LuxBerry Tea

This may be one of my new favorite teas. It’s got a lovely rounded cherry flavor, a very slightly (but not unpleasant) sour cherry aroma and a bit of a sweet cherry flavor. There was no bitter aftertaste, and the cherry flavor was just really outstanding.

HGTTB

Butter tart? Yeah, I don’t think so. It’s sweetish and buttery but then the cumin and peppercorn pop up. It’s almost like this tea is trying to be both a main dish and a dessert. Do I like it? At times. Do I hate it? At times. Honestly I just don’t know what to think of this. It’s certainly been an experience.

HGTTB

This smells so fruity! Juicy, fresh, and potent. It tastes just like it smells. I’m impressed that that this is as flavorful as it is. That said, I was pretty sure there was some extra sugar it here, so I looked at the ingredients, Candied fruit. That explains it. I honestly can’t figure out exactly which fruits I’m tasting here, but I like it. I think Peach mostly, but every time I think I’ve picked something out, I pick up something else. I actually really like that there’s different things going on here. I’m drinking it hot, but I bet this would be great iced. The fruit really lingers in the after taste as well. I’m tasting it long after I finished the last sip. The base, or bases, in this case, barely make themselves known, while I thought I could smell the green, I’ve lost it in fruit world! Really glad that I got to finish this one off!
I managed to get a good second steep out of it too. Bonus!

(PS: I had curried fruit with ham for supper, so this was absolutely perfect for after. Love when things work out that way!)

HGTTB

Another one that i have the pleasure of finishing off. On the upside, i’m nearly through tasting all the teas that i really wanted to have a run with out of the box. It’s been a good one! This is a lovely tea and very much a desserty tea with a creamy, buttery, apple spice sort of taste to it. This is a little rich for me though, so i’m not sure that i need more of it in my life haha It’s really lovely though!

HGTTB like others have mentioned…this one is weird. This is for sure nothing like a butter tart. So all best are off in terms of rating. It’s not a bad tea…but it’s not butter tart. instead it’s a sweet, sort of weird tea. there’s a bit of spice from the peppercorns but overall it’s just not what it claims to be heh

I went for a float in a sensory deprivation tank today, and was served this tea afterwards. It was quite light, sweet and fruity, with a hint of tartness, and a bit creamy. Quite nice.

The float was really quite neat. You’re in a pod with a few inches of body temp water and 1000lbs of salt dissolved in it. You can have light and music or dark and silent – I opted for dark and silent. The water keeps your body very buoyant and the space is very quiet. All I could hear was my heartbeat, my stomach and the occasional splash when I moved.

I was a bit too distracted with thoughts and noticing my body – I’m a bit hyper-sensitive and aware of things like itches, and my neck has been bothering me, so I noticed this stuff a lot. But a few times I did hit that kind of dreamy, half asleep half awake zone that’s so lovely and meditative. But it was pleasant, and when I got out I actually felt taller and my posture felt so much better.

All in all a really lovely experience – the staff, the spa, the float itself. I’m looking forward to going back and trying it with some soothing spa music to hopefully help quiet my thoughts.

This was perfect for a before bed brew! This has a delicious almond aroma. The steeped leaves give off a sour apple scent. The initial sip is sweet and caramel. This then turns into a apple flavor with a slight tang. Then all these flavors are wrapped around with sugary warm apple pie enticement. I enjoy this tea, its perfect for the time of night. This brew is not to artificial nor is it too syrupy.

I picked this at random; I’m having a hard time making a decision lately. The dry leaves smell sweet like frosting but with an undertone of spice. I brewed this western and waited to see what was in store for me. The wet leaves give off an aroma of an english bakery. I can smell nuts, spices, sugar and butter. The flavor is somewhat different. It has a greasy flavor. The spices are muted and the sweet flavor becomes syrupy. The most distinctive taste is the peppercorn, which sticks out and seems random. This really isnt a tea for me, but I believe it would come to use in the kitchen.

With the day that I’ve had, I needed something smooth to start out with. I picked this solely because it had white tea. I looked at this tea a little more and noticed the ingredients on it. It’s simply amazing the technology we have now days to actually put fog into a tea, hahah. I brewed western with a small amount. I caught the immediate tone of a smoky peach. This aroma reminded me of a peach hookah. The flavor of this brew is very diverse. It starts with a distinct peach flavor and then slows into pineapple. After the initial first sip I began to taste lychee and sweet desert herbs. Afterwards, I am left with the aftertaste of cacti and vegetal. I enjoyed this brew and with the bouquet of flavors I thought it be relaxing.

When I first read their ingredient list for this tea I thought it was a joke. I still kinda do. Fog? What is that supposed to be? They have a crazy mix of stuff but it works well. It reminds me a bit of peach but the apricot bits don’t make me think peach. Also not tasting much Lychee. This is quite good warm but I am enjoying it more luke warm.

I’ve been completely forgetting to mention that these are from the Hidden TTB. Just been so happy to try so many different teas! I’m loving this one! I’ve tried a few different versions of this by other companies and this one definitely ranks near the top. It’s like sipping apple pie. I’m going to munch on a Trefoil in a moment and I’m sure that will enhance this.

Oh yea. Good pairing.

Cumin in tea is weird. This tea is… odd. Not gonna lie. I do not think of butter tart I think more of a main dish then a tart. It’s a bit spicy. Not like chai but …I don’t know know how to explain it. Nice earthy base mixes well with this tea. I won’t rate this one since it’s not bad but I just am not a fan.

Hidden Gems TTB #13

This tastes more like a fruitcake than an apple tart to me…there are distinct cake notes along with raisin, nuts, spices, and a fruity flavor that isn’t really screaming “apple”. It’s actually quite delicious, but not at all what I was expecting from the name.

