Tealyra (formerly Tealux)

Sipdown (276)

Thank you Evol Ving Ness for sharing this. It is a bit on the older side so it doesn’t really taste like anything. So this is just being finished because it’s hydrating and that’s about all it has to offer.

I bought this a WHILE ago, but it is certainly never resulting in CANTALOUPE which is why I have never written a tasting note for it.  Steeped this way, I definitely get two balanced steeps.  I really have to milk that second steep on some fruity blends.  Since this gratefully didn’t have any hibiscus, I can steep the second cup for 45 minutes, no problem.  Of course, it’s cooled by the time I drink it, but it’s fruity!  I have to look at the ingredient list here because the only thing I’m tasting is cherry.  Now that I’m looking at the ingredient list, I don’t see cherry at all – possibly what I’m tasting is cranberry.  Granted, this blend is old now, but there are so many lovely ingredients here and I should be tasting SOME of them: apple, dates, cranberry slices, melon pieces, almond, cinnamon rods, pistachios, freeze-dried pumpkin pieces, fig pieces and cranberry slices, beetroot.   Figs!  Dates!  This is why I bought this blend (not to mention the cantaloupe) but this blend always tasted like this – nothing that it was remotely supposed to. So a very low rating for that.
Steep #1   // 12 minutes after boiling  // 3 minute steep
Steep #2  // just boiled //  45 minute steep
2020 Sipdowns: 74 ( Rishi – Pu-erh Vanilla Mint + sample of Teakruthi’s Ceylon Emerald)

Samuari TTB Tasting note #1

I thought this was a herbal blend (today is a caffeine free day). The name is misleading, since yerba mate is heavily caffeinated and not what I associate with “calm”. More like “energetic and awake”. I should have checked the ingredients xD I like to come up with tasting notes without knowing the ingredients so that I’m not influenced to taste something that I wouldn’t have picked up on.

Anyway, it has the typical roasty mate flavour (minerals, citrus, coffee grounds) in combination with medicinal herbs. I can’t find a complete ingredient list, but it seems this is unroasted mate(?) I can taste peppermint and citrus. Google says this might have tulsi/holy basil in it, but I’m not sure if it is the mint or the basil that has a slight peppery flavour. It isn’t a bad cup, but offers nothing interesting or unique. I mostly taste plain peppermint and mate.

I bought this tea in February along with a bunch of other herbals. It was a choice between this and lemon myrtle, and I can’t remember why I picked the verbena. I’ve been drinking it off and on, and despite how simple it is, I’ve been enjoying it. For this session, I steeped around 4 g of leaf in a 355 ml mug using boiling water for 3.5, 5, and 10 minutes.

Dry, the leaf smells of lemon and herbs. The tea has notes of lemon, herbs, camphor, and honey. If chamomile tea tasted like lemon, it would taste like this, if that makes any sense. It has a long lemon and herbaceous aftertaste. The flavour doesn’t change over the three steeps.

I’d recommend this tea for those looking for an herbal tisane that doesn’t have any of the usual suspects (hibiscus, rosehips, licorice, or mint). While I’m dubious of the health benefits, it is indeed a nice, calming infusion to have at the end of the day.

When I was buying a bunch of herbal teas in February, I couldn’t resist adding this Bai Hao to my order. I was a little wary because these teas are often eye-wateringly expensive and this is around $13 for 50 g, but I decided to give it a chance anyway. I steeped 6 g of leaf in a 120 ml teapot at 195F for 30, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120, 180, and 240 seconds.

The dry aroma is of baked peaches, honey, and grapes. The first steep has notes of honey, muscatel, peaches, citrus, baked bread, and flowers. There’s some dryness in the aftertaste and it lacks the darker sandalwood and spicy notes that characterize pricier Bai Hao. The second steep introduces pears and dates (thanks to Eastkyteaguy for noticing this flavour!). All of these notes intensify in the third and fourth rounds, and the citrus and muscatel become more prominent. This tea leaves a lovely grape/citrus/baked pear aroma at the bottom of the cup. Hints of malt and wood appear in the fourth steep and the drying sensation in the mouth gets stronger. This Bai Hao becomes more like a black tea by the sixth steep, with noticeable malt and tannins. The black tea character gradually overtakes the tea until the end of the session, which features malt, metal, faint fruit, and tannins.

This is a nice Bai Hao, particularly in the early steeps, and I don’t regret purchasing it in the least. However, it lacks the balance among sweet, spicy, and sappy/woody notes that makes really great examples of this tea so magical. If I had to compare it to another Bai Hao, it would be the Jingmai Bai Hao from China from Camellia Sinensis, which also lacks that bug-bitten complexity. For the price, this is excellent, but there are better Bai Haos out there.

Hot/no sweetener. I’m pleasantly surprised by how vibrant the raspberry flavor and fragrance are. It actually makes sense, as the oolong leaves are intermingled with tons of freeze-dried raspberry pieces. While it’s nice hot, I imagine it would be incredible as a latte (or even better as an iced latte). Looking forward to trying it as such.

A really enjoyable hojicha! It has the perfect balance of roasted sweetness that I was expecting.

Another winner. I’ve been very pleasantly surprised with my purchase from Tealyra, especially for the cost. This is very easy to drink, sweet honey and a bit of earthiness. I could easily drink this everyday.

