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My first time brewing this, and wow, not sure what to think. I thought this was a chocolate tea, but it is peppermint, a lot of pepppermint with some chocolate underneath. Irresistibly reminding me of After Eights – I know just which of my friends is more likely to loooooove this. But After Eights are not a particular favorite of mine. I am still pretty surprised by its taste.

About the tea itself, the base is very smooth. Pink peppercorns are included and are highly visible in the dry tea (which is oh so so pretty) and I think it adds a resonance to the tea of subtle heat. People sensitive to pepper, chillis or ginger might not like it as much as I do, but as I said, it´s subtle. The red “lips” seem to melt and add texture and sweetness to the tea.

Short review : this is wonderful. Really really wonderful.

Long version and all about me:
I can´t quite believe I had this waiting for months till i tried it. But did. I am really a bad-weather tea lover. When it gets really really hot, it seems like I only really cold water will do for me. People have tried to educate me better about how refreshing tea can be when it´s hot. But it just does not work for me.

So all this to say that when PeonyTS very kindly offered some teas to test mail services, I did jump at the opportunity (testing receiving tea! I can do that!) but the poor teas languished waiting for a couple months (no fear, sealed, and the white and green are in the fridge). But finally the weather has turned autumnal enough, I really missed brewing carefully a cup and having it.

The tea itself is just wonderful. Seller describes it has having a hint of dates, which is not exactly what came to my mind. But it´s a wonderfully rich, complex taste. And so smooth, such a generous tea. I really loved it. I think I might have skimped on tea for the water I used and might have gone past the 90 seconds because i got distrated, but it still produced something sublime. I am now very curious about what the next steeps will produce.

Ah, about the details, the packaging is foil hermetically sealed ziploc, packaged just right in order to not crush. The tea itself looks wonderful, long long leaves. A really great tea.

Now this is interesting – it´s not tea itself, not on its own. It´s a mix of spices which you add to regular black tea (they say breakfast mixes, I cheated and used some single estate ceylon) and brew it indian style to make a proper chai. The instructions are: mix milk with water, add a little bit of sugar or honey as well as this chai mix and have it simmer over fire for some minutes, then add some black tea and have it simmer for 5 or 10 minutes. It gets thicker indeed, and very very different from usual tea. I liked it a lot, though not at all sure how to rate this or even review it – rather than a tea this seems to be all about the brewing process. The mix of spices is rather nice – cocoa, cinnamon, cloves and a few more things. Next time I make this will add a cardamom pod as well for extra kick.

I could not quite decide what tea to have, nothing seemed right, this was more or less like a chance choice. And oh wow, I had been so unfair to this tea, it can be so so nice, I keep forgetting how very nice it can be.

I used a generous helping for a cup, very hot water (just a minute or two after boiling) and did not let it steep too much, I was making up for it with tea quantity, and added just a little smidgeon of sugar. I got the caramel, the vanilla and cocoa notes nice and clear, but underneath it all a very nice tea (assam? I am seriously revising my opinion on it) make it TEA. Lovely, why do I keep overlooking this?

A warning, lovely as this is, it can turn absolutely vile if you let it steep too long.

It was pretty clear from the package that this tea was NOT for wimps. Oh not from the label, but from the fact that the hermetically sealed foil-lined teabag envelope managed to perfume first my handbag and then the cabinet where it was kept. Good thing I like cardamom (but then again, if I did not, I would not have brought it home). And teabag is filled with an amazing 3.12 gr of tea, this is PG Tips strength territory . The heaviest teabags after that, that i know of, are Mariage Freres with 2.5 gr of tea, but it´s a whole different type of tea. Usual around here is 2 gr per tea bag. And I have bought “gourmet” tea in bags having as little as 1.5 gr in each bag. Here they did not skimp on the tea: 3.12 gr in a tea bag, and it is showed, it brewed strong and nice. Sometimes more is more.

I tried it with some trepidation, and it is much smoother than what I feared. It is, despite the strong cardamom, very british as well underneath the cardamom. But say if you like very british tea and like cardamom, this might be a hit for you

Well, yes and while I have had it before it does taste better on Easter day.

Happy Easter to all.

The tea itself is very MF, very refined. A hint of bergamot, almond ( the longer you steep it the strongest the note is), something floral, something spicy. Very lovely tea to share a pot on a spring holiday.

I was right – this is awesome iced. Really awesome. I was not too crazy about it hot, but brewed a pot to chill and it is even better than I hoped. A totally different experience from the hot drink, chilled you get the balance between the green tea underneath, the sharpness of the mint and feel the bergamot just adding some oomph.

I did not brew it exactly right, I should have been much more generous with the tea quantity, it is a bit waterybut awesome.

Upping the rating on this a lot ;)

A tea bag sample kindly sent in a Harney order. I was not crazy about the other sample but this one, which did not seem too promising ( I usually like Chinese tea better than Japanese) is delicious, maybe my favorite of the lot, even better than what I had aqctually ordered (apart maybe from Queen Catherine). A nice simple sencha in a convenient tea bag format. Very nice. Staple-ish tea potential and to buy if/when I order from them again (transatlantic shipping costs being responsible for there being an IF).

A small note – I brewed this with about twice as much water as recommended (hmm, about .7l, enough for two mugs worth) and it was perfectly to my taste just like that – I did use mineral water though! Brewed a second steep and it held up to that as well. If you are making this, or using the loose leaf, might be worth experimenting with being less generous with tea quantity than advised, might work for you as well.

Well, this was a dud for me. I tried a teabag sample, and I love the teabags and the hermetical packaging of that sample, but this is just not for me.

I can only detect the “cinnamon” on the tea, not the tea and not the advertised cloves and orange. Just cinnamon in tea, not a good thing. And I got to admit, to myself foremost, that I am a cinnamon snob. I did not know such a thing existed, but apparently I am one. I used to dissociate the “chewing gum” cinnamon flavour from “real” (to me) cinnamon flavours. And then I found out the reason why, turns out chewing gum uses what is the prevalent “cinnamon” in the USA annd that is a whole different spice (cassia) than the stuff I call cinnamon. (Real cinnamon to me. Ok, wikipedia calls it ceylon cinnamon. It is different seriously). And besides the fact it fails the expectation and that anything flavoures too strongly with cassia will always remind of cinnamon chewing gum than “real” cinnamon, I got to admit that I do not like cassia much on its own, tastes sort of thin and aggressive to me.

This tea being just so one note, and that note being cassia (Not cinnamon! wish we could unleash the pedantism of the european comission on them), this tea was really not meant for me.