Featured & New Tasting Notes

81
drank Comforting by Aveda
123 tasting notes

To me, this is an incredibly relaxing tea. I was first introduced to it – as were most of its fans, I think – at one of Aveda’s retail stores. You walk in, and the first thing the sales associate does is offer you a cup of this tisane. At the time, I was very unfamiliar with herbal teas, so the sweetness of this really surprised me. I mean, I could recognize the peppermint “tingle” but the other herbs were completely new to me at the time.

This is a great blend for relaxing. The licorice stands out as the dominant flavor, but it is pretty well blended into a sweet, refreshing brew. Not sweet like sugar, but a more natural form of sweetness. Very smooth, very nice.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
drank Earl Grey Creme by Teavana
47 tasting notes

I received this from SoccerMom, who found out she wasn’t so fond of earl grey. I am always open to trying different EGs, so I was very happy to receive the package. I loved the smell, which didn’t smell like a typical earl grey because of the addition of vanilla and cream flavors. So far so good. I used 10oz water instead of the standard 8oz and steeped 2 minutes and 30 seconds, which is what I usually do when I drink my earl greys straight.

The result? I have to say, thank you, SoccerMom! I like this. As an earl grey, it is on the lighter side, more floral notes than bergamot. I am not a big fan of vanilla by itself but the sweetness made the floral scent less perfumy for me. I like it. I also like the blue cornflower that makes the blend look quite pretty.

SoccerMom

Gander,
Glad you like it and that I could find it a new home where it will be loved! LOL
Oh and the blue cornflower does make it cute!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82

Trying a new tea again :) Got this one on purpose because its totally different then all the other ones I’ve got. Green tea with mint. Very strong minty smell.

I steeped it like 2 and a half minutes and got it right.

Color – rather bright for a green tea. Yellow. Not so clear like the others, probably because the green tea in it is in powder.

Smell – of the dry one is nice. The tea itself has a nice minty smell but also some unpleasant part of it. I dont know what. But that is the part i like least about this tea.

Taste – very refreshing. I can feel it work on my bronchitis affected throat. The freshness spreads. Its good without sugar tho half a spoon of honey makes it little bit better for me. Love it cold too. Ill try another steep later. Think it could be good…

Conclusion – another kind I quite like. The list is growing ;)

Preparation
165 °F / 73 °C 2 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

70

I have to start by saying that I’m not a huge coconut fan. I don’t hate it, but I also don’t love it. It’s not something I search for, but I do enjoy it from time to time. I do, however, hate coconut scented things (body lotion, shampoos, etc.), since they just smell fake and nasty to me. :(

But I figured this would be a good tea to go with my Thai leftovers, so I decided to do this one today.

Now, this is an award-winning tea, and I had high hopes for it, even despite my not-loving-coconut-ness. When I opened the packet, a heavenly toasted coconut scent came wafting out, making me really hope that this scent would come across in the tea itself. A bit of the scent, however, did resemble the fakey coconut scent I dislike, but the toasted coconut scent was primary.

Brewed, it smells a bit more like fakey coconut. :( However, the taste is sweet and creamy, with an underlying hint of earthiness that tempers the coconut flavor. I honestly can’t help but like it! It tastes kind of buttery actually.

I’m a bit perplexed on how to rate this. I like it, but I don’t think I love it, and I don’t think it’s something I could have all the time, but it’s still very yummy. Hmm.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Cofftea

I don’t like coconut really either. Adagio has an amazing unflavored pouchong though.

the quiet life

Yeah, I read your tasting note for it from the other day and it sounds really good! It’s definitely one of the samples I’ll get when I finally do my Adagio order! :)

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

83
drank Malted ChocoMaté by 52teas
2977 tasting notes

It’s Here It’s Here It’s HERE !!!!!
My mailing envelope was punctured but luckily my teas were not!
(puts kettle on before she’s even got the package open. )

dry smell: chocolatey, malty, and a definite undercurrent of fruitness
brewing smell: strong roasty smell upon first pouring the water over

liquor: orangey-brown
scent: chocolate first, then malt with a hint of “roasted” scent
taste: there’s a definite “mate” earthiness, more so than I was hoping for. The chocolate hits you afterwards. The malt is in there somewhere but I’m having a hard time distinguishing between it and the roasted flavor of the yerba mate. (probably just my tastebuds are a bit off today due to a sore throat.) Anyway, I like that it’s brisk upfront and then rounds out into a deeper sweeter chocolaty-er flavor. Sugar and/or cream may mute this effect but I don’t want to add either to this cup.

