Silkenty

There is wonderful quote on the wrapping of pyramid sachet:
“I closed my eyes and could picture the vast open space, so much land, so much sky, and in the distance I could hear the beat”

Enjoyed with store-bought Vanini pear-cinnamon chocolate. I am not really sure if I have seen pear tea before? Oh, maybe few days back with some tasting notes? My browser history says yes – it was there: Pear Ambrosia by AJRimmer and Jasmine Poached Pears by amandastory516. But overall? I never saw pear tea in stores over here. To be honest, I kinda understand it, I don’t like pears alone as well. And tea with pear flavour? I am afraid it won’t be a favourite.

Back to the tea. It brews clear, nice dark copper colour with strong wet wood rooibos aroma. I notice some sweet notes there too, but if it is vanilla, I am not really sure to be honest. In taste, yeah rooibos is overwhelming. But, same as in aroma, there are sweet notes. I notice it is vanilla, maybe I am bit too affected as I am just trying to find it… and as it cools down it is bit metallic I assume. Hmm.

Add more vanilla and call it then vanilla rooibos. This way it is really hard to find any vanilla taste here.

Another sachet, which was really lots of green in and… some brown pieces of rose. Very strong peppermint aroma! Could not detect any rose, but it seemed it will be strong tea.

And it was! It was so minty I could not detect any rose scent, it was all together way too minty. In taste – minty as well, but expected. I noticed rose just a little bit. Yep, not much of it there. I wish being it more rose in taste. It was just mellowing pepprmint flavour, but wasn’t distinctive at all.

Refreshing cuppa, but expected more than just peppermint.

I received this one from my sister-in-law, and… I opened it so badly that I cut through sachet inside.

So, I took the tea and prepared it grandpa instead of western style. First of all, it is very citrusy and bergamot in aroma, really full nose of earl grey notes which sounds pretty good.

When brewed, it took quite long to brew, I think around 4 minutes when it got nice EG notes in taste. Tea is quite chopped, but few long leaves were there too. I think the grade was Orange Pekoe, maybe Broken OP.

And – yep, it was quite delicious; very comforting citrusy notes, with tannic notes of tea. Later on, it turned out quite bitter, especially bottom of the cup. But yeah, it was brewed for long time, so it is not actually surprising. Too bad that they did not used any peels in tea, it was probably scented with oils which is kinda sad when they used pyramid sachet.

A wonderful brew. Unsure of what to expect from an exotic new tea, I was pleasantly suprised by the smooth and mellow flavour of the cup. Still perhaps the finest tea I have tried to date. it avoids the classic pitfall of trying to be too much in one mug. it manages to bring a fruity jazz to the table without overpowering the pleasant ‘gunpowder’ undertone.

A somewhat overpowering blend, even after only a brief steep time. The peppermint flavour, which I would not usually find myself averse to, bombarded my nose making the entire experience altogether unpleasant. The rose although much more subtle only dampened and did not compliment the power of the peppermint.

Something is wrong with this tea… it contains hibiscus but I DON’T hate it!!! It is tart but the level of tartness seems to be right. It tastes like sour cherries instead of tomato pasta sauce, so it’s drinkable. In fact, I kinda enjoy it… I can’t even believe this myself!!!

Drank this because it’s in the Silkenty Gift Box, and I was looking for something sans caffeine. Tasted predominantly of chamomile. Flowery and calming. I thought I detected a faint hint of tartness but I had no idea where it came from. I was not sure about the contribution of valerian root either – it’s my first tea with this ingredient. I heard that it tasted awful, but there was nothing too weird about this tea (in fact apart from chamomile, the other flavours were all quite mild) so perhaps it’s not so bad after all.

Wow I love this!! The black teas from Silkenty seem to have a unique nectarous fragrance. This tea smelled a bit like chocolate (and it’s the kind of chocolate with tiny bits of rose petals!) to me. When brewed the soft aroma was dreamy. Delicate bergamot flavour, hint of chocolate flavour, and fruity Ceylon tea base – what’s not to love? ;)

Finally, a good tea from Silkenty Gift Box! Tisane and green tea are probably not among Silkenty’s strong points, but Ceylon tea is (Silkenty is a Sri Lankan brand after all). This is a full-bodied, aromatic black tea. There is a flowery, almost jasmine/osmanthus-like note in its aroma, which is beautiful. The liquor has a little bit of astringency but on the whole it is pretty sweet. There’s some fruity sweetness on the tip of my tongue after each sip. It truly is a great tea to start the morning with :)

Not a very flavourful cup and that’s why I strongly suspect the teas in my Silkenty Gift Box are ancient (though according to the box, the production date is Sep 2012)… the flavour of peppermint was only half as strong as other peppermint tisanes, and rose was not even present.

I start to doubt the freshness of my Silkenty Gift Box. This is the 4th tea from the box; apart from the 1st tea (lemongrass chamomile), the others have not been impressive. Like the vanilla rooibos I tried yesterday (which had no trace of vanilla apparently), the apricot flavour is missing from the tea. There’s a strange, cucumber-like scent and flavour in the tea, which I suppose is the honeydew flavour that gives the tea its name. But I don’t like it because it’s artificial and doesn’t resemble honeydew at all. :( I wonder if it is meant to taste like that. Perhaps the tea bag is simply not fresh enough?

I hope the next tea from the box will be better…

I will say this is a fairly decent rooibos if it doesn’t position itself as a vanilla rooibos. It is very smooth, sweet and nutty – you know, just what a good rooibos should taste like. BUT WHERE’S THE VANILLA!?? I can neither smell or taste it! Too bad.

I had been very disappointed with this tea when I first started sipping it, as none of the fruity notes were coming out over the very powerful and slightly vegetal green tea. But as the cup cooled, the fruity notes began to hit my tongue first followed by the tea itself. Still mildly disappointing, because while the loose leaf (very attractive stuff despite being in a bag) smells like honeydew, the tea itself is far more dominated by the apricot. But it’s still very drinkable, and I think it’s begging to be iced.

I finally unwrapped the beautiful Silkenty Pyramid Gift Box that I bought for myself in Sri Lanka! I decided to start with this chamomile tea as I usually save the best thing for last (and herbal tea is hardly a favourite). ;) To my surprise, this turned out to be a really lovely chamomile tea, perhaps even the best I’ve ever had! It’s flowery rather than tasting grassy or bitter. I really enjoyed the fresh taste of lemongrass, which was in perfect harmony with chamomile and made this tea more memorable than generic chamomile tea. A soothing and refreshing tisane to be enjoyed after dinner :)

I am glad that there’s still another bag of this tisane in the Silkenty gift box, haha…

Good flavour, had it white