Gurman's

Sipdown 47-2021
From Dustin’s advent. This smells so good! It actually reminds me of a chocolate drizzled cheesecake. Nice subtle chocolate flavor, with a creaminess. The little chocolate chips didn’t negatively effect the tea, which I often find with chocolate bits in blends. There’s no oiliness or artificial flavor, just a tasty dark chocolate.
I also agree with Dustin- there is a banana note that is quite interesting, and I’m getting it more and more as it cools.

This company, Gurmans, seems to be linked to another called J&S which isn’t in the Steepster data base. I’m not sure if one is owned by another or if one is the retail outlet of the other.

On a trip to Ireland earlier in the year, just before the pandemic really took hold, I went past Gurmans and picked some of this up along with another tea in their Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre location in Dublin. I also found a specialty grocery shop that had a set of Irish teas under the J&S name. It wasn’t until I got home that I saw that Gurmans was listed as the manufacturer on the J&S label and realized I had doubled up on this tea and one other. Luckily I like it a lot, so I’m sure it won’t go to waste.

It has little chocolate chips in it, which I have mixed feelings about in my teas, despite my love of the effect they have. I’ve been drinking this tea with a bit of creamer and it has a faint scent and taste of banana, which isn’t at all what I was expecting. There is a malty finish that lingers pleasantly. I think I get a hint of chocolate, but it’s not exactly what I’d think of as Irish Cream. Once I got bananas in my head it was hard to move past that impression. It tastes good hot or cold, which is great when I walk away and forget my cup for a bit.

SIPDOWN!

I believe this is the original bag purchased nearly seven years ago. If it was restocked, it would still have been about five or six years ago, so it is impressive that this tea still tasted good – good to the last drop really applies here.

Ashman and I sometimes drink this at breakfast, and it goes well with food. We don’t sweeten it. I dislike cherry cola, cherry cough syrup, and rooibos, but this is not that sort of cherry flavor. It is candy-ish, but does not have a cough syrup vibe. It is one I would happily restock someday when the cupboard is more under control. (As if…)

My cherry tea for the scavenger hunt! I do not expect to finish the list as I don’t even own a grapefruit tea right now, but I am happy with how many I have managed to do.

This tea is five or six years old now, and I was afraid the coconut chips would be rancid, but they seem to be okay. I chilled this for unsweetened ice tea and it is really good. The cherry flavor is still strong. I will focus on finishing this one so I can hopefully report another sipdown soon and that will be easy enough since I am really enjoying it iced and that tends to get guzzled down faster.

My husband got his flu shot yesterday, and as usual, he feels pretty bad today. He usually leaves for work at 6:30 am but decided to sleep in an extra hour, so I made a cherry vanilla Panera bagel and this tea for him before he left.

I don’t usually pair like with like, but try to go for contrast, but this was really good with the bagel. Cherry is the main note, but the coconut and other flavors give it so much body. I even resteeped and combined the two steeps in one large pot, and it was still plenty flavorful enough.

My daughter, Superanna, just went to Ireland and England for a couple of weeks. She had a wish list of teas to procure for me from Gurman’s in Dublin, but she also bought some wonderful tea gifts! In addition to the Gurman’s teas that I ordered and had sent to her in N. Ireland to bring back in her luggage (which got lost for a day but was found safe), she gave me a Ladurée assortment, some teas from Postcard Teas (adorable shop!), and Petit Macaron from Whittard of Chelsea, as well as White Pear from Suki that I accidentally left on her kitchen counter this afternoon!

I am starting with White Cherry from Gurman’s. That’s quite an ingredient list! Here is another cherry tea that tastes like Christmas to me. The cherry and coconut are coming together to remind me of cherry macaroons, which we only make at Christmas.

Cherry flavor is iffy for a lot of people. I like Luden’s Cherry Cough Drops, but I hate Robitussin. I don’t like Cherry Coke and I don’t like rooibos. But I do like this, very much in fact. I expect some people would compare it to cough syrup just because a lot of American cough formulas are cherry flavored, but this is the good kind, more candy-ish than medicinal.

Thumbs up from me!

