Element Tea

Sorry for all the backlogging going on. I keep opening Steepster throughout the week and then don’t write all these notes out. I have a list with 3 more teas, plus 3 I had yesterday, plus the tea I have now …I’m not even going to bother logging the tea bags I have gone through at work since most of them were Numi ones from a variety box and I doubt being able to remember them all.

This was another I had when I wasn’t feeling good. I always have it with honey.

This one is sitting at work now too, but last time I had it was when I noticed I was covered in hives. Even though I know it wasn’t the tea and honey that caused it, I’m still afraid to drink it! I never even got to fully enjoy it that day because I had to go find benadryl and it ended up getting abandoned at my desk because we spend our mornings in a classroom setting.

Again, this being an herbal I have no idea what to say. It tastes like lemongrass and ginger. It is what it says it is. It’s not something I would normally drink because I don’t care for these ingredients, but when you’re sick there’s just something comforting about it, especially when it’s like a cold/sore throat.

I have been holding on to this oolong for far too long. Oolongs are hit or miss with me, so I’ve let the ones that I have sit in my cupboard unloved until I get in an oolong-y mood. Such a mood struck me tonight, and while it is going to wreak havoc on my sleep it has been a blessing to my taste buds.

This has a beautiful floral note with a nice bit of sweetness. After that there is a roasty note followed by a sharp, but not unpleasant, dryness. I just looked at other tasting notes, and, yes, honeysuckle is what I’m tasting. Wow, this is nice. Sleep be damned. This tea is worth it.

This tea is one of those “long lost” teas that was in my stash that I just came across. It’s probably been in there a while. I thought it might have gone stale by now, but it still tastes quite good.

I’m impressed with the pear flavoring here, it’s a strong pear taste. Sweet and maybe even a little on the “candy” side. The black tea is rich and smooth. It’s a really nice tea.

This is a tea that Element no longer carries, and that’s a shame, because it’s a tasty one. I love pear teas, although it’s not always easy to find one that has a good “pear” representation, and this one does.

Since this is a tea that is no longer sold, I won’t be rating it.

I came across a sampling of this tea in my stash. Not sure who sent it to me. It’s not one that is on Element’s website any longer, so I don’t know if they still carry it.

It’s a pleasant Irish Breakfast. It’s a rich, robust tea. I like that it’s organic. It’s got a strong, malty flavor like I’d expect from an Irish Breakfast.

sipdown! I’m not a fan of this one. there’s something in the flavours that i just don’t like. it’s peachy and yet there’s something else here. ick.

Sipdown! 944 (Added some T By Daniel teas from February). The opposite of last time – I must have overleafed or oversteeped! I think this is a pretty finicky oolong though, because both times, I got quite a bit of astringency. This time, though, there was also some flavour to it (standard dark oolong flavour) and a nice lingering oolong aftertaste. Probably not a tea I’d specifically seek out again, mostly since I’ve had better luck with other similar oolongs.

ETA: I think age may have also been a factor here. Removed my rating because of that.

Thanks to Mercuryhime for letting me sample this one, and sorry I’ve taken so long to try it! I think I unfortunately may have underleafed yet oversteeped… it’s kind of astringent yet there’s not a ton of flavour. Of course, I also have plenty of lingering tieguanyin flavour in my mouth as well; I’m sure that’s not helping.

Anyhow, what flavour I am getting is a bit woodsy but also, strangely, a bit green like the TGY. I guess I’ll have to figure out later if that’s just contamination or something… I’ll leave the rating for the time being. I usually like woody oolongs, so expect if I brew this one correctly, I will like it too!

First tea I’m trying from tea box B, I really should also get back started on box A now that I think about it! This one though has very few teas I don’t want to try.

I thought this might be something good for having this morning, plus I wanted to try making a EG cream without over steeping it.

At first sip this was almost terrifyingly bergamot tasting. Since I had to make a ton of bread last night and we got whole milk for the purpose, there’s still a cup left so I added a little to the cup and now it’s a lot more tolerable.

I think this one is just a bit too strong for me, I like Earl Grey but some of them just are way too much flavor for me. It actually feels like the vanilla is increasing the strength of the bergamot oil! The milk did kind of smooth it out, and it is definitely creamy tasting, but the way it switches over to this strong citrus note is a bit too much for me.

