Tea Licious

Drank Western style today. The dry leaves looked fully oxidized to me, actually, so I brewed this like I’d brew any Nilgiri black tea. Once they got wet and unfurled, though, I could see a little bit of green so it really is an oolong. But due to relatively high oxidation, the brew didn’t ruin it or anything. I used sugar crystals and milk like I would with any black breakfast tea from South Asia (as this was standing in for my usual morning chai), and it held up fine.

It does taste similar to a breakfast tea: A little malty, but less bitter than most black teas are. I didn’t really detect any subtle notes, but that could be because of the milk and sugar. All in all, it was pretty good. I don’ t really feel the need to acquire more, though. Not that it would be a possibility anyway, as Tealicious has closed.

Hmmm… Not that great. I just had a big cup of my Upton Rose Congu in the morning, then this in the afternoon, and it reminds me a lot of the not-so-great aspects of the congu, namely the heart-burn-y black tea-ness, minus all that is malty and good about the congu. Drinkable, but not a fan. It has a touch of minerality like many oolongs, but if I had drunk it blind I wouldn’t have classified it that way. The truth is that I just like green oolongs. If it isn’t tightly rolled, it isn’t for me?

This is a really good flavored tea. I don’t taste the oolong much, but it is unobtrusive and serves as a smooth, perhaps slightly floral green base for some really good flavor. This combo is very refreshing, but also stately. Imagine the scent of a potpourri made from rose petals and citrus peel. Now imagine neither of those were dried and you were tasting them in a slightly muted form instead of smelling them, in addition to a brightness or zesty-ness that makes you think of soda-fountain dresses and bright sunny days. I really, really like the flavor of this tea!
And the flavor just keeps on keepin’ on as well: three un-timed steeps, well over 7 minutes cumulatively and these leaves still have flavor to give. I believe the first time I drank this I did a 45 second steep, which was very intensely citrus-y, followed by two or three more additional steeps, adding 30 seconds each time. The citrus mellows out but the rose and sweet citrus keeps on going.
Best part about this tea is that it is super cheap for how good it is, 2-3 bucks and ounce, I think. I am all over it!

First things first, I think this tea is either a replacement or renaming of the pineapple oolong from the same company. I created a new tea to reflect what I ordered off their site: www.tealicousllc.com
This tea looked to have a lot of potential for me. I love my oolongs on the greener side, and this was one of the few samples I bought from Tea Licous that was not on their formosa base.
Unfortunately, this tea is artificial-tasting while hot. It smells quite nice and tropical, but the flavor has that chewable vitamin-c tab/flinstone vitamin flavor of ‘fruit’ smoothies that have no actual fruit in them. Sugar helps a little, but just masks the bad a bit.
On the other hand, this is tasty business when cold-brewed! I brewed about 1.5-2 tsp in 24 oz for 10 hours last night and it came out sweet, lightly floral, and definitely tropical. The flavoring was toned down quite a bit in favor of the florals, and that helped a lot. It was very yummy and I drank it up quicker that I usually do (I couldn’t keep away from it at breakfast time, so refreshing!).
Another quite cheap option that I may consider just for the cold brewing shelf!

The dry leaf smells soooo much like peach fruit leather that it is incredible.
First steep of 45 seconds is a little light. It is roasted, but not smokey, just nutty and malty, almost like an understeeped peach black tea. It smells very juicy but the flavor is just vaguely fruity. I think this calls for a much longer steep. I think this would make a nice peach sun tea in the summer.
Second steep of nearly 2 minutes brought out a slight bitterness and sunk the hint of peach there was in the first steep. I’m gonna need some sugar to get through this dark amber cup.
I think I will take this one home for cold brewing as well.
Update: It was dang good cold brewed, but I still think I would prefer it be a peach black tea for iced tea instead.

