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This was my tea of choice at work today. I’m reserving judgement on this one. I think I’m comparing it too much to the AMAZING one I had yesterday and may be too hard on it.
The dry leave look like an oolong, much larger than any black tea that I’ve run into. I did enjoy it at work today, but it was just nice, ok, fine, good. I’m not sure there was anything special about it. Or maybe I just like the really bold ones better and this was too subtle for me. Or I was just in the mood for something else.
Generally speaking I like Tealux for straight teas, I’m not going to rate this until I’ve had it again.

I received a sample of this from scribbles. Thank you very much!!!
I’ve been questing for my perfect chai. I am actually looking for just a plain black chai, but I am certainly not going to pass this up when scribbles so generously sent it to me.
I’m having a really good tea night. This is a really nice chai. It’s pretty spicy but those spices are nicely balanced. I do get some apple in amongst the spice but it’s in the back, the spices are almost drowning it out. I don’t think this is apple pie. It’s not heavy cinnamon like I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, this really works for me – but I’m looking for chai. If you are looking for apple pie, this might not be your best choice.
This is the first iHeartTea I’ve had the opportunity to try, and I like it. Good Job. Looking forward to try others.
Thanks again scribbles really appreciate it.

I’ll admit it, I’ve become pessimistic about teas that claim these types of flavors. In my experience they usually disappoint. My other issue is I’m not really quite sure what sweet potato pie should be. I’m envisioning that sweet potato casserole that’s oozing with brown sugar, smothered with marshmallows on the Thanksgiving table. That’s not what this is.
I’m very pleased to report that I was wrong in both of these assumptions. This tastes like sweet potatoes. I almost can’t believe it, but that’s the prodominent flavor, then there are subtle chai (or pumpkin pie) spices in the back ground. The spices are there, but they are not overwhelming the potato flavor. This is really well balanced for me, even the spices are nicely balanced. The only negative I have is that it’s not sweet enough. This could really use some sweetness. Next time I drink this I’m going to thow in some brown sugar, I think that’s what it’s missing.
I’m 2 for 2 so for teas from The TeaCupany. Can’t wait to try more of them.

I took this to work today. WOW!!!! This is GREAT tea. I used a bit more leaf than recommended, and I’m not sure what the water temp is in our dispenser (it’s probably 85-90), and I steeped it about 6 minutes.
That sounds wrong, this should not have been that good. IMHO This tea is right up there with any of the other premium black teas (it has MORE chocolate notes than Laoshan Black). I’m not sure it’s as complex as some of them, but the dark chocolate notes in it are fantastic.
I will be ordering more of this and not wasting it at work…

I placed my TeaCupany order Sunday night. I got it today. I never get orders that quickly. From my understanding this is a fairly new tea company out of BC Canada. They have tons of flavored tea on their website, sample sizes available in BOTH 10g and 25g sizes. Really affordable, easy to try a new company when you can get small sizes of lots of different teas. I ordered 12 and they threw in a free sample. The other good news is that all my packages are resealable – even the 10g ones. :)) What can I say, I think they are doing the right things to get tea buyer like me to give them a chance. Thumbs up customer service and selection on web site.

Now the tea. I’m a HUGE Yerba Mate fan (I know you wouldn’t know it from my tasting notes) so maybe I’m a closet Yerba Mate fan. I was a little apprehensive about this one, the description said lightly roasted. Hmmmmm I’m more of a dark roasted kind of girl, but the rest of the ingredients sound right up my alley.
This is really good!! If you are a fan of this style of tea, you should check it out. It’s chocolate, hazelnut, sweet, nutty, with just a little of the coffee ish flavors that come out of the mate. It’s not too heavy on any one element. They all work really well together. I’m pretty fussy about hazelnut, I love it if it’s done right, hate it if it’s not. Doesn’t taste artificial at all. This is a really nice example of this type of tea. Thumbs up.

The only thing I’m a little confused about…. the steeping instructions on my package says 150 F for 3-6 minutes. 150? That’s so low I don’t even know what that is in C. I googled it…65 for those who care. 65? Really? I don’t steep anything at 65. I normally do mate about 90. I’ll admit it, I didn’t follow instructions but I did lower my temp to about 85 in the spirit of compromise. I probably steeped it a little longer than recommended too probably a little more than 6 minutes. I liked the end result so it’s all good.

All in all, so far so good. I’m liking this new company. Will keep continue to write tasting notes as I try them….

This is another fantastic tea from Tao Tea Leaf. It’s a little different from other pu’erh that I’ve had. It has some of the classic pu’erh taste, but it also has some of the classic black tastes. Interesting. To me this is almost a cross between a pu’erh and a black. Normally I would just say something like, I wish the pu’erh was bolder, but this is a bold tea. You can taste the black under the pu’erh. Strange, weird, unusual, but I like it. It’s not fishy, but has lots of earthy pu’erh. It also has some malty chocolate notes of black. I may have to get more of this and play with steeps to see if you can change how much of each side you can bring out.
Thank you so much Scribbles for sending me this sample!!!

Tea #17 Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box

I pulled one of these bags out of the tea box to try later. Having it this morning (or is it afternoon already?).
Pleasantly surprised. While I’m not getting much Mango, there is lots of colada here. Really nice coconut, creamy flavor. This is a nice coconut green tea. I’m not getting any bitterness from the green base.
I see Tea Forte in several stores around here and have always passed on them. This is making me rethink that. May have to pick some up and try more someday.

Let me start by saying that I’m a fan of Verdant Tea. I have quite a few of their teas in my house.
I was really expecting this to be warm chai spices wrapped around the deep dark chocolate goodness of Laoshan Black. IMHO this is just wrong. When it’s really hot, the spices are overwhelmingly strong. There is no chance to pick up any of the wonderful tones of Laoshan Black. The base tea could be anything. As it cools the spices do mellow, but they go from “hitting you over the head with a baseball bat” to just “in your face”.
So now what to I do? Do I resteep it and see if the spice are milder on the second steep? How do I fix this? I pull out my package of Laoshan Black and toss about 1/2 tsp in with the chai leaves. (I should mention that I’m apologizing to the Laoshan Black as I toss it in – it deserves more respect than that).
Modified second steep, yeah no that didn’t work, there is lots of Laoshan Black this time, but the chai spices didn’t resteep well, it’s like they aren’t balanced now. Cinnamon and clove heavy on the second steep.
Sorry Verdant, this doesn’t work for me. :((

Tea 16 Great Canadian Traveling Tea Box

Pleasantly surprised. The maple and green tea work really well together. Considering that I’m not really a green tea person, this is really a nice little tea. No bitterness from the base, nice sweet maple flavor. Not artificial. Thumbs up.