JusTea

2024 sipdown no. 77

This has a lovely creamy and hay-like aspect to it. I quite enjoyed this one. Thanks Cameron!

Looks like green tea + jasmine / cornflower flowers; very light, even after long steep; flowery scented;

Bought this trying to have more low-caffeine alternatives.
A little tannic, fruity; Deep reddish brown color.
Really has no classic black-tea flavor. If you’re in the mood for “something different”, this could be it. It says it has “Kenyan Purple Tea” in it, but again, definitely herbal, not actually classic tea flavor.

“Teas I drink in a day Friday 12/22/23” #1

MUG: David’s Tea light yellow base/lavender top 20 oz tumbler
STYLE: cold brew (leftover from the full pitcher yesterday at work)
DRANK: at work to start off my day.
NOTES (general of course because black tea especially plain is not my forte):
After I get through the workday (and I’ve been feeling down with general winter coughing/sneezing annoying ness since Monday) I have the first of two 3-day weekends coming with getting Christmas Day and New Year Day off. I figured why not do a “teas I drink in a day” Steepster/Instagram posts.

Although black tea is not my strong suit, I have to say 2023 I’ve have grown a slight appreciation of black tea in general and even EGs (! – this is not an EG, this is just a note of my tastes overall). I am not particularly sensitive or not to caffeine but been trying to integrate black teas into my mornings at work. I do have two or three gals from my group chat on IG who says they will help me out with offloading black teas, so perhaps will share this with them but this is only a 90 gram bag so wouldn’t be hard to just make some pitchers of this or even at home as I’ve been occasionally making some simple sauces/syrups for tea.

EDIT: Instagram post, pic 1 is mug & packaging and 6 is picture with teas 4&5, @teawithjann vlogmas playing, snacks from @dessertbydeb box that arrived that day, and one my kids (my kitten Sherbet, one of my two girls): https://www.instagram.com/tiffanydrinkstea/p/C1Mj4I1Odn7/?img_index=6

I made this too hot (212F) and steeped it for too long (4 minutes)….and it is absolutely hitting the spot at this moment. I just really wanted a malty black tea that would punch me in my allergy-addled head. This works.

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My very last tea from JusTea! This one was from the herbal trio.

This is a pleasant mix of lemongrass, chamomile, and licorice root. The lemongrass is definitely the strongest flavor, with its soft and sweet lemon drop citrus notes. The chamomile is very subdued until the end of the sip, where it takes center stage. Happily, I don’t taste much of the licorice. Similar to the peppermint herbal, it’s basic but nice, though not something I would buy since I could easily mix it myself.

As for JusTea in general, I did enjoy most of their teas. I think my favorites were (unexpectedly) the Cream Earl Grey and the Turmeric Ginger. I want to try their African Chai and Mt. Kenya Black again, because I sort of felt like they were both contaminated by the Earl Grey that was in the same trio. Also, I really want to try their plain purple tea, since all three of the teas in the purple trio were mostly other ingredients…

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The second tea from the herbal trio.

Not my favorite, as it mostly tastes like hibiscus with citrusy notes from the lemongrass, with a touch of rooibos in the background. I don’t taste the berries, which isn’t surprising to me since they’re just a few dried berries with no flavoring. Thankful that I don’t taste much licorice root either, though there is a very slight mustiness at the end of the sip that may be from that.

Mostly just another tart hibiscus tisane, nothing exceptional or special here.

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Last one from the purple tea trio.

So this tea is basically just cocoa shells. There is some purple tea in it, but I don’t feel like I can taste it under all the cocoa. It’s a bit much for me plain, as it’s a rather intense and slightly bitter dark chocolate flavor. With a bit of creamer added, it’s more like a strong dark hot chocolate, which is more my speed.

I don’t think I would buy it again, just because I might as well get plain cocoa shells if I want this flavor profile. I do appreciate a chocolate tea that doesn’t have any flavoring though!

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From their herbal trio.

This is just a mix of peppermint and lemongrass, both things I love. It’s nice enough, the peppermint has a cooling and refreshing taste but there is a little bit of that musty “wet rag” note in the finish. Also, I feel like the peppermint overpowers the lemongrass here. I can taste a bit of its characteristic lemon drop flavor at the very beginning of the sip, but from then on it’s basically all mint.

Still, enjoyable cuppa for the evening! Not one I would reorder, just because I would prefer to buy the herbs separately and mix it myself if I wanted this combination.

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From the purple tea trio!

This is pleasant enough. I still have no idea what purple tea tastes like, despite having tried all three of the teas in this sampler. I wish they would’ve included their plain purple tea, but I guess I’ll just order some at a later date.

Anyway, this tea reminds me of Sweet Tarts. I mostly taste lemongrass and hibiscus, thankfully it’s not too tart, even with the fairly voluminous amount of leaf I used. It has a vaguely fruity, candylike tart flavor to it. There’s apparently passion fruit flavoring here, I certainly wouldn’t recognize it, but I assume it’s contributing some of that tart fruitiness.

