TWG Tea Company

I got this at The Urban Tea Merchant.

Hmm. So far not terribly impressed. I can’t find any steeping instructions on their website, so I’m going with my general black-tea-brewing-parameters: 2 tsp, 16 oz water just off the boil, 3 minutes.

The tea smells delicious. Mango and other tropical fruits kinda attack the nostrils when opening the bag.

After steeping, the tea still smells of mango, with a strong black tea base in the background. 3 minutes worked perfectly as the tea is completely drinkable as-is. The mango flavour is a little odd, and seems to get a little lost in the strong base. I added a little sugar, sipped, shrugged, and added some soy creamer.

The mango is mostly lost, sadly. I can smell it, and sort of taste it, but I’m mostly getting a breakfast tea taste from this, only a little fruitier.

I’ll have to try this one iced and cold-steeped. Not something I’d rush out and buy more of, but I don’t have another mango tea in my cupboard, and I think that this one, as is, will be a good morning travel mug tea.

Edit: As it cools it’s getting more floral. IDK. I’m ambivalent.

This came to me via a co-worker to whom it was served at a hotel in the United Arab Emirates. Looked up the company; it’s Singaporean and has a very tony, elegant website. Opened the pouch; beautiful fabric bag. Tasted the tea; flat.

It’s a basic, “brown” tasting breakfast tea, getting a little bitter as it cools. Kind of a disappointment, as I had anticipated something posh.

Ah, well. It’s still always fun to add a new one to the tasting list.

The smell of the dry tea is absolutely heavenly and very strong… I could almost start eating the tea with a spoon.
And among the rooibos leaves, there are small pieces of fruits and dried entire small berries (round very small ones – dark color but original color difficult to identify on the dried fruit).
After brewing, the color is a bright brownish red and the smell o so fragrant.

The taste was also very strong, very mellow fruity but with a surprisingly tart flavor. I absolutely did not expect this bittersweet, tart, almost sour taste from the smell; I do not find it unpleasant but I’m sure it might offend the buds of other people.
I spend quite some time trying to figure out what it might come from: I believe it comes from the berries. At first, without any reason but the size of the berry (and my quick assumption), I assumed they would be blueberry or gooseberry. But this was not the taste of such fruits – as it was more tart than tangy, for a gooseberry and not as sugary fruity enough for blueberry. After some thinking, I finally realized those might be a different kind of berries, not so much used for “direct” consumption (think picking raspberries from the bush and eating them instead of filling in the bucket) than for “transformation / use as an ingredient”. And then sloe berry (berry from the blackthorne; prunelle in French) came to my mind. Maybe it was cranberry but I’m not so sure about that.

I’ve had it a few times and am still surprised by the taste at each new brew. I cannot really make out my mind about it. Strange!

No rating, because I think I screwed up somehow this.

A sample, so kindly sent by LaFleurBleue and my very first TWG tea (first singaporean tea as well). I am very fond of mangoes, am pretty fond of a green tea with Mango I have and love a black tea with peach and vanilla I own. And somehow mangoes and peaches have a certain similarity in my mind.

But something went wrong. The dry leaf smells like mangoes with a hint of sharpness I can not define. I brewed it up hot but not too much leaf and there was a pine quality to the tea which baffled me. Mango yes, but peculiar. As the tea got colder definite bourbon vanilla notes as well. Peculiar! Must experiment, I think it was probably too hot, will try much colder water and for longer.

I tried it again being extra careful of not over-brewing, neither putting too many leaves.
And this time I might have been a bit too skimpy or too quick as the brew was a bit light.
Nice tasting, no bitterness but nothing that special in it either. I’ll have to come back to it again and hopefully find the magic recipe.

I won’t be rating this tea yet…
I’ve been lured by the Gentleman in this tea name. Expecting something slightly refined, I put way too much leaves in my strainer. Second I put less water than usual in my boiler and did not get a full teapot. Third and last, I got busy while brewing and forgot the tea for way too long.
The resulting brew was strong, with a slightly bitter touch, that did not prevent me from drinking it all, though with probably not as much pleasure as could have been. The citrusy flavors seemed well balanced and very pleasant.
I’ll have to prepare it by the book next time to try to see if I get my gentleman and not the ruffian just out of the boxing ring, all sweaty and male I ended up with today…

I’ve sat through two brews of this tea wondering, sip after sip, how exactly I should describe it but have found myself at a loss for words. Well, here goes nothing!

This is a type of Darjeeling, or so the counter staff at TWG told me, and everything about it — from taste to fragrance — is delicately floral. Perhaps it’s just my wonky nose playing tricks on my brain but at times, drinking this tea felt like drinking silken tofu. It had that kind of smell … oh, I don’t know! This is hard. LOL. I haven’t been able to identify anything that would define this tea.

