The Spice and Tea Exchange

Oh wow this is definitely a tea that needs some sweetener to bring it to “that” place. But I’m ok with that. Not all teas can get there so it does quite well in my books!
This time around, I really feel as if I’ve eaten a ginger cookie, only a bready one. A ginger bun? ha!
I kinda forgot about this one over the holidays, with all the craziness I was in some sort of autopilot mode. Too bad, I would have loved to indulge in this on xmas eve. Ah well I still have second Christmas. (I’m part Ukrainian so we usually get two dinners muahahaha)

ps. rating bump :P

Yummy!! Very holiday cheer like. Gingery in the bread kinda way. I could barely taste the Lapacho note in there, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Great for those who dislike the taste of Lapacho!
A pinch of sugar made it even more cookie like. Very comforting. I’m looking forward to using this up :D

Dangnabit I did it again!! This tea… well it keeps sweeping me off my feet like a giggly teen. Sheesh, get a grip already IB!
Fine. But this time I am rating it.

The funny part is that as ahhhhmazing as it is, I can’t have it with milk since its just too darn tasty for that. OK well maybe a tiny little splash to bring out the tobacco note. But it certainly does not fill my craving for a rich, malty, Assam tea. Sheesh. Even the perfect tea isn’t perfect. I guess every tea snob gets to have a diva moment, right??
(and no, this tea is not what I would consider malty, contrary to their description)

Have you ever been so floored by the deliciousness of a tea that you forget to pay attention to how it tastes and end up utterly seduced, then come out of your trance awhile later only to find an empty cup and you wonder what the heck happened?

I thought I’d give it another go, this one. Well, I’m glad I did because this is much better!!
There is a lot more blueberry flavour now. It still won’t replace my secret love of the DT version by any means, but at least I am finding this cup enjoyable.
Shame though, that it seems to be a flavour distribution issue, as well as a base choice problem.
SO. This particular cup would garner a rating of about 77. Darn inconsistencies.

Oh dear. I was really hoping this could replace the blueberry tea I love so much from David’s tea. Or atleast make a decent alternative. Boo.
Naw, this is “ok” but firmly in the ok zone. Something about the base paired with the flavouring doesn’t work for me.
The base is a Yunnan and I am typically very picky with my Chinese black teas so that could be part of it. But beyond that, the blueberry flavouring has an odd note to it in the aftertaste, and a kindof floral part during the sip. Altogether, it makes for a very odd experience. Not a terrible one mind you. I’ll certainly still drink it, and enjoy it. Milk and sugar helped to neutralize things a bit, but then my cup was pretty much unmemorable. Too bad, I had high hopes. Shame on me.

Yep, this is a nice one. Not nearly as super fantastic as the Assam, but still good. The lady at the shop mentioned there was some Chinese tea in there. I can’t remember what region but I know it wasn’t one of the standard ones. Actually I keep thinking it was Hubei but I know it wasn’t because I do recall thinking “I wonder if that is near Hubei” for some reason. And yet I can’t recall the name of the place she mentioned. Silly brain.
Ok. So! This one is quite round in depth and profile. A little too focused on the Keemum like notes for my preferences. I’m not a fan of Keemum, personally.
With milk and sugar, it works well enough for me. A nice sipping tea that I don’t need to pay much attention to. Not something I’d repurchase though

Backlog:

A deliciously sweet, roasty/toasty genmaicha. Really nice with a good balance between the nutty, sweet, “green” taste of the tea with the toasted rice notes.

This tea just tastes wrong. Maybe I just don’t like chocolate in tea. It’s just bad, and needs to go sit in the corner and think about what it did.

I can definitely see why some people may like it, but I am not one of them.

I only recently started learning to enjoy flavored teas, and I’ve found a number I liked. My philosophy for flavored teas: go strong, or go home. This one needs to go home.

A little bit of a letdown. I’ve been wanting to find a nice pear tea for a while, but this tea is not it. The pear flavor is there, but it’s weak and overpowered by the black tea, which is more bitter than a dessert tea should be.
And caramel? What caramel?

Here’s Hoping Teabox! How did I manage to pick two ceylons in one day? I swear I probably haven’t even had two ceylons in the past year. Anyway, the caramel here is condensed milk and it certainly tastes like a condensed milk — not caramel. Not really any pear flavor. And not actual caramel pieces that I can see. But the condensed milk is comforting and the black tea base is perfect for it. The flavor just lingers… like I actually added milk. It’s a condensed milk tea – not caramel pear! But I like it. My rating might be a bit high, even if isn’t pear or caramel. But condensed milk teas always seemed unappetizing to me – not so!

ETA: The second steep tastes exactly the same!

Had this for my morning tea. It’s good but bland. No strong flavor, it’s really mild. I only steeped it for 3 minutes, next time I will probably leave it in a little longer.

This is my last backlog from ysterday – which means i officially ended my evening with 250 teas. What i love most about our little contest is that we’re both going to be rewarded with smaller cupboards at the end of it haha

This tea was a pretty big disappointment (sent to me via terri). No pear, very little caramel, nice base? i guess. sigh

Chocolate is way too overpowering… And for the price, much better tea is available

From the HHTTB
(Shrudging shoulders) meh
I really had hope for this one

Polished this off at work today, and it didn’t make an impression.
I’m glad this one is out of the cupboard! Sipdown.

This is the latest blend I’ve brought to work, and I’ve been brewing up large mugs of the stuff, as I shuffle paperwork.
I think that this is too old. The flavors have faded to nearly nothing, so its a vaguely minty cup of hot water. Not an unpleasant vaguely minty cup of hot water, but still. Not quite tea.
Oh well, it will be finished soon!
I’m gonna leave my rating alone, though. Its not the tea’s fault that I let it get too old.

When was the last time I had this? Too long ago, I’m afraid.
And I’m afraid its not aged particularly well. I mean, it doesn’t taste bad, or anything like that, but its certainly not a minty fresh cup of joy.
Still, battling this sore throat, that’s what I went for last night. And the inclusion of some lavender honey helped everything.
This goes high on the list of things to sip down.

My tea of last night. Why did I take such a long break from it? Its quite good, fresh, minty, without feeling at all like mouthwash. And it was a lovely tea to drink on a nice evening like yesterday was.

Another evening of mint tea, but my more sophisticated version. Mint, fresh and clean. Very nice for an evening with cold winds, and being exsausted from a frantic evening of fencing. Hello tea, I’ve missed you all day long.

Peppermint! That was the first thing that struck me when I opened up my packet of this. Very clearly peppermint.
This is a very low key mint tea (pardon any rhymes). Not an in your face mint flavor, the gunpowder green really helps to temper any agressiveness that the mint flavor might be inclined twards. This will be a good mint tea to have around, for those days when a nice cup of peppermint tea is just what the doctor ordered.