Kally Tea

This is pretty muted; I’m picking up some general berry but that’s about it. Probably age-related.

Hi all! I’ve been neglecting this site unintentionally for a long time, but I’m back now. Hopefully. I’ll do a short life update once I’ve reviewed the tea.

So, tea first. It felt like a chai night, so I reached for the first one I found that wasn’t rooibos in case I wanted milk. This one is creamy enough without that it almost tastes as though it’s in there already. I mostly taste cardamom and a touch of pepper, which is just fine with me. It does have a bit of the dry, woody edge I notice in a lot of chais, but it’s mild and doesn’t bother me much. I’ll have to try it sweetened and with milk (and maybe both) to really evaluate it, but this is just what I wanted tonight.

Now for the update. I’ve been struggling with chronic illness for years now, and recently it’s been worse; I got a new diagnosis of fibromyalgia, which answers a whole lot of questions. That mixed with school stress has had me withdrawing on social media, including here. However, I’ve had nothing but positive experiences on this site, so I’m going to try and get back to reviewing regularly! It’ll also help me get out of the tea rut I’m currently in (2-3 teas all the time, how boring).

While I was traveling I ended up cold steeping this in my travel mug before I went to bed each night. Like magic I woke up to a great cup of cold tea each morning, it was heaven! It tasted heavily of vanilla, with hints of bergamot— the exact opposite of how it tastes when I steep it according to the package directions. I think I prefer this cold steeped since it doesn’t dry my mouth out as much, but either way it’s a delicious tea.

This was one of the teas I brought on my recent road trip. I thought a nice fruity tea would hit the spot once the temperatures started to rise, but I only made it through half the package before abandoning it for something else. The flavor wasn’t bad, it tasted somewhat like lychee, which is a tropical fruit, but not exactly what I was expecting. I’ll cold steep the last of this and finish it off once I get back to Saint Louis next week.

This should have at least one note for it from me, but of course it doesn’t.

Anyhow, not such a big fan of this tea. Kind of a plummy slightly spiced black. Not offensive, but nothing I’m overly fond of. I would much prefer that this was their Tangerine Spice.

Ehhhh just taste wood. Not a huge fan :S

Sipdown! I grabbed this because it was an earl grey, and yet this doesn’t taste much like an earl grey at all. It’s more like a breakfast tea with a sweet burnt sugar/apple aftertaste. It’s actually kind of watery, and I’m having trouble thinking of it as an EG at all. It’s fine, but I don’t think I’d reach for it again.

Chai and I don’t relate well to one another. Normally I just don’t get it. I have had a white chai I liked. This is rooibos. I like rooibos but never crave it. There is just something about the combination of rooibos and chai that I find appealing. I found myself easily finishing this one. The spices are sweet and don’t overwhelm the senses. Cinnamon possibly being the most prominent but really they all blend well together. The rooibos is present mid sip. I think the vanilla (which I don’t taste) knocks the scratchy edges off, making the rooibos very well behaved. I don’t really taste cola other than as hints that may be subliminal because I expect to taste it. After the cup cools the spices grow a little stronger, but only a little, and I can taste ginger in the aftertaste. I found this to be one of the more appealing rooibos I have tried and amazingly it is a chai. Thanks CelebriTEA for sharing.

Part of the Travelling Tea Box round 1. I had this tea on March 26/2014.

Dry leaf: Black tea leaves with yellow flower petals. The leaves have a sweet-ish scent to them.

Steeped: The water is a nice light amber that has no distinct scent. The tea has a light body and has a sweet and soothing taste.

Tea #6 from the tea box. I’m not much of a fan of pop, cola, soda… whatever you want to call it. Not sure of how i feel about this one. It slightly reminds me of Long Island Cola by Island Rose. I can taste the cola and the chai just not sure of how I feel about them mixed together.

From the queue

This one came from the first round of the European Travelling Teabox. I was right in the middle of chai-curious phase due to a pleasant one that Scheherazade had shared with me earlier when I received the box, so I nabbed this one. It’s a rooibos base and it has a really interesting name to boot. How can one make something taste like cola without actually putting cola in it? How can chai spices and cola even be combined in the first place? And hot cola, how’s that gonna work? I am intrigued!

Intrigued, yes, but also needing, it seems, a bit of courage to actually try it.

