Nothing But Tea

Oh, this is a pleasant surprise. I was a bit skeptical about the flavour, but it smells amazing and brews a pleasantly creamy cup. It does actually remind of creme brule! though it is more custardy than any burnt sugar coming through.

Interesting, I had never tried a purple tea before and I have to say I am enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of oolong, but less vegetative and more fruity in flavour? subtle, yes, but nice. I can’t see myself reach for this often, as I usually enjoy bolder flavours, but I’m glad to have tried it!

I really like this. Smells amazing out of the bag, like a spice market. Once steeped it tastes a lot like a mint based tea with notes of licorice on the back. the black tea does not entirely disappear, though, lending this brew a bit of bitterness

Muscatel notes. Pleasant sweetness.

The aroma of the dry leaf smells very much like cherry with a hint of artificial aroma.

Notes of roasted chestnuts and hay. Violet-like sweetness.

Sipdown 157/397

I brewed this sample from the EU TTB Western style, as I do almost all of my teas, but I can’t help but wish now that I’m sipping on it that I’d tried it gongfu. It is a very complex and tasty tea, and very unique, too, but there was a really tasty, familiar note I got around 30 seconds into brewing that disappeared as time went on (I tend to taste my unflavoured teas at several points as they’re steeping). I didn’t manage to figure out what it was, and now it’s gone. Definitely going to try resteeping my leaves. The dry leaf was beautiful, big dark twists of leaf, and the liquor is very dark for a white tea, too. This is reflected in the slightly malty, raisin-sweetness of the tea, which I would have been less surprised to find in a black tea. It has notes of sweet buttery caramel, stone fruits (more plum and apricot to me than peach as others have mentioned) and a slight hint of warming spice in the background. It’s intoxicating, and invitingly complex. You just want to figure it out! It actually smells a little like the L’Occitane shampoo, the original one, but in a way than makes you want to drink it. The scent translates into the flavour. This tea actually reminds me a lot of Butiki’s White Rhino, though I never got to try that one on its own without flavouring. If I don’t buy this exact tea in the future (I’m assuming it’ll be pretty hard to find) I do think I’ll keep a spot in my cupboard for one of these unusual dark white teas.

A hand plucked naturally harvested oolong.

I was being a complete tea snob when I saw this tea… An oolong from kenya… no thank you… Taiwanese oolong all the way for me. An impression fueled by the non-existent aroma from the dry leaves.

But as I left it to steep, a beautiful floral aroma made its way into the air. Taste is weird. Its like someone has blended a Taiwanese oolong with crisp dry black tea. The two flavour profiles encroaching and contrasting so that they start with minerals, switching into dry brisk tang of black tea, then gentle fades into dry florals and a honey sweetness. And the leaves… are a rainbow of greens, black, brown and orange. The whole thing is beautiful and I feel very bad for being a tea snob. I feel privileged to have tasted such a tea.

Although it says steep twice, I found the second cup far less full of flavour and less enjoyable…

Where the aroma is a clear cinnamon, the flavour presents itself in an unusual mix of powdery florals, mild fruits, light spices and a pine like tang. A totally weird mix, but the cinnamon brings the blend into the festivities, making it a great Christmas tea that offers something different.
www.TastetheTea.co.uk

You get peppermint leaves, pure and simple. And lots of them – 100g of leaves is a lot bulkier than 100g of Assam, for example.

They’re great quality, too. You just get quality leaf, no rubbish. I used to think that Teapigs peppermint (at £4.15 in the supermarket for 15 “tea temples”, I just checked) was the best quality, and whilst they are undeniably good quality and taste great, they’re also very expensive.

If you don’t mind the slight faff of brewing loose leaf then 100g of this stuff tastes pretty much exactly the same and only costs £5.90 for 100g.

I brew for a long time and go for multiple infusions. I tend to just add the infuser back in when I’m getting low and top up with hot water until the peppermint taste is very light.

Then again Teapigs also sell 100g of loose leaf for a comparable price, so who knows :)

I found this tea on Amazon reduced to £1.68 for 100g (!) so I had to give it a try. As it happens, I’m a fan – I wouldn’t mind paying full price for this.

