Gold Leaf Spice & Teas

This tea is really good it has a light flavor, but after steeping multiple times you can taste other different flavors. i recommend this tea to be drank in the morning because of its light flavor.

A tea from the lovely Emilie from our swap.

This one is just heavenly. I think that all jasmine green teas can range from a score of just decent to very good, as there isn’t much that can go wrong. However, I have drank some of the lower-end ones that are “decent,” and what a difference it is from very good ones like this one!

The flavour is so bold and full, the base green tea dancing in harmony with the flowery jasmine in a beautiful combination of flavours. The only downside of this tea is that it leaves a bit of a dry aftertaste on my tongue, but well worth the wonderful tea!

Also drinking this one in my new Teavana double-walled glass mug that I got for Christmas from my mom. :) I loove it, I’ve been wanting these mugs for a while now, but never really was able to get around to getting them.

http://www.teavana.com/us/en/teaware/tea-cups/grande-tasse-glass-tea-mug-011035444.html

Merry Christmas to everybody!

Well, I was speculating earlier this morning if I’d ruined my taste buds to tea for the next little while until I get used to it again but then I had some of this (it’s some sort of trade, I have no memory of who gave this to me or when) because I was a bit worried about the age of the coconut.

Not only is the coconut still tasty but the whole tea tastes amazing. I’m really liking it. Coconut is the dominant flavour of the tea and then a touch of chocolate, and then the tea base. At some point when I’m buying tea again, I may have to pick some of this up. Onto the wishlist it goes.

I did use milk and sugar with it but I do that with almost all black teas so it wasn’t something special that I did for this tea.

This tea was ok, but I did have to doctor it up to liven up the flavor. I added sugar and cream.

I’m not a huge tisane person, but I actually really, really enjoyed this. It’s sweet and a little creamy from the lemon myrtle. And the best part is I absolutely don’t get any hibiscus flavor seeping through (Yay!) There’s a very slight green/lemony aftertaste. Like lemondrops.

The flavors here are blended really well and work together to create one flavor, instead of a bunch of little flavors vying for attention (so in that way, it’s very difficult to pick out the individual components). What it makes is so lemony and sweet though! It’s like eating lemon pudding or lemon bars. Gaaaaah. Yum.

Thank you BrewTEAllySweet!

I was really distracted and busy at work when I drank this. I remember I liked it and wished I had steeped it a little stronger. Good coconut flavor. I’ll have to write a more detailed note next time I drink :)

Thanks BrewTEAlly Sweet

Thanks BrewTEAlly Sweet! Mmm this one is so sweet. The apricot is very present and very nice. Nothing artificial. It’s almost like an apricot jam. It would make a lovely iced tea.

thank you so much Shelly_Lorraine for sending a few samples on over to try! I was happy to help organize your cupboard a bit. :D This was the first to try! I really liked this one. Lovely flower petals in the blend with at least one chunk of apricot. It has a nice smooth black base with a tasty apricot flavor. I’d agree with Shelly_Lorraine’s tasting note: it does remind me of those peach ring candies (that I think I had once a WHILE ago) but definitely not in a bad way! I also wouldn’t have noticed that those candies have an apricot flavor but maybe this tea also has a peach flavor to it. Definite apricot flavor and not in an artificial way. There was something nice about this cup — I would call it creamy but that would be odd with the apricot. I’d just call it smooth, I suppose. I liked being able to try this one as my sample is now GONE. I’ll kind of miss it!

My last mystery swap sample from BrewTEAlly Sweet and it’s a good one!

The flavors are nicely balanced, nothing tastes artificial. I was worried about the rose petals, because I generally don’t like flowers in my tea, but they don’t come through in the flavor. It tastes like pomegranate and green tea :)

I must have a high tolerance for bitterness (unless its a green tea) because this isn’t bitter to me at all. I tried it both hot and cold. I think I like hot better (iced tea is just too much a southern concept for me). I brought the chilled portion to my parents house this evening for all to sample. My father described it in an unusual way: “tastes like tea that used to be hot, but now its cold.” Gee, that’s really descriptive and enlightening, thanks Papa! Everyone else thought it tasted like a fruit punch without the extra sweet (though I did add a little rock sugar). I think it tastes like a melted ice pop. My husband, of course, loves it. I could take it or leave it. All these fruity tisanes are plenty drinkable, but I’d probably pass on purchasing more if my husband didn’t like them (except for the Hibiscus, I like that one. . .not a fruit, but still).

ETA: Yikes, I forgot to thank BrewTEAlly Sweet for this sample. So, saying it now, thank you! :)

I’m not sure about this tea yet. There’s nothing unpleasant about it, but maybe I don’t like the lemongrass so much. It’s sweet in a natural sort of way (the honeybush I suppose) and it tastes mostly lemony, but not tart (considering that there is hibiscus in it too).

Tisanes apart from rooibos are a fairly new direction for me. I will probably always prefer tea above all else, but as my husband seems to be liking these fruity tisanes quite a bit, I will likely partake in a few more cups of them than I would otherwise. Besides, I shouldn’t be turning down so many healthy possibilities.

Thank you for this one BrewTEAlly Sweet :)

My last tea sample for the night, again from BrewTEAlly Sweet

Of course, as is my custom when trying more than one sample in a row, I only brewed a few ounces ;)

This one certainly has more flavor than the Pomegranate tea that I just logged. It is mildly reminiscent of the Disney Mad Hatter Tea Party tea that I got from Rie recently as it too is reminding me of peach gummy rings, though not as potently as the Mad Hatter tea. Those gummy rings must have apricot in them too.

Oh hey look, another sipdown!

Still too much hibiscus for me, and I’m wishing I would have fridged this cup and tried it chilled. This would probably be amazing with pineapple juice in it, actually. Or better yet. Pineapple and seltzer.

Excuse me while I rummage out my personal tea tartness scale. This tea smells like fruity juiciness and hibiscus so I fear I might need it.

10 — MY FACE IS IMPLODING FROM TERMINAL TARTNESS
9-5 — almost undrinkable, sugar needed stat!
4 — I guess this is okay, but sugar would make it better
3 — Now we’re getting somewhere
2 — Just a little bite
1 — Wait. Tart?

There it is!

This tea before adding anything, falls at about a 4.5. It was drinkable to me without my mouth feeling like it was getting sucked into itself from my expression alone, but it was definitely on the tarter side of drinkable. I also couldn’t get much past the taste of the hibiscus to get anything else. Hibby and I don’t work great as a pair.

A spoonful of sugar helped the medi—-er tea go down much smoother. After that I taste a pineapple forefront with sweet mango accents ending on an almost floral tart note (but only about a 2-3). It has a nice juicy quality overall and the sugar really amps the natural sweetness.

I’d guess this would be fantastic cold-steeped with sugar (or agave) and just might have to try that.

Thanks BrewTEALly Sweet. I may yet grow to like tart blends.

Another Morning treat with this tea. Steeped it in water and added milk and sugar:) I’m loving this tea more and more each time:)
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8754230695
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8755370906
Happy Sunday everyone!

I went in to get my usual herbal chocolate chai and the owner recommended this new tea to me and its absolutely amazing. For those days that you want to reach for a hot chai or hot coco I highly recommend this. This may come as a surprise but I actually steeped this is milk and added a tiny bit of sugar and it was just perfection. So on a gloomy cold day or a late night treat this is what I will reach for:)
Enjoy!