Utopia Tea

Sip down. It would be enough if this just had a nice Ceylon base and a healthy dose of bergamot. This has more. It doesn’t say it on the label but this seems to have a touch of smoke. It really makes this an excellent Earl Grey.

Multiple cups. Love this smoky Earl. As I was about to take my first sip a little spider lowered down from the ceiling in front of me and all I could think of was the crunchy giant spider eaten by the cat. Whoever posted that, I am still laughing.

First, my sample does not look like the picture. Mine is CTC which is typical of many black teas and is not necessarily an indicator of poor quality.

As for the taste, I really like this one. The Ceylon tea base is smoked. That works really well in my opinion and sets this off from the typical Earl Grey crowd. The oil of bergamot (not flavoring) is well balanced but clearly present. I did two steeps. This might become my new favorite EG.

Slightly longer review here – http://theeverdayteablog.blogspot.com/2012/07/utopia-tea-earl-grey.html

I got this a little hotter than I intended. It took it in stride and did not get bitter. The Jasmine in this is very fresh. Has a clean green aftertaste. I was going to have one cup and move on to drink a variety today – but this begged for a second cup. This is up there with the best of the jasmines I have tried. Utopia has done an excellent job with this one.

I grabbed this one out of the drawer this afternoon. The jasmine in this is really nice. This is a wonderful tea.

To echo Hesper June, this one is $8/4oz, so it is also an affordable jasmine.

I got this sample from Utopia for review. This would be a good one for those who aren’t big green tea fans. I ignored the instructions and used my usual cooler temp for greens. The jasmine is nice – fresh, floral, with hints of honeysuckle. The Purrfect Cup said it tasted lavender, maybe but I got honeysuckle. Anyway, I am once again reminded I don’t hate jasmine when it tastes like this. I find this tea to be creamy then lightly jasmine. Mellow is the best descriptor I can think of as brewed. The green base is supposed to be lightly roasted but I can’t catch that, in fact the base itself is pretty much in the background. If you keep the water temp down there is no bitterness. I still have half the sample and will enjoy sipping this again another day.

Dry – this smells like the old Original Jolly Ranchers! NOT the lil bite-sized ones. YES!!! There’s a difference! LOL :)

Once infused – it smells like Pixie Sticks or Smarties!

It has a very dark brown color. The aroma is pleasant – NOT overdone.

The hibiscus is barely-there and I really appreciate this! THIS is the way to use the hibiscus on the assist! Other companies SHOULD take notice!!!!!

The Keemun is medium strength…semi-malty/a hint of smoke.

The Pom/Raspberry/Litchi combo is VERY nicely combined! The mesh well together for both hot and cold methods!

This is a wonderfully-flavored black! I’m VERY surprised and glad this turned out the way it did! Utopia did an EXCELLENT job with this one! Quite FAB, indeed!

I’m liking this one A LOT :)

I NEED TO GET MORE OF THIS TEA… WOW,, my perfect coffee substitute..

Smelling it from the bag it smells like black tea with coffee beans… smokey.. roasted.
brewing the tea, it smells like coffee!!! A really lovely roasted coffee smell, oh I loved it..

tasting it, I could tell it was tea, which to me was a good thing, because if I wanted a full on coffee, I would have just made coffee instead.. it still had the good coffee taste, I’m glad it was smooth and rich but it wasn’t as latte as I had wanted.. I will be making this again with frothy milk, ohh latte!!

Let me start by saying I’m not a huge chamomile fan so it has to be pretty exceptional for me to like it.

The vanilla bean surely helped tone down that Chamomile taste I tend to question so that’s a plus. There was something hinting at a slight apple-likeness, too, perhaps it was the stevia.

This was ok.

It was fairly mellow but I don’t think I wanted it any more intense – to be honest with you!
I could pick up on the licorice and stevia notes towards the end of the sip. I probably would have omitted one or both of those ingredients, tho.

It’s alright tho.

Thanks to DaisyChubb I was able to sample this one! thanks-thanks!

At first I wasn’t loving the aroma – but it was ‘right on’ with the latte smell-a-like so I guess mission accomplished there. The first sip smacked me in the face but after a moment I determined that I sort of liked it and with more sips I acquired a taste for it. The roasted coffee was first and foremost. The cocoa bits contributed but weren’t over the top and the barley was there too! This lived up to it’s name and was a cup that would certainly help you out on those rough mornings :)

Another product of my swap with DaisyChubb. The ingredients in this one again seem similar to my maté from Argo, but this one has malted barley in it, which is new. I was going to steep this one for 4 minutes like I often do with matés, but as it was steeping it smelled so powerfully like coffee that I pulled it out at 3 minutes.

