Tealux

This is a sample from TeaSipper. Thank you!

Holy kick in the pants! This is a strong tea. The color of the cup alone made me quiver in my shoes a bit. This is brisk and a tad astringent, but for a morning cup that can be a good thing. There is a hint of vanilla and an sweet undertone to the tea. There are hints of caramel and bread. This is a nice breakfast blend. I am digging it this morning.

Side note: This reminds me of Adagio’s Eleven. There are tad hints of coconut.

More of the woods….
This is not my day for trying new good teas haha!
I think I’m gonna go back to Persimmon Tree Tea’s Periwinkle for a bit before trying anything else new. xD

dexter sent this one my way with her mini brithday package for me so i figured i’d give it a whirl asap since it’s a small one to drink up and i wanted a few straight teas this morning before i get in to some of my other samples.

This tea is delicious! It’s god a good heft to it – thick and malty while also having a sweetness to it. i am a fan! I may need to add this to my eventual tealux order if i ever get my cupboard under control. No spending this month!

Strong and robust like a good breakfast tea should be. Zero astringency. The cream flavour is nice and smooth; I get a pleasant coconutty note from it. Judging by how fast I drank down a pot of this, it’s definitely a winning blend in my books.

I sink way too much money into online tea stores with Australian shipping.
No more! Cannot buy anymore! Until August anyway. That’s when Teavivre, Red Leaf and Whispering Pines are going to have to write out my Australian address in huge ass boxes because all you Steepsterites are making me want to shove wads of cash into their pockets.

In the meantime, I’m working my way through a large Tealux haul.
I fucking love lemon tea and believe it or not, T2 (the largest and most accessible tea store in Sydney) doesn’t have a single one. I always thought lemon tea was a kind of basic flavour? Anyway, fainted from happiness when I smelled this in the packet.
And the taste was so satisfying, so quench-thirsting (as per the description) that it’s most likely going to be a staple for me. And I don’t usually rebuy teas either.
Oh, happiness.

Burnt maple. Not too sweet. I like this one a lot.
I’m sad I only bought 25g of this.

Sipdown!

I took the remainder of this tea and cold-steeped it to make a pitcher of iced tea. The iced tea itself isn’t done, but the leaf has been tossed.

The tea is slightly astringent but still gently fruity from the strawberries. Adding a bit of agave nectar to sweeten it helps round out the flavour.

Overall, this was a nice iced tea, but I don’t know if I’ll restock this.

Backlog from a few days ago:

This was one of the teas that I kept from the GCTTB3 in my quest to find the perfect strawberry green tea. I think I botched my initial brew of this, though, as there was a weird metallic tang to the tea. Perhaps it was because the huge chunks of strawberry. Not sure. I should try tasting this with some sweetener added.

I have a tale of sadness that only fellow tea drinkers would really understand. Last night I came home from gaming, exhausted and feeling like utter death and instead of leaving my travel thermos either in the kitchen or on the shelf where it is safe, I left it on my tea desk. While lying in bed reading before sleep I head the sound of cats wrestling (as they do) and an ungodly smash. Yep, it broke, shattered into several pieces because I was too dumb to take care of my tea gear properly. Of course I can’t afford to get a new one, it took months for me to save up to get this one…and since I am traveling in about a month (the main reason I got this thing) I am in a massive funk over it. Ben seeing me crying on the floor clutching the broken remains of the beloved tea thermos offered to buy me a new one…

but of course Tealux no longer carries this specific kind, so I have to go searching for a new cheap glass travel thermos. Sigh, this sucks, I already miss my trusty travel thermos.

I promised myself I would do more tea gear reviews, because let’s face it, behind every good tea is some awesome gear to make it. I mean you can just make tea in a mug using a microwave, I did that for years, but once you start getting into the ‘hard stuff’ you notice that you manage to amass a decent sized collection of tea paraphernalia. Since a lot of my goodies come from thrift stores and that makes it hard to review sometimes (no way to point others in the direction of getting said gear if they want it) so when I get tea gear I can review I am definitely going to do it.

This review starts with a tragedy of sorts. I previously had an Aladdin Tea Infuser Mug for my out and about tea times, it worked decently except for the leaking problem (not a toss in the purse and go kinda mug) and over time I found myself want one without leakage. Also one that had a filter so I didn’t have to stuff my teas in the basket. I think the Tea Infuser Mug heard my grumbling because about two months ago the blasted thing broke. So after months of comparison shopping for the cheapest thing that was exactly what I wanted, I stumbled across my new toy.

