The Devotea

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67

I found this one to be pretty “meh” to be honest i expected it to be a little sweetner given my past exeriences with licorice root and it wasn’t. It was also a fairly bland brew, which left me feeling very meh about the whole thing. On the upside, another tea tried….so there’s never any harm in that…coming up are 2 teas i fully expect NOT to like hahaha

TeaLady441

Yikes – that doesn’t sound like fun (2 teas you expect not to enjoy!)
The things we do in order to try them all…

Sil

(blergamot and rose….hahaha) must try all the teas!

Terri HarpLady

You’re a good sport! :)

Sil

…i’m keeping them small cups so that i can explode cavos cupbaord too lol

TeaLady441

/0\
(thank you….)

Robert Godden

How long did you brew it, Sil? It can be 5 minutes before this one fully develops.

Sil

Robert – i probably didn’t brew it long enough…so hopefully cavo will give it a longer steep when she gets the other half of this sample. I’m always wary of oversteeping blacks and not all of the samples terri shared with me had parameters on them :)

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81
drank Vintage Lemonade by The Devotea
15006 tasting notes

another one from terri! I’m trying to get 10 in today, which has been made a little difficult since we left the house to go get a board game today. :) This one is pretty nice as a hot brew with just a bit of sweetner added. I’m not sure that i’d quite call it lemonade but it is tasty. I imagine this would be super awesome in summer, iced.

Cheri

This sounds nice!

Sil

it’s not what i expected but was quite plesant

Terri HarpLady

I agree, I think it would be good over ice.
What game did you get?

Sil

Terra Mystica :) (see my note on keemun) heh

Terri HarpLady

(just did, hehe)

AmazonV

I actually designed this tea in the summer as a hot tea, that does come out well hot also. it was my response to everyone marking various flavored lemonades everywhere i went.

AmazonV

make that as an iced tea that comes out well hot also

Sil

nice!

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81
drank Vintage Lemonade by The Devotea
15006 tasting notes

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82
drank White Nights by The Devotea
15006 tasting notes

mmmm i like what this one does to my mouth :) It’s a little like that refreshing thing that happens if you use SCOPE…though this is nice and not as harsh as that intense mint flavour. I like this one better than the 1001 nights. Something about the white tea base softens everything and blends it together just a little more nicely. I don’t often NEED a mint tea in my cupboard, but this one would be really nice, especially in summer as a cocktail i think :) thanks for sharing terri!

Robert Godden

This one is very popular here right now in the warm weather as an iced tea.

Sil

yeah i’d like to try this as a cold brew sometime :)

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75
drank 1001 Nights by The Devotea
15006 tasting notes

i tried this one alongside white nights as they are both very similar in their ingredients apart from the white vs green tea. I have to say, i like this one less. there’s something about the green tea that doesn’t seem to blend as nicely with the peppermint and the lemon. It’s a nice enough cup but if i had to make a choice, i’d pick the other! thanks for letting me try these terri!

Terri HarpLady

It’s what I do! :D

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drank Aussie Ginger Chai by The Devotea
15006 tasting notes

made a cup of this tonight on the stove just for fun. It was nice to try but there are others i prefer. I find that i don’t like it when the clove has a presence in the chai. That being said, the ginger aspect of this is quite tasty. It’s one of those middle of the road chais that i think might be relatively good in the long run. Except it’s spring….soooo in a few months lol

Final Count: 190

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74
drank Ginger & Lemongrass by The Devotea
15006 tasting notes

thanks for sharing this one terri! I am finding that i am a fan of lemon and ginger pairings in teas. This is a nice lighter tea. Nothing overly ginger or lemony…just a decent tasty cup for before dinner. Now to find something to go with the ham! :)

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77

Thanks to the folks at Devotea for sending me a sample of this. I must readily admit I’m not the biggest fan of second flush darjeelings so you may wish to take this review with a grain of salt.

My cup brews up to be a dark reddish brown and I’m getting a bit of the muscatel flavor, as well as something that reminds me of lemon rind, followed by a spice note. There is a bit of astringency in the finish. I liked this much better after adding a little bit of rock sugar which made the fruit flavors pop more. I really appreciate the chance to have tried it but I’m still not a big convert to the 2nd flush… unless they’re from Nepal.

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Robert Godden

Everyone has different tastes. It’s always worth trying something, even if just to confirm you’re not keen. This is one of my absolute favourites and has been for many years, but then second flushes and autumnals are very much my favourite.

