The London Tea Room

This smells nice. Sweet and warm and cuddly. A bit like cinnamon toast without the cinnamon. So basically buttered, sugared bread. Mmm. I actually think the vanilla is corresponding to the butter and sugar thing. There’s another, almost blackberry preserves note in there. Very faint. I’m guessing it is the currant? I have no idea what a currant really is or tastes like (other than it is a fruit) so I’m not sure if that is how currant is supposed to smell, but that’s what I’m going with.

Taste-wise, it’s not as sweet as the smell. I’m picking up more of the blackberry-which-is-probably-actually-currant taste, especially at the end – it is the main aftertaste, very fruity – and not so much on the vanilla. It’s nice and I think a pretty easy to like tea, but I want something more dessert like. So for the remaining 8-ish ounces, I’m putting in a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of milk.

Hello berries! It’s very fruity now. Almost a mix of grape and blackberry jelly – not preserves but the sweeter jelly (might want to back off on the sugar next time just a bit). The front taste is very grape jelly and then a more blackberry taste comes in on the end. Yep, this would qualify as a dessert tea now.

Okay, this is not a complex cup. Sure, there is tea in there but it’s a backdrop for the fruity taste, especially once doctored. Straight it is darker, richer… more of an average-ish morning feeling blend with a fruity addition. It seems like a better quality tea base than a lot of flavored blends (I’m thinking Adagio here, which I don’t really enjoy their flavored stuff without milk and sugar) and very sippable with no additions, but it’s nothing more than on the good side of standard. The milk and sugar makes it very dessert-y though. The tea moves fully to the background and dark berries just do a little chorus line dance in the front of it, sequins flashing. Yeah, not a fancy or nuanced cup. But nice flavors and so I’m liking it.

On Monday, I made a cup of this but I came down with a headache and a fever and I felt like I wanted to vomit, so instead of activating plan A [studying and drinking tea], I activated plan B [sleep until my next class]. Consequently, this cup went cold.

Today, I decided it deserved a take two, so I made a cup of it.

It says “blend,” so I can only assume that there are multiple types of tea in this. I tasted what I thought might be some Ceylon, and than I got some nearing intense bitterness that made me think Darjeeling. The bitterness wasn’t as strong as a previous encounter with the Autumnal Darjeeling Auggy sent me, but it was familiar enough that it made me “hurm.”

I became even more suspicious when that bitterness began to sweeten in the aftertaste, and then as it cooled a bit more became even more indicative of that muscat taste.

Upon reading the description of this tea, I’m somewhat confused because I didn’t get any Keemun out of it. I didn’t really spend a lot of time smelling the leaves or the tea. I don’t know why, as I seem to be very much all about that lately. Anyway, I’ve got enough left of this to play around a bit, so I’ll be doing that.

Sorry this log is lacking in complete thoughts and cohesiveness. All I wrote down from my drink earlier today was:

DARJEELING.
ceylon?

And combined with the fact that Craig Ferguson is talking at the screen with an alligator puppet in a Cajun-Scottish accent, it’s making this difficult.

Okay, I’m done.

My last of this tea and I’m impatient for the water to cool so I’m using the opportunity to try this at a higher temperature. It seemed like a good tea for after the flavorful pasta that was lunch. The higher temperature brings out more of the lapsang souchong and makes the berry slide a bit into the background to where it is a strong note of sweetness instead of an overly berry note. I think I prefer it at this temperature, actually. Really quite nice. Still not quite where I need to make a purchase specifically for this tea, but if I’d toss it in my cart if there were other things I’d be getting.
2.5g/6oz

I’m down to one more cup of leaves after this one. I kind of wish I had more even though I would prefer a different berry flavor. But at the same time, I don’t think I actually want to buy any more. I need a company to offer something like this but maybe with strawberry or another berry and to also have lots of other teas I love so that I can throw this one in an order. Because it is worth being added to an order, but not quite worth making an order. If that makes sense.

