Clipper Ship Tea Co.

If you’re in the market for a decaf dessert tea, this is a nice choice. Though decafs never tastes quite the same as their jangly, nerve stimulating cousins, this one doesn’t have that chemical whiff that some decafs do.

A perfectly serviceable decaf black with a thin overlay of toffee/caramel flavour that’s not exactly bold, but not cloying either. Brews to a pleasant color, no bitter aftertaste. A nice accompaniment for after-dinner dessert for those sensitive to caffeine. For everyone else, I’d go with the regular version for a better taste and cheaper blend. This is $12USD for 50g, making it rather pricey- but better than risking insomnia!

Disclaimer: I’m not a huge fan of banana, but my partner wanted to try this.

It lives up to its name. I opened it up and the whole house smelt of bananas. When drinking it, the banana flavour is so in your face I imagine it is wearing American flag shorts and waving a gun. That’s the level of banana aggression we have here.

That being said, it’s not…bad. The astringent black tea underneath provides a lovely counterbalance to the BANANA! attack. There is also a moderate coconut note which rounds it out. I don’t taste the vanilla that the tea company claims.

Although I always drink my tea black, Clipper Ship recommends drinking with milk and sugar, which I imagine would blunt the BANANA! assault. It is a fairly natural banana flavour/scent though it is much stronger than a real banana.

Putting my personal preferences aside and rating just on quality, this is an all-round good tea that lives up to its name and perfect if you seek maximum banana turned up to 11. I could see it pairing well with creamy desserts or as an afternoon tea.

A solid chai with classic warming herbs (ginger and cinnamon). Despite having both cacao nibs and chocolate listed in the ingredients, I don’t get much chocolate flavor. A nice tea overall, but if you’re looking for a distinct chocolate note, I’d skip this. I don’t drink it with milk/sugar so that might affect the final taste.

A tightly-furled high quality green tea with a nice strawberry and papaya essence. Contains dried fruit bits and is quite sweet as a result. Unlike many other strawberry teas, it’s not fake-tasting. The only reason this isn’t a favorite is due to the odd aftertaste imparted by the marigold petals. It’s a dry, astringent zap that is oddly reminiscent of the way bug spray tastes. Weird, yes, but I don’t know any other way to describe it! Wish they’d left the marigold out of the blend.

I would have lost my mind over this as a kid…PURPLE TEA? True to the name, this is a very pretty purple herbal tisane from Clipper Ship Tea Co. Kind of a generic lemongrass/hibiscus herbal blend, flavour-wise, but the butterfly pea flowers give it that standout purple hue.

Just like the name says, oolong with a strong scent of milk. Very high quality leaf is good for 2-3 infusions. Bright vegetal undertones pop out under the creamy finish, brews pale. I’d go with slightly more than the recommended 1 tsp per 8oz but keep a sharp eye on the brewing time to get a stronger brew without the bitterness. I’d recommend brewing this in a Yixing teapot. A very nice tea but you have to know how to bring out the best in it.

Black tea with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove, black pepper, rose petals, vanilla, safflower, marigold.

As usual with Clipper Ship, a nice quality black tea underpins the blend but there’s a wet-doggy note (marigold?) in here that just puts it into the no-go territory for me. Cinnamon and ginger prevail in the blend, but that marigold just gives me the damp doggo blues. Quality tea, just not my personal taste.

I do drink my tea black as I’m vegan health nut, but this blend might go down better with some milk/sugar.

A nice enough honeybush tea with a slight hint of vanilla and an even slighter woody note. Has an odd, slightly off-putting smell that made my guests ask if I had washed out our teacups. It’s kind of a whiff of old kitchen sponge. This doesn’t carry over to the taste, thankfully. Quality is good, but this is just not a personal fave.

According to the label, has pistachio, cumin, almond, coriander, pink pepper and rum flavor. Quite an eclectic blend but mercifully the cumin and pink pepper take a backseat to the rum/nut flavour. Black tea quality is good and I’ll finish the bag, but wouldn’t buy again. I drink all my tea straight, but this would probably be much better with cream/sugar.

We have been doing a seasonal food challenge with our kids and right now we’re challenging them to try fruits. They wanted raspberries this week so we went raspberry picking yesterday. While I was on a raspberry kick, I remembered that this tea was in my cabinet and decided it was going to be my breakfast drink.
It smells absolutely yummy while steeping. The vanilla and raspberry scents are a fabulous combination. Steeped for 4 minutes in boiling water and then left to cool a bit as I brewed up some iced tea with another raspberry tea. I think I was anticipating something sweeter. This mug seems to have a earthy taste with some bitterness. I can’t say I enjoyed it. This will be one I will play with and try to improve with other tea blends or honey/sugar.

This is a nice mildly sweet tea. The taste of the pear is not as strong as I would like. It is good though. I am happy that Clipper Ship Tea Company is back in operation even if it is only a small store with limited selection.

