Maya Tea

This is earl grey for those who don’t like astringent black tea or bergamot. Mellow and brightly citrus, I wasn’t too sure when I got the first bag, but somehow another bag found itself into my BF order. Not a splashy, exciting tea, but a nice daily drinker with an ear worm song title that makes me smile. If you didn’t grow up in the 70s you might not remember the catchy tune Good Morning Starshine, but I think someone at Maya is of a ahem certain age. :)

Rooibos is love. It’s so good. Its earthy yet sweet cookie notes always give me a warm hug. I’ve never had banana macaroons or the cake version of it but it sounds delicious. As I sit here above it smelling it as it steeps my anticipation grows. The aroma is full of banana, sweet banana, and sweetened milk. Oat milk. Slight almond. Steeping at five minutes reveals lots of banana notes. Mostly dried and candy bananas, like runts. The rooibos comes in after with earthy slightly milky notes. This is quite a bit weaker than I thought it would be though. Strong enough to be enjoyable but I feel the creamy notes could be a touch stronger.
Speaking of almonds I’m allergic but I used to love how they taste and smell. When I was getting my hair done for my brother’s wedding they for some reason decided to give me a free manicure. I haven’t had my nails done in 11 years because I don’t like the feeling of the nail polish on top of my nails. I know, I’m weird. Anyway, at the end the lady sprayed something all over my hands and walked away. As I was sitting there I smelled it and I looked up at the lady and said, “This smells like almonds, is it almond-scented?” “Yes” I didn’t wait to see if I was going to react so I went straight to the bathroom to rinse it off. My hands were a bit red but I didn’t notice anything otherwise.

This treat from Michelle makes a nice little lunch dessert on a back-to-work Monday. It’s spot on with pecan scent, but maybe a little more bourbon than burnt sugar on the praline part. (I’ve never had pralines with bourbon, but the recipe-verse says its possible.) At any rate, it’s tasty and I’m thankful!

This is the third tea from Michelle that I have tried, and it is a surprise KAPOW thumbs up for me. Thank you, Michelle!

I liked the name and found it intriguing that an oolong was being marked as a morning tea when usually strong black tea gets that designation. The website (and I found it at The Tea Kitchen as well) says to enjoy it in the afternoon and if I had a bunch (which I think I eventually will) I most certainly would because this is low caffeine!

It is a fairly light oolong that is not smoky at all but also doesn’t lean toward green. The wow factor is the lemon and basil. The lemon flavor reminds me of Fortnum’s Black Tea with Lemon. It is not at all tart and puckery. Before looking the tea up to see what was in it, I initially thought I was smelling freshly peeled orange with the little spritz of orange that kisses your face as you peel it. The taste was dead on like Fortnum’s lemon, though.

This would definitely be an awesome afternoon sipper if you are caffeine sensitive and I bet it is fabulous iced as well.

This was a bag I sipped down pretty quickly the first time I got it from Maya, and I just got another large bag from their sale. I can brew this twice, but anything past 2 minutes on the first steep will allow the bitterness to creep in. I can overleaf this tea to get a nice strong morning brew, and with only two minutes, the pecan and bourbony caramel comes through. The harsh base is still there, but I don’t mind a bit of bite in my morning tea. The second steep for 5 minutes is nicely praline and disappears from my cup quickly. I will say this tea does probably smell better than it tastes, but I’ll enjoy the whole bag :)

Peppermint was absolutely the wrong type of mint to use in this tea. It’s overwhelming and really overpowers the blueberry and lemon flavors. I was hoping this would taste like a mojito, but it’s more like one of those hardy candy mints.

I love a good pecan tea and this one is pretty solid. Not my favorite of the pecan teas I’ve tried, but still pretty good.

From the TTB. I can taste a light raspberry flavor on top of an average black base. This wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t flavorful enough for me to want very much unfortunately.

Advent Tea Day:3 from Michelle
I remember this one tasting quite buttery and nutty. The black tea base had a little bit of a bite to it and was a tad astringent. I have enough for another cup and will write a more in-depth note later. Next time I’ll try a 2-minute steep instead. I enjoyed it. It was a fun one to try as I don’t recall ever having had a praline tea before. Praline fudge was something I enjoyed growing up when we would go on family trips though. It was my grandmother’s favorite fudge flavor. I might have to try making some fudge flavors for Christmas other than the classic chocolate walnut this year.