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drank Raspberry Black by The Devotea
788 tasting notes

tart, but lovely hot and iced – I like it with a spoonful of honey

(not rating as this is my tea, I am The Devotea USA blender)

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 6 OZ / 177 ML
Ysaurella

ah seems interesting as a raspberry lover I am still looking for my perfect raspberry

AmazonV

Ysaurella if you are not a hibiscus hater maybe give this one a go? try code STEEPSTER at (USA) checkout

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88
drank Two Tigers by The Devotea
2816 tasting notes

Sipdown…
I am all out of this now, enjoying it on a foggy morning here with my sweetie. Very strong and flavorful… good for a kick in the pants. Straight black teas are definitely my go to item in the morning time. yum!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

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88
drank Two Tigers by The Devotea
2816 tasting notes

Yum… this has been my morning tea for the last two days in a row. It’s very hefty and delicious! I’m enjoying it today with a bit of soymilk and sugar. The combination of assam and yunnan is very tasty. I think this is being phased out and it looks like you can get some on the Devotea US site for 1/2 off. $4.99 for 4 oz, what a deal!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
boychik

Delicious !

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88
drank Two Tigers by The Devotea
2816 tasting notes

Good morning Steepster…
I was having a heck of a time sleeping last night which is odd, because the night before I slept like a rock! Anyway when I got up this morning I wanted something hefty and this certainly fits the bill. Dark, with malty, spicy and winey notes, it takes sugar and soymilk really well. Don’t know if this will wake me up but it certainly makes for a delicious morning cuppa.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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88
drank Two Tigers by The Devotea
2816 tasting notes

Whoa, I have to echo the Purrfect Cup here that this is a “kick you in the face” kind of a morning tea.

When I first sipped this I thought I detected a smoky note so I’m curious, is there any keemun in here or is it my imagination? Bold, saucy and malty notes are contributed by the assam and spicy, peppery notes by the yunnan, this is practically a meal in itself! I am a wimp, I drank this with soymilk but that is how I drink a lot of my breakfast teas. You could drink this plain, there isn’t a lot of astringency in the cup. Might try it for 3 minutes next time.

I love black tea blends and I haven’t been disappointed with any of the Devotea’s so far. They are discontinuing this blend so you might want to act soon if you intend to try it. :)

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Robert Godden

Glad you liked it. It’s an odd thing to have a blend that hardy anyone buys, yet every reviewer loves.

TeaBrat

Is there keemun in there? Hey I bought 2 oz. :-P

Nicole

I have not had any of this yet, but I love the name. And the reviews make me want to try it. Guess I’ll have to make an order soon. :)

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Just a warning to those who love this tea:
@The_Devotea_USA / @The_Devotea teas are on the firing line http://thedevotea.teatra.de/2014/02/24/im-sorry-let-you-go/

Liquorice White Tea, TWO TIGERS, PERSIAN PRINCESS

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drank Persian Princess by The Devotea
788 tasting notes

Just a warning to those who love this tea:
@The_Devotea_USA / @The_Devotea teas are on the firing line http://thedevotea.teatra.de/2014/02/24/im-sorry-let-you-go/

Liquorice White Tea, TWO TIGERS, PERSIAN PRINCESS

TeaBrat

oh no, I should have tried it when I had the chance!

__Morgana__

Wow, sounds like a lay off lol.

AmazonV

it sort of is a layoff, taking the under performers to streamline and maybe make room for new hits. There is an attempt right now to #SaveThePrincess and Robert and I still have some in stock and could save one or two if they are near and dear to anyone.

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91
drank Finbarr's Revenge by The Devotea
2816 tasting notes

Now the Devotea has me addicted to their 1910 blend, but I figured it was time to branch out into some of their other offerings with my latest order.

Before I discovered Steepster I was a Twinings Irish Breakfast kind of gal in the mornings. After many years (and thousands of dollars) later my palette has changed a lot but I still like a good Irish Breakfast tea. I steeped this up and after trying it plain my first utterance was, “Whoa!” This is a very bold, wine-y type of assam which is exactly as it should be. I wonder if 4 minutes is too long for the steeping but I think it worked out ok. I immediately added soymilk and a bit of rock sugar as I don’t really think this blend was meant to be drank straight! I wish someone would hand me a plate of scones but actually, this would go well with a bowl of steel cut oats.

