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The first time I have a new black tea I like to try it plain first, even though I usually put milk and sometimes honey into mine. It’s sort of so I get an idea about the flavour without anything else messing with my perception. Yeah, I’ve got it all down to a science. ;)

This one is pretty plain actually, the Ceylon base is mostly what I taste, although there are sweet hints of maple syrup. It’s not harsh-tasting, other than that it’s a pretty generic Ceylon.

Mmm, that’s better. I used a lot less tea and cut back the steeping time and that improved things immesurably. One thing I’ve been wondering is if this tea is a gyokuro? It doesn’t say anything about it in the tea’s description, but the I’m sure I read that the process of shading the tea (as described here) was what produced the gyokuro’s flavour.

The tea has a smooth, savoury flavour that tappers off into a mildly grassy aftertaste, not nearly as grassy as most Japanese teas tend to be, though. The savory flavour is quite strong, almost like a slightly salty broth – miso soup maybe. Okay not quite, but you get the idea.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a Indian white tea before so I was interested to see if it tasted anything like the Chinese version. The resulting brew was light and very fresh-tasting with the hint of sweetness. Some white teas are so light that they’re almost like water, but this is very distinctly ‘tea’. Its flavour notes are of fruit rather than the walnut notes I get from a good-quality Bai Mu Dan; this makes me think of unripe melon and maybe a bit of diluted lemon. Very unique.

The dry tea smells like cucumber – which I think is the dried aloe vera bits talking – but as it steeps it gradually changes to a citrusy scent that made me think Neo Citron a bit.

It’s has a light, slightly herbal flavour with a bit of the cucumbery aloe vera notes (though nowhere near the strength you’d get from Adagio’s White Cucumber – thankfully). There are also traces of citrus fruits and I can even taste what might be kiwi after the tea’s had a chance to cool a touch.

I imagin that this could make a decent iced tea – green rooibos seems to lend itself to that sort of thing. Hot, it makes a light, soothing evening drink that doesn’t blow my mind, but that I still find enjoyable.

That’s the end of this sample packet – I found that it was an interesting alternative to the usual nutty-tasting Chinese green teas. Despite its sour flavour I have noticed that it gets a bit sweeter as the tea cools off a bit, so it does have some redeeming qualities which was I why I didn’t completely slag this tea. ;)

“Mmmm, chocolate…” is my first thought when I opened the package. It’s not just chocolate though, there’s a richer, nutty scent as well. I’m glad that there was no actual coffee involved in the making of this tea because my stomach is quite sensitive to it. It doesn’t quite taste like mocha either, more like Nutella in diluted liquid form or something. I’m also not getting that distinct herbal flavour that I get with green mate so i think going with the roasted version for this blend was a good move.

This tea could easily become addictive, I fear. ;)

I think I may have used too much leaf for this cuppa – what seemed like an ordinary-sized scoop when dry expanded into what looked like twice the proper amount when I added the water. There’s a distinctly bitter bite in each sip that doesn’t sound anything like the ‘sweet, buttery’ flavour other people have been talking about in their reviews.

The resteep @ 45 seconds is not bitter but it’s a little bit weak and watery.

Meh, I’ll have to try this again before I actually rate it.

This tea is being reviewed for Mike Morton’s tea log – It’s All About the Leaf. Check it out right here: http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/

This tea’s appearence intrigues me – long, thin tightly-twisted leaves of black and gold that have a sweet, malted scent. The tes tastes quite light – no surprise considering the steeping parameters. Yet it still has a full, distinct flavour that doesn’t come across as weak or watery at all. It’s malty with a bit of bakeyness and a surprisingly smooth and sweet character for a black tea. It reminds me a bit of Yunan teas that I’ve drank, but in comparison those were harsher, less refined cousins of this delicious tea.

EDIT:
Okay that took a bit longer than I thought it would – I had a hideous headache and had to go to bed. The resteep of this tea is less sweet than the first one but it still carried distintive malty notes. The taste almost reminds me of Ovaltine – that classic malt drink.

I’m really enjoying this tea, it’s a great find and I glad I got Mike to send me some to review. I’ll certainly be sad when my little sample is gone.

This is a very traditional chai in terms of taste and character with cinnamon and cardamom being the primary notes. It never goes over the line of being too spicy, instead it’s a nice, soothing drink with a bit of a bite – just enough to warm me up on a cold winter morning.

I’ve had this random single-serving packet of matcha that I got in some trade or other kicking around in my cupboard for awhile. I eventually figured out, based on the pictures, that this came from Rishi so I followed their hot matcha preparation recipe on their website which called for using 4-5 oz of 75°C water per packet of tea.

Let me say right away that this makes for a very concentrated cup of matcha. It was so bitter and grassy that I added a bunch of water after the fact. So in the end it was probably more like 6+ oz of water. Even with the extra water the tea in my bowl still looked murky and thick – I did manage to get it to froth up nicely even with my dinky little metal wisk, which thrilled me. But it kept its harsh, grassy flavour which made drinking it feel more like eating broccoli or something else that you know is ‘good for you’ but that you’re not really thrilled to be eating. Despite all my wisking it also left quite a lot of gritty residue at the bottom of the bowl which made the last few sips kind of nasty.

I find I’m not really impressed with Rishi’s take on this classic Japanese tea – I’ve cerainly had much better plain matcha prepared for me when I was in Vancouver. This matcha is better off used to make lattes or mixed into smoothies, in my opinion, rather than prepared the traditional way.