The Spice & Tea Exchange

KEEMUN!!!
Well… that was what I thought at first. This is just ‘eh’ and the first taste is the best of them all as it becomes a bit rough on the mouth.

This was my first experience with Lapsang Souchong! I’m not a huge fan of smoke flavor in food or beverages, so the strong smoky flavor of this tea wasn’t my favorite. However, it definitely seems like a high quality tea. The leaves are large and unbroken and have a lovely sweet/smoky scent. And although the flavor was too smoky for my tastes, the tea was nice and smooth with no bitterness or astringency. With a splash of milk to calm down the smoke, I found this a pleasant breakfast tea.

Added 1t of sugar. Pleasant, can taste the notes of pineapple. Not really sure what the “natural flavorings” are supposed to be doing.

I appreciate that this tea is semi sweet without any sweetener. The aroma is pleasant and it brews up with nice body. It’s pleasant. But Uncle Filberts Nutty Dessert Tea is so much better, in a similar flavor profile.

This tea was okay, mostly a nutty flavor, and fairly mild. I steeped it for 2 minutes the first time and 3 minutes the second time. It wasn’t that the flavor of the tea wasn’t good, it’s a pretty decent balance, not bitter or overwhelming at all, I just don’t think it’s my thing. I’d say it’s worth a try, but I won’t buy it again.

One of my tea-loving friends brought this blend back from a recent trip to Charleston. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of decaf tea, but this one was quite nice. The base is very smooth and light and blends nicely with the juicy mango flavor. An enjoyable bedtime treat!

Delightfully fruity and light.

Thanks for a sample of this one a while back, Ali! This seems exactly like the type of tea I like. Spices, keemun… it’s supposed to taste like carrot cake. It kind of does! At first, there is a hint of apple which threw me, since carrot cake doesn’t have apple. But then it balances out to light spices on a mild black tea. There is something carrot about it. And somehow there is a flavor that seems a little like cream cheese frosting. I would have loved a solid base tea (keemun is a great choice though!) but overall an interesting blend!

This is nice! I’ve never had green rooibos before, but I think I like it better than rooibos. It doesn’t have a lot of that rooibos flavor, which makes it much better for fruit flavoring.

To be honest this tea was a total let down for me. I had read about Bohea Tea… The tea that started a revolution. I couldn’t wait to try a Colonial Tea! While I was awaiting a shipment of Bohea from Oliver Pluff & Company, I thought I would try this tea from our local Spice and Tea Exchange. It wasn’t a terrible cup. But, it just taste flat! Way too much Cinnamon and not nearly enough true tea flavor.

Needless to say if you want a much better taste of the Tea of the Revolution. I recommend Oliver Pluff & Company’s Bohea. Which I will be reviewing soon…

I like it well enough, I guess. It is a very pretty tea with the corn flowers, orange peels and what not. However, it is not one of those teas that is very impressive. To me it doesn’t taste fresh, full bodied and smooth like other Earl Grey Cremes I have tried (Teavana).

This tea was a part of a Christmas gift I received. It sat on my tea shelf for a while, but one day I decided to give it a shot. I was not disappointed.

As someone whole generally steers clear from rooibos, I was somewhat skeptical. The rooibos flavor is quite light compared to many other blends I’ve had. This tea really does remind me of an orange cream-sicle! The vanilla almost overpowers the orange, but it’s not a disappointing combination in the least. Despite my normal habits, I did add almond milk and sugar as the tea is intended to be enjoyed this way. For blood orange lovers, this tea is definitely worth a try!

Backlog:

I enjoyed this. I didn’t necessarily agree with the ‘chai’ part of the name, simply adding cinnamon to a tea doesn’t make it a chai in my book. Sure, I know tea = chai but for me, chai = spices. Cinnamon isn’t enough to make this a chai for me.

That said, it’s still tasty. The pu-erh is smooth and earthy and mellow and I thought that the cinnamon and licorice root complemented the earthy notes of the pu-erh. The peppermint gave it a lovely freshness and the vanilla gave it a soft, creamy note.

An enjoyable pu-erh blend.

This is good, very hazelnutty, but I can’t say I get a strong cookie flavor from it. It lacks sweetness, and is low on creaminess. I imagine if I add some sugar and milk that would help, but I was hoping for just a little more from the tea itself.

This is SUPER blueberry-y…like seriously. This is going to be phenomenal iced. It is mostly sweet blueberry but there is a little hint of tart and it is SO much nicer than the chai I tried from this brand last week, I am shocked. I am also going to try cold steeping it.

Coldbrew overnight because it was close at hand and I just wanted to go to bed, so I threw this in my mason jar and fell into bed.

It’s good! I’d forgotten how much I enjoy Earls cold. This is nice, but Earls will always be a “once in a while” tea for me.

Weak, and sad. That is pretty much all I have to say.