doesn’t that sound delicious! Um Yum! So many of us Steepsters love our Coconut Tea and I’m one of those who does also. Tricky to find a good tea has enough coconut without being cloying or artificial tasting. I was hopeful that this would be a winner so I followed my set of Oolong brewing instructions and set to the task. I failed, or should I say bombed. First I used water that was a tad too cool and steeped 4 minutes which was too long. The tea tasted like coconut but was bitter, icky. OK. This won’t deter me. Do over Bonnie! Put the Temp up to 185 and steep time at 2 minutes…much better ahhhhhh. Rich and juicy coconut, sweet without being floral orchid Oolong way I’m used to. Really nice. Creamy but not buttery. There is a slight astringent finish. As the tea cools the cream coconut thickens and coats the tongue blocking the astringency. Adding sugar or agave really brings the coconut flavor up a notch in a delightful way. This is a cuppa to sip on the beach in Kawaii! Anyone want to join me?!

This is one of my new favorite teas. It’s the first Lapsang Souchong that I’ve tried so I can’t really compare it to any others, but this tea is perfect for me in the office. The smokiness reminds me of campfire smoke and latakia tobacco. It’s the closest thing I can get to being outdoors while still being stuck in the office.

When I first tried it, I was surprised by the intensity of the smokiness. I actually didn’t care for the first cup I made of it. I gave it another try a couple days later because the smell of it was so intriguing. I’m glad I did. Either the smoke flavor mellowed out after I opened the package or I knew what to expect so it wasn’t as overwhelming, but I enjoyed this tea immensely after the first time I tried it. I regularly grab for this one for a break during the day at the office now. I think it would be great to have outside while actually sitting around a campfire…

Second Review. This is one delicious flavored Pu erh! The Strawberry is super rich and holds it’s own next to the Chocolate and Pu erh flavors. Dessert, Dessert, Dessert!
If you had a big chocolate 6 layered cake with a thin layer of mocha caramel cream and some strawberries piled between the layers and plopped whipped cream on the top (I added cream and sweetening just a bit) this is what you have in a cup of this Pu erh (well not exactly but close to it). And… being a pu erh, you get to keep pouring and have some more…(I now laugh my feverish mad laugh…wah ha ha).
You have surmised that I do in fact like this tea a bunch!

First review. My grandaughter Megan (16 years old) is on Spring break and came over to watch Amadeus on my big screen tv. We’re buddies…she’s a composer and has a concert choral piece coming up (previously she’s had orchestral pieces). Anyway…I made us this great pu erh and she flipped for it. Such a whoop of “Wow grandma what is this stuff”! I was delighted! The rich chocolatey creamy flavor with a little strawberry but not too much. The earthiness of the pu erh is subtle and not fishy. So nice. We had a second steep and she asked for some loose tea in a bag to take to school next week. She was so blown over with what flavor good tea can deliver.
*A few days later I bought Megan a portable 12 oz. steeper… double walled glass sipper with a retractable stainless basket and gave her some of this tea to take to school which made her very happy indeed!

this was one of the first teas that i bought and it’s been about 6 months since i’ve picked it up and tried it again. it has a very light peach smell and flavor. this tea isn’t terrible but i own other tea’s that have a lot more flavor than this one. it would probably be better iced. not a bad buy but i wont miss it when it runs out.

Wow… I was in the mood for something creamy tonight and couldn’t decide what exactly I wanted. So I began to look through samples and I found this that seemed to meet my current criteria of “something creamy”. Special thanks to Indigobloom for sending me this to try!

It smelled deliciously sweet. In fact when I sniffed it I got a noseful of sweet followed by a hint of chocolatey goodness! By all means this was a good thing! My mouth was watering while I scooped out my teaspoons to steep it.

While it steeped, the steam smelled like a miny chocolate factory in my tea cup. The smell got stronger and stronger until it was finally time to sip it. Wow…. Creamy, chocolatey sweet, malty, slightly astringent, happiness in a teacup. With sugar added the chocolate flavor became more prominent and the maltiness was covered up a tad. Delicious. The only tiny flaw that it had was a strange chemical taste that lingered in the aftertaste. Other than that, it was great!

I believe that this is the best straight chocolate tea that I have tasted so far. They captured the essence of hot chocolate and made it blend in so well with the tea that I am sure that if milk where added it would be shockingly similar to the real thing!

I only wish I had more of it….. Oh well… You can’t always get what you want, but if try sometimes, you get what you need! ; )

okayyy I know I reviewed this one before. I remember specifically commenting that it was pu-erh awesomeness because with some milk it tastes like melted chocolate strawberry icecream… or rather, strawberry chocolate milk. SO good. Three steeps of this baby and I still wanted MORE.
I’m a little annoyed now. Steepster ate my post :(
The strawberry doesn’t come out much at first. It’s rather mild… but give it a chance, it will build I promise! With milk, this outbids any other flavoured pu-erh I’ve ever tried. Without… ehhh, it’s ok. A little too weak. No matter, I don’t mind at all =D
This will be one to repurchase, no hesitation about that!

Tea of the afternoon…..

Thank you so much to Indigobloom for this one.