Anyway, could have brewed it a little longer but I didn’t and it is still nice. Very fruity but with a nice smoky note in the background. I like this one because it is a smoky tea, but it is sweet and soft at the same time. Hmm, I wonder what would happen if I brewed Samovar’s Russian Breakfast blend the way I brew this one… That could be interesting.
2.6g/6oz

I’m still sick. The thing that’s really killing me is my cough makes my chest burn. It’s not fun. I’m not exactly sure why I thought this tea would be a good idea, but I did. Perhaps it’s the chest burn that translates to drinking a tea that makes me think of Crunch Berries on fire. In a good way.

Also on the plus side, even with my head stuffy and gross, I can still smell this tea. Yay for smell! I have to wonder though, if it tasted this mild the first time I had this. I’m going to say no and that my taste buds are messed up a bit. But I can taste smoky and a little berry so that’s good.

I’m pretty tempted to bump up my rating of this since I’ve been having little cravings for it. But I’m going to wait until my taste buds and sense of smell are back up to par.

No vendor directions on brewing, but since this has green in it, I went with that. The leaf smells berry-ier than I anticipated. Berries over a campfire maybe? Which would probably smell a bit more like burning so maybe just eating berries next to a campfire. Sometimes the berry seems to dominate, sometimes the campfire. But even when the campfire dominates, it’s a sweet campfire because of the berry under-note. I can’t really pick out the vanilla but that’s probably because it is blending with the berry, giving it kind of a creamy berry smell instead of a tart berry smell.

Once brewed though, the tea seems to decide to let the lapsang souchong smell have center stage, but the berry scent is still a big supporting character. Though it does seem to also show of the… fake-ness of the berry. It also smells a little cough syrup-y. Almost. I think the vanilla creamy saves it from that.

Sipping is… odd. The flavor seems to rapidly seesaw between sweet smoky and sweet berry (thankfully no cough syrup memories are being evoked – in fact it tastes more natural than the tea smells). The flavors seem to work nicely together though. It’s weird but it works. There is distinct berry and distinct smoke but both are sweet and that sweetness ties them together.

The aftertaste in particular reminds me of something I can’t peg but that something makes me think that this would be a good iced tea. So perhaps it reminds me of some flavored bottled tea I’ve had? But without the artificial sweetners added because this yea is pretty sweet by itself. It actually tastes likes I’ve put a bit of sugar in it already.

Now here’s the one thing that keeps me from loving this tea. I’m just not a huge berry-flavoring fan. I love strawberries and blackberries, but after that I’m kind of eh. And this is more of a raspberry taste. However, the husband loves raspberries so I had him try some of this. He was able to pick out the berry and the lapsang souchong almost instantly. After a few more sips he said that he could see himself enjoying a big ole hot mug of this though he had a slight concern that the smoky would build and he doesn’t really like lapsang souchong (from my cup I didn’t notice any build up so I don’t think that would be a problem).

Anyway, he gave it a 4/5 stars to my 3/5 stars. But my rating drops that one star just because of the type of berry. As far as the slider rating goes, this one is tough. I like how the flavors work together and I really do think the balance is quite nice so it rates rather high on that. But personally, I’m not in love with the tea because of the type of berry and that’s all on me. But this is my rating scale so I’m going to rate it on the subjective, personal side of things instead of the objective side of things. Because that’s how I roll.

My thoughts on this feel similar to Auggy’s, so since she sent me this tea I’m going to do a small homage to one of her prior logs. Here we go.

Hmm…Auggy sent this. Intriguing. Have I tried a CTC before?

…
…
…

I don’t think so. Hee, they look like coffee grounds.

Sniff, sniff.

I don’t smell anything.

Sniff, sniff!

…Dirt? Light dirt? What the what, am I congested?

Shrug. Pour.

I’m bored. Are they expanding? They’re not. Wait… Nevermind, nope. Is it done yet? How cold is it outside? 25? Poop. Is it done yet? I want to see Avatar again. I need to make cookies. Oh, laundry.

…
…
…

Finally!

Pull out infuser. Hold up the basket.

Sniff, sniff.

Okay, now I really don’t smell anything.

Hold up the cup.

Sniff, sniff.

…Keemun?

Tilt head. Furrow brow. Blow on liquid.

…

Sip.

OUCH!

Still not cool enough.

Checking the weather… Scanning the newspaper… Tapping my foot… Making a sandwich…mmm…ham.

