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Lewis & Clarke TTB

I have no idea what holy basil tastes like, but the fact that it’s called “Spa Blend” sounded interesting to me. This tea is a mixture of very small pieces of herbs – looks like mint and fennel seed with chunks of something else. Dry scent is mostly mint to me, though I can smell the fennel a little bit. Again, weird instructions, so I did boiling for 5 minutes since it’s herbal.

Brewed, it smells like mint and honey. The taste is mostly mint to me, but there’s also something in here that tastes similar to honey to me, but without the sweetness. I can taste the fennel, but only just slightly. I don’t know what holy basil tastes like so I can’t comment on that really. :P I can’t say that I taste burdock root, or at least it doesn’t taste like the burdock root tea I had earlier. Pretty good, but I wish the other ingredients stood up to the mint more. :)

Lewis & Clarke TTB

I was unsure what to expect from this one based on the name, other than the bergamot. I was happy to see that the “Golden” part of it is a Yunnan base tea, yums. There’s also lemongrass and orange peel mixed in, which is lovely. The dry scent is overwhelmingly bergamot. :P The instructions are… weird, so I just did 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Yum, the brewed tea smells strongly of lemon and orange, and it’s making my mouth water. I love that I can taste the lemon and orange more than the bergamot in this tea! Yeah, I like bergamot, but I hate it when it overpowers other flavors. The Yunnan base is light and bready and pastrylike, tasty. It’s like eating a lemon pie! :D

Their website says that this blend is archived. :( Now I’m very sad.

Lewis & Clarke TTB

I’m really happy that the Butiki teas in this box are all unflavored ones that I haven’t tried. Awesome! These leaves are not curled into snails like I would expect, they’re loosely twisted. They’re very dark green in color, with some silvery bits. Their scent is quite mild, but a combination of vegetal and hay notes.

The brewed aroma is very spinachy and reminds me of a strong sencha or gyokuro. This is a very mild tea, and the flavors are lovely. It’s mostly vegetal, a combination of steamed spinach and butternut squash. Quite sweet and creamy and lovely! I find it quite similar to Laoshan Green, which I also like. Thanks to Stacy for providing this tea, I like it a lot. :)

Lewis & Clarke TTB

I’ve not been a huge fan of The Persimmon Tree’s teas in the past, but I popped open a sample of this one and it smells quite tasty, so I thought I’d give it a try! The dry leaf is mostly black tea with some red rooibos and rose petals mixed in for dramatic effect. It smells somewhat tart and quite apple-y in an apple juice kind of way. There are no instructions, so I did a 3 minute steep at 200 degrees.

Once the tea is brewed, I still smell quite a bit of apple with maybe a little peach in there? I can also smell a bit of cinnamon and something resembling butter. This tea tastes… odd. It’s almost smoky, and I don’t really get any fruit from it. There’s a baby hint of apple near the end, and a touch of cinnamon, but otherwise this is nowhere near any kind of fruit crisp… :(

Lewis & Clarke TTB

So I sniffed the Green Terrace Teas oolongs, and this one smelled delightful! :P The tightly-rolled pellets are yellow-green. Their dry scent is very sweet and creamy with stonefruit notes. I was unsure how to steep this, but I went with 190 degrees for 3 minutes. I underleafed it a little bit because I wanted to make sure there was a serving left for someone else, so I used a little bit less water as well. :)

Brewed, it smells sweet and somewhat vegetal with nice peach notes. Yum, this is very tasty. It seems quite similar to a buttery, vegetal green tea to me, which is nice because usually green oolong is too light-bodied for me. It definitely has a touch of lovely peach flavor that I pretty much always find in green oolong. The texture is very creamy and mouth-filling, and there’s the tiniest flourish of floral at the end of the sip, as well as stronger peach notes. This is definitely my kind of green oolong, yum! :)

Edit: Do not let this one cool, lol. The floral takes over and it becomes quite soapy… :(

Lewis & Clarke TTB

I’ve never had a lychee tea, but I always seem to be curious about them… So I’m trying one! This definitely smells lovely and fruity, though I have no concept of what lychee tastes like. The scent is very sweet and somewhat tropical, with something that reminds me of ginger?

