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It’s been awhile since I drank this tea so I thought it could stand a revisit. It’s really the only one of the Savoury Teas set that I really like and might actually consider buying again. It’s a nice mix of fruity and tangy in a decent green tea base. Actually it tastes like it could be something that would make a neat tea cocktail – maybe I’ll try that one day.

Thank you Meghann for giving me a sample of this tea to try.

I went for a rather light steep this first time and had it without milk. That seems to have become “standard operating procedure” for tasting a new black tea – having it steeped lightly and plain first and the next time steeping it stronger and adding some milk.

This tea came out nutty-tasting, intermingled with the smooth sweetness of vanilla which becomes more prominent as the tea get cooler. The flavour is a little faint, but that’s likely due to the steeping time, but what I can taste I’m liking.

I got this tea on sale at my local health food store, not realizing until I got home that the ‘rose’ part actually referred to rose of sharon – the dreaded hibiscus. Still, in the interests of trying something new I decided to give this tea a chance.

It’s packaged in rather large teabags, unlike most mates I’ve comes across, so the convenience is nice. The bags smell citrusy and herbal with a bit of a tea-like odor and hints of something spicy. That seemed promising so I followed the steeping direction, brewing the bag in a 10 oz coffee mug for 5 min at 90ºC (boiling water apparently can ruin yerba mate).

Unfortunately my worst fears were realized and the tea turned out to be mouth-puckeringly tart, the citrus and hibiscus forming an unholy alliance in my mouth. The mate is only faintly detectable as a herbal undertone, but it’s not really there all that much. I’ll try lowering the steeping time, but right now I can’t say I’m impressed.

I gave this cup a longer steeping, but interestingly enough I’m noticing that if I steep the tea longer the flavour of the honeybush base becomes more prominent and sort of overtakes the “rootbeer float” flavourings.

I got this tea from Doulton a while back (I think…correct me if I’m wrong). The tea smells quite chai-ish, slightly sweet and gingery, and slightly spicy. The taste was a bit disappointing though, being rather harsh and not terribly flavourful. The ginger’s really only a hint, I’d have like to be able to taste it a bit more readily.

Sorry Doulton, but this tea isn’t getting much love from me. :(

I added some agave nectar this morning and the sweetness of the nectar, along with some skim milk, seemed to bring out the strawberry and rose a little bit.

Sorry guys, I’m not that verbose when I first get up.

It’s not often that I see iced teas with an oolong base so that caught my eye when I was looking through the drinks in my local health food store for something interesting to quench my thirst. As a bonus it’s low in sugar (only 4g in this one compared to the 30g(!) you’ll usually find in your generic Lipton Brisk).

I can taste right away that they used a dark oolong for the base; it’s not a bad oolong either, with slightly roasted, bakey notes and no unpleasant astringency. The mango and passion fruit flavours are rather subtle, and I find myself wishing that they were maybe a touch stronger. It’s an interesting combination of flavours but it works out to be a rather nice, refreshing, and slightly sweet, all-natural drink.

I actually finished this last night but I was too tired to write a tasting note. I had the last of this tea iced and it was quite good, fresh and crisp, though it could stand to be a bit sweeter – maybe I’ll stir in some agave nectar if I have this tea again.

I’ve been curious about this tea, but I was afraid to actually buy a bag in case I ended up absolutely hating it. Thankfully MeghannM came to my rescue and sent me some of the tea from her collection.

It has a chai-ish scent – I can smell ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, and oooh…is that chocolate?! ;) I can also smell something vaguely piquant, ie. the cayenne pepper, of which by the way there was a slight dusting in the bottom of the bag, so I shook it to mix things up a bit. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of it, but the thing I’ve learned is that a little bit of cayenne can go a long way. The tea smells quite gingery while it’s steeping with an undertone of chocolate.

The taste is significantly different from your traditional chai – there’s a bit of a spiced, chocolatey note at first…and then all of a sudden a little wave of heat hits the tongue, a mix of the cayenne pepper and the ginger I think. I’m drinking it plain right now, but I can imagine that adding milk would tone down the heat a bit. It’s not mouth-scorchingly hot or anything, though I enjoy spicy foods like curries and chilies so that might be colouring my perception a bit.

It the sort of tea to drink slowly, on a cold, wet day to warm the body back up, I think.

This was included as a free sample with my order from Wiseman Tea Co – which I thought was rather nice of them.

The dry leaves smelled delicately fragrant, like damask rose, though their flavour in the tea was slightly muted when compared to other rose teas I’ve had. Still, I’d rather have that than drink tea where the rose is so strong it’s like drinking perfume. The black tea base was mild and unobtrusive, mixing well with the rose while not being completely over-powered.