I have finally done so. I made a cup with half boiling water and half milk which I had heated in the microwave. Plenty of leaf in a filterbag and then a good long steep. About twice as long as I thought I would do because I forgot about it. I got distracted, you see, by writing this. As it’s a rooibos, though, I expect it was only to my advantage. I’ve found that you can’t really oversteep rooibos. They sort of level out, so the only result you get from forgetting it is that it starts to cool down.

It definitely has cinnamon in it, and in combination with the warm milk it smells strongly of rice porridge with cinnamon sugar and a lump of butter on it. (Which is very traditional around Christmas, but I tend to find it rather cloying) I also saw that the leaf had some cardamom pods in, but I can’t pick up anything in that regard.

Doesn’t smell particularly cola-y, I have to say. Or rooibos-y for that matter.

It doesn’t taste like cola either. Again, it’s warm milk and cinnamon, and a little bit of a cardamom floral touch. (Cardamom has a floral flavour, I think) There’s supposed to be ginger as well, apparently, but I can’t find any. Mysterious, really, since ginger is one of those things where very little can be too much for me. I can pick up the rooibos base, not so much because I can taste rooibos, but more because I can’t taste black tea.

I have to say I don’t think it lives up to the name at all. It’s pleasant and I’m enjoying my cup, but it just doesn’t taste like cola.

I’m sad to report that Kally Tea has closed it’s doors. I really loved this company. They were so friendly and nice, it was always a pleasure to deal with them. And I really loved their organic line of teas like this Organic Ceylon.

When I opened the pouch, I smelled … leather. This reminds me of the smell you might experience if you were to walk into an old library with the leather bound books. There are subtle hints of tobacco too, so, perhaps there’s a little bit of pipe tobacco that was left by the last library patron.

This is a delightful Ceylon. I usually consider Ceylon to be pretty even-tempered, and yes, that is true of this tea. It has a medium body and it’s fairly mellow as far as black tea goes. But it has a rich flavor that is a little bit malty and sweet, and there are some earthy tones to it too. It’s a nicely round tasting tea.

The sweetness is reminiscent of dried fruit. Like ground up raisins and dates … that kind of sweetness, with maybe just a hint of molasses mixed in. Mmm! It’s a very satisfying flavor. I don’t get a lot of the tobacco or leathery flavors that I noticed in the aroma, maybe just a subtle hint of these notes mingle with the aforementioned earthy notes.

This would make a really nice late morning or early afternoon tea. It isn’t quite as invigorating as, say, an Assam might be, so it’s not the tea I’d reach for as my first tea in the morning to help me shake the sleepies. This is more like the early afternoon pick-me-up kind of tea that I’d want when I start to feel that drag begin to set in, you know? When I need just a little something to perk me up and keep me going.

It makes me sad that Kally Tea is gone now, and since they are no longer operating, I am not going to rate this.

This one is a really nice fruit blend, but for whatever reason I don’t think it’s ever going to make its way onto my to-buy list. The pineapple flavor in this shines and makes the tea creamy, and the oolong isn’t lost under the fruit, but despite the good mix it feels like it’s lacking something. It might be better iced, but unfortunately I’m out as of this pot.

I love tropical teas. There’s something very refreshing about pineapple flavorings in tea. I also love oolongs more with each day—they’re very hard to mis-steep, and no matter how you mistreat them (wrong temperature, too long steep time, etc. etc.) they almost never taste bad. We all have those moments when we’re too tired to make a perfect cup!

This is a very natural “tropical” taste. There’s definitely pineapple, along with some papaya, maybe? It’s a nice mixture and goes well with the green oolong base. It’s definitely identifiable as an oolong but the fruit is also present. Neither is overshadowed by the other. I’m liking this blend! Maybe not a must-have, but it’s a good fruity oolong.

Backlog:

This tea threw me for a loop when it came time to post this tasting note, because Kally Tea had – at one time – another “cherry buds” tea, but that was a rooibos and fruit blend, and this is a flavored sencha blend. So, I added the word “rooibos” onto that other listing, and added “green” onto this one so that we would be able to pick out the difference.

Because this is certainly NOT a rooibos fruit blend. This is a lovely green Sencha that reminds me of spring and one of my favorite springtime teas! The green tea is lush and sweet, and the cherry notes are sweet-tart. It’s a really good blend.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/01/05/cherry-buds-green-tea-kally-tea/

Backlog:

A LOVELY jasmine scented green tea. I love that this is organic. I’ve tried quite a few of Kally Tea’s teas in their new organic line, and the teas have been really good. If you are looking for organic teas, you should check out what Kally has to offer!