Another good ’un — I think this sample will be gone within a matter of days if not hours.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML
Robert Godden

Glad you liked it. It is most definitely blended for milk and sugar. I drink it straight up myself, but that is not what I was aiming for. 4 minutes is about as far as I’d take it. Oats is essential with it for breakfast.

ifjuly

oooh Robert, stone ground irish oatmeal and a cuppa sounds heavenly.

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90
drank Star Spangled Chai by The Devotea
2816 tasting notes

I feel like such a wastrel. My day hasn’t been too productive as I went to the physical therapist and ended up in too much pain as they tried to push my arm/shoulder into moving more. Ultimately it’s good for me but ouch…. I needed some pain medication after my appt. and it was all downhill from there.

Anyway I just woke up from a nap and decided I needed some caffeine to revive me so I’m finishing off this sample from the Devotea. This is a unique chai because it has star anise in it, which gives a spicy licorice type of flavor. I just googled star anise and it’s supposed to be good for cold and flu season which would make this a nice thing to have around in the winter time. Right now it’s delicious with some soymilk and a teaspoon of coconut sugar. Deeee-licious and fragrant!

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec
Anlina

That sounds delicious. I’ve been wanting to try a chai with a lot of licorice flavour in it.

TeaBrat

you should check it out!

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90
drank Star Spangled Chai by The Devotea
2816 tasting notes

Free sample provided by the Devotea — many thanks again!

I know I’ve been posting a lot of whiny tasting notes but I have to whine a little bit more! I just got home from my first physical therapy appointment and boy, was that ever painful… It’s hard to imagine I’ll ever get back to normal. I wanted to treat myself to something nice when I got home, so I decided to bust this out… of course what I really want is an entire chocolate cake but that probably isn’t a good idea. ;-)

The spicy/sweet note of the star anise is definitely prominent here, the cinnamon is the next thing I notice followed by the clove and the black pepper. I enjoyed this with some soymilk and a bit of rock sugar and it’s just rich and sweet enough to imagine I’m doing something decadent. Definitely a unique chai and very warming for the chilly fog that’s rolling in. I can see myself keeping more of this on hand, I do love a good chai.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Lala

Ha ha. Your note makes me laugh (I am a physio!). It’s so true. I have a colleague that calls himself a physicalterrorist.

TeaBrat

Hey – at least I didn’t cry and I know it will help me in the long run. :)

Lala

Good luck! The pain will be worth it in the end.

Robert Godden

It’s great to hear that Star Spangled Chai can, in some small way, substitute for an entire chocolate cake. Best wishes from all at The Devotea for a speedy recovery.

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A lovely quiet afternoon. Tony’s in the tub (yes, REAL men take bubble baths), I’m watching a movie called ‘Ruby Sparks’, & we’re both drinking mugs of this Chai, made with almond milk.
I followed Robert Godden’s suggestions, warming the milk slowly in the pan with extra leaf. I left it on for quite some time, just letting the flavors leach from the leaves. When I divided it into 2 cups I added some sugar to Tony’s & stevia to mine. It is delicious. I’ll probably have to get some more of this chai, as this is a sipdown.
Thanks for the suggestions Robert!

Sil

sounds neat!

Robert Godden

Almond milk. I must try that myself!

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drank Orange Spice by The Devotea
788 tasting notes

Disclaimer – I am The Devotea USA

mom orders one packet a month, every month, she’s gone and given up her normal daily earl grey in place of this

__Morgana__

Is this a new gig for you? Maybe I just missed it?

AmazonV

@ Morgana we kept it quiet the first year, but for the last 2-ish years I have been The Devotea USA operation :)

TeaBrat

Ahhh – how very cool!

Robert Godden

Nicole (AmazonV) has done an amazing job representing The Devotea for the last two years and we hope will do so for many more.

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drank Orange Spice by The Devotea
788 tasting notes

Disclaimer – I am The Devotea USA

Just popping in a note to say my mom is addicted! it may end up as a core blend just to keep her happy

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85
drank Doke Rolling Thunder by The Devotea
871 tasting notes

Received this in a generous swap from Terri HarpLady.

This one is quite a good oolong. To be honest, it doesn’t really even taste like an oolong. The liquor is very thick. There is definitely a fruit juice taste and quality to this tea. It reminds me of a fruit punch type juice- a little bit of everything, some citrus, some berry. There is a slight sweetness that reminds me of brown rock sugar or beet sugar. There is no bitterness or astringency. I was expecting this one to taste more like a dark roasted oolong. But there is no roasty flavour to it. It is also not a green oolong with the vegetal taste.

