Art of Tea

Backlog:

Thank you Azzrian for sending me some of this tea.

I liked it, but it was still a bit disappointing to me. I didn’t taste butterscotch. I tasted white tea, cinnamon and pepper. I like cinnamon, pepper, and white tea … so it tasted good. But it didn’t taste like butterscotch, and I really wanted it to. The earthiness of the white tea melded quite nicely with the earthy tones of the spice notes. But there just wasn’t enough butterscotch to this to make me happy.

A tea that is called Butterscotch should taste … well, like butterscotch.

Sipdown, 197. Hmmm just noticed that my past two teas have been “happy” themed. Maybe I am trying to subconciously improve my mood since I had to get up early and I have a headache. :P Thanks to GiggleGoddess for this sample.

I was curious about this tea because it is a guyusa, and I wanted to see how it compares to Butiki’s guyusa blends. Not that I am looking for a replacement, but more just curiosity. As for steeping parameters, I can understand them for guyusa and green rooibos, but I just realized there’s also jasmine green tea in this blend. Glad I dropped the steep temp to Stacy’s for guyusa.

Woah this tea is getting very dark very fast, but it smells pretty tasty. It’s got that green, leafy guyusa smell, but it also smells sweet and fruity as well. It smells like strawberries, but even though it doesn’t smell like fresh strawberries, it’s not quite candy either. More like macerated strawberries you would get with strawberry shortcake.

This is pretty tasty! Very strawberry, but surprisingly I like it considering I am usually not the biggest fan of strawberry flavor. The guyusa keeps the strawberry from getting to sugary/candy sweet, and gives it a green note that works well. The hibiscus and rose hips in this must be pretty subtle because I can’t really tell that they are in there. There is maybe a hint of tartness in some sips but again that helps cut down on what could be an overly tooth-aching flavor. Anyway, this is a pretty tasty blend and it reminds me that I should pick up some more guyusa blends.

Backlog from last night. Sipdown, 199. Yeah, I added all my recent swaps into my cupboard and it ended up at exactly 200! Haha awesome. And I was able to quickly drop back down to below 200 last night. This one comes to me thanks to GiggleGoddess.

I was interested in this tea even though I am not a big fan of rooibos because it had quite a few good reviews. I was pleased that it didn’t smell medicinally like rooibos gets for me often. It mostly smelled sweet and fruity. I thought it tasted pretty authentically pear-ish, with definite rooibos background but not enough to be annoying. At first I thought this was caramel pear, not caramelized pear, so I was thinking that it wasn’t quite matching up because I didn’t get any caramel flavor. But caramelized pear is a different ball game, that is a sugary baked pear, and that I could definitely see here. Still not a tea that I would pick up to drink regularly in the evenings, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

I stared at my tea cupboard for awhile in a daze this morning. I still can’t taste much so I needed something strong flavored. I really wanted something spicy but the only truly spicy tea I have is the Butiki’s Winter fire, but I wanted something rich and possibly chocolaty. I thought about going crazy and mixing a few together but knew I’d end up with something too strange to enjoy. Suddenly I saw a tiny little sample tin in my sample drawer that I barely ever notice anymore because its made with chocolate and puehr. Two things I thought I didn’t like.

It was finally time to give this one a go. And man. This is a keeper. It is very similar in it’s bready cinnamon quality to my new favorite cinnamon swirl bread, but then has a thick chocolatey layer on top. And the best of all, it has some chili’s in there to add some kick. Nothing nearly as hot as winter’s fire (which I really enjoy) but the flavor is there and lingers just a bit. I really like this and will be adding it to my regulars list. I can imagine sitting by a fire during a rainstorm (I wish it was snow, but in Oregon, we get rain) and sipping on this all night. Love.

Update: Steep #2 Not as spicy or chocolaty, but still very cinnamony.

My cold brew of the day before I dash off to lab where we’re going to race apple snails. This one smells very rooibos-y in the bag, and the flavor is still there in the tea. It’s not as mediciney as some that I’ve had. It actually doesn’t taste too bad, and I wouldn’t mind it much except that it feels like it’s covering up the other flavors. I get blueberry, especially in the aftertaste. And I feel like there’s a bit of creamy sweetness going on here, but nothing that I would call cheesecake. I have enough to try this hot, so I’ll have to do that soon and compare.

So this will be my third steeping. It tastes fine. It’s just a bit weaker then the first two steepings. I still don’t taste the banana or honeydew melon…but it’s still pleasant and very smooth.

Woohoo! So I’m the first to actually review this one it seems:)

This tea actually tastes pretty good. The dry leaves smell warm and woody. Once brewed it smells woody as well. It tastes like some kind of nut…it reminds me of autumn. I can’t put my finger on the flavor…it’s not banana bread or the melon…perhaps it’s the acorn squash? Yes…I say it’s definitely a squash flavor profile on this first steeping…thank goodness I like squash lol! It’s very unique and comforting. I’ll update with follow up steepings.

This is a quite interesting tea. At first I couldn’t taste anything, then the more sips I took I noticed a vegetal flavor…very light. It has a delicate smell and taste. A little woody. Not bad at all. It’s very smooth too.