This is the first yerba mate I’ve really liked, so that’s saying something. I think I’m going to hold off rating until I’ve had a couple more cups or even tried it cold. I’m not as blown away as I hoped to be, (then again I’m not a mate fan) but I am definitely impressed. I think my husband, who drinks mocha and mate, will really like this, which is nice because there are very few teas we both like.

Preparation
Boiling 7 min, 0 sec
Gander

I didn’t taste too much of the malt either, it’s just slight and overpowered by the mate, which I don’t mind. I like it straight but I just love it with milk, and perhaps a bit of sugar. And actually I really like it chilled.

Janefan

Thanks Gander, I’m looking forward to trying it all those ways. I do think more of the flavor comes out as it cools.

Janefan

hubby finally tried it, thinks it has a good chocolate flavor but the malt is not really there. (Maybe milk would bring it out?)

Janefan

again, looks like I need to try this at 4-5 min not 7-8!

Ricky

It tasted like chocolate tea to me. No difference from other ones that I had. I’m going to try it with some sugar and milk and see how it goes.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93

I’ve always taken a “so long as it’s hot and wet, I’ll drink it” approach to tea but, having been introduced to the Make Mine a Builder’s brand, it has become my brew of choice. The only thing I would say is that it isn’t poncey, china cup, finger in the air tea. This is big mug (ideally chipped), cold day, hotter the better tea.

Preparation
1 min, 0 sec
donkeyteaarrrraugh

completely agreed!!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

94
drank Scarlet Sable by Samovar
911 tasting notes

I love the smell of this. Sweet and smoky and spicy, it tingles in my nose like menthol. The citrus makes it clean and refreshing and the pine flavor (from a Keemun, I’m guessing) pokes a bit to do the same – not unpleasantly, just in a clean, walking-through-a-quiet-forest-during-a-brisk-autumn way. The lychee and lapsang (I’m assuming since that’s exactly what it smells and tastes like) combine to make it sweet, the lapsang and the rooibos make it smoky, woody and warm. This tea makes me think of a forest in fall – beautiful in a brown, earthy way, crisp and clean and perfect for a small campfire for ambiance.

This tea really seems to sparkle either in a smaller cup (8oz vs. my previous 12oz) or else done at boiling instead of just under. The woodsy note is the solid base of the tea but the hotter water (or smaller cup) really let the sweeter flavors dance. The citrus and sweet flavors pop just a bit more, making the tea really full flavored and just delightful. This is really just a fantastic tea. Love it so.
3.0g/8oz

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 15 sec
teaplz

Did you order a tin of this, Augster? This one is very complex. Love.

Auggy

I did! Love it too much not to! Such a delightful tea. Today was kind of a Samovar day – I almost had their breakfast blend instead of the Taylors of Harrogate Scottish breakfast. I should have gone with Samovar to make it an official theme day!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

100

I was worried this would be too sweet or overly coconutty, But it was just right. I had it with organic sugar and a splash of organic whole milk. Dessert in a mug. I drank it pretty late in the evening and it kept me awake, might have to think about getting decaf…

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

79

This tea was a little hard to measure because of the larger size leaves and this may have affected my brew. That said, I did enjoy this tea and did not find it to be overly vegetal – a trait I’m finding hard to adjust to. It was very smooth with no bitterness and a light pleasant fragrance.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

82
drank Jasmine Pearl by Rishi Tea
31 tasting notes

Yummmm. Beautiful jasmine scent, and wonderful jasmine flavor. The color is extremely light, i almost thought I had completely messed my steep up somehow, but then i smelled and tasted it. There is a hint of green tea and a wonderful strong jasmine flavor to it. It’s not an overpowering flavor, it is quite wonderful :)

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 1 min, 45 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

100

Another!!! Sample from Harney & Sons! I have no clue how much was given to me, but when I dumped it in my matcha bowl it didn’t like a whole lot so I made it thick- 3oz water.