The jasmine in this tea is heavenly! The aroma is so soft and beautiful, and the flavor is equally soft and beautiful. This doesn’t taste perfume-y. Just a soft, exotic, floral note.

The green tea tastes fresh and sweet. Not really grassy at all. There really isn’t a strong “vegetative” taste either … it tastes fresh and lightly “leafy” but not so much like vegetables or bitter grass. It’s just a really light, fresh taste.

But the jasmine here is what would keep me coming back because it’s really beautifully done. Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/12/16/organic-green-jasmine-tea-kally-tea/

This came free with my first Kally Tea order back in October, I thought I had given it all away during the secret pumpkin swap, but apparently the last little bit was hiding in a bag waiting to be rediscovered. This doesn’t sound like it would be my kind of tea, I don’t generally enjoy cola and warm cola seems a little odd, but it ended up being quite tasty. I think what makes it really work for me is the fact that the flavor is more chai and rooibos than it is cola.

This was a pretty interesting blend and I might consider reordering it again in the fall when I tend to drink more chai.

Backlog:

An amazing white monkey from Kally Teas. I love that it’s organic!

The aroma is lovely, it reminded me of a sunny spring morning with its vegetative notes, along with a crisp sweetness and a beautiful floral note.

The first flavor I noticed was a sweet, nutty flavor. Not a strong vegetative note – not as strong as the aroma would suggest! Those who tend to shy away from green teas because they don’t like the overly vegetal or grassy taste … would probably like this one.

This is sweet and buttery. I don’t get a strong floral taste, although there are hints of flower there. I can even taste notes of cacao when I slurp the sip!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/12/01/organic-white-monkey-green-tea-kally-tea/

Backlog:

Based on what I tasted from this Darjeeling, i am guessing it is a first flush. I am gauging that guess based upon the fact that I didn’t get a strong “muscatel” note from the tea, and typically, the second flush offers more muscatel than the first.

This is more woodsy and a somewhat “leafy” taste – evoking thoughts of a walk through the woods after a rain. (I live in the Pacific Northwest, there is a lot of densely wooded areas and it rains here a lot … or perhaps another way to put it would be that occasionally it doesn’t rain.)

Floral tones in the distance and hints of fruity notes which become more prominent as the tea cools.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/11/19/organic-sungma-ftgfop-1-black-tea-from-kally-tea/

Backlog:

An excellent Genmaicha. I like that it’s organic. It is sweet and nutty, and I can taste the bittersweet notes of the Sencha. Fresh and light, but with a buttery, nutty, bake-y sort of taste too.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/11/14/organic-genmaicha-green-tea-blend-from-kally-tea/

Backlog:

Energizing Yerba Mate – I like the fresh, invigorating flavor of this green Organic Yerba Mate. I appreciate that it’s organic. Sweet, vegetative and earthy. It has a smooth flavor … not too earthy or vegetative.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/11/06/organic-yerba-mate-kally-tea/

Backlog:

Thus far, I’ve been pretty impressed with Kally’s Organic lineup. I wasn’t really all that excited to taste a pure Ceylon because it tends to be a predicable tea, but, occasionally I find one that surprises me. This one did.

Robust! Sweet, uplifting cuppa. Woody, earthy, and enjoyable. A really good Ceylon, and I like that it’s an organic selection.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/10/30/organic-ceylon-fbop-black-tea-from-kally-tea/

Backlog:

I guess I don’t need to tell you that I was very excited to try this Organic Earl Grey from Kally Teas. I do love me some bergamot!

This bergamot is slightly more floral than some other Earl Grey teas that I’ve had in the past. Still distinctly bergamot with it’s tangy citrus notes, and there is usually SOME floral quality to a bergamot anyway, but I found myself really noting the floral notes here. I don’t know if this is because of the organic quality of the tea or the bergamot oil, I just know that this is what I noticed with this tea.

Rich and robust, tart/tangy, and distinctly floral with a sharp note. Not soapy or perfume-y though – thankfully!

A really good Earl Grey. Really quite wonderful with a nice balance of flavors.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/10/24/organic-earl-grey-black-tea-kally-tea/