The East Indies Tea Company

Cold Brew Sipdown (126)!

Welp, my roommates have finally caught on to the fact that there’s constantly a pitcher of cold brewed tea in the fridge that they’re more than welcome to drink – so I’ve been making pitchers of cold brew more frequently now that I’m not the only one drinking it. Downside, however, is that it means enjoying less of the really good teas – and that particularly hurt with this one because it was a sipdown, and a sipdown of a tea that isn’t the most easy to get a hold of on top of that.

It was so good though! Personally, I find the persimmon in the blend comes across really strongly as a more citrusy/mandarin orange sort of flavour and that’s just so tasty. The mandarin is sweet and well rounded, and it kind of has that same sort of sweetness that tomatoes or foods with tomatoes in them have. So, like, the best medley of orange/tomato goodness. Add on top the slight cream element from the yogurt drops and you’ve got yourself one hell of a unique, summer/fall transitional type of tea. I will say, that cold brewing does bring out the rooibos base a bit too so this has a little of that woody quality – but not much in comparison to the other good flavours.

I’m glad I took the risk getting this one when I did – and I’d happily get it again.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oygNmMISdC0&index=1&list=WL

Made a big pot of this one to drink on the porch while watching the rain.

It was a pleasant enough pot; strong citrus/mandarin notes but while the mandarin usually comes off as a little watered down this pot didn’t sacrifice any of its sharpness/flavour and so each sip kind of pleasantly “cut in” to you with its citrusy vibrancy.

Evening cuppa! This tastes like creamy mandarin oranges, and it’s making me happy and at ease! Also, I think it’s probably safe to say that my palate is back up to snuff and that makes me really happy!

Tea soda, but not the best one I’ve made as of late.

This tea has such a richness and sharpness from the Persimmon that I was sure it would translate well but it just seemed to lose it’s edge and juiciness somewhere along the process. Instead, this was more “mellow mandarin soda” with some vaguely umami flavours and a lot of woody rooibos base.

It would have been good if I was aiming for mandarin soda, but since I was going for vibrant persimmon it was a little less than satisfactory.

Last tea from last night; I was painting my nails while this was steeping and I got distracted, so by the time I was done my nails/remembered I had tea brewing this was stone cold and had been steeping for like half an hour? But, but!

It tasted delicious! No ‘cream’/gelato notes to be found. However, the persimmon, mandarin orange, and tomato notes were incredibly strong and juicy. They were incredibly long lingering, and made my mouth salivate so much. Very sweet, tangy, and umami! I continue to really enjoy this tea!

I’m so happy with this purchase.

…Persimmon Gelato?

…Persimmon Gelato!

That’s such a unique and fascinating flavour idea, and the minute I saw it on East Indie’s website I knew that I had to try it. For anyone who isn’t aware of East Indies Tea Company, they’ve got some really interesting and well executed flavoured blends. Their ‘specialty’ is probably dessert blends. Also, for people not aware they seem to be the supplier for most of, if not all of, Della Terra Tea’s blends – a company pretty well known for having wonderful flavoured dessert blends.

When I cracked open my sealed up package of this the smell was really overwhelming; I honestly have only had persimmons once or twice and I found that they tasted like a very sweet tomato, almost with an orange-y flavour. The aroma of the dry leaf certainly causes me to relive that experience; it’s intensely sweet and fruity with a strong citrusy scent that makes me think of really ripe mandarin oranges or perhaps very ripe mangoes. Visually, there’s lots of dried fruit (Persimmon? I wish there was an ingredients list for this blend) in the leaf as well as a multitude of little yogurt drop type things. All of this in conjunction had me very, very pumped to get this tea steeped up!

I gave this a nice, long steep to make sure I drew out as much flavor as I could and to also give the many yogurt drops time to fully melt. I was somewhat worried that when they did melt the liquor would either get a little oily or I’d get “yogurt scum” similar to what happens with melted chocolate chips but neither really happened and the liquor was very smooth and thick. The flavour was quite wonderful too; while I ultimately think the gelato aspect of the blend could have come across better, as it was basically just added creaminess from the yogurt drops, the persimmon was very well executed! Persimmons, simplified, are basically just very sweet tomatoes and that came through. I got that wonderful umami flavor that a tomato has that manages to linger all over your mouth, but also fruity notes that made me think of very, very ripe mango or either naval oranges or really ripe, in season mandarin oranges.

Anti-rooibos tea drinkers be warned though, while the flavor is strong and lively it doesn’t completely mask that rooibos base so expect to taste it alongside the lovely persimmon/citrus notes. But overall this is just a really wonderful, unique flavored rooibos and I’m extremely happy with it and definitely recommend trying it if you find yourself with the chance to.

This is another tea that I picked up on vacation at Quintin’s Tea Emporium in Virginia Beach. It smelled so lovely in the jar that I had to take it home with me. And I am always looking for new and interesting herbals for my cupboard.

I don’t find this one to be artificially lemon as the other reviewer suggests. It isn’t a bright citrusy lemon, but it’s not cloying or sweet and it doesn’t remind me of household cleaners at all. I think the mint does a good job of balancing out the lemon and both hid the fact that this is a red rooibos which is great since I almost passed on this one because I typically don’t like red rooibos teas.

Definitely one I will be happy to enjoy, though not something I plan to keep stocked.

This blend of coconut, lavender and rooibos both intrigued and disgusted me. There is no flavouring added either, so it really just tastes exactly how you’d think: lavender and rooibos with a sweet coconut aftertaste. Interesting sounding but ultimately pretty bland, much like the men my friends try to set me up with.

