California Tea House

I like teas that stand out from the crowd, but not just if they are different. They have to be different with a VERY pleasing twist. This is a malty, hearty black tea that I can drink every day.

I read another recent review on this that made me pull my sample out to try. I am sorry to say it just doesn’t appeal to me. It tastes so GREEN. I really don’t like my teas to taste too green. This is probably due to an undeveloped palate, I’m willing to concede. I’m having a hard time making it through the cup. I am sure that nothing is wrong with it, it’s just not a good match for me.

Another tea that was in the HHRound#2 teabox. This had been on my wishlist! I think there were closer to two teaspoons than one though, and I could kind of tell in the resulting flavor, since it was a little brisk. The leaves were small (or crumbled apart by that point) so that didn’t help either. But…

WHOA MELON. They aren’t lying. It tastes like pure cantaloupe! It’s like the Butiki blend. I didn’t see any melon in the dry blend (or yogurt pieces) so it must be the flavoring. So much melon though! Very nice. The second steep had just as much melon flavor, I sipped the cup so fast! The next morning there was a bit left in the mug, but drinking it was very sour for some reason. So this one is winner, just don’t leave it overnight!

Trying this again. It has a nice alcohol like scent full of tirimisu, but when I sip it ends up a little flat. There is a little sweetness to it and then it all goes away. Weird tingling at the back of my throat. Kind of sad.

I finally ordered this tea and it doesn’t taste anything like the sample I pulled from a traveling tea box a while back. It smells like alcohol, exactly like tiramisu, but tastes odd. The sip is very light and has a split second of being floral and the tiramisu flavor comes in on the aftersip. It doesn’t have enough of a base like tiramisu has from the coffee. There is a slick of oil on the top of my tea and side of my cup from the white chocolate chips. This tea is kinda weird and doesn’t at all compare to Teavana’s long gone rooibos tiramisu like I was hoping it would. The search for a replacement goes on.

I have seen this tea on Steepster for a while and have been trying not to get my hopes up that it would taste like Teavana’s long discontinued Tiramisu Treviso rooibos. Then along came a traveling tea box with this stuff in it. As it steeped I could smell a familiar scent. I took out the last of my stash of the Teavana version to compare and it looks promisingly similar! There were a few differences, but that could be due to it being bottom of the tin. Tasting it… it is almost identical! No, it doesn’t really taste like traditional tiramisu, but it does taste like delicious in an evening cup. This one tastes slightly flat which could be due to kicking around in a traveling box for a while, but I * think * I finally found the same tea! I am SO excited and need to order some now! Teavana broke my heart, but California Tea House is teaching me to love again! Thank you to whoever put this tea in the tea box to share! You have no idea how happy you have made me!

Now if I could only find a cookie similar to the discontinued Stella Doro Apricot Peach cookies I used to eat as a kid, my life would be complete!

Hmmm…. light… grassy… melony. It is a strange mix with the grass notes in there. When I sweeten it the grass notes change to more of a tart note and I can imagine the yogurt part better. This is okay, but I’m not taken by it.

From the Here’s Hoping Traveling Tea Box #2

I haven’t had much luck with white teas, but this one is good. The taste is tea and honeydew, and although I don’t get the yogurt flavor there is a smoothness to the tea that could be considered creamy. Not something I’d order for myself, but it is very nice.

Caffeine-Free/Decaf Traveling Tea Box

I’ve been so busy with work, that I haven’t been able to try as many teas out of this traveling box. This reminds me of the many iterations of Della Terra’s Lemon Chiffon except I found this one slightly less lemony and more creamy. Good, but I think I prefer a bit more lemon flavor.

2 tsp + sweetener

Tea #19 from Considering a new TTB
Normally I don’t start the day off with something caffeine free, but this sounded too good to pass up. You can taste the rooibos in it, but the primary flavor is coffee, which was just what I wanted this morning since I missed my weekly coffee date for the third week in a row. It manages to be sweet and creamy and I bet the addition of milk would only make the flavor more realistic. I may have to consider picking some of this up in the future, I haven’t had a chance to order from California Tea House yet.

Ladyfriend gave a small sample of this to me as part of an AdvenTEA calender and I’m finally getting around to drinking it >.>

This tea is so weird to me. I mean, really really really weird. It’s not my first time having a blueberry herbal tea, which is surprising enough in itself from the girl who claimed to heavily disliked blueberries as recently as two or three years ago (I digress). The really surprising thing is that I’m having something called blueberry SYRUP.

I don’t do fruity syrups period. I love pancakes. I have accepted Pan as my personal lord and satyr and he gifted onto me the way of the pancake. I just don’t do fruity syrups. Sugary sticky sweetness + Diabetes = No. Which is why this tea is so strange to me. It honestly tastes like I’m drinking blueberry syrup. I’m expecting my blood glucose level to run high only it’s unsweetened. Huh.

So bottom line. It’s got definite fruity flavor and it’s sweet without being sweetened. Tasty enough and I probably wouldn’t turn down a cup, but I won’t seek it out for myself.

Ooooh, I’m so glad I rustled this out the other day. It’s really quite good. It’s a strong creamy lemon flavor with minimal rooibos flavor.

