Twinings

10oz in tea for one pot, my mid-afternoon break.

Another classic, Twinings has a straightforward approach that does not cut any corners.

Initial notes are a strong maltiness, thanks to the Assam tea used but with the tangy bite of a classic Ceylon black tea steeped perfectly. It will certainly wake you up! Or at very least put a little hair on your chest. This is partially due to the tannin on the finish, which lingers in the throat as a reminder that you are enjoying a good hearty cup.

This is a great breakfast tea since it would be very receptive to cream or your choice of sweetener. The tea equivalent of a good dry red wine or quality black coffee. The caffeine is present and welcomed.

Easy stock for the pantry and cost-effective. The sort of offering that comes from a company with centuries of blending and brewing experience. I would recommend this for a bright start to your day.

This reminds me of Celestial Seasoning’s Candy Cane Lane. It’s good but I do prefer Candy Cane Lane. I would undoubtedly like this more if I didn’t already have something that resembelled it so closely to compare it to. Don’t get me wrong, I do still enjoy it but if someone asked me to choose between the two, I’d pick the Celestial Seasoning’s offering. The combination of peppermint and vanilla is soothing and is perfect when you just want to sit back and relax. Since Candy Cane Lane is a seasonal tea, I buy that one during the winter and Twinings during the remainder of the year.

Another cuppa from big bags.

The aroma was bit funky, somehow off – but I could not really point what is wrong. It was like kind of artificial.

It was kind of tart as well, but it includes cranberry so I am not tht surprised. I had to search what Sanguinello Orange is – apparently it’s kind of blood orange, which I really enjoy and they were well present in the taste. Overall it was very juicy, fruity and enjoyable.

Another cuppa from huge bags

Quite tart from cranberries and hibiscus (I assume it’s in), not uch notes of raspberry and elderflower is not here at all (brewed and drank hot), when it cools down it is more into raspberry and elderflower, which is great. Cold brewing could make this tea even more tasty probably, but as I had only one tea bag, moreover, probably quite old…

But it was decent, yeah not that great, as I have maybe expected, but as fruit tea, it was quite tasty and all 3 notes it should have I think it have. Forgettable though.

Song pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np8hf4Dz2w8 (In an empty room), how great, as I am sitting here alone.

Very confused, as I bought this while in London, and it’s a rather sharp and not all that bergamont-y tea. I know I’ve bought it in the US, and that is a very nice, smooth flavored tea. Not sure how to rate this one, as there seems to be two different versions based on where you buy it. I drink all my tea black, and can’t steep it for more than about 50 seconds without it becoming way too bitter.

A favorite of mine. Full bodied, smooth.

Well, I wanted to try this, but I didn’t want to commit to a full box. Luckily I found sample packs of this at a local discount store. I want to draw attention to that- I bought this at a discount store. The date reads 8/20 but I still am not sure as to the quality of the K-Cup. It could be iffy. Then again, I bought coffee (gasp) K-Cups at the same time and they were remarkably good, so there’s that.

As far as the quality of THIS K-Cup goes, I’m not sold. It tastes like tea dust. It’s very bitter and tannic, even with two Splenda’s added. The bergamot, if not artificial flavored, is forced. It just doesn’t flow as a tea. To be honest, it tastes similar to the loose-leaf Twinings Earl Grey, just less pleasant. I can’t say I’d recommend this at all. Seriously, if you are going to make tea, at the very least commit to a teabag. I have found K-Cups to be abysmal for non-instant tea. Those chai lattes are still tasty, but anything other than those seem to be just bad.

I’ll continue to experiment, but don’t hold out much hope for a tasty “T-Cup”

It is from huge bags, so it is probably quite old.

But, although base is close to non present, the orange is there as well the lotus (I assume the lotus).

Yeah, it was quite strong on orange, rather tangerine flaovured with some floral notes. I noticed the zest of these citruses, as well the juice of it. The lotus is present, as I said, in floral notes and… to be honest, I think I expected more stronger and delicate flavour of it. And base green tea? Well, it wasn’t present at all, which is sad; and overall, it was kind of artificial.

