Featured & Popular Tasting Notes

Oh, very nice! It smelled and looked lovely in the tin, but it had a very weak color and hardly any scent at all in the mug — I almost let it steep longer, and then I thought, No, I always do this to green teas; I should just drink it. And I’m glad I did, because all of that loveliness came right back out in the taste.

Since I don’t really have a teapot, I just pulled the pot of water off of the burner before it really boiled.

I love the smell of this tea. Fruity, with a hint of the green tea flavor :). Nice reddish hint in it too.

Still too hot to taste at this point, but I can wait :)

Just got my first taste, mmmmm, that is good. Fruity taste, hint of pear. I’ve been leaving the bag in based on recommendations from other people on this site, and last time I enjoyed it.

I really need to figure out a better balance between the amount of water and the amout of tea. I probably need between 1 and 1.5 bags if I am using bags, but I haven’t figured it out yet. This is a little watered down, still yummy though.

After a two weeks hiatus from sheng, this tea proved to be a unique reintroduction. Leaves were well compressed, but flaked relatively easy, throwing off nice big curls. The sheen and mottled appearance of the cake was satisfying to the eye. The first two steeps gave an even clean soup, with very low astringency and a slick oily character. A breath of morning dawn cool mint camphor exhaled in the smack of the tea. The third and fourth steeps got a little funky, with palpable sourness (which I enjoyed) and some almost wheat-like, chewy bread notes. Light on the smoke, tobacco, and musk. Minerals and sandy soil. I like the eclectic blend of characters in this beeng, as they’re all pleasant, if a bit odd. Darker soup, with some oranger leaves present, but not so many as to give a hongcha character to the flavor.

ok so again a new tea from something that isn’t like anything i ever tasted before.
its the second time i’m drinking it. didn’t really like it first time. its pure rooibos content. just that. no caffeine either. i bought it in a pharmacy as a medical tea meant to strengthen the immune system.

taste – i put in more sugar this time (one teaspoon). makes it way better. reminds me a bit of that hibiscus taste that i can find in rose bud tea my mum always drinks. i used to like that tea. then they decided to mix it with hibiscus and it became less tasty. tho back then a sweetened fruit tea was the only kind id consider drinking. i’m liking new stuff these days. its an decent tea. quite drinkable. pretty basic with aromas. i like the other ones better tho. i got a feeling that a mix with citrus fruit or something could make rooibos tea much better. maybe vanilla. its asking for something else to make it great. but even like this – its healthy, it tastes decent and its very refreshing. still good cold.

color – that i love. deep clear orangy. really looks good.

smell – weird and stronger than all the other ones i had so far. not bad.

ill leave it with a humble vote. because i’m sure there are way better rooibos teas out there. just gotta discover it…

Had this with breakfast yesterday. This is an undeniably happy tea with simply no shortcomings. After re-sampling what was previously my highest-rated tea I’m going to boost Mountain Malt’s rating even higher. I gave most of my specific thoughts in my first review so there’s little point in repeating them.

Now, I made this at 10:30 am or so. It was probably partially due to the high-fat breakfast I had (thick-sliced bacon, a fried egg, and an Asian pear – delicious), or the raw cocoa bar that I finished later that day… but I was absolutely full of unwavering energy till 4 or 5 am that night. What a kick this tea has.

I drink tea twice a day, and then got pregnant and worried about some of the unusual herbs in what I normally drink and wanted to go totally caffeine free. That’s how I discovered Rooibos Red Spice. It’s a versatile tea that I enjoy both for breakfast and at bedtime. I love that the spices are mild and there’s no licorice, which ruins most spice teas for me. It’s a nice deep color that makes me not miss my English Breakfast tea.

This tea was a little hard to measure because of the larger size leaves and this may have affected my brew. That said, I did enjoy this tea and did not find it to be overly vegetal – a trait I’m finding hard to adjust to. It was very smooth with no bitterness and a light pleasant fragrance.

Trying a new tea again :) Got this one on purpose because its totally different then all the other ones I’ve got. Green tea with mint. Very strong minty smell.

I steeped it like 2 and a half minutes and got it right.

Color – rather bright for a green tea. Yellow. Not so clear like the others, probably because the green tea in it is in powder.

