T2

Drinking a bottled unsweetened iced tea version from the store, bought primarily so I could re-use the bottle for my own cold brewing purposes!

This is very refreshing and lovely.

Sipdown. Lol. It’s been three years since I first opened this.

Herbal fruit tea. Tastes like the dessert. Liking the cinnamon. A little tart when brewed for more than a few minutes, but I can see some people liking that.

Flavour didn’t diminish with time, which is rare. Not rebuying, but rating stays the same.

Wasn’t the hugest fan of this as a hot tea, but iced…my goodness!
Bite into a frozen Sara Lee Apple Danish and this is what it tastes like.
So very delicious. You would not regret making this.

Steeped at double strength for ten minutes in boiling water and left to chill in the fridge.

Like a hug. But a tad too pastry-sweet for me when hot. Would use less of it per cup next time, or save it to use as an iced tea once the Australian summer comes back

Had this two nights ago, and I remember thinking, “Hm, this is just okay — for having paid shipping from Australia”. Which is kinda funny, because I read somewhere that T2 now has a store open in London… sigh. Shoulda woulda coulda. Next time!

I’m a bit surprised mine is the second review of this tea; it’s billed as one of T2’s bestselling blends, and I understand why now. It’s a subtle chocolate, more dark chocolate or unsweetened cocoa than anything, and the dryness from having a mouthful of cocoa comes through quite well (with zero astringency). It’s a lovely blend, a bit surprising in fact, as I was expecting ooey-gooey chocolate, and this is more of a connoisseurs blend. Lovely.

WELP, I was looking forward to trying this after cold brewing overnight in my lovely new More Tea bottle but then the bottle didn’t survive my bike trip into work.

Internal glass shattered. Devastated.

And I only had a one cup sample of this tea, too! Sigh. Not a great start to the day. Can only go up from here, right?

For a positive spin, that’s technically another sipdown. I so wanted to get under 70 before my Butiki order arrives, but I’ve just received my Mr. Earl May teas so the challenge intensifies AGAIN!

So… this is one weird tea. It brewed up a really light orange, and I wondered if it was a black. It is. I smell something apricot-ish, yet my tastebuds tell me it’s more strawberry than anything. My lips are burning from I-don’t-know what. It’s got a hint of creaminess to it, and there’s a definite floral edge as well. I wish the burning would stop so I could figure out if I like it or not, but I suspect there’s some sort of strawberry flavoring and thus my reaction. Refraining from rating this one.

Well, it’s no Ginger Spice.

I think I prefer this tea iced! The chili really comes through in the cold brew, almost (not quite) as much as Kapha from TeaGschenwnder. I’ll always remember JustJames’ “the burn! the burn!” from that one, and this is… similar. Hot steeped I didn’t get nearly enough spicey chili from this, but this cold steep? Divine. Perfect. Exactly what I wanted.

Now THIS is some spicy, delicious tea! I love this. So glad I decided to grab it in my mammoth T2 order (because they’re in Australia, and because they only sell 100g via airmail ordering).

It’s smooth and rich, like a melted chocolate vanilla cream (no chocolate flavor though really, it’s more the mouthfeel than anything). I’d ALMOST say a cinnamon heart, however I’m not a fan of those, and this is more chili than cinnamon. It’s definitely got kick – like Kapha from TeaGschwendner kick – so JustJames, I’ll refrain from sending you, or anyone else who doesn’t like hot things any of this. Sil, OMGsrsly however? You’re both getting some. ;)

So I had read all the hype about Melbourne Breakfast on Steepster, and there is a just-opened T2 down the road. But I already have a vanilla and rose flavoured black, and a vanilla and strawberry favoured green. Really, it’s best that I exercise a little discipline. But then, lo! Left in the communal kitchen area of my workplace was a huge, Free-To-Good-Home pile of Melbourne breakfast tea bags! Well, this was a little different to the usual bench offerings I must say. I haven’t seen loot like this since the day some anonymous Green Thumb plonked several paddocks worth of fresh basil, parsley and mint on the table in adorable brown paper bags. The vanilla note is clear and warming, the black bold and fresh. I may have grabbed a larger-than-fair handful and stashed it under my desk for later.

I think this blend is around a year and a half old, but I got a couple of sample sachets in a swap (a REAL LIFE swap!) with my friend the other day and I’ll be darned if I’m going to do a sipdown without actually getting to add the tea to my cupboard and then remove it again.

So the all-caps isn’t just gibberish and stands for Flowery Broken Orange Pekoe Fannings Extra Special. Sure. OK. Googling seems to show it was ranked an 80 (“Very Good: a tea with superior characteristics”) in the US tea championship 2013? Good for it…

It smells like delicious chocolate. Tastes pretty chocolatey for a plain black tea, too! Yum. I think this is what you’d call a single origin tea? Hahaha.

