The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf

In spite of the “limited edition” claim on the tin, I was surprised when I couldn’t find this on the TCB&TL web site. I guess it really is gone. Hunh, go figure.

Upon opening the tin for the first time, I was naturally knocked out by the powerful cherry fragrance. It smelled natural, for the most part, like smelling a bottle of cherry extract/concentrate/whatever, but there was still a very slight medicinal tinge to it. I’m learning, with experience, that I shouldn’t judge fragrance and flavour immediately, especially fragrance. It’s concentrated and not true to reality. So I gave it a minute, and slowly the strong cherry started to subside and the black tea fragrance began to come through, until the two struck a decent balance. I didn’t smell any mango or lily blossom, but I did discern a vaguely floral aspect to the black tea part of the fragrance, which I don’t usually associate with black tea (and which actually reminded me a bit of green tea).

I haven’t drunk tea in a while, and it’s because my new tea tasting adventures have been more unsuccessful than not. I was thinking about it, and I was thinking that possibly, irrationally, my disappointment with specific teas turned me off to tea in general. I’m sure you’ve all experienced this disappointment: you look forward to holding that warm cup or mug in your hands, inhaling the fragrance, sipping the yumminess, immersing yourself in the ritual and experience, only to be betrayed by a tea that’s not really up your alley. I’ve had too many of those, lately. One of the things that I’ve begun doing is drinking 8oz at a time1 instead of my usual 16oz, so that if I’m sipping a tea I don’t love, at least it’s not 16oz of it. Another thing I realise I need to do start doing is having a cup of one of my favourite teas after every few new tastings so that when I think of drinking tea, I think of my favourites and not the disappointments.

This tea isn’t wonderful, but it’s not terrible. To its credit, the tin does not say “naturally and artificially flavored,” just “naturally.” To its credit, the tea does not taste like cough syrup or maraschino cherries, but more like cherry Jolly Rancher and black tea. Given this, in theory I should love this tea. But I dunno, there’s something about it that—sweetened or unsweetened—misses the spot.

For now, this is the type of tea that I’d stick in the back of the cupboard, the type I’d pretend didn’t win the “eenie meenie minie moe” lottery. But like many of the fruity blends I’ve tried in recent weeks, I’d really like to try this one iced, and possibly that will improve its rating. In the meantime, I need one of my security blanket teas to make me feel better.

Tea amount: 1 sachet
Water amount: 8oz/~237mL
Additives: 2 tsp Demerara sugar (note to future Nik: um…that was too much)
Dry mouth factor: 6/10

1 Halp. I use a 16oz travel mug that is awesome. It keeps my tea hot for like 12 hours. Now that I want to drink 8oz at a time, though, I haven’t been successful in finding something like it in that size. I don’t like teacups or mugs because I tend to drink my tea slowly and it just gets cold way too quickly. So basically I want an 8oz sippy cup for hot beverages. If you have any suggestions or recommendations, I’m all ears. Thanks!

Green tea and 100%-natural-cherry-Juicy-Juice sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g…

Sometimes, I love being wrong. The “naturally & artificially flavoured” label on some of my other TCB&TL teas kind of turned me off, so I was a bit sceptical of this blend from the get-go. On top of that was the further concern, again based on prior experience, that the cherry fragrance and flavour would be very chemical in nature, or like cough syrup.

It turns out that I needn’t have worried. The tea is naturally flavoured. The fragrance of the dry leaves is two parts cherry Juicy Juice and one part green tea. The fragrance of the steeping tea is much more balanced, with the traditional “greenness” of green tea coming through clearly.

The flavour can best be described as “luscious.” It tastes, accurately, like a blend of cherry juice and green tea. Not maraschino cherries, not cherry cough syrup, just cherry juice. It’s a surprisingly lovely combination of flavours. As nice as it is brewed hot, though, I feel like it would be even nicer brewed cold. I’ll have to remember to put aside some of the bags so I can try this tea iced.

Tea amount: 2 bags
Water amount: 16oz./~475mL
Additives: ~1 level tbsp Demerara sugar

Does ginseng have a fragrance? I do not know. This CB&TL tea’s dry leaves have a pretty subtle fragrance. They have that fresh, clean, green tea smell, but much of green tea’s usually vegetal aroma is missing, perhaps because of the lemon.

