English Tea Store

thanks so much Azzrian, for that amazing package of tea! I will always be appreciative of all the generous Steepsters and the tea they’ve sent me! I think of all the kinds of black teas, Darjeeling is not my favorite, even though I love the name. I thought it was just the one darjeeling I’ve had that I didn’t like… because it was from Teavana. I don’t detest Darjeeling… I’d just rather have a STRONG tasting black tea in the morning — kick,pow, wakes you up. Darjeeling is so light! Even the steep color is light after four minutes. It’s tough to describe the flavor of a darjeeling… but you know it when you taste it, even if you’ve only had a couple. I thought it was interesting that this blend had actual tiny leaves in it… maybe that is the taste I’m not liking (like blackberry leaves in tea.) This is certainly a fine example of darjeeling though, if it’s your cup of tea!

Loose
Appearance: dark small curl leaf
Aroma when Dry: sweet, cocoa notes, hints of malt
After water is first poured: malty, sweet
At end of steep: malty raisin
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: malty brown
Staple? No
Preferred time of day: afternoon, evening
Taste:
At first?: medium bodied, malty, astringent finish
As it cools?: gets more bodied and greatly astringent
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? Slight malt notes, drying astringency

Bagged
Aroma when Dry: huckleberry syrup
After water is first poured: sticky berry syrupy notes
At end of steep: bright, sweet berry, huckleberry, elderberry notes
Tea liquor:
At beginning of steep: light brown-pink
At end of steep: darker brown– pink
Staple? No
Preferred time of day: afternoon
Taste:
At first?: bright huckleberry
As it cools?: berry notes start opening up, faint tartness surfaces
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? No
Lingers? slightly, with a woody, semi-sweet note, as it cools a light but clinging syrup aftertaste sets in

Stuart Mackenzie: Well, it’s a well known fact, Sonny Jim, that there’s a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world, known as The Pentavirate, who run everything in the world, including the newspapers, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows.

Tony Giardino: So who’s in this Pentavirate?

Stuart Mackenzie: The Queen, The Vatican, The Gettys, The Rothschilds, and Colonel Sanders before he went tits up. Oh, I hated the Colonel with is wee beady eyes, and that smug look on his face. “Oh, you’re gonna buy my chicken! Ohhhhh!”

Charlie Mackenzie: Dad, how can you hate “The Colonel”?

Stuart Mackenzie: Because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave it fortnightly, smartass!

I can’t drink this tea without quoting So I Married An Axe Murderer. Caramel & Toffee & Pu-erh, does it get any better?? This tea is so rich and delicious and heavenly. I first found this at Elaine’s Tea Shoppe in Toledo, but this I picked up online with a coupon :)

I’m not kidding, that boy’s head is like Sputnik; spherical but quite pointy at parts! Now that was offside, wasn’t it? He’ll be crying himself to sleep tonight, on his huge pillow.

One of my personal go-to breakfast teas. Not quite as bitter as their English breakfast, but still full flavored and complex. The smokey flavors are very mild, and there are hints of malt. Takes milk and sugar well.

This is a fine afternoon tea, though not strong enough for me personally. This tea has a fairly strong bergamot flavor, then changes to floral. This tea takes sugar well, but might be a bit too weak for milk. This is a delicate tea, so if you like more delicate blacks, this is a good one to try.

Loose
Appearance: brown-black, crinkled leaf
Aroma when Dry: fruity, dusty, hints of earthiness
After water is first poured: fruity, sticky, another note… muscatel?
At end of steep: faint fruity sweet
Tea liquor:
At end of steep: faint green
Staple? No
Time of day preferred: unsure, first tasting
Taste:
At first: flat, mild, closes with hints of fruit
As it cools? metallic note lessens, slight spicy note surfaces, tea deepens a bit
Additives used (milk, honey, sugar etc)? no
Lingers? Yes, the fruity nature stays, closing with almost a metallic note

Not too shabby for a little bagged tea with no actual fruit in it. The flavoring doesn’t read as artificial, just a nice blueberry-like taste accompanying a slightly bitter black tea. I’m not sure how huckleberries compare to blueberries when eating the real fruit, but I really can’t tell the difference in flavored tea. I won’t seek this out, but I wouldn’t turn it down either.

