Shui Tea

I’m a mint fan, but I prefer spearmint over peppermint or wintergreen. That gave this tea an advantage.

When you open the package, you’re hit with a fragrance of clean and slightly sweet mint- like opening a new pack of Wrigley’s. The chamomile has the same large, fluffy buds I’ve come to expect from Shui Tea.

Prepared, I was surprised by the taste and how much the mint took a back seat to the chamomile. Also, I’d say this is more a herbal tea with green tea as one component as opposed to a flavored green tea. This is actually a rather interesting combination. It’s calming from the homey herbals, but the mint perks it up making this great for a relaxing afternoon.

Also, the ingredients list includes licorice. I can tell it’s there but more by feel than taste. I would maybe amp that up just a tad so you get more of a sweet, cooling finish.

I received a surprise sample of this in my recent order from Shui Tea. (Thanks Jim!)

When you first open the package, you get a full-force fruity fragrance. (OK, how often does an alliteration actually work out?) It’s completely true to its name. The pear isn’t readily discernible, but the kiwi is definitely there. Together, it’s almost like a mild strawberry.

From a taste perspective, I think what took me by surprise is that the white tea flavor actually predominates and the fruit notes are in the background. Bai Mu Dan (at least to me) is so mildly flavored that any additions often shadow the tea. Either this white tea is of superior quality or Shui Tea got the blending just right here.

From my tasting notes, you can tell that I’m really into big, bold flavors. However, I really liked the true tea flavor of this blend. This would be really good with a light dessert.

Intense and weird. Good, though!

On first smell, this tea embodies a very rich earthiness,both in the dry leaves and in the liquors aroma. First sip..? This tea is bold! I can taste some sweetness,peppery notes and some citrus-y flavors (which may be the tannins of the tea coming out). I really like the boldness of the tea…

to read a more thorough review check my tea blog: http://bit.ly/dD2HXN

Even though there aren’t any tropical flavors, my first impression of this was “Hawaiian Punch.” It’s bright, fruity and somehow playful.

I’m not much of a decaf black tea person. When I want something without caffeine, I go for herbals. That said, I think this one will be a favorite of people that do like the option of a decaffeinated black tea.

If you’re OK with sweeteners, try just a touch to make the fruit flavors really stand out.

First and foremost, the rolled oolong is beautifully rolled, bright green leaves. They smell slightly floral and have a very heavy fresh scent as well. The color of the liquor is a golden yellow-green color. The best part of the tea is the flavor. This tea is pretty light, but its subtle flavors are fantastic. The first thing that hits me is the fresh, buttery mouth feel, which just paints the tea all over your palate.

to see a more in depth review, check my tea blog! http://bit.ly/92RO2F

When I read the “buttery” part of the description I thought, “yeah, right- this has come off horribly in so many other teas.” I don’t know how Shui Tea did it, but it’s dead on here!

When you open the package, you get a strong fragrance of sweet lemon butter. This was really close to lemon bars or a lemony custard. This holds up well through brewing.

Once brewed, the tea is initially astringent then presents the lemon and you finish with a rich, buttery mouth feel. I had this tea with breakfast but it would be truly awesome with a pastry- ooooh, like a lemon bar! Time to make a trip to the bakery!

This is a surprise final stop on my current world destination tea tour after hitting Florence, Paris and Tokyo. This tea is still in development, but Shui Tea sent me a sample with my recent order.

The raw tea is dark with specks of red safflower petals. The fragrance is subtly smokey, but there’s also the presence of a fine, exotic perfume. I know this is the citrusy bergamot and florals, but they combine to make something unique to this tea.

The brewed tea is utterly dark and rich. There’s some great body here and neither the lapsang nor the bergamot overpowers; they compliment each other well. This would be similar to having a citrus glazed food grilled on an open fire.

With my two favorite tea styles of all times blended, Lapsang Souchong and Earl Gray, this scores high with me.