The smell is absolutely gorgeous; it has a rich chocolatey smell, actually kind of like white chocolate. It tastes as good as it smells, especially as it cools down and you can start to get more of the chocolate flavour, but it also has a slight chilli kick. Nothing too spicy, just a little one.

Even better, it’s a white tea, so the caffeine content is quite low. This means that I can sip on a nice big mug of this on a cold winter’s night without worrying too much about losing sleep.

I’m pleasantly surprised.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from small-scale production Georgian tea (just saying that sounds so hipster) but I’m very impressed.

It brews up a lovely golden/amber hue. It smells quite mild, and has an almost sweet smell to it.

The first sip is smooth… very smooth. This is a good quality tea – basically zero bitterness and astringency. After a few more sips I’m able to figure out what I’m tasting here. There’s almost a creamy taste to it. One could even make an argument for a faint taste of caramel, should you be so inclined. This thing sure does go down lovely. It’s moreish as hell, too.

I’ve found myself getting three decent brews out of this one. By the third steep it is understandably quite weak, but you can still extract a tasty cup. For steep times (using a decently-heaped teaspoon of leaves) I’ve been going for 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and then 5 minutes.

I find myself going back to this one again and again. Definitely recommended, and I will for sure be considering restocking when I run out.

This is my first foray into the world of flavoured teas. I wasn’t too sure when I read that it was made with “marzipan flavouring”, but it’s natural, and I do love marzipan, so I figured what the heck and bought a bag. It also helps that the price wasn’t too high, so I could justify the risk.

Just opening the bag you are hit with the smell of marzipan. I mean, it is strong. I brewed up a mug (it came out copper coloured, not super clear but still nice-looking) and again… marzipan. Marzipan everywhere. All the marzipan!

Then you take a sip and… yeah, it’s kind of marzipan-y. After all of the marzipan aroma I’d be expecting more on the taste, but still, it’s nice (if a little muted). The rose does come through though (possibly because I grabbed a big rosebud and added it to the infuser).

This is an interesting one. It’s a delight to drink because you get a whiff of that lovely aroma whenever you go in for a sip. The taste isn’t as strong as I had imagined it would be though. Perhaps next time I will add more or steep for longer (although I think I’m nearing the limit where bitterness would creep in if I altered any more variables too radically).

Ultimately I would recommend this tea if you like these flavours and want something different. It’s certainly an interesting one to be able to offer guests. I’ll be having a cup from time-to-time, but it won’t be an everyday cup, that’s for sure :)

It has a lovely copper hue to it. It gives off a faint, fresh aroma.

This is actually my first “proper” Ceylon (I’m an Assam man, as it were) so I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I wanted to compare and contrast. Well, I’m pleasantly surprised. This is lively and vibrant, with subtle hints of fruit and citrus. This would be lovely and refreshing to drink sat in the garden on a hot summer’s day.

I think that I still prefer Assam overall, but I am now convinced that Ceylon is worth some serious exploration. I predict that my wallet will be taking a hit over the coming months.

The first thing that strikes me about this tea is the deep, rich, almost red colour to it.

It has a satisfying “proper English breakfast”-type aroma to it, which (without having tasted it yet) makes me think that it would stand up well to milk.

It is smooth going down. Considering how deep the colour is I would be expecting astringency, but I’m not getting much here (at least not in any unpleasant way). This is a lovely tea to have without milk, which is how I now typically prefer my Assams.

I think that the Assam Hazelbank (also from Nothing But Tea, which is what I have been drinking previously to this) perhaps has a slight edge on complexity of flavour. This falls a bit flat in comparison. Perhaps that’s not a bad thing though… it’s a lovely tea, smooth and delicious, and I’m glad to have it in my collection.

After a few brews I upped the amount of leaves that I used and it came out more bitter than I typically care for, so I tried it with milk. Yep, this is definitely a good tea for people that like black tea with milk and want to upgrade the quality of the tea that they are drinking (this is what I was originally trying to do before I fell into this delicious world of milk-less tea from which I cannot seem to escape).

Would I buy it again? Yes, I think that I would – it fills the role of something strong and a bit malty; not needing milk, but still holding it’s own if you add it. That’s a good tea to have in your collection.