I haven’t had the greatest luck with bagged teas, lately. It seems like no matter how long I steep it, it still ends up tasting pretty weak. This tea is no exception, and I used two bags for my 16oz. mug. The flavour is actually really pleasant, and I would have rated it better if only there were more of it.

In spite of how long I steeped the bags (I meant to do 5-6 minutes, but forgot and left it for about 12), there was no bitterness, which was nice. But the dry mouth factor is middle of the road, a little bit more than my comfort level.

This is one of those teas that I won’t mind finishing, but that I won’t be buying again.

I gave this one another try, but now I’m giving up on it. It smells like potpourri and tastes like cinnamon something. There are soooo many amazing teas out there for me to try and love, that I’m not going to waste any more time working to like something I just don’t. At some point, I’ll put together a swap list, and at that time I’ll add this to it. I think someone who likes cinnamon and rooibos might actually like this, and every tea deserves to be adopted by someone who will appreciate it.

Tea amount: 2 sachets
Water amount: 16oz./~475mL
Additives: omglotsofsugar. In reality, about 1 tbsp Demerara sugar.
Dry mouth factor: 0/10 (The only good thing I can say about it, really.)

This has been a real disappointment. I should’ve read more carefully before buying it; if I had, I would’ve seen that it’s naturally and artificially flavoured. And that’s the problem: it tastes artificial. I’ve had simple, pure rooibos, and I’ve drunk plenty of chai. This, unfortunately, retains the beauty, freshness, and lovely flavour of neither. I’ve tried steeping it for more/less time, more/less/no sweetener, some/no milk, but nothing I’ve tried so far has made this tea actually taste good.

This tea was alright. I would have liked more Bergamot, though. I was at a Krispy Kreme in Los Angeles on vacation, and a ‘Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf’ shop was connected.

I wanted something to help me relax after a long day of tourism at Huntington Beach. My server put the “loose leaf” tea bag in before I could check the quality of the leaves alone. I suspected to find some stems in there, as I did with their English Breakfast blend a while back.

Enjoying the lovely doughnuts, I decided to stop steeping the tea. The Bergamot scent wasn’t as strong as most other Earl Grey’s I’ve had. However, the mellow scent went very well with the base tea. When it was cool enough to drink, I went for an unsatisfying sip. It was very mellow in Bergamot flavor, and the base tea seemed to take on what little flavor there was.

This tea was pretty relaxing, but it did not yield a satisfying cuppa.

Might be a nice tea in itself, but the iced brew at my local Coffee Bean was watery and gross.

Sipdown of the day…

I’ve gone through a few tins of this since I discovered it, well technically they are mesh teabags inside a tin and not loose leaf, but I still love this Moroccan mint. It’s good hot or iced and today I’m having it iced since I steeped some up this morning to save it for later. I find that moroccan mint is not as good with stevia as it is with sugar.

Tea of the afternoon here. A few months ago I fractured a finger and the ligaments are taking forever to heal. I’ve been trying to increase my anti-inflammatory foods and I made a turmeric-ginger salad dressing for lunch as well as some homemade turmeric tea. Green tea is supposed to be good for inflammation too, so I made a nice pot of this and plan to sip on it this afternoon. Hope everyone is having a good day!

Tea of the afternoon. Now we have Interpol playing on the radio at work which just makes me pensive. This tea is delicious though. It’s definitely one of my “desert island” teas that I would take with me if I was marooned forever. Do you have any?

The weather is warm today and I love drinking this particular blend ICED after steeping it in my glass tumbler. See my previous tasting notes for more details…

Backlog – had some of this on Saturday with a cute guy I know. :-P

This is actually a classic tea for me and will be a staple for years to come I think. It’s really good iced and it also tastes good hot, just a perfect blend of smoky gunpowder and peppermint. I only wish I could get it in loose leaf form instead of the sachets.

Tea of the afternoon here…
I haven’t had this one in a while but I got it at the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf a month or two ago. It’s a nice day for Moroccan Mint!

