Tealyra (formerly Tealux)

The #SeptemberSipdown prompt for yesterday was to have a tea that fit you as a person/your personality, and I was struggling really hard for what to do for it because it felt like a lot of pressure to boil yourself down into one tea…

I ended up asking friends on instagram to help me out by giving me a word or two that they thought described me – I had a surprisingly amount of people contribute, but the words that stuck out and/or were most common were: Weird, unique, curious, and adventurous. Reflecting on those words, I decided that the perfect tea would be something strange/out there concept wise that could capture that unique/weird side but also reflects that I’m the type of person who’s not only willing to try new teas/flavours/experiences/fandoms/etc but who actively seeks them out. Plus, black tea base because that felt right for me as both an extreme lover of black tea and someone who is fueled by caffeine/always tired.

Full, proper tasting note to come at a later date because this is a SUPER unique tea that deserves to be discussed more in depth – but right now I am very tired so I’ll just say…

1. Yes, savory is accurate.
2. Pomelo? Yeah – a bit.
3. Basil? 10/10

For my birthday this year my boss got me one of those glass water bottles for cold steeping with the strainer in the top, and while I still tend to make a lot of mason jars of iced tea that I strain and keep in the fridge, this is a nice alternative for something that brews a little quicker. The only real problem I have with it is the condensation on the bottom is very bad, so I have to remember to always have a coaster handy…

This was another unopened, and now expired, bag of tea from an ancient Tealyra order. I wanted a fruity hibiscus iced tea and it’s a nice red color, so hopefully it’ll deliver. I am getting pear, and it is a nice, juicy flavor, but not as strong as other pear teas I’ve had. It does have that tangy fruity hibiscus flavor, but it isn’t as tart or as fruit punchy as I’m used to in hibi-fruit iced teas, I think because the cinnamon in the blend is acting as a sweetener. I don’t really taste a distinct cinnamon flavor brewing this as a cold brew, so I may need to try this one as a warm cuppa as well, to see if it presents more as a cinnamon-baked pear or cinnamon-baked apple flavor. It is getting the job done as an iced hibiscus tea with a strong fruit flavor, though, which is what I was craving in this warm weather, and I don’t think I’ve ever had a pear one before.

Sipped on this one yesterday morning and just appreciated the simplicity and balance of the vanilla and mint flavours with the subtle hint of cinnamon in the undertone. It’s a bold and rich base but because of the delicate and light handed approach to the flavouring it manages to come off as soft and soothing,

Not so much vanilla in this cup, but more of a refreshing and cooling sweet mint. It read to me more as spearmint, in the moment, than peppermint but I still enjoyed the combination quite a bit. Mint and shou pu’erh is, IMO, an underrated combination. I know chocolate and pu’erh works so well, but more people need to explore this combo and a mint/chocolate pu’erh… Well, that would probably be divine.

A little bit thrown by the presence of cinnamon in this blend because I’d somehow blanked that out of the ingredients list in my memory, but otherwise really liked this one. For a pu’erh blend, it feels soft and soothing with silky vanilla notes and a cooling, comforting peppermint that still has some crispness to it.

Anyone remember Creme de Menthe from DT? That’s an old school blend, but if you remember that one then this is really feels like the same thing to me.

Also, always on board for a pu’erh blend with mint – it just seems to work so well.

I ordered this tea so long ago that I have had the UNOPENED package sitting in my cupboard all this time, and I pulled it out, and the expiration date was 05/2019. …And THIS is why I refuse to buy/trade/etc. anything that has to do with tea. SIGH. At least it still smells nice when I cut it open, bright citrus with floral undertones, so I suppose I can use it for sachets if nothing else…

Aroma off my steeped cup isn’t very strong, which is a bit worrisome, coming across more like a standard English Breakfast — that malty black tea aroma, with a subtle lemon aroma. However, the sip is far more pungent than the waft was letting on. It isn’t so strong of bergamot (which is okay with me, I don’t mind bergamot these days, but it isn’t a necessity for me either, and this is already scripting itself as an EG blend rather than the Earl himself) so rather it’s a strong citrusy black tea, with notes of orange, lemon, and a more subtle hint bergamot mixed in that citrus flavor. I’d say the bergamot is waxing somewhere a little between a lime and grapefruit. It packs quite a tart hit with three citrus notes paired together, and they are the strongest flavor in the tea, though there is a noticable rose floral flavor that comes out at the end of the sip, towards the back of the tongue, after the bitterness of the citrus starts to subside and the sweetness of the floral is able to fill the mouth. I really like it, but I also am keen on tart/sweet flavor combinations, and I particularly am known to have a palate that can handle tart/sour flavors better than most (I drink hibiscus straight with no sweetener). I think most would probably find the citrus in this one too strong, even with the floral chaser.