I know I must have reviewed this before. Where are my old tasting notes going? Perhaps with the missing socks.

This deserves a tasting note because it is one of the tastiest flavored green teas I have ever had. This was the third tea served at tea time and we remarked on how much we have liked all the Gurman’s blends we have tried.

I have no idea what rye leaves taste like. I do not know what they add to this blend or what makes it taste so good, but I can say the even the black tea lover was oo’ing and ah’ing over this tea. The flower petals are mentioned and then it just says “flavor.” What flavor? They don’t say.

It is very smooth and has really full body. I bought this on a whim in Dublin, and I think I even initially thought I was buying a black tea, and afterward looked at the description and saw that it was a green. As usual, no sugar no milk.

I’m just glad I bought it.

This is our third or fourth pot of tea. We have been drinking blackberry tea all the time lately, and yesterday youngest had the bright idea to add Vanilla from Tin Roof Teas, which made a lighter Blackberry Cream tea. Nice!

But Hubby doesn’t drink black tea and wanted to join us so we switched to puerh. This one is very drinkable, affordable, and resteeps well. It isn’t full of exciting nuance and chi, but we like it!

My mother-in-law was moved from the hospital to rehab today. My husband is a really great guy. He has spent a night or two at the hospital with her, and many hours during the day. He spent all day today with her until he was practically sick from not having lunch and the stress of waiting for her to be moved, which happened six hours later than we were told it would. (We will still need to have someone there with her at meals probably because she isn’t eating, can’t feed herself yet, and has lost about 13 pounds.) I think some puerh does him good, and he does, too.

Also, my nephew who was in the accident where his car was flipped by a drunk driver had his spinal surgery today. He is now off the breathing tube, has a tube to drain his lung, and is still on an IV for antibiotics, but they are hopeful that he can go home soon. At first they thought he would have to go to a rehab facility first but they had him walk with a walker yesterday and they feel he may go home instead.

Thanks to all who have prayed or expressed their well wishes for these two family members. Steepsterites are the best,

Steep after steep, pot after pot, puerh has become our traditional tea for board games and gatherings. A former music student of mine who is now at college and my my godson came over to play Dominion today. We played for nearly four hours. And the tea kept coming.

This is a likable starter puerh for people who are afraid of trying puerh, and there are real chunks of caramel in it that melt during steeping. Somehow the caramel flavor keeps coming through for a number of steeps. We really enjoy this, although it doesn’t evoke sighs and murmurings about leather and barns. But it isn’t supposed to on game day. It is supposed to be enjoyed on the side while we eat lots of stuff we shouldn’t!

I’m back! I have been drinking a lot of tea but haven’t posted about it in the bustle of travel and sightseeing. I am back home and jet lagged and caught a cold, so more tea it is.
My right ear is all clogged up feeling and never properly popped after the plane, I guess because I was already congested. Hopefully it will clear soon.

I am so glad I got to actually go to Gurman’s myself! It is in the heart of Dublin in the bustling shopping area. I had looked at the website and chose this one as well as vanilla puerh, but they were out of vanilla. I wanted to mix them to try to get the Dammann Freres Puerh Gourmand vibe.

This is very good on its own, though. The base is a musky and earthy ripened puerh. The caramel flavor is sweet and not too heavy. It resteeped nicely. I had three steeps of it and though my daughter drank a fourth, I thought it looked a little weak based on color. I know youngest and I are going to drink scads of it, so I bought 200 grams. The guy was quite shocked initially when I asked for it by ounces!

I really like this company. I have found some good flavored teas at good prices, and they have been willing to ship their tea to the US, including teas that they have in store but don’t list in their website.

I have been looking for a flowering tea to use in a tea ceremony which I hope to do at the end of a meditation class – thought it might be a nice idea. Bought 5 Gurman’s black tea blossoms for €9.50 In Dublin. Really excited to see what emerged in my glass tea pot, bought especially. Poured boiling water into pot, dropped ball in, waited with baited breath, along with several family members whom I had built up to see something quite spectacular. The result at least gave everyone a good laugh! A nicely coloured but underwhelming pink flower which remained tucked into the opened black leaves of the flower ball – the whole lot floating upside down the first time I tried. I could only see the flower if I put my face up to the glass. The tea leaves themselves looked very unappealing – a black clump which did not sink down to the bottom but floated around on the surface.

