Wissotzky Tea

I know it’s probably technically impossible to ‘oversteep’ an herbal tea, but after a certain point the hibiscus, if it’s present, takes over. I think that is what happened here. I set my alarm and when it went off, I failed to take the tea bags out and then forgot I was making tea. Not my best execution.

With this, I can certainly taste the berries, what must be the wildberry flavour because I’m mostly unfamiliar with it. Unfortunately it’s also very tart and that detracts from it. There’s something almost sour with the berry flavour and I find that I’m just not enjoying this tea.

Backlog because Steepster wasn’t cooperating on Friday -

Still enjoying this tea, though this is the last of it. Posted a list of my work desk teas and apt in the chatroom picked this one out for me when I was being indecisive. Good choice. The honey is definitely still present in the smell, quite nice, and the taste is mostly okay, but for an old bagged tea, I can’t complain too much.

First off, this smells absolutely fantastic. The honey smell is very prevalent and strong. The smell was really faint when the tea bag was dry, but as soon as I poured water on it, boom, in your face smell. Kind of surprising for a chamomile blend. I have some hopes for something I’ll like from a company that I haven’t been impressed with yet. This tea is from yssah who was kind enough to send me a bunch of Wissotzky teabags.

I think I oversweetened this a bit, since it had honey in it already, but this is pretty decent. Not something I would seek out though, since I find chamomile kind of boring most of the time and prefer to sweeten my teas with rock sugar because of the distinct flavour that honey imparts. Still, for a bagged tea, pretty decent.

This is why I should read my own reviews before making and drinking tea. Apparently I disliked this tea the first time and I don’t like it any better the second time. Blech.

Couple of tea bags of this from yssah about a million years ago that I’m finally getting to. I actually took all of my trades out of their bags last night and labeled them by swapper so I can get to them at random rather than go person by person. I think it’ll be faster this way since I won’t be stuck avoiding moving on to the next bag just because I don’t want to try one of the old bag’s teas immediately. Anyway.

There is just something in this tisane that is not sitting right with me. It’s not the mango. I don’t think it’s the passionfruit. I’m pretty sure it’s not even the hibiscus. But there is something that is just off that I do not like at all. Distinctly unpleasant cup of tea.

Thanks yssah for sending me these…months ago. I just got around to opening the package and I’ll be working through these. I still have one bag to use later since she sent me 3 and I generally use 2 in my big mug. It’s not quite 16 oz so the tea is pretty strong.

That said, it is VERY strawberry. There’s a little bit of a feel of too much hibiscus, but it’s not too bad. Thankfully I’m not getting any of the cinnamon that the ingredients say is in this because I really don’t like cinnamon on anything but toast (mixed with sugar) and a super sugary cinnamon bun (once in a blue moon…or less often, those happen once a year, don’t they).

For a bagged herbal tea, this is pretty decent. I don’t like it enough to order it because my standards on herbal teas have gotten ridiculously high since I found Steepster and branched out to online companies. Go go gadget Zentealife and Tealux mostly. Anyway, decent tea.

Drank this when I had a migraine and people recommended mint tea. I put it in my travel mug and brewed for about 3 minutes, and it was much better than last time. Maybe not being able to smell it through the mug made the mint less offensive? I don’t know how much it helped my migraine, but it wasn’t an absolutely awful tea drinking experience like last time.

Blegh. Just blegh. I remember liking this tea. Clearly I have memory problems, because this is really truly terrible. I like other Wissotzky teas; I like their green tea; I like their regular mint tea. But this? No. No no no no no. It just tastes like drinking straight spearmint. Maybe it would be ok mixed with a nice green, but then I would have to be willing to risk ruining a good tea. I actively feel guilty now for sending this along to someone else (at least it was a giveaway and not a swap!). I don’t understand why I ever thought I liked it…

Luckily, my brother inexplicably likes this and I was able to pawn the rest of it off on him.

Not a bad tea. Not a good tea either. A terrible example of Earl Grey, more like English Breakfast.

Disgusting. Like drinking syrup. I was served this after a Passover seder- I had to discretely throw it down the sink.

