Twinings

For what it is, it’s not so bad. Drinkable enough on a night I really wanted tea but didn’t want to deal with measuring and minding temperature. The honey and vanilla aren’t really present, but it’s an alright base. Smidge of red berry flavor. Probably would’ve been better amended instead of neat; I’ve got another bag, so I’ll try it that way next.

A week ago I ordered a new supply of breakfast tea, but it hasn’t been sent yet. Presumably this is to do with the pandemic and so I’m not going to pester them for the time being.

In the meantime, we bought a box of this. Emergency rations, guys. Our supermarket only carries Twinings in bagged form and Husband finds one bag for a pot of two large cups is fine. Whereas my instinct says one bag for a cup and two for a pot.

Probably as a consequence it’s rather thin. I feel like I’m drinking hot water with milk. It’s not good. I have asked him to try and make the next pot either with two bags, or with a significantly longer steep, just so we can at least find out if it really is that poor and lay the dosage discussion to rest. (I’m pretty confident in my two bag theory, though)

On a different note we are both healthy. Husband is working from home for the foreseeable, whereas I still have to go to work. (I work in a hospital lab. We are important for diagnostics, and so essential personnel.) The Outside, on my commute, is nearly deserted. Looks like I’m travelling in the middle of the night. Otherwise we are staying in and being careful. As an introvert, I feel like I’ve been training for this my whole life.

OK, so another one of the discount store ones. This one is actually labeled for somewhere around November of this year, so despite there being “Milk” listed as an ingredient, I think we are good there.

This is… well it’s a spicy chai all right. Much spicier than the Cafe Escapes one, which in comparison is rather one-note cinnamon. This one actually tastes like it has a profile. I’m getting cloves, cardamon, and a bit of other miscellaneous spices. I swear there is a touch of anise in this, but it could be just me. Sadly, the black tea base is mostly missing, but that’s to be expected for these things. It certainly isn’t as sweet as the other one. I don’t know how to describe this. It’s more complex than my other one, but also the flavors don’t pop as much. So it’s complex but subtle. I really don’t know which one I like better. At first, when I sipped this I thought it was gross, but I’m only halfway through the cup and it has already grown on me.

For chai k-cup? This has a surprisingly rich profile. There’s a tingle to it in the mouth, like a good chai should have. Overall, if you have a Keurig and want a quickie Chai latte, go for it. That’s what I bought it for. (A surprising number of my cups are quickie cups). Most people on here though, I don’t think it would suit. It’s good for a K-Cup… which is even less impressive than saying something is good for bagged. In my experience, loose tea is usually better than bagged, and K-Cups are usually lower on the spectrum than bagged. The only thing I’ve had that K-Cups consistently beat is powdered tea, and that should speak volumes. That said, I have a rather unrefined palate, and I can easily stomach things most people on here never could.

So yeah, for a K-Cup? It’s a C
For tea in general? Fail.

Well, I wanted to try this, but I didn’t want to commit to a full box. Luckily I found sample packs of this at a local discount store. I want to draw attention to that- I bought this at a discount store. The date reads 8/20 but I still am not sure as to the quality of the K-Cup. It could be iffy. Then again, I bought coffee (gasp) K-Cups at the same time and they were remarkably good, so there’s that.

As far as the quality of THIS K-Cup goes, I’m not sold. It tastes like tea dust. It’s very bitter and tannic, even with two Splenda’s added. The bergamot, if not artificial flavored, is forced. It just doesn’t flow as a tea. To be honest, it tastes similar to the loose-leaf Twinings Earl Grey, just less pleasant. I can’t say I’d recommend this at all. Seriously, if you are going to make tea, at the very least commit to a teabag. I have found K-Cups to be abysmal for non-instant tea. Those chai lattes are still tasty, but anything other than those seem to be just bad.

I’ll continue to experiment, but don’t hold out much hope for a tasty “T-Cup”

It is from huge bags, so it is probably quite old.

But, although base is close to non present, the orange is there as well the lotus (I assume the lotus).

Yeah, it was quite strong on orange, rather tangerine flaovured with some floral notes. I noticed the zest of these citruses, as well the juice of it. The lotus is present, as I said, in floral notes and… to be honest, I think I expected more stronger and delicate flavour of it. And base green tea? Well, it wasn’t present at all, which is sad; and overall, it was kind of artificial.

It is black currant tea with ginseng and vanilla.

At least it should be. Actually it is another one of the generic fruit teas . Yeah, there are some black currant flavours, it is tart after black currant, but I expected more full taste. Maybe the vanilla is smoothing it too much. It was quite boring tea. There are bit of herbal notes, I think it is that ginseng. But overall, even after 5 minutes of steeping, it tasted still somehow rather water

Another shame tea :/

Guess what. It says “Grey” on it, so I’m sold.

I was browsing Wally World again tonight because obviously I don’t have enough quickie tea, (or enough tea that I can stash in my purse), so when I saw this on the top shelf, I figured “What the hey” and grabbed it. I really don’t know the difference between “Lady” Grey and “Earl” Grey, so we shall see.

