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This tea scared me. At first when smelling the wet leaves it was smoky and reminescent of a puherh with a horsey, fishy earthiness. The fishy part is what had me worried until I took my first sip. This is a very round bodied tea. It does have a light smoky taste that I think comes more from the aroma than the tea itself. It also has nutty notes. Very pleasing all in all. Thanks to ashmanra for sending me a sample to try.

I have to thank Ashmanra for sending me a sample of this tea and joining me in our virtual tea party today.

I enjoyed this tea quite a bit. I took it black. It has a wonderfully smoky aroma and the first part of it’s taste is a laid back smoky flavor and then it smooths out to a honeyed finish. I rebrewed it this evening also with boiling water and steeped for 5 minutes. It still smells smoke but loses some of that in the taste and is sweeter earlier. I must say that I enjoyed it, as well.

I bought a new cast iron tetsubin yesterday, so I thought I would chrsten it with a traditional asian tea. This is a lovely one. It has a nice aroma but not overwhelming and a light floral and almost buttery flavor.

I am giving this an ambivalent rating because I am not actually sure if I like it. It doesn’t taste bad but I am not sad when I get to the bottom of my cup. It is a great red color and smells like cloves with a hint of orange and lemon. The taste is flat to me. There is a broad note of clove and hibiscus but I don’t get the licorice root or the citrus notes. I have tried it hot and cold but haven’t been truly impressed. I kind of want to mix it with fruit juice or sprite or something just to give it some pizzaz. Is that even legal?

I have been lazy in not rating this one before, it is one of my favorite teas. I love the leaves it is a mixture of slightly twisted brown/black and fuzzy golden leaves. The wet leaves smell of honey and a warm field of grass to me. The tea is a lovely golden brown color. It is a gently complex tea without much astringency. It tastes of honey, overlying a warm vegetal base and a little nutty. I drink it black but it is satisfying with sugar as well.

The first time I tried this tea I wasn’t a fan. Too astringent and bitter. I got brave today and tried it ,again, but with a much shorter brewing time. I tried 3 minutes instead of 5 and I can’t believe the improvement. This tea like Golden Monkey smells so much like honey but you don’t really taste it so much. I found it much more palatable as it cooled and it also has a mildly sweet afternote that I missed the first time. I was able to drink it black and really enjoyed it. Bravo assam! I am looking forard to another cup.

Ah sweet red heat.

I know St Patty’s day is a little late for Christmas tea but I wanted something I hadn’t had in a while. This is a pleasant tea. It aroma when first brewed is pleasantly vanilla with more of the almond and camomile scents coming later. My water was just below boiling and I forgot about it for about 10 min but it wasn’t bitter. This isn’t a strongly flavored tea or very complex. I added some sugar and it was a nice cup of tea but nothing super great.

So it really is that toothsome and yummy. It smells somewhere between vanilla, caramel and marshmellows. It is sweet but not too sweet and just plain yummy.

I have always enjoyed chai tea. This particular one has curled black tea leaves, cinnamon chips, dried ginger and open cardamom pods. It has that wonderful smell of mixed spices even before brewing. I take my chai with milk and honey. I don’t know if it is because the cardamom pods are open compared to some of my other loose shai tea but this one has a much heavier cardamom flavor. The cinnamon and ginger are really just backgraound notes.