Paromi

Today myself and this cup got along much better. For starts, I burned no fingers while making it. And, more importantly, I steeped it for a shorter amount of time.
Less ginger, more lemon, and a touch more of the oolong base, I’m glad to say.
I still don’t feel that this is very well balanced, but it was much more pleasant to consume today.

This tea and I are not friends today. Firstly, I burned my fingers making it. Secondly, the flavors are not the greatest.
I love lemon ginger flavors, and I love Oolong, so I thought this would be a home run, but instead it makes me cranky. The ginger tastes sharp, and between it and the lemon it shoved any trace of oolong aside.
I’m afraid I still have a bit of this, and I will keep trying. Maybe my water is too hot? But I’m not holding out much hope.

My initial impression of this was that it wasn’t an exceptional oolong, and I stand by that. If anything I taste more of the ginger than I do of the oolong.
Now, I love ginger, but I still found that a bit disappointing. Still, on a day when “medicinal tea” is called for, this fits the bill nicely.
Down the hatch!

My cup of the afternoon.
My first impression was this was very pleasant, but not exactly spectacular. That’s ok! But I’ll have more opinions after a few more cups.

I was excited to review this because I was going to get to de-cupboard it. Turns out it wasn’t in my cupboard. Sigh. Well, it is a sipdown anyway. I am trying to get some older teas off shelf because I have TOO MUCH TEA. Yes, it is possible.

The sad thing is that this is a really good tea, but I couldn’t taste it. I have been sick for a week and nothing tastes quite like it should. I can’t remember the last time I cancelled music lessons but I did cancel the whole week. I didn’t go to the doctor but I think I had a cold that went into bronchitis. Today is my first day really feeling both human and somewhat energetic.

I would definitely purchase this again sometime when I get my cupboard under control, mainly because guests seem to enjoy it and it is a nice blend that goes well with a lot of things.

I shared two pots of two Saturday with Superanna, hubby, and ChelseaR. Everyone liked it – even hubby who doesn’t do much black tea. It is very sweet and smooth for an Assam, but the more you drink the more it builds the characteristic Assam flavor and malt.

STORY TIME! On Friday, I went to an estate sale and bought some very old records for youngest, who is obsessed with old music. (1910-1949) We went back Saturday for her to pick some more albums. As I stood by her, I noticed a wedding planning book in the closet and flipped through it. One of the first pages said that the groom’s gift to the bride was a sterling compact, purchased for $20. (Today’s adjusted amount $250-ish)

I decided to wander around while daughter looked some more and I went to say hello to the ladies working at the jewelry table. And lo and behold, a monogrammed silver heart shaped compact was on the table marked $3! I told them about the planner and picked up the compact and they said they didn’t think it was the same one because they couldn’t find a sterling mark on it, but I found it. I laughed and told them I assumed that changed the price. Saturday is half price day, by the way, so it would have been $1.50. It had the puff and some powder still in it. They asked if I was willing to pay the whole $3. Of course I was willing! I didn’t really want a silver compact, never thought about owning one, but it was so romantic to me! I couldn’t believe their children didn’t want it, and told the workers to tell them that the compact was their father’s wedding gift to their mom and if they wanted it back I would gladly give it back. I was so excited. The wedding was April 1, 1945. The bride had the same last initial as me, so people will probably see the compact and assume it belonged to one of my relatives.

I’m a little mad that we like this tea a lot.

I have resisted buying the Paromi Tea line at The Fresh Market because it is $9.99 for fifteen sachets. That is ridiculous. But it was on sale and I tried to believe that I deserved a treat, especially since I have gone in there a dozen times without buying anything for a splurge and I had a coupon!

I feel a little better about the price if their website is telling the truth about it being fair trade, and I was happy to see that they recommend resteeping, so they must have faith in their product to pull it off. Plus – they call for 10-12 ounces of water per sachet. If you resteep, that gives you 20-24 ounces of tea per sachet. That doesn’t hurt quite as much.

I hadn’t read that their sachets are non-GMO corn based so I did what I usually do and I cut it open and dumped the leaves. It measured a little shy of a tablespoon. I made it in an unusual way – first steep in my Kamjove which has a six or seven ounce capacity infused at the top was four minutes, then I steeped again for five letting the two mix, and then since I was still a few ounces shy of the 20-24 it should make, I added hot water and poured it into a larger pot.

And it’s good stuff, dadgummit. Youngest drank it with me and at her first sip said, “This is Kool-Aid.” I get what she meant – it is pretty sweet and we didn’t add anything at all to it. We never add sugar, so coconut tastes sweet to us as it is.

The coconut and almond flavors were well-balanced and natural tasting. They are not “in your face” but very pleasant. Often, Indian teas bother my stomach and taste a bit harsh on the tongue, but for this one, it just lent a little heft to the base. Youngest didn’t believe me at first when I told her it was Indian (which she likes very much) but the more you drink the more the maltiness builds.

The glass jar is painted to shield the tea from UV light. I will keep and reuse the jar. I will also watch for more sales so I can try more of their teas when I have been a good girl and think I deserve a treat, or when I have been a bad girl and need cheering up. And with the resteeping, it comes down to fifty cents or so a pot when it is on sale, and that isn’t so bad. It’s cheaper than soda, and much better for you!

