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Rounds 2 and 3

The second time I steeped the leaves – for 3:30 mins – the lychee flavour was considerably fainter, with the oolong base being more distinct. It made the steeping taste quite bakey.

The third steeping at 4:30 mins is pretty weak, though interestingly the sweet lychee flavour is back a little bit.

So not really a tea that’s good for the long haul; I probably wouldn’t steep this more than twice.

Another tea from the Travelling Teabox (I’ll send it out soon, I promise – I’ve just been so busy with school) this one from the mythical Lupicia whose teas, alas, I can’t get ahold of given that they don’t ship north of the border.

The tea smells like lychees, a fruit I’m rather ambivalent about, but at least it lends credence to the tea’s name. It brews up a surprisingly dark cuppa and it smells more like what a dark formosa oolong would smell like. The tea is sweet and fruity, the flavour of the oolong meshing nicely with the lychee. It’s quite nice, I’ll be resteeping the leaves and seeing how that goes.

I was surprised at how low the recommended water temperature for this tea was on the package. I understand the importance of not scalding a green tea, but usually I only brew gyokuros at such a low temp.

I like the idea of apple and coriander flavoured tea. Coriander is something I like using in cooking, either in the form of seeds or in the form of leaves (cilantro). Unfortunately, I found it tasted rather weak with the apple and coriander flavours quite faint. I think the low temperature is at least partially responsible, so I’m not going to rate this tea until I adjust the steeping parameters.

I picked this up at the healthfood store – I’ve tried hot mate and thought it decent but I’ve never had it iced. Apparently it’s quite a popular way to drink it in South Amercia, though I’m not sure if they bother with all the sugar that’s in this.

And sweet it is – there’s less sugar in it than in bottled iced tea or pop, but 20g of sugar is still a fair bit. I tasted most of the sweetness at the start of each sip, as I swallowed it took on a herbal, sort of woody taste. It left almost a smokey aftertaste in my mouth, interestingly.

It’s interesting and I’m glad I tried it for variety, but it’s not going to be my go-to cold drink or anything.

8:30 am class this morning and I needed something with a bit of a kick – so a robust Assam seemed like a good idea. It’s definitely stronger and has more body than Twining’s English Breakfast and I can taste a bit of that characteristic malty Assam flavour. The tea maybe isn’t as flavourful as I might like, but at this hour I’m not inclined to be too picky.

*Grumble, grumble * I hate PMS *Grumble, grumble *

I don’t expect this to be a magical cure or anything, but one of its main ingredients is raspberry leaf which I’ve drunk before on its own for hormonal issues and found it helped somewhat. I was a bit leery of the ‘vitex’ or chasteberry which, despite being touted as a cure-all, can also have some unpleasant side-effects – usually only in high, continuous does however, so I figure I’m pretty safe.

The dry tea smells like cinnamon while it changes to a fruitier, more herbal scent as it steeps. The cinnamon is still there in the flavour though it’s fairly mild. In general the tea tastes sweetly herbal with slight hints of sweet lemon and berry. Unlike many of these ‘functional’ teas this one doesn’t taste nasty, which I can appreciate.

This came my way in the Travelling Teabox and since my tea cupboard is sadly lacking in Earl Grey right now, I decided to try it.

Looking at the leaves I think there must be some of Adagio’s Earl Grey Bravo in there (I can see the pieces of citrus peel and the blue cornflower petals) so at first I was nervous that it would be horribly strong. As it turns out it wasn’t that at all – the bergamot flavouring was nice and mild. It’s nothing mind-blowing but it’s a good, solid tea – so kudos to whoever made it, they did a good job. :)

Yup, another one out of the Travelling Teabox – at this rate it’ll take me forever to go through it. :D

As it turns out it’s not super pear-y; I think pear is another one of those flavours that is difficult to replicate, as I have yet to find a company who has it spot-on. This tea takes a decent stab at it, however. It’s delicately fruity without tasting artificial and there are vague pear notes, although in general I gotta say that it’s more of an indistinct fruit flavour than anything else. The green tea base is decent as well; not too bitter, and subtle enough so that it acts as an accessory to the fruit flavours rather than overwhelming them.

It yields a resteep that isn’t weak or watery, which is a point in its favor – lots of teas are great tasting for the first round but the resteep is total fail.

Keeping this one. :D

I seem to have developed a craving for mint-flavoured green teas (mint madness anyone?). This one is quite a vegetal-tasting green – it’s GREEN with capital letters – though I think this characteristic is at least partially enhanced by the mint.

The last Oooli tea that I drank intrigued me, so when I saw them on sale in the health food store today I decided to try one of the other flavours (I think I saw four different ice tea flavours on the shelf from this company).

Lemon-flavoured iced tea is relatively common – lemon flavoured jasmine iced distinctly less so, however. It sounds a bit odd, almost contradictory, to mix a sweet, floral tea with the sour, acidic flavour of lemon; but oddly enough it works. The flavours mix into a cool, refreshing drink that isn’t ‘too’ anything. The jasmine isn’t overpowering and nor is the green tea bitter as are many iced green teas that use cheap greens for their bases. The lemon adds a subtle sour bite that contrasts nicely with the jasmine.