Oh wow! Hunter green! So dark and lush. I’m surprised this isn’t thick grade. The taste is thick which surprises me even more- not the mouth feel like that of 52teas Mandarin Matcha, but the taste. Strong, vegetal, bitter, astringent, and sweet. I think this is my favorite unflavored matcha so far!

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C
Gander

Ah, this sounds good…

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

69

The nose on this is a little spicy, but the actual flavor is not. It’s a nice rounded taste that appeals to me even though I am usually not a huge fan of Chinese black teas. There is a hint of bitterness but no astringency to match, which is a little out of the ordinary for a black tea. There is some cedar in the smell and it is reminding me of Christmas past; the old chest my family kept the Christmas ornaments in was made of cedar.

As the tea cools a bit, I’m even getting a little more bitterness and a bit of spicy heat on the finish. Like… straight cinnamon. There’s a little dissonance going on in the aftertaste now – like a very mild version of drinking OJ after brushing your teeth. It’s not quite as nice as it was when it was hot.

A pretty interesting, yet solid tea. Just drink it before it gets cold.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

I actually gasped when I first tasted this tea! It is so completely delicious to me! Thomas is sweet and strong, malty and earthy…and what a body! Some milk and sugar bring out his best qualities. What a fine example of a black tea from India!!

P.S. Excellent customer service from Andrews and Dunham Damn Fine Teas. I ordered series 2 in the middle of all the snow the East Coast was getting, and I got an email from Erik Dunham explaining about the insane amounts of snow and how it was hard to get to the post office. Seeing that my area was hit almost as hard and we missed 2 days of mail delivery ourselves I of course assured him that it was just fine, but how nice is that?!?!

P.P.S The labels are fantastic! The shipping boxes are even fantastic!

P.P.P.S I am about to go to bed and leave him and Jackee Muntz in my tea cupboard. I could have sworn I heard Jackee called Marco Polo “fruity” and I think Thomas tried to pinch Florence!!! Who knows what I will wake up to tomorrow!

P.P.P.P.S I am absolutely sick that series 4 sold out so fast – I think I would have loved that tea!

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec
teaplz

Love your personification of everything, Jacqueline! Hehe, watch out for Earl Grey, he’s a naughty one!

This is a great little Assam though!

Ricky

Ohhhhh Jacquelineeeee, maybe a tiger will invade that peaceful garden of eden of yours ;) The tiger will protect Fruity Marco Polo and err Chocolatey Florence. You just wait, if you get my drift.

JacquelineM

teaplz – my only Earl Grey is from Adagio – he might be of aristocratic lineage, but … I fear the quality of that family is now on a downward spiral. I must bring an Earl of better quality into my fold as soon as I can. I hear TWG Earl Grey Gentleman is a shining example!!! I think he and Marco Polo would have so much in common.

Ricky – Does this tiger have chinese writing on his tongue?!! and don’t forget Florence is a bit nutty too!! That’s what makes me worry!

teaplz

I’ve heard the same about EG Gentleman! Samovar’s EG is the best I’ve ever had. I’m not the fan. And EGB from Adagio is pretty gross. It smells nice, but it tastes like perfume from a bottle.

JacquelineM

ooooh Samovar :) I have to look into that one too. I think I’m going to make iced tea this summer with half Adagio Earl Grey and half some sorta black tea to use it up. I hope it will be refreshing!

Dan

They need a place where we can leave our email so they can let us know when it is available again.

Ricky

He’s quite a distinguishable fella. He’s got a bright blue tongue. Can’t miss him =P

Ohhh EG has to join this party!?!? How about Tippy Earl Grey?

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

89
drank Yunnan Golden Tips by t Leaf T
220 tasting notes

One of my new favourites, I had to rate it higher! Interestingly the smokey aspect of the tea is largely in the smell of both the leaves and resulting brew. While a tea like Lapsang Souchong is quite confronting/disgusting because it tastes exactly like the smell, the Yunnan does not.
The aroma of this tea is an incredible comforting malted-wood-smoke, while the taste is a smooth malt with just an aftertaste of woody-smoke. I drink this with a gererous splash of milk and it is delicious.
The perfect tea to brew up all day for when its dreary outside and you’re cosied up inside with Frank Sinatra and ‘The Story Of Tea’…

ETA: Can also be reinfused a number of times, I got around 3 decent cups out of one lot of leaves :D

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

94

I drink tea twice a day, and then got pregnant and worried about some of the unusual herbs in what I normally drink and wanted to go totally caffeine free. That’s how I discovered Rooibos Red Spice. It’s a versatile tea that I enjoy both for breakfast and at bedtime. I love that the spices are mild and there’s no licorice, which ruins most spice teas for me. It’s a nice deep color that makes me not miss my English Breakfast tea.