Meet the Double Wall Glass Thermos With Metal Infuser by Tealux. Actually the brand is Asiatica, but since they are only whole sale and I could not actually find the thermos on the website, we are just going to ignore the adorable teapot brand stamp on the bottom. I went with the middle size of 400ml (13.5oz) because I wanted more tea but not quite THAT much more tea, and I am glad I stuck with the middle size because this thing is quite hefty, any bigger and I would need stronger arms.

It does exactly what it says on the…err…tin, it keeps the tea nice and warm or nice and cool, depending. I have used it for both hot and cold steeping, I found that it started to either warm up or cool down respectively after about three hours. The only reason I know that is because I took a nap and woke up to room temperature tea, usually I have the tea chugged too quickly to notice. Since it is made with nice, sturdy, borosilicate glass it feels warm or cool to the touch, perfect for cooling me off on a hot day or cuddling close when I feel chilled. I may have taken that nap curled around a warm tea infuser earlier, not going to deny it.

The best part of this tea thermos is the not leaking all over me if I knock it over (or decide to nap with it) no more worrying about taking tea on the bus, or in my purse, or to a bookstore, it is awesome! The only time it has leaked in the time I have had it is when I didn’t screw the lid on tight enough. Let us talk about the lid, for those who hate plastic (not me, obviously) there is a little in the lid, but it is BPA free and does not give a plastic taste. I mean maybe, just maybe, if you have it upside down all the time and have it in constant contact with your tea it will? I have not tested that, but so far the contact it has had with my tea did not impart any taste at all.

Lastly is the little metal infuser. It is adorable, it has a cute little handle and convientent little prongs so it sits on the lip of the thermos and does not let leaves escape into your mouth. The holes are small enough that even the most determined rooibos would really have to work to escape, and really if it manages to go through that much trouble it deserves to be eaten. One word of advice, do not be afraid to push the basket into the correct position. My first use of my fancy new thermos (it was with some Long Jing for those curious) I did not push the basket correctly into place because I was afraid of breakage (yes, I am a weenie, it is a sad truth) and a few little dragon blades slipped through and on my final sip the basket fell out and onto my face. It was at this point that I noticed ‘oh, there is a lip for it to rest on, and hey there are little prongs too!’ I suppose having a sweet boyfriend who gave the thermos its first wash might not have been the best thing since I just plopped in leaves and water and went. Silly me for not properly studying my new tea gear!

For blog and photos (cats, oolong, creepers, oh my!) http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/07/tealux-double-wall-glass-thermos-w.html

Who are you Black Pearl Sumatra ? I mean who are you, really ?
You’re supposed to be an Oolong and you look like an Oolong (rolled leafs) but you taste like a light bodied black tea. Are you a double agent ? Classified as an OOlong but working for Black teas ?
You’re quite good and I am happy Dexter put you on my way. Thank you Dexter
You get some fruity notes as well, and yes apples seem to match very well to your taste even if you get some apricot as well.
You’re very delicate and lovely, you are the perfect tea to have whenever I don’t want something too heavy in the morning or in the evening.

TTTTB

This one seems to be a nondescript green base with a fairly realistic layer of strawberry flavour over the top. It wasn’t a chore to drink, but also wasn’t particularly impressive…so I’m rather unlikely to order it in the future.

Meh.

TTB&C 2

So… There’s a bit of a mess-up and the description for this darjeeling says the flush is from 2012. The one I have is from 2014 but there wasn’t any separate page for it, so here I am.

I am finally getting to try the famous Margaret’s Hope darjeeling! Even though I generally prefer second fluhes, this one is really superb. Fairly malty, mostly sweet with pleasant astringent undertones. It is also kind of earthy and woodsy. Kind of like a forest after the rain – if you could eat the aroma that it gives off, this is how it would taste like. I am digging it!

I also love the first flush darjeeling dry leaf, the green and straw yellow of it with glimpses of darker brown. It’s beautiful.

I am really happy that I could try it!

nice! never had a black like this…. took me completely offguard.

chocolate suggestion but not evolution, dark, dark cherry, malt…… strong neutral black base. complex. and i’m pretty sure i underleafed!

very nice =0)

back to the crush…. 12 hours until the exam and sadly i must sleep. (a little)

Thank you TheTeaFairy for this sample. This poor sample got roughed up a little, I took it with me to work one day but never took it out of my bag. For weeks! It just hung out there, at the bottom of my not too small bag. Ladies, you know what this ziploc looks like after several weeks, dontcha? What lies at the bottoms of your bags?

And since I mistreated it, it mistreated me. 3 tsp for 16 oz of off boiling water, 4 minutes as the tea fairy says. I added sugar. It is quite bitter, possibly overleafed I thought to myself. Maybe overstepped? So I added some creamer. Then lots of creamer. Still bitter. What the? I poured another half a cup of water over it. And some coconut milk. So now I have the kitchen sink in here. And it’s drinkable but it’s only because I’m sad of wasting all the stuff on it or I might have dumped it!

