Teabox

Looks like a black tea, smells like a black tea, brews like a black tea, tastes like an oolong. Florals, dried herbaceous notes and some stone fruit more on the plummy side. The grapey muscatel flavors remind me a bit of a light roasted cliff tea with a slate twang in the back of the mouth. Deemed an afternoon tea on the website and it is rather happy to boost the lunchtime postprandial blahs.

Simple is not the word for this luscious tea. Your tongue will thank you as you sip (I slurped) it’s many layers of spice, citrus and florals all within a gentle sweetness. Again I’m impressed with the selection of Nilgiris Teabox offers and as I am a novice in this terroir I do know a good tea when presented to me. It also has a great kick to it so follow the steeping guidelines, which I did for the first cup then added another dose in the second on top of the first. BOING is the appropriate word.

Very nice sample, again following the steep guidelines to a ‘tea’, I used a non descriptive teapot 6oz and took my time brewing, being mostly a small gaiwan gongfu kind of guy it really is hard for me to wait the requisite 5 minutes but I persevered.
The wait is worth it, dark coppery liquor with wet leave whiffs of graham cracker and dried peaches. The flavors of muscatel is what brings this to fame and the emergence of different fruit notes that are all in like a line up, musk melon, peach, and dried apricot. There is a bit of sweet and tannin. The tannin had me add 1/2 tsp of dark muscovado just to give it the ‘tea and peach pie’ all in one flavor. Teabox is showing its best teas in its free samples and why not, I would reach out to this tea again for sure.

Forays into Darjeeling, large sample order from Teabox. I followed the instruction on the bag and used a small teapot. Liqor was deep orange gold with aromas of what I thought marigold petals. the flavor of muscatel, lemon, honey all equally balanced but slightly muted, slight sweet and bitter not too noticeable. Seems to me to be a nice afternoon tea although I drank it post morning. One sample down 25+ to go.

Very pleased with this tasty, aroma filled Assam. A very pleasant maltiness in the background and a sweet, fresh flavor and aroma up front. Much less dark and dense than many similar teas that are picked later in the year. Clean and crisp.

Thank you kieblera5 for this tea (I think I’ve got the right one here.) I haven’t tried many Darjeeling teas in the past so this was a fun try for me.

I’m really digging this unique sweet bite like flavor with each sip. I cold brewed and hot brewed it with about the same results. I didn’t get the mango flavor that was described on the package but I got a sweet like note.

Overall I’m happy I was able to try this and enjoy some time with a new tea.

It took me quite a while to figure this out, but First Flush Spring Darjeelings are really green teas in disguise. Case in point: this fine specimen from Runglee Rungliot by way of Teabox. Very smooth, clean, and fresh flavor. A pale yellowish-green liquor. Thirst quenching. Not at all bitter, but should be brewed as a green, not as a black tea. Why? Because it is! Just look at the leaves!

This sample is ancient, but trying to clear out cupboard of these little tins I made ages ago. This tea is now much older but it was delicious. Really, really good black tea with flavor, no bitterness, charming.

At first a small bitter taste but that disappeared after a few sips, strange. Definitely feel the awakening feeling almost right away, very pleasant! For the taste, it’s smooth, good, and earthy, each sip brings a different subtle flavor. As its cooling the bitterness starts coming back and with more strength, though. Will have to try the next sample with different steep time.

Such a great breakfast tea!! EXCELLENT with breads and stone fruit, some light cheeses. So excited to be having some this morning!

First steep (200, 5 min): Excellent upfront lemon taste. Probably my favorite black tea thus far. Slightly astringent but this is my fault since my kettle can’t reach the prescribed 194 degrees. Next time I would decrease the steep time/keep temperature at 200 or increase steep time slightly/decrease temperature to 190.

Second steep (200, 5 min): Toned down lemon, but still very flavorful. More vegetal in this cup. Astringency in first cup was nearly gone.

This tea was very interesting. First, it is a black tea that brews a green liquor, darker than usual green teas but definitely not close to a black tea. Secondly, the usual floral taste found in many blacks was not present. It is dominated by the lemon flavor. Although lighter than most blacks, it was just as flavorful. Highly recommended, kinda wish I hadn’t had this because this is going to be a hard find after this steepster package.

Just an update I made what was left of this tea into a nice half carafe of ice tea and OMG perfection. I only have half a cup left and will be sad to see it go. :(

I was happy to see this months Steepster Select box had a mix of tea types. I was nervous that each month would be one type of tea after the first month was ALL green teas. So the moment I saw an assam (my favorite) I knew I had to try it first! The dry leaf smelled pretty malty. Just how I like my assam teas. I let it steep for the suggested five minutes. Which I first thought was a bit much, but then realized it was actually just right when I took my first sweet sips. So much malty goodness in this tea and the aroma is to die for with hints of honey and fruit! It’s a good thing you get two steeps out of this one as I think I’m going to need another pot!

I have never tried rose with black tea before and thought that rose would be overpowered by the intensity of the tea. I was pleasantly surprised by the delicate scent of rose permeating through the smell and the taste and naturally enhanced by the softness and tanginess of the quality black tea. The cloves are just slightly present in the beginning and come out a bit more as you keep drinking. This tea can be enjoyed with desert or by itself as an after meal delight.

Ah, I’m back to Steepster. I have had so many things to attend recently, that I couldn’t even log my teas. What a waste! :( Who missed me? Nobody? Oh well, I wasn’t a popularity here after all. :p

Let us see this tea. The dry leaves are short and are narrow. It looks like it is a mix of green and black leaves. Maybe with some grass-looking leaves as well. I think Teabox made a good balance with the dry leaves.

Let us brew this tea. The steeping instructions say 5 minutes and 1.25 tsp in a water of around 180-200F degrees. For this sip, I followed exactly what the instructions said.

Let’s sip now! The first thing I saw is that this tea isn’t of the usual black tea color. Personally, I think it looks more like a green tea. But the taste is definitely more like a black tea. Interesting! The tea itself is very creamy and mellow. I can easy distinguish some reminiscence of melon and citrus along with some nut finish. This tea is really full-bodied, if I try harder I can also find some notes of melon! It is also a bit astringent, around 3 out of 10.

Overall, I find this tea really fun to drink. It’s a real treat for an everyday tea!

This tea is very special and, with Teabox’s recent 50% off promotion, affordable ($19.64/100g).

Infusion: 190 deg F (88 C), 2.3 g per 180 ml water, 4.5 minutes

Fragrant, floral aroma; delicate floral and fruit flavors. Long finish. This is a very fine tea.

Finally getting around to the 15 or so 2015 first flushes that I have from Teabox :P I enjoyed this one, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly good. I followed the steeping instructions, but I think that with a five minute steep, it was slightly oversteeped and led to some bitterness in the taste. A nice orange color for the resulting brew and tasted more of muscatel than the “orchid and berry” that was promised. There’s a few floral notes, but they’re hidden behind the raisin flavor/smell of the tea.

sipping the new leaf
the cold ground here still shutters
pushing forth new life