Now that it’s finished steeping the coffee smell isn’t quite so strong, but it is definitely there. Definitely that heavily roasted aroma. I also get a few notes of unsweetened chocolate. The flavor reminds me a little of coffee, primarily those roasted notes, but because it’s maté it’s not bitter like coffee. This one isn’t as chocolatey or almondy as others I’ve had in the past. If I was a coffee person, I would probably really like this tea, but as it happens I am not. It’s pretty decent, but I still prefer the maté from Argo.

Got this in a swap from Daisy. Mate seems to work wonders when I feel I might be getting a migraine but for a long time the only one I liked was Teavana’s Matevana (which is still amazing!). Then I added one from Adagio but mate seems to be a bit hard to find so I jumped at the chance to try this from Daisy.

What I’m finding now is that a lot of mates are basically variations of the same thing. This one is nutty and a bit chocolately and reminds me of a cross between Matevana and Adagio’s Toasted Mocha Nut Mate. That’s not to say it’s not good, it is, but could we get some variety up in here?

It’s held up well for 3 steeps and is fantastic with some almond joy creamer (but really, what wouldn’t be?).

I’m removing this from my cupboard simply because I mixed the rest of it with ALL the English breakfast samples I’ve received from swaps and different companies.

It was a risk, but it’s actually quite a nice brew!

Awesome tea from Utopia Tea!

Very smooth traditional English Breakfast, makes a perfect smooth pot in the morning (on the weekend for me) to get you going. Best with cream and sugar IMO.

:)

Well, I have returned from Argentina, and brought with me some kind of cold/flu bug. Bleh. I don’t have a huge selection of teas at home, but I chose this one because it includes ginger, which would be good right now I think. I got this one a while ago as a free sample from Utopia, but I kind of put off trying it becasue I’m not the biggest fan of strawberry flavoring, and I didn’t much like peppercorn in another tea that I had, so we’ll see. I’m glad I came here before I steeped it; I’m not sure what kind of tea I thought it was, but it definitely wasn’t a Green/White blend. Fortunately I was able to wait for my water to cool a bit and not oversteep.

Steeped, the liquor is a kind of odd tan color, and it has the light aroma of strawberries with a hint of pepperiness. The flavor is slightly weird to me, and a bit difficult to suss out all the parts. There’s definitely some strawberry, which thankfully doesn’t taste like artificial strawberry flavoring. That seems to come out primarily at the tail of the sip, bright and sweet and fruity after a warm ginger/pepper note. It’s not distinctly gingery, per se, more just that pepperiness that ginger has, no doubt brought out by the peppercorns. I’m also thankfull though that it’s not super peppercorn-y; they don’t overwhelm the flavor like they did in the other tea I had that had peppercorns. There’s just a warmth to it. Overally I was pleasantly surprised by this tea; I didn’t expect to like it all that much, but I am enjoying it. Thanks again to Utopia for the sample!

This tea has grown on me quite a bit since I first tried it, which is good because I have a lot of it. It’s become my quick and dirty oolong. Most of my oolongs are the kind that I feel guilty about if I don’t brew it properly. The kind where I have to get out my gaiwan and resteep them a million times or else I’m going to Tea Hell, where they only have Lipton and Tazo Joy. This oolong from Utopia Tea is good. I enjoy it. There’s no guilt though if I make a tea party foul.

Dry, it smells woodsy. A little sweet. Kind of roasty smokey. It actually doesn’t smell that good in the bag imo. In fact, I had a bit of an awshit moment when I opened it up for the first time, thinking, what the hell am I going to do with all of this? I’m not even sure what it is that’s off-putting, really. Something kinda sharp. Anyway. Fortunately it tastes better than it smells. The liquor is pretty. Dark golden brown. It tastes woodsy and roasty, but without whatever aroma that wasn’t sitting well with me. I get a little bit of the citrus they talk about in the description. Not the vanilla though. It’s pretty smooth, though I can’t say that it’s really spicy. Pleasantly warming.

