558 Tasting Notes
I can’t remember if it was Soccermom or AmazonV who sent me a generous sample of this tea. Thank you so much for passing along some of this highly rated tea to me! I’m glad I finally had an evening which called for a rooibos.
The smell of this tea alone reminds me of warm summer evenings sipping pina coladas, rum and diets or any other sinful drink. So much coconut!
The taste is divine. I love how much coconut flavor shines through in this. It reminds me of my aunts coconut dream bars that she brought to my bridal shower last summer. Of coconut pudding. It is sweet. I think this is an excellent pairing for red rooibos. Must get more! (but must wait until May or later as I need space in the cupboard and room in the wallet).
Preparation
Brewed up 12oz with 2 full leaf sachets, 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp milk. Great pairing with my cinnamon swirl coffeecake this morning. Wish I had more coffeecake! I like this Chai blend more and more. It is my staple and I haven’t found a better replacement yet. Yum!
hmmm… 1tsp milk? I either go 1:1 or 2:1 milk to water ratio- doesn’t it just taste like insanely watery spiced milk then? For the longest time I even thought 1:1 tasted watery.
I know I like this tea black, but wanted to try it with a splash of milk and some sugar like I drink my Earl Grey. I haven’t enjoyed the stovetop chai recipe with the few chai’s I’ve tried. Although the method made my Adagio Oriental Spice tea taste amazing. So just experimenting to find what I like. Oh, and I guess it helped that the only milk I had was half and half so it was deliciously creamy. And I have issues with dairy so I don’t like to do full chai lattes. Sorry if that was too long, and hope it made some sense. I’m in an allergy haze today.
“the only milk I had was half and half”… I love how you consider half and half milk:) Yes, that would make a difference. I sometimes add 1tsp-1TB of coffee creamer to my chais when I don’t have milk. I can definitely see why you wouldn’t want to overdo dairy. I just personally don’t like the “splash method”. I’m currently in love w/ Fat Free Smart Balance milk. I was raised on skim so the texture never bothered me, but this makes it so creamy dreamy delicious. They do have a lactose free version you might be interested in.
I’ve never tried lactose free milk. I’ve had soy and non dairy creamers, and occasionally (on days off, like today) drink the milk and put up with it. I may have to try that. Is Smart Balance the one people were saying has fish oil in it due to the omega-3? If so can you taste it?
There is a very light “different” taste and aroma to it if you drink it plain, but it does NOT taste fishy like pu erh, fish, or even fish pills. I do not like regular milk plain, but don’t like this milk less than regular milk, so that’s saying something. It’s so faint that I’m not sure you could detect it if you didn’t know it was there or if you did, I don’t think you could definite it. I’ve had it (in a 1:1 ratio to water) in coffee, chai, and chocolate pu erh and have found it nothing short of wonderful. And I haven’t burped it up- and I always burp up fish and fish pills.
Thanks for telling me more about it. I’ll have to look for it at my local grocer’s. I don’t do milk plain either. Just in recipes and in a few teas. Glad to know that it doesn’t have the same affect on you as fish/fish pills. That helps calm my fears a bit.
mmm chai
I think I need more chai. Once I get in a chai kick it stays for awhile. Ebbs and flows though as I haven’t had it in about a month!
oh my! i have one every day, in fact the girls at starbucks get worried and think i’m ill if i am not in by 11 am!
Thank you Doulton for sending a sample of this my way. I like the lightly spicy notes to it. I think I may have over steeped a bit, as it is a tad bit bitter, but the spices are nice. I think I prefer Oriental Spice from Adagio as my go to spice tea, but this tea is pleasant on the tongue.
Brewed up a large glass of this iced today (quick brew method over ice). I’m impressed at how naturally sweet this tea is, no need to add anything to it. The currant flavor came out strong to play in this iced tea. I’m loving it! I think I’ll need another pouch to get through summer. I hope they will reblend this one if their is enough demand, must keep in stock!
Preparation
I SHOULD tell you, “oh no, this one is going to sell out and be gone forever, order it now while you can,” but I think if this sells out, I will have to reblend it just so I can keep some in my OWN cupboard. :) This is (I may have mentioned elsewhere) my new favorite. I could drink this all day. It’s really a shame it has not been as big a seller as some of our other blends. Some folks are really missing out.
Stop making me want this tea! I have no room in my tea cupboard! NO ROOM!
But it is jus’ a tiny little pouch. It is vafer thin…
tea cupboard explodes
LOL. I’m glad someone caught the reference. I was thinking I did a terrible job trying to imitate a French accent in text.
Tea Earl Grey, Hot.
This Earl Grey has a clearly bergamot flavor. The black tea base is tasty. The two together are pretty good. I do think I like my Earl Grey Creme’s better than plain old Earl. This was pretty good alone, held up to milk well also. Lupica’s is still my go to Earl Grey with Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme coming up a close second.
This tea was the perfect dessert tea pairing with my dark chocolate square this evening. The aroma is a sweet caramel, very enticing. I haven’t had a caramel tea that smelled this good since the Spring I spent in Toulouse, France. My host family had a wonderful caramel tea that I had at least twice a day, and haven’t found a replacement for yet!
I taste a slight bit of wood on the tip of my tongue on some sips. I’m definitely getting the caramel, more so in the aftertaste then in the immediate taste. There is a slightly nutty flavor too if I swirl the tea around in my mouth a bit. I have to have more of this tea! I hope for a few more steeps tonight. Then I must make some room in my cupboard as this is definitely getting ordered again! Thank you GM for introducing me to your teas through a wonderful sampler!
This makes a flavorful iced tea. I thought it was a bit bitter the first glass, but it has really grown on me. I’m going to be sad when this tea runs out, but happy that they still have some in stock!!! Great summer tea.
I love the aroma this tea gives off both in the dry and wet leaves. Ahhh :) A very calming vanilla with a bit of floral jasmine. I just wish I could drink this tea, I think I royally messed it up. I brewed with boiling water for 4:30 (says to do 3-5min on the silver armour). The taste was so astringent in my 12oz mug that I took very few sips. A few while scalding hot, a few slightly cooler and a few much cooler. I just don’t like this tea, but I don’t think it’s the tea’s fault. I think I’ll keep my jasmine teas of the green variety and skip black jasmines altogether.
Preparation
Finally getting around to trying this highly rated sample from Ricky.
The aroma surprises me a bit. It smells salty, a bit like steamed rice, a nice fancy jasmine rice with a hint of coconut milk.
It tastes like creamy coconut milk, a lighter version of the rich, creamy coconut milk, but coconut milk nonetheless. I’m still getting a bit of rice taste, but might just be from smelling while tasting.
I have a 2nd steep cooling to try iced. I don’t know how to rate this one. I think I’ll have to try it again. I don’t think this is one I’ll need to own, but it could grow on me.
Had a delightful mug of this at the Pickwick Society when I stopped there with friends last night. The aroma was so enticing, such succulent berries with a bit of a sparkling note that just catches and pulls you in. The tea was very lightly flavored and did well to hydrate me. I ended up choosing a friends tea (blueberry white tea) to take home though, as it was much more flavorful and fragrant than the surprisingly simple taste of the Raspberry Champagne. I may pick up a tin of this loose leaf after I finish the blueberry.
Coconut Dream Bars?? Those sound yum!
I love this rooibos blend.