ESP Emporium

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – August 2024 Tea #3 – A calming tea

This sure is calming!  Though I have finished one pouch from ONE tea shop, I have the same blend from another shop.  (Tealyra’s Un Momento) It’s always been a delightful dessert tea. A perfectly flavored rooibos is usually calming to me. The description says “The light Irish coffee taste, complemented by a hint of sweet caramel pieces, is refined by mascarpone.” I mean… come on now. Delicious
2024 sipdowns: 59

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – July 2023 Tea #2 – July 7 – World Chocolate Day

A quick note to say I didn’t forget a chocolate tea today!  Also will drink it with some chocolate pie. 

Mastress Alita’s sipdown challenge – October Tea #5-A coffee tea

Oh no!  I never wrote a note for this one – probably because it is the same blend from another tea shop and I bought this one later on to replace the other.  Not even sure what the other one was, at the moment.  But this blend has coffee beans in it!  So it suits this prompt.  I REALLY like the mix of ingredients here - chocolate chips, caramel, hazelnut, yogurt, coffee beans- even the Roman chamomile is a great addition.  The flavor fades a bit with my steeping parameters in my current location, to a less distinct flavor, so I should probably save this one for home.  I also drank this with a Boston Creme Donut POPTART.   And the poptart nails the flavor of a Boston Creme Donut, as I feel that particular donut has always been too sweet for me (which somehow I say about nothing else in existence, other than a Boston Creme Pie).  Not my Poptart (or donut) of choice!  Why isn’t there a Steepster for Poptarts anyway??

This is much better iced than hot – I’ve been trying to seriously drink down my tea collection and my partner grew to like this one.

I wouldn’t repurchase as there as better teas out there, but it wasn’t bad when iced.

I have to assume this is the company for the tea I have (it’s just labeled “Bon Bon”). I also think it might be from CHAroma, which would make sense given the below tasting notes. Anyhow – coconut. While rifling through the same box where I found a couple misplaced Butikis, I saw the coconut and figured at worst, this would be a quick toss. I was yet again surprised that the coconut didn’t smell off, so gave it a chance with a brew. Turns out, the coconut is juuuust turning a little soapy, but it’s not too bad, probably because the tea otherwise is surprisingly tasty. Other people’s notes remarked that it’s a thin sort of chocolate flavour here, and I would agree, but I’m actually appreciating it for whatever reason. I believe I did try this tea when I originally received it (and just didn’t review it); I’d be so curious to know my thoughts from that time! As is, I’m going to give it a decent rating because it’s still fairly enjoyable, and the coconut is entirely my fault. I think there’s a cup’s worth left; I may pluck out the coconut pieces to minimize soapiness before sipping this down.

To me, this is a basic black tea with hints of smoke and absolutely no caramel flavor that most “breakfast” type black teas contain. If you’re looking for a plain Jane black tea that is higher quality than a grocery store brand, try this one.

If you like creamy black teas, you’d like this one. Vanilla taste is subtle, but satisfying.

another tea I bought from Amazon from ESP Tea Emporium, the now defunk tea company. They sell D and B teas so this tea shows up under various tea brands that are repackaging and selling it. There was unfortunately nothing amazing about this. A basic black tea taste with an almost smokey quality. The popcorn seems to contribute nothing to the tea and the maple syrup is a bit too much for me. I made this as a latte and it was a lot better but I am still not a fan, just an average tea blend at best.

So I recently stumbled upon ESP emporium teas on Amazon. After doing some research it appears that it was a shop based off of Michigan Avenue in Chicago (very close to me) and I was never aware of them! At any rate they look to be defunk and they have no inventory on their site, only on AmaZON. All of their teas seem to be from D and B, the big tea distributor that many small, independent tea companies get their tea from. I have seen this tea listed online being sold by various retailers. This tea is actually not bad. It opens with a pumpkin taste however that pumpkin flavor almost is borderline like canteloupe to me. the back of the taste is the cardamom, I get subtle hints of cinnamon. This is an unusual tea. It actually has real freeze-dried pumpkin so I do like there is actual pumpkin in here but taste is a cardamom canteloupe tea, LOL! It is growing on me though. I initially tested it plain but made it a latte and it is so much better that way. I purchased a large selection of ESP teas off of amazon because they had 8 ounce bags for $3!! Perhaps that was a mistake because when I went back the product I bought 6 days ago was now $22 or maybe they saw someone was actually buying the tea and jacked the price up again, LOL!! This is a good way for me to try some of D and B teas though!

Bright and sweet as a cold brew iced tea.

Nope. This is unpleasant. It’s unpleasantly sour, and at the same time too sweet, and has an unfortunate mouthfeel. Almost furry. Yuck. I haven’t tried many teas by ESP, but several of them have been memorably unpleasant.