Perfectly nice tea, but probably not something I would order again.

Mostly of the JusTea teas I have left are herbals, I really need to get into the habit of drinking tisanes during the day so it doesn’t take forever to finish them… :P

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The last tea from the holiday trio!

I was dreading this one a bit, as lavender is mentioned prominently on the tin and the description, but I needn’t have worried. The dominant note is the lemongrass, and it gives a lovely mellow and sweet lemon drop-esque flavor to the tisane. I do get a touch of citrusy-earthy-floral lavender, but it’s more of an accent. Not much licorice thankfully, there is a little hint of sweetness but not enough to be cloying.

The really interesting part is the sarsaparilla, which I didn’t know about until I went “what is that flavor…?” and checked the ingredients. It gives an interesting sweet-spicy note that’s especially noticeable in the finish, where it almost tastes like root beer.

Not sure if I would buy this again, having an abundance of similar herbal tisanes, but it has some nuances to it that make it interesting.

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The second tea from their holiday trio.

This technically has both purple tea and rooibos in it, but all I really taste is the hibiscus and lemongrass. It’s apparently inspired by mulled wine, but to me they went way too light on the cinnamon – I can’t really taste it at all. Maybe the teensiest hint at the end of the sip? This also has clementine flavoring, which I think is just blending in with the hibiscus.

Anyway, to me this tastes like a hibiscus-y fruit tisane with some citrus notes from the lemongrass. And I’m not a hibiscus lover, so it’s not one I would order again.

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From their holiday trio set that was released toward the end of last year.

This is a nice tea, it’s a bit like a combination of a hot cinnamon tea à la Harney & Sons with an orange spice black tea. It has that strong candy cinnamon vibe, but it’s not as sweet as Hot Cinnamon Spice, and then it also has a very present orange note along with clove and other spices. (I lied, this doesn’t even have clove, but it still gives me those Constant Comment vibes…)

I quite like it actually, I find it well-balanced and I like that it’s not quite as candy-sweet as some similar teas. It makes a really nice latte too.

I would consider ordering this one again if I don’t have a similar tea in my cupboard by the time it comes out next winter (right now I do).

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From their purple tea trio!

It’s a nice enough jasmine tea. It tastes very natural and the jasmine is sweet and fragrant. The green tea is somewhat earthy, with a mineral note to it. It’s smooth and tastes like a hearty Chinese green. I have no idea if I can taste the purple tea, not knowing what it tastes like. I wish they had included their plain purple tea in this trio, instead of three blends that include a ton of other ingredients.

It’s a pleasant jasmine tea, but certainly nothing special. I’ve been spoiled by nicer jasmine teas, like those from Teavivre, and this doesn’t live up to those. I’ll have to try to remember to pick up some of the plain purple tea to try when I inevitably order from JusTea again though…

ashmanra’s Sipdown Challenge – “International Friendship Day! Do your thing – have tea with a friend, send tea to a friend, write to a friend, make a friend, or call a friend while you have tea and let them know you are thinking of them”

So my mother has been visiting me for the past week or so. She’s not a tea drinker really, but she was so interested when my JusTea order arrived that we decided to do a tea tasting. Well, then she found one of my afternoon tea cookbooks so it sort of turned into a casual afternoon tea, and my husband joined us as well.

We made three-cheese scones with mustard butter, egg salad and cucumber tea sandwiches, and a rustic sour cherry cake. And then, in the spirit of the original tea tasting idea, we tried 6 of the 7 JusTea teas I ordered – Nandi Gold and Turmeric Ginger for the first course, African Chai and Purple Leaf for the second, and Cream Earl Grey and White Rhino for dessert. In actuality, we sort of ate the scones and sandwiches at the same time anyway. I also put out little dishes with the dry tea leaves for everyone to look at and sniff, and we had fun doing that.

We enjoyed all the teas to varying degrees, me more than the other two. This was my mom’s favorite of the selection (I already ordered her a tin from Amazon to be waiting when she gets home, shhhh…), so I thought I would leave the note here. I’ve never though of myself as a turmeric lover, but I really enjoy this tea and purchased a whole tin of it. The turmeric is earthy and sweet, the lemongrass light and citrusy, and the ginger and peppercorn add just enough spice while still leaving a somewhat mellow cuppa. Also worth noting, my husband hated this one, LOL! It’s always interesting to see non-tea people’s reactions to different teas…

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So now that I’ve finished off all of my Chroma teas, next up is JusTea. I ordered all of their tin trios in the fall of last year, and then also got their holiday trio when it came out. I did sip my way through a few of the teas already, but I have 10 left to go, so here we are!

This was the last tea left from the “assorted” trio. I do like turmeric in tea – it’s not something I seek out, but I’ve enjoyed a lot of the ones I’ve tried. This is actually a very nice turmeric-based tisane. The turmeric is earthy and a bit sweet, the ginger adds a nice warmth, and then the lemongrass and lemon oil brighten it up with zesty citrus notes. Thankfully, I don’t taste the licorice root.

