The Tea Spot

I ordered this from The Tea Spot as their description was intriguing. Not because of Austin Powers (“Four full leaf black teas blended to boost your mojo!”), but as I do like English Breakfast blends and they were having a sale, thought it worth a try.
Well! I am much more used to strong Assam-forward EB blends, so Shagadelic is a real departure from those. My palate is not sophisticated enough to discern Chinese Black from Indian or Sri Lankan/Ceylon, except that I know Assam is stronger, more assertive in taste.
This is a much more civilized blend—much milder, without bitterness, and quite drinkable plain. It’s a clear, copper-colored brew, and I could see someone being able to drink this tea all day.
I have a lot of more muscular Assams to drink through before I concentrate on this one. But I was pleasantly surprised by enjoying this plain, without sugar or lemon, as I would usually drink my stronger EB blends. I do enjoy, and recommend!

The Tea Spot included this sample sachet in a recent order. It’s light, refreshing, and I found I preferred it plain, unsweetened. I do recommend letting it steep for longer than the 3-4 minutes suggested. I found the flavors of the lemongrass deepened (duh!) – it was a little too light for me with 3-4 minutes only.
When opening the envelope which contained the sachet, the fragrance was clean and appealing – and a little bit like 7 Up! This did not translate into the flavor. I wondered if adding the sweetener would bring that out, but it didn’t.
I imagine that this would make a wonderful iced tea. It helped to settle my stomach, which was one of the reasons I tried it.
I especially like that it’s decaffeinated, since I’m always on the lookout for such teas. I recommend this tea for its clear, clean flavor – but I also recommend letting it steep longer than the 3-4 minutes. It needs more time to develop depth of flavor.

I ordered this tea from The Tea Spot based on their Facebook ad which showed this being beautifully made in a glass cup. I couldn’t resist, so ordered that and two more teas straight away.
Ordinarily I don’t have a hard time describing teas here. Winter Solstice is blended so well I had to swish the tea around in my mouth a few times to aid in identifying the individual flavors. I’m not sure that I’ve ever tasted oatstraw before; that and the mallow are subtle flavors which served to mellow out the licorice and orange. The butterscotch flavor kind of floated forth at the end, an “oh, yes—that’s in here, too”—but I had to look for it, it all blended together so well.
I liked this tea and am going to have to enjoy and review it again; I feel I didn’t quite do it justice here. I look forward to that!

Sipdown! This didn’t last long around here. Between being a genuinely tasty herbal blend and it coming in bio-degradable sachets, it was a quick and easy sipdown. Sharp ginger, kicky cinnamon, earthy turmeric, and a sweetness that I’m guessing comes from the sarsaparilla. One I’d happily restock next time I order from tea spot.

Got this in a Tearunners box. The Tea Spot seems to enjoy using a blend of black and puer as a base for a few of their blends, which I’m guessing might be controversial but personally I’m a fan. They also don’t use any flavouring in this blend, just actual spices, so the spiciness is quite light and you can really taste the base teas. I actually quite like the balance of flavours, even though it’s quite different from what I would consider a typical chai bland. The turmeric really adds to the earthiness.

From a Tea Runners box. I had it both hot and cold steeped this morning. I think I somehow overleafed the cold steep because it came out with a strong green tea flavour with some umami and a bit of thickness to the mouthfeel. Not unpleasant, but a bit strange contrasted with the fruit flavouring. The hot steep came out more balanced, still not super strong with the fruit flavour, and I would never have identified it as strawberry and rhubarb specifically, just a vague but pleasant fruitiness. I threw both sets of leaves in a jar with cold water for another cold steep in the fridge, so we’ll see how it is tomorrow. So far my impression is: good, but not so good I want to get more of it.

Got this in last month’s Tearunners box. You can really smell the orange and vanilla in the dry leaf, but it kind of disappears in the brewed tea? Or at least it’s very subtle, with a nice sweetness from the vanilla and just a hint of the orange. The combination of black and puer in the base is actually really nice – in the first steep the black is predominant and the puer just rounds out and deepens it a little. On the second steep the earthy notes from the puer are a bit more prominent. A nice, comforting start to the day.

As soon as I read Cameron B’s note for this one a while ago, I knew I wanted to try it.  So I was very happy Cameron made it available!  I am a sucker for candy cane teas, and this one sounded extra… I want to say lovingly… constructed as a blend.  It has so many extra elements to it:    Cocoa nibs AND shells?  mini marshmallows? Candy cane bits AND peppermint?  And I’m happy to report the flavor is just as great.  It’s almost like a candy cane ice cream, which is one of my favorite types of ice cream.  It’s both white chocolate/ vanilla flavored and also chocolate. Peppermint that is more dessert like than herbal. It’s a great balance all around. I just wish the marshmallows would melt more.  Very happy with this one!  
Steep #1 //  1 1/2 teaspoons for a mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 5 minute steep

I don’t know why I feel compelled to keep trying candy cane teas, I always seem to find them disappointing.

This has all kinds of nice-sounding ingredients, like candy cane pieces, mini marshmallows, cacao shells, and white chocolate and vanilla flavorings. But in the end, I still mostly just taste rooibos and peppermint. And I don’t particularly love red rooibos, so…

I guess I just really like the idea of a peppermint bark type of tea, but all the ones I’ve tried have either had weird additions (cinnamon, why?!) or just lack the extra creamy/vanilla element. I guess the closest I have is B&B’s Peppermint Cream. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll continue trying new ones, as I can’t seem to help myself. XP

I recently bought a pound of this tea, flavor untasted. I’m becoming brave (or reckless) in my old age. What intrigued me about this one was that it was advertised as an English breakfast tea blend of four black teas from three countries: India, Sri Lanka, China. That all sounded good to me and worth checking out.