Not bad for a bagged masala chai. I drink it mainly at Passover.

This tea brews up a lovely deep red color. It’s pleasantly, mildly sweet – I definitely wouldn’t add any sweetener – but it becomes cloying if paired with a sweet dessert. This is a very smooth tea with a caramel taste. It also resteeps nicely.

This tea is delightfully sour, I love lemons but anyone faint of heart will enjoy the addition of honey. I can’t stop at only one cup, it’s so good. I leave the bag in while I read, causing the last sip to explode in tart lemony goodness.

This is a tasty herb tea that I sweetened with sugar and honey. I think next time I’ll let it steep for a bit longer.

Have had a few cups of this, both hot, and iced, and I got to say I am enjoying it. It has a nice sweet strawberry taste with just a pinch of tartness. It doesn’t need sweetener, thought it does bring out the strawberry more. The only down side is that there is supposed to be cinnamon in here, but I can’t taste it. Darn. Still a great bagged herbal. Thanks Yssah for the tea!!!

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Sweet, fruity, syrupy raspberry, blackberry faint rosehip
After water is first poured: sweet, syrupy berry notes, jammy
At end of steep: sweet, syrupy
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: deep blood red
Staple? Type perhaps, looking into loose leaf next
Preferred time of day: afternoons
Taste:
At first?: berry cough syrup
As it cools?: gets sweeter, syrupy, thick
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, cherry, raspberry, current and lemon, all cloying

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Sweet, fruity
After water is first poured: hints of raspberry
At end of steep: light woody raspberry
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: deep blood red
Staple? Type perhaps, looking into loose leaf next
Preferred time of day: afternoons
Taste:
At first?: sharp, tart,
As it cools?: berry notes open up, blackberry notes surface greatly
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? sweet-tart raspberry notes
would be good chilled

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: Jasmine, floral, grassy
After water is first poured: soft jasmine notes
At end of steep: light floral jasmine and grass
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: faint green
Staple? Type yes, would not use brand again, will restock with loose leaf
Preferred time of day: Any
Taste:
At first?: grass with hints of mint, slight harsh close
As it cools?: sour complicated grassy notes
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, with a mellowed grassiness, that bitters as it cools

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: lemony
After water is first poured: lemon fresh, citrus
At end of steep: lemon
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: pale green
Staple? No, will not buy personally
Preferred time of day: before evening
Taste:
At first?: warm, watery lemonade
As it cools?: notes open up, tea is reminiscent of green tea’s answer to sweet tea and lemon
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Yes, lemon zest bitter notes

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: warm, Spicy, peppery cinnamon
Tea liquor:
At beginning of steep (boil) clay brown-red)
Staple? Chai yes, this brand No
Preferred time of day: Afternoon, evening
Taste:
Black (right after being brought to boil)
Aroma: cinnamon, honey
At first: tangy, peppery, sour
Aroma, cinnamon, honey
As it cools ? Bright Cinnamon, light pepper

With 1 cup milk?
(after 2-3 min boil)
Aroma: spiced cream,
At first: creamy harsh cinnamon, pepper close
As it cools? Cinnamon mellows, gets buried in peppery notes

Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? Milk after first notes on flavour
With 1tsp of honey? Extends the creamy texture, lets it linger longer, before the pepper overpowers

Lingers?
With milk: short peppery cream note,
With milk and Honey: notes switch places lengths

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: tart, fruity
After water is first poured: sweet– tart, fruity
At end of steep: mellowed earthy, fruity
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: deep sunset-clay red
Staple? Type, yes, found some loose leaf options to look into for restock
Preferred time of day: any, as needed medicinally
Taste:
At first: warm, earthy floral, tart close
As it cools ? tart notes become more central in the palate, then mellow and blend, slight astringent note surfaces

Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No, but have had with some added sugar, often in summer

Lingers? yes, herby and tart at the back of the throat

Great chilled

An institutional cheap grade of tea bag that is drinkable – no more no less. Like an Earl Grey without the bergamot – a bland, super simple tea

Grassy and refreshing. Generally tasty, but smells a bit like burned wood (even if brewed in lower temperatures).