My feet are feeling a bit better since I had my shoe inserts adjusted, which is good! I’m hoping for the best.

Today is a beautiful day in San Francisco, the sun is out and shining. I had cold brewed this overnight and am having it after lunch today. Mmm, there is nothing quite like an iced Moroccan mint tea to perk me up.

This is my last bag of this and the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf that’s near my apt. has just closed! I am going to try making my own with the gunpowder I have from Red Blossom and loose leaf spearmint. We’ll see. I might look for this blend again someday, it’s mighty tasty.

I cold brewed two teabags of this overnight and today I am drinking it over ice.

woooah – it’s really good this way! Very strong and invigorating. I’m getting the smokiness from the gunpowder and a ton of mint with a touch of sweetness. I wonder if there is some sugar in the teabag already? Anyway I highly recommend trying Moroccan mint this way!

Normally my after lunch tea is a pu-erh but I really wasn’t sure since I had Indian food for lunch. Decided to go with something tried and true… I would like to try some other moroccan mints sometime to see how they compare with this one. I think it is a bit on the light side but refreshing.

still… winning!

I must admit I feel like a shmoe for liking a tea that comes from a big chain store like this one. Mostly I do support small vendors and local businesses tho’!

I got my shoe inserts today from the podiatrist so I am hoping my foot pain is a thing of the past…

Wanted to treat myself to something nice so I stopped into the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and got a cup of this. I don’t normally go for minty things but I wanted to try this anyway.

This stuff is awesome – you definitely pick up the nutty, slightly smoky flavor of the gunpowder and the mint is not meek either. It is a very delicious blend which I think would also be really good iced. Loved it! I went back to the store to buy a tin of this (loose leaf tea bags), it was a bit pricey but I am worth it. :)

I absolutely love this iced. It has a really pleasant apricot aftertaste.

This tea tastes like the typical English Breakfast: Brisk, Bold, and slightly malty. Longer steeps of this tea (upwards of 3 minutes) turn it bitter.

This tea is much the same in composition and overall feel as the other teas I’ve had from his company, though I would say this one is closer to the vanilla tea than the Earl Grey, which I feel was more successful than these other two. Like the vanilla, the tea base on this has a tendancy to get bitter, though this one lacks the creamy sweetness to smooth it over. The passion fruit flavor is fairly tart, but also has a mellower side which keeps it drinkable. These are so far decent enough teas and at least a step up from the conference teabags I would likely be having otherwise.

Well I’m stuck here in Las Vegas for the next few days because I’m at a scientific conference. I wasn’t really expecting a lot of tea options in the area so I was pleased to find this coffee shop that also has “the tea leaf” in its name. They have more options for take away than your typical coffee shop but to start I decided to try their Earl Grey. It’s a pretty decent tea; nothing to write home about but definitely drinkable. There’s only one other review for this on Steepster and it’s a pretty bad one that complained about the stong bergamot. Yes, this is a bergamotty tea but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, at least to me. I love bergamot and prefer my Earl Grey with robust bergamot, as long as it’s done well. Here it’s not bitter or astringent, but pleasant and citrusy. The black tea base is smooth and pretty tasty. As it cools the bergamot does get a bit astringent, so this is one of those teas that’s best enjoyed hot.

This morning I picked up this tea, one of the few other options at the coffee shop (I was disappointed that they don’t have any of their oolong teas for ordering; no doubt because they only have sachets at the shop). I steeped this for approximately 3 minutes, definitely not longer, and it still had a faint bitterness at first, though that faded as it cooled a bit. I’m getting the idea that the teas from this company are highly flavored, but so far they’ve been high quality flavors (if only the same thing could be said about their tea base). The vanilla here is strong but rich and a bit creamy with definite caramel notes. Unfortunately the black tea base has a tendancy to get bitter, and even when it’s not it’s not really that tasty. But a decent wake up tea this morning.

Hey I figured out how to use the sliders on my iPhone! Turns out my problem was trying to actually slide (silly me) them instead of just tapping. :p

A great Darjeeling for for those who wish to try it. You do not have to worry if it is first or second flush. I would not suggest steeping too long… It gets too bold quickly.