Preparation
5 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

66

I don’t always like jasmine green teas because of the tea base use – most Chinese greens are pretty briny to me. This one seems to have more of a sweet Chinese green taste than a salty one. The jasmine taste is softer than I expected. The jasmine surrounds the edges of the tea taste on all sides but the center flavor is still sweet Chinese green.

Typically, I prefer my jasmine teas to be softer, more delicate – jasmine with hints of soft, light, sweet tea. This is more evenly balanced and, while not stout like an Assam or anything, stronger than what could be considered delicate. But even though it’s not my preference, it’s still nice. Quite tasty.
7.7g/14oz

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec
Laura

Just wanted to say that I love that you measure & record your tea and water! I just got a digital scale for Christmas and should really start using it. So much more accurate than my usual “a heaping teaspoon and maybe a pinch more…” :P

Auggy

Thanks! I figure if I do something really awesome, I want to be able to repeat it exactly – and while I always weight my tea, I’m not always consistent with how much I decide to use so I have to have some way to remember the good (or the bad)!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

I am not a big fan of puerh. But when it comes to health needs, puerh is what I think of the first. For a long time (maybe even up to today) in my mind is the tea in soy sauce color, without much taste, no offensive taste, that people drink during dim sum sessions but rarely else where. Later on I tried some sheng puerh, and (relatively) liked some of them. Shu puerh in my mind kind of stays where it was. But I turn to shu puerh when there are real needs. When I have a really big meal and need some tea to facilitate digestion, when I have a stomach upset but still want hot fluid, and when I need something to drink at night, I would go for shu puerh.

This tea from Meng Ku Rong Shi is one of the loose puerh that I relatively like. Still I think it’s not very flavorful (as most shu puerh without mold flavor). But it does have very smooth and soupy liquor texture, and the tea lasts for good several infusions. The tea leaves look very clean (cleanness of shu puerh is a big issue for me), and taste very clean (no mold or “wodui” flavor).

Friday morning I got a little stomach upset. I didn’t want to go shopping with the condition because I don’t want to miss my routine cappuccino and canoli in the nice farm store. So I postponed the shopping trip to the afternoon and had this puerh all morning. First it made me burp for a few times, which is a good sign (according to my mom) for one to be released from stomach pain. The hot, rice-soup like liquor was very soothing. I have to say, after 5 infusions or so, I felt much better. But I also have to say, when I took the first sip of my cappuccino with the first bite of canoli in the dear farm store, I felt entirely well. I know these things are supposed to upset the stomach when one already feels some stomachache. But oddly and mysteriously, they just instantly cured me :D

Preparation
Boiling 0 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

85

The dry tea smells fantastic – earthy yet sweet.

1st steep – 3 min. First sip = love! To me, it tastes like a less over the top version of the Honey Pear, and gosh darn, I prefer it! It’s more of a dates rather than pears, and burnt sugar rather than honey, and much more subtle. I remarked in one of our discussions that I didn’t know if an oolong had a place in my cupboard – scratch that! This is definitely getting the full tin treatment!

2nd steep: 4 min. Less flavoring taste, and more tea taste. Soft sugar and date notes. Still gorgeous.

3rd steep: 5 min. Still a nice cup of tea, but I think it’s done after this one. Very soft dates and oolong, no sugar but the dates give it some sweetness.

So, for those keeping score – so far the Kashmiri Chai and Sugar Caramel Oolong are in my OMG MUST BUY WHOLE TIN category (Sugar Caramel Oolong ousting Honey Pear)! They are both so unique and delicious to me :)

Preparation
190 °F / 87 °C 3 min, 0 sec
teaplz

Whoo! This is one of the last that I have to try (along with Honey Pear, Coconut Pouchong, and Sinharaja). Glad to know that the second steep keeps pace with the first!

LENA

Mmmm…just added this to my shopping list. It sounds wonderful.

Bethany

I’ve wanted to try this one for so long! I still really need that GM sampler.

