Shangri-La Tea Co.

Discovered this at the Italian restaurant at our hotel this past week. I was surprised as the other, less expensive restaurants in the hotel (all owned by the same company) offer Bigelow or an off brand oddity. The other expensive place offers Harney & Sons loose leaf. I guess I was expected H&S bagged for this mid range place.

I was truly pleasantly surprised. The bag has steeping instructions and actually notes that it is a Ceylon base tea. It smelled great, but a lot of EG’s do, so that’s no indicator. It tasted quite nice. The bergamot was strongly present but I could still taste the tea itself. It was a nice, moderate strength tea that seemed to be well suited to the lower temps you get in a restaurant. I’d pick some bags up to carry with me if I ran across any.

First cup of the day. I’ve been perusing Angelina Tea’s website while enjoying this cup. The fiancee is in Winston today for work and is going to stop by to pick up some teas from Angelina’s, and I’m so excited! I’ve been so good lately about not ordering any new teas (mainly because I’ve been too busy!) so this will be a little fall break celebration. The fiancee is excited too because he’s fallen in love with Angelina’s Blueberry Green tea and we’re all out. I tried not to go too crazy, but I am getting 5 new teas and the Maple Blueberry that I’ve been missing since using the last of it. I like Angelina’s since you can order just 1 ounce, which is perfect to try a tea and see if you like it. Plus their prices are the lowest I’ve seen for such good tea!

Ok, on to this tea. It used to be one of my favorites, but I’m not really loving this cup this morning. Maybe my tastes have outgrown this tea? I will always have fond memories of this tea, since we first discovered the brand on a trip to Wilmington at a really cute little restaurant after dinner. There is something a little off about the aroma from the teabag. It almost smells artificial. The tea itself has a nice nutty coconut and rich chocolate smell. The flavor is very strong and robust – almost coffee-like because it is so strong. There is a very light, fresh coconut aftertaste. It’s creamy with a little milk and sweetener added, and dulls the coffee-like flavors. This is a good tea, and I have a few teabags left, but I probably won’t be buying more of this one.

-Silken pyramid-shaped teabag with a tag and with medium black tea leaves and coconut slivers.
-Teabag smells of fresh coconut with a strong odd artificial note. Tea liquor aroma is of nutty coconut and rich chocolate.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy very dark brown color.
-Strong and robust almost coffee-like flavor with a rich chocolate finish. Light fresh nutty coconut aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A creamy and chocolatey cup with an authentic coconut flavor.

This is FAR better than I expected! I didn’t have high hopes (I love Den’s Extra Green, and nothing I’ve had in the genre has lived up to that one), but it was a great cup!

-Silken pyramid-shaped teabag with very small pieces of green mint leaves.
-Teabag smells of earthy mint. Tea liquor aroma is overwhelmingly of peppermint.
-Tea liquor is a dark brown color with the sheen of mint oils floating on top.
-Strong minty flavor with a cooling finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Perfect for an after-dinner cup.

Again, bought for the cold conference. This makes for a surprisingly good cup of black tea. I always have low hopes for bagged, but this is quite good. I’d recommend it if you’re traveling and don’t want to take all sorts of tea paraphernalia.

You guys! This is amazing tea. It’s bagged. It’s at the grocery. It’s still totally awesome. I was going to a conference where I knew it’d be cold all the time, and I knew they’d have hot water in one of the main rooms I’d be in, so I picked up a few bagged teas to take with me. This was an excellent choice. I think it’d probably be even better with sugar and milk. Decadent indeed.

I saw this and wanted to try it so I grabbed a bag today from a restaurant. It actually reminded me of TeaFrog’s chocolate cream except it was far less bitter! I was a little concerned with the 5 minute steep time, but it wasn’t really bitter. It definitely brewed a deep, dark brown.. So much that I was expecting something too bold. This was just a nice black tea with a hint of chocolate and a bunch of coconut. The coconut stood out to me the most. I will try this tea again next time I’m at that restaurant. Not my favorite dessert tea, but still makes a tasty cup!

My last bag of this! While I’m very sad to see it go, I feel more justified in my recent tea orders since my cupboard is getting smaller. Please check out my prior note for my thoughts on this delicious tea!

I’ve never been a fan of coconut. It’s more the texture than the taste, so when I saw this tea and its lovely packaging, I decided to try it.

Each pyramid bag comes wrapped in its own foil package. When opened, the smell instantly hits you…thick, rich, chocolate-y. Not overpowering, mind, but noticeable. Your first cup will have you literally standing over the brew, watching the timer count down until it’s ready.

I brew this for 5 minutes, sometimes with boiling water, others with cooler water. When brewed with boiling water, it creates a thick, deep-bodied tea that (to me) has little coconut taste. When brewed with cooler water, the cup is rather delicate, with the coconut predominant and lingering. Both are wonderful.

I swiped this teabag from a hotel I was staying at a bit ago and am only now getting around to trying it. It’s actually not bad for a bagged tea. It doesn’t have too much depth of flavor (shocking, I know) and there’s some astringency at the end of the sip that tries to build into bitterness but (thankfully) doesn’t quite make it, but the bergamot flavoring is gentle and nice, not soapy or perfume-y. Not great but not horrid.