Talbott Teas

Another tea that obviously fits my recent chocolatey/nutty/rich tea kick. I also could use a fair amount of perking up this morning, so a nice full-bodied black tea was definitely in the cards. This tea is just so delicious! Glad I have a full tin of it that will last me for a while.

I was running low on this one, but I now have a good supply in my cupboard thanks to my swap with Wonks. Thanks! This really is one of my all-time favorite teas.

An aside: why are there never any tea groupons or groupon-style deals anymore? I used to come across them very frequently, but it’s been totally dead for a while now. I was thinking of it because I discovered this tea company via a Groupon. Not that I need to be buying tea groupons now, but still. I miss them. I’m a deal addict and I haven’t bought a groupon in ages because there hasn’t been anything interesting.

This is another tea that I love and haven’t had for a long time. It is just so chocolatey with a lovely nutty almond accompaniment. Actually this is a tea I would consider a really good chocolate tea (though it’s not plain chocolate) and I would want to try mixing it with an Earl Grey. I love that this tea is just chocolate flavored with cacao nibs, no chocolate chips or pieces which I feel like can muddy up the flavors and make it seem like you are drinking watery hot chocolate. Wow this tea is good. It’s been so long and I’ve tried so many teas in the intervening time that coming back to this one is a bit of a surprise… a happy one! The chocolate is rich and not too roasty, the almond flavor is almondy without being overly marzipanny (not that I would mind if it was). I don’t think I ever realize that there was caramel flavor in this one as well, but it totally makes sense. The caramel doesn’t stick out as a distinct flavor, but adds to the richness and slight sweetness, mimicking some really caramelly black teas. Bumping this up to 99 because it is just that good.

I don’t usually have two cups of tea in an afternoon (unless it’s resteeping a jasmine pearl or nice oolong), but I wanted more chocolate tea, dammit, and I didn’t want reduced chocolate flavor from a resteep of Florence. At least this is healthier than diving into my chocolate candy stash here at work.

This will always be my first chocolate tea love, and my tin seems to be getting dangerously low. Nevertheless I brewed up a cup and immediately I was rewarded with a rich, sweet chocolate aroma. Florence is chocolatey, but it’s tempered by the hazelnut or something; for whatever reason, this one just seems even more chocolatey to me. It doesn’t even have chocolate chips like some chocolate teas, just cacao nibs. Anyway, yum!

Another one of my favorite teas. I haven’t had this one in over a month, mostly because I look at the tin, consider it, then don’t drink it because I don’t want to use it up too quickly! But today I decided it had been too long since I’d brewed it, so now I’m happily sipping away.

Now this is a powerfully chocolatey chocolate tea. I am such a big fan of this tea, being a huge lover of chocolate and almonds. This tea never fails to bring comments from the people around me about it’s aroma when I brew it. Just now, someone came into my office from the hall to ask if the “cocoa-licious” smell was my “choco-tea”. Everyone loves the aroma of this tea, and people will ask if I’m drinking hot chocolate.

This tea doesn’t get super dark when brewed, having an orangey-maroon-brown shade. The flavor is fantastic: chocolate is the main note, but toasted almond comes through as well. It’s brings not just almond but a general nuttiness to the tea. There’s an overall “roasty” flavor to this one as well; almost like the toasted marshmallow and chocolate of a s’more. Just an overall fantastic tea with a strong, well-blended flavor.

I totally need to bring home some more non-caffinated tea for evening tea times now that I have my new tea pot! Not that I don’t enjoy this Earl Grey; it’s nicely floral with light citrus notes. I notice that last time I drank this I said I’d brew it longer, but I totally forgot. Oh well, I still think that a longer brew time could benefit this tea, or perhaps I should up the amount of tea in the pot. Still, a pleasant, comforting cup for this evening, which is what I was looking for.

I bought this tea with a groupon deal just at the beginning of the time when I decided I really should be drinking more tea (aka, the beginning of my recent tea addiction). I knew I liked Earl Greys, I was clueless enough to completely not notice that this was a rooibos and not a black tea when I ordered it (I knew the difference, I just blithely assumed that all Earl Greys would be black tea). So I was suprised when I opened the tin to find rooibos leaves!

In any case, despite my slight disappointment that this wasn’t a black tea, I do really enjoy it. The bergamot is well rounded and prominent but not overbearing, and the rooibos makes a very pleasant base tea. It’s great for when I want an Earl Grey without caffeine in the evening. I think next time I might brew it even longer to make it stronger, since rooibos has the benefit of not getting bitter.

Backlog: I had a cup of this this afternoon. My full-length review of it can be read here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/02/01/chocolate-strawberry-tempation-from-talbott-teas/

Since tomorrow is Valentines day, I thought I’d celebrate with some chocolate and strawberry! Today, I can taste more of the chocolate, although it’s more of a cocoa type chocolate. It’s yummy!

Here’s my full length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/02/01/chocolate-strawberry-tempation-from-talbott-teas/

Take 2 on this tea – this time around I steeped with more leaf.

This is much better now. I guess it really needs more than I usually use – and typically, I use a little extra when I steep anyway… so this one needs about double the ordinary 1 tsp. of tea per teacup… I actually used 1 tbsp.

As it sits here still rather hot, I’m finding the black tea to be the strongest flavor in the cup, and the strawberry comes along followed by a hint of chocolate. I am going to allow it to cool slightly, and see how it changes a bit before I give it a numeric rating though.

Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea to try! It’s one that I’ve been anxious to try for some time now! I mean, how could I resist? With Chocolate and Strawberry? YUM!

While I am very happy that I am having this opportunity to try it, I feel like this is a tea that I need to tinker around with a bit, because I am just not getting the flavor I thought I would. I can taste faint notes of chocolate, faint notes of strawberry, and even the black tea tastes rather indistinct. I will try using a little more leaf next time and see how I fair with it. For now, I’m just not that impressed.