I opened up the pouch and the aroma that shot out was a pleasant combination of, yes, more than one tea type. Black China teas are my favorite and my sniffer could definitely detect their presence in this tea. I also perceived the existence of Darjeeling and possibly Assam, all coming together nicely in the unbrewed whiff.

I steeped the brown leaves for five minutes in boiling water. This resulted in a golden amber colored liquid with a pleasant aroma containing tea and sweet undertones.

The taste of this tea was very smooth and full of flavor. The four teas melded exquisitely into a total merger of sweet and malty deliciousness. No bitterness was discovered anywhere.

I should also add that I drink all of my teas straight up. I never add milk or sweeteners. I prefer to experience the teas on their own merits.

If a tea plantation can figure out how to create this richly combined flavor from just one tree, they will have a huge winner on their hands. But, until then, I will just appreciate this exceptional blend as it is.

Pu-erh tea is one of those entities that people tend to love or hate. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground, even when someone WANTS to love it. I happen to be a guy who loves Pu-erh. However, let me qualify that by saying I love GOOD Pu-erh. I have tried one or two Pu-erh selections that left me less than enamored.

I am fairly new to The Tea Spot’s offerings, having discovered them in a great pastry café in Myrtle Beach a few years ago. I’ve had great experiences with their Bolder Breakfast and Earl Grey selections. So, when I saw that their Pu-erh tea was on sale, I figured it was worth a taste.

When I opened the one-pound pouch that I purchased, I was instantly greeted with the familiar rich and leathery aroma of Pu-erh. I steeped the medium-length black and brown tea leaves at 212 degrees for five minutes, as recommended by the folks at The Tea Spot. The brewed result was the color of black coffee. The smell was leathery but not as strong as I’ve experienced in the past with other selections of that variety.

Another surprise (somewhat) was the flavor contained a gentle fortitude. It was quite pleasant and smooth, without slapping my tastebuds. A leathery and earthy zest was front and center, but it was in no way over-powering. I did not detect astringency anywhere. Even the aftertaste did not overcome the bowl of cereal that the tea washed down.

To summarize, the flavor is rich but not oppressive. This is a very tranquil Pu-erh tea that probably won’t trigger the most committed Pu-erh skeptic’s gag reflex.

My absolute favorite tea hands down. My default in the mornings though lately I’ve been changing it up by adding dried ginger and cinnamon sticks. Can keep resteeping and drink all day!

2024 Holiday tea #5

Just a note to include this in my holiday tea lineup. Licorice root is more noticeable today. ick… I hope it isn’t aging to take over the blend. I really enjoyed it before today. Hopefully it was just because more licorice root than usual ended up in the mug…

Holiday tea 2023 #10 
From CameronB!  Thanks again for the wonderful teas!  Almost a full tin of this one, so I best start working on it.  I think two teaspoons in a mug would have been okay here, I tamed it a bit with 1 3/4 teaspoons.  It’s nice to occasionally see an organic tea.   And I love to see “BREAKFAST” in the description — for some reason I expect more scrumptiousness in a “breakfast” blend?  The black tea seems sturdy enough on a medium level of spices added here: licorice, cinnamon, nutmeg, orange peel and vanilla flavor.  And then I see it’s also mixed with puerh!  There was an odd flavor in there, and I think it’s the particular puerh they used. Not bad really, just noticeable. Reminds me a bit of Butiki’s puerh, which was never really my favorite from Butiki. This is supposedly an eggnog inspired tea, which I can see, but also wish they hadn’t included orange, in that case.   The flavors/ spice are smooth enough to work for breakfast (kind of like the amount of spice in eggnog), with a fairly sturdy base for snowy winter mornings.  I’ll have to try it with a splash of eggnog or milk at some point.  The second steep, I sometimes leave the infuser tilted over the mug.  This time it happened to fall back IN the mug and I didn’t notice for a while, but the flavor wasn’t entirely ruined.
Steep #1 // 1 3/4 teaspoons for a full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // <10 min steep

Holiday tea 2023 #11    Bird & Blend – Yule Log

Lady Lavendar does do a milder, less intrustive Earl Grey with that floral touch – hence likely the “lady” – but I was hoping for a wee bit more strengtjh. The black tea is in the background, perhaps more of an oomph in that area? It’s mildly bergamot, which comes across more when cooling of course. The orange scent is predominant when in the bag but brewed it mixes in and hard to tell it from the bergamot besides taming it slightly. It is creamy and a pleasant cup, just doesn’t stand out as much as I’d hoped.

I got it in my head that I wanted to revisit a tea I’d just had a bagged sample of, so I ordered a few from TTS.

This is astringent green oolong with artificial coconut flavoring. The oolong tastes cheap and subpar — reminds me of the stuff I got from Upton’s. Blech.

Consider my curiosity sated… don’t need to revisit this shop, I don’t think (the wild green puerh is what I’d really ordered for — satisfying enough, but I don’t need to restock it).

Light and a little non-descript, like someone took the yummy steeps and dried it back out. I hate to compare it to the big L, but I wouldn’t guess Yunnan. The leaves are quite large.

Been at work for almost 96 hrs. This was a last-minute grab as I left home, and I cracked into it yesterday when I got sent to a different station and needed a liquid hug. I don’t know what it is about this maocha, but I like it. There’s a simple earthiness here that often manages to meet me where I am and makes me feel good.

Packed up to come back to my home station this morning and left the damn ziploc behind. I am quite sad about it, but know full well I’m not going to feel like going to retrieve it in the morning. It’s a shame no one will probably know what it is or enjoy it, lol. Easy come, easy go.