Guess what. It says “Grey” on it, so I’m sold.

I was browsing Wally World again tonight because obviously I don’t have enough quickie tea, (or enough tea that I can stash in my purse), so when I saw this on the top shelf, I figured “What the hey” and grabbed it. I really don’t know the difference between “Lady” Grey and “Earl” Grey, so we shall see.

I brewed this a bit strong at about 3:30. It wasn’t really my intention, it just got away from me. Taste unsweetened is… Hm, fruity. It’s odd, I’m getting a ripe orange flavor from this and not just the usual bergamot. It’s a sweet orange flavor, with a decent amount of bite. Now, it isn’t too much bite that it’s unappealing, mind you, but it is very noticeable. However, the sweetness of the orange tempers the bite a bit. I think I like this; Not love, but like. The black tea base isn’t very noticeable and is mostly present on the aftersip. It’s got a slightly astringent, drying feel to it as well, but just barely. If anything, it’s a burst of ORANGE! followed by everything else. Which, you know what, it’s fine. I didn’t know what to expect coming into this, but I’m happy. It’s decent enough tea. I’m afraid to put sweetener in this because it might make the orange too strong though. But I think I can handle sticking a handful of these in my purse. It’s not the best, and that dang orange explosion, but you know what? It’s fine.

That’s my conclusion about this.
It’s FINE.

The particular bag of this I brewed from spent a not-insignificant amount of time in a hardhat. While that probably didn’t add to the flavor, it sure did add to the feeling. The bag resisted opening like some loving god was doing its best to help me. I fought it, exercising my right to screw up royally, and won. My prize was the definite odor of dentist toothpaste, so strong and true I felt the grit in my mouth and winced. The steam smelled better; had the heat burnt off the dentist toothpaste? I detected a hint of creamy vanilla in the steam, but was hesitant to believe it.
In the end, it left me confused. The leaf smelled horrible and brewed a particularly unappealing hue of yellow. And yet, it only tasted of mint and a non-descript fattiness that I suppose is meant to be vanilla. It reminds me of when you eat an avocado, that smooth not-quite-buttery flavor left in your mouth after you swallow. Butter’s isomer? Unpinpointable. Slightly plasticy, but I wouldn’t notice if I weren’t drinking out of porcelain. Buttermint hurtles towards you like a runaway train and dissolves into mist. It’s kind of nice- after the first few seconds of preparation.

When I think of mint tea with a spike of vanilla, I really don’t want to think of it as “musky”, but that’s what Twinings Buttermint has brought me to. The “Natural Flavour Vanilla Type” was ominous, and after drinking it, I’m convinced that the vanilla type flavor here was modeled after a glandy beaver. It’s a mediocre peppermint tea with an odd, waxy, musky artificial vanilla kick to it. However, that hasn’t stopped me from buying and drinking two boxes of it, because I always forget just how bizarre it is.

This tea reminds me bit all others Earl Greys from Twinings I had few days back.

It wasn’t bad but nothing extra. It had fresh flavour of bergamot, and jasmine was bit weaker. It was there. Base tea wasn’t great too. It was just black tea without any malt, or tannic flavours – it was just… okay. Not distinctive.

Overall the tea is – very strong as of bergamot, little of jasmine and no tea. Maybe fresher tea would do the trick.

Same series as Blossom Earl Grey. So apparently – 7 years old limited edition tea.

Same steeping parameters, 4 minutes, 300 ml boiling water into cold cup.

Brews bit darker than previous one, with strong rose aroma – but it’s not artificial or soapy. It filled my room pretty well and quickly. But in brew? Yeah, it’s there – quite well present! And same, not (much) soapy, not artificial. Hmm, taking more and more sips and I feel like it is soapy. Weird. The tea base is stronger somehow, on the sweet and malty side.

Not my everyday drinking tea – well, it was limited after all, but… it wasn’t so bad as I was afraid of.

I wasn’t impressed when I saw “limited edition” on the bag, and reviews 7 years old. Actually, I was rather shocked, because I remember these tea bags as “new” in collections few years back. But it is, apparently already 7 years. Time flies!

