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I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked this to try this morning, but it turns out to have been a good choice, because it strikes me as an excellent breakfast tea: bold, malty, and full-bodied. To me, it tastes like a really good Assam – I wouldn’t have pegged it as a Chinese tea, necessarily. I’m not sensitive enough to caffeine to be able to judge whether it’s highly caffeinated, but it tastes like something that should wake you up. :) I steeped it for 3min for the first infusion, and 5min for the second infusion. This second cup is still full of flavour, but a bit more mellow than the first. I’m sitting here, sipping, trying to identify flavours when the strongest impression I get is just “black tea”. I get a little bit of grain/bread, a bit of grape/plum, and definitely a lingering sweetness on the aftertaste. Interestingly, I’m not tasting any cocoa in this at all. There’s a bit of astringency but it’s not unpleasant. This isn’t quite what I was expecting, but it’s very good.

I opened this bag and was a bit overwhelmed by the scent – very caramel but also kind of boozy, like a caramel flavoured liqueur. It’s pretty intense while steeping too. I put a heaping teaspoon in a bag (hooray for remembering that rooibos + mesh filter basket = badness) and just let it hang out in the mug while sipping, so the steeping time is a bit vague but in the realm of 5+ minutes. This is actually pretty good! Slightly sweet and good caramel flavour, without being too weird or artificial-tasting. A good after-dinner caffeine-free tea.

I steeped this twice earlier today, and decided to do a third steeping before bed. This one is a bit bland compared to the earlier two, but still pretty nice. :) I enjoyed this tea. It’s earthy, chocolatey, slightly fruity, and very smooth.

I was curious, and I know I usually like Taiwanese blacks, so here we are. :) The leaves are big, rolled, dark, and very light (I measured out 2.5g and it looked like a lot of leaf!). They have a slight bread-y scent, and I was reminded of baked goods when I smelled it as it steeped. The liquor is lighter than I expected, both on colour and in taste. It is noticeably sweet, with very little astringency. I’m still reminded of baked goods – warm bread with honey, sugar cookies with cinnamon. This is definitely not a wake-you-up morning black tea, it’s more a mid-afternoon relaxation sort of tea. Very nice.

Addendum:
The second infusion was still sweet, but less like a bakery and more like an orchard, lol. Fruity and just a little bit floral. The mouthfeel of this tea is really interesting, “creamy” isn’t quite right, but very smooth.

This is kind of like chai tea without the tea – just the spices. In the picture it looks like it has a lot of cardamom, but in my bag there are only a few pods. The scent is primarily cinnamon and cloves. There is a hint of heat from the ginger and peppercorns, a bit of freshness from the lemongrass. It is spicy and warming, but it doesn’t strike me as particularly healing, though maybe the blast of spice will be just what I need next time I have a head cold. I added some honey to the second half of the cup, and that’s very nice. I’m glad to have this in my cupboard – it’ll be good for when I crave chai spice without the caffeine.

I bought this from Teayama, but I’m fairly certain it’s the Metropolitan Tea blend. It’s a flavoured red rooibos with lots of sliced almonds and calendula petals. It smells like vanilla and almond. Brewed, the combination of rooibos and vanilla creates a kind of earthy, tobacco-y sort of scent. I generally don’t find red rooibos to be unpleasantly “woody”, but if you are one of those people, I suspect you wouldn’t like this. To me, it tastes good plain, but with milk and sugar added, it’s delicious and desserty – kind of like french vanilla ice cream.

Oh yum. Yum yum yum.

Ok, this is the tea I got for contributing to Eco-Cha’s Indiegogo campaign (https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/promote-sustainability-get-great-tea). Basically the entire inaugural harvest was sold to the campaign contributors, so I don’t think it’s possible to buy this particular tea from Eco-Cha. But I bet there will be future harvests!

As a $50 contributor I also got a little clay gongfu teapot. I cracked open the vacuum-packed bag to get some tea to use for teapot seasoning, and couldn’t resist brewing some up Western-style while I wait. :)

This is a really lovely light oolong. The scent of the dry tea is quite mild – slightly vegetal and surprisingly sweet. Brewed, the liquor is light yellow and it smells amazingly fresh, sweet, and slightly floral. I definitely get flavours of baked squash, and light notes of toasted grains. The aftertaste is indeed lingering and delicious. I’m so happy to have some of this tea. :)

Apparently I’m on a Tippy’s Tea roll here. :) The dry tea has a lovely “pumpkin spice” smell. I’m excited to see that the base tea is their Golden Money – the same as in the Not So Vanilla. Brewed, you can really smell the chocolate notes of the base tea, along with the pumpkin pie spiciness. The taste is smooth, with a hint of acidity and a lovely subtle spiciness on the finish. It does remind me of pumpkin pie, but lacks the creamy and biscuit-y notes that would really round out the pie experience. Hang on, I need to try this with a bit of milk and sugar.

Mmmm, ok yeah, this is even better with just a bit of sugar and a splash of milk. It’s not necessary to make the tea enjoyable (David’s Pumpkin Chai, I’m thinking of you) but it just smooths everything out and makes it all a bit more dessert-y. Yum!

Interesting! I agree with other reviewers – the primary scent I get from this tea is actually honeydew melon, not apple. I kind of wish I hadn’t read any previous reviews so I’d know if I were being unduly influenced by them, but I’m pretty sure I would have come to this conclusion on my own. :) There is a subtle spiciness, but not as much as I would expect from something called “Spiced Apple”. The keemun base is interesting, I don’t think I find it to be particularly chocolatey, more malty with a bit of acidity/sourness that gives more of an apple impression than the actual flavouring does. I’m trying to decide if I get any smokiness from it… maybe on the aftertaste. Overall it’s a nice tea – smooth, pleasant to drink, with a long and interesting finish. It’s just a bit odd as well. :)

Edited to add:
Well I guess it was interesting enough to merit a 2nd steep, even though I have SO much tea to try right now. :) Steeped again, this time for 5min, and added sugar. It’s really nice sweetened as well, seems to bring out the spiced apple (or spiced honeydew!) flavour.