Creha Tea

This is such a yummy dessert tea! It doesn’t taste specifically like chestnuts to me, but definitely has a nutty flavor with notes of caramel and vanilla layered over a smooth, malty black tea base. I’d definitely consider re-purchasing this one!

I love chestnut flavored teas. This one smells absolutely incredible- rich with caramel and decadence. However, the flavor falls a bit short for me. It tastes like an instant vanilla latte powder to me. Not terrible, just not the tasty chestnut flavor I was hoping for. I much prefer Lupicia’s green chestnut blend.

Cold Brew Sipdown (226)

On Saturday I went to visit my friends in Waterloo which meant getting on a train that left London at 7:30 am. I made this as a cold brew so I would have caffeine for my long day of stuff. Then I ended up forgetting it so I took it to school with me today.

This is kind of weird because while it is good and tastes sort of like banana, it also tastes sort of like green apple. Not clue why I am getting apple since the tumbler has never even been used before. So strange.

Thank you CameronB for the share!

Home – 8:00 PM

Yep, more banana. This is the last banana tea that I own, I promise!

For some reason, this tea is super crushed and there’s a lot of dust. I shortened my usual steep to 2 minutes. I probably should have lowered the temperature as well…

It came out a bit bitter, but not horribly so. Japanese black tea is so interesting, it almost reminds me of Darjeeling with its floral and fruit notes. This one is also malty and has a lovely freshly baked bread flavor.

The banana flavoring seems fairly mild, though I don’t remember how long I’ve had this tea, so it could be quite old. All three of my banana black teas seem to have similar-tasting banana flavoring, it’s how it interacts with the base tea that makes them different.

I see that Yunomi has barely any of Creha’s flavored blacks right now. Pity, I wanted to try their blueberry and a couple of others.

The bitterness is bringing this down a couple of points – next time I’ll try a lower water temperature.

Sad sipdown… Yunomi doesn’t seem to carry this flavor anymore, unfortunately.

This isn’t quite as good as it once was, but it still has that yummy cinnamon toast flavor that I love. I’ll have to look into recreating this flavor profile in the future, as I assume I won’t be able to get this tea again. Maybe I could add cinnamon stick to a nice bready Yunnan tea.

I will miss you, tasty cinnamon toast tea… :(

Home – 8:30 PM

It’s been a long time since I last drank a Creha flavored tea! I am disappointed to see that they barely offer any of their flavored black teas on Yunomi anymore… :(

Ugh, so good. The Japanese black base tea is light and smooth, but has a wonderful bready flavor. It is sweet with strong notes of honey and a bit of hay. The cinnamon flavor is mild and accentuates the base tea, as opposed to hiding it.

The combination is simply delicious. It evokes images of thick slices of lightly toasted brioche, spread with honey butter and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Now I’m hungry…

This tea has a slight bitterness to it. And it has a definite fruity note too, not sure what fruit. In fact it reminds me of an Indian Orange Pekoe to it. It has a similar note to one I have found in Orange Pekoe tea. That’s about the best description I can give this.

They must have discontinued this tea. It is no longer on the Yunomi website. It is very tasty. You get a sweet note from the roasted chestnuts without the strong roast profile of a Chiinese roasted tea like a Wuyi Oolong. You can to some degree taste the black tea base underneath. It is very smooth. This was an enjoyable tea.

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

Bought this a while ago with my Yunomi order and am just now getting around to trying it. It is pretty good overall. There is a note of malt. There is a note of spice under the tongue. I’m debating if I feel there is a note of chocolate. This is an excellent black tea. It only got western brewed this morning because I’m in a hurry today.

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

The blueberry flavoring in this tea tastes, for lack of a better word, artificial. While this tea is relatively good. It does not taste as good as other tea I have tried from Creha Tea from Yunomi in Japan. It is just not what I was hoping for, not terrible, just not incredible. It seems to be getting a little better as it cools.

I brewed this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 minutes. Maybe this tea will be improved with 175 degree water which is what I will try next time.

This is a tasty black tea with notes of malt and chocolate, they are somewhat subdued. It’s got a pleasant aftertaste, not sure how to describe it. This was not an expensive tea. So far I have liked all the Creha teas I have got from Yunomi. Got this in the mail last week.

I steeped this one time in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min. If you are putting in an order with Yunomi I definitely suggest you get at least one black tea from Creha Teas.

There is a very strong and tasty note of the strawberry to this tea. It does not taste artificial to me either. I think this was made using real strawberries and first flush tea. The black tea base is somewhat muted behind the strawberries. There is little in the way of bitterness or astringency to this tea.

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

This is a tasty black tea that is somewhat malty, but not overpoweringly so. I would venture to say it’s got some chocolate notes in there too. This is I think an all around good black tea. I only brewed this western style but it is good.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf for 3 min at 190 degrees. The directions don’t call for water lower than boiling but I took a guess.

Delicious. Steeps up a beautiful deep amber, with a jammy, fruity and peanut note, with honey finish.

For what this tea is: The black tea base is very Japanese tasting with it’s semi vegetableness still there. The flavoring is a bit weak which I enjoy because earl grey isn’t my favorite, but for a tea it should be a bit stronger.