Nice tea, and I like the orange/clove/rose-ness of it all. As with the other Talbott teas I have, it takes more leaf than I usually use (compared to other brands) to get the flavor for which I am looking. Overall, nice; one I will serve friends as a conversation piece but not one I will secretly hoarde exclusively for my own selfish consumption!

Shared with Mom and Cyndi on Mothers Day Weekend. Made sure that I was heavy handed with the leaf and turned out a delicious pot, enjoyed by all — especially by me, who did not really enjoy it so much the first time.

Maybe after reading the favorable posts, had set my hopes too high. Or, maybe I need to use a lot more tea in my infuser.

With Indiana paralysed by an ice storm, I had lots of time to shop online and finally got around to spending the Talbott’s Groupon that I purchased some weeks ago for just such a day. The fearless FedEx delivery person dropped my box of tea this afternoon and within minutes I had ripped into it and was sniffing the intoxicating fragrances of my three choices (two being chocolate, the other cinnamon rose).

The hubby was outdoors breaking the 8 to 10 inches of ice that was making any thought of getting my car out of the drive laughable, and then shovelling the heavy chunks out of the way. What a man!

So, when it appeared he was nearly finished, I set the kettle on the stove and chose “Cocoa Cardamom Seduction.” And I even had a sheet of freshly baked cookies to go with the tea (it took a while to break up all that ice!)

The tin contained visible chunks of spice and tea, and the fragrance was mouth-watering; as pretty to look at as was its aroma while steeping in my favorite tea pot.

The flavor fell short of expectations, though. Seems to be all fragrance but just a mild black tea flavor. We added a little cream and sugar and it seemed to bring a little cocoa flavor forward, though this is not our normal tea service. I suppose I will try steeping another pot some other time, with more tea in the infuser and maybe for a longer time. There have been such fine reviews that surely I just need to experiment some more

Kristen sent me a sample of this one (thanks!). I think this tea is identical to Special Teas Lemon Chiffon. I haven’t been able to detect any difference yet. So, for anyone who was upset about the loss of the Lemon Chiffon, this might be an alternate source (unless Special Teas was the supplier). I’ll be interested to see if Kristen thinks the Lemon Chiffon I sent to her is the same.

Well, I finally caught whatever bug my hubby had last week. I felt good yesterday, but, at some point while sleeping, I woke up and my head felt like a bowling ball and my throat felt like it had swollen shut and every time I’d try to swallow it felt like I was swallowing razor blades. UGH!

Hopefully it won’t last long.

So, until my taste buds return to normal (right now, it is as if my palate has been covered with a blanket and very few flavors manage to filter through) I’ll be drinking teas that are not new to me, so that I don’t feel like I need to write a review if I’m not feeling up to it. Also, I don’t want to form a bad opinion of a tea.

I can barely taste the rose and the cinnamon and just a hint of the orange with this tea. I can also barely taste the black tea. At the start of the sip, I notice the flavors, but before I even get to “mid-sip” it just feels like liquid is passing over my palate, with very little to no flavor at all.

So… if you want to know more about this tea, I’d recommend checking my previous notes, or you can check out my full-length review of this tea here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/02/11/steamy-cinnamon-rose-from-talbott-teas/

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss For sending me some of this tea!

This is really good. I think it just may be my favorite from Talbott so far (although I’m sure I’ve said that before about some other blend of theirs though).

The orange and the clove are a nice surprise here. They don’t dominate the tea though, it is a very harmonious blending of the ingredients. In each sip I can taste notes from each ingredient – it’s very smooth and well-rounded.

I thought I had logged this tea previously, but apparently not!

I am finishing up the sampling that TeaEqualsBliss sent to me. I think that my taste buds are coming back to me, but they still aren’t 100%.

Here is my full-length review of this tea, written when my taste buds were functioning properly!

http://sororiteasisters.com/2011/01/05/citrus-appeal-from-talbott-teas/

Caramel and cocoa…. this tea is yummy! Not my favorite dessert tea but definitely one I will enjoy again.

I decided to get creative and blend this luscious lemon meringue with some black keemum and steep it for some iced tea. I added 3 parts luscious lemon to 1 part keemum and some rock sugar and it turned out super yummy!!!
I am sitting in the warmth of my house with this refreshing glass of lemony iced tea envisioning warmer weather!!!!! (and NO snow!!!!) Unfortunately, this is the closest I will get to that vision as we are to get another 6-12inches of snow this afternoon and evening :(

My first Talbott Tea ever! My order arrived yesterday (Merry Christmas to me :) and I saved it to try today! This is the first one I picked… I am typically not a rooibos fan but have been broadening my tea cupboard to include a few. I am enjoying this… nice lemon flavor and the vanilla gives the meringue taste! Refreshing and relaxing! The relaxing is just what I need too after having my side over today for Christmas… I am exhausted! The kids are crazy hyper too!

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me this tea to try!

This is quite possibly the best Paris Breakfast/French Breakfast tea that I’ve tried – it isn’t flavored like some of the French Breakfast teas that I’ve had in the past. (usually they’re flavored with vanilla and/or caramel, and they’re good like this, but I kind of like that this one is unflavored)

The Assam is rich and malty. It has a strong baked note. Very full flavored and full bodied. NICE!

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a sachet of this tea!

I could not find this tea on the website.

The aroma of the dry leaf is BERGAMOT, a perfume-y bergamot… the aroma of the liquor is considerably softer and not at all perfume-ish though. The flavor is very crisp and clean. Smooth! A very nice citrus note, very little of the flowery notes that accompanies Earl Grey sometimes. A very good Earl Grey.