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A lovely cup of tea. Very subtle. Not really used to a cup of black tea being so gentle on the senses. Just enough astringency with a nice soft earthy finish. Don’t mistake subtle for bland though, because this tea has plenty of flavour. Very nice for sipping and enjoying without the potency of most blacks. When drinking it unsweetened, I didn’t get many of the peach notes. However, once sweetened they do come through very much shortly after swallowing. The perfect cup for organizing, packing, selling stuff on kijiji, and otherwise preparing for moving house! :)

Wow… jasmine. So… much… jasmine. Tastes like I’m eating a bunch of flowers. Very floral and smells oh-so-pretty. The black tea is hidden a little by all the jasmine scent, but from what I can tell it’s a solid black tea base. The mouth feel is really nice, just dry enough. The leaves unfurl SO much and expand to surprising sizes… It’s fairly balanced though for a jasmine tea. Very yummy and relaxing for my hubby nerdswing and I to enjoy on our one-year wedding anniversary. :) Love you baby.

So let me preface this review by saying that I don’t like cake. Correction: I don’t like the TEXTURE of cake. Throughout my childhood I spent countless parties scraping the frosting off the cake and discarding the rest. It’s not that I disliked how it tasted; in fact, I loved it! Especially vanilla cake… but I couldn’t get past the texture, and I still can’t today. Not I finally have the best of both worlds. I have cake in a cup. Not just cake, but vanilla cake with caramel and maple frosting. With sprinkles on top. Let’s just say I’m a BIG fan. It’s sweet, it’s bold, it’s creamy and delicious. It’s caffeine-free to boot so I can have my delicious dessert before going to bed. :) Happy, happy day!

I LOVE this tea. You really get a lot of the pumpkin flavour, but with hints of vanilla and spice that are perfectly balanced. A HUGE thanks to LadyChai who gave a 100g tin of this tea to nerdswing and I, and as a result making lovers of this tea out of us. It’s absolutely delicious and sweet on its own. The only reason I didn’t rate it higher is because it doesn’t hold up well to additional steepings. Even the second steeping was not nearly as falvourful as the first, and the third was just hot water. But a delicious treat none-the-less, and I will definitely be keeping this tea in my cupboard consistently thanks to some (rubber) arm-twisting from the lovely LadyChai. :)

My hubbie and I got this tea at a local Taiwanese tea shop called Formosa. The owner, Chien (who is a WEALTH of knowledge) suggested it as it won several competitions in Asia. After trying it, I can certainly see why. It’s a beautiful oolong, fairly heavily oxidized. We drank it gong fu style with our yixing pot which we reserve specifically for oolongs. The first steeping was dark, despite only steeping for about 30 seconds. It smelled almost like red (black) tea, but there was no bitterness or astringency when drinking. On the second steep, some of the typical oolong sweetness and freshness started to come through more. The aroma was intoxicating. The tea leaves opened up into these pristine long leaves with purple hues around the edges. It was beautiful, really. At the third steeping, the tea was at its prime. So smooth, flavourful and just a joy to drink. There was nothing vegetale about the flavour at all One of the highest quality oolongs I’ve ever drank. A delicious, relaxing oolong that was great right from the first steeping, which is exceedingly rare I find.

Wow, makes me think of Christmas time at Nan’s house. We would bake up a storm together and I would always have my hands in the dough. Slightly nutty, nice and sweet, not overpowering… I couldn’t ask for much more in a cookie dough tea. Add a bit of milk and it reminds me of cookie dough ice cream. Absolutely delicious. The white tea is a nice pairing because it’s so mild and sweet. Makes me want to curl up in front of a warm fire and watch the Grinch with my hubby with Christmas lights twinkling. And even better, there aren’t as many calories as homemade cookies! Yay! :)

Chocolate. What more could a girl want? This tea is yummy and chocolatey and dark and satisfying. Add a splash of milk and you really have something here. However, I don’t get a whole lot of the mint that everyone is talking about… there’s something faint in the background, but nothing that is really striking me as mint chocolate cookies or anything like that… just a pleasantly fresh finish. That’s just fine by me, since I’m not a HUGE fan of mint chocolate. :) Overall a lovely chocolate tea. Fresh, strong and delicious!

Omnomnomnomnom…. almond-y goodness. If you like marzipan, you’ll LOVE this cup of tea. An almost calorie-free alternative to dessert… The rooibos is kind of a non-descript vehicle for the almond flavour, but it does the job nicely. Not an every-day tea because of its unique almond flavour, but certainly an enjoyable cup when I’m craving that slice of German stollen my husband so dearly loves. :)

Yum. Not wow, but yum. Definitely a dark chocolate thing going on, and it smells like a combinaiton of cocoa and hot candies. I did find it a little on the dark side for my taste; I’m a milk chocolate girl, but definitely yummy. The chili isn’t over-powering (I’m a bit of a spice wimp) but it’s enough for you to notice. Reminds me of the mexican hot chocolate they serve at a local coffee shop here. I never would have bought it if they weren’t servings samples at DAVIDs, but after trying it, I picked up a small amount to bring home. Definitey gives you a warm toasty feeling inside. Not the best flavoured tea EVER, but definitely something I will keep around, especially for the holidays. :)

I find it hard to understand why this one is so under-rated… however after reading the temperature and steeping times, I can see why it is problematic. My husband and I had these puppies last night proper gong fu style. We popped two tuo chas into our pre-heated yixing clay teapot and did a pour of just boiling water. We then poured off the water to rinse the tea. Then we did a low pour and let it steep for 30 seconds and the poured it into the erving pitcher so you get a UNIFORM tea. This is very important with puerh teas because they are SO strong and heavy on the sediment. We then poured it into the aroma cups (the taller ones) and did the fancy flip thing where you put the tasting cup on top and invert them. You then pick up the aroma cup and the spray from breaking the vacuum releases all the aroma. The first steeping smelled like dirt and was a bit bitter, but this is to be expected from a puerh tea! The first steeping is ALWAYS the worst. After drinking that pot we then reboiled the kettle and refilled the pot with hot water, this time steeping it for a full 60 seconds. This time the aroma was less woodsy and far more sweet. The taste improved DRASTICALLY with the second steeping. The third steeping was better again, and the tea had lost ALL of its bitter dirty flavour and was smooth as silk, and remarkably sweet. It was so comforting and delicious. The fourth steeping was very much like the third, but slightly sweeter again. The fifth and sixth steepings were still very solid and strong flavour, but they were a bit on the waning side, and definitely not as bold. We stopped at the 6th steeping but you can definitely keep on going and get a great cup of tea. Puerhs hold up VERY well to multiple steepings, and this one is no exception. Don’t over-steep them though because you will get an extremely astringent, bitter brew. The third and fourth steepings are usually the best of the bunch. This puerh is definitely not my favourite in the world, but as far as puerhs go it was very solid. Delicious and comforting, with a great aroma. Just make it to the third and fourth steepings before you judge, and mix it up well so you get a uniform taste. :)