Tealux

I feel bad for reviewing this tea since it definitely is a matter of personal taste, but this was NOT an oolong for me. Which was really disappointing after hearing so many good things about milk oolong in general. Maybe I’ll go for Mandala’s version in the future, but I think as a whole I’m just not that much of an oolong drinker.

As for taste: this tea taste like creamed corn. It smells like pollen and flowers -call me strange but I was never much if a flower sniffer. Never saw the appeal. – and corn. While there was an undoubtably silkiness to the tea, the actual milk taste was somewhat powered and gritty. Not pleasant. The creamed corn and floral taste dominated the cup. Couldn’t finish it both times, hot or cold.
Smell: vegetal, floral and somewhat creamy. No butter notes. Smells better than it tastes.

Oh my goodness…this tea…it tastes like that Assam tea I had the other day. Ahhhh Virginia you’re gonna make me spend so much money on these websites! XD

Took this one in a tumbler to church with me this morning. Was a rough morning to be out and about, but this tea made it a bit more enjoyable. Still trying to decide if I should purchase more of this when I finally run out. Today it tasted really fruity and almost like grapes. Which I usually don’t like in teas, but in this one it worked for me. But I only used those leaves once, and couldn’t re-steep them later. Maybe by the time I’ve finished the two ounces I have, I’ll know if I want to make this one a keeper.
But today It was nice! (:

Definitely one of my new favorites. Didn’t know what to think when I first tasted this. I haven’t tasted a non-flavored black tea before. I didn’t have much time to think of how it tasted because a really intense wave of nausea/pain came upon me. But I’ll definitely have to buy more of this since it’s so good! And then I can write a proper tasting note (: Thanks, Virginia , for the sample. Turns out you threw a few Tealux teas in :P But hey, I ain’t complaining-you’re broadening my tea horizons xD

Another sipdown from Sil & TeaFairy.
This tea made my day. Thank you! A lovely roasty oolong…sigh…thank you.
The truth is, I mostly don’t care much for most flavored teas, but I do appreciate a cup of real tea.
Thank You!
265
BTW, I had hoped to get down to 250 teas by the end of the month. I may continue my sipdowns tomorrow, & try to get to 260, but then again, maybe I’ll just let it go.
I’d really like to just spend tomorrow drinking black teas that I love!

Ohmygerd I still can’t get over the intoxicating smell of this oolong! I also noticed how full and “bouncy” the leaves are…no spots, no blotches, no rips, no bruising at all. Wow. After having gotten over the beautiful peachy taste of the tea, I start to notice that it is incredibly smooth, and a bit velvety in my mouth (did I mention this last time? Can’t remember). I must buy more of this. Like now.

I don’t usually swear in my reviews ‘cause I’m a lady (HA) but let me throw that out the window for a second and just say it: the dry leaf smells so fucking good. I want to drink it, eat it, rub it all over my body, rinse my hair with it, stuff it into my pillow and wash my clothes with it.

The infusion smells of delicate flowers, peaches, butter…The aroma is reflected in the taste with the addition of sweet peas and confectioner’s sugar. This is SO good it’s very soft, delicate and although it is floral, it is absolutely not in any way shape or form perfumey. I would drink this everyday. It reminds me of those french flower flavoured candies, but without the intensity.

This was the third tea in the Dex exploring the green side courtesy of TheTeaFairy.

I didn’t like this one. Not sure what I did wrong, but it was bitter and astringent. Not sure astringent is the right word, but nope didn’t like it.
(The rest of the sample got tossed with some fruit tisane and cold steeped overnight – it worked like that for me…..)

My friend TheTeaFairy is a wonderful, generous, amazing person. She recently sent me a few samples of green tea. This is a genre that I don’t really know much about. LOL ok she’s trying to lure me away from the dark side.
This past weekend I tried four green tea samples that she sent me. This was my favorite of them. Like I said I don’t know much about green tea, but this tastes like what I think green tea should be. It was light, and tea-like but wasn’t too veggie, and wasn’t too floral. It wasn’t bitter. It was nice. Green tea will never be my favorite, but this was my favorite of the ones she sent me.

I think that there is too much going on in this one. Lots of different bits and pieces, it all just ends up in a jumbled fruity “muddy” mess. It’s ok cold steeped, but it’s just generic fruit “something”. This tea is trying too hard to be too many different things, and doesn’t work.

Funny thing, I started writing a tasting note for Butiki’s Premium Taiwanese Assam before remembering that this was what I chose after momentarily grabbing the PTA and changing my mind. I thought it smelled different. And…dare I say it? Better. Don’t get me wrong, I drink PTA almost every day and I love it.

This was my caffeine crutch throughout the day, and I had forgotten how good it is. I love my timolino, but it takes forever for the tea to cool down in there, even with the top off. I would’ve had like 8 cups of this today, if it wasn’t for the fact that I am a bit sensitive to pouring lava down my throat. Boo.

So mad at myself for underleafing and not steeping this long enough.
Was still good, but I know it can be great!

At first glance, I absolutely love the visual aspect of the dry leaf: long tightly twisted black leaves. The aroma of the dry leaf is very fruity, with an intense sweetness and strong notes of apricot. After 3 minutes of steeping, the liquor is a burnt orange, maybe a bit lighter, like an early fall maple leaf.

The scent that emanates from my cup is gorgeous. Notes of sweetened dry fruit, apples and malt. The flavor is all caramel, malt and apples cooked in brown sugar. There is a little something in there that reminds me of crepes, a hint of vanilla… No bitterness and an almost insignificant astringency. I could drink a bucketful of this.