From the sale a year ago… I guess they didn’t do a sale this year.  huh.  Anyway, this is… yerba mate!  Simple enough.  And I was happy to stock up a little more yerba mate for $1.  The brew gets quite the olive green color.  I’m not sure if it helped me focus more.  The flavor is impossible for me to describe.
Steep #1 // 1 teaspoon for a full mug // 28 minutes after boiling //  2 minute
Steep #2 // 20 minutes after boiling // 2-3 minute steep

additional notes: SO! This is one of the blends I love from Maya Tea and I wanted to order more during the sale. I did notice that the site now does not include coconut shreds in the ingredients list. I was a little worried it would be an entirely different blend without them. But I don’t think so! Maybe there is an element missing, but I think it is better for the longevity of the blend to leave the coconut shreds out of the tea. Otherwise, it still pretty much tastes like the blend I originally loved. Awesome. The banana isn’t candy banana, which I love.

I had to get a tasting note for this one in, especially as it is part of the allergen sale. I LOVE this one. It’s the ultimate of dessert teas. It’s very sweet, coconut, banana and mango. Very fresh coconut even a year later. Very banana and coconut on a lovely rich rooibos base. It tastes like a banana/coconut cream pie. The name is accurate! I have enjoyed this one a few times, so my sample is almost gone. I would love to get more.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 20 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // just boiled // 12 minute steep

edited to add: The very long second steep was even more full and rich. The ultimate dessert tea.

A sipdown! (M: 1, Y: 24). Apparently my pace went slow and honestly, recently I had almost no mood to drink teas. I have survived a few mornings at work without a tea, afternoons I wanted something easydrinking as I tend to come home really tired…

But yesterday, when I sipped this down was an exception. My 3 and half years old niece came with my brother to visit us, so I prepared myself a tea I needed to finish quickly (ehem, 4 months after its BB date), is flavourful and uncomplicated.

It was rather a coconut flavoured rooibos, which was qoing already a bit stale and funky; but I finished it without any problems and I am glad to report this sipdown. Thanks Michelle

BB date is December this year and I found out this pouch in my cupboard. I was afraid, that it went bad as there is coconut. And small shreds of it.

Luckily, coconut didn’t went bad (yet), took two teaspoons and it was a nice afternoon cuppa. No banana for me this time though and no pastry flavour either.

I have been craving for something sweet, but it is past 8 pm, so a sweet sounding tea blend it is!

I prepared moreless as suggested; 1 tsp, almost boiling water, pretty much long steep (I think I did 5-6 minutes).

Sadly, it isn’t that sweet as I have been hoping for. Yes, coconut is there. It reminds me a bit one local cookies. There is some banana too, as it cools down. So yeah, I think it can be low-calorie version of the macaroon. Next time I will try a bit shorter steeping. I think the rooibos a bit of overpowering the intended flavour profile.

In conclusion, not a winner for me. I realize I can’t tell much from one steep. Some teas need some tweaks in steeping. I guess this will be one of them. Thank you Michelle for including it in the box for me!

A unique blend of ingredients. It’s soothing and soft on the palate. It is pleasant with refreshing hints. The rooibos is a perfect accompaniment to the rest of the flavors, a gentle guide that harmoniously ties it all together and leaves you with that wonderful slightly earthy, sightly milky aftertaste. That being said, I feel this is more of a “tea to drink when sick” tea than it is a drink whenever tea. I wouldn’t go pick this out on a regular night or daytime unless I wasn’t feeling good.

Your typical, cheap Chinese restaurant tea. To be honest I would have guessed this was from a bag. Very basic pan-fried flavor with plain grassy astringency. Drinkable but would not buy.