I found out one thing. When my life is mess, my desk is full of mess. So, just check my desk and you will see how I am doing recently. Yep, messy.

But to the tea. Although old, the dry bag was quite aromatic, I mean I have noticed something similar to jasmine. And maybe bit of “tea” smell too.
But brewed tea is completely different story and it is nice bold tea; although not much of “tea” flavours. Not tannic, malt, or something. It is rather floral, light – enjoayble. I think they added oranges into this blend, because it is what I notice on first sip, maybe that jasmine I notice too, bergamot is there too and for sure, black tea used is some mellow one. They did not share actual one on the tea bag.
Nice surprise :)

I’ve not had a chamomile like this before so that’s cool. Honeyed straw aroma. Tastes like straw with typical chamomile floral and, I swear, fleeting citrus and a cooling sensation. Aftertaste stronger than the flavor. There is a drawback — I can taste the paper teabag and in the aftertaste, too.

Song pairing, perhaps my first to a nighttime cuppa chamomile:
Prince — Controversy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fZy5hX6uLg

I think I have this one from Izzy; thank you Izzy!

And tea brews deep red colour. Aroma is artificial strawberry and I could not find any mango notes in aroma. When brewed it is still artificial and it really does not taste good. It was tart, artificial, strawberry, something. No mango in taste at all. They used a lots of energy to wrapping, which is indeed amazing, but as tea it is dismal.

Well, I ran out of the Earl Grey Creme, and the store I went to yesterday didn’t have the Teavana stuff, so here we are. It isn’t exactly what I wanted, but it will have to do for the time being.

I brewed up a cup of this yesterday but didn’t review it so I decided to do so today. Flavor without sweetener is a nice black tea base with a strong bergamot flavor. The citrus is powerful here and the flavor is bitter – but not “black tea” bitter. I’m pretty sure it’s the bergamot that is making it bitter.

Two splendas later and MMM much better. The sweetener gets rid of the bitterness while allowing the sweet citrus to shine through. It’s still far FAR harsher than my usual Earl Grey Creme (there’s no creamy vanilla to temper it), but I like it. It’s something new.

All in all, this is a decent tea. I love strong citrus tea, and this doesn’t let me down. I will likely keep exploring the various types of Earl Grey as I go along. I hope to try some Lady Grey, as well as possibly a Double Bergamot one. But, for now, this will do. There are better out there, but for grocery store tea? It’s pretty darn good. Recommended.

My roommates keep giving me tea bags of the tea they’ve picked up as part of their groceries because they know how much I like it, which is very sweet and thoughtful. The problem is that the teas they’re giving me are generally really awful quality grocery store bagged teas – and I don’t know how to ask them not to give me them since they’re just garbage teas/not usually at the quality that I’m typically drinking…

This has been the best one so far – but more because the vanilla flavour in this tisane is quite nice and creamy. The mint is rather muddy, and not the crisp and menthol forward mint I’d prefer to drink. Thankfully the vanilla flavouring has really been packed in here so it mostly covers the bulk of the peppermint’s imperfections. Plus, it does feel like a very festive flavour combination for this time of year so there’s that.

Delicious! I’m not usually a fan of herbal or mint teas, but this is refreshing and smooth. It has a good amount of strength and flavour (I really dislike light/weak tea) Hints of vanilla with a cool taste of fresh mint. I add milk so cant comment on how it tastes clear, but with milk and sweeteners it tastes delicious!

Sipdown!

idk why but Mint tea always smells like farts to me. I think I always associate Mint tea with being sick so I’m not the biggest fan of it.

Wanted to do an herbal tea tonight since I already had my Jasmine but I don’t actually own a lot of herbals. Had this in my random teabag stash so I figured I’d give it a go!

It tastes like your traditional mint tea. Nothing pretty special about it. Just… mint.

Now I do not know if I get this one from Izzy, from exchange, or “huge bags section”. If from Izzy – then thank you!

Aroma is indeed quite tart as others mentioned, brew is red and clear.

Taste is, unfortunately, quite watery, tart, mostly cranberries, not much of raspberries. I do not notice too strong licorice, but my taste buds still notice that awful tea from morning.