The dry leaf has a black tea scent. I wish I could write something ultra poetic about the dry leaf scent, but I still have trouble picking up specific scents from a black dry leaf. This is oolong? Interesting. It smells like black tea. It looks like black tea…Hm…

The cup’s aroma is simply to die for. Sweet potato, raisins, a very rich sweetness that one would attribute to syrup. Is that a bit of mushroom there? Just a tiny tiny bit? Yes it is!

This tea is so thick! It’s smooth, velvety and thick. What oolong? All I’m tasting is…Huh. I couldn’t even say. Well that never happens. I can’t pinpoint specific flavours, but what I can say is: it’s good. Like REAL good. And I can’’t get over the texture of it. Also, I do not pick up any astringency, much less bitterness. It does leave me with a dry mouth however. About this being an oolong, I can maybe discern a slight aftertaste that one would associate to oolong, but for the rest, this tastes like a good black tea.

Imma resteep this real quick.
Maybe bring some more specific flavours out.

Have to bump my rating on this one, it’s much better than I originally judged. Malty with honey notes. Mmm.

The dry leaf is reminiscent of apricots and shiny new leather. I mean that in the best possible way. The steeped leaves give off a strong smell of chocolate, malt, cream and a tiny hint of bergamot.

It’s a very good tea, sweet, very malty with a hint of wood. I wouldn’t say it is overly complex, or that I’m completely blown away by it, but I can see myself drinking it on a regular basis.

This one never disappoints. Ever.

As this steeped, I couldn’t help but notice that the liquor looks exactly like maple syrup. Mmm. It smells like honey, and raisins, and bread, and milk chocolate. Double yum.
I grab my cup, take another whiff, and go for my first sip. I stare at my cup blankly. Blink a few times. Take another sips. Look for my socks, can’t find them. I guess they were COMPLETELY ROCKED OFF by the taste of the little treasure that’s in my cup.

In case you were wondering, this most definitely does not taste like eyebrows. Unless eyebrows taste like rich dark chocolate, wood, and baked goodness. It smells divine and tastes better than it smells.

This is Oh my effing God good.

As I steeped this, I was very impressed (surprised?) by the color of the liquid: bright, like yellow gold. I don’t know what I was expecting, but definitely not something so pretty. The infusion smells very sweet, like cotton candy. As it hits the tongue, the immediate flavour is sweet pea, followed by honey. There is a floral note dancing in the background and sweet corn in front of it. The astringency is mild. A very good cup.
2014 flush

Omgomgomgomgomgomgomg MY TEALUX ORDER IS HERE! I ordered the day before yesterday, that was QUICK! Bonus: boyfriend was at work when mailman came, so no explaining! Yay!

I chose this one first because the bag had some color detail that the others didn’t (honestly). Then I saw the name and I was like “Ooooh, re-serve!” and I knew I made the right choice.

The dry leaf nose is floral, fresh and intoxicating. The liquor is a clear, sandy colour. I want to say beige but beige is boring and what I’m looking at is not that at all. The infusion smells of fresh country air, lilac, and pollen. I am transported to my childhood. With my grandmother, in the garden of their small town country home, hanging the clothes on the clothesline on a sunny summer afternoon. Not a care in the world, no stress, no perception of time. Blissful.

I sip this precious time-machine elixir and a wonderfully sweet, floral taste fills my mouth. It makes me think of my mother’s antique silver, of expensive shoes I would never be able to afford.

It tastes wealthy, costly, fresh. It’s sugar, it’s blossoming trees, it’s fresh air. This tea has transported me and it reinforces my love for tea.

So, boys and girls, Scheherazade’s Super Sipdown (Long) Weekend is underway! This is the first, and hopefully by Monday evening I’ll be back under 300. Say yay!

I enjoyed every cup of this. It’s deliciously malty, but it has slight elements of smoke that counteract some of the inherent sweetness. There are some cocoa notes, also. I said pretty much everything I had to say about this one in my first note, but it’s a wonderful assam that I’ve really enjoyed having in my cupboard. A sad farewell.

My second Assam of the evening last night. This one couldn’t be more different from Assam #8 if it tried, and as I said in my previous note, that’s one of the things I love about Assam the most. Each different variety can be an entirely different experience.

The leaves here are golden brown and tippy, and are long, thin and curly in appearance. The bag also contains a quantity of golden brown “dust”. I gave this one 4 minutes in boiling water, and the resulting liquor was dark brown — much darker than Assam #8. I added a splash of milk.

I want to say that the flavour of this one is stronger — it comes across like that, a little, but I think it’s a case of pungency rather than strength, somehow. The malt and grain notes here are very prominent, and yet it’s not nearly as sweet as I expected. Instead, it has an almost molasses-like note, As it cools, a deep smokiness develops. It’s a very smooth, easily drinkable cup, and one I’d definitely return to again. It reminds me a lot of some of the Dian Hong teas I’ve been drinking lately. Another delicious treat, and another confirmation of my love for Assam in general!

Scheherazade’s Super Sipdown (Long) Weekend #3

Finished this one off while watching the end of Wallander on BBC4 last night. It was about 10.15pm, and on reflection I probably shouldn’t have had black tea that late at night. I listened to some Red Hot Chilli Peppers for a while before I went to bed, and then had some pretty disturbing dreams about an ex boyfriend, so I guess the combination wasn’t a great one.

The tea was good, though, so I can’t regret it that much. Fruity, malty, perfection. On balance, I’m pretty sure I still prefer Butiki’s PTA, but this one runs a close second, and would do in a pinch. Another sad farewell.