I did not sleep well last night, and even though I would love to drink a black tea blend right now, I think it would be a bad idea. So its time for a herbal blend, to help me go off to sleep as soon as possible.
Bleh.
I love lavender. I like chamomile! But I am really iffy on rooibos, and I think its dragging this blend down.
But still, its warm, its mellow, and hopefully it will knock me out tonight.

Wait, wait, wait a minute. A rooibos, chamomile lavender blend? Well, color me interested.
And…. eh. Its nice, but I wish the rooibos wasn’t part of it. I feel like the woodiness is dragging the flavors down. Bleh.

Nice natural jasmine flavor but just a little dimensionally flat.

A good chocolate tea is such a rare, welcomed surprise. I usually approach a new chocolate tea with a combination of hope and doubt; the tasting is so often disappointing that I ask myself what’s the point in continuing to hope. Then a good one is discovered and it seems worth it. Like this one.

This tastes remarkably like a good dark chocolate-orange bar, Lindt, maybe. The chocolate is definitely there, folks. The orange peel is at a balanced level though overtakes the chocolate by a smidge. The cardamom is mild, just gives dimension. The tea is smooth and tastes natural and easy/comforting, even.

I had just 1 sample bag and brewed it for 3 minutes; while it was full flavored enough at that point I would try it longer next time to see if more chocolate/richness would emerge.

On the second steep I gave it 6 minutes and it was still decent, pretty much the identical flavor profile but a bit weaker. Gave it shot of unsweetened almond milk, didn’t actually alter it much. Then added about 3 drops of agave nectar just to see, and that was a great complement though I just about never sweeten my tea.

No astringency, no weird tastes, good flavor profile. I’ll be picking some of this up before long. Love those happy endings.

This one is just okay—it definitely has a malty assam quality, but nothing in particular stands out to me. It stands up to a bit of milk, but loses the note of natural sweetness it has upon the milk being added. It is strong, though, like a breakfast tea is supposed to be. I think this one fits right in with my other experiences with Paromi—decent but not extraordinary in the sachet category.

I had previously LOVED this tea. It was the perfect rooibos chai. It was expensive, but in about 2015/2016, it would go on sale at Whole Foods to a decent price. It held up to milk and honey, and was full of aromatic flavor.

Unfortunately, fast-forward to late 2017, when I ran out of my stash, and was happy to see it promoted at Whole Foods again at a sale price, with a demo. I bought two jars at $7 each.

To my dismay, this tea and batch was a weak, watered-down shadow of its former self. It wouldn’t make a full mug of robust flavors, like it once did (and proclaimed it was its strength). It barely flavored a teacup’s worth of water.

I saw that the price went down to $5 until the end of Jan 2018. I didn’t think it was worth it, and returned my teas. I still have one jar of the new, terrible batch, and have no idea what to do with it. $7 is STILL too much to have paid for 15 sachets worth of water dressed in brown.

This is one of my favourite teas right now! (It’s right up there with Rishi Tropical Coconut, my other current favourite.) The Paromi scent reminds me of fresh almond croissants in a bakery. The flavor is smooth & buttery, but not overly sweet. It reminds me a bit of a dark oolong. It’s like dessert in a cup!

Super delicious ultra floral cup. Half the fun of drinking this tea is inhaling the fragrance as it brews. For people who like floral, this tea is INCREDIBLE.

A delicate, almost floral Earl Grey when made as a milk tea. I haven’t had it any other way yet…(a gift from my mom, who has told me that the bergamot aroma is too intense when brewed straight. It might be an issue with brewing time, but so far I haven’t found reason to change what works yet.)

Herbal TTB – Having this one again tonight because it was nice and relaxing before bed. This one makes it to my wish list. <3 TTBs :)

Herbal TTB – This is different, and yummy! This is fruity in a delicate way. I had feared I over steeped this because I forgot to set a timer but with it being in a tea bag I ended up leaving it in the mug anyways.

Finished my jar of this one as part of almond milk experiment #2. Adding almond milk to something that already contained almonds seemed…excessive? Probably not the most thought-out idea? But I went ahead anyway. The tea is already not very astringent, so it didn’t really need the milk, but the addition seemed to cut the fragrance down to a more subtle level. It is quite silky and rich, something that seems like it would be served at one of the local bubble tea shops.

While I’m slowly making room in my cupboard for my large batch of Verdant orders, it seems like they won’t be here for a long time. Patience!

A good one to start the day on. This blend has an intense coconut and almond fragrance. In the sachet I could see almost as much white stuff (shavings of the aforementioned coconut and almond) as tea leaves. Once brewed, the liquor is a deep brown color. The flavors are not as rich as one would expect from the scent, but that is a good thing—it’s fragrant without being overwhelming, and the black tea base itself is good, smooth and not astringent. Overall, it’s a nice cozy blended tea for a cool morning.

The sachets for this brand don’t have strings, which may be a little inconvenient for some, but makes for a nicer looking presentation.

Thank you Marzipan for this lovely sample. This is a gentle relaxing evening tea. It’s fruity but well balanced so there is no overwhelming single fruit. Quite enjoyable and a good start on beginning a relax evening.
The name reminds of a phone conversation with my 88 year old mom. The people in her retirement community went to a nearby beach. She said she had “Sex on the Beach” (the name of a drink) which of course made me begin to build a really scary image in my mind. ;-p