The Spice and Tea Exchange

This sample came from Indigobloom but I am not sure about this one… the last tisane I just drank was so tart and fruity, it’s difficult to get that flavor out of my mouth and I also noticed the water coming out of my tea kettle looks pink? Do I need filtered water? I’ll have to try this one again soon.

I bought this when I was away on vacation for a friend who loves peach anything… Preserves, juices, etc. Thinking I would hold it until her birthday, it has been sitting in my tea cabinet amid my teas so I know where it is when her birthday comes around.

Today, on a whim, I decided to try a sample of this tea. Hubby and I can’t stand anything with artificial peach flavoring, but how could I give her something untested?!?!

To my surprise we both found this tea to be much nicer than we expected. The dry leaf is light in fragrance, but peach is present. Steeped, the flavor comes out a little stronger, but it’s not overwhelming and more realistic than most peach flavored candies, etc. Hubby actually liked this one a bit more than I did and he usually won’t go near anything peach flavored.

This would be a nice one to get and keep around for evenings when we want tea without the caffeine. My girlfriend will love it!! But might not like my introducing her to something she will want to buy more of ;)

This is one of the samples that my sister gave me for Christmas.
Now, coconut is not my favorite flavor, not by a long shot, but in the name of tea, I will adventure on!
Hmm, this smells most certainly of coconut when I steep it, and provides to have a light and not unpleasant coconut flavor when brewed up.
Hmm. I will not be buying any more of this, but I’ve enjoyed what I did have, more than I expected to.

Thanks to Indigobloom for sharing this one!

I love a good assam, especially in the morning. This is really good, has flavors of malt and honey with some fruitiness present too. I get a slight tobacco in the finish but nothing on the bitter side. This was heavenly with a bit of soymilk, did not need sugar IMO. I may need to pay the Spice & Tea Exchange a visit. This is tasty stuff. Thanks for sharing… :)

Backlog:
This is a nice chai, I really enjoyed the experience of purchasing it at the Port Townsend location in Washington while visiting family.

This chai is good for those who like to have less spice and more tea. The spices have a slight saltiness to them that is different from most of the chai I have had, it’s very pleasant.

The flavors of tea are nice, although I like more spice and less tea flavor in my chai. The cardamom is very strongly expressed and the other spices have a sweet, warm, cinnamon expression. This was lovely to drink on a cold hazy morning overlooking the water with my dad.

I actually just ran out of this tea, after getting it for Christmas along with a 1 oz. bag of Green Tropical. Like Suziqzer I was too late to find it from the store online, which is too bad because this is a tea I really enjoyed. I’ve never had a chocolate tea before, so I’m not completely sure how it should taste, but this tea seemed just right, with the perfect amount of peppermint. Right out of the bag I was immediately impressed by its fragrant smell. The tea took on a slightly different tone after the first brewing, but it was one I still completely enjoyed. A great peppermint tea, and if you add sugar, a great candy cane tea. If you’re a fan of strong black tea’s like an Assam, this might not be for you, unless you also enjoy blends. In my opinion the tea taste is there but it’s certainly not strong, or at the forefront; it’s melded into a great blend of the peppermint and other flavors. It’s called Candy Cane tea, but I could certainly enjoy this all year, I can’t imagine what it would taste like iced in the summer!
I played around with a few different brewing times, 3 minutes seemed to work pretty well for the first and second steepings, and I usually had the water a bit under 100 Celsius.

Wanted something to go with Saint Patrick’s Day and for some reason I thought “mint”… Probably because I enjoy it so much and haven’t had any for a few days. Why did I even need an excuse anyway?

Saving the Irish Cream Cheesecake tea for later when Hubby and I can enjoy it together. :) & who knows.. Maybe I can get my little guy to try is since it goes with the day!

This one good as always.. mostly minty black with a bit of chocolate to round out the cup.

Had this this afternoon since I’ve been craving it since yesterday. As yummy as I remember… Steeped 3 times just to see how it turned out… Third time was pretty weak, but still had peppermint goodness and was very drinkable when I added a touch of raw sugar.

So gonna miss this one when it’s gone! Too bad it’s seasonal… Anyone have any extra to sell or trade ?

We don’t have many tea buying options in my area, other than bags of the grocery store variety so when we were on vacation the past week and I saw The Spice & Tea Exchange in the distance.. I just had to visit.

A couple of years ago we went into one of their stores and I was much more into cooking than I was tea. While we were there though, Hubby picked up the tea sampler pack and fell in love with their Blueberry Black. He has been trying to make that tea last because he hated to see it gone.

The first thing I did when we went into the store was go right in and find the Blueberry Black and had them make up a 2 oz bag for Hubby. He steeps it weak, so it should last him a good while. They had so many that peaked my interest that I had trouble deciding what to get. I wished they had had sample bags of their teas so I could take a few with me and then go back later before we left the area to pick up what I really liked in larger quantities.

This was one of the teas I picked up. The smell was fresh and inviting, and not too strong for peppermint. I was wishing that the holiday teas would be on sale since it was after Christmas, and even asked the sales associate and she couldn’t give me a discount.. always worth trying. The associate was pleasant and after browsing the tea section for awhile, I asked her of the holiday teas which was the most popular & which was her favorite… she said the Chocolate Candy Cane Tea. I picked it up, as well as the Gingerbread since I knew they were both seasonal varieties and the gingerbread smelled very nice too.

I have opened the bag to smell this several times and every time I think I’d love to try a cup but wanted to wait until I could enjoy the first one fully. I finally did that today. It smells fresh of peppermint and sweetness, with a bit of rich chocolate… smells like Christmas candy in a cup.