I forgot I had written this up to post a few days ago…
I bought this one from ESP because it was a blend I really liked from Tealux that they don’t carry anymore. Though it is the same, it seems like it might be lacking flavor somehow. With the old blend, even if the berry flavor was missing, there was still a strong peony flavor, even when it aged. Here there are only hints of any flavor at all. And there was a BIG piece of fig in the infuser. I really love the idea of this blend, I just wish it would translate better to the flavor.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for a full mug// 32 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep

I like this for a green tea. It’s very berry, but not in the berry/rose hips/hibiscus kind of way. Best drunk very hot though. I don’t think I would add it to my regular rotation.

Decaf and Herbal TTB. This is an interesting fruit blend. It would probably be great iced. There does not seem to be one dominant fruit note, several seem to blend together well. If I ever order from the ESP Emporium I would definitely consider this. It’s pretty good.

I brewed this once with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper for 7 minutes.

Decaf and Herbal TTB. Not entirely sure what I’m tasting here. Picked this one out of the TTB because I was fairly certain about it’s ingredients. The first ingredient is sour apple pieces and I think that is the main note of this tea. It is a fairly pleasant sour. Don’t really get much off of the other ingredients.

I brewed this once in a 16oz Teavana Glass Perfect Tea Maker/Gravity Steeper with 3 tsp leaf and boiling water for 7 minutes.

I had to order a few of my favorites after what was essentially a 50% off sale if I kept my order around $20 ($10 off $20). I had been planning an order for just a few teas from them for a while now. Roasted almond! The sencha berry and Tiramisu blends I loved when I bought them from Tealux. And this one! I’m also very happy that ESP has changed their packaging to thick resealable pouches instead of the ones that just folded over. Now I don’t have to switch the pouches. On to the tea!
This one was an interesting blend. I’m always looking out for blends with figs and dates. I see plenty of fruit in the mix. The black tea is very light but showcases the flavors more. With the sesame, it becomes the most prominent flavor but makes it a unique and savory blend. Hints of fruit throughout. There are also almonds here but they don’t seem to add much to the flavor. There should also be vanilla here, but it wasn’t as noticeable as the other flavors. This is definitely nice to have in the cupboard for this unique flavor type!

Sipdowns: 1/26 Sample of Teavivre’s Lapsang I’m not selling (but still have the one I’m selling – it still counts though?)
1/27 thePuritea’s Hong Jing Luo
…but then I started slacking. none 1/28 or 1/29

I picked this out of the Decaf and Herbal Tea TTB because there was so much of it. It is an interesting fruit blend. I added sugar to it which improved it dramatically. I’m not really sure what I taste, apple and almond I suppose. I don’t think I would buy this but it is nice to try when it is too late for me to have what I really want, a gongfu session with some nice ripe puerh. It is way too late for caffeine so this will do.

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

Herbal TTB

This is one of those blends that I tend to call a “fruit salad” tea…lots of big chunks of dried fruit and spices with no actual tea leaves. It brews up to a bright pink color, which really surprised me since there’s no hibiscus in the blend. The scent is sweet and fruity; the flavor is super-sweet honey with a touch of fruit…I really didn’t pick up on whatever almond flavor was supposed to be there. Overall, I found this WAY too sweet for my tastes, to the point that I couldn’t even finish the cup.

Thanks for this one, Stephanie! I’m not accustomed to such exotic fruits, so it was tough to say if this was accurate, but it was certainly fruity and quite delicious. I couldn’t really see any white tea leaves in the blend, really just sencha and lemongrass, but this is a refreshing and thirst quenching brew! The lemongrass doesn’t take over the flavor at all, mostly just fruit flavor and sencha. It’s great! ESP Emporium doesn’t get enough Steepster love.
Todays sipdown: Teasenz – Red Dragon Pearls

Very nice white tea with both mango and pear (and you can actually taste both). Subtle flavor profile, that makes a really enjoyable drink.

Herbal and Decaf TTB

I thought I had reviewed this, but either I’m not remembering correctly or Steepster ate the review. This one has a relatively pleasant fruity flavor, maybe a little too sweet for me, but a really cloyingly sweet smell. Not a keeper for me.

This was donated by Liquid Proust for the Herbal and Decaf TTB. Thank You!

This is an interesting tea. When brewed, it’s a bright red that I associate with Hibiscus. It has a sweet-tart fruity smell, with a hint of spice, flowers, and earthiness. The taste is a light honey and nuts flavor with just a hint of the fruity, spicy, floral, earthiness I picked up in the smell. It’s not nearly as bold as I would have expected, but it has a bit of complexity. After drinking more of this, I feel like it’s almost too sweet. It’ really good, but I might like it better mixed with just a bit of hibiscus. I’ll have to try that.

Very floral taste, with a sweet fruit taste in the background.
Even unbrewed, the tea smells really nice.

My other tea from this company. It smells of bergamot, with floral notes. The vanilla scent comes out a little. There is some floral flavour, and citrus notes. Seems like the monk was trying to a different tea at first. Still, the Assam base is nice and floral/ vanilla.