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I generally love Golden Monkey style teas. I love how smooth and caramell-y they can be. I bought 100g of a Golden Monkey from NBtea that I wasn’t crazy about (tastes a bit too much of hay, weirdly?) but other than that I have been blown away.

This is some top-notch tea. I use a glass teacup so that I can appreciate the colours (granted a large one because I enjoy drinking multiple large cups of tea per day) and after just over two minutes with a heaped tsp it’s a dark amber colour. (I probably should have set my kettle to 80 rather than 100, so I let it cool for a short while before pouring).

The smell is everything that I would expect; slightly rich, a little sweet, even a touch of caramel perhaps. This tea wants you to drink it.

The first sip goes down smoothly. Very smoothly. There is no bitterness, and hardly even the very light astringency that you would expect. As it cools and the flavours open up you are treated to those subtle caramel notes that you get on the nose.

Ah yes, this is an beverage than could easily be quaffed all day long if you were engaging in a hedonistic tea bender (but is probably best enjoyed sipped over about 20 minutes with a break in between like a regular person). Epicurus himself would have been chugging pints of this stuff though if Chinese tea were readily available in 300 BC Athens, I can practically guarantee it.

For me at least, this tea has joined the Pantheon of the Tea Gods and shall be restocked when my paltry 2×7g sample packs run out. Also I need to get paid because I’ve spent like £150 on tea this month (I’ve just got into the hobby) and you have to draw a line somewhere.

But yes, this a damn fine tea. So good, in fact, that I would serve it to my mum as-is (who is British and likes PG Tips with a dash a milk). What’s more, I think that she would like it.

I found this tea on Amazon reduced to £1.68 for 100g (!) so I had to give it a try. As it happens, I’m a fan – I wouldn’t mind paying full price for this.

The smell is absolutely gorgeous; it has a rich chocolatey smell, actually kind of like white chocolate. It tastes as good as it smells, especially as it cools down and you can start to get more of the chocolate flavour, but it also has a slight chilli kick. Nothing too spicy, just a little one.

Even better, it’s a white tea, so the caffeine content is quite low. This means that I can sip on a nice big mug of this on a cold winter’s night without worrying too much about losing sleep.

I’m pleasantly surprised.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from small-scale production Georgian tea (just saying that sounds so hipster) but I’m very impressed.

It brews up a lovely golden/amber hue. It smells quite mild, and has an almost sweet smell to it.

The first sip is smooth… very smooth. This is a good quality tea – basically zero bitterness and astringency. After a few more sips I’m able to figure out what I’m tasting here. There’s almost a creamy taste to it. One could even make an argument for a faint taste of caramel, should you be so inclined. This thing sure does go down lovely. It’s moreish as hell, too.

I’ve found myself getting three decent brews out of this one. By the third steep it is understandably quite weak, but you can still extract a tasty cup. For steep times (using a decently-heaped teaspoon of leaves) I’ve been going for 2 minutes, 3 minutes, and then 5 minutes.

I find myself going back to this one again and again. Definitely recommended, and I will for sure be considering restocking when I run out.

This is my first foray into the world of flavoured teas. I wasn’t too sure when I read that it was made with “marzipan flavouring”, but it’s natural, and I do love marzipan, so I figured what the heck and bought a bag. It also helps that the price wasn’t too high, so I could justify the risk.

Just opening the bag you are hit with the smell of marzipan. I mean, it is strong. I brewed up a mug (it came out copper coloured, not super clear but still nice-looking) and again… marzipan. Marzipan everywhere. All the marzipan!

Then you take a sip and… yeah, it’s kind of marzipan-y. After all of the marzipan aroma I’d be expecting more on the taste, but still, it’s nice (if a little muted). The rose does come through though (possibly because I grabbed a big rosebud and added it to the infuser).

This is an interesting one. It’s a delight to drink because you get a whiff of that lovely aroma whenever you go in for a sip. The taste isn’t as strong as I had imagined it would be though. Perhaps next time I will add more or steep for longer (although I think I’m nearing the limit where bitterness would creep in if I altered any more variables too radically).