This tea is made of green (the Stevia?) and black leaves and has a strong berry fragrance. Once brewed, it appears as a weak black tea and smells very sweet and plummy.

Sipping the hot tea, the initial taste was overpoweringly sweet. There was a very subtle fruit flavor, but the level of sweetness was too great for me. Drinking this hot again, I might mix it with a plain, strong black tea.

I took the rest of the cup and put it over ice. Now, this was really good! The sweetness seemed to have mellowed and I was left with a fruity rendition of a Southern Sweet Tea. The plum was very distinct, so it was as if I had sweetened the tea with a bit of jam.

It appears that revenge truly is best served cold.

The components of this tea are very small compared to other Genmaicha I’ve had. The fragrance is clean and aqueous; think of cucumber or watermelon rind.

Once prepared, the aroma of toasty-goodness fills the room. Genmaicha always makes my mouth water. This one sets up as a nice honey color and the flavor of the toasted rice predominates over the green tea base.

I prefer a little more of a green tea profile. One of my favorite teas is Ryokucha by Samovar. However, that one also has Matcha powder which I believe technically makes it a Maccha-iri genmaicha? For a true Genmaicha, I’m thinking this is quite good.

This one is more mellow than its older sibling First. The tea brews darker, richer and is more full-bodied than First Darjeeling. This tea is malty and sweet and lacks the citrusy snap I found in First.

This wasn’t bad, but I really enjoyed the fresh, crisp quality of First Darjeeling a little more.

I’ve been going through all of my Shui Tea samples trying to decide on my re-orders. I’m agonizing over this because it’s like trying to pick your favorite child. After tasting, re-tasting, ordering and categorizing, I’ve decided this is my favorite (only slightly ahead of Black Ruby) of their unflavored black teas.

What I like most is the complexity and the crisp “snap” of this tea. I’m upping the rating on this so it stands out from the pack.

I didn’t think I was going to like this at first. The tiny, multi-colored leaves didn’t offer much fragrance. What was present, I would describe as a faint, sour licorice smell.

That fragrance carried over to the brewed tea. On my first sip, the thought that went through my mind was “Wow, not what I expected.” It has a light citrusy, tart flavor like a mild Earl Gray. Next, there’s a fruity-floral taste that ends in a subtle drying of the mouth.

This was really refreshing. While not “bold” in flavor, the complexity and the crisp finish make this a good cup of tea.

The leaves are green and gold and smell a bit “pastoral” (grass, hay, etc.) with a hint of white pepper.

Prepared, this has a strong malty caramel fragrance. From a flavor perspective, it’s simply an uncomplicated, smooth and rich black tea.

While described as strong and intense, I found this tea to be fairly mild; especially compared to some of Shui Tea’s other black teas. This doesn’t mean that it isn’t enjoyable, it’s just not as bold as I would have preferred.

I had this over ice after a workout. This is similar to another one of my favorites by Souvia called Regeneration, but this one doesn’t have all the fruit.

When you first open the bag, it smells like you’ve walked into a great Indian restaurant. This is full of exotic spices, but none of them carry too much heat.

There are so many different directions this can take that everyone’s palate will probably pick up different flavors. For me, this was heavy on ginger, fennel and cardamom. The cinnamon and clove were used sparingly, so they nicely rounded out the flavor. Finally, I had a licorice aftertaste.

This makes a sweet drink by use of the licorice. It’s not overpowering here though. This is a great blend with just the right amount of everything. The word “Amrit” comes to mind.

The leaves are extremely long, twisty and adhesive so this might be better prepared by weight. The dry fragrance is sweet and dusty with a touch of anise.

Prepared, the fragrance is caramel and vegetative. The taste is full and malty. There was a brief sour “snap” at the end of the first few sips, but that subsided as the cup cooled (or my taste buds were finally awake.)

Subsequent infusions of this were pretty good for a black tea. It picked up a mellow, biscuity character.

