Vahdam Teas

I have a few Vahdam sample teas left to try and this is one of them. It’s quite a delicious tea, I enjoyed it.

Teabox Tuesday! It’s in the herbal hours of the evening and I’m quite low on herbals left from my teabox stash, so I’m hoping this green tea is low on the tea leaf since the ingredients certainly make it appear that it is leaning towards more of an herbal blend and I won’t be too jacked this evening. This came from the Discovery Teabox, so thank you to Skysamurai for organizing and to those that participated for sharing!

The dry leaf smelled very peppery/spicy and a bit floral. I still used 175F water but let this steep in my teapot longer than I normally would steep a green tea because I wanted to allow all the herbs to get a good flavor, so I hope the tea leaf in there hasn’t gone astringent… guess we’ll see. The steeped tea is a gingery color and smells very spicy, musty, earthy, and herbaceous. My first thought from the aroma was “Ugh, ginseng!” but, much to my relief, it doesn’t taste like that to me at all. I get a strong lemony citrus flavor from the broth, and I’m tasting a bit slight mint note with a stronger fennel/black pepper spiciness. There is a fresh woodiness present as well… like sandlewood incense? The one thing I’m not getting, despite being called “Ayurvedic Rose,” is any floral component… It smelled a bit floral before steeping, but there is no rose flavor coming through after the steep. I would expect this to be a scent marketed for a men’s bedroom, which sounds weird trying to translate that into a tea flavor, but… there you have it. It’s quite pleasant, though! Certainly one of the more unique teas I’ve tried, too.

Thanks for sharing!

I’ve had Earl Grey and masala chai teas before, but not in the same cup. It has a strong taste, both citrusy and spicy. I steeped the leaves a second time and whilst I expected the flavour to be stronger, it was less so.

I bought some loose leaf tea samples from Vahdam via Amazon, and most of the ones I have left are pure black teas like this one.

It has a bitter flavour to it but not overly bitter. Overall, I quite enjoyed it.

This tea has a very floral taste, it’s tasty but not as delicious as some of the other teas I’ve tried from the samples I brought from Amazon. I steeped the leaves a second time, although for five minutes rather than three, the taste was stronger but still likeable.

This one is from Meowster! Thanks so much! This sounded lovely — a High Mountain Darj. Sometimes I just crave some Darj, and a High Mountain Dark sounds even better. It has a very fruity, bright flavor, a note almost like an assam but with plenty of muscatel. A deep red color. It’s a darker Darj… while some usually have a light flavor, this one is like a mid-level black tea. It gets a bit brisk even with one teaspoon and a low steep temp (note to self). I’m not describing it well enough, but let’s just say it’s delicious. And it’s certainly a Darj I’d prefer to steep up.
Steep #1 // 1 heaping teaspoon for a full mug // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 13 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep

This is a tasty and likeable black tea That was really refreshing after a chilly morning walk.

This is a black tea that I don’t think I’ve had before today.

The tea is delicious with a fruity and floral taste, I found it quite enjoyable. I steeped the leaves twice, the second cup tasted a bit better than the first.

I’ve had Earl Grey tea before although only in bag form, so it will be interesting to try the loose leaf version.

It’s a very delicious tea, quite enjoyable.

This tea has a nice golden-brown colour to it, as well as small bits that have been left from steeping. It has a strong but pleasant taste. There is a noticeable but likeable aftertaste to the tea.

I’ve not had loose-leaf masala chai before. Trying it, I found the flavour robust but pleasant, it seems to be a good balance of sweet and spicy.

The final tea that I’m sampling today, the ingredient list makes this tea sound quite delicious. It has a reddish-brown colour.

It has a strong fruity taste which is quite enjoyable, I certainly would drink this regularly.

I decided to try a black tea from the Vahdam samples today, choosing this one.

I’ve not had a lot of loose leaf black tea before – most of the time when I’ve had a black tea, it’s been bagged and most of the time when I’ve had loose leaf tea it’s been a green or herbal tea. With a bag I often just left it in for a second or two before disposing of the bag, which meant a rather weak taste.

This tea tastes fine, it has a malty flavour, it has a bit of an aftertaste which lingers for a few seconds after a sip. It’s not one of my favourites so far, but it is drinkable. I think the next time I drink this, I’ll steep it for three rather than four minutes.

Another of the samples I bought from Amazon.

