985 Tasting Notes
Tea of the afternoon today, too!
I have a lovely friend that makes us pizzelles every year during the holiday season. This was my treat for the afternoon, so I was looking for an elegant tea to go along side….. The SoHo Blend was perfect. This is a tea I was trying to blend for myself over at a vendor that is known for its custom blends, but I could not come up with something I loved due to the quality of the tea. This blend is perfect. In fact, since I had to order some Hot Cinnamon Spice for a friend, I added on a whole pound of this to the order. Yum. And I will always be drowning in good tea!
Usual cup method with one sachet.
Once the holidays are over, I can offer a few samples! Any takers? (Edit to add, I will do at least 6!)
Preparation
Tea of the afternoon…..
And day 15 of 24…. This one is from Uniquity, and I have to say this one is so worth the try if anyone gets the chance! Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I love that I have had the opportunity to try teas from all over.
I definitely get a wine taste with this one. It is lovely (I am usually a dry red drinker if I partake). I also get hints of pear and berry, but they are fairly seamlessly blended with the wine flavor so that there is not a great distinction that they are there. The black tea base is good, and there are no hints of bitterness or astringency. I did a slightly shorter steep than usual, and it works…. Yum!
Usual mug method for 3 minutes.
Preparation
Tea of the evening…..
And day 14 of 24. I think this one came from JacquelineM, but I am not positive. Apologies if I am wrong….and thank you if I am not! (How’s that for sounding completely batty?……)
This one is more hibiscus than I like, BUT I am drinking it without sweetener. I am not really sure I have done that with an herbal like this before. I do get raspberry flavor, but very little in the realm of vanilla, because the hibiscus overpowers the cup a little too much. Why, oh why to herbal tea blenders go so heavy on the hibiscus? Really, it ends up tasting quite a bit like lemonade. And it might actually be very nice for those days when you have a sore throat.
8 oz boiling water, 1 teabag, 5 minutes. No additions.
Preparation
Tea of the afternoon……
New tea! If you like Harney’s chocolate teas and coconut, this tea is definitely for you. I knew I would love it, so I bought a tin of sachets just because….. The tea itself is beautiful as it has amaranth petals in it, and it smells heavenly. Another wonderful detail……the design of the tin makes me feel as if I am back in the SoHo shop. The colors and styling of the tin mimic that of the shop. (Nicely done!) The tea is just as good as I imagined it would be….think of Harney chocolate tea with a hint of coconut. Yum. I will definitely buy more when my tin is gone.
Usual teapot method using 2 sachets.
Preparation
Tea of the afternoon…..
And Day #13 of 24….. This one comes to me from Uniquity. Thank you! (I do really like this one!)
Blueberry black tea goodness. The tea base is pleasant, and the taste of warm blueberries is bringing back the memories of this blueberry crisp I made over the summer after taking my kids to a U-pick blueberry place. It was heavenly!
Usual mug method.
Preparation
Tea of the morning……
And tea #12 of 24….half-way there! I am not completely certain who sent this one. (It was probably QuiltGuppy, LOL!) One other thing that is interesting about this tea…it looks as if it was a free sample sent out by thepuritea (I am not saying this to infer that I care how the sample was originally obtained….stay with me….) On the label it says it is strawberry black…and under that it says SpecialTeas. It is definitely in a small silver sleeve that says thepuritea. I am now wondering if SpecialTeas was the source of some of the teas at thepuritea. I feel safe mentioning it now, as it is unlikely that this tea will be sourced from SpecialTeas at this point since it is out of stock at thepuritea and SpecialTeas has now been absorbed into Teavana. I just love a tea mystery……
Good basic strawberry tea. The tea base is pleasant enough. And I guess I had better enjoy this as it is not likley that I can get more like it!
Usual mug method….
Preparation
You mentioning this reminded me that in my last order from thepuriTea, I got a free sample of a blooming tea in their usual silver sleeves like all the other samples, but this one says “Specialteas” on the sticker label. I wonder if they are trying to clear out older SpecialTeas stock.
It could be! It really is too bad that SpecialTeas is no more. I never did get around to ordering from them, and then they were gone. I imagine wholesale customers were just as bummed as retail customers!
The tea isn’t from SpecialTeas =)
SpecialTeas used to be the category our flavored and blooming teas were organized under on the old site. Since the redesigned, we dropped the category but still had the old labels.
=)
If you have any other questions about us, just email me directly. [email protected]
Cheers,
Nav
Tea of the evening…..
And day #11 of 24. This is a sample that was sent to me by Jillian. Thank you again for the unique teas you sent! You definitely had a part in encouraging my David’s addiction….
This one is the most unique rooibis I have had to date….. It has sprinkles. There are orange jimmies and black cats. The brewed up tea kind of looks a dark murky green. And it really reminds me of the taste of melted popsicles. I don’t mean that to sound bad in any way, because this definitely took me back to my childhood when I would try to get every last drop of juice left from eating a freezer pop. You know….the ones that come in the plastic tube. I get fruit flavors and it really does not taste like a rooibos at all, which for me is a plus. This is a fun tea!
Teapot method with a 7 minute steep.
Preparation
Tea of the morning…..
Since this one was out from blending up Jenn’s Bilbo’s Darkside, I decided to have this one for my morning tea today. I do remember how much I love this one…hot or cold. Bold berry flavor with a sweet-tartness……
Usual teapot method.
Preparation
Tea of the afternoon……
Since I had all of the components of this blend created by Jenn, I had to give it a try! The only sub I had to make was Harney’s Valentine Tea for the Chocolate tea. This is good! I get the black currants and chocolate, and then the vanilla just smooths it all together. I will definitely be mixing this up again!
Teapot usual method…..
Preparation
YOU MADE IT :) Well, it actually sounds like you made it even better by adding Harney’s Valentine tea. Now Bilbo’s Dark Side even more complex!
I meant to type “Now Blibo’s Dark Side IS even more complex”. I’m a typo machine…
Of course I made it…..the Harney fan in me just has to attempt anything that pays homage to the Tolkien nerd in me! Two of my obsessions rolled into one! Bliss! :D
Tea of the afternoon……
And tea #10 of 24. This one was sent by QuiltGuppy for my green tea and oolong self education. Thank you so much for sending this one as it is my first Moroccan mint! I also don’t think I have had a gunpowder green on its own, so this is completely new.
I love the refreshing flavor of the mint. I am trying to drink this one as is. It kind of reminds me (in my limited scope of mint green teas…) of Candy Cane Lane but more like real tea as it has much more body and fewer flavors to distract from the green. I expected the color of the tea to be lighter, but it is a light caramel color. Maybe it is more in line with other gunpowders….I have a sample of just gunpowder green that I will have to try for comparison. All in all, a refreshing tea and a great afternoon pick me up.
15 oz. mug, just over 2 tsp tea blend, 180 water, 3 minutes.
I’ll take! It sounds wonderful. If I weren’t drowning in tea (and getting more for christmas) I’d buy some of the SoHo blend.
Oh my I would love a sample… I am always a sucker for chocolate and coconut!
Ooo, I would love to try it!