I’m new to “real” tea, having opted for standard teabags with milk in the past. However, I picked up a bag of this of haven’t looked back – in fact it prompted me to spend £70 this month alone on tea so that I can explore different varieties, and sign up to a tea journal website so that I can record my tastings!

It turns out that I love a good Assam without any added milk. I tried this with milk and it ruined it. To me, it tastes so lovely and smooth as-is, so there is no need for milk. It is hardly bitter or astringent at all. In fact it surprises me just how much like a cup of tea with milk this tastes (presumably because there aren’t any impurities that need masking with milk).

As far as colour goes, it’s a lovely golden/orange. It goes down great any time of day or night. I’ve been getting two brews out of a teaspoon; I’ve tried for a third but by this point it’s so weak as to be pointless. A second steep is still very nice though. As far as steep time goes, anywhere from 2-3 minutes seems ideal for me.

I’ll be replacing this one once it runs out, I’m sure.

This is definitely a blend to watch out for, mimicking G&T shockingly well. What’s surprising though, are the super strong notes of grapefruit in the aroma, that become a gentle in the taste, providing the tongue with that teasing bitter note of gin. Obviously, this also creates a fruity element that combines well with the lemon and white tea to create an expertly crafted alcohol free tea blend.

I even named it the “Most Inventive Flavour” and gave it runner up “Best for Sober Xmas” and “Editors Choice” in my 12 Teas of Christmas post: https://tastethetea.co.uk/2016/12/01/12teaxmas/

I loved this tea soooo much!

Once steeped the resulting tea bares a strong cinnamon scent with a touch of clove.

The first few sips reveal a cinnamon and black tea base with a touch of orange in the after taste. It’s not as strong as expected though that isn’t always a bad thing. Slight bitterness but mostly it’s a cinnamon and black tea with a touch of dryness. Perhaps the fruit helps to keep it light?

While the cinnamon is strong with this one I do wish the orange was stronger. I can’t taste any almond, apple or vanilla and would not have even guessed they were in the blend by taste alone.

Despite that it’s cinnamon and that is very Christmasy so who am I to complain?

https://kittylovestea.com/2016/12/12/bluebird-tea-co-advent-calendar-of-tea-day-12/

Anyone who knows me will know I love rooibos redbush tea. I drink it every day since I don’t drink milk and I like to keep as decaffeinated as possible, however I really fancied a change from my daily vanilla and original flavours.

I saw that NBTea had a creme brulee version and decided to try it out. I think I’ve had creme brulee once in my life before, meaning I had no idea what to expect.

I don’t really think this is the type of tea to be observing notes, but whatever creme brulee is it certainly tasted of it. I steeped it for 5 minutes in boiling hot water. This tea didn’t steep twice very well and the second steeping was light but refreshing

It was a nice change from the usual, but nothing that totally blew my mind.

Back to this tea in hand. I received a sample pack of 10g from NBT a while ago as an exclusive pre-release taster before it was launched on the site. Now it’s up for sale I decided the best thing for me to do was ice it to try and get the most flavour from it. So for two days I have had 10g of this blend steeping in my fridge using 1litre of water. Coldsteeping is much softer and keeps delicate tones, it’s my preferred method of icing tea/tisanes.

I haven’t mentioned much about the look or scent of the blend but honestly there was not much to it. The blend looked floral and multi coloured which bared a subtly sweet yet herbal scent. The fruit was too delicate for me to really say much about it and I decided to let it’s flavour speak instead. So I waited for the outcome with enough time to thicken with flavour.

Today is the morning I try this and the resulting liquid is a light brown/orange colour with a delicious sweet, fruit scent. Particularly like apple and strawberry with honey. A real contrast to it’s unsteeped scent. It’s flavour is just as wonderful! Sweet honeyed fruits with a touch of floral after tones that leave my mouth feeling sweet and refreshed. The fruit tones are mixed but notable berry with a touch of sourness with an exotic fruit affair behind them.

Honestly this tisane gave me a lot more pleasure than I thought it would and I’m happy to say this Honeybush blend is a winner. I don’t think I would have liked this if it was a Rooibos base and the Honeybush really does make this blend stand out.

More information on SororiTEA Sisters.
http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/10/02/honeybush-malaika-tisane-nothing-tea/