Teas Etc

Sipdown no. 47 of 2016 (no. 258 total).

I made a mistake with this one.

I was looking for a plain black tea to make into cold brew and was having a hard time finding ones I either hadn’t yet tried as cold brew or knew I liked too much to use that much tea at a time. I hadn’t ever tried this one so I pulled it out of the stash.

I didn’t read about it before starting to spoon it into the container and it wasn’t until I was five scoops in, I realized that the cold brew container was going to require all of this that I had.

Around the same time, I realized I was smelling smokiness in the tea. Doh. If I’d read the description I would have known this was “the original lapsang.”

So I used all I had off this for cold brew, and I don’t really like smoky teas in cold brew.

Bah.

It’s not horrible, it’s just that I’m sure I would have liked it a lot more if I had made it hot.

Not rating it.

Lush, feminine, floral- roses are the most luxurious- pair that with an English classic and you have it!

Rosy Earl Grey is a slightly sharp black tea, bold, a tad bitter, with high rose floral notes, there is lavender in the mix but it isn’t prominent.

It is almost like a Turkish delight earl grey- It is wonderful.

When I opened the bag, there was a little bit of a cough syrup-like smell but thankfully it didn’t come through that much in the tea. I didn’t find it to be “very vanilla” tasting either though. I almost wonder if they shipped me the wrong one? It wasn’t terrible but I won’t be reordering.

Earlier this week, I wrote a rather quick note about this one and said I’d come back to it when I had more time. In particular I had a really hard time figuring out what I was smelling in the aroma of the steeped tea.

I now know what I’m smelling. You won’t believe it.

Spaghetti! With marinara sauce!

I checked in with no. 1 who was sitting next to me at breakfast and he agreed. I was worried I might be going crazy, but he smelled it, too.

There’s a sharp fruity note like cooked tomato, and a bready pasta note underneath that.

Wouldn’t you know, spaghetti, pasta, tomato, marinara-none are available as flavor options. I can’t say it’s surprising, just a little frustrating.

To add to my previous note, the tea is a sort of light maple color after steeping. Now that I have spaghetti with marina in my head, I’m tasting that more than the hot praline of the other day, but it’s remarkably tasty.

This may be one of those teas that changes in flavor from cup to cup, which is always fun.

Running out to an appointment so I don’t have time to do a proper note on this, but wanted to record something this morning and the Art of Tea Earl Grey Creme I drank before this already has a couple of notes from me.

I always enjoy seeing golden leaved teas and this one is incredibly golden. Not much darkness interfering with the sea of gold that is the dry leaf. It’s fragrant, too. What it smells like is elusive and something I have to wrap my mind around more so I’ll leave that for a later note.

The steeped tea has a honey aroma and something confectionery like hot praline. I don’t really get caramel in the flavor, though I can see where that comes from. To me it’s more a hot praline sweetness. A cookie dough note of sorts. Sweet with a bit of flour in the background.

It’s definitely yummy. I have to drink this again more mindfully, but for now it will be doing its magic in small sips from the Timolino while I drive to my appointment.

Sorry to see this has been discontinued. Note to self: read the notes on its replacement.

Mild in aroma and flavor, there isn’t any bitterness or sweetness in my cup-mostly just sort of flat floral notes from the lavender. This is a good lavender black tea, nothing incredibly special about it.

This has a slight honey flavor to the sip, but then it goes flat and comes back as a nice aftertaste. I can see how this would benefit from additions. Unfortunately the soy creamer I just added took over the taste. I’m feeling pretty eh about this one.

The nutty flavors come through pretty strong, but they don’t combine very well with the tea., which is weakly flavored and gets a bit lost. There’s nothing really wrong with the tea, but there’s nothing particularly right either.

Not my cup of Tea TTB. I figured since its May and it was 38 degrees this morning that this was a fitting tea to start with. Smells good. Sweet. Not much tea scent to it. Those little snowflakes are really cute. I can see where the cupcake title came from. It has a slight bit of green to it. But not enough for me to get a taste for what kind of base it is. Good hot but also good cold. I’m not a big fan of sugar in tea though so that brings it down a lil for me.

Not My Cup Of Tea TTB #7

I’m working through the box this morning, deciding what I still want to sample and packing up small amounts to try later this week and deciding what I want to add so I can get this monstrosity or monstros’o’tea back into circulation and I came across this delightful sounding tea…. Yellow cupcakes, vanilla icing , all in a tea with zero calories…. Yes please!

This is quite tasty! The cute little sugar snowflakes add a touch of sweetness and vanilla to the green tea base and I can taste a slight cake flavor with limited artificial aftertaste. Glad I tried this but since it’s in the 90s here already I think it’s time to lay off the winter teas and start planning for summer!

What a wonderful cold brewed cup of tea :)
I am so glad this tea tasted good because I have had bad experiences with Teas Etc in the past but this tea is quite good. I really enjoy the green teas flavor with this tea, it’s not too mellow but not too strong either. I don’t notice the banana flavor at all which I prefer because banana doesn’t appeal to me in a tea. Overall this is one of the better cold teas I have brewed before

Order this tea and you will have regrets!
I have no idea what is in the ‘natural flavor’ but it taste like 5 year old perfume. This tea was thrown away immediately- sadly I did try tasting it even after the smelling (I had to double and trip take because I was baffled)

This tea has more coconut taste than pineapple which is off putting when you read what it is called. This brewed a nice cold tea though, but coconut isn’t my favorite cold tea flavor.

Teas etc makes a fancy green earl grey, I really like colors that the flowers provide. The taste is rather mild but that is expected when compared to say a black earl grey. Overall I am pleased with this tea because it’s sweet while keeping a smooth bergamot taste.

The orange flavor is strong in this tea, too strong. It covers up the flavor of the oolong. It is tasty, just too flavored. I wish they had gone with a low key orange flavor.

I brewed this one in a 16oz Teavana Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min.

The green tea in this blend is very nice however the addition of sweetness via sugared objects is not something that I personally enjoy.

I really do have a green tea obsession. Throw some sprinkles in and yep, I’ll buy some. This is another tasty treat I cold brewed. You can really taste the smoothness of the green tea and the sprinkles add the sweetness this needed to make it taste just like a cupcake or rather the icing on top. I’ve tried it both hot and iced and enjoy it both ways.

Oh my oolong-goodness!

This is another surprising find from Amazon for about $6ish for 2 oz. I brewed it up on the instructions on the tin and it came out fantastic!

Dry there is a distinct floral smell. No real mint smell coming through.

Back to this particular blend. . .I’m going to have to remember this one when the holidays come around again. I’ve blown through the tin pretty quick. Hoping there is a tin or two still left on Amazon or the website for Teas Etc. I’m needing a refill!