Tea Palace

I’m slowly going off this one, I think. It’s been in my daily rotation for a good long while now, and I think I’m just over-familiar with its flavour. It doesn’t stand up to milk particularly well, so I stopped trying to force it. Without, the base tea is just a little prominent and tending towards bitter for me to really be able to appreciate the apple/caramel/strawberry flavour this is supposed to have. It’s good on the caramel apple, but strawberry isn’t something I’ve ever managed to coax out of it all that successfully. Something I did notice yesterday was that this has apple pips in it. I’ve never noticed before, but I can’t imagine what they’d add. They’re a cute addition, though, and no worse than sprinkles for pointless frivolity. At least there are actual apples in here, rather than just flavouring!

I do like this as a morning cup, although it’s not quite as strong as I would wish. If I could add milk, I’d probably be a lot happier. I’m going to try adding sugar to my next cup, I think. I need to rekindle my appreciation of this one before it sputters and dies.

Drank a cup black this afternoon. The caramel and sweet apple flavours seem to come out better black than they do with milk, and the base seems less prominent. I might try adding a small piece of crystal sugar next time, but I think I’ve discovered a new favourite way to drink this. A tasty treat, as ever.

Another cup of this old favourite. I still like the toffee apple flavour this one has, although I’m becoming less keen on the base as time goes on. It’s not quite strong enough for me to happily add milk to, and yet it’s too astringent to really drink black. Still, the strawberry tinged toffee apple wonderfulness goes a long way towards making up for that. Still worthy of a place in the cupboard!

I don’t think I’ve once managed to log this since I joined Steepster, although I’ve been drinking it on and off for years. It was one of the first loose teas I tried after finding Teapigs, and it’s a favourite even now.

I’ve not tried all that many toffee apple teas as yet, but maybe I don’t need to. For my tastes, this one is perfect. The dry leaf smells mouthwatering. It’s sweet and delightfully rich. I can definitely pick out the apple and caramel, and something slightly fruity I’ve always classified as strawberry. No idea why, but there you go. I suppose it’s more a generic candy-like sweetness.

Anyway, to taste this is as close to a real toffee apple as tea can come. I’ve tried it both with and without milk in the past, and like both equally. The black base is the only thing that’s slightly odd. It’s a little heavy tasting without milk, but not quite strong enough to really need any. It’s a minor complaint, but probably why I’ve never settled on one or the other as my preferred way of drinking.

All told, I do like this and probably always will. I love that I can clearly taste both the caramel and the apple; there’s an initial rich sweetness, which gives way to a slightly tangy “green” flavour, before sweetening again towards the end of the sip. It’s like tasting the toffee, then the apple, then both melded together, just like eating the real thing.

Minor issues with the base aside, this is one tea I can always see myself coming back to. I guess sometimes first loves really do endure!

Another Sipdown!
This is my final sample of tea from my trade with threewhales, so thank you!
This is a mild earl grey that is actually kind of nice, now that I’m starting to enjoy ‘some’ earl greys. It’s not ‘in your face’ with the bergamot, & they actually use real oil, instead of artificial flavor, & I think that is the big thing that makes the difference for me with EGs.

Thanks to three whales for this sample, part of our book club trade.
Tony & I are watching a movie, “This means War”.
And of course, I’m sipping teas. I’m having a sampler saturday.
This isn’t bad. The flavorings aren’t in your face, but the base isn’t particularly bold either. I only steeped for 3 minutes, & there’s enough for a 2nd cup, so when I drink that one I’ll probably go for 4 minutes, just to see how it steeps out.

For those who don’t know about it, Steepster has it’s own bookclub! We’re over in the discussions section, & we are on our 2nd book, The American Heiress. In addition to reading the book, we divided into groups (based on tea preference), & are doing tea swaps to match the book!

This tea came from threewhales! It’s bold & brisk, with a malty character & a bright fruity spiciness. A little on the astringent side for my tastes, but still a good start to my day! Thanks threewhales!

Now I’m headed downtown to the London Tea Room to pick out some teas to share with my book club buddies!

The first jasmine tea I’ve tried. It is also the last.

The one good thing about getting this tea was discovering I really, really, really don’t like Jasmine.

At least I know to avoid it in the future.

Not rating it since my dislike of jasmine is hardly a factor in whether or not this is a good jasmine tea.

This won’t discourage me from blindly buying teas online though.

I have had a chinese sencha for a while but thought I’d get a japanese one this time. There’s not much of my chinese one left but enough that I can compare them both side by side. The problem is, I don’t know if any differences I taste come from differences in how I made it or whether they are from the different teas. I made them in two different teapots so judging the amount of leaves was difficult. Maybe I’ll have to put a few leaves in a mug then I can make two identical cups.

