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Made this one again, used a bit more tea and a bit longer steep. It actually turned out really good. Definitely has that smooth sencha taste. But it was kind of weird. My initial thought was that this tastes like a light black tea. But it wasn’t oolong’y tasting, not a roasted oolong. More like a black tea. Kind of hard to explain. But it is good.

Brewed this as per package instructions, steeped for 3 minutes. Added 1tbsp of white sugar.

This one dried and brewed smells like Harneys ginger peach black tea, which I quite like. The brewed tea was quite cloudy which I find unusual for SBTs. The cloudiness dissipated after it cooled. Definitely a honey ginger taste. The honey is a bit artificial tasting and the ginger is candied tasting but still good. The black base is subtle. To me this one is more of a sipping vs thirst quenching iced tea.

I have made a personal decision to stop re-steeping the SBT’s, to save on disappointment and resources. But I am enjoying this first steep.

This is a pretty good sencha. I quite like sencha and I find it hard to find a good one. This one is not as buttery as I would like. But it is smooth. There is definitely a bit more spinachy, slightly woody flavour to this sencha, but it is still good.

I had brewed this one up hot and then put it in the fridge after to make it “iced” for a recipe. Iced it is ok. I have never been a huge fan of iced greens. It is just slightly bitter as iced. But it still maintains that nice sencha flavour.

Ok to the recipe. I found the best recipe for home made Bubble Tea. YES!!!!!
So here is the recipe for 4-6 servings:
1/2cup tapioca pearls
2 TBSP honey
1/3 cup Marscapone
1 1/2 cup green or black tea, iced
2 cups juice
1 cup milk.

You are supposed to cook the tapioca as per the package. Whisk honey and marscapone together, and slowly add tea, milk, and juice. Add tapioca and serve over ice.

Well of course I could not find tapioca pearls anywhere. The only thing I could find was the tapioca that is mixed up with starch so it makes the pudding or is used as a thickener. So my bubble tea had no bubbles, but that is ok. I also used this green tea and I used strawberry-kiwi juice. I served it with fresh farmers market strawberries.

It is so good. The liquor actually has minimal colour, which I think is good. Kind of goes to show how the mass produced type bubble teas have some sort of ridiculous dye in them. It is smooth and milky. The green tea is very light underneath the milky flavour. I think next time I would use a bit more green tea. The juice adds a very light fruity flavour, mostly strawberry. The marscapone makes it thick and luxurious and the honey adds just a bit of natural tasting sweetness.

I think next time I would like to try this with a fruit flavoured tea and omit the juice part.

Enjoying the day :)

Made as per package directions. Added some white sugar.

This one is pretty much a basic iced tea. No flavourings. And that is ok because I like it that way. There is a slight sweetness to the tea, (not the sugar I added, but from the assam blend). It is not bitter or astringent but I could see how it could become that if it is steeped for too long. It is not the smoothest of blends, but it is still ok.

Edit: re steeped for 3 min. The colour of the liquor was quite dark so I added a full 2L of water, as it would do for the first steep. Sadly, the disappointment of the new blend SBT resteeps remains. It was actually fairly weak. I wish I would have added only 1L of water.

Ahhhh mount grey…how I love you so.

This tea is super duper delicious. Any bergamot lovers out there (and even some of the haters) would love this tea :) It is a moderately bold black base with a very strong but sweet and smooth bergamot. I should drink this tea more, but I don’t because I want to savour it.

To all reading this post, please know, I have climbed the summit of Mount Grey!

And a Happy Canada Day to all! There has been quite devastating rain though my province and the neighbouring province over the past week. Where I am, