Featured & New Tasting Notes

It’s neat to the point of being mesmerizing watching the pearls open. It starts with the white tea leaves slowly unfurling from around the pearls. And these are proper, suculent-looking white tea leaves/buds, not the chopped, torn-up bits you get with some teas. Then the green tea, which is in smaller pieces, sort of puffs up and slowly drifts apart.

It feeds the eyes aswell as my sense of beauty and art, because to me tea is more than just drinking a cup of tea leaves in hot water.

Tea like this makes one realize why one drinks tea in the first place. I have tried chai flavors in coffees and latte’s, but they pale in comparison to the flavor that is delivered by this tea. Tazo knows tea and does tea with a passion and to perfection.

I realized after awhile of sitting on this note that Tazo Chai has black pepper in it. When I let this tea sit for too long I can really taste it. Maybe I steeped it too long or the water was too hot. But, phew, it was strong after awhile.

What’s this? A rooibos I can stand?? Sorry, had to get that out. This is a very mellow, lightly spiced tea. It still has a bit of that rooibos aftertaste that I don’t really like, but it somehow goes well with the apple, cinnamon, and chamomile flavor. The taste reminds me of real apple cider, just not as strong and sour.

I used to livein England for five years. When I returned to America, loosing my favourite tea brands was disappointing. But Red Rose was the closest I found of an easily available cheap and cheerful tea.

Try drinking a cup of mint tea and then making a Red Rose as the next cuppa in the same mug. Gives the Red Rose a nice hint of mint, but not enough to overpower the flavour.

One of the best teas ever. I’ll have to wait to say more another time.

At the suggestion of many, I dialed the temperature WAY down. Like to the top of the first white zone, which I’m thinking is somewhere around 160 degrees. [1. I really need to get a thermometer. 2. If you’re just tuning in and have no clue what I am referring to, I use a utiliTEA.] I put in more tea – like 1.5, maybe even 2 tsp – and I let it sit for 2:15-2:30 minutes.

MUCH improved. Of course, this is a completely different company, so I’m not sure how much that played into it [I’ll have to try Adagio’s again], but this was much more aligned to what I was expecting.

There is a distinct smokiness to the scent as it rises off the cup, which I don’t enjoy but don’t hate either. It’s almost gunpowder-y? Kind of like that smell you get from a log-burning fire, but with more of a peppery tone to it.

There is still some of that saltiness to it, but it’s not too pronounced. This is definitely a tea with some subtleness to it, but this cup had that chlorophyll-sweet taste to it that I enjoy. The sweetness becomes more obvious as it cools, and the aftertaste towards the end is somewhere between roasty and smoky.

It’s an interesting tea, and I want to continue playing around with it a bit, but I think that I’d enjoy it more if I were eating something with it. Something with complex flavors and a medium kind of intensity to it. Balducci’s makes this smoked ham, pear, and gorgonzola sandwich that would likely pair masterfully with this. I think I know what I’m doing tomorrow.

I had this sweetened/iced and blended with Teavana’s Apple, Lemon Pomegranate rooibos tea which is excellent for summer! But it’s just as lovely on its own and hot on an autumn morning when you need something sweet to get your day started.

A big “thank you” goes to Auggy for including this one in our tea swap. :)

The smell is so warm and inviting and the taste is equally as good. Very almond-y with a little cinnamon thrown in. I was worried that the cinnamon would overpower the tea (like quite a few others tend to do) but this was not the case. A very tasty cup for a rainy, funky day.
I want to dip homemade sugar cookies into this tea!!! Mmmm…

Mine was actually Teavana’s discontinued Organic Pu-erh. It tea and dirt had a baby, that’s what this tastes like. I do enjoy it quite a bit, but I have to be in the mood for it. Usually it goes like this: I’m looking through my tea collection trying to decide what I’m going to drink, because I’m feeling indecisive, usually I know exactly what it is, and I see it and I say, “Hell, why not?”

I love this infusion as a ‘tealess tea’ alternatice. Full flavoured and a gorgeous colour!

I tried this at a friend’s place, and now I’ve come to think of it as their house tea – I always look forward to it! Light, sweet, fruity, and complex. Takes honey very nicely. Tends not to go bitter, which is a plus in case you let it brew a minute too long.