Ricky

This is the one tea I didn’t get a chance to try in my sampler. I bought myself a sample when I bought a tin of coconut pouchong.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

100

Where do I even start? This tea is absolutely amazing. The key note is chocolate (and lots of it) with just a hint of strawberry. It’s naturally sweet so it doesn’t need sugar. Just Wow.

Preparation
6 min, 0 sec
Carol Kinkade

Sounds like one I’ll try some time!!!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

80
drank Holiday Tea by Harney & Sons
257 tasting notes

This morning’s cuppa…was in a bit of a rush and grabbed this. I have it in tea bags direct from Harney & Sons (and not those foofoo silk pyramid excuses to charge more type of bags). My earlier post on this tea said that I thought it was a bit weak and that I could do better with the loose variety. I still think thats true, but I did let this tea bag steep a bit longer and it made all the difference! This tea has an excellent balance of tea and sweet spice. The convenience of the tea bags works well and I would recommend it as a good “tea bag tea”

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 4 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

96

Had this with breakfast yesterday. This is an undeniably happy tea with simply no shortcomings. After re-sampling what was previously my highest-rated tea I’m going to boost Mountain Malt’s rating even higher. I gave most of my specific thoughts in my first review so there’s little point in repeating them.

Now, I made this at 10:30 am or so. It was probably partially due to the high-fat breakfast I had (thick-sliced bacon, a fried egg, and an Asian pear – delicious), or the raw cocoa bar that I finished later that day… but I was absolutely full of unwavering energy till 4 or 5 am that night. What a kick this tea has.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

66
drank Maiden's Ecstasy by Samovar
911 tasting notes

Did a quick rinse before making two cups of this. Brews up dark, smells very sweet and wet earthy and dark. The taste is smooth and mild with a little damp earth and fruit and maybe a little sweet grass.

I don’t think I’m ever going to love pu-erh – the type of sweetness it has seems to be a bit darkly fruity for me to really enjoy, like dried plums or raisins. I tend to gravitate toward lighter or floral sweetnesses. Regardless, I think this is a good tea. Nothing I’m going to crave (since it’s pu-erh) but enjoyable nonetheless.
4.7g/12oz

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 2 min, 0 sec
Harfatum

Oh, I’m always looking for good pu-erhs. This sounds tasty, I think I’ll put it in my shopping list :)

teaplz

Maybe try raw pu-erh? Carolyn had some good reviews. I can’t recommend any, because I haven’t had it either, but it sure looks interesting. :)

Harfatum

I just tried my first raw pu-erh yesterday, and posted a review. What a crazy tea! I wonder if you’d like it more, Auggy. Thus far, I do prefer cooked.

mattscinto

I’ve had this on my shopping list for quite a while.. thank you for reminding me :)

Auggy

Based on some of Carolyn’s reviews, I do want to try raw pu-erh for sure! It sounds like it is pretty different from the cooked stuff so I’m willing to give it a go!

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

90

The smell is VERY salty and smoky. Like campfire (or bacon). I allowed a few members of my family to take a smell, but non were very impressed (in fact, most were a little weirded out). I had to give up on my explanation that it’s meant to smell smokey because of how it’s made, and no it was NOT a Bacon Flavoured Tea (although I do plan on ordering that from 52 teas one day).

Once brewed, the smoky smell is lessoned, and slightly more tea-scented (slightly!). The colour is nice and dark, reddish.

TASTES smoky. A little too hot to tell, but the smoke does trail off into the aftertaste. It’s like drinking campfire. I think this is a Camping Tea. The sort of thing I would drink around the fire after a day of hiking, to replace hot chocolate. I thought this would be something that I would find too strong and would require milk with, but it’s not. I think milk would ruin the savoury flavour.

Continued: The second steep (6 minutes, no-longer-boiling water) was about as flavourful as the first. I’m sure I could have gotten one or two more steeps out of this, but I have to go to work, sadly.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

93

My first taste of the TTB…yay! If there was a wine that was coconut and chocolate flavored and you drank it hot…it would soooo taste like this. :)

It’s sweet and chocolatey smooth with averaged-in coconut and a natural milky-type taste over top of the black tea. It’s nice. It’s a treat. It’s what’s for lunch :P

wombatgirl

Ooo – this sounds just awesome.

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Filter