What the world. Needs now. Is love. Sweet love. It’s the only thiiing. That there’s just. Too little of. Ah damn it, this is going to be stuck in my head all day, isn’t it?

Check the cup.

Better?

Sip.

Mm, okay. It’s kind of…sweet. But also malty. Bake-y? Oh. OH! Bitter. BITTER!!!

Okay. Hrm.

Tentative sip.

Swish, swish.

Okay. Kinda sweet at the front of the tongue. Sort of flat at the sides. Let’s try the back…

BITTER.

Gulp.

BITTER! Breathe. Oooh. That’s kind of sweet. Kind of…darjeeling sweet. Especially if I concentrate on the center of my tongue. I wonder what’ll happen if I move to the back…

BITTER!!!

Well, that was both predictable and stupid.

Is this the reeeeeal liiiiife? Is it just faaaantasssssy?

NO.

…
…
…

What the world. Needs now.

DAMN IT!

Sip.

Lather, rinse, repeat. I think I need to try this again, either with additives or a shorter steep time, or both, or whatever. It was interesting. I wouldn’t necessarily call it enjoyable. Overall, it reminded me of a keemun. A very near over-steeped keemun. I hope you enjoyed the rather censored journey into my brain. Thanks Auggy, I’ll be logging this again, I’m sure.

Using this weekend to (once again) focus on finishing up drips and drabs of teas that I have tucked everywhere. This is the third one I have managed to finish off since yesterday. Gotta clean out the pantry some so I can buy more tea!

I wish I could taste a bit more Keemun in this one. I think I’d like it more then. Not a bad afternoon type tea but I think Lupicia’s Afternoon Tea definitely wins.

Trying this without milk to see if that’s what’s killed the taste the last two times I attempted to take it to work in my travel tumbler. And it is, some. The nutty taste is warmer and has more depth but it’s still pretty thin. I remember my first two cups being much better than this has been treating me now. Boo.

Okay, I’ve no idea what’s been going on with this tea – whether it is the tea or user error – but this is not giving me happy tea vibes the past couple of times I’ve made this. So yeah, rating is going down. I still have more so I will keep trying to fix what is obviously broken but if I can’t, expect the rating to go down even more. Because this? Not fun. Thin, flat, weak with just a faint nutty taste but otherwise like drinking dishwater. That’s all I’m getting out of this.

Though now that I think about it, I think that this time and last time were the only times I’ve ever prepared this with milk (which tends to be my default setting when I’m putting something in a travel tumbler). I thought it was strong enough to take with a dash of milk but now I’m thinking that is the source of the flat boringness. Mental note – take it straight next time and see how it goes. (And can I just add? I get grumpy over black teas that aren’t able to deal with at least a tiny bit of milk. Wusses.)

No clue what I did to this today but this tea was not nice to me today. Bland and thin and without any depth of flavor at all. It just tasted like stale nuts. Thin and papery and boring with a little chaser of bitter driness. I need to give this another shot but if it does this to me again, the rating will drop. Oh yes. It will.

Backed off of the steep time just a little to hopefully make it a bit tastier for the husband and I think it worked out well for both of us. Still is a mix of cardboard-y Assam and bright-ish Darjeeling plus a little earthy but it lacks the bitterness of last time so I’m thinking 4mins is a good time. I also snuck a little sugar into the husband’s so I’m sure that helped but based on how my sugar-less one taste, he probably didn’t needed.

I haven’t tried this tea yet so I thought I should break it out today. The smell is nice. My first thought was “Cardboard? I didn’t think there was Assam in this?” But then I stuck my nose in the cup (instead of just smelling the wafting scent while pouring) and that changed my mind. The main scent is a slight smoky + earthy, stout Keemun but then there’s a bit of lighter, somewhat fruity Ceylon dancing around in there, too. Once it cooled just a tad, the smoky hint was gone and there was a solid tea smell left… I’m having trouble picking the scents of the tea out as well but it smells almost like… grape. There’s a little faint earth + wine scent and a little faint muscadine scent. Super-light, I really had to smell to find it, but it keeps it from being ‘default tea’ and makes it ‘good tea’.