Brewed this one time with 6 tsp leaf and 175 degree water in a 16oz glass Teavana Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for 5 minutes.

Went to Clipper Ship Tea Company’s temporary store that is located in the back of an art gallery. Their store has still not been brought up to code after the fire. They had a more limited selection but I found a few teas to purchase. Decided to try this one to see if I liked it. Trying it now because it is caffeine free. It is a fairly decent mix of flavors with the lemon flavors the strongest and a bit of a sour tang from the grapefruit. It does not taste heavily of chamomile. It also doesn’t taste heavily of rooibos. It is a nice tea to drink when it is too late for caffeine.

This is an interesting tea. The rum flavoring is strong as is the taste of the rooibos. I don’t know that I would have bought this. I was given it as a free sample with my purchase today. It has a somewhat unpleasant flavor along with a pleasant flavor to be honest.

I brewed this tea one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for six minutes.

Wow!! this is delicious!

Bought this tea from Clipper Ship Tea company after trying it in store. Taste wise it is no too bad. I’d probably give this tea a 60 if I was rating it on taste alone. The strongest taste is the Chamomile giving it an apple note. The second strongest note is the valerian which is an unpleasant and a bit sour note. Not really sure if I can taste the peppermint or other ingredients. The woman who owns the store has several of these sleepy teas with valerian. She brewed all three of them for me in store. I thought this one was the one closest to tasting good. No tea with valerian really tastes good. She says she drinks them about an hour before she goes to bed and they help her stay asleep. This is highly subjective sort of thing and I don’t know that it will help me sleep at all. I do know that the fact that the chamomile is stronger in taste than the valerian is a good thing. If this tea has any effect on my sleep I may give it a rating tomorrow.

I brewed 3 tsp leaf in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker with boiling water for 7 minutes.

This blend is strong and slightly bitter. As I understand it the traditional way to prepare this is with a lump of rock sugar and a dab of heavy cream. I didn’t have either of those handy so it got prepared the same way I prepare western brewed black teas boiling water and sugar. I hope this tea has enough caffeine to keep me going when I have the late shift at work today.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Perfect Tea Mker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 3 minutes.

Bought this the other day at Clipper Ship Tea Company. It is thick, rich and definitely buttery from the added caramel. I can’t really taste the vanilla. This is an overall nice puer tea for western steeping. I don’t know how the flavors would hold up gongfu style.

I steeped this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for three minutes in boiling water and 3 tsp leaf.

Picked this up at Clipper Ship Tea Company yesterday. This is fairly nice tea. It is slightly malty and slightly fruity. It is also just a little bit bitter. I picked this up for drinking at an hour where I stop drinking caffeinated teas due to my insomnia. If I have real tea at this hour I won’t sleep. This is a nice tasting blend but not quite as good as most caffeinated breakfast blends I have had.

I st6eeped this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes.

I have little clue what else in in this Tisane other than dried cherries. Saw it today while I was at Clipper Ship Tea Company where I bought a lot of tea. Picked this one that I got a 50g package of because it is caffeine free. It is sweet with notes of cherry and other fruits, not sure what they are.

Brewed this one time in a 16oz Teapot with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 5 minutes.

Got this as a free sample with my purchase from Clipper Ship Tea Company the other day. It’s a very nice tasting flavored oolong. Their is more of a melange of fruit flavors rather than one dominant. This is one I would consider buying. I think it would make a good iced tea.

I used the entire sample in about 12oz of 190 degree water and steeped it for 3 minutes.

Got this as a free sample with my order yesterday. Made it now because it’s caffeine free. This is an interesting herbal but I’m not sure what I’m tasting. Definitely taste the apple and the lemongrass. I don’t know why this is called Sailor’s Brew as I am relatively sure no one in the US Navy would be drinking this. It’s nice enough for a herbal tisane but I don’t think I would buy it.

Brewed the entire sample in about 12oz of boiling water for 7 minutes.

Bought this because it looked like an interesting caffeine free tea to cold brew as an iced tea. There is a sweet taste from all the various fruits added to this. Can’t really say that I taste the apple specifically, it is sort of a melange of flavors all melding together. It is fairly good. It does have a little bit of a sour note to it. But it is still good.

I brewed this overnight in the fridge in a 64oz iced tea maker with 8 tsp of leaf.

This tastes strongly of orange and has a natural sweetness. It’s good but the underlying notes of the oolong are weak compared to the orange. This produces a very light colored cup of tea.

Brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 190 degree water for 3 min.

This is a nice green rooibos with a strong note of peach. It’s also a bit of a melange of flavors of the other dried fruit that is in this blend. It’s a fairly nice herbal that I will have to try iced. Being a green rooibos it doesn’t have that herbaceous taste of red rooibos.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 5 minutes.