My mom surprised me with a pretty little glass teapot, and a few flowering teas. This is the first one!

I chose it because I felt like an oolong over a green, and the idea of a surprise flower inside intrigued me too. Though I suppose they all have flowers eh?

It tastes like a nice mellow oolong, with grassy notes and a flowery finish. I left the tea in the whole time and drank the pot myself so by the end of it the flowery notes dominated the blend. It’s an interesting experience and I like watching the tea brew in the pot. Pretty neat.

(if you’re a tea nerrrrrrd!)

I was going to post a picture of it but then I realized I no longer have a camera app on my phone! Whoops! I upgraded it to Cyanogenmod 10 yesterday (because my Galaxy 1 hasn’t been supported for a long time now) and I guess I missed a step. I think I figured it out. Will tinker while I sip away…

Azzrian sent me a bit of this – thanks so much!
It’s a nice smoky tea. It smells smokier than it tastes but I’m ok with that. It has a slightly sweet end sip. Not too bad cold either.

Cherry flavor was way too overpowering.

Maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t like the cherry flavoring in this tea. It was pretty overpowering and didn’t really let the sencha come through.

The last tea for me to try from my ETS Earl Grey sampler.

For a looseleaf tea the leaves are finely ground, like what you would find in a teabag. I probably should have put them in a teabag for a good bit of the leaves leaked through my mesh strainer and when I stir the tea I have to wait for the grounds to settle on the bottom of the cup.

When I sniffed the dry leaves they smelled like regular tea leaves, not the citrusy scent one would expect with Earl Grey. When brewed the tea only had the slightest of hints of bergamot.

I’m not impressed with this tea, I may as well be drinking bagged Bigelow Earl Grey at least then I can taste bergamot.

Another sampler from ETS. I tried it first without sugar, very bitter. Added a little sugar, the description is right, sugar does help bring out the taste of huckleberries.

I’ve never had huckleberry tea before, the closest I have tried that I could compare it to would be blueberry tea but I like this a lot better. It’s a little more bitter than I like (a tea that’s not Earl Grey) but I think if I shortened the steeping time it would be less bitter.

It has a not unpleasant aftertaste similar to blueberries. I don’t think I would buy this tea again but I wouldn’t turn down a cup if offered to me.

I could hardly taste the bergamot but I really liked this tea. I think it was a good blend of tea, jasmine and whatever else was in it. I only have it in the bags but it was still good, strong tea.

I think I’ll put this on my list to buy looseleaf next time I put an order in with ETS. I think it would be good to mix with ETS double bergamot Earl Grey.

SIPDOWN…2 cups…good while it lasted…

It seems so long ago that I had 2 cups of this…but it was just this morning. It’s been a long day. Backlogging…see previous notes….

Alphakitty Thanks so much! I got your SS today! Woot! You are AWESOME and the dark peppermint chocolate smells EPIC!

This is one of the teas she sent to me, too! It’s a nice malty medium-to medium strong tasting Assam and I really like it!

I wound up drinking two cups of this stuff in a row. It really tastes like berries, and was like drinking a very warm juice. The tea smelled almost as good as it tastes and is an attractive red-purple so dark I could not see the bottom of my cup. I was afraid of spilling it and getting a stain like wine.

I can imagine kids liking this tea too. No caffeine but it’s hard not to dump a load of sugar in to sweeten it up. I only have the sampler pack of 5 teabags (down to 3 :() I imagine the blackcurrant herbal in looseleaf being even better. Sadly the tea has only one good steeping, I tried reusing both the bags afterwards and was just a teasing pink tea.

Next time I put in an order to ETS I think I’ll get a few ounces of this.

After liking the chocolate mint tea from ETS I thought I would like the chocolate tea even more. I don’t. It’s not as chocolatey as the chocolate mint and it has that strange taste that I observed in the ETS decaf Earl Grey, a chemically taste even though it claims to be natural. Or maybe I’m so used to artificial flavoring natural tastes unnatural to me.

You’ll want a little milk and sugar with this tea.

The white chocolate chips in this tea are adorable, and I was surprised that I actually could taste a hint of white chocolate and not just regular chocolate hints. Not as chocolatey as ETS Mint chocolate but does taste a little like chocolate. Had it with sugar and cream.