And it tastes like good tea, too. No sugar, no milk, but it is probably stout enough to deal with a little of that because it does have a very nice body to it. (Insert wolf whistle here). There’s a taste that, if stronger, might develop into cocoa at the front end and a taste that, if stronger, might be a Darjeeling-esque citrus/muscadine sharpness at the end. And the aftertaste has a dry, starchy sweetness to it. As it cools, that Darjeeling-esque tartness increases just a hair but the dryness of the aftertaste decreases, too.

And now my cup is empty. Overall, a good standard tea. I feel kind of bad that I can’t say it’s great or bad, just good. But it’s not hard to get through, it’s not a special occasion tea. This is like the clothing equivalent of a pair of lounge pants. They don’t make you look a few inches taller and 10 pounds slimmer, but they look a whole lot better on than those sweatpants with the little elastic at the ankles and you know you’ll wear them at some point (if not pretty regularly). The same with this tea. It’s not quite a ‘need a cuddle on the couch’ tea or a ‘makes my mouth sparkle’ tea. It’s just good, solid tea.

I shared this tea with the husband and his response when asked his thoughts: “Kind of like a Darjeeling with the bitter notes at the end… the first part makes me almost think of a pu-erh”. Overall, though, he wasn’t a big fan (but then, he’s not a fan of Darjeelings or earthy teas). This was more up my alley than his.

Last night was on of the first nights in quite some time that I’ve gotten a good night’s sleep. Because of that, I don’t need a comfort tea this morning so I brought this one out for a few reasons. 1) Because the husband loves grenadine so I thought he might enjoy this. 2) Because I want to see how it is with zero sugar and milk. And 3) I still can’t reconcile the fact that grenadine is pomegranate.

I love pomegranates. The husband does not. However, we tend to go through those giant bottles of grenadine fairly rapidly – and I never use the stuff. I suppose though, once something is so processed that there is no actual fruit in the syrup, it no longer tastes like what it is supposed to come from. But that still doesn’t prevent my mind from saying that grenadine is fake cherry, even though I now know it is wrong.

So aside from the flavorings of this tea messing with my head, what else can I say about this tea? Without sugar and milk, it’s not really super-sweet. There’s no bitterness or anything – it’s just not as sweet as I was expecting. And the grenadine flavor comes through more on the front smell when I sip and the aftertaste once I swallow. It doesn’t really show up in the middle that much. I can’t specifically taste the vanilla, but I imagine the lack of an edge I feel to the tea is due to the vanilla addition. The flavors are strong but not smack-you-in-the-face strong – but at the same time, not a whole lot of just ‘tea’ taste going on.

I put a tiny bit of sugar in the second half of my cup and while it didn’t really increase the sweetness that much, it seems to bring out the grenadine flavoring and makes the overall taste of the tea taste lighter, somehow. I think I might prefer it with that little bit of sugar.

“Oooh, grenadine and tea… maybe you will be a cherry-flavored tea that doesn’t taste like cough syrup to me! But wait… what are those little orange things you have? That’s in my mango tea, too. You aren’t mango, are you?”
“That’s not mango, that’s calendula.”
sniff … “But you kind of smell like mango.”
“I’m not mango.”
“But you smell fruity and mango is a fruit.”
“Cherry is a fruit, too.”
“But those little things are mango-colored.”
“That. Isn’t. Mango. That’s calendula. I am not mango.”
sip … “Hmm. Fruity. Hello mango, are you in there?”
“I’m NOT mango.”
“But you’re fruity. And a little toasty. And sweet. And yummy.”
“I AM NOT MANGO!”
sip … “Okay, now that you are cooling, you aren’t so much indistinct fruity. You taste, well, sort of like grenadine has been splashed into a toasty, almost bake-y tea.”
“THAT’S BECAUSE I AM GRENADINE TEA.”
shrug … “Well, I suppose you aren’t mango after all, even if you do have those little things my mango tea does.”
“Sigh. I hate you.”
“Mmm, sweet grenadine flavored tea. I love you.”

it really does smell like campfire! well, campfire with a hint of berry :D

but it doesn’t taste like campfire, and i suppose that’s a good thing… to be honest, maybe I put too much splenda in- but it tastes like a normal (though very nice cup of black tea) with a hint of berry… and the lovely campfire smell.

i still really like it. The description makes it sound like it’s a wonderful fall tea and it does remind me of burning leaves a bit- but moreso I love sniffing and imagining i’m in a chateau ski-lodge in Colorado.

update uhmm, it’s highly possible i oversteeped this tea… perhaps 5 minutes is too much. because it’s starting to taste bitter.

i added creamer and that’s softened it. much better!