Gongfu!

I know this descriptor is arguably a little bit too spot on, but this is such a beautifully golden tasting tea! So, so rich and sweet with decadent notes of caramelized sweet potatoes and yams, brown sugar, malt, burnt sugar, toasted nuts, milk chocolate, and just a bit of a sweet red fruit undertone. Mostly the sweet potato though. It’s very sweet and starchy, in a way that makes me think of sweet potato pie and very little else. I could drink this black tea year round and be happy, but it’s soooo perfect for these early Autumn days!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CiNYey5OJQi/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CG1m3b9j_qY

Enjoyed this one last week as a “working from home” cuppa. It’s just so nice and smooth with really distinct notes of golden caramelized yams and sweet potatoes with undertones of honey and malt. So, so, so delicious!

Really happy to report that upon my second tasting of this tea I still found it absolutely incredible and delicious, with all the same notes as my first tasting!

It was part of the tea & comic series I’m doing on the Geek Steep IG account. I was excited when I saw an Archie comic in the free comics because I love classic Archie comics (also the Jughead: The Hunger series which is very dark/gorey) but it wound up being much more focused around the Riverdale TV show which does not excite me…

At least it was Jughead focused – he’s my favourite.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDlyu7NABaA/

I had a mug of this in the morning today, and it actually blew my mind how delicious it was! The dry leaf has a beautiful aroma of honey and sweet potatoes, so I felt pretty confidant this was going to be delicious as soon as I’d opened up the package. Though, there was a large rock mixed in with the tea leaf I measured out – but honestly that’s far from the weirdest thing I’ve seen in a tea before and it doesn’t bother me.

The taste with very rich and full bodied, and leaned heavily into those caramelized sweet potato/yam notes that I love so much in a black tea. In addition to that, there were lovely brown sugar, cocoa, malt, honey, and grain notes as well – and the finish was just a little bit cinnamon tinged. It’s was absolutely delightful, and one of the best straight black teas that I’ve had prepared Western style in a long ass time!

Cold Brew!

I have a little box next to my tea station with an assortment of teas I want to drink, try for the first time, or work on sipping down. This one has been sitting in that box for a while because I’ve felt like it would be a nice and refreshing cold brew. However, in the moment something always speaks to me just a little stronger and I end up picking something else. I decided to finally prioritize this blend though and it’s really delicious. Definitely a bit of a softer flavour, but the delicate notes of cherry blossom and overall floral sweetness is easy sipping while still feeling playful. I’ve had some heavier cold brews lately with very saturated, strong flavours so it’s nice to break them up with something so fresh feeling.

Geek Steep S2E2 – Usagi Yojimbo

This is the tea that I chose to drink while recording this episode. I think I may have said similar when it came to recording Pom Poko last season, but any time we do something that leans heavily into a Japanese origin/theme I go back and forth between wanting to pick a hojicha for the pairing or picking something cherry blossom flavoured.

I did hojicha last season so I wanted to keep it different, and I ended up deciding on a Japanese black tea for my main pairing instead this time around – so the “consultation prize” for my cherry blossom selection was as the recording tea. It’s a nice tea though; the softer sweet sakura notes work well with the style of greener oolong base and it’s just smooth and approachable while being muted enough to make for good conversational backdrop.

We went on a couple other tangents about sakura teas during the episode, but you’ll have to listen to find out what they were…

Steeped this one up after work today!

I was doing some household chore-type stuff, like dishes, while getting the kettle going and I didn’t hear the kettle get up to temp. I felt the side of the kettle and it seemed hot enough so I poured the water instead of reboiling. I think it had cooled just a smidge too much because, while this was good, it was definitely on the light side of the flavour spectrum. Very delicate/milk cherry and florals. I added stirred in a pinch of lemon flavoured honey, and I very much enjoyed the mix of cherry blossom and lemon.