I usually drink Art of Tea’s Earl Grey Creme, but this is good too. I’ll have to do a side by side cupping. Art of Tea will probably come out on top.

I received this tea through a sampler package I’d bought a bit back. The sample came in a gold packet with only the logo for “The East Indies Tea Company”, the name of the tea, the type of tea, and the address of the company. Therefore, I can only guess as to what is in it and tell you what I’m picking up. I could find no info online for the tea, and I didn’t find a single tea retailer who offers it, at least not by the name on my sample package. I have e-mailed the company in hopes they can give me a little more information. Anyway, onto the good stuff:

Upon looking at this tea, I saw what appeared to be bits of marshmallow, some kind of snowflake sprinkles, and the same gold sugar balls one can find in David Tea’s “Glitter & Gold”. There also seemed to be some pieces of caramel in there, though this I am not 100% on. It smells almost like coco when dry, and I also detect a hint of marshmallow.

Upon brewing the tea I noticed it sparkles, just like “Glitter & Gold” does. Very pretty. It smells like hot coco w/ marshmallows to me. The tasting is also very similar to hot coco, only with less of the chocolate. The marshmallow comes through pretty nicely (this from someone who dislikes marshmallow), but doesn’t make it too sweet. It also makes for a slightly creamy cup, which I found rather enjoyable. The sugar candy also adds a little sweetness, but it isn’t like drinking a latte or anything. Just present and pleasant. I do seem to pick up a very faint caramel taste, though I can’t be certain. It’s nice, though, whatever it is. It’s a smooth cup, with the black tea base just breaking through to give the cup a nice, subdued, black tea taste. As I’ve said in previous reviews, I’m not a fan of strong black teas, so this brew was well received. The tea base is present, but contains no astringency, nor is it overpowering. The tea tastes best once it has cooled a little bit. Overall, I really enjoyed this Holiday brew. Now, if only someone sold it….

I’ll update if I find anything out about this tea.

EDIT: So, I looked online for a marshmallow black tea with gold balls and blue sprinkles and found a tea that seemed either the same or very similar to what I’d had. It’s called “Eight Candles” and it’s sold by Della Terra Teas. This may be the same tea, but I can’t be certain. Maybe they changed the name?

I picked this up in a local tea shop over the weekend… the smell was wonderful… tea was ok. I tasted the strawberry but it was more like tasting Nesquik strawberry syrup we use to make our daughter strawberry milk. This has a slight chocolate flavor. Overall I would drink this again but will not replenish the tin once it is finished.

This tea reminded me of Celestial Seasonings Candy cane lane only this one has a black tea base. This was not that remarkable, I think the mint/candycane flavor could have been stronger. But the cuteness factor of this tea rocked! Little mini- candy canes in the tea!!! SO cute! I will drink this again but do not feel the need to go out and buy some to hoard until next Christmas.

Well no surprise that I love this tea because I love peppermint and the green to base just makes it even better! You can definitely taste the peppermint in this tea but it is not overly powerful. Very enjoyable!

Spiced caramel apple tea and warm apple crisp…. don’t need to say anything more! Started the morning out GREAT!

Wonderful tea! Tastes exactly like the name of the tea…. nice balance of flavors and tea. Naturally sweet (but is not too sweet) no need to add sugar.

I picked this tea up at a local tea shop today, it is a good blend! Picked up the hints of nuts and cranberry as well as spice. Wonderful holiday tea!

The dry leaves smell like those cinnamon lollies, as does the resulting brew. This blend packs a pretty weak cinnamon lolly taste though, plus I could do without the sugared syrupyness coating the back of my tongue and making me want to throw up – both from the sensation and the heavily sweetened flavour. Way too sweet, where’s the spice?

Well yes. The aroma of the dry leaves is indeed chocolate strawberry, with the liquid smelling of mostly chocolate. But not good chocolate. Nor is it the step down from good chocolate which is the cheap but edible and wildly available stuff. Its more like the weird stuff that you find in $2 discount stores that isn’t really chocolate but some weird stale chocolate colored imitation. Imagine that with a faint hint of strawberry and you have experienced this tea.

You gotta admire tea blends with stupid names, because if I had a tea company all the blends would be named after inside jokes and dead celebrities I’m in love with.
Anyway, the aroma has that imitation lemon essence smell I’ve come to expect with lemon teas with hint of mint. This blend tastes exactly how it smells really, but I really don’t find the lozenge-esque lemon and mint an agreeable combination in my mouth…

The only notes I had jotted down for this was “Bleh. Slightly berryish taste. Good intro to tea for savages.”

I knew this would be awful just from its name (and also due to not finding a decent earl grey during the entire World Tea Expo).
I really can’t think of anything worse than sullying the greatness of bergamot with weird dried berries and flavouring but I was willing to give this a go. The aroma of the tea is strangely fake strawberry, like lollies, with a hint of citrus. And unsurprisingly the flavour is much the same, a poor strawberry black tea with a finish of light (cheap?) bergamot.

This tea tastes like fruit punch with a sour twinge in the finish. I don’t think there’s much else to say. It’s sweet enough to pass for punch and not a standard herbal attempt which ends up tasting watered out.

I enjoyed this a great deal. It reminds me of a Chocolate Coconut Tea that Trader Joe’s use to carry. The almond balances the coconut flavor while still maintaining the black tea taste.