I have to say this is one of my all time favorite. This TGY is made in traditional medium-dark roasted style. I love the unique TGY aftertaste, reminds me of the rainy seasons in Muzha. I’ve been looking for traditional TGY for a long time, this is the good old thing from the good old days.

I need to say i loved the “deep steamed” version of the sencha since the first time i drank it. If somebody asks me if i like asamushi, chumushi or rather fukamushi sencha there’s no way i could answer that. The fukamushi sencha is a class itself. So what’s the difference?
As far as i know the deep steeming (or fukamushi) is rather a new method of steaming teas. It’s used only since the 60’s. Some people don’t like it, because the huge amount of steam breaks the leafs into smaller pieces. On the other hand it allows the tea to better and faster give out the flavour and colour.
In the past i used the buy the “plain” fukamushi sencha and now i tried out the superior version.
Looking at the leaves i can see that there are more bigger parts than in the plain version. Other that that i only noticed a more richer flavour with very long and pleasant aftertaste.
Prepearing this particular type of sencha without a kyusu can be pretty anoying. The very small particles of the tea will bung the strainer all the time if you have a really fine one. With a kyusu it’s a pleasure to work with. Since it’s a fine tea, you need to use water about 60-70 degrees celsium, not more. Steeping time is about 40 sec. at the 1st infusion and about 30 sec. for all the next infusions. Can take about 5, which is pretty good for a japanese tea.
The liquor is very heavy and has a very nice bright green color. You really need to see that! The taste is not as fresh and light as a high quality chumushi/asamushi, but it’s very deep, with several layers you can feel after having it for some time on the tongue. The aftertaste is very long lasting. One of the advantages of the fukamushi is that you don’t as many leafs to get a rich beverage as with a normal sencha.
This is something you really need to try. For me it’s a sencha which should always be ready in my tea locker :)
If you are not afraid to get an overwhelming green tea experience, go get it before it gets you! Muhaha.

Having Iced. The more I drink it the more I like it. BOTH Hot and Cold. What a great blend of flavors!

It was very good!

I actually really like this. It’s more light and vanilla-y than my usual vanilla red tea, and would be good blended with something…but what…

Tart and tasty! Brews up a delicious bright red color. I enjoy it with a spoonful of honey

This was an interesting tea for me. Let me start off by saying that I’ve never actually eaten goji berries so I have NO idea what they’re supposed to taste like.

Dry and while steeping the tea had a fruity sort of smell that actually reminded me of strawberries more than anything else. The taste at first is slightly tart though still fruity, followed closely with maybe a bit of faint bitterness that might be the matcha at work. There’s also a sweet aftertaste to this tea that I suspect may be from the licorice powder not the goji berries.

Still I’m leaning towards liking this tea, if only for the novelty and the fact that for once Stash has produced a fruit tea that isn’t overwhelmed by a ton of hibiscus.

I’m not a great fan of rooibos tea, but this is very nice. The tropical fruit flavor adds a nice accent to the rather bland flavor of the rooibos.

Very soothing and that is exactly what I need at the moment.

So what does one say to one’s tea collection after certain members of it have given one a splitting headache? Balls! Balls! Bring them on!

It really is a great tea. Sharp like good chocolate without being bitter and with a full ration of caffeine to chase away the most troublesome headache. Bring on the Balls!

I bought this at the same time as Eggnoggin’, and the two blends are polar opposites. Pumpkin Spice is as bad as Eggnoggin’ is good. I don’t really know why I dislike it so much, but it’s horrible. I have 90% of the box left and I plan to bring it to work and leave it anonymously in the drink cabinet.

Brewed in a big teapot – 5 mn/90°C. I find it ok for a tea at this price.
Very spicy with a slight anise taste. I’m used to drink it at work.

This is the first time I’m trying this. I steeped it for just over 2 minutes with water just off the boil. I’m drinking it black/unsweetened and quite like it so far. It’s pretty astringent, which I find pleasant and invigorating. I can’t help but think that I’m also detecting some sweet, floral notes. Maybe at some point I’ll try it with some soy, but right now I don’t feel the need to.