Gonna try to hold on to that mental note about those two flavours going well together…

Like drinking cherry blossoms; I craved this so much on Monday and it was very satisfying.

First tea at work today…

I was really focusing on other projects while drinking this so a lot of what I was tasting didn’t really stick in my head, but I remember thinking that it was surprisingly sweet for what is quite a floral cherry (versus a tart cherry of the dense, sweet cherry like in DT’s Cherry Berry Punch). I enjoyed it a lot though, and I look forward to my next cup where I will hopefully be able to pay more attention to the tea…

Iced Tea!

Steeped this one up yesterday and it was exactly the sweet, bright and refreshing burst of sunny lemonade that I didn’t know I needed to make it through an afternoon that felt like it was dragging forever. And refreshing as always, too. Still a Tealyra fave, for sure!

Iced!

Love, love, love this tea. It’s just a really refreshing, pure play lemon or lemonade type flavouring that has this perfect balance of sweet and sour. I had forgotten that I reordered it last summer, so for the past few months in my head I thought I just had a cup or two left but turns out I have enough to make several pitchers worth. So this last brew really felt like a special, summer-y treat.

Cold Brew!

Sipped on this one today. Well, I say sipped but it was somewhere a bit closer to chugged if I’m being honest. Super flavourful sweet, punchy and just slightly tart lemonade flavour. One of my favourite lemon teas, and just mega super refreshing. I’m very happy I stocked up on more of this!

Monday was my first day back at work following my holiday break; though working remote and not in office. It was so weird getting back into things and I felt very out of it and easily distracted for most of the day. It didn’t help that my throat was kind of scratchy and after a few hours of staring at my laptop I started to get a nasty headache.

I decided to make a lemon tea in the hope that it might be a bit more soothing and grounded for the weird kind of “half funk” I was in. I do think that was a good idea but I don’t know that this lemon tea in particular was the right one to choose. I love this tea but it’s very sweet and almost syrupy with heavy lemonade or lemon candy vibes. What I feel like I really needed in that moment was something more natural, brisk and soothing. Like a good lemon black tea.

It’s just unfortunate that I didn’t realize that until I was already drinking the mug.

I just realized that I’ve, unintentionally, been on a lemon kick this week. I guess Summer and hot, humid weather just has me feeling a specific type of way. This cup was hot – very, very similar to the cold brew I first experienced but a bit of a “stickier” feeling mouthfeel. This is eerily similar to one of those generic lemon lollipops that just seem to be everywhere as a kid…

Cold Brew!

Normally I don’t go for lemon herbal teas because they tend to be so similar, but something about this one drew me in and made me curious. I’m glad it did; I enjoyed it a lot! It starts as sweet sherbet lemon top notes/body with just a bit of a bitter finish. I love, love, love that it’s not sour or tart!! Reminds me a lot of the lemonade you get in the summer at the carnival. It could have been just straight up lemonade/tart/sour or it could have been pure sugar and sweetness, but instead there’s surprising flavour balance to this blend!? It’s actually wonderful.

Had this one a few days ago – just a bigger lump of this compressed shou tossed into a mug and allowed to do its thing! I didn’t pay it much mind because I picked it out for the thick mouthfeel/texture and even earthy notes so I could have something relatively mindless to sip on while writing a Geek Steep outline. It served its purpose perfectly, so no brain power was required. Head empty, mouth filled with pleasant backdrop tea.

Gongfu!

Placed a spontaneous Tealyra order earlier this week (Tuesday, in particular) and it showed up today – which is SUPER quick! I was craving a specific tea and that’s why I ordered, but I added a bunch of other things to the order as well like this shou. I’m running low on my BLT Lao Cha Tuo so I thought it would be nice to have some on hand from another company as well…

Like all Lao Cha Tuo, this is a “slow & steady wins the race” kind of pu’erh as these nuggets just steep forever. While the sweet, earthy & petrichor dominant flavour is lovely, especially with the undertone of raisin and prune, I don’t have the patience tonight to brew out the leaves gongfu tonight so I’ll finish them stove top.

I also had some really beautiful, bright red cherries with this session & cherries are always a lovely addition to nearly any shou…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CAL9WJWAqsD/

And no, I did not use all of those nuggets – it was just for the photo.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBcgTO7YH-I