I think I’ve had oolong tea before, but it was in a bag rather than loose leaf. This tea has a golden appearance. It tastes quite nice, the flavour is fruity and enjoyable.

Overall, I found it to be a really good tea, certainly one I would drink on a regular basis.

I wanted to get into teas, I’ve drunk many before but usually they’ve been bagged teas from the supermarket. Along with a temperature-controlled kettle, I purchased samples of tea from Vahdam Teas.

As I am quite sensitive to caffeine, I decided that the first tea I would try would be one of the herbal tisanes. I’ve had turmeric tea before but wasn’t a big fan, hopefully this tea will be better.

After steeping, the tea was a pleasant golden colour, I’m unable to describe the smell as I have a very poor sense of smell.

This tea was certainly a lot nicer than the turmeric tea I’ve had before, plus the ginger didn’t burn my throat as it often does when I drink teas with it in. The taste is good, not too strong and not too weak.

I received this tea as a gift in a fancy box that includes a trio of different Chai teas. I’m sure it was chosen because Oprah selected this tea for her list of “Favorite Things” in 2018.

This is the first tea I’ve tasted from the trio. It tastes like a high-quality Chai tea from India, similar to what I would expect from a fine dining Indian restaurant. The flavors are classic and well balanced, and the tannins and briskness are right-on.

The ingredients list Oolong tea, but I can’t identify anything significantly different from other assam and Darjeeling based black Chai teas I’ve had.

For a tea of this quality and purported freshness, after 2 brewings I expected to see more whole unfurled leaves and a lot less tea-leaf-dust in the bottom of my teapot. It also didn’t come out as strong as I expected, I ended up using more leaves than I normally would.

Considering the gorgeous box, and the fact that Oprah selected this as the best tea for 2018, I maybe had unreasonably high expectations. This tea is a fine and capable Chai tea, but it didn’t wow me any more than other capable Chai teas I’ve had.

I like organic tea.

- royal milk tea, with half milk half water and a spoonful of honey -

- straight, leftover tea -
Using the leftovers from my previous cup I made a smaller glass with no milk. The flavor of this chai is very relaxing and not too overpowering. I tend to dislike chai when it has too much cinnamon, but this one is perfect.

- with milk and a spoonful of honey -
I don’t often drink Chai tea but this was very good.

This one was a bonus sample that tea-sipper sent when I purchased from her stash sale.

I admit, I was a bit worried when I saw this one, as I’m not a fan of rose. But I gave it a sniff, and it didn’t seem overly rose-y, so I decided to give it a try. And looking at the ingredients, it looks like the rose is just rose petals and not flavor or essence, so that’s a good sign. Makes me wonder why they put “rose” in the name though.

This is interesting, and I like it. The green tea base is smooth and very mild, with a soft dry grass flavor. I can taste a bit of spice – definitely cardamom and licorice with a bit of clove. They give a lovely warming sensation as well. I’m really enjoying the herbs, though the flavor is hard to describe. I can pick out ginseng and mint with perhaps a hint of rose. The overall flavor is warm and aromatic with a lovely sweetness.

This is lovely and relaxing, perfect for the evening. I bet it would make a delicious iced tea as well. Thanks tea-sipper! :)

Discovery TTB #6

I’m not generally a big fan of smoky teas, but this one is lovely! It has a good amount of smokiness without tasting burnt and the malty flavor of the Assam adds a nice depth to the flavor. I may be hang on to this one!

As a fan of Japanese greens, Darjeelings, and Bai Mu Dan, I could smell this tea all day. Dry and steeped, it is sweet and bright, but with maltiness hints, like a diverse garden. It will remind you of a vegetative Darjeeling or like a green Assam, to the nose? But the first sip will send you in another direction, rooted mostly in bright, crisp greens, a grassy bite, with a hint of sweetness. There’s a woodiness too, like fresh cut Hickory, or Black Walnut. The aftertaste is wheatgrass-forward with a sweet, almost stevia-like taste near the throat. It lingers for minutes, 5 easy. Can get easily bitter with too much tea, ideal to me at 1.5 tsp.

The original magical scent of the tea is gone after two years (or perhaps it’s just the much lower humidity during winter), but I was not a very diligent drinker of the 16oz bag. The energy is still good, though! Could it be… the caffeine? Those drinking bulk darj should consider buying empty disposable teabags. The amount of fine dust that floats on top even after multiple filtering sessions is distracting and can contribute to a sore throat, but can be largely solved by using disposables.