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This is my first Chai tea. Upon opening the packaging, I was welcomed by a pleasant vanilla aroma which felt quite promising. Steeped it for about 4 minutes and added some milk and sugar to it, and I now had a typical Chai tea in front of me. Not surprisingly, the vanilla taste came first, which I was quite familiar of from past flavoured coffee experiences probably. The spiciness came after that, which was not at all strong but actually quite mild for almost any tea drinker to enjoy. The spice did have a slightly toasty side to it as well. Although this is my first and only Chai, I am sure that this is nowhere close to the authentic one brewed from loose leaves with actual Cardamom and spices in it, but this tea was enjoyable for what it is.

I think this is the only single estate tea I can get from the supermarket. I opened up one of the tea bags and I saw that the tea leaves were very fine, so I’m guessing that they are tea dust. The tea had an overall weak flavor, though a bit brisk in character. 3 minutes of steep time or less is ideal, since it does get bitter if the teabag is left in the cup for any longer amount of time. I think it is best to have it without milk since the taste becomes quite dull. Making it iced is also a good idea.

Add: This definitely goes better with honey than with sugar. Not surprising as this is usually the case with most teas, but still worth noting.

There seems to be 2 other names for this same tea on Steepster. One thing I found interesting was that the rating was 78 on one of them and this one was 66. I guess people tend to go to the one with the rating that is closest to what they had in mind, so people rating this tea positively go to the other one while those who didn’t like it come to this one. There must be a psychological explanation for this.
Anyways, enough rambling. I just got my first PG Tips(240ct) that I ordered from eBay, at a very cheap price too. Shipping took forever, but it’s quite worth it. Comparing it to the Twinings English Breakfast, I think it’s slightly better in respect to flavor, scent, strength(brews up darker), etc. Maybe the pyramid shape actually does help the tea to be brewed better. I also found the taste to be very balanced, and I’ll certainly be more sure of this once I have this straight. I think I’ll be enjoying this for mornings and mornings until I run out and get some more. No wonder this tea is the best selling brand in England!

Add: This tea is definitely made with the common tea drinker in mind who adds milk/cream and sugar to their tea. I tried it without milk once and it just wasn’t as good. I guess teabags do have their limitations, but it is still a fantastic tea with milk added.

This tea is a blending of Assam, Darjeeling and high grown Ceylon. I bought this from…you might have never guessed it, but Winners! It’s a popular store in Canada that focuses on clothing, but sells a ton of other stuff as well including stuff like this! This is just like the Earl Grey from Twinings, but is slightly better because I get a flavor that is full and a bit heavier towards the Assam taste(which I prefer over the other teas in the blend). The bergamot is certainly there, but to a less extent than the Twinings, which I feel is the perfect amount of it I would like. As someone else has mentioned, the hexagonal shaped tea caddy is amazing to look at. Mine features a drawing called “Teachers Outing” by Peter Szumowski.

Add: This tea does get a pretty sharp and bitter taste when brewed for too long. 3 minutes or less steep time is ideal. After my initial taste note, I found that it is a bit too floral for my tastes, so I don’t drink it as often. I guess I can safely say that I’m not much of a fan of any bergamot flavor added teas, including Earl Grey of course.

Add: I now have a totally different thought about my initial verdict saying that this was better than the Twinings Earl Grey. The Twinings one somehow just has a more refreshing citrusy taste which is also more sweet while not getting bitter. I definitely prefer the Twinings now.

I like this a lot! When I added sugar to it, it almost brought out a taffy-like taste. The aroma matched the taste quite well, which I liked. I think this would make a perfect cup of tea to be sipping on while relaxing in the morning or afternoon.

So my free samples from The Jade Teapot just arrived!
They were nice enough to have sent me the samples, a 15% discount coupon, and a pen! How awesome is that?
I tried the Peach Oolong first, since I’ve never had oolong before. Once steeped, I could sense a subtle peach aroma which was nice. The tea itself was very smooth to swallow, and it had very little if any astringency while being slightly but naturally sweet.

I think I’m hooked on this thing! I tried it without milk, and it is still very good. Although I usually don’t like citrus in general, I think bergamot really has a distinctive character that sets it apart from other citrus fruits. It produces a very elegant fragrance which is perfect to be sniffing at in the morning.

Add: Rated it down a bit because it sometimes tasted like iron if that makes any sense. It’s weird, but was quite unpleasant nontheless.
Add2: I don’t think I can drink this particular Earl Grey without milk anymore. The metallic taste was just too much when drunk straight. Adding milk solves the problem entirely.

Yum. This is sort of my first “official” Earl Grey, since I’ve only had the Earl Greys in teabags sold at Tim Hortons until now. The tea leaves had a very nice aroma with the bergamot certainly showing its presence. I had this with milk today and it was an awesome combination. I’ll have it without milk tomorrow and see how the tea tastes in its pure form.

OK, upping the score again. I’ve been sort of let down by the unpleasant feeling that was left in my throat after drinking this, which felt like I just inhaled a lot of dust or something. Well, I discovered that when I steeped the tea leaves right away, an unusual amount of foam would develop. I found this really strange and it did kind of bother me. So this time I tried rinsing the tea leaves with cold water for about 5 seconds or so and then poured hot water over it. The result? Much less foam!!! And not surprisingly, I didn’t get the unpleasant feeling anymore in my throat and the cup tasted so much cleaner and smoother. This brought me to the conclusion that rinsing IS necessary for certain teas to remove the dust or whatever that might have been causing that negative effect.

Add: Even after rinsing, I could still see small particles settle on the bottom of my cup, so I get that unpleasant feeling again as I’m close to finishing the cup. This is dissapointing since I like the taste of this tea. Rating it down, again!

Bringing down the score a little bit. It is very smooth and refreshing, but for some reason it made my throat a bit dry and left sort of an unpleasant feeling. The smell of the tea leaves were quite vegetal which made the tea very flavorful.