103 Tasting Notes
Wow smells amazing when I opened the bag! Couldn’t wait for the water to get to the right temp to brew. I brewed according to the instructions 2 tsp per cup. It was a little hard to measure the leaves properly because the leaves were so big.
Brewed it smells just as good. Mmm tastes mildly nutty and sweet. Great balance with the white tea. I haven’t tried a lot of white tea yet but this one is quite nice…
As the tea cools the toffee flavour becomes more pronounced. Mmmm.
Preparation
Trying this black today. Although I don’t find it bad straight I think I prefer this one with a bit of milk and honey. Compared to the Courtlodge I would say this is less “sweet” and less smooth. Really don’t know how to describe the differences especially since both are Ceylon base teas but they are slightly different…possibly it could be the difference in brewing, but for now I’d have to say I prefer the Courtlodge if I were to drink it straight.
So this is very interesting; the most unique tea I have tried so far! It looks really neat huge chunks of carrots, apple, bamboo leaves and lemon grass. Brewed hot I mainly taste lemon grass with a bit of carrot (my scoop of this ended up with quite a bit of carrot pieces). I have the rest in the fridge to try cold. So far it might fit the bill of a non tart herbal blend that I have been searching for. However I will wait to rate this until I have tried it more.
I have to add that when I let my son smell it he said it smelled like citronella tea!
ETA: really nice as an iced tea all the flavours seemed to meld together and I ended up with a nice light lemongrass tea
Depending upon what kind of flavors you like, I’ve tried a few non tart herbal teas, but I’m not sure if they would suit your taste. If you don’t mind the taste of rooibos, I recommend trying a maple flavored one. (I’m not really a fan of most rooibos teas because I find them a bit woody, but I still enjoy the maple ones if I’m craving something sweet). There are also a few mint chocolate versions out there that are pretty good, but are also quite sweet – reminiscent of an after eight. I remember going on the same quest for a non tart herbal, and since I was so picky with rooibos also, I was overjoyed when I found honeybush blends. The main complaints that I’ve had with a few honeybushes, is that it can sometimes come out a little watery, but overall, it’s one of my favorite non tart herbal blends to date.
Awesome thanks for the great ideas! I have been trying some Rooibos teas. I like a creme au caramel one and a pear one. I will have to try a maple one…sounds like it would be nice. Haven’t tried honeybush lately so I will get some of that next!
mmm…Creme au caramel sounds yummy
I picked up a small bag of this to compare to the English Breakfast Decaf that Tea Time carries. I love this tea just as much. I do not seem to have a well developed enough palate to really tell the difference between the two. I will have to do a side by side comparison when I feel better. I actually remembered to taste the tea before I added milk and honey! This tea is “sweet” enough and not bitter brewed at 3 1/2 minutes so that I was able to drink it black. Wow. Will have to try this with the English Breakfast next time to see if I can drink it without milk and honey as well. All in all a keeper especially since there aren’t many decaf teas to choose from!
ETA
Made this as an iced tea today sweetened and with a bit of lemon. It was a hit!! My son actually said to dad “you have to try this it’s so good!”
Preparation
This is my first tea in over 24 hrs :)
I had minor surgery yesterday so was not allowed to eat or drink all day :(
I chose this nice roasty tasting tea for my first tea in the morning because I didn’t want anything that I was tempted to add milk to (had post anesthetic nausea and surgery was late so this is my first liquid since coming out from surgery) I am off for the week so I will have plenty of time to drink lots of tea.
Sorry getting totally off on a tangent so back to this tea. Toasty oolongs are one of my favourite teas and this is no different. Just sipping on my first infusion now…so good!
Wow one of my must have teas in my cupboard since before steepster and I haven’t written anything on it.
This earl grey cream is very well balanced, perfect amount of bergamot and “cream.” I have tried the organic version as well and have found the flavours of the tea to be more muted and definitely less enjoyable (too weak for me)?!? Weird! So the last time I stocked up, I bought the non organic version again. I definitely do want to minimize my consumption of pesticide laden stuff as much as possible but I didn’t enjoy the organic version as much plus it was more expensive for meh taste :(
Anyways I usually get a big 250g bag of this and often Tea Time will open a fresh bag (if their current bag is running lowish) to measure out my amount to take home ..so nice of them and I get fresher tea!
Preparation
I have had this tea a couple more times now and I find it to be a very “light” tasting black tea. The leaves of this tea are cut so fine I need a tea bag to brew it. I have also tried the prepackaged tea bags of this that someone gave me and found the tea to be too weak even with using 2 bags to one 8oz cup. The loose leaf is better but I use more leaves per cup than any other black tea I have. On the other hand I have purposely left the tea brewing for at least 10 mins and absolutely no bitterness whatsoever.
Preparation
Oops never rated nor wrote any notes on this one yet. When I brew this at home it is a very nice oolong and I would definitely love to have it around the house…however compared to the other oolong/black teas from Verdant I have (or the other types of oolongs I have), this one doesn’t brew well when I take it in my travel mug to work :(
I tried it today and ended up drinking it bitter…for this reason only, I am giving it a slightly lower rating. It is not as versatile for my needs as some other oolongs I have in stock.
I agree that this one offers a great balance. Quite surprising, given the fact that white tea usually gets buried under the flavours, but in this blend somehow it all works out!