The smell of this dry leaf instantly put it in the ’don’t even try that hot’ pile. So I cold brewed it, about 10 hours in all (I would say a teaspoon and a half for 24 oz of water) and it was LOVELY. So much so that I think I may order the full four oz of this, just so I can have it cold-brewed on a hot summer day! It was like a nice reisling without the alcohol. The sweetness of the oolong lingered, just like the wine. Like thin white grape juice without the tartness. Just delicious. Before I hand over the rest of my sample, I thought I would try it hot, just for full sampling effect.
It’s actually not bad hot. The fruit flavor is stronger, and I’m definitely getting the acai flavor, complete with the powderiness I was afraid of from the smell of the dry leaf. The sweetness is less than the cold brew, I definitely prefer this one cold, but it’s not half bad hot.
Two brew with this one, the first (about 1 minute) kinda just tasted like fruitiness over my weird water at home (no doubt due to my ancient stove top kettle). The second (1:30) is when the leaves unfurled and the flavors really came out.

I ordered several samples from Tea Licious that arrived in the mail today. I liked the smell of the dry tea so much that I decided to try this one first.

The dry leaves smell incredible, almost like fresh oranges. While hot, the tea is a little disappointing, but I can tell it’s one of those teas that will be better iced. I have enough left to try it that way another time. It’s naturally sweet, but a tiny bit of rock sugar brings out the fruit flavor a bit.

I wish I could detect more cranberry — I don’t really taste it in there. I just notice a kind of unfamiliar tartness. I dislike the smell of the wet leaves, so I won’t bother trying to resteep. I’m not sure how to describe it, but the wet leaves smell a little off to me, sort of musty and cloying. I notice a bit of a musty aftertaste as well — it’s unpleasant. Also, I’m not a big fan of hibiscus and find it overpowering.

You can get a good-sized sample for just $1, so it’s definitely worth checking out if you like this sort of thing. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it to anyone, and I probably won’t buy it again.

Tasting note No.100 for me~wheee!
Thank you for sharing this Suzi~right up my alley
I wish they made this dry leaf as a candle…
I smell the ginger root the heaviest…
next a little cinnamon and cardamom,but steeped they come across so subtly…
I added honey and cream to round out the heaviness of the spices
and it came across more like pumpkin cheesecake with all its creamy goodness
Next cup I will try just with honey.
Not as complex as some chais,but still delightful.

Looking for something black this morning, nothing unusual about that for me, and thought it might be nice to hunt out something new. I kept setting this one aside because it was an upopened sample and figure I needed to sip down a few more samples before I open a sealed one.. but this morning I caved. I wanted something new and with some spice, so this fit the bill.

Upon opening the package I get a sweet strange scent to the dry leaf, much like the smell from another pumpkin tea I have tried… thinking it must be how they add the pumpkin to tea.

Steeped I get the same sweet fragrance with a hint of spice. Not as spicy as I might have liked this morning, but an ok cup. I’m not sure yet about the pumpkin flavor in tea as so far it comes across a bit artificial to me… smells overly sweet and not a lot of true to pumpkin flavor. I think I may have underleafed this one a bit & would enjoy it more as a latte with a bit more kick… I will have to try it that way soon… and will rate it accordingly then.

I haven’t had many flavored chai’s yet, but have enjoyed a couple of interesting flavor combinations. Thanks MissB for sending this one my way.

this wasn’t my favourite black tea. I found this to be quite peppery. Medium – strong in strength. I was hoping for a crisp tea, but didn’t find what I was looking for here.

Backlog:

Sweet, fruity and just a tad bit tart. The passion fruit and the Oolong are a good pairing, the sweetness of the fruit complements the flavors of the green Oolong tea leaves, since with the greener Oolongs I tend to notice more of a floral note than a fruity note, and the passion fruit brings out more of the fruity flavors of the tea.

There are still some floral notes to this but they’re well balanced with the fruit. A nice, smooth texture to this cup.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/10/09/passion-fruit-oolong-tea-tea-licious/

Backlog:

A really nice Oolong … but it didn’t really start out that way. My first infusion was just kind of ho-hum, but, the second infusion proved itself to be really nice. I think that with the first cup, the acai flavor was just too bitter tasting for my liking, but, with the second infusion, the flavors were less sharp and quite tasty.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/05/31/berry-flavored-oolong-tea-from-tea-licious/

This is a sample I got from Liberteas a while back and it got buried in my sample stash! I decided to brew up the whole thing tonight in a big pot.