Not my favorite Jin Xuan. It lacks the creaminess I look for, and has a generic basic oolong flavor.

Much more vegetal than I expected in a Jin Xuan. Like butter soaked artichoke and spinach, with the milkiness being quite mild.

I believe this is the same blend as White Riesling from Cultured Cup, but much cheaper. Really enjoyable! Strong grape and berry flavor. Can’t wait to make a nice big cold brew pitcher of this.

Sipdown (264)

Yesterday was hot af and personally I didn’t see the appeal of being outside. Since I was in the air conditioning, I was enjoying teas and getting in sipdowns. I had a mere 8 oz serving of this left from the sample Evol Ving Ness gave me, so I brewed it up. Thank you Evol for sharing!

Of course as soon as I brewed this, my sister decided it was pool time. So this tea cup ended up in one of our pool floaties. (Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CCPcxA9gOKi/) Not only was this a hot cup of tea outside on a hot day but of course it had to be a more winter-y spiced tea. It was not a great experience.

In addition to it just being wrong place at the wrong time to enjoy this, the tea itself wasn’t great. It was a muddled mix of spices and I can be quite picky. Nothing really shined here so it was mostly just dirty tasting. Still fun to try something new though.

Sipdown 14/14-2022

Logging the sipdown. This batch was not nearly as delicious as the previous one. Probably wouldn’t purchase again based on this bag.

This is so tasty. Very easy to drink black tea- still lots of sweet potato and molasses.

I’m finally able to access Steepster again…kind of. I’m getting a lot of 504 errors, but it seems to be working for now.
Finished this tea off during the Steepster downtime. Still delicious. Sad to see it go.

I just received my first Tealyra order and I’m so excited to try so many new-to-me teas! I had a coupon from SipsBy, so I got 50grams of 11 teas and a glass carafe for $50 (with free shipping).
Anyway, onto the tea. This is my ideal black tea flavor profile, and one I will definitely want to keep on hand. It’s delicious hot/straight, but I can imagine it would be wonderful sweetened with a bit of milk or cream. So rich and sweet, and extremely easy to guzzle cups and cups.

Cold brewed this overnight and I’m not loving it. I’m not getting any of the fruits listed in the ingredients, instead I get quite a distinct bubblegum flavor. It actually tastes a lot like Inca Kola, which I’m not a huge fan of.

I received this from Ost’s cupboard sale in summer 2018. I had about enough for a single cup so I brewed that up this morning. The tea is a lovely brown color and does have a nice fruity aroma.

The taste of the tea is slightly malty with some honeyed notes, but the lychee flavor fills out strongly in the brew. I really love the taste of lychee, I get strong notes of pear and rose. The fruitiness and florality leave a lot of sweetness in the brew and the tea is very smooth. I think I enjoy Art of Tea’s Lychee Peach a bit more, but the age of this sample might have something to do with that; fresh, it could easily be on par with that one for me. Even aged, it is still a very enjoyable cuppa.

Thanks for the sample!

I is for… Imperial Ren Shen Ginseng Oolong!

Gongfu!

I didn’t have a lot of I teas to choose from, so I was excited to see I did have something that would be a good for to brew Gongfu! I had thought about doing a Ginseng Oolong on “G Day” but never got around to it, so this was an especially good option for that reason as well!

Steeped this one up outside – I’m really enjoying that it’s been warm enough to do that consistently lately! It’s so smooth w/ an array of coating ginseng and licorice notes and a strong woody flavour with a green edge. These beautiful leaves, with their mossy pebble appearance, seem right at home outside – one could easily mistake them as a part of the environment.

Honestly, I’m just still not over the fact I can sit outside an enjoy a full tea session at seven at night while still enjoying decently good natural lighting and not freezing my ass off! Cannot wait for summer!

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CNgMIHGh6H1/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNJm67ebkTg&ab_channel=NiceGuys

Gongfu!

Had this one yesterday evening. It’s a pretty cool Ginseng oolong also blended with Chinese Vanilla!! It has all the normal sweet licorice-y, woody, and sharper/bitter grassy notes of a typical Ginseng Oolong, but also a softer and more floral/orchid-like tasting sweetness from the vanilla that softens the rougher edges of the tea considerably!! Really quite pleasant as an after dinner tea session & digestif!

Also the ginseng is less “tightly” packed in as other ginseng oolongs I’ve had, so you get into the ‘meat’ of the session a lot faster.

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBy08u9g8iT/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SBw4urUbzs

Cold Brew!

I’ve been craving this one for like four days now. I almost made it hot last night, but then I realized the cold brewed basil would probably be hella refreshing and it totally is. It’s weird, I expected the basil to be strong but overall I guess I thought the bright citrus notes/pomelo cold brewed with almost give this a more “basil lemonade” vibe and it’s kind of just basil. Don’t get me wrong though – I’m fucking into it. It sort of tastes like I’m drinking the best basil infused salad dressing but without any of the gross oil/grease. Not for everyone though; you gotta REALLY like the taste of basil.

I don’t remember what tea it was but earlier this week I wrote a tasting note where I sad I pretty much always want more herbs when it comes to basil/thyme/sage/etc tea blends. Almost immediately after I went to make a mug of tea that I own that is possibly one of the most savory. This is just a total explosion of really herbaceous and in your face basil but offset by the brightness and acidity of the pomelo. I love it so much and it makes for a really delightful and unique cuppa!