I love the fragrance of this tea; it has notes of black pepper and just a bit of citrus.

Brewed, the tea is bold, bright and crisp. The peppery fragrance remains but there’s also a subtle perfume about it.

I like black tea really strong. Subsequent infusions were more mellow and had a sweeter profile so this is a use-it-once tea for me.

This tea isn’t super fragrant in the pouch; there was just a subtle toasted-grassiness.

Prepared, the reddish-gold tea is slightly vegetal with a touch of smoke. It’s smooth, well-rounded and has a nice maltiness. It finishes with a taste of plum. Good stuff!

After my near poisoning with Soul Robber, I needed something to redeem the day.

I’ve been looking forward to trying this rooibos blend for some time. This is what initially drew me to the Shui Tea website which is turning out to be a favorite.

Opening the package, you could tell this was made from quality ingredients. Everything was brightly (and rightly) colored. I pulled out a dried peony petal that had to be 2 inches long.

The fragrance was incredible! I don’t mean this in any negative way, but the closest representation I can think of is cherry flavored cough syrup. This has some super cherry power and you can sense some underlying bite.

This brews to a bright red. The fragrance is a sweet-tart, rose-cherry-carrot mix. I was surprised by how much the rose stood out. I don’t typically care for rose or rosehips in my food, but this just worked for me.

The taste? Awesome! There’s a mild cherry-rooibos flavor, then you get a subtle flowery palate then BOOM! HOT chili. Finally, the carrot tries to quench the flame a bit until the next sip.

Not only was this a tasty beverage but it was actually fun to prepare and drink!

This tisane was visually similar to plain guayusa but also contained large pieces of raw cinnamon and strands of lemongrass. Sometimes lemongrass is like lemon scented hay, but this was close to freshly cut lemons. This blend smelled strongly of lemon.

I’m not a big fan of lemongrass, but what was used in this blend is either a better quality or a different species from what I’ve had in the past. It presented as a very clean lemon scent and flavor. This was very strongly flavored of lemon at first but it does mellow. As the cup sat, everything began blending together and I started to enjoy this drink.

I didn’t like this one as much as Amazon Swagger, but that’s because I’m not partial to lemon in hot drinks. I’m going to try this one iced sometime.

This was my first experience with guayusa. The blend is made of uniformly cut plant material of varying shades of green. The fragrance is very subtle and is close to a mix of spearmint and oregano. Once brewed, the aroma is of caramel with an impression of sugary-mint underneath.

The prepared drink is surprisingly sweet but in a light, mellow way. It tastes like a weak cola with a hint of mint. There’s also a slight woodiness. As the cup cools, it develops a suggestion of malt. There isn’t any lingering aftertaste, but instead a continuing sense of sweetness.

Shui Tea includes a caffeine meter on each package (kind of cool feature) and their Swagger line shows 5+ bars. This indicates that the caffeine content is higher than that of coffee. This probably leads to more of a bounce than a swagger, but it works!

The fragrance of this tisane is immediately calming and soothing. My first impression was “Grandma’s House;” not in a bad Ben-gay way, but instead her garden, kitchen and little mint candies all rolled into one.

What I really like about this blend is that the mint isn’t overpowering. Actually, the chamomile (with a lot of big, fluffy blooms present) takes center stage. This may be the first time that I could truly discern the chamomile from the other components in a tisane.

Once brewed, this takes on a completely different fragrance character. The citrus notes rise to the top and and the mint is very subtle. As the cup cools, it takes on a bit of a bubblegum appeal.

I was really surprised by the taste. This is one of those masterful blends where there’s just the right amount of each piece coming together to make a better whole. The chamomile is prominent and there’s the slightest cooling from the mint. Next, the citrus sneaks in and the finish is just a very slight warmth from the cinnamon. The aftertaste of chamomile and anise is very pleasant.

Yep, this one goes on the reorder list!

Orange lovers unite! Really well-flavored orange green tea. Yum.