Well, again…not bad tasting but very VERY little Vanilla…maybe my tasters are off…not sure. It tastes just like Rooibos to me…not vanilla and rooibos. I taste tested at 5 mins, 10 mins, 15 mins, and longer…just left the teabag in there.

Again, because I do like the taste of the rooibos but I can’t really taste the vanilla at all I don’t know how to rate it so I won’t for now.

Thanks, Azzrian!

This is actually not bad, considering I think pear is a tough flavor. Of course, with enough flavoring it probably isn’t, but this doesn’t taste the least bit artificial.

I made it iced but as it has warmed up to room temperature, the pear flavor has come out better.

I’d add more but I made it with lunch, but fell asleep after, and now I have nothing else to say. Except it tastes like pear and black tea. And from what I remember the black tea was a little floral and malty. I really didn’t like the first sip because it reminded me of dirt but once it sat around a bit it was much improved.

A big thank you for the sample from Anny Oxident!

This one steeped to a nice pale yellow. The flavor to me is mostly that of a bai mu dan white tea, with that drier, peppery flavor to it. It also has a lemongrass taste to me, which I find a little strange. Missy is saying she tastes the mint, and it’s probably that I’m too used to mint that’s very BAM mint. Which is sad… because a white Moroccan mint sounds awesome.

Maybe I’ll have to make one of those.

I picked this up in the Element closing sale mainly because of the ingredient list: they were just so weird! Mistletoe, birch leaves, bean stalk? Also it was about a dollar for 2 ounces, so I figured it was worth experimenting.

This is probably the weirdest/most unique herbal blend I’ve ever had. I am not familiar enough with the individual ingredients to pick them out, but this tea tastes like walking through a forest after a spring rain. Wet green leaves, crunchy twigs and damp grass seem to live in this cup, followed by a soft citrus from the lemongrass. It’s very strange and evocative of the outdoors. I’m not sure how particularly tasty it is… I mean it’s good, but it’s hard to taste something this unusual and say “oh, that was delicious!” It’s definitely an experience, and I must admit that I found it a bit soothing so I guess it is a “stress blocker.” I’m not going to rate this because I honestly have no idea how to, but overall I did enjoy it.

Another tea from the traveling tea box! This one has actually been on my shopping list for awhile, so I was really excited to see it in the box. The dry leaves don’t really smell like banana to me, instead I smella tangy tropical fruit aroma. The tea liquor itself smells more like the tea’s description – warm coconut with a hint of banana. The flavor is sweet and malty with a fresh banana finish. The banana isn’t too strong, but it’s definitely noticeable and it’s not really artificial-fakey tasting like a lot of banana flavored things are. There is a soft fruity coconut aftertaste that finishes out the sip nicely. Adding milk and sweetener brings out more of the coconut flavors and an overall tropical fruitiness. The more I sip this, the more that I am liking it. I checked the website and it seems that this one is no longer available. Please bring this one back, Element Teas!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with slivers of coconut and banana and small yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of tropical fruit. Tea liquor aroma is of warm coconut with a hint of banana.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color.
-Sweet malty flavor with a fresh banana finish. Soft fruity coconut aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Fresh banana and coconut flavors. Not artificial tasting.

my first Traveling Tea Box Tea!
sorry swappers box, you’re going on the back burner for a little while.
behold!!! http://instagram.com/p/a-AXluoc7_/

i only took one little teaspoon of this tea so that there would be some for another sipper. i really think i obsessed too much over how much to grab of what teas. i basically didn’t feel comfortable with finishing a single tea off entirely. so i just took small little scoops of the less abundant teas like a weenie. it’s my first traveling box experience. i’ll make more gutsy choices next time i’m sure. hah

i don’t think this tea would get bitter even at 5 min. it’s a good strength for my taste. good leaves i think. though i would like it to be a bit more cream-creamy. on my second-ish steep i did what CHAroma did and added cream and agave.

i’m gonna reach 400 tasting notes before i get through these TTB samples. that means 400 teas tasted. now that’s hawt.