I did drink this for a few mornings in a row because it is good, but there is still room for improvement.
https://instagram.com/p/254ovYxYLy/

Trying this again in expectation of receiving my Yunomi Black Friday order tomorrow. This is a strong tea. I decided to do something I almost never do with tea, add creamer. The malt and the astringency nicely meld into a nicer flavor with the addition of some unflavored coffee creamer. I don’t keep any dairy milk so this is what I have on hand. The tea is in my opinion improved. This is a very small leaf tea. I may have used too much tea at 3 tsp of leaf for 16oz. I should have weighed the leaves at two tsp. In any case I find that Yunomi black teas are good. I have a bunch more coming tomorrow.

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

I think I oversteeped this tea a bit at three minutes, two would have been better. I am getting a fruity note, followed by some malt and a little astringency. Overall this is a good tea. It would be worth buying again but I probably won’t because there are some thirty five straight Japanese blacks that I want to try from Yunuomi that would take priority.

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

Revisiting this tea this morning. It is still quite good. It has only a little bit of malt and little bitterness or astringency, I am getting a note I didn’t notice last time, I would say roasted chestnuts but that is just an interpretation. I have recently put in another Yunumi order and will have about another half dozen black teas to review. This is a nice tea to wake up to as it is full bodied and has a sweet aftertaste.

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

Bought this tea in my recent Yunomi order, picked it basically at random as I knew nothing about their black teas. It is quite tasty. The main note to this tea is malt, but not overpowering malt. I added only sugar to this tea but I think for those who like milk in black tea this one would go well. There is a sweetness behind the malt as well. Overall I would rate this tea quite highly. It is the first Japanese black tea I have tried. It does seem to be a high quality tea. I brewed it western style this morning.

I brewed this tea once in a Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and 200 degree water for 3 min. It might benefit from a shorter steep.

I usually enjoy my black teas more on the weaker side.

My parameters: 95 °C/300 ml/5 g/20 sec; up to 3 infusions

This tea is a mix of twisted and broken leaves with some larger stem pieces. When infused they all became mushy.
Despite the short steeping time this tea was full bodied and intensive. The taste was mellow and sweet with subtle aroma of musky and malt. No bitterness or astringency.

Pics: http://teapictres.blogspot.de/2015/03/tsukigase-first-flush-by-creha-tea.html

This is the other tea from my Yunomi order. It was the next flavor I wanted to try after tasting and liking Creha’s grape-flavored black tea. I love these cute little tins! Each flavor has its own unique art on the front. The tea itself is extremely dark brown, almost black, and the stems have a lovely red hue. Mm, it smells so good! Creamy and rich, like that chestnut cream spread/filling that you can buy in jars or tubes. I also smell a touch of chocolate and vanilla.

The aroma of the steeped tea reminds me of good vanilla extract – creamy and sweet with a strong wood note. This tea has an amazingly creamy texture and flavor. The chestnut flavor reminds me of sweet pastries filled with cream and chestnut paste, possibly topped with sliced almonds. The base tea itself is quite mild, somewhat woody with a touch of musty hay. There’s a touch of mild bitterness near the end of the sip, but I think that’s actually a good thing, it helps cut through all the richness in the flavoring. This would be fantastic with milk and sugar or as a latte.

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Sipdown (127)!

Thank you Cameron B.! I’ve seemed to really, really enjoy grape teas as of late which is surprising because I’m so anti-raisin, which is used in a lot of “Grape” tea. This sipdown was done as a cold brew, though I’d have been interested in trying it hot too.

It tasted really, really good! Like a fancier/darker Grape Kool-Aid? You know, sweet and very “purple” (not red, sorry) but not abundantly artificial/chemical. There was maybe a touch of a red wine/boozey quality that made it feel a little more “adult” but no, mostly I just enjoyed slurping back big sips of Kool Aid tea.

I don’t know much about this company other than what I read in Cam’s tasting note for this tea – but they sound like one I’d be curious in exploring a little more. I was really impressed with this blend when I had sort of just dismissed it based on the name alone…

Yay, I’m so excited! I’ve been wanting to try Creha’s flavored Japanese black teas ever since I found them on Yunomi. They have a number of unique (and classic) flavors and most of them sound amazing. Unfortunately, they don’t offer sample sizes of these teas, and most of them are around $17 for 50g. So when I built up a bunch of rewards points by writing reviews, I knew exactly what I wanted to spend them on! First of all, this canister is freaking adorable! And I love the unique artwork on the front (this art is different for each flavor). The tea itself was packaged in a cellophane bag inside the tin, which is a nice extra layer of freshness. The leaves look whole and quite pretty, they’re a bit curly and very dark in color with some reddish spots. The flavoring is definitely very powerful in the dry scent (mostly because it was just opened). It reminds me of grape soda, and there’s an alcoholic edge because it’s so strong. Hopefully the scent mellows a bit over time.

Happily, the steeped tea does not have an overpowering grape aroma, and there’s no trace of alcohol. It smells lovely and sweet, and I can detect the black tea’s aroma as well. Yum, I actually quite like this. I admit, it’s definitely an artificial grape flavor, but I don’t mind that with the black tea. There is the teensiest hint of bitterness in the beginning of the sip, so perhaps this one needs a slightly lower water temperature or shorter time. Otherwise the base tea is very smooth and mellow, and tastes mildly of bread and malt. There’s also a little bit of creamy honey and some hay notes. It’s quite good, and I bet this would be amazing iced.