By the time the husband was ready for tea, I had finished two steeps of Caravan, so I decided to partake in the tea-ness. Though we’d try this one again today if only for the novelty of the little CTC leaves which I find quirky and fun.

It’s not an overly-nuanced tea. There’s clean cardboard, earthy and a little almost Darjeeling brightness. Getting a little bake-y hint, too and a hint of astringency once I breathe in after a sip. Nothing too exciting and closer to flat than a well-balanced flavor but it’s a good standard tea, I think. Probably won’t get it again but I find myself intrigued by CTC leaf so I’m sure I’ll be getting more of that style of tea.

Made tea for the parents and thought this would be a novel cup. Having it so soon after the London Tea Room’s blend helps me really compare. The other is a better cup, so I’m adjusting ratings a bit.

This isn’t bad though. Heavy bodied, cardboard-y and Assam-like. It tastes a little murky – not the cleanest tasting cup but it is nicely aggressive in an Irish Breakfast sort of way but it… brightens up in taste as it cools but can also start to get a little astringent then, too.

Anyway, the general consensus is that this is a good cup but nothing to write home about.

Actually bumping up the rating of this tea just a wee bit today. I took this one with me on my morning commute, so I added about a quarter teaspoon of sugar and half a teaspoon of milk (for 12oz) just to keep off any potential bitterness that might develop from sitting in an insulated mug for half an hour. I honestly don’t think it needed even those minor additions because there was no hint of ick or even real astringency even on my last sip. This tea held up really well as a tumbler tea and I appreciate that.

As Kat suggested a bit ago, I took my tumbler lid off about half way through. It didn’t cause a significant change to the tea, but enough of one that I enjoyed it more lid-less. There was an almost tart fruity scent to it that taste-wise came across as a similar-to-Darjeeling brightness with the lid off and that made the tea a little more interesting. I’m thinking that’s what the previously tasted spiciness changes into with a little milk. I still got an enjoyable clean cardboard taste – I’m becoming quite fond of that taste.

This isn’t exactly a special tea or anything, but it’s a pretty good one. More of an “I don’t know what to have so I’ll have this one” tea instead of an “ooh, this looks good and I’m kind of craving it” tea. But it’s good (and necessary) for me to have some good, solid teas I can fall back on when nothing seems to spark my interest and for that reason, I could see this one becoming something I want to keep on hand.

And honestly, I find the brewing interesting. It brews up disturbingly dark but it’s fun to watch the little tea grounds run around in my pot. I still think of post-horked cat food when I see the wet leaves though.

Another tea I picked up on my trip to St. Louis!

The leaf is so weird…. They are little balls. Tiny little balls. It reminds me of coffee grounds, but a little rounder. The wet leaves remind me of a mix of wet coffee grounds and something mostly digested that my cat would hork up.

All of which brings to mind the question – is there GOOD CTC leaf? Because if there is, this would probably be it. But isn’t that a bit like saying it was a good tax audit?

It brews up into a actually very pretty cup. Clear and a dark reddish brown. I see why they say it is like Assam – the smell is very similar. A bit of me fears the taste with such small leaves PLUS a similarity to Assam. But I will attempt it first with no milk or sugar (mostly because there is no room in the cup).

Okay, this isn’t bad! It’s got the cardboard taste I now know is ‘malty’. But when thinking about the quality of the malt taste, I still have to bring out the cardboard comparisons. This one isn’t gourmet but it isn’t a dirty, used Amazon box that’s been half way around the country and has little dings in the corners. This is a fresh cardboard box. Clean and shiny with a nice smooth outside yet to be roughed up by indelicate postal workers. The taste hits right in the middle of my tongue and sort of settles in, lingering after each sip, creating just a hint of dryness right there (but no where else).