Alright well I did a 2nd steeping. I don’t think pu-erhs are my thing. Tastes just like the 1st steeping…just slightly weaker. I still taste earthy mushrooms, lol.

I’m not sure if pu-erhs are my cup of tea, lol. I just had my first steep of this and it’s VERY earthy. Kind of a weird flavor for a tea…but I haven’t tasted every kind of tea there is to compare. It smells earthy too. After steeping it and waiting a little bit for it to cool off all I can taste is an earthiness and at the end there’s a note of mushrooms. It’s the oddest thing, lol! I’m going to re-steep it later b/c others say it tastes better the 2nd and 3rd go around. Hopefully it’s ok if it sits until tomorrow? Anybody know how re-steeping works? I’m not rating this at this time since I’m not sure how to give it a fair chance until re-steeping.

The dry leaves smell light and airy…delicate like. Once steeped it has a slight rich earthiness to it. Pretty good but I think I still prefer Assam black as my mainstay.

2nd steeping is pretty good as well…just a little bit lighter then the first.

Backlogging…
After making this I can’t taste any hints of orange:( It’s an ok tea but I was expecting more. It’s also slightly calming.

Backlogging…

I had my first cup today…it smells amazing! I could definitely smell the strawberries…the smell ALONE makes me happy:) I could taste the fruitiness mostly once it was brewed. I wish it was a little sweeter (perhaps if they put in stevia leaves in the blend it would make it yummier?) I can’t remember all the fine/little tasting notes of the tea so I’ll keep this review short and SWEET. I’ll increase my rating points by a few for just the smell alone.

I’m not a big fan of this one…I was hoping I would be but it isn’t to my taste. It smells like fig newtons dry (I kinda like that) but after it’s brewed it tastes mostly of rooibos and something else fruity. It’s a little sweet. I’m glad I got to try it though:)

Another one of my teas that I tried early on and didn’t much care for. I thought I didn’t like oolong, but this is the 2nd oolong that I’ve had in the last couple days and I think I’ve definitely developed a taste for it. This one has a great vanilla flavor in the first steep, a buttery cream flavor in the second, the last one has lost the buttery-ness, but it’s still pretty good. I’m glad I’m trying out the oolongs again. I’m really enjoying them!

Packaging: “blooming, expanding, connecting” my favourite line on the package. It’s part of their logo and I think it does a great job at explaining exactly why they are here. Tea was delivered in a resealable stand up pouch labelled with the information about the tea (description, ingredients, steep time)

First Sip Thought: “Where’d the vanilla go?”

Smell: The dried leaves have an exquisite natural vanilla scent to them. I would say I enjoy the scent of the leaves before they are steeped better than afterwards. It’s not a horrible smell, but after filling the space with a sweet aroma it’s definitely a change to have something smell complete opposite.

Taste: I call this blend a tease because it smells like it will have a really sweet taste from the overpowering smell of vanilla but it does not. I feel like the natural vanilla scent kind of disappeared, and I could no longer smell or even taste it. However, you can definitely taste a smooth, rich blend of the lemon myrtle and marigolds. I have never tried this combination in any form before and was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I thought I would be disappointed after realizing it didn’t taste how it first smelled but it ended up being a great blend to sit and enjoy while getting my creative mind running on high speed.

www.theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca

Happy Tea Makes me Happy!

I’m a huge guayusa fan. I’ve been drinking it for over a year. Every morning I mix plain guayusa with other teas. It’s great to see that Art of Tea is mixing guayusa with other teas and flavors—now I don’t have to!
This particular blend is amazing; and my first Art of Tea tea that I’ve tried. I can’t wait to try more. I really enjoy the fruit flavor-it does not have that artificial fruity taste that I detect in other teas. Thank you for making this blend. I hope Art of Tea continues to expand their guayusa flavors.

Finally finished off my bag of this that is well over a year old. I really enjoyed it. It’s aptly named. It’s a classic rich black tea that, in my opinion, is best with cream and honey. I would probably reorder this (and may in the future) but I have so many morning black teas I need to get through before I even think of buying more. Especially teas I drink with milk and honey. They all end up tasting pretty similar anyway. Now unique black teas I drink plain, I can always squeeze one more in my cupboard …

After trying many vanilla teas, a black vanilla tea was the first tea that got me interested in loose leaf tea, this one has been my go to for awhile. The vanilla doesn’t have an artificial taste to it and the black tea is strong enough to stand up to it. The little white stars are cute, but I could take them or leave them.

The aroma of this tea was intoxicating as soon as the hot water hit it. I love a good vanilla oolong and this certainly smelled like one. The taste was sweetly floral with heavy doses of cream and a hint of citrus in the finish. I was definitely still able to taste the greenness of the pouchong base.

This is one of the most beautiful teas I’ve tasted. The dry leaves and flowers are just lovely.

This is the strongest coconut flavored tea I’ve tasted. It has almost a buttery feel on my tongue. Loving it :)

I think it would make an excellent latte or iced tea.

Update: Made a foamy tea latte with second steeping. Yum!

Very nice Earl Grey. Pleasant aroma, good flavor, sweet aftertaste.

Very light color, looks like a white tea.

Nose is sweet, honeysuckle.

Flavor is very light — would brew it 5 min next time. Small bite aftertaste.