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This opportunity to try Andrews & Dunham’s Series 1 Nepal is brought to you by – Ricky! Which is great, because that was the one tea I really wanted to try out of series 1.

Others have described the leaves well – large, multicolored – but the liqueur is a lovely shade of amber gold. The aroma is fruity, spicy, and definitely reminding me of last night’s darjeeling blend. My first thought on tasting is – citrus? Orange? Not what I expected from a plain black tea. The “black tea” taste, in fact, is quite faint. There’s a tiny bit of astringency, but certainly not enough to be offputting; it’s growing as the tea cools, though. I think this was better hot.

I didn’t mean to brew this at such a low temp (I just didn’t warm the pot well) but it came out pretty nicely. I would NOT add milk to this one, though honey or a squeeze of citrus would likely go well.

Mmm, this is delicious. On the advice of some other Steepsterites, I’ve resolved to use more leaf when steeping whites, so this was 1tsp/3.5oz. The brew is a bright almost-but-not-quite-greenish yellow; it smells fragrant and delicately fruity. I don’t know that I’d call the flavor champagne, almost like grape perfume perhaps, but it is sweet and delightful without being overpowering.

I’m a little confused as to how to rate it, though. It’s very tasty, but I really prefer strong blacks still. I wouldn’t pick this over any of my “breakfast” teas, but it’s certainly not worse than them. Ah well, maybe I’ll just consider this on a separate “whites” scale.

Another 2 steeps around 4-5 minutes each came out quite well – champagne/grape flavor still present in the 3rd steep

This is from Ricky’s Darjeeling package! With 1/2tsp in the 3.5oz pot, this brews up a bright golden orange color. It smells fruity, and sharp, and little spicy. The taste is light and fruity, light enough that I’m not sure I’d call this a “Breakfast” tea. There is a touch of astringency, not overpowering, but enough that I wouldn’t want to steep this longer or stronger. Overall: very pleasant. All the flavor characteristics I hear Darjeelings are supposed to have without mouth-drying bitterness

Another cooked puerh – they’re definitely starting to grow on me, but I still have trouble distinguishing one from another. I’m starting to taste more interesting things – spice, molasses, minerals? – but not enough that I’d pick a puerh over a good black or oolong for sheer drinking pleasure. For education, well, that’s another matter ;)

So very yummy. I prepared this accord to takgoti/teaplz’s instructions ( http://steepster.com/teaplz/posts/20967 ) and now I think I need to re-rate all of my chais so that this one doesn’t have an unfair advantage. I had been preparing my chai like normal black tea – hah! I only added a little bit of stevia for sweetener, but it tastes much sweeter; something about heating the milk, I think? Anyway, very very tasty.

I always forget that there’s black pepper in this chai blend, because it’s very understated – mostly cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves – just enough to give it a little bite. I can barely taste the assam, but it enough there to make this taste like tea, and to keep it from being too sweet.

I really adore this tea. The dry leaves smell almost overpoweringly fruity, and are very pretty with the yellow, red, and blue flowers. The liqueur is a bright orange-gold, and smells more like apples than any other fruit. Actually, if you made hot apple cider and tossed a few strawberries or currants in the pot, I think this is how it would smell. The taste: a sweet, light, fruity black tea. But then I always get this deliciously creamy aftertaste, and that gets a bit stronger as it cools.

Must buy more. Someday. When I’m allowed to buy tea again :(

This has really pretty leaves, with some golden tips mixed in, and brews up a surprisingly dark red-brown color. I’m still not really getting the vanilla, but there smoke and chocolate are less overwhelming too, so I think some of that may have been proximity to dear Florence and the Caravan. This is still quite tasty, just a bit subtler now. Drinkable plain, with a heavy sweet mouthfeel, but definitely strong enough to hold up to milk; the milk softens and smooths it, and brings out more of the chocolate/vanilla flavors. This one is growing on me!

And oh hey! Now the numerical ratings show up when you over over one of the “previously rated tea” hashes! Thanks Steepster guys!

I had this for the first time at an amazing little tea shop in upstate NY (which I now have to find and rate among the Places). I didn’t buy any in bulk there, foolishly, so I hunted down a company online that seemed to carry the same blend. Yes!

So, this is a very soft berry rooibos tea with a few floral notes. You can see all of the flavors in the ingredients, which I love: currants, blueberries, rose petals, and lavender. The lavender isn’t so much a flavor as an aftertaste, an almost menthol tang, but it all comes together surprisingly well. This is a unique tea, that I have to be in the right mood for, but when I am it’s delicious!