Not a super glowing review. However… I drink a lot of this. It’s become my workhorse tea. I work with digital media and usually my most productive hours are in the evening to late night (I prefer being stuck in a computer when it’s dark outside). When I know I’ve got a long haul and I start getting out the double-ended candles, I grab this tea. It’s got a good warming flavor and nice level of caffeine that just make it pleasant to drink while working late night. It’s not super fabulous though so there’s no guilt if I steep it once and forget about it. The tea is also pretty forgiving with temperature or time, so if I go all digital ADD and forget to pay attention to it while brewing, it’s usually okay. If I go incredibly ADD and leave it for an hour or burn it, I don’t feel too bad about tossing the cup.

It’s really the perfect balance between tea I want to drink because it’s delicious and tea I want to drink because I know at some point I’ll be an airhead and forget about it.

mm this tea is really hitting the spot this morning.
My Utopia tea order arrived a few days ago, so exciting! It’s my first online tea order that wasn’t 52teas. I took advantage of the special and got an extra ounce, and boy am I glad.
At 7 bucks for 5 ounces, the price was right for this delicious blend.
Also, I found my cupboard is full of dessert tea, which I love, but I needed some.. not-sweet teas for the morning or I was going to go crazy!

I have to say that I’m more of a China Black fan (recently discovered this haha), but this tea is so smooth I don’t care. We’re having a pot this morning – it’s a great coffee substitute – the coffee beans add this lingering taste that isn’t bad-breath like after coffee. It’s just pleasant and oh so smooth. Not the least bit bitter. LOVE!

32 ounce teapot, 4 perfect teaspoons, 3 minutes
(so glad to finally have a large amount of tea so I don’t feel bad using my teapot!)

First time I tried this tea was pretty fun. The overall experience, that is. I spent pretty much the last half of Legion (terrible, but almost funny in a terrible way, zombie apocalypse movie) smelling the dry tea. Every time I opened up the bag it smelled like something different – vanilla one time, old lady potpourri another time, cookies another time, the tea incarnation of diabetus the next time. It was fun. Real pretty tea too. Taste… not so fun. I was expecting it to be sweet vanilla-y goodness, or sweet something, since it smelled so sweet out of the bag (most of the time). It was sweet, but the licorice went zombie apocalypse on the flavor on the back of the tongue and on the way down. On the tip of the sip it’s chamomile, vanilla, lemongrass and honeybush – a decent enough combo. Right before the swallow though, the licorice swoops in and claims my taste buds in the name of The Land of Eww. I’m not the biggest fan of licorice but I enjoy it when it complements other flavors in a blend. Here it just destroys the other flavors in a death match. I think I’d like it better without the licorice.

After some experimentation I’ve found it’s decent with some almond milk.

Finally, I bought this tea because I’m always looking for a great sleep aid tea. To me, chamomile teas are usually sleep aid teas. I didn’t feel any relaxing or calming effects from the tea though, so it’s a little disappointing in that respect. However, it seems like an alright digestive aid tea between the chamomile, lemongrass, and of course, the licorice.

Full Review: http://www.tea-tank.com/?p=83

Wow, this tea is very different- in a good way. I was very impressed with the smooth buttery chocolate aroma and even more impressed with the taste.

When drinking you can taste the toffee and milk chocolate with a hint of hazelnut. I had a cup with milk and sugar and it reminded me of an upgraded version of hot chocolate. This is definitely one of the better flavored teas I have tried.

warming and fruity is right…this is quite nice…a pleasant surprise! Nice afternoon or relaxing tea! Would drink again!

As the cup cools more of the “tropical” flavor comes out and fills the mouth. Now it’s noticeably different from a straight green tea. That top-of-mouth floral and citrus is much stronger and rounder, filling. I can’t quite place what food it reminds me of, darnit.

Much better now, it’s one best drank semi-cool.

The dry tea has a somewhat off-putting smell, but I can’t place it.

I followed the package directions on this and use 1tsbp to 12oz of water, but didn’t boil the water. I just used 180 degree-ish water when it said to boil. Oops.

The steeped tea has that off-putting scent, too. It’s kind of a citrusy, floral thing mixed with the green tea.

The taste is mostly just green tea. It has a greener, more citrusy feeling (not truly flavor) as an after-taste that settles around the roof of the mouth. Maybe a little sweetness in there.

It’s okay. Not enough different from plain green tea to bother with as a purchase, but not bad and I’ll either trade off or drink the rest of the sample.