Quite enjoying this one.

Preparation
185 °F / 85 °C 1 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Robert Godden

When I wrote the description on our website, I was skirting with “The best thing is, it doesn’t taste like an oolong!” It has peach tones that are magnificent. This is one of the teas that convinced us to move from just offering our own blends to some top tasting Indian teas. The guys that make this at Doke in Bihar are superstars in our book.

Robert Godden

PS. Also, you can play about with temperature and time and it still tastes good.

Robert Godden

PPS And thanks for your review!

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drank Lady Devotea by The Devotea
612 tasting notes

Took with me to do errands post-V Day haze yesterday morning (we slept in—oh so glorious!—after Friday’s fun of drinking really good chai, napping, exchanging presents which excited me greatly ‘cause R gave me two UPress books on Buffy, one on gender natch and the other on the notion of chosen families, very thoughtful as a lot of my best undergrad work was on adoption theory, having a blast at the cat vid party laughing our tails off and making cat art including our own origami grumpy cats and business cat night lights and Warhol cat portraits, talking over figure skating footage and martini and manhattans, chowing down on nachos and watching silly TV, plus the usual makin’ out…woke up and cuddled, then spontaneously went to Elwood’s Shack for smoked slider and steelhead trout taco lunch before our usual running around, and the weather was the kindest it’s been in over a month, sunny with blue skies, in the 60s). Today we head to the Dali exhibit, find some hanging rods for all the tenugui art I want to hang in the living room tea nook, finish Elementary, and eat king cake. It’s been a great weekend, even if we did skip out of last night’s board game marathon at our friends’.

I am usually a bit skeptical of Lady Greys as I like the “masculine” type of bergamot, not the floral aspect but the soapy-clean one, and I often find Lady Greys too brightly fruity or floral in the ways I don’t care for. But this one intrigued me because I love lavender and hoped it’d lend a soapy cleanness like the bergamot I love. It surprised me. It is very “feminine”—R said it was nice and soft—and even looks the part, brewing up a pretty clear gold instead of brown—but it isn’t too brightly fruity sweet for my tastes. There’s a mysterious edge of creaminess, like a delicate Cream Earl Grey, and the lavender and bergamot is definitely present but never overpoweringly heady, instead light to fit the body and other aspects of the tea. It’s just right, very well balanced. I would drink it again! My favorite non-floral-heady-explosion blend so far. Would be excellent in the springtime.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
TheTeaFairy

Awww, sounds like you had so much fun :-)

Robert Godden

You are spot-on with the idea that this is our “Lady Grey” equivalent. I read somewhere that Lady Grey is actually one of the few tea names that is trademarked, so when we were asked by a high tea restaurant for something to fill that gap, we created this.
Glad you liked it. It is worth re-trying with a nice cake. That’s what it was made for!
We put lavender and oranges in it purely because we had both in our garden: In Australia you still get Lady Devotea made exclusively with our own oranges and lavender, although we now buy lavender for other blends because we can’t grow enough.
In order to get a full taste without just adding less bergamot and making that seem underwhelming, we blend a very light tea into our basic black tea and bergamot blend. It’s a balancing act made trickier by the fact that despite blending it, I have never tasted it: I am allergic to both oranges and bergamot, This one was created entirely by nose!

ifjuly

I did thanks, TheTeaFairy! Definitely one of the best VDays I’ve had in some time…I’m sure it helped it landed on a Friday this year, ha. We’re old. :b

Robert, I bet it’d be great with some cake. Can definitely see that. And color me very impressed you managed to blend it so artfully by scent alone. Wow! I have nothing but admiration for the skill involved in blending teas well, and I must say everything in the sampler pack I’ve tried so far has been very impressive in terms of balance. I usually don’t care much for Lady Grey style tea, but this one was especially nice.

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drank Persian Princess by The Devotea
612 tasting notes

I love how savory this one is, yet it’s not hair-rising or hard to drink at all, smooth like all the other Devoteas. I could totally drink this one again. I’ve said that for practically all of the ones in the sampler I’ve tried! I have enough to try it again some time with a raw sugarcube, but without it’s just dandy.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Robert Godden

Thanks for your comment.
Persian Princess is a tea from our original collection and it was the tea involved in my favourite review of any we’ve had. It’s just a lovely piece: http://internationalteamoment.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/persian-princess-moment.html
I think the blog is worth a read, but then I’m biased!

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