There is a spiciness in the scent that I don’t really get in the tea until it starts cooling just a bit. It makes me wonder if a tiny bit of milk and sugar would bring that spice forward more. I might have to try that next time. This doesn’t seems as stout as the Kenyan tea from yesterday, but it isn’t a wimp by any means. It would hold up well to milk.

So this seems like a good solid tea. Not overly special but nice. Smoothish but malty (cardboard-y). I imagine for a stouter extending the steep time would work. I didn’t taste any bitterness at 3:30 so I’m not sure when (or if) that would show up… Anyway, good stuff but nothing I’ll be tempted to buy once my 2oz are gone. Probably.

ETA: Did a 2nd steep at 4:00 and it is still nice, clean cardboard. A little thin this time so I could have gone 4:30 probably but was just nervous with the small leaf size.

(Also, not as review-y but as an aside – this tea has seriously stained my teacup! I’m sure it will wash out but there’s a little ring around the top and everything!)

You know, my spoon has been dipping a little enthusiastically into my teas today. What does that mean? It means I’m using more leaf than I normally do but am too lazy to take leaf back out after I’ve spooned it onto the scale. And yet, heavy spooning or not, I still have some of this tea left. Just a tiny, tiny bit but still. I want to be able to unclick the “In Your Cupboard” button. It’s very fulfilling to do that, don’t you think?

Anyway, today (just like yesterday and the day before) is rainy and cold. Sigh. At least my irises seem to be enjoying it, even if I’m not. So I’ve not been all that happy and thus not been in all that tea-y of a mood. So I’ve been trying encourage myself by focusing on either some of my not-yet-tasted teas or by trying to unclick that little button. And option number two is what lead me to this tea (although it didn’t work).

I would just like to officially state for the record: this tea suffers from MPD. Sometimes it is Yunnan-y, sometimes it is Darjeeling-y, sometimes it is very-bad-Assam-y. I realize it is probably the brewer (yes, that would be me) that is at fault for such inconsistencies, however I’m totally going to blame the tea. When this is good, it is quite good (and that’s what I’ve rated it on for the most part), but when it is bad, I just want to drop it in a hole and cover it up like my cats try to do when they smell something funny.

Today (with the heavy spooning and the short steeping and the no additives-ing), it’s sort of bringing to mind a stout but slightly thin Yunnan with a hint of a Darjeeling-esque end. I’m not exactly sure how something can be both stout and thin but apparently it can. In my world. Today. Maybe my tongue is broken because now I’m 2 for 2 with ‘thin’ teas even with my heavy spooning. There is a hint of what might end up as bitterness at the end but it isn’t there yet so I should be safe (which is good because I can’t add milk to kill that bitter off if it shows up since it also kills pretty much all flavor in this tea making it taste like I’m eating construction paper).

I do wish that I had managed to use up all of this tea today. Not only to unclick that little button but because today a nice tea personality is coming out and I would really like to tend this relationship on a happy note. Sadly, looks like I’ll have one more chance to get this wrong.

Half & half does this tea no favors so I decreased the steep time and just added sugar this morning. Probably added too much sugar with a full teaspoon for my 12oz but it tasted good so it works for me.
(ETA: Some how my rating got really high. I have no idea why it was set at a 90 but it’s been corrected. The cup was good but not that good.)

Feeling well enough today to make it to work, so that’s good. This morning this tea made me think of copper soil. Both bright and earthy. Energizing yet cuddly. It’s an odd mix but I kind of enjoy it.

Brought this tea to my parents’ house for my morning Christmas tea. Mostly I wanted to have it from a teacup again to reaffirm my love of it after the mediocre showing it had in my travel tumbler.

In a teacup again, this tea is yummy. Bright, clear, smooth with a little Darjeeling-like citrus sparkle laid over top a more Yunnan-tasting base tea flavor. This is the first time the husband has had it and he’s a big fan, too, giving it a 5 out of 5 and saying that it is like a Darjeeling but with very little acidity or bitterness. Smooth and with good, full flavor.

This tea definitely is happier in an open cup and I’m happier with it there too.