Another from the sale! I’ll try most teas for a dollar… a classic gunpowder green with peppermint combination. Looking at the leaf, it really looks like mostly mint or chopped up gunpowder leaf, as I really don’t see any of those big nice shiny “pearls” that gunpowder typically looks like. Upon the first sip, it did taste a bit like catnip rather than mint. But as I’m drinking, it’s a really satisfying cup. Sweetness and smooth mint. It would be great to drink with meals. Both steeps ended up with a very dark brew color but was never astringent. So initially the look and fragrance of the tea seemed like it would tank this tea, but I’m glad I bought it (especially for a dollar.) I would definitely buy this again as a cheap mint green option. (And maybe I’m also forgetting the benefits of FRESH TEA.)

Oh my, two tasting notes in one day? The busyness of summer must really be over.

I got this vanilla tea to compare to my favorite comfort tea from SFherb, and I didn’t check the ingredients closely, this has jasmine in it!

I thought I might need a side by side taste test, or that I wouldn’t like the jasmine, but I didn’t need to worry. SFherb vanilla is a single note, and Maya tea vanilla is a whole vanilla wafer or sugar cookie. The floral note waits until the end and is very subtle, unless I had read the package I wouldn’t be able to tell the jasmine was there. I really want to like this tea, it starts so well, but there is a soapy, astringent aftertaste that lingers after the vanilla cookie goodness. Once I noticed the aftertaste, it kinda lost its luster and I need a cup of SFherb vanilla to rinse my mouth out.

If you like jasmine and vanilla let me know and I’ll send you a sample.

I’m probably expecting too much from this tea to be robust and raspberry. It certainly is fruity and light, with a natural raspberry taste. Its quite an enjoyable cup worth three steeps. I’m just expecting a bit more from the base.
This one is going back in the cupboard until it hits 90 for the first time next summer when I’ll try a cold steep. Today is the first day of meteorological fall and I’m ready for cinnamon and ginger, not fruity summer light tea.

Another one currently on the clearance list.  Shame this one will be gone!  But now I’m looking at the rest of their site, it might just be the one ounce sizes on clearance.  But then some teas are only available as a pound, so I’m not sure.  It’s a good herbal – a nice balance of spearmint, sweet chamomile and lavender.  A perfect balance, really. It is what it says, says what it is.  And is quite relaxing.  That overlong second steep is not to be missed.  I wouldn’t mind keeping this one around.  
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 20 minutes after boiling // 3 minute steep
Steep #2 // 8 minutes after boiling // 12+ minute steep

Another weird little blend with a mix of bases. Yerba mate and white tea. I will say, the cup does result in a fine gold color. I do love that the little fruit pieces kind of look like gold (as much as fruit can look like gold), to go along with this lovely name. Gold rush! The flavor is okay. Somehow the white tea flavor is more prominent than the yerba mate. The spearmint flavor is definitely stronger than the papaya and mango. I was hoping for more fruit to go with these bases and would prefer the spearmint isn’t in there at all. So it’s mostly a spearmint/white tea flavor combination. One of the teas Maya has on clearance and still available as of this moment!
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 25 minutes after boiling // 2 min

Trying to catch up on reading tasting notes at some point!  I noticed today that Maya Tea is discontinuing many of their teas, and by the time you read this, they will probably be out of stock.  (Banana Macaroon went fast.)  I wasn’t planning on buying any more tea right now, so didn’t. Many of the teas on clearance are teas I bought samples of and haven’t even tried yet, so I guess I should make an effort.  
This is an odd one.  The base: rooibos and green tea.  But looking at it, it looks like black tea is mixed in, and since it tastes like a barbeque sauce, my mind goes to lapsang… or maybe that’s the rooibos. I taste no jasmine whatsoever… really it’s that flavor that is like orange that is supposed to be jasmine flavoring.  But there is also orange here, so who knows.  I like the “sunset” in the name – makes me think of a big ol’ orange.  The second steep takes on that bubblegum flavor.  So, eh, not the blend I imagined but I should have known better.  So maybe they shouldn’t have even marketed this as “jasmine” and it would have done better.  And then there is a drying to mouth sort of thing happening, which isn’t pleasant on a hot day. Not really thirst quenching. Hey, it was $1. Would I buy it again for $1? No.
Steep #1 // 1 1/2 teaspoons // 30 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 // 30 min after boiling // 4 min