I brewed this a bit strong at about 3:30. It wasn’t really my intention, it just got away from me. Taste unsweetened is… Hm, fruity. It’s odd, I’m getting a ripe orange flavor from this and not just the usual bergamot. It’s a sweet orange flavor, with a decent amount of bite. Now, it isn’t too much bite that it’s unappealing, mind you, but it is very noticeable. However, the sweetness of the orange tempers the bite a bit. I think I like this; Not love, but like. The black tea base isn’t very noticeable and is mostly present on the aftersip. It’s got a slightly astringent, drying feel to it as well, but just barely. If anything, it’s a burst of ORANGE! followed by everything else. Which, you know what, it’s fine. I didn’t know what to expect coming into this, but I’m happy. It’s decent enough tea. I’m afraid to put sweetener in this because it might make the orange too strong though. But I think I can handle sticking a handful of these in my purse. It’s not the best, and that dang orange explosion, but you know what? It’s fine.

That’s my conclusion about this.
It’s FINE.

The particular bag of this I brewed from spent a not-insignificant amount of time in a hardhat. While that probably didn’t add to the flavor, it sure did add to the feeling. The bag resisted opening like some loving god was doing its best to help me. I fought it, exercising my right to screw up royally, and won. My prize was the definite odor of dentist toothpaste, so strong and true I felt the grit in my mouth and winced. The steam smelled better; had the heat burnt off the dentist toothpaste? I detected a hint of creamy vanilla in the steam, but was hesitant to believe it.
In the end, it left me confused. The leaf smelled horrible and brewed a particularly unappealing hue of yellow. And yet, it only tasted of mint and a non-descript fattiness that I suppose is meant to be vanilla. It reminds me of when you eat an avocado, that smooth not-quite-buttery flavor left in your mouth after you swallow. Butter’s isomer? Unpinpointable. Slightly plasticy, but I wouldn’t notice if I weren’t drinking out of porcelain. Buttermint hurtles towards you like a runaway train and dissolves into mist. It’s kind of nice- after the first few seconds of preparation.

When I think of mint tea with a spike of vanilla, I really don’t want to think of it as “musky”, but that’s what Twinings Buttermint has brought me to. The “Natural Flavour Vanilla Type” was ominous, and after drinking it, I’m convinced that the vanilla type flavor here was modeled after a glandy beaver. It’s a mediocre peppermint tea with an odd, waxy, musky artificial vanilla kick to it. However, that hasn’t stopped me from buying and drinking two boxes of it, because I always forget just how bizarre it is.

This tea reminds me bit all others Earl Greys from Twinings I had few days back.

It wasn’t bad but nothing extra. It had fresh flavour of bergamot, and jasmine was bit weaker. It was there. Base tea wasn’t great too. It was just black tea without any malt, or tannic flavours – it was just… okay. Not distinctive.

Overall the tea is – very strong as of bergamot, little of jasmine and no tea. Maybe fresher tea would do the trick.

Finally finished off my box of this. Now, I didn’t actually use this up in any traditional sense… I actually don’t really like jasmine green tea, because the aroma from the scenting process is typically so strong and perfumey that it irritates my head. The sorts of jasmine teas I like to drink are typically when light jasmine is added with other flavors. What I use this tea for is flavoring white rice, because I can’t put soy sauce on my rice since it is a migraine trigger. So I add the teabags to the water that gets “soaked up” by my Minute Rice to add flavor to the rice (ginger is one of my other favorites, especially when I’m having a “bad GI” day).

So I can’t judge this tea on the merits of if it is a “good” cup of jasmine tea, but for my purposes of making decent jasmine rice, it has served me well. I have certainly had to experiment a bit to find the proportions to get a good batch, since I’ve definitely botched a few batches along the way (a good cook I am not). Mostly it was a) finding the right amount of teabags to get the jasmine flavor to come through in the rice decently and b) getting the right amount of water to account for the fact that the teabags are going to soak up a bit of the water, so using the ratios on the rice box don’t work so well. I always use the “2 serving” directions (one cup water/one cup rice) and find four teabags with 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cup water is the sweet spot. Times when I tried to use more teabags than that, or only the one cup of water, my rice tended to be far too dry.

I really like that using the teabags to flavor the rice gives it that nice floral flavor, but the aroma that normally is really strong, wafting, and like old grandma perfume from the cup is completely gone from the rice. Since I make this quite often I should probably look for a cheap jasmine green looseleaf that I can bag myself that will last a while, but for now at least this is easy for me to restock at the local grocery.

I don’t have a plain boxed black tea in my cupboard, which I really need for those hectic mornings when I have just enough time to boil a thermos of water but not the extra 2-3 minutes to steep/strain a cup of looseleaf tea to put into the thermos. Currently the only black bagged offering in my cupboard is an EG, so a plain breakfast offering is definitely needed, but I’m admittedly very picky about them. I really liked the Taylors of Harrogate one, but it isn’t sold in my local grocery, so I’m going to have to go with a different option… I’ve done well with Twinings of London as a brand on a whole in the past, and I had a single-serving teabag sampler of this that I picked up from, I believe, PDX Tea Fest 2019. So I decided to brew it this morning.