Had this quite a few times over the past few days. I really wish there was more chocolate in this. The tea is nice, it’s just… lacking choco. Phooey.

This is the tea that exploded ALL over my kitchen, and the one I made the order for initially. Bah!

It’s more mint than chocolate, and while the peppermint is quite lovely with little red rooibos taste at all (and zero itchy throat as I find I get of late with red rooibos), the chocolate needs amping up a whole lot for it to be a go-to. It’s still tasty, and I have a feeling it would be an excellent latte and cold brew.

Eh… not enjoying this today. All I’m getting are cigarette ashes. There had better not be maté in this… (Keeping the rating the same, just in case it’s me tonight with an issue).

Woot! My T2 order arrived today, and I’m over the moon. This is the most I’ve ever paid for tea (due to shipping) even with the massive BF orders for multiple people last year. So this is the first tea I’m trying, because I’m craving some tulsi right now.

First, the packaging: amazing! All of the teas came in a black box, kept together with a magnet. Everything, including the paper packaging to keep things from shifting during transit, had T2 written on it in black on black. Super classy. Then the tea came in boxes with T2 prominently displayed, all lined up in a pretty row. Inside however, the tea came in basic, clear plastic wrap, with zero way to zip it back up again. Not cool, and the brittle plastic broke already with one of the teas, making a huge mess with a lot of expensive tea. Boo. Note for next time (if I order again): buy the tea in tins.

On to the tea! It’s an odd yet comforting blend. Herbal cream with some faint cacao/chocolate in there is what I’m getting. Something dry at the end, which I’m attributing to the tulsi. Yep, for what this is, it’s quite excellent.

Got this as a sample with my latest T2 online order. It’s fine for a flavoured green, I just don’t care much for flavoured greens. Sipdown done and dusted.

This tea is an interesting one. Of all the three limited edition blends released for T2’s #gentea campaign, this was the one I wanted to try the most, all of the ingredients looked like they would appeal to me immensely. I bought all three on a whim at T2 today, and this is the first one I’ve opened (naturally, since I wanted to try it so bad). It wasn’t on tasting in store, so I had no idea what to expect.

I opened the box (which is beautiful, by the way, I would buy them for the boxes alone, but that’s just me), and took a whiff. I almost fainted. And not in a good way. The first thing that hit me was this scent of chocolaty cream, which the first thing I was reminded of was Baileys Irish Cream. And I am NOT a drinker. It could be an olfactory response triggered in my system somewhere but this made me almost feel sick. Not a good start for poor Bree.

However, if YOU love Baileys, and other creamy sweet related liqueurs, this scent will be right up your alley. Unfortunately I couldn’t smell much else, as going in with the nose seemed like I was daring somebody to make me puke, so I decided the trial would be in the tasting.

My best description of the brew colour is a gorgeous caramel-ey orangey red, unlike anything I have ever seen before. I love my fruit infusions, but this was something different, looking into it you can’t quite figure out what it is. But it IS pretty.

The Bailey’s scent has died down a tad now. I’m brave enough for a proper smell, and I can smell rose, chocolate and strawberry. Quite pleasant.

This was brewed quite strongly, for the amount of water there was, but I wanted to try get as much out of my first taste as possible. First sips I immediately could note rose petals, strawberry, tartness from the apple pieces, sweet chocolate flavour and a hit of beetroot. The apple flavour lingers in the back of your mouth after swallowing, which is quite nice if you’re an apple fan like me. All other florals mentioned in the tea description seemed lost, to me, but then again my palette might not be quite trained enough to sense them yet.

It was nice. Drinkable. Sweet, naturally. For a name such as Rose, I wish the rose and florals were more prominent. The chocolate and fruit flavours working together is a welcome surprise though, for so long I have longed to taste chocolate and strawberry together in a drink, and I got my wish with this one.

This is definitely a fruit tea to me and I think more than anything the other florals were included to bulk up the volume and add a range of colours to the dry leaf to make it look enticing. Which is totally does. It’s just a shame I can’t smell the damned dry leaf without wanting to rush for a bucket.

As I said all along, this tea is interesting. I’ve never encountered something which was so horrible (IMHO) in some elements, and downright delightful in others. The taste is lovely, only thing would be certain elements get drowned out, and are probably there for show. Smell, well, you know. And the liquor itself is the prettiest thing I have seen in a long time.

I can honestly say I’m glad I bought it and gave it a go. And I will definitely be finishing the box. But is it worth stocking up before limited time is up? No. I don’t think. Not for me anyway. Having my cupboard smell like Baileys would probably kill me.

A very nice, relaxing tea that settles the nerves, and calms the body. It also has excellent nutrition value.