Miss Starfish Send Message

This smells mainly of lemongrass, but once steeped more of a lemon and lemon zest flavour come through. A little zingy (for a unflavored herbal), overall quite a nice cup to wind down with at night.

Dry, this smells of rich cocoa and black tea. MMMmmmmm!

I tried this at 3 minutes (which is usually my cut off point for blacks) and while I liked it, I chose to steep it for another minute. I was pleasantly surprised, this actually pulls of a semblance of chocolate, unlike other chocolate teas I’ve tried. Not artificial chocolate, or cheap oily chocolate, but rich dark chocolate. I added milk to try to bring out any creamy notes if present, but it overwhelmed the cup.

Next time I’ll try a 5 minute steep or overleafing if I’m planning to have it with milk. Quite nice on it’s own though.

The keemun base is smooth, but that is all I’m tasting sadly. No peach, melon or papaya. There’s a light fruit scent, but I’m not finding that it comes through in taste.

My thanks to Laurent from Nina’s Teas for the sample.

This tea smells quite strongly of clove and cinnamon, so I was surprised that even went steeped for just under 5 minutes it was really weak, even the black base. Disappointing.

Dry, this smells wonderful! Juicy raspberries and strawberries abound.

Steeped, it tastes like mellow green tea and a titch of raspberries. The berries come through more in scent than taste, which is still lovely.

This tea’s claim to fame is that it uses apples from King Louis XVI’s kitchen garden in Versailles, which is pretty damn cool. After sampling this blend, I’m wondering whether Marie-Antoinette ordered her husband’s apple trees to be watered with wine? ;)

Dry, this smelled like a cheap sauvignon blanc. Bleh!
Steeped it smells a bit better, like mulled wine and there’s the Jolly Rancher note that others are mentioning. Taste, hint of light rose, but overall just fermented.

Kind thanks to Laurent for the sample, but this one isn’t for me.

I brewed this western style and easily got 9 full flavoured steeps!

The leaves are long and unfurl beautifully. Scent is sweet, floral and lightly starchy. When brewed it has a slight syrupy mouth feel with cocoa, honey, and floral notes. Can be slightly malty depending how long it’s steeped for (longer steep = more malt) which is a nice addition. This tea takes milk well, but is so beautiful by itself that I much prefer it without.

Main notes were lemon and bergamot, no caramel present. I didn’t care for it plain, but I believe that’s more due to how long I steeped it (4 minutes). The liquor is relatively dark, which surprised me.

With milk, the lemon and bergamot blended together and a light caramel note came out. Yum.

With milk and sugar, the caramel note comes out a lot more, not just in sweetness but gooey creamy caramel. MMMmmm.

Dry, the leaves smell buttery and grassy.

Brewed, the tea smells grassy – like a typical sencha. Taste wise, this tea was very light, mellow, and, well, weak. I have tried a minimum of 6 different methods of preparing this and still end up with a very similar cup.

One of my staples and a “must-try”.

A beautiful bergamonty caramel tea with a slight fruit undertone – mostly berry and apricot, but very very subtle. Lovely black base, I do find it becomes astringent quickly when steeped longer than 3 minutes.

I usually have this straight, but sometimes I’ll add in milk if I’m after the comfort factor. When milk is added it brings out a hint of vanilla and rounds out the caramel making it more creamy.