English Tea Shop

I am very sensitive to chemicals. Spicy Indian food and “sleep aids” such as valerian tend to induce nightmares in me. I know, I know, so that pretty much negates the soporific effect—at least if the dream ends up being intense enough that I wake up feeling angst-ridden, having spent the night attempting to surmount seemingly insurmountable challenges of one sort or another. Usually they involve some sort of logical quandary, but sometimes they achieve heinous heights as well…

Perhaps I should stick to straight-up chamomile, as I found that even lemon myrtle induced a nightmare in me last night. Nonetheless, I tossed caution to the wind this evening and drank two glasses of Sleepy Me while watching Clouzot’s Le Corbeau, from 1942. If you have not watched it, I highly recommend it. In fact, even if you have watched it, I highly recommend that you watch it again!

Lots of teas smell much, much better in the dried form than when finally brewed. Sleepy Me is exactly the opposite: the scent of the brewed golden liquor is much better than that of the filter bags, which offer a double hit of stinky stuff: both valerian and hops! I am feeling a bit drowsy, so at least I should doze off before 4:15am, which was last night’s bed time… There is also lavender in this brew, along with the obligatory chamomile. But the extras, the hops and the valerian, are nearly guaranteed to induce both sleep and nightmares in me.

Hopefully I’ll remember in the middle of whatever my dream ends up being that it’s only a dream. Has that ever happened to you?

Another organic tea bag from the UK, Sleepy Me is a part of the Tea Loving Care collection of English Tea Shop. I have been suffering from a severe chamomile deficit, so I decided to give this a try since that is the number one ingredient in this blend.

The filter bag has a slight stinkiness to it—the presence of valerian is obvious—and the infusion is initially bright yellow (from the chamomile) but then turns gold. The lavender comes through fairly strongly, as do the hops and lemon balm.

This is fine, but I prefer lavender with a much more notable and fresher chamomile component, as in Harney & Sons Yellow & Blue sachets. The hops are also somewhat muddying the brew. Hopefully the valerian will knock me out now!

(Blazing New Rating #30)

Thank you Nattie for this tea. This was from the Hapa-tite tea exchange and the wonderful Nattie was my swapping buddy. Melon is one of my most favourite flavours and foods so my eyes literally lit up when I saw this blend. And what better to blend with melon than honey? I think that sounds like a beautiful combination, though the fact that it’s black tea based is making me wish the base isn’t too strong.

In the little note Nattie left me she said she uses two bags because the flavours are so subtle and she likes strong tea. For now I will use one bag but will probably end up trying two as I too am a lover of strong teas. For the most part the bag looks like any other and has the same generic black ceylon scent most of us will know so well, I would never guess it’s flavour if someone handed this to me without saying what it was, though it is a little sweeter than normal ceylon.

No steeping times for this on the website so giving it the good old 3 minute rule with boiling water since it’s black based,

Ok three minutes later and I have a dark brown tea that smells exactly like cantaloupe melon. it is AMAZING!!! I’m actually wondering if I have died and gone to heaven right now. It’s so sweet and juicy and natural, the melon is stronger than the honey but both are very present.

Flavour wise it is a little softer than it’s smell but it’s at a nice level for me, the melon is more of a mist and the honey a sweet after taste, oh how I would love to dance around in melon mist…
It doesn’t linger for long in terms of flavour including the after taste but that makes it more refreshing and much less like a black tea. In fact you can’t taste the ceylon at all.

It’s wonderful, especially for a pre-bagged tea. Thinking this may make an amazing iced tea, will try tomorrow. Thank you so much Nattie for this tea, I am definitely going to have to buy this one.

Ps. It reminds me of Cantaloupe & Cream by Butiki, very similar but not quite as good.

Backlog:

I had high hopes for this blend – even though it’s a bagged tea. When I see “anise” … my hope level rises because I love anise. The spicy part made me even more excited to try it.

But, it is a disappointment. If you look at the ingredient list, you might think this is chai-ish, but taste wise, it leaves much to be desired of a chai. This is more like a warmly spiced mint tea than a chai. Mint dominates this blend, not the anise.

A disappointment.

Why am I drinking this stuff again? I don’t know. Since today was already weird, I figured I should drink a weird tea to match.

Tonight’s is a much better cup than the first one I tried. I’m getting green beans more than chlorine (thank God) and I can actually taste the cinnamon. Maybe it’s because I let it steep longer so the flavors had a bit more time to develop.

I don’t hate it, but it’s definitely a tea for weird moods.

Right, this cements it. Definitely not a fan of blends containing gotu kola. This tea is like drinking from a swimming pool. VERY marine, and the cinnamon was a nice idea in theory, but I’m not getting any of it, because whatever green tea base they used and the gotu kola completely overpower it. Yuck.

Backlog:

A strange ingredient list. The green tea is a little lost in the blend, but I did enjoy the mint and melon notes together. The cinnamon and licorice are a bit more subtle than I wanted them to be … but I didn’t have high expectations for this tea anyway.

It’s alright – not horrible, but not something that I’d ever order for myself.

Backlog:

I got some of this tea as a holiday gift from a friend. The aroma of the dry leaf is similar to a candy cane, but it also has a slightly off-putting artificial note to it too.