On this first attempt I used the same water (at 80 degC) and brewed for the same time, but they were made in different size pots so I guessed at the amount of tea leaves. I couldn’t tell much difference. I’ll have to try again and see whether I can train my tastebuds because I’m sure I’ve been told the two are quite different. I’m a bit disappointed but then I was also scared the japanese one would be too bitter and strong for me, so it’s good that it’s not

oh my goodness i have SO MANY notes to write i am so behind.
i’ve been feeling really unstable and chaotic lately. and i haven’t been running. and i haven’t been home much. and work is busy. so i’m having a hard time finding moments to write notes.
excuses excuses!!

this is a joyful cup! very berry delicious. i get a strawberry currant type of blend.
Scheherazade, i’m really thankful for the generous sample you gave me cuz i like it lots and now i can have like almost 4 cups!

One of my favourite quaffing teas :)

My favourite ginger herbal tea, it is zingy, tasty, and I live on it when I have a cold. Totally spicy, no hibiscus or rose hip flowers lurking in this one!

i love apple teas. i didn’t know i loved apple teas, but one day i looked down at my tea drawer and realized i had a lot of them. all different and similar at the same time. apple this apple that apple apple apple.
it has a nice fresh apple smell in the cup. and the apple flavor is mild. i can definitely detect caramel notes, but it doesn’t taste caramel flavored per se. this is a good thing! it really is a apple tea, not an apple flavored tea. if you catch my drift.

Scheherazade!! thank you for making my monday a little brighter.

Having this tea to calm down a bit. Someone just rang the doorbell and I jumped 10 feet in the air – my ears are now always perked to hear sirens, so it caught me by surprise. This is a wonderful white peony, with a strong cucumber presence, and natural sweetness that is soothing and tasty.
Keep calm and carry on :)

The dry leaves of this tea are on the large side, and smell fruity. The liquor is very pale gold (when brewed Western style), and sweet. Tastes of cucumber and barley dominate the cup. The tea is very smooth and creamy, and very tasty.
A delicate tea that won’t tolerate (or need) any sugar or milk, and is very comforting and refreshing. A great way for me to unwind at the end of a very long day.
Will buy again.

Sipdown! Had the last of this cold-brewed over the weekend. I’m sad to see it go, though. It’s one of the few fruit teas I’ve managed to find that has absolutely no hibiscus in it! I’ll definetly be looking to Tea Palace again when I’m in the market for a fruit tea. Great stuff!

This is another one I’ve been drinking almost exclusively cold-brewed recently. On the whole, I prefer my tea hot, though, so it’s high time I tried this one before I run out.

The dry mix smells insanely strong — just like freshly squeezed apple juice, with a touch of pineapple swimming around in the background. It reminds me a little bit of apple fruit leather, only jucier!

Brewed, this smells completely different — a bit like freshly baked apple pie. There’s a slight hint of cinnamon and caramel about it, which is probably what’s giving me that impression. The pineapple also comes out much more clearly than I was expecting. It’s a bit of an odd combination, actually.

I needn’t have worried, though. This has got to be one of the better fruit teas I’ve tried — not least because it’s got no hibiscus in it! The natural flavours of the apple and pineapple shine through, and it really is like drinking a fruit salad. The “baked” element I detected in the scent doesn’t really translate to the taste, except slightly in the aftertaste. It’s just fruity, refreshing, tropical wonderfulness. Another hit from Tea Palace!

Yesterday’s tea was a cold brewed pitcher of this I’d prepared the day before. I seem to have finished it without really paying attention to what I was drinking, though, so I’ll add a better note at a later date. As for what I can remember — the both dry and brewed reminded me of apple juice, as did the colour of the liquor. As I expected, given that this is primarily an apple tea, apple was the main taste coming through. I also detected a hint of cinnamon, and a dab of pineapple in the aftertaste. I had to work to find the pineapple, which is a shame as I was hoping it’d be a more prominent flavour. Still, apple is nice, so that’s fine with me! I found this quite a subtle tea, at least brewed like this. The flavours are there, but they’re not really in your face. I might experiment a little bit with quantity of leaf and brew time, just to see, and I’ve yet to try it hot as well. Definetly refreshing, though. Just perfect for our first summery day!

Sipdown! On our way out for board games and relaxing tonight and I packed up the last of this and my lime chiffon to complete my sip downs. Haha. Wish I could have brought more tea with me but my travel mugs will have to do.

This one is keeping me warm on the subway ride and making me dream of summer with fresh fruits and delicious sunshine…yes sunshine is delicious! :)