The bad news is that I was painting at the time and got held up pulling the leaves. The good news is that it didn’t make this tea get bitter. The raspberry and acai are more of a fruity tartness so I wonder if the oversleeping strengthened the Sencha enough to mask the flavors, but it isn’t bad, just probably not as fruity as it would have been had I paid attention to the steeping a little better.

The liquor is bright gold and the Sencha has a nice strong presence.

Thank you, Liberteas, for letting me try this one!

This is really good, chiefly because the blenders didn’t think it was necessary to mess up the blend with a lot of spices. Just good, sweet fruit.

The source is a bit of a mystery…I had intended to write a longer review for this one for www.itsallabouttheleaf.com, but I can’t seem to land on the correct Tealicious website to pull up more complete product info. It was a sample that chased us around Southwest Missouri while we were refugeeing, and I think it came from Singapore. Any leads?

As the heat wave continues, so does my experimentation with Ozark-y fruit teas. Steeped a pot this morning and chucked it straight in the fridge to cool.

Huckleberries, so says Wikipedia, are eccentric cousins of the blueberry—scent and taste remind me of a cross between blueberries and black berries. So the flavor is strong, especially when I got a trifle generous with the amount of leaf I used. Tossed in a couple of sugar cubes and that helped immensely.

This was a free sample I received from Tealicious a while back. The samples I received, particularly this one, were very generous! I found this to be extremely pleasant. The base, a mix of kenya and what I suspect to be ceylon, supports the flavours well. The peach is more prominent then the apricot here but both flavours are clearly evident. This tea gives an almost juicy aftertaste, as if I were actually eating the fruit. Very natural and not at all artificial-tasting!

I was looking through my basket of samples this morning for something to inspire me when I happened across this. The beau and I developed head colds over the weekend, so an immunity tea seemed ideal, though a bit late. Unfortunately, that means this tea won’t get a proper review because I can’t smell things and accordingly can’t really taste them. I only had enough to make a pot for the beau and I so there is none left over for another try later on. I remember being really enticed by the ingredient list (probably because of the apple…I’m a nut for apple in tea, if it’s done well). I tried smelling the dry leaves but couldn’t get anything at all. Sorry, sports fans!

As for taste, keeping in mind that I have a cold, I can pick up vague hints of fruitiness. Maybe apple? Nothing I could define. There is a slight taste of licorice, but I don’t mind it for once. I also get a bit of the green rooibos flavour that I’ve never been able to describe but can finally identify…Not going to give it a rating as I can’t taste it, but hoping it does something good for my head. If nothing else, it soothed my throat!

A little on the bitter side. A very earthy Chinese green, I prefer the Dragon Well. I get this when I feel adventurous

Very interesting. It’s like a black tea with a twist. I need another few cups to really get my head around this – but it’s really not like a lot of other oolongs I’ve had. I think I like it. :)

Backlog:

A really enjoyable flavored green tea from Tea Licious. It’s primarily Pineapple and Coconut, and not so much the rum notes that you would experience from a cocktail … then again, I’m not much of a alcohol drinker (as in, it is a VERY rare occasion when I imbibe alcohol. Maybe once a year, and then maybe a sip or two. Very, very rarely do I drink more than that.) So, I’m not really missing the rum notes so much, and I like the way the coconut and the pineapple come through here.

The green tea has a lovely sweet, buttery note with hints of vegetation. A really pleasant green tea. Here is my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/02/28/green-pina-colada-tea-from-tea-licious/

Found this in my stash this evening. I came via Tea Equals Bliss a while back. My first honeybush and a very pleasant cup. Lightly lemon with orange coming in at mid sip. Smooth. Not rough like a rooibos. I like this.