Capital Teas

I like this tea. There’s a good bit of hibiscus so it helps if you enjoy that, but it also contains apples, rosehips, other dried fruit, and lovely calendula petals. The calendula petals are a beautiful sunny contrast to the dark magenta hibiscus, but they don’t do much for taste. However, the apple bits add a softer fruity taste that mellows the hibiscus and rosehip. I find this to be really satisfying combination when I’m craving a fruity hibiscus tisane.

My third bag of tea purchased from Julian tea cottage.
Best way to d describe this tea is “balanced” I can’t seem to find a time when this tea isn’t suitable… bedtime, morning, dinner, and mid-meal; this tea goes with everything. Not particularly flavourful, aside from some love roasted, nutty, mosquito notes, but that’s most likely what gives it this versatility. Very much recommended.

HHTTB #14/18

I had a two cup sample of this tea that I made up tonight. Without trying this tea I was already comparing this to Della Terra’a version. I brewed this up with milk and sugar. This just seemed to be a red rooibos with a hint of lemon. For being a Lemon rooibos it could have used a dose or two more of lemon.

Alright, this is weird. I just clicked on this tea because of how pretty it looked (while I was looking at Yumchaa’s Enchanted Forest tea), and I realized that it has exactly the same ingredients as TeaBar’s (Amsterdam tea company) Zoete Amandel Thee. And it’s a rather unusual ingredient mix, too! What’s up with that? Are there some fancy tea combinations floating around the world under different names? Are there tea mix thieves? I’m confused… and intrigued!

By the way, I love Zoete Amandel tea, so if this is anything like it, thumbs up.

This is a tea from a swap a while back….. I had it out to send to a tea friend, but I think she might not be my tea friend anymore if I sent this to her. I will start off by saying that I am one of the few who actually really enjoy Rooibos. This however. I took one sip and YUCK! Spicy, pepper, grossness is all I got out of it. I walked over to the trash can and tossed this puppy. I know tea blasphemy , but it is still giving me the shivers.

It may not be the greatest tea out there, but as far as rose flavored teas go I like this one a lot. The rose flavor is strong, so it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I find this tea to be really smooth and pleasant feeling.

Cherry Blossom Rose Organic is a bit astringent but is tempered by the rose flavor. The cherry is hard to discern among the green tea and rose flavors. I like this tea as something quick in the morning to drink on my commute. I usually steep for 3 minutes @ 175, but I’m going to try a shorter steep to see if it mellows the flavor a little bit.

This was good, but I thought it could use a bit more flavor. It wasn’t bland by any stretch, but the fruit flavor was really just a sourish tart flavor. I think others might really love it, but to me it is just ok, because I like more bold flavors in my flavored tea.

Oh man I need some caffeine! While reading some reviews of this tea, my brain couldn’t register what bergamot was. I was thinking it was some sort of spice! I totally have the correct information in my brain, I was just not able to locate it and came to a different conclusion.

Anyways, brain malfunction aside… This tea came to me from Amanda ‘SoggyEnderman’ Wilson, whom I have not yet properly thanked for the teas she added for me in the PTS TTB. So a big thank you to you lady!

My sense of taste is a bit weakened by a recent cold, so this tea tastes really delicate to me at the moment. I can pick up a tiny bit of rose at the beginning of the sip. I’m getting a little bergamot in there too. It seems like a really smooth cup, I’m just not able to taste much else. I’ll have to try it again another time!

It tasted, and smelled, like blueberry yogurt.

Love.

Here’s Hoping Traveling Teabox Round #3 – Tea #11
I’ve seen this one around Steepster and wanted to try it. Now with the wonder of tea boxes, I can! The flavor is very nice. I’m not sure how as it just looks like plain rooibos to me. A sweet lemon flavor with an equal flavor of meringue. I LOVE lemon meringue pie. The rooibos takes a backseat to this lovely flavor. It reminds me of those Della Terra blends I also love.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min

I’m surprised. After smelling the delightful, candy-like aroma of this tea, I thought the taste would be more fruity. Yet it was an overpowering taste of hibiscus – almost as if that were the only flavor. I do like hibiscus, but it was not what I was expecting. I will try it again iced and maybe add some orange slices, but I’m not sure I would order again when I could just brew hibiscus by itself.

I’m not very experienced with teas yet, but I liked the way this tea had a warm, lingering aftertaste. The flavor seemed weaker than I wished so perhaps I should have used more leaves in my 24 ounce pot. It did have a lovely flavor even so, and I agree that the apple flavor comes out strong- I could taste the almond though as well. I can imagine having this with milk and perhaps even adding vanilla or honey to create a warm and inviting autumn flavor on a rainy night. It’s a tea I will go back to and hopefully add to this note as I learn more. I also think this would go extremely well with apple pie and vanilla ice cream, or ginger, almond or sugar cookies.

ADDITION: Because I didn’t finish my pot of tea, I poured the remainder in the fridge and left it overnight. The next day when I drank it as iced tea it was incredible- robust, flavorful, memorable, delicious and sweet without any sugar. Definitely give it a try!

I cold brewed the rest of the sample from mj. I prefer it this way, honestly. It’s just a little sweet and a little strawberry. Very nice. I could see adding fresh strawberries when cold brewing this, or at least when serving this, maybe sliced up. It would add a really nice touch.

This is a bonus sample from mj

The dry leaf smells really pretty. It didn’t smell fake. It didn’t smell overwhelming, either.

The tea itself wasn’t too too strawberry, but it also muddled the flavor of the oolong. I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’m also for not a big fan of strawberry, warm or cold. I’m also not huge into the flavored oolongs, so I’m not going to give it a rating.

I will take the rest of my sample back home and see how it is cold brewed. I think that’s where this tea will shine.

TTB&C 2

I absolutely adore the look of these pearls, but I adore the look of any tea pearls it seems :D Unfortunately, the flavor is not as exciting as the looks of the dry leaf, although it is not by any means a bad tea. I notice an interesting note of buttery sweetness. Something I rather like in green teas. It is slightly too weak, however, and sinks quickly in the overall correct but sensationally uneventful (?) green tea taste. I would definitely be happy to accept a cup of this when offered but probably wouldn’t need to stock it in my cupboard.

It was really nice to try it, though. Thank you, whoever placed it in the Box (Nicole?) :D

I pretty much completely disagree with the description for this tea provided by the seller. I don’t drink this in the morning and I don’t think it’s a boldly flavored tea. Even though we may disagree on those points, I do think this is a great tea.

I find the flavor to be almost delicate. There is a subtle malty sweetness that’s hard to describe, but is always present and always welcome. While I do enjoy this tea hot, I prefer to drink it iced. It’s one of the top iced teas I drink when it’s hot out and I’m looking for something cool and refreshing to drink. I’ve even been known to put it in my bike’s water bottle for a treat.

Perhaps it’s the official tea of cycling in the Washington DC region? Either way, it’s great hot and iced.