Just tried this with milk and sugar. Hmm, it makes for a very light beverage that nevertheless retains a touch of fragrance, which is fine by me — I’m OK with delicate flavours. Taste-wise, it’s like a mild version of Taiwanese bubble milk tea. Easy on the palate, but I think fans of strong concoctions would find this bland.

By the way, sorry about the bad picture — it was the best I could do in poor lighting, LOL.

TWG’s Imperial (Formosa) Oolong doesn’t taste like Chinese tea at all! More specifically, it doesn’t taste like the Chinese tea I’m used to.

This one has got a woody/musky taste with a hint of lingering sweetness riding above it. It also carries with it the aroma of … well, Lipton/generic “Western” tea, for want of a better word, and it feels like it would go well with milk and sugar. In fact, I shall try it the next time.

It’s not that I didn’t like this tea; it’s just that I’ve got preconceived notions of what oolong should taste like, and it definitely isn’t like this, so I won’t rate it until I’ve gotten over my stereotype upheaval and can approach this tea from a more unbiased POV.

sweet,but spicy taste

Once again I’ve been completely puzzled the first times I drank this, as it did not taste like what I expected. At the same time, TWG description of the blends can only be considered as simplistic or minimalist.
After a few surprising and almost difficult to drink brew, I realized this blend, though different from my usual rooibos, definitely grew on me. After believing I never would be able to drink it all, I changed my mind and realized it might be easier and easier to drink until it’s finished, as I like each new pot better than the previous, for now.
The rooibos in itself seems really nice, brews a very clear and bright color, quite fragrant.
Let me try to describe the fragrance and flavors, quite tough because I haven’t managed yet to really grasp what could be in. There’s nothing flowery, nor fruity or sweet in this blend, which favors much more vegetal and earth tones. Thinking of the Caribbean, those flavors would remind me of a walk through the jungle forest, definitely out of the seaside and out of blooming gardens.
There’s a clear nutty flavor to it, bringing both mellowness and a tinge of bitterness. The cocoa beans cannot be mistaken for chocolate, it’s clearly the unprocessed, unsweetened slightly bitter flavor that comes through. I still have not managed to be certain whether there is some vanilla inside, bringing additional mellowness to the nuts. Nor am I clear whether there is some coconut; in any case, if there is, it would be fresh and raw coconut, most probably just scooped from the nut, taking only the pieces that were closer to the bark and neither the milk, nor the soft flesh at the center of the nut.
I hope this rambling will make sense.
I may some day post another tasting note not too similar on this one, which still puzzles me…

It has become my earl grey of the moment, last time I mentioned it was light I meant colour wise. As for flavour it’s a nice wake up slap, perfect for a morning or pick me up cup. It’s earthy, grassy, a wood aroma with hints of freshly pinched tea leaves. It tastes really fresh like it was recently packed ready to send out from the vendor. The bergamot tastes like it was carefully selected. I wonder if the same care is put to the rest of the TWG Teas. Love the amber liquor. Im not a fan of re steeping but this is the first tea I re steeped & tastes good, a little stronger, but good.

A really nice surprise. I’m used to earls with a bold black tea base, either ceylon or assam do the trick but this darjeeling is really not malty or bold, it’s light with a small hint of floral. It reminded me of the Oolong Earl Grey by Red Leaf Tea. In my humble opinion it shouldn’t be considered a black tea. The liquor is light ambar, the scent is floral & fresh & the bergamot is strong, but not over empowering. After brewing the bergamot looses it’s strong scent but I guess it’s because the flavor blends right in with the darjeeling & lingers beautifully after every sip.

I’ve tried a 2nd infusion & unlike most of the teas I have, this one holds the flavor pretty well. I think I’m in love <3

My first tasting note!

Made my first visit to the lovely Urban Tea Merchant shop in downtown Vancouver yesterday. What a lovely shop! (Did not realize it was right beside my dentist – will have to pay a visit now each time I go for a check up!)

Was thinking I wanted their caramel black tea, but the staff guy suggested this one – Napoleon smelled a bit sweeter, so i chose it instead, and I love it! Very smooth black base, can taste the creamy caramel and mocha. Having it with cream and a couple of swirls of the rock sugar wands they also sell….it’s very good! So good, I am drinking it at 930 at night….lets hope I sleep! A wonderful tea, highly recommend.

Avoid this tea at all costs! When I opened the tin, I was greeted with an overpowering smell of rose. Sure enough, the ingredients on the bottom list tea and rose, even though the tea is described as containing “a scattering of cherry blossoms.” All cheap “cherry” teas contain rose, but I was expecting more for this price. Also, the green tea in the blend is a mediocre tea sourced from Singapore, not Japanese sencha. Shame on TWG for marketing this tea as a gourmet Japanese cherry tea.

Finishing this off. I really enjoyed having it on-hand. Sometimes it ended up coming out bitter, but that was mostly me not paying attention to the temperature. Especially near the end, when there was a lot of tea dust in the scoop.

Still enjoyed it though. Buttery green went well with the caramel. Might buy some more…

Last cup of this for now, though.