I kept to a briefer two minute steep time (as I said, I can be a little iffy when dealing with black CTC breakfast teas) but I have a nice color with some reddish tones an aroma that is very bready, with notes of malt, toasty baked bread, cinnamon, and molasses. I think my steep time was spot on for my personal tastes because the tea isn’t too strong and doesn’t leave an unpleasant astringent bite after the sip like I’ve found with many breakfast blends; the flavor starts out with a strong notes of malt, bread, and autumn leaves, with a touch of citrus and spice coming in closer to the end of the sip and lingering on the tongue.

I am enjoying this one… I believe I’d tried their Irish Breakfast at one point and it came off too strong/astringent for me, but this is just right, especially at these steep parameters. I know my local grocery carries this, so next time I have to make the grocery rounds, I will probably add a box just so I have a quick grab-and-go brewing option for a breakfast black tea.

Same series as Blossom Earl Grey. So apparently – 7 years old limited edition tea.

Same steeping parameters, 4 minutes, 300 ml boiling water into cold cup.

Brews bit darker than previous one, with strong rose aroma – but it’s not artificial or soapy. It filled my room pretty well and quickly. But in brew? Yeah, it’s there – quite well present! And same, not (much) soapy, not artificial. Hmm, taking more and more sips and I feel like it is soapy. Weird. The tea base is stronger somehow, on the sweet and malty side.

Not my everyday drinking tea – well, it was limited after all, but… it wasn’t so bad as I was afraid of.

I wasn’t impressed when I saw “limited edition” on the bag, and reviews 7 years old. Actually, I was rather shocked, because I remember these tea bags as “new” in collections few years back. But it is, apparently already 7 years. Time flies!

I found out one thing. When my life is mess, my desk is full of mess. So, just check my desk and you will see how I am doing recently. Yep, messy.

But to the tea. Although old, the dry bag was quite aromatic, I mean I have noticed something similar to jasmine. And maybe bit of “tea” smell too.
But brewed tea is completely different story and it is nice bold tea; although not much of “tea” flavours. Not tannic, malt, or something. It is rather floral, light – enjoayble. I think they added oranges into this blend, because it is what I notice on first sip, maybe that jasmine I notice too, bergamot is there too and for sure, black tea used is some mellow one. They did not share actual one on the tea bag.
Nice surprise :)

I’ve not had a chamomile like this before so that’s cool. Honeyed straw aroma. Tastes like straw with typical chamomile floral and, I swear, fleeting citrus and a cooling sensation. Aftertaste stronger than the flavor. There is a drawback — I can taste the paper teabag and in the aftertaste, too.

Song pairing, perhaps my first to a nighttime cuppa chamomile:
Prince — Controversy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fZy5hX6uLg

Several of you have been posting pepperminty things … this one deserves a mention, too. Creamy and minty and was especially soothing on an overindulged tummy last night. (No, I didn’t need that Little Debbie Christmas Tree Cake. I’ll be good in January.)

Tucked into a box of Christmas doo-dahs from a friend. She actually got the UPS clerk to put “doo-dahs” on the manifest :) It tastes just like a butter mint. A lovely little sweetie for the evening.

I think I have this one from Izzy; thank you Izzy!

And tea brews deep red colour. Aroma is artificial strawberry and I could not find any mango notes in aroma. When brewed it is still artificial and it really does not taste good. It was tart, artificial, strawberry, something. No mango in taste at all. They used a lots of energy to wrapping, which is indeed amazing, but as tea it is dismal.

Well, I ran out of the Earl Grey Creme, and the store I went to yesterday didn’t have the Teavana stuff, so here we are. It isn’t exactly what I wanted, but it will have to do for the time being.

I brewed up a cup of this yesterday but didn’t review it so I decided to do so today. Flavor without sweetener is a nice black tea base with a strong bergamot flavor. The citrus is powerful here and the flavor is bitter – but not “black tea” bitter. I’m pretty sure it’s the bergamot that is making it bitter.

Two splendas later and MMM much better. The sweetener gets rid of the bitterness while allowing the sweet citrus to shine through. It’s still far FAR harsher than my usual Earl Grey Creme (there’s no creamy vanilla to temper it), but I like it. It’s something new.

All in all, this is a decent tea. I love strong citrus tea, and this doesn’t let me down. I will likely keep exploring the various types of Earl Grey as I go along. I hope to try some Lady Grey, as well as possibly a Double Bergamot one. But, for now, this will do. There are better out there, but for grocery store tea? It’s pretty darn good. Recommended.

My roommates keep giving me tea bags of the tea they’ve picked up as part of their groceries because they know how much I like it, which is very sweet and thoughtful. The problem is that the teas they’re giving me are generally really awful quality grocery store bagged teas – and I don’t know how to ask them not to give me them since they’re just garbage teas/not usually at the quality that I’m typically drinking…

This has been the best one so far – but more because the vanilla flavour in this tisane is quite nice and creamy. The mint is rather muddy, and not the crisp and menthol forward mint I’d prefer to drink. Thankfully the vanilla flavouring has really been packed in here so it mostly covers the bulk of the peppermint’s imperfections. Plus, it does feel like a very festive flavour combination for this time of year so there’s that.