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I honestly don’t understand all the hype behind Earl Grey tea. I dislike the taste of bergamot that is used in the Earl Grey recipe. It tastes more like licking a rusty pipe than it does an orange. That is why I have been on the hunt to find a really good orange flavored black tea.

While vacationing in Tennessee last week, I came across the Black Bear Tea Company in the Mountain Mall in Gatlinburg. As soon as I spotted the Black Orange tea, I picked it up… no hesitation.

I am home from vacation and finally get to see if I made a good purchase. Indeed, I did! The taste is quite mellow for a black tea. The orange is obviously the key note but it is not overwhelming – I can still taste the black tea. The brew is sweet and tangy, not bitter, but a little astringent. I bet this would be incredible iced!

The only bad thing is… I can’t find this blend on their website. :(

I had a weird craving for grapefruit this afternoon. I didn’t have any of the actual fruit at home so I made a cup of this tea.

After drinking it, I wish I would have just made an extra trip to buy the real thing. The tea was meh… it needed more grapefruit flavor as it seemed a tad bland. Normally I am against flavoring tea altogether, but in this case I thought “pick a side – either taste like a particular flavoring or don’t.”

The first thing I noticed was the incredibly green color of the liquor. I think it is just a shade lighter than Den’s “Extra Green” stuff.

The aroma of the tea is nutty with a steamed vegetable scent in background.

The taste is grassy and nutty. The aftertaste is that of steamed vegetables. It’s a little astringent, not bitter. I am really digging the nutty taste in this one; it fits so well with the vegetal flavor. It is somewhere between a light and medium bodied tea.

I like it. Too bad I only have a sample of it. :(

Made this iced – hot brewed, cooled to room temperature, then added ice.

It is brisk and refreshing. A nice full bodied tea that has a touch of smokiness and just enough sweetness.

So, I was sitting at my boyfriend’s house last night, waiting for him to return from his summer bowling league…

It was about 7pm and I was bored channel surfing through one crappy television show after another… so I decided to dig into his tea stash. I found an assorted Tazo box and searched it for some decaf tea because it was late – I don’t normally have tea after 6pm because I seem to be sensitive to caffeine.

I plucked Lotus from the box and made a cup. Bad decision. It was bad, but drinkable. Both the aroma and taste were strictly lotus… it was like chewing on a flower. It was astringent, but I wouldn’t stay it was bitter. Not exactly sweet… just… floral… only floral.

I drank the whole cup, but I will never make this again.

I wasn’t too excited about this year’s Shincha season because I ordered Shincha from O-Cha last year and I wasn’t that impressed.

I tried Den’s this time because they have never failed me before… and they still haven’t.

The taste is delicate, super sweet, and smooth. Hardly any astringency – only when I get to the bottom of the cup does the dryness start to build. No bitterness… just the silky smooth grassy flavor. Hands down, one of the sweetest green teas I have had to this point.

See previous note for this tea

I didn’t mention this in the last note and wanted to add that this matcha is very smooth, among all of its other great qualities.

My first matcha ever was Teavana’s matcha… which is absolutely disgusting – unless you like drinking bland flavored water with the texture of sand. That experience almost turned me off to matcha completely until an awesome tea friend of mine opened my eyes to the realization that all of Teavana is the epitome of evil.

I have had a couple of different matcha’s since that tragedy, but none as smooth as this. There is no grainy texture to this matcha, even after getting pretty darn close to the bottom of the bowl. It feels like drinking tea and not like chewing on sandy seawater.

Delicious! With each sip I get a touch of sweetness on the tip of my tongue, then a few seconds later I can feel the slight tingling of bitterness on the back of my tongue and throat. The overall flavor is amazing – grassy, vegetal, frickin’ awesome. It is more mellow than I thought it would be… but maybe I screwed up the ratio of matcha to water. After I finished the bowl, my mouth is a little dry, though.

Oh my good golly gosh! This tea is fantastic. It is a lot sweeter than I thought it would be. The grassy/vegetal flavor just glides across my tongue. Absolutely no bitterness, but just a hint of astringency.

The color of this tea is a beautiful bright green. It makes me impatient for spring to arrive…

I think I am going to cheat on my buddy, Sencha, and hangout more with Gyokuro today.