Brewed, this tea smells sweet and fruity with some floral. I am immediately reminded of Fauchon, because this tea has that odd powdered sugar-esque smell too. Interesting! I’m assuming lychee is a very floral fruit, because this hardly tastes fruity at all… It’s mostly a mild, sweet floral flavor with a little bit of that powdered sugar taste. Not terrible, but not at all what I expected. :)

Lewis & Clarke TTB

Yum, genmaicha. I’m very interested in trying this one so I can see how it compares to my beloved Minnesota Blend, since it’s the same thing but without the vanilla and flower petals. I love that they use two types of toasted rice, it adds a lot of visual interest. The tea itself is one of the Laoshan Greens, and the leaves are dark evergreen, very thin, and curled. It smells toasty and creamy and absolutely lovely. I went for a 2 minute steep just because. :D

Mm, the brewed aroma is luscious… Toasting, comforting rice mixed with sweet and creamy vegetal green tea. Oh yum. The toasted rice is very toasted, so the flavor is deep and rich and amazing. And the green tea is that lovely sweet and creamy Laoshan Green with its gentle vegetal flavor. This is delish, and will absolutely be an acceptable substitute for my Minnesota Blend once it’s gone (aww).

Lewis & Clarke TTB

Ah, silver needles, always so lovely. :D This is the first white tea I’ve tried from Yunnan Sourcing, though I love their blacks. The buds are a beautiful combination of white and green with bits of grey in there, and they’re super fuzzy. Dry, they smell strongly of honey with a little bit of fruitiness and a touch of grass, also some grain. I did 2 minutes at 185 degrees.

Mm, the aroma is lovely! Creamy and grainy with just a touch of grassy freshness, along with some cucumber. Oh my goodness, this is delicious! There’s a light fruitiness that reminds me of apricots along with a lovely malty flavor combined with the ubiquitous grain of white tea. I also seem to pick up on a little touch of floral (honeysuckle?), but it’s not the heady variety and it goes nicely with the lightness of this tea. There’s also maybe a hint of spice, cinnamon perhaps? Along with all of this is a lovely fresh note that’s some combination of cucumber and a sweet grassy note. Definitely the best silver needle I’ve had so far! :D

Edit: I am finding this one to be quite astringent as I continue to drink. It doesn’t bother me, as it causes me to recall apricots more clearly. :P

http://yunnansourcing.com/en/whitetea/2887-silver-needles-white-tea-of-feng-qing-spring-2014.html

Lewis & Clarke TTB

Vanilla is one of my favorite flavors, so I had to try this one. :D The leaves are pretty generic-looking black tea leaves. It smells very sweet and vanilla custardy, but there’s also another smell that I’m having a hard time placing. I know, it reminds me of those vanilla-flavored calcium chews! Lol…

Brewed, it smells like vanilla custard, om nom nom! To be honest, I’m a bit disappointed by the lack of vanilla flavor in my cup. I’m not sure whether I didn’t get any vanilla bean or what, but it pretty much tastes like a mediocre black tea with a hint of vanilla at the end. :( Sad day.

Lewis & Clarke TTB

Yum, chocolate black tea & puerh blend? Sounds tasty. This one is in sachets. The leaf is fairly small with some larger sticks in it, and a few yellow flower petals. It smells lovely and chocolatey! The instructions say 1 sachet for 16 ounces, but I didn’t listen because I’m a rebel… Lol. I did 8 ounces for mine.

Brewed aroma is chocolatey and brisk with just a little hint of puerh “pond” smell. Well, it didn’t come out super bitter so I guess the 8 ounces of water was okay. :P I actually quite like this one. The chocolate and the puerh go together very well and the flavoring seems like part of the tea. The puerh gives that lovely almost woody quality that I’ve experienced with Mandala’s shou, while the black tea is just generally malty and somewhat brisk. There’s a little bit of mineral quality to this, but it’s not strong enough to bother me. Overall, pretty tasty! :)