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105 degrees (the air temp, not the water!). Made up a 24 oz tumbler of this for pouring over ice. Brewed it a bit longer than I normally would, about 4 minutes, to get a little extra dark. Poured hot over ice and immediately strained over fresh ice in a glass. Wow! nice clean and crisp flavor with a bit of astringincy. The tannins reminded me of a heavily oaked Chardonnay…kind of woody, clean and sharp. Tried with both a touch of lemon and plain…not much difference either way. I think this one would take well to making sweet tea.

Enjoyed a cup with my wife this evening…. It’s now her “ask for” cup of tea.

GM Sampler of the day. After blasting GM about their ingredients in their Kashmiri Chai, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the Pu-erh Chai, the cardamon pods were actually whole and full of tasty seeds. The smell of the dry tea was very un-chai-like; a faint hint of cinnamon and a sort of basement mustiness. It brewed quickly to a dark fruitwood brown. The taste was very mild with a hint of cinnamon and none of the spicey kick of other chia mixes (I’m talking about clove, black pepper, & ginger spiciness). The underlying pu-erh tea was a perfect complement and I enjoyed this combination better than I did for both GM’s pure Pu-erh sampler and Kashmiri Chai.

A note on how I drink Chai’s: I treat a Chai mix like any other black tea and generally drink it without milk or sugar. For those that I have experience with, more than a single sample batch, I might add a touch of sugar to help bring out the spices. But initially, its straight up, served black :-)

New day, new cup of tea. This one had “bits” in it. Not sure what they were “bits” of..maybe apple or some orange peel? Nonetheless, fruity, floral goodness ensued. Did I mention that I generally don’t like green tea :-)

Its too bad that this is a “one of a kind”. Its actually very good. The smell, both of the dry leaves and the resulting tea reminds me of a candle shop. Yep, you know them, you can smell them within a hundred feet in all directions when walking at the shopping mall or your favorite midwestern (USA) tourist trap. Despite that ;-) its a very good, fruity, floral tea.

My wife needed to kill an hour waiting for some work, so she wandered into our local Whole Foods store (we don’t normally shop at such frou frou stores) and discovered that they have whole section of loose teas for $2/oz. Such a dear, she got me a sample of their Assam Breakfast. Brewed some up this morning. The leaves have that salt-n-pepper look of havning some light tips. Nice large fragments and a clean smell (not mustly/moldy). I poured water at a simmer straighted through the leaves in a mesh teaball and didn’t let it sit more than 30 seconds. I was amazed by how much color I got in that 30 seconds. Taste wise it was fairly flat without any astringency or tannic bite. slightly woodsy and not malty like I expected from assam. I suspect, with the salt-n-pepper look, that its a blend..of what I do not know.

Last bit, finished the 4 oz tin. good to the last bit. ’nuff said.

The dry leaves gave a quick vanilla shot when I opened the package, but either I got used to it or it faded quickly, as the rich vanilla smell dissipated in a few minutes. The tea brews a nice toasty brown and the vanilla smell is clear, if a bit sharp. The taste has a definite vanilla flavor and finish…sort of like a vanilla cake with a little excess vanilla. A good sipping tea.

Edit: 2nd steep…smells good, like baked goods with vanilla, but not much tea…sample was wrung out.
Edit #2: Over ice, Wow, this is great over ice. Nice refreshing vanilla aftertaste! Rating boost.

OMG..this isn’t tea, its perfume. Two sips and I couldn’t carry on.
I gave it to a friend to try…He couldn’t drink it either. His comment: “It reminds me of soap…”.
He had the 1st steep, I had the second…I can’t imagine what the first was like….