Tess

Tess is a new brand for me- haven’t seen many grapefruit flavoured teas, so I thought it was worth less that $5USD to check it out. Note: Tess is apparently a Russian tea brand (thanks Martin for the heads up), so that may affect your decision to purchase.

It didn’t disappoint. The base is generic chopped black tea dust, but the grapefruit shows up distinctly. The mint is the next most prominent, but I don’t get a lot of the promised lemongrass. The combination of grapefruit and mint actually sounds horrible on paper (anyone ever made the mistake of drinking grapefruit juice after brushing teeth knows this) but is actually quite refreshing as a tea.

It is unique, and makes a nice tea for a summer morning. I drink a lot of tea and I can’t think of a duplicate for this. A surprising win for less than $5 for 20 teabags! I may try it iced as well, though I feel the black tea in it may not translate well to cold brew.

Another tea from postcrossing I believe. Or it was a swap, who knows?

I was quite happy to see another Tess tea, as last one I had (Goldberry) was quite okay. But, unfortunately, I think this one is even bit worse. The tea is really watery and lemon peel in is overpowering other notes. In aroma of dry bag it was nice, full of thyme tea – but when brewed it seems like all thyme disappeared and instead there is a lemon. Lemon juice in black tea. I am getting so little of thyme so I think it is just black tea maltiness instead.

Not recommended for thyme tea. As for lemon flavoured black tea it is something to go.

Any ideas where to get decent black tea with thyme?

Another tea bag today.
Trying to relax with cup of tea today. I feel somehow tense. This blend sounds very interesting. Black tea with buckthorn and quince? Picture is misleading, certainly there is not so big leaves and not so big white/yellow flowers. All is really dust in tea bag, no big leaves there. I expected that. Few white spots are there though.

They suggest 200ml/2-3 minutes. I am going 300ml/-2 minutes. I think it is brewed, according the colour. Colour is typical, bronze/copper. Unfortunately bit dusty on te bottom. Apparently really not very fine tea. Tea bag = 1.5 grams

It smells bit like some kind of jam. Citrusy, bit of malt and sea buckthorn.

In taste it is kind of clean, quite malty tea. But the fruit brings sweetness; and honesly it is more enjoyable than I expected. I do not get any spiciness they are writing.

I made the teabag version at work the other day. It’s great in lieu of an afternoon snack. I keep a candy bowl on my desk and this definitely helped me resist the temptation.

This review is for the loose leaf. It’s a bit different from the teabag version, but not so very different that it seemed worthwhile to create a separate page for it.

The leaves are absolutely lovely – decent sized green tea leaves with bits of dried strawberry and citrus. They steep up a pale yellow brew. The flavor is quite nice. Predominantly strawberry with a strong-but-not-overwhelming citrus presence. The underlying tea is sort of grassy and very smooth.

The biggest difference between this version and the bagged is that it tastes much more natural. The strawberry flavor is still assertively sweet, but the citrus provides more balance and the taste is more strawberry preserves than strawberry candy.

Overall, I can see myself enjoying this from time to time as a dessert tea. Or picking out the fruit pieces and blending them with a bread-y tea to try for a toast-and-jam flavor :)

UPDATE: Neither the bagged nor the loose leaf of this tea tastes good cold. Just… blegh.

I’m on a strawberry kick tonight. This tea isn’t too shabby. The strawberry flavoring is very candy-like, but I’m enjoying that right now. The underlying green tea is rather grassy and slightly dry. There’s a slightly roasted aftertaste that’s rather pleasant.

I wouldn’t really consider this a dessert tea, even though it’s sweet. It’s more like a good candy substitute when you’re having a sugar craving.

This is the teabag version. I also have the loose leaf, which is much, much nicer looking than the fannings in the teabag. I’ll try to have that next so I can compare.

i’m tea beginner, and black tea it’s not my favourite, but this mixture it’s delicious! added a teaspoon of sugar, really tasty!

This is the last Tess Tea I had yet to try, til this morning. It’s not horrible, but not great either.
Green teas rarely float my boat but after tasting the other two tess’s I had high hopes for this one… so I am rather disappointed.
It doesn’t irritate my throat atleast. There, I said SOMETHING good about this tea.
The green part is rather mild and grassy but the fruity note takes over. It tastes like artificial strawberry additive.
I should not have added any sugar but it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference anyhow.
Well… I’ll drink this again, though I’m not overly excited about it.
Onwards with the hunt for a green tea I love!

Not that great. The tea bag was off somehow. Maybe it was the water? Hard to describe why…
The first two bags I had awhile back were amazing! I hope this is the only one like this. I’m leaving the rating as is…. for now.

I had it with milk this time, and sugar…. mmmmm! burnt orange tea-creamsicle. It wasn’t what I wanted to have, but Mum likes to share tea bags (she likes hers exceptionally weak, and it’s such a shame to waste the bag) so I caved to her whim— Not that it was any great hardship :)

Tess Tea #2
Another score for the bagged teas!! I begrudgingly concede this… I hate to see my beloved loosleaves challenged :(
but this tea is all around goodness. The black part is present but not overly so. The orange aroma is enticing. It tastes like burnt citrus orange… backed by the apple and currant, finishing with a slight lychee aftertaste. I had to add sugar though, at least the first time. I tried some with milk as well, that was tasty though dampened somewhat.
There is something slightly dusty about it, which I think is the nature of bagged teas but I am more than willing to forgive that in this case.
Also, I made Mum try a sip and she absolutely fell in love with it (which pains me since she despises my looseleaf teas, and I didn’t mention that it was bagged beforehand)
Bah!
This will make an excellent on-the-go tea. Mmmmmmmm

Wowsa, this is some tart tea!! In my citron oolong review I lamented the lack of tart, but this tea certainly makes up for it
The fruit is all blended together, but I can taste apple, strawberry… and hey there it is, the orange comes through in the aftertaste!
If you let it steep too long, and then cool, it starts to taste like juice, but I don’t mind. However, I think if one were to try this iced, it might take some time to get the mixture just right. That said, this will definitely be on my list of iced teas this summer.
Best gift ever!!! I still have two more tess teas to review, one of them is green (which worries me a touch, they tend to jitterbug me) and the other black. I LOVE trying new foods/beverages so to say I am looking forward to it would be an understatement.
((oh and this is bagged! yes, I am giving a non loose-leaf tea this rating! from their website it seems that they don’t process it much, so maybe loose-leaf principles are applied?))
One thing that has me curious… is the “sparkles of hibiscus”— what exactly does that mean?? is it steeped separately in carbonated water? processed in some special way? Yes, I get that there is something extra zingy in here, but what is it??? probably a gimmick for tea lushes like me…