I need to get some more Lemon Chiffon and do a side by side because this is quite good as well.

Happy 500th note to me!

So I love me some chai. In pretty much every form. This caught my eye as a type I have never tried, and I admit I was surprised. It has a very strong apricot flavor, and is rather tasty. However, much to my surprise, there was very little to no chai spices to be found! No cinnamon taste, which is my favorite! As this stands, it is a tasty flavored black tea. But it would be SO much better if it were spicy, like a chai should be.

Recommended as a flavored black…not recommended as listed.

sooo not my day today. I was supposed to work from home and now my remote access is having issues so i may very well be going in to work only to have my computer taken away from me for the rest of the day and be unable to get work done anyway lol. I had this earlier in the morning and it’s a sipdown. I need to focus on the teas from the ladies in our BBB box since i know that Terri is itching to send it on to me. heh I enjoyed this one a lot, and it makes me want to check out more of the teas at california tea house. thanks tastybrew!

thank you Tastybrew! This is another of the BBB Box offerings that came my way a little while ago. This might? be one of the first teas that i’ve had from the California Tea house and it’s a pretty decent tea. I’m not sure that it knocks any of my top contenders out of the running but it’s a really nice sweet, chocolately, slightly malty sort of cup that suits me quite nicely! Thanks for sharing TB!

aroma is kind of woody and soothing.you can tell by the flavour of the liquor that it was made over a fire kind of roasted. great tea

eek! grab bag tea from the BBB and i’ll go with tastybrew on this one. Not a tea for me. The smell of the brewed tea makes me unhappy and the taste isn’t much better. there’s a “waxy” feeling to this one that makes me not want to drink it at all. oh well, another tea tried! haha

I think this is the last tea I took a small bit out of Momo’s teabox and it’s also a sipdown. There were 2 1/2 teaspoons left so I cringingly used all of it, hoping it didn’t make the cup Bitter-City…

Steep #1 // 2 1/2 min steep
I just cooled the water for around 45 minutes. The description says this is assam mixed with green. It just looks like green tea to me (so does the picture). The flavor isn’t bitter at all! It’s a great combination. The lime and coconut are equal here. The coconut is the sweet creamy kind… think 52Teas big flakey coconut pieces and flavor from ‘Coconut Cream Pie’ (my favorite coconut tea). The lime tastes like actual lime juice, bright and refreshing. I swear I was getting hints of mint, but maybe I’m wrong. Overall, a very nice flavor.

Steep #2 // around 40 min after boiling // 3 min
Another great cup but I think it has lost some of the lime flavor (that is to be expected). I kind of wish I had more of this one! I wish California Tea House didn’t sell their teas in 4 ounce packages as the lowest amount…too many cups of the same tea for me when there are so many teas out there. I’m having fun drinking mostly new-to-me teas lately!! I just realized I had three new teas today! I should work on sipdowns since it seems I like holding onto the last teaspoons of teas.

I’ve had a really weird relationship with this tea. I loved it for a while. And then I didn’t care for it al all, and now I’m back to thinking it’s okay.

I don’t necessarily care for the smell. It smells a bit like boozy rooibos, which isn’t all that attractive. It captures the coffee and dark cocoa (and rum) notes of tiramisu really well though, and has a nice creamy mouthfeel. The taste of rooibos tends to creep into each sip, but it never seems to get too cedar chippy. The aftertaste is rooibos, cocoa, and cream.

While I enjoy this one when I drink it, I won’t necessarily be sad when it’s finally sipped down.

Tea #24 from the Here’s Hoping TTB

I thought this tea had a rather odd smell to it, I’m not sure if it is coming from the flavoring or the yogurt pieces. Once steeped I didn’t notice it nearly as much, I got more of a generic melon scent and flavor. The yogurt pieces never did really melt, although the tea did have a very creamy feel to it, so they do add quite a bit to this blend.

This is another one of those teas that I think I would enjoy much more during warm weather when I could try it iced. As it is, I couldn’t finish the tea hot, I let it cool completely to room temperature. The flavors came out quite a bit more and I found it to be a much more enjoyable cup.

Here’s one from the BBBB Grab bag, courtesy of TastyBrew.
It’s not a bad tea, & the flavor of almond butter (which we eat regularly at my house) is there. It gets better with a little sweetening, but is not something I’d crave. Still worth trying though!

Yay!!! The BBBB arrived! TastyBrew & Sil, you ladies are awesome!
So, this is my first pick from the box, & I’m not gonna give it away until Sil gets the box, but TB’s packaging is fun & novel :)
I’m enjoying this cup, it’s very smooth & satisfying. It’s also a very evenly balanced cup, no real highs or lows, but a very tasty tea.

Tea #7 from Traveling Tea Box C

Unfortunately, I’m sampling things at a much slower pace than I would like. I’ll have to cut my sampling short, but I’ll definitely grab samples of ones I’m interested in.

This one sounds really interesting, and I generally enjoy white teas. Dry, this one smells really weird. Almost a sour smell, but it hasn’t gone bad. No worries, its super tasty! The yogurt isn’t really noticeably there, but I really love the melon (honeydew, I would say) and the white tea together. I think I’ll be keeping this one!