Ultimately I would recommend this tea if you like these flavours and want something different. It’s certainly an interesting one to be able to offer guests. I’ll be having a cup from time-to-time, but it won’t be an everyday cup, that’s for sure :)

Disclaimer: this is my first ever lapsang souchong.

I mean yeah, it’s smoky. I was expecting that. It’s not horribly overpowering though, it’s actually pretty pleasant. I think that I preferred the second steep to the first as it was a bit more mellow.

Would I drink this every day? No, of course not. You have to be in the mood for it.

Would I ever be in the mood to fancy a cup of this? Absolutely, it’s lovely!

Wow, this is a very different-tasting black tea (to me).

Up until now I’ve mostly drank Assams and a few black Chinese teas – nothing too crazy, usually quite smooth and subtle. This is a lovely surprise.

It is certainly smooth and with very low bitterness and astringency, but you can taste a wild earthy note in it immediately. I actually really like this. It is also a lovely amber colour, which adds to the “I am drinking tea leaves from a wild tree” feeling, so to speak :)

It doesn’t replace a good Assam as my favourite, but I can definitely see myself fancying a cup of this over something else from time-to-time.

The hue is copper, golden, and orange. It is clear and appetising.

So far I am loving the sample packs from TeaVivre, and this is no exception. It’s super-smooth.

I’m going to keep this one short: I am getting notes of caramel, a touch of malt, cream, and even a bit of a buttery flavour and mouth-feel.

This is a delicious one for sure. Not my favourite sampler so far but one that I would be happy to drink any time and own a large bag of (which might eventually happen!)

This is my first order from TeaVivre (excellent company by the way), and this is the tea that I chose to brew first.

It has a lovely, clear, golden hue to it. It looks fantastic in my fancy new tea mug. The aroma is very faint.

I probably could have brewed a tad longer, but by Jah is this a lovely tea. I wasn’t sure what to expect (I’ve recently fallen in love with Assams and have been drinking them all day non-stop) but this has a certain… something to it.

It’s kind of hard to describe. It’s like a savoury, slightly creamy, mellow, and very light and clean cup of deliciousness. I think that I also want to say caramel?

I can totally see myself ordering a large bag of this once my sample runs out.

It has a lovely copper hue to it. It gives off a faint, fresh aroma.

This is actually my first “proper” Ceylon (I’m an Assam man, as it were) so I wasn’t too sure what to expect, but I wanted to compare and contrast. Well, I’m pleasantly surprised. This is lively and vibrant, with subtle hints of fruit and citrus. This would be lovely and refreshing to drink sat in the garden on a hot summer’s day.

I think that I still prefer Assam overall, but I am now convinced that Ceylon is worth some serious exploration. I predict that my wallet will be taking a hit over the coming months.

The first thing that strikes me about this tea is the deep, rich, almost red colour to it.

It has a satisfying “proper English breakfast”-type aroma to it, which (without having tasted it yet) makes me think that it would stand up well to milk.

It is smooth going down. Considering how deep the colour is I would be expecting astringency, but I’m not getting much here (at least not in any unpleasant way). This is a lovely tea to have without milk, which is how I now typically prefer my Assams.

I think that the Assam Hazelbank (also from Nothing But Tea, which is what I have been drinking previously to this) perhaps has a slight edge on complexity of flavour. This falls a bit flat in comparison. Perhaps that’s not a bad thing though… it’s a lovely tea, smooth and delicious, and I’m glad to have it in my collection.

After a few brews I upped the amount of leaves that I used and it came out more bitter than I typically care for, so I tried it with milk. Yep, this is definitely a good tea for people that like black tea with milk and want to upgrade the quality of the tea that they are drinking (this is what I was originally trying to do before I fell into this delicious world of milk-less tea from which I cannot seem to escape).

Would I buy it again? Yes, I think that I would – it fills the role of something strong and a bit malty; not needing milk, but still holding it’s own if you add it. That’s a good tea to have in your collection.