I didn’t pay close attention to my steep time as we had company and I was a bit distracted. The steeped cup has an inviting fragrance, but not so intense as the dry leaf. I added a bit of raw sugar as I couldn’t see myself drinking a candy related tea without sweetness (growing up with all my tea sweetened makes it hard to get away from). I must say this tea is yummy. I was a bit afraid it would be too intense of a peppermint or that the chocolate would come across as fake or just too rich. It is a perfect blend of mild peppermint rounded out with a bit of chocolate. This is the first tea with chocolate I can say I really enjoyed the first cup of.

The second steep I allowed to sit longer and again added a touch of raw sugar. It too was good, although a bit milder, and the chocolate came through more at the end of the sip.

I’m a bit saddened that after I tried this I went looking on their website and see that they have already pulled it from their Limited Edition teas. I almost wish I would have bought a second ounce… Hopefully they will offer it again next year when I need some Christmas in a cup, because I’m sure I will have finished this one by then.

Thanks to Indigobloom for sending me a sample of this tea. I believe there’s a Spice and tea Exchange in San Francisco but I’ve never been there. Shocking, isn’t it???

Anyway this has a nice cocoa type aroma after steeping. I did sip on some plain and it has the sort of winey/mud aftertaste that I associate with keemuns and I’m not a big fan. I guess this is some kind of a keemun assam blend with a bit of ceylon thrown in? there is also maltiness and chocolate. I liked this better as a breakfast tea after I added soymilk but decided it didn’t need any sweetener.

Overall, not bad but I won’t be clamoring to get this. I’m really glad I had a chance to try it though. :)

Still down with my head cold.
But guess what, I was right… this puerh is much better as a “sick tea”!
It’s so soothing and making me feel loads better, for the moment.
That sickly sweet note is now somehow refreshing. Bumping the rating just a little.

I’ve tried this twice now and still my palate can’t decide what to think. Hot, I really don’t care for it. It has a medicinal sweet note (probably from the licorice and peppermint) that reminds me of herbal throat remedies that I partake in only when necessary and can’t really taste at the time anyhow.
Cooled, its significantly better. I can taste the puerh, and while it doesn’t taste fishy at all, it has the mouthfeel of fishiness. I know that makes no sense but it’s true!
Anyhow. It also has a more biting mint note at that point, which I do appreciate. The vanilla seems to round things out a bit. I’m not sure where the ginger comes in though, it must be hidden underneath everything.
Actually now that I think about it, all the ingredients here are known to contribute sweetness to a blend so perhaps its the combination that irks me…
A touch of sugar seemed to help a bit. Next time I’ll remember to let it cool entirely before sipping, so I don’t bias anything.

This was gifted to me in a colleague holiday gift exchange. Thank you, Secret Giftee!

I wanted to try a new herbal tonight, as I’ve had more than my fair share of caffeine today. It smells strongly of cinnamon, licorice and something I failed to place, however steeped it’s all cinnamon. All I’m getting out of the brew however is hibiscus, followed by cinnamon, and something… off. Musty, darker fruit? Perhaps this is the plum. Sweetened with some Truvia (1tsp for 12oz), it’s still… yeah, I have to dump this. Sorry giftee, as I know your intentions were only the best.

We stopped by The Spice & Tea Exchange while we were in Asheville and picked out this tea on a whim. I made a travel mug for the boy to take with him when he was leaving for St. Louis, and he called 5 minutes after leaving to say how good it was. It certainly smells good while it’s steeping, and puts a wonderful smell in the air. The dry leaves smell like nutty hazelnuts with a wonderful cookie aroma. Sadly, I’m not getting much cookie in the taste at all. It’s a nice cup of toasty hazelnut black tea, without much cookie noticeable. There is a sweetness to the tea, so maybe that’s supposed to be the cookie? With milk and sugar it becomes a creamy cup. The black tea is definitely strong (almost to the point of being bitter), so this will be a nice morning tea.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell of nutty hazelnuts with an underlying cookie scent. Tea liquor aroma is of toasty hazelnut.
-Tea liquor is a clear very dark brown color.
-Robust flavor with a nutty finish. Somewhat bitter malty aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A strong cup of toasty hazelnut. Little cookie flavor noticeable.

So my scale came in the mail and I love it so so much and I’ve been playig with it a butt ton and WOW IT’S GREAT.
Decided to actually use the timer bit that the app comes with and I weighed my tea and wow weighing tea and timing it just makes the tea taste so much better okay. I think it’s really cute how when you use the timer, it buzzes and then a little notification saying “Your tea is done!” comes up and it’s just darn CUTE.

This tea is pretty good. It has the spice without it being too strong. Just the perfect balance of sweet and spice :)

(For some reason I’m tasting butter in this? That’s weird. But like.. must be the gingerbread :) Do they even use butter in gingerbread cookies? I don’t even know. I’ve never made gingerbread cookies before)

Because I have to be up early for errands, I needed a caffeine-free tea that would help me concentrate because MUCH HOMEWORK. SUCH QUIZZES. #HELPME.

Okay at first I was all 1tbs for one cup of tea? Isn’t that a bit much!? So I just did something just shy of 1tbs and let it steep for longer and.. no. Do what the instrudtions say. It got a bit bitter, but it’s still really good!
I mainly bought this tea because I’ve never had lapacho before. Still don’t know how it’s supposed to taste like, but I do taste the cinnamonny, gingery goodness! Perfect watmth for the holiday season… even though it’s nearly 75 degrees out at a quarter past 10pm.. this isn’t regular December weather for me, but hey! I’ve got my gingerbread tea and my peppermint brownies. I’m set for the holidays :)

side note: definitely going to try this tea again later on and put the right amount and steep it for the right time so it’s not all bitter and weird.