Smell – of the dry one is nice. The tea itself has a nice minty smell but also some unpleasant part of it. I dont know what. But that is the part i like least about this tea.

Taste – very refreshing. I can feel it work on my bronchitis affected throat. The freshness spreads. Its good without sugar tho half a spoon of honey makes it little bit better for me. Love it cold too. Ill try another steep later. Think it could be good…

Conclusion – another kind I quite like. The list is growing ;)

So I bought some gyokuro from englishteastore.com for an almost too good to be true price. So I was skeptical about its quality considering that most places charge 3 times the amount. So far I’m not that impressed. Maybe its a lower end gyokuro or something. I’ve experimented with a range of temps and steep times….100-160 and 1 second to 2 minutes. The later steeps are shortest. I looked online about ways to prepare it and the customary japanese method is very complicated but super cool! And they eat the leaves afterwards. He used vinegar and sesame oil so I tryed the same and it was delicious! It tasted like a seaweed salad from a sushi restaurant. Its nice to know how healthy it is too.
So most of my steeps are a little bitter despite using very low steep times and low temps. And I don’t use the last few drops becasue thats typically the most bitter. I heard that the more rolled up the leave the higher end it is. And these are maybe a little tighter rolled than my stock sencha. I ‘ll just keep experimenting. I’ve have had a couple lucky steeps that taste way better than the regular sencha so there is hope!

This is fantastic. I love the Bergamot in Earl Grey teas. The combination of the richeness in the darjeeling leaves and the citrius notes coming from the bergamot creates a well rounded flavor. A friend of mine loves to use a warmer water temperature and then add some soy milk to it, she finds the flavor to die for. If you are looking for a rich and deep flavor, deffinately try this one out.

When I opened the tin to this tea I couldn’t quite place what it was I was smelling but it definitely was the most powerful, in aroma, white tea I’ve come across so far. I’ve recently received my Perfect Steeper from EightCranes.com and my electric teapot from Adagio, so I was eager to try it. I was surprised how the aroma subdued only a little and the taste had what one drinker described as buttery. The first three sips I wasn’t sure but once I added a little of Splenda, I can say I like it. No it’s not at the top but it’s a little bit above average.

I’d decided to use the Perfect Steeper’s steeping time where white teas are steeped for 1-2 mins and it came out great. This will definitely be a regular :)

I enjoyed every cup of Thomas Sampson, even though it gives me the caffeine jitters afterwards. For the last cup I used honey and a splash of coconut milk to soften the blow of running out. They’re not kidding about stopping at 4 minutes. I left it a few seconds extra and it was definitely a few seconds over. Still, a lovely tea.

It looks a lot and tastes a little like (a sour) Hawaiian Punch. My feeling about this tea is much like my feeling about Raspberry Darjeeling Black by Numi was. Too strong on the hibiscus, and perhaps the pomegranate as well, which makes the tea too tart and masks the other flavors. The taste isn’t altogether unpleasant, but it isn’t what I expected from the name of the tea. I’m not getting the raspberry I did from the Numi, even in the finish, and I’m not sure where the pomegranate is, other than in the tartness (but I should say that though I’ve eaten pomegranate seeds I haven’t had pomegranate juice so if that flavor is in here I wouldn’t be able to identify it as such). Instead it’s a generic tart fruitiness (as opposed to fruit tartiness, heh) that I’m tasting, which does seem as though it could be good iced.

If I concentrate really really really hard, I can pick up a green note in the aroma. But I can’t taste it.

As an aside, my boyfriend told me his company has this in their kitchen, and as he’d been eyeing mine he had some the other day at work. His reaction to it was much more positive than mine, but though he’s been a tea drinker for much longer than I have and pretty much always chooses iced tea to go with his meal when we eat out, he hasn’t been participating in my tasting endeavors and experiencing the really excellent teas I’ve had lately. Also, as it turns out he tells me they have an extra zorijushi which they’re talking about giving away. To which I responded first “how Silicon Valley start up of you” and second “gee, I wish you’d told me that before I sunk the bucks into buying one…”

Forgot to log this!
A little over a week ago, some of us traveled 3 hours to go to a collegiate chapter conference of VMEA. Needless to say, we left pretty early to get there by 8-9ish. They had a little continental breakfast there, and I saw a few Revolution teas in the basket, and having liked what I’ve had of them so far, I thought I’d try this one. I oversteeped it the first time, but before it had gotten to that point, I was in love. It wasn’t too overpowering in tea or bergamot, with the added bonus of a hint of lavender. Definitely a good balance for me, a fan of mild to medium strength teas. Probably my favorite Earl Grey so far. Will have to compare it next to Twinings again and reevaluate.

