Lusk Tea Company

Thank you to my SororiTea Sister, TeaEqualsBliss, for sending me a sampling of this chai.

I’m in agreement with TeaEqualsBliss … this is really one of the least flavorful chai blends I’ve ever tasted. I also do get the pumpkin-y taste that she mentioned … kind of weird for a chai that doesn’t call itself a pumpkin chai, but, whatever…

The black tea base is kind of blah. Not really strong, not really much of anything… it’s just kind of weird. I taste some fruit notes in the background. The spices are really kind of boring. I taste ginger and fennel, and other than that, it’s just really kind of a boring tea … which is in itself rather odd to me, because it is also quite unlike any tea I’ve had before, so it’s boring yet unusual, which seems an odd combination to me. Lackluster. Not bad … really, just very dull and flat and uninteresting.

I received this sample from TeaEqualsBliss (thanks!!!) but I am having some trouble finding the tea company… I just sent off an email and hopefully they’ll get back to me soon.

I have to admit, I was a little scared of this tea … I tend to shy away from decaffeinated teas as it is, and when I opened the package, there was no bergamot aroma. None! I worried that my olfactory nerves might be off or something, but, I tested them on another tea and I could smell it just fine. But, this… there’s no bergamot. :( I can smell the tea. Just not any bergamot. DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I’M TRYING TO SAY? I mean, what is an Earl Grey without that bergamot? It’s enough to make a person depressed… an Earl Grey without that bergamot aroma… It’s like a summer without the sun. Or Christmas without presents. It’s just wrong. Bad. Sad. Depressing.

So, already, I’m sad about this tea. The brewed tea has a little more bergamot smell than the dry leaf (which wouldn’t be hard since there was NO bergamot fragrance in the dry leaf), but it does NOT smell like any Earl Grey I’ve ever encountered. Even the bad Earl Grey teas that I’ve had (and I’ve had some) smelled more bergamot-y than this.

Taste: this tastes like black tea. It does not taste like Earl Grey. On the plus side, it does not taste like its decaffeinated either. It has a pleasant black tea taste… but it does not taste like Earl Grey. No bergamot = one very sad LiberTEAS. I think I shall go crawl in a hole now and cry. Sadly, I must rate this low, I don’t like to do this to little tea companies like this because I like to support tea whenever I can, but, I can’t get behind an Earl Grey with no bergamot. It’d be like Guns N’ Roses with no Axl. I mean, it’s bad enough that there’s no caffeine in this (aka no Slash) but, there’s no bergamot. THERE’S NO BERGAMOT!!!

This one smells pleasant enough…an even subtle Chamomile with that little hint of apple aroma.

It’s a bitter sweeter than most straight-up Chamomiles which I like and it’s a tad juicy even. It doesn’t have a great deal of flavoring overall but it’s alright. Not bad for a stand-alone Chamomile.

You know I like MINT…so…I might be a little more judgmental than most. BUT…I can barely smell this peppermint…this makes me wonder how this will taste? I can smell a bit of mint but it also smells like cooked green beans. Strange.

Yeah…not sure about t his one…it tastes herbally more than minty. It’s still soothing but I am certainly left wanting…wanting more of a MINT taste. Sorry to say but this one is just “meh” for me. It’s not bad tasting, just not what I had hoped.

I really hate to say this…but…this isn’t very good. I mean…it’s not bad tasting…it’s just not very flavorful. I received a sample, and perhaps if I were to double or triple the sample it would have been much more flavorful, I don’t really know. Anyhow…it sort of tastes a little like pumpkin. There isn’t much spice flavor at all, and the black tea isn’t very hearty either. It just tastes quite…FLAT…

Full review coming soon…in the meantime…this is a SOLID Decaf! Very aromatic!!!!