Despite having all of these assertive sort of ingredients, this is still very well-balanced and is quite mellow overall, without too much heat from the ginger. Really a nice tisane. I’m not sure whether I need a turmeric blend in my cupboard, but if I did I would absolutely order this one.

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So this is an interesting one from JusTea, it’s Kenyan green tea mixed with genmaicha, cinnamon, and coconut flavor.

It’s nice enough, it tastes just as I would expect, like some kind of coconut rice pudding. I think the flavors are fairly well-balanced, I can taste the rice clearly even though the base is a blend of genmaicha with a plain green tea. The coconut is present but well-restrained and the cinnamon is just enough to add sweetness and cozy vibes.

However, I’m just not a coconut tea person, so this isn’t my favorite. But I think someone who would enjoy a coconut sticky rice + rice pudding sort of tea would probably really like this one.

Grabbed this sample from the last TTB. This chai is much too mild for me. It’s not spicy or super flavorful. It’s just sort of light and sweet. It’s decent warm, but not something I need again. When I drink a chai, I want to taste bold spices, but instead I get mild, bland spices. I shared this cup with my sister, who also commented that it was weak.

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So I’m not a creamy Earl Grey person, even though I love London Fogs. For some reason they just don’t often taste good to me (with a few exceptions, like Camellia Sinensis’s version).

But this tea is honestly delicious. The vanilla-cream tastes slightly caramel-y to me for some reason, it reminds me of flan or crème caramel, or some other kind of creamy custard with caramel sauce. Or maybe even butterscotch sauce? I can taste the bergamot as well, it doesn’t get overpowered, just smoothed out and dessertified.

Will definitely consider reordering some of this once (or should I say “if”? XD) my cupboard is reduced down a bit. Highly recommend for Earl Grey cream lovers!

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So I actually just ordered this tea for the tin… I really like their Cream Earl Grey, but they don’t offer that blend in a tin, so I looked through some of the ones they do sell in tins and chose this tea. I actually got the sachets, partially because I didn’t want 90 grams of tea to sip through, and partially because their tea bag tins are super pretty, with a sort of tie dye effect to them (vs. the loose leaf tins, which are solid). Anyway, all that to say now I can put my Cream Earl Grey in this tin, huzzah! \o/

This is a very nice Earl grey. The Kenyan black tea is very smooth, yet it’s strong enough to stand up to the bergamot and give a malty backbone and nice thick body. The bergamot is more on the citrusy side rather than floral, which I appreciate. There’s actually an interesting sweet and fruity note going on, I guess it must be from the bergamot oil they used. The slight sweetness does help soften the sharper citrus notes nicely.

Would definitely recommend for those who drink plain Earl grey. Also their Cream Earl Grey is delicious as well! My only complaint about this tea is the teabags – they use paper pyramid teabags, which I love, but the tags are glued on, and more than once I tore a hole in the paper trying to unstick the tag…

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The bergamot in this one was just a bit too powerful for me to enjoying drinking it plain, so I ended up sipping it with a bit of oat milk added and really enjoyed it that way. The bergamot is quite sweet, but also very strong and floral. I found it overwhelmed the black tea when I tried it sans additions, so I had a difficult time picking out the flavor notes underneath. It’s definitely quite smooth, a touch woody and malty, and perhaps with a bit of a deep caramelized sugar note.

Anyway, not one I would personally order just because I prefer a softer bergamot flavor, but it’s definitely a high-quality tea and I would recommend it for lovers of strong bergamot!

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Don’t ask me why I ordered this one, I don’t even like pumpkin spice teas in general. I think I was intrigued by the sheer amount of pumpkin pieces included in this tea… Pumpkin is actually the first ingredient.

But I think it’s the large amount of pumpkin that makes this a bit weird. First off, I felt like I needed to use a ton of leaf because of the relatively small amount of black tea in the mix. It’s sort of fruity-tasting, but there’s an odd sour note that really doesn’t pair well with the clove and other spices. The sourness almost reminds me of rancid coconut, which is not a pleasant connotation to have. I still don’t really taste the black tea, even with using almost double the amount of tea for my cuppa.

Adding a bit of oatmilk smooths it out a bit, but then I mostly just taste clove. I guess this one just wasn’t for me!

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Oops, didn’t realize I hadn’t written a note for this one, other than the first time I tried it. I originally tried this in their black tea trio, and the Earl Grey in that set had contaminated the other two teas and made them taste weird. So my first note is rather unfavorable ha ha…

All that to say, I actually quite like this one. I’ve been drinking it with milk as my first tea of the day, and I quite like the addition of the fennel along with the allspice – it gives a nice sweetness and makes it a bit different from your usual chai.

I’ll probably reorder this at some point, so I’ll be sure to write a note about it plain then! :P