When I’m in the mood for thick, creamy, sweet tea, I have been reaching for this blend by Teavana. It satisfies my need for dessert, and today I have had four cups so far (and my tea “cup” is actually an 8 oz. mug!). It’s just so perfumey and yummy!

Not sure how well the apple comes out between the cream and the caramel, but I like it all the same. After steeping I take the apple pieces out and put them in the tea, very nice to nibble on and pretty to look at. I prefer it sweetened but it isn’t repulsive unsweetened (I had some friends try it out with me, I don’t know if they’re fond of tea, but they finished what was in their cups, and I’d hope they wouldn’t do so if they didn’t like it).
Very nice to smell as well. A good snack or dessert tea, especially sweetened. The cream and the caramel do play nicely together.

Recovering from some kind of 24-hour stomach bug today and couldn’t find my normal go-to stomach tea (Tension Tamer from Celestial Seasonings). This is my first time drinking Yogi Tea and it’s not bad. I’m definitely not fan of licorice, so I was a little worried about this blend, but it’s okay. I am not really noticing that it’s helping my stomach yet but I’m sure it won’t hurt! Probably not anything I would drink if I weren’t feeling so crappy, though.

edit
Yeah, it definitely didn’t make my stomach feel better. Maybe it works better for tension rather than stomach bug recovery.

I got this with my republic of tea catalogue an I have a cold so I thought this would be a perfect thing to help me feel better.

I am usually not the biggest fan of honey so I was a little skeptical but this tea was very delicious. It was very smooth and balanced. No one flavor over powered the tea. I really enjoyed it and would definitely recommend it.

As far as black flavored teas go, this one is pretty good. The black tea doesn’t overwhelm the strawberry. The strawberry flavor is strong in the aftertaste. But, even though I only brewed it for 2 1/2 minutes, it seems pretty bitter. I definitely had to add some soy creamer to this to combat the bitterness (but I can still taste it). This was a sample. I don’t think I’ll order more of this. I think that I don’t like it as much because I am comparing it to their Strawberry Cream Fruit Melange which was awesome.

Update – lowering my rating as I threw the rest away when I finished this cup.

This was the first loose leaf black tea that I tried. It really showed me how different and “deeper” loose tea is vs. bagged. I wish I would have gotten the sample size. Yes, it’s enjoyable, but having read some other notes I discovered that I’m not fond of the malty aspect. And I’m a freak and don’t care for chocolate. So overall I think it’s a wonderful tea, it’s just not teagasmic for me personally. NE

A wonderful tea! This is a fantastic Pu-erh it has a great bite and would be great for a coffee drinker try to quit that nasty habit! It has a great rich color and go’s very well with a nice savory breakfast. One of my favorites for sure!!

I was very happy with this tea. This was the first Chai that I owned and made myself, and I find that about 1:3 ratio for Milk to Water with a spoon of Creamed Honey put straight into the pot makes this tea amazing.

Not too expensive ($48/lb), this tea is curled and delicate, leaves smell vegetal but not strong.

5 grams tea, 5 oz/150mL water 165 degrees, infused about 30 seconds, mixed the first two infusions together as I am drinking them. The liquor is pale golden, sweet, very delicate floral flavor, with a nice thick body, hints of sweet peas, no hint of astringency or bitterness. A 3rd and 4th infusion are losing body and sweetness, some astringency coming through.

The damp leaves smelled like asparagus after the 2nd infusion, but can’t distinguish much after the 4th.

Overall, this is a nice, mellow, sweet white tea, and not too pricey as white teas go—a relative bargain.

Duplicate of this review with photos at link below (my site, no ads, no flash)

http://www.well.com/user/debunix/recipes/SupremeSilverDragonWHF.html