Nicole Send Message

Very noticeable grape scent from the steeped tea. Seems lightly sweet though there is no sweetener in the blend and I added none. I know that true currants do not come from grapes but the grape smell and taste is so distinct as to make me wonder if dried currants were used in this blend because I think most dried currants do come from grapes – Black Corinth grapes.

A very enjoyable blend. I may have to keep this one on hand.

I do taste the coconut. Not overpowering or fake, just an appropriate amount. A mild oolong base with some but not all of the strength of flavor I expect from oolongs – which isn’t a bad thing for me. Again, though, rating is based on what the description says and what the tasting delivered to me, not on whether or not I’d buy it again.

Very interesting. Tastes like an oolong for sure. Then after about half a cup I started to get an odd sweet aftertaste. The sweet definitely does linger. Raritea is right – there is a slight numbing sensation. I didn’t come back and read the description before I tasted this so I didn’t remember what to expect. I would not have identified what I was tasting as liquorice root but yeah, after reviewing it is definitely liquorice.

Personally, not my preference and I won’t be keeping it in my cabinet, but it is precisely what the description says it is and it seems to be of decent quality so my rating is based on that and not on whether or not I’ll order it. If you like oolongs, you’ll probably like this one.

Almost forgot about this one. We went out for a nice brunch last Sunday at Lydia’s (really, really good Italian). I asked for hot tea, expecting Lipton, hoping for Twinings, and they brought a box of Harney & Sons! Bagged, sure, but at a restaurant that isn’t tea oriented, I’ll take it!

I actually don’t drink English Breakfast much at all. This was good. A nice well rounded black. Smooth and hearty. My palate is not so advanced as to be able to pick out Keemun vs Assam vs Ceylon so I can’t speak much to that. All I know is that it was a bagged tea at a restaurant that exceeded expectations.

If I could have kept the server from wanting to refill my cup with coffee it would have been a perfect brunch. :) She actually did it once. I thought maybe she was bringing more hot water so I didn’t stop her. She remembered about the time the coffee hit the cup that I had tea, even though it looked like their coffee! She almost did it once more, but caught herself in time. It was actually kind of funny.

This smelled of malt and hay when I opened the package.

From the description of “full leaf” and “whole leaf” I had expected a bit more unfurling of large leaves but they pretty much stayed the same size they were when dry. That’s okay though. Possibly just me not understanding what a full leaf tea should be.

This tastes like it smells. Malty and faintly of hay. A nice, standard golden reddish brown liquid. It is a bold and basic black tea. Hearty and full bodied, I’m certain it would stand up well to milk and sugar if one desired such. Smooth and with a hint of dryness at the end of the sip.

I almost forgot I had samples coming to me from Teajo! Thanks for the samples, folks!

This is a very good Earl Grey. Very smooth. Creamy, almost like it has vanilla, though there is no overt vanilla taste. Really strong bergamot but not acidic or bitter. If you are not a bergamot fan, this is not going to be for you.

Ingredients say cacao, but I taste only bergamot and cream.

A really high quality Earl Grey. I’d definitely keep this in my cupboard over other Earls. Maybe it’s the Indian base – I do love Indian black teas.

So, happily, I lied on my last review. I did have one more tea that was untested. :)

Smells strongly of allspice to me. I have only recently gotten into chai. Many of them that I have tried in the past are very weak. This is not. Very good stuff. Heavy on the allspice, as I have noted, but tasty. I brewed in the Indian method, by steeping in hot milk (half-and-half for the added creaminess). I used 2/3 milk to 1/3 water. Not a bit of bitterness in this and I can still taste the black tea.

Good stuff. This is a keeper. A close tie between this and Harney & Sons black chai blend. H&S has more cardamom, which puts it a nose ahead for now. :)

Smells strongly of rose and violet upon opening the package. Steeped liquid is light yellow and delicate. Very floral taste yet not overpowering. This is totally a garden tea party tea. I am not a huge floral person except for jasmine, but I like this a lot. I think I taste violet more than rose but the rose is still present for sure. I will keep this on the list for next time I order from Butiki. Another win for Stacy. Perfectly balanced and lovely. I’m glad I requested this sample and thanks to Butiki for offering samples!

Sadly, this marks the end of samples and new teas. I’m trying to drink down my cupboard and actually figure out what I want to keep around all the time. So… this may be the last review for awhile. :) I shall have to live vicariously through the rest of you!

Hm. I think I will need more than one try of this to get a full, fair review. First impression upon smelling the dry tea is “Wow- this is really coconutty!” Next impression as I scoop tea out of the bag is “Hm. Is there any tea in here or just coconut?”

So I shook the bag up, and even poured it all out to see if maybe it just settled oddly during shipping. No, while there is indeed tea in there, it’s about a 50/50 mix with coconut flakes. Guess that should make for a really coconutty tasting brew!

Well, steeped it is a cloudy, milky white, which isn’t appealing to me. It isn’t bad. I can taste vanilla & coconut without a doubt but black tea? Not really. It is sweetish, like I would expect coconut to be. Definitely in the dessert tea category.

I want to revisit this with maybe a bit of cream added. I’m still not sure I’m going to call it a tea. Maybe if I throw some plain old black tea in with this blend it will be more tea-like :) I don’t regret trying this but I don’t think I will get it again.

Made up a small pot of this tonight since the hub is out for the evening learning Russian. That means I can sit with the cats in one place and read long enough to do a whole pot justice. :)

Still very good. I brought down a bit of fat free half-and-half in case I thought I might want to experiment. I’m very glad I did. The milk ups the creamy factor a lot and mellows out the jasmine. It was good before, now it’s really, really good. I have sugar on the tea tray as well, but haven’t felt a need to use it.