That artificial note translate into the brewed cup as well, not just the fragrance but the taste. It’s not a horrible tea though, I do like the orange and cinnamon and mint and vanilla notes. The chicory and coconut are a bit odd in this, and maybe that’s what is giving off the odd flavor. It’s not horrible but it just tastes sort of weird and off, you know?

Not great, not something I’d buy for myself, but it wasn’t the worst cup of tea I’ve ever had.

Backlog:

For Christmas, I got a lovely box of tea from a friend. This was one of the teas in that box. Even though the ingredients are sort of ‘chai-ish’ sounding, it tastes less chai than it sounds. This is more of a gently warm, spiced tea that tastes more holiday than chai.

And that’s alright because this is a holiday blend … not a chai blend. :)

A mild black tea flavor … smooth. The spices are not overly aggressive. The fruit notes of apple and orange add a nice, pleasant flavor. Overall, it’s a nice holiday cuppa.

I love this tea! Im surprised the other reviews aren’t so great. Im a big fan of Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea, and when i saw this tea at Marshalls, i had to try it. i was pleased it is mild as thats what i seek in an herbal tea. I don’t find it too mild- i definitely taste the caramel and sweet notes, and it tastes just like a sweet cookie.

Pineapple, nuts, oats? This is an interesting tea I got as a holiday gift. Definitely real tea, though. Pretty tasty, actually.

It’s yoga day, and I’m still recovering from last night’s watch of the Sherlock S3 finale, in a better mood than most days. Plus I got more Lemony Gunpowder to have after lunch.

Firstly I must say I’ve never been a fan of Roobios, it always had a flavour/smell I couldn’t shake. This caught my eye during my journey of having to cut back on sweets and I thought, why not give it a shot, I might be pleasantly surprised. Boy was I ever! It’s lovely on it’s on but I enjoy it with a tiny bit of Equal and skim milk, it’s like a cup of chocolate cake! Just fantastic! I’m in love with ETS!

I simply L O V E this tea! I’m a huge fan of peach and this was just what I needed! It’s smooth and delightful on the tongue, you can take it straight up, light sugar or even light sugar/milked and it will be brilliant! I utterly adore the packaging too!

My sister got this in a mixed set (nice find at TJ Maxx over Christmas break) and gave me this one. The flavor is much more interesting and complex than I expected. I prefer more orange and clove in my warm holiday flavors, but this has enough of similar ideas to satisfy.

I…don’t know what to think of this one. I kind of liked it, but I kind of didn’t at the same time. The ginger in this tea really takes over and I don’t get much of anything else. And since I’m not a ginger fan, that’s definitely a strike against it. I wish I could taste more of…something other than ginger. Boo.

So, the name of this tea comes from the artificial flavouring added to it. Wonderful (/sarcasm). But since it comes in the assorted pack I got, I might as well drink it.

I get absolutely no distinctive banana or pineapple flavour from this. None at all. And it’s BRIGHT PINK when steeped from the hibiscus, which doesn’t help my mind think “PINEAPPLE, DAMMIT!” That being said, this was a pleasant tea to drink. I would rename the tea and either put real candied pineapple pieces in it or just come up with some kind of lemongrassy-name for it. It wasn’t difficult to finish the 8 bags purchased, nor was it difficult to convince my family to try it. Everyone liked it, but all came to the same conclusion: no pineapple, no banana, just a hint of a “something tropical aftertaste”. Steeped, it smells strangely like banana medicine (you know, the yellow antibiotic liquid prescribed for ear infections for kids…was my favourite beverage back in the 80s…)

I LOVE THIS. I’m upset my box of 8 tea bags is now gone. It reminds me a lot of a chai with all of the spices in it, but I love the orange and apple undertones that you don’t usually get in a chai. The only thing missing (for me) to really turn this into a Holiday tea would be a hint of cranberry. Sounds good in my mind; there might be a reason why it’s left out since it might not actually be very good in execution… :)

If I find this again at Winner’s or Homesense, I will definitely buy more.

OK, I should preface this by saying that I like double-salted black licorice but that’s about it. Normally I’m not a fan of anything even remotely like it.

Buuuttt…I kinda like this. My dad fights me for it whenever I take it out of the cupboard (since there are only 8 bags in the assorted package I bought, I’ll let him have the other 7) since he loves it so much. I’m not a ginger fan but the star anise balanced out the ginger nicely. And, of course, the required mint leaves…yum. I don’t know if I’d buy this again, but I certainly won’t throw it out. Not bad for a bagged tea.

OK, I had a hard time coming up with “candy cane” when I was tasting this. To me, candy cane flavour is just…crunchy peppermint. No vanilla, orange peel or strawberry stuff. So tasting this in combination…I had a hard time. It’s not that it wasn’t GOOD. It just wasn’t candy cane-y. I’d drink it again, though!

I didn’t get much other than ginger and mint in this tea, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I don’t usually like ginger, but when mixed with an overwhelming mint and perhaps a dash of cinnamon (if I thought about it I could taste it…) it wasn’t so bad. And since mint is my favourite, I liked it.

part of a sample gift box my sister got for xmas from a co-worker.
all 4 teas were totally yum enough to have more than once.
a winning gift!