This is a really nice chocolate tea. The notes are of dark chocolate which I think works so well with a tea base that is not particularly sweet on its own. I think this would stand up to milk if you wanted to add some. Very good, and it is always good to know what else to buy when you are getting your fix of Coconut Oolong!

Usual Mug method.

This is the flavour I expected DavidTea’s Super Chocolate to be! It’s a dark chocolate flavour with hints of black tea and definitely delightful. It was a great way for me to finish off dinner tonight!

Oh, my. This tastes as good as it smells. And, it smells and tastes like coconut-oatmeal cookie heaven meets fresh green Oolong. My grandmother used to make awesome oatmeal cookies with a bunch of coconut, and that is seriously all I can think of while drinking this. I’m taken right back to her kitchen!

So, yeah. This is incredibly silky-smooth and creamy. There’s a delicious sweetness that tastes like toasted coconut, perfectly balanced with crisp, ever so slightly floral Oolong. Thanks for letting me steal a little, Indigobloom! A couple sips in I was already on their site investigating what it would take to get myself some of this.

Surprised. I am a bit of a purist that likes of my tea ‘uninterrupted’ by added flavors/elements, but this Bao Zhong in combination with the naturally sweet coconut is creamy, smooth and delicious. I agree with other reviews that is gives Nantou Milky Gold varieties some close competition. And it does seem to ‘sweeten’ as it cools. It holds flavor for a second cup too. Now I’m curious to try other brands & offerings to compare!

This one brews so pretty. Which is so sad since it is so bitterly full of hibiscus. I tried adding twice the sugar I usually do, and still all I could taste was hibiscus with ever so slightly a hint of raspberry. Thank you for the chance to try this one Indigobloom!

Mmm this one brewed up perfectly tonight. Sweet and orangey and just what I’d been hoping for. Yum.

I have a love hate relationship with this tea. Love because it does taste like what it is called. There are definitive blood orange notes in with a smooth rooibos tea flavour. But I wanted more. I wanted more smoothie and less rooibos. The rooibos is definitely strong here and if you aren’t a fan of it, you aren’t going to like this tea at all. I’m curious what it would taste like if I mixed it with some of my other orange flavoured teas. I may have to try next time since I can’t add milk or cream to this one.

Tea of the afternoon…..

This one came to me from Indigobloom. I have really been wanting to try this to see if another one of my favorites is close…..

Light green/yellow liquor, lovely coconut smell and taste. Very slightly buttery. Yum!

I am, of course, comparing to Golden Moon’s Coconut Pouchong. Honestly, though, I like them both. This one is a little more roasted tasting and maybe not quite as buttery. I really don’t see a need for both of them in my cupboard, but it is great to know that there is another source for really good Coconut Oolong/Pouchong out there, and it really just depends on where I am shopping at the time. I just know I am always in need of this kind of tea in my cupboard.

Thank you so much for the sample!

Mug method, 3 minutes, about 180 water. No additions.

This tea tried to fool me! I got it as a sample from the lovely and awesome Indigobloom and when I labelled it I wrote black instead of pu’erh. So when I went to brew it, half asleep this morning, I was started to smell pu’erh as I lifted it for my first sip. Tricky tea, I figured you out anyway!

Dry this tea smells lovely, like a chocolate filled with strawberry nougat waiting in the tray calling to you. Brewed, the tea definitely has notes of pu’erh, but I didn’t detect any fishiness. There were hints of strawberry in the smell but I didn’t really get much chocolate. Leery now since I’m not a fan of pu’erhs yet, I hesitantly took my first sips.

Okay, this is now the second pu’erh that I’ve enjoyed. The strawberry is a fake strawberry, like those candies I mentioned above. The chocolate and pu’erh balance really nicely, however, to make it a lovely cup.

I got this one in a mail exchange recently, and so gave it another look. The first time I tried it was before I had a variable temperature kettle, so I felt it definitely deserved another look. I’m glad I did, because tonight it was an enjoyable cup to sip as I talked with friends. The flavour was dominated by pineapple, but not enough to turn me off since it is far from my favourite fruit. I definitely don’t see this becoming a favourite tea for me, or even a restock, but I’m not going to be trading it out of my collection, either.

Sipping off the last of this one tonight. Definitely a nice tea, but as Indigobloom stated in her review, it is dupeable. Lovely but not memorable.

Got this one as a sample from Indigobloom with whom I had a GREAT tea-addictive Saturday. The tea is lovely, I had it with dinner and the flavour was strong enough to power over the extreme garlic in my meal and still allow me to taste the fruity notes. I had it hot and loved it, and now I’m really curious how it would taste iced since both notes state they prefer it that way!

It’s funny, but having tea less often somehow makes it taste so much better. My cup of this today wasn’t half bad!
Also, I’ve had a series of Tim Horton’s teas foisted on me, so I have something truly lacklustre for comparison.
Anyhow. I am hoping this will all change because a) we are working out the kinks in my work schedule/load, and b) roll up the rim will soon be over!
Oh and I won’t have the constant temptation of endless apple or strawberry strudel paraded over my head. Ha!!

Now the cup? Sure it could have been dark chocolate, but I doubt I would have picked that out as a flavour if I hadn’t known. Meh.