Hidden Gems TTB #10

This tea smells like a basket of juicy fruit and the flavor is almost as good as the scent! Peach is the strongest flavor, but I definitely notice the lychee too and maybe a hint of apricot as well? The base is very smooth and just slightly vegetal, as if a few leaves got mixed in with your fruit salad.

Hidden Gems TTB #6

This is such a unique tea! From the name, I would expect something smooth and sweet and buttery…and it is! But it’s also unexpected spicy and slightly savory thanks to the cumin and peppercorns. It’s an odd combination of flavors, but somehow they all work together quite well and I ended up really enjoying my cup. I don’t think this is something I’d reach for often, but I’m glad for the opportunity to try it out!

Hidden Gems Tea Box: This tea has a good body. However it isn’t for me. I think the boyfriend liked it more than I did. There is a a good blend of spices towards the end of the sip.

Hidden Gems Tea Box: I expected more tartness out of this one. I do taste the lime which is great. I also get a bit of the pie flavor. I think I just want this to have more of a punch like when I take a bite out of a Key Lime Pie. Don’t get me wrong, I do really enjoy it. I blame Anlina for introducing me to a new tea company that I have to check out, as both teas I have tried from Lux Berry Tea have been very pleasant. The kicker is that they were both black and I rarely reach for blacks!

Hidden Gems Tea Box: I really liked the smell of the dry leaf of this one. I also tend to go back and forth between tea and coffee depending on my mood for a particular day. I am in a tea mood as this lovely Traveling Tea Box is on my counter but I thought this one would be a good place to start this morning. I cannot drink straight coffee. Keeping in mind that my version of coffee are the foo foo drinks, on to the tea -

I ended up adding milk and sugar to this. Doing that seemed to turn it into a creamy, yummy, hot chocolate. I’m not finding that I am getting the bite that I do when I try to drink coffee on it’s own. I could really see keeping this in rotation for those days that I think I want coffee but don’t want to go to the coffee shop to get a foo foo drink. Thank you Anlina for including this one!

Mmm, this smells like a cookie. It has lovely baked goods notes, and lots of sweetness on the nose, which carries through to the flavour.

Sweet, nutty, lightly spiced and rich. This doesn’t have any distinct ginger flavour, but it does remind me of those really thin ginger snap cookies with the scalloped edges. Very desserty.

This smells incredible – lots of really juicy, fresh peach and lychee. The dry leaf is also very pretty, with lots of different tea leaf colours and shapes and an assortment of fruits.

Steeped 2tsp for 2 min in 80C water. This is quite sweet and has a fairly natural peach flavour to it, though not quite as fresh and juicy as the dry leaf fragrance. There’s a bit of lychee, apricot and currant, though they’re subtle next to the peach.

The base tea is there but not distinctive, which is a little unfortunate, since there’s such an interesting blend of green and white teas in this. Maybe a touch of hay and vegetal. I can tell that there’s white tea, but that’s about it.

Overall a very tasty cup. I think I’m hard to please when it comes to peach teas, but I also feel like that’s okay :P

Take this review with a grain of salt, keeping in mind that I haven’t been a coffee drinker in years and I generally don’t like coffee aftertaste (though I still love the smell of it in the morning.) But I asked Randi at LuxBerry to put together four samples of their most unique or signature blends, and this was one of the ones they included, so I’m giving it a try.

The dry leaf smells delicious. It smells exactly like those coffee creams you get in assorted boxes of chocolate. So far so good. I even eat those sometimes and don’t dislike them. Steeped, the liquor is deep brown and smells the same way. That chocolate, coffee, creamy, sweet, candy-like smell.

The sip is less sweet than it smells, and there’s a touch of that coffee sourness, which is one thing I dislike about coffee. It’s not bad though.

Actually this is quite good. I really love the smell, and the flavour is nice. It’s drinkable straight, but adding milk and sugar makes it better. The coffee flavour is mild and this kind of reminds me of hot chocolate with a splash of coffee to make it a mocha.

Not something I would reach for very often, but definitely worth trying, particularly if you’re a coffee drinker (I assume?) Much better than I expected, and better than other tea & coffee blends, which I’m kind of vaguely recall trying and I think I might have blocked out.

I love it when the pie aspect of teas actually appears in the tea and not just the name.

Both the dry leaf and the liquor smell amazing – tangy lime, creamy and pastry. The flavours translate very nicely too, and are reflected very well by the fragrance. The cream and lime are forefront, with the pastry note being a little subtler on the palate, but it’s still there.

This is a really lovely dessert tea. The black base isn’t really notable, just melds nicely with the flavours. The finish is all tangy lime.

The cumin in this just overpowered everything today. I should have added some sugar.

This tea is confusing. Delicious but confusing.

The dry leaf is very pretty, speckled with pink peppercorn, pistachio and almond slices. Both the name and the picture drew me in and tempted me to try this one. The leaf smells sweet, of almonds and a hint of cumin.

Steeped, the cumin and pink peppercorn take the lead on the nose, which is weird and interesting.

I drank this with a teaspoon of sugar, and again confusing. Because I really taste the cumin a lot, which makes it feel very savoury, but there’s also this melange of flavours that really does give the impression of butter tart. But then cumin. But then I don’t think the butter tart flavour would be there if the cumin wasn’t! It’s not really buttery but there’s the sensation of eating pie crust and the rich sweetness of the butter tart filling. But cumin! And then raisin on the finish which is perfect.

I dunno. I think I like this quite a lot, even if it’s confusing. It actually kind of reminds me of cumin shortbread cookies that I bought once. I was kind of weirded out and bothered by the presence of the cumin, but also, I couldn’t stop shoving them in my face.

I think this is a tea that’s definitely worth a try for its uniqueness and complex flavour, but it’s probably also a tea that a lot of people won’t like.