More tea from the Momo box! This one wasn’t very satisfying. I don’t taste the oolong base and although there is a faint peach taste, there is some other fruit in there that I can’t identify… dragon fruit? guava? Whatever it is, it tastes artificial, almost like a sour gummy candy, but not as strong or tasty. I’m going to finish the cup, but I really don’t want to. There’s just not much about this tea to want to finish.

Sipdown, 193. Cold brew.

This was a pretty tasty cold brew! The pear was nice and juicy, and that robust black tea flavor also came through in a tasty way. This was a tea that tasted much the same cold brewed as it did hot, but that’s ok because it was tasty to begin with.

Thanks to Tea Sipper for sending me this tea to try! I am finally getting around to it. I realize now I am logging two pear teas in a row, but many hours have separated them so I don’t really feel like I am on a pear kick per se.

Pear and black tea is an interesting combo; I always feel like pear is an appropriate flavor for a green or white tea. In the scent of this I can smell the bright pear, but also the robust black tea too. I was concerned about bitterness and astringency from this cup based on the smell (and also some of the comments here) but fortunately I am not getting any. It’s a pretty smooth, malty base tea that I am enjoying, along with some lightish pear notes. I often enjoy a lighter flavoring on my flavored teas these days, but in this case the pear and black tea don’t really do anything for each other, they just kind of are there together, sharing the spotlight but not improving one another. Anyway, it’s a decently tasty tea. I will be cold brewing this as well because I feel like cold pear black might work.

Another from the Traveling Tea Box! There’s a large amount of this one so I made up a small pitcher (and there’s still tons for everyone else!).

Peachy! I was expecting more of a flavor from the oolong, since it’s so pretty. Big, fluffy whole leaves. There is a small sample of the pure base in the TTB, so I’ll have to try it and compare!

But essentially this is just a peachy tea. I don’t know why it’s called ‘tropical’ because peach is the only flavoring I detect. I thought there might be pineapple or guava or something but this really tastes like a super basic black peach. Not like that’s a bad thing, especially sweetened and with some lemon slices, but I think they kind of squandered the base on this one.

This is, I think, the final tea I got in my trade from Tea Sipper (that I hadn’t had before, so I’ll be able to move onto someone else soon. I’m so behind on tasting my trading teas. With the possible exception of my Red Leaf Tea orders, I’m going to stop opening boxes from tea companies until I get through these trades. Probably.

Wow, this is strong rooibos. I’m not sure I like rooibos enough to really enjoy this tea. And yes, just taking some to drink, I can barely taste any vanilla but the rooibos is REALLY REALLY strong. I just don’t like rooibos this much. This is the type of flavour I would expect from a pure rooibos tea since the vanilla flavour is very subdued, if it’s even there at all.

Another sipdown, and I have to admit that I’m not sad to see this one go. I’ve never been able to taste the oolong. The peach flavor is nice, but as a tea this one was a bit of a disappointment.

September Sipdowns: 11

I’ve been awake since 4:30 for what I thought was just a sore muscle in my back, but now I’m wondering if I’m getting a bad cold because I also have a headache and the chills. Not fun.

Since i was awake and in need of something warm to drink I thought I’d play with a couple of teas that I initially didn’t think highly of but thought might be better if I babied them. When I first had this tea I thought I would love it, but it fell flat. I thought I’d give it another go and see if I could eek some more flavor out of it.

Unfortunately, this tea continues to miss the mark. It taste like any generic black peach flavored tea. The Oolong flavor is missing completely. I’m not even sure how that’s possible, but it is. There is also no tropical like flavors to be found. So while this one is entirely drinkable it fails to deliver anything resembling its namesake. Sad sigh.

I’m trying to work my way through the smaller samples I’ve received in trades. I actually have two separate bags of this one. I know one came from the Here’s Hoping tea box, but I have no idea who sent me the other one. So whoever the generous tea giver was, thank you!

This continues to be a tea with lots of peach flavor but no oolong. It’s easy enough to drink, and if I didn’t know it was an oolong I’d assume I was sipping on a basic peach flavor black tea. But since I do know it’s oolong I find myself really wanting more (any) oolong flavor.

I think I’ll cold brew the rest of this tea. Who knows, maybe that will coax more out of this one.