Holy jumpin, I’ve only had a couple of Sri Lankan teas in the past that I considered or ended up flushing. Not sure where this tea originates, I looked at the Tealux site and they’re tight lipped. Also, looks like CTC. I should have steeped less.

In any event, I’m determined to drink this abomination :) cheers!

Had this one this afternoon. The eucalyptus was not quite as strong as I thought it would be and it had a fairly pleasant chai taste to it. No, not the kind of tea you drink for enjoyment but for it’s health benefits. It seemed to help my asthma just a bit.

This was one of the new teas in my Tealux order. When I went searching on Steepster to see if this tea was set up I found a Cocoa Orange tea by Fusion Tea. It had the same ingredients and the same description! How strange.

This smelled pretty good in the bag. A strong cocoa with a hint of orange. Brewed with boiling for 5 min. It’s really quite tasty. The cocoa isn’t over strong like a cup of hot chocolate but it’s there with light notes of orange and lemongrass. The nettle leaves give it a little added spice but it’s all balanced quite nicely. I’m very happy with it as I don’t have a huge selection for my evening teas.

No. Just no. And it seems it’s unanimous so far. Three notes now say “no, thanks” to this one. And TheTeaFairy who didn’t write a note (yet?) also doesn’t like it based on what she wrote on the ziploc bag she sent my way. There’s too much nutmeg or something in this one. No coconut despite the almond coconut milk I threw in. Usually that additive helps along any chai wannabe. Thank you, TheTeaFairy for crossing this one off my list.

I’m sitting here on my sunny patio reading “A Thousand Splendid Suns” by Khaled Hosseini and I grabbed some veggie samosas and made this chai to help the mood. But this chai will have to be replaced. Thank goodness Laoshan village Chai from Verdant is on its way to me. Yay!

Thank you, TheTeaFairy for sharing a little of your favourite oolong with me. This came before you found out I’m not into floral teas. I’ve avoided this for long enough, I have new tea coming in and although it’s not a lot of new tea, it’s enough tea that I feel guilty for still dragging around some samples.

So knowing full well this is not my cuppa I steeped the entire sample into my pot. Very pale coloured tea, so much so that I wondered if I understeeped. floral on the nose, both dry leaf and more so after brewed. I actually like the aftertaste better than the sip!

TheTeaFairy says “light flowery notes”. If one is not into floral he/she will pick up on the slightest flowery note anyway. It’s not bad and it’s not jasmine thus is shall drink it just fine but am not rushing to bring any more into my cupboard.

Thanks again, tea fairy. More for you, I guess!

this seems to be the experimental blend this season….

i’ve tried a few and this is the best so far! they all smell great dry, but fall short on the evolution after steeping. this one was balanced and soothing (for evening) but also lively!

can’t think of a time of day it wouldn’t be good…. might be even better cold steeped. =0)

doing a back flip into classes again tomorrow….. a whole five days off. wow. g’night! lol!

Man, I just could not for the life of me figure out how to party with this. I tried it on boiling and didn’t like the result, tried it on a lower temp and it was even worse. I think the culprit was the powdery stuff in the blend – it was like a very sharp, super sour green apple all ground up, maybe even with some lemon in there. Honestly one of the sourest things I’ve ever tasted, and not in a way that could be pleasurable. I tried to work around the powder the last time but it still made for a sour cup. I didn’t get the cider element at all, just sour lemon/green apple strong enough to even override the flavor of the nice-looking leaf.

Glad I only got 25 grams of this one. The final go was one of the few cups of tea that I’ve made that I’ve ended up pouring down the drain.

Thanks again Dexter! Sadly, this one has NOT ME written all over it. Rooibos and hibiscus? Hoo boy. But I’m always happy to try any tea! But hoo boy. It’s pretty much tart hibiscus and woodsy medicinal rooibos that somehow also tastes like ginger! Another one of my least favorites. And licorice? I think it might be here to try to tame the texture of the rooibos.

The sipping all the tisanes continues. I have to say that I much prefer Angel Falls Mist to this one, it’s almost too tart (and I like tart things). I’m not getting any mango, but I am getting notes of various berries. It almost reminds me of Teavana’s Sevenberry Sangria, except it lacks the rooibos (that one also benefited from sweetener). This isn’t bad, but an excellent tisane is one that I don’t have to sweeten, and this one doesn’t quite hit the mark.

These days, i’m never sure if i’m happy or sad about my sipdowns. It was great to have this one back in my cupboard for a little while. today was a particularly delicious cup – sweet, bready…perfect for when i woke up earlier.