I tried a second time and this time I put the boiling water onto the flower ball. Virtually same result – a raggedy clump of black leaves with a pink flower visible inside, but not emerging. Again, the ball did not sink to the bottom of the pot but at least this time it was floating right way up – ie with the flower on top.

The taste was actually quite good. Not worth the €9.50 (for 5 balls) price tag though as it tasted as good as my standard Barry’s breakfast tea that I drink all day long. Mind you, Barry’s tea is an excellent black tea.

All in all disappointing but I will keep looking and will send off for some blooming tea which has been reviewed online and hopefully fare better.

Backlog:

When I received a sampling of this tea from a friend, I had kind of expected it to be a jasmine tea because I’ve had at least one or two Madame Butterfly Jasmine teas. But this is a yummy peach flavored Sencha! (Not that jasmine isn’t yummy too!)

The flavor doesn’t taste off or chemical-y. It tastes like fresh, juicy peaches! The sencha gives it a sweet, slightly buttery taste. I put in my notes that it reminds me of lightly buttered vegetables. It’s a very light tasting Sencha, and it melds nicely with the peach notes.

Really tasty.

My best friend has a son who is autistic. Their autism society worker is like family, and she was diagnosed with breast cancer not long ago. She completed her surgery and now has to have radiation, but she is fearful. We invited her over today so I could give her a pep talk and some helpful hints to get through it. (I had it in 2010.) She also asked if drinking tea would help improve her health and prevent a recurrence, so we talked about the benefits of antioxidants, flavonoids, and such in different teas and how they may possibly help. At the very least, replacing sugary drinks with unsweetened tea will help tons! Cancer loves sugar.

She drinks grocery store green tea, but I told her there are things she can actually ENJOY and not just choke down for the health benefits. This was the tea I chose to serve to her today since it has a lot of natural sweetness from the fruits and coconut, and it is so creamy and refreshing whether hot or cold.

The best part was when she said, “I could drink this every day!”

It really is a great tea and I love it especially in the summertime with all of the fruity flavors.
I may have to pick up more in a couple of months when I go to Ireland, but thankfully Gurman’s has fabulous customer service and offered quite a while back to ship orders to the US for us, even the teas that don’t appear on their website but that you know they have in store.

3 tsp. in 22 ounces water, 174F for three minutes

I was so sure I had reviewed this one already. Maybe Steepster ate it.

This is fantastic. I mean, really, so good. I served it yesterday at tea time and I am having it again today with my salad for lunch. The green tea base is so smooth and slightly creamy, the coconut comes through nicely though it is subtle, and the pineapple is softened, not tart or strong. Everything just really melds together and makes for an awesome cup (pot) of tea.

Gurman’s is really batting .1000 for me!

This was the second tea served at tea time today and oh my was it ever delicious! I really must not run out of this one. Thankfully, Gurman’s has been very accommodating about shipping to the US and also, I have a few people who seem to be flying to Ireland constantly so I could ask them to pick it up for me.

This is so smooth, and the apricot is just a nice, round flavor full in your face. I taste the raisin next, then a hint of mango. This is on the short list of teas I would want if I had to cull my stash down to ‘x’ number of teas.

This was one of my Christmas gifts that eldest daughter picked up in Dublin. Oh. My. Gosh. I have to say it was amazing. I get rich, rich apricot and raisin mostly, with a little mango. This is full bodied and so flavorful. Fantastic! Taken plain, and served at tea time with homemade lemon pepper crackers and cranberry White Stilton cheese.

My girls bought this for me when they were in Dublin because they knew how much I liked the teas from Gurman’s on the last trip. In addition, when some of us in the US wanted tea that wasn’t available on their website, they made it available to us. I thought that was great customer service.

The ingredient list was pretty exciting to me because it had all of the things I love in a Christmas spice sort of tea. Other Christmas teas have disappointed me sometimes by having an astringent or finicky base or artificial tasting orange flavor with a bite. This is very nice, however, and tastes well balanced to me. The orange is clean and fruity, the almond is soft and smooth, the ginger is not bitey, the cinnamon is light, the clove is peeking at me just the right amount, And the cardamom is sweet and exotic.

I am drinking this with no milk or sugar, but for those who take sugar in their tea I suspect this one would be super sweet and Christmas-y. Well done!

Another tea from my Momo box! It has a very nice sencha base that is a little heavier in the mouthfeel than most sencha’s I’ve had. The flavoring is very subtle in a good way. The peach is definitely there along with a hint of citrus. It doesn’t taste artificial at all. There is also a light floral note that I can’t distinguish. I don’t think I have enough experience with florals to identify it.

Of course as I come to do log this note, my internet stopped working and I had to reset everything, which is always a good time. Also like half an hour before the bulb went out in my desk lamp so that was great too, hopefully nothing else goes awry.

So I really want to love peach green teas but alas, the peach just never tastes right. This one at least works for iced tea beyond a flavoring issue for me. It just really doesn’t taste like peaches. It’s just kind of a vague fruity flavor that seems to happen a lot.

Thanks, Azzrian!

also I apparently totally missed getting to 900 notes earlier. confetti~

Thank you Azzrian!

The dry leaf of these tea is really exciting. When I have the time, I like to rehydrate dried peppers and then grind them into a paste in my food processor for chili. So seeing the big chunks of dried chili pepper in here is excellent!

Usually I am really sad and pathetic when it comes to spicy drinks. Soups, I’m okay, but I tried this cayenne/ginger kombucha the other week and couldn’t handle it. And I seriously love spicy food.

This is so good, and I don’t know if it’s the mango or what but I can handle it. If you leave it in your mouth too long it starts to hurt, but in the good way…you know what I mean if you like spicy food. Then the mango makes it all better, and the aftertaste has just one final kick.

I’m taking this with me to Thanksgiving. I got my brother to drink iced tea last time I was up there, and he also likes spicy stuff. But I think I’ll try to get him to drink it without telling him it’s gonna be spicy, and tell him he has to hold it in his mouth for about 20 seconds before swallowing for the best flavor of tea. Hahahahaha. I’m horrible. (He deserves it.)

Spicy, but not too spicy, even for a wimp like me. The green base is nice and smooth. This is an excellent and enjoyable green, and Gurman’s has been a pleasure to deal with.

I was a little scared to try this. My daughter said her boyfriend bought this in Ireland and he said it “almost killed him.” So they decided to pass it on to me, a total wimp when it comes to spicy things.
My daughter thinks it was the fact that it was green tea that bothered him, as he likes spicy food and therefore shouldn’t mind spicy tea.

I used an average amount of leaf and steeped it for only 2 1/2 minutes. It really isn’t bad. Because I don’t get into chili peppers I am not likely to drink this much more, but I am pleased to have found it for the most part palatable. Anyone want a sample? Send me your snail mail! I am thinking of you, K S, but I already have your address so I shall get some out to you.

I drink this one a lot more often than I log it. Super peachy and fruity, a great all around tea and well-liked even by kids, even without sweetener. Even my black tea loving friends like this one. I have bought it three times now – twice from Gurman’s in Dublin, Ireland, and once from Tin Roof Teas who carried it under the name Fuzzy Navel. Alas, they no longer carry it, but Gurman’s does I think and since my daughter and her husband go to Ireland a couple of times a year, I don’t have to sweat getting it. Also, Gurman’s has been great about sending us teas, even ones that I know they carry that are not featured on their website. Go, Gurman’s!

Full of peachy flavor, good hot or iced. This was tea #2 of tea party and was served hot, but I have been drinking the remainder at room temperature all day. I need to make some big pitchers of it iced this summer.

Even the little kids who come here for tea love this one WITHOUT sugar! It is sold by lots of companies and usually under this name, though Tin Roof Teas used to carry it under the name Fuzzy Navel.

Gurman’s has given great customer service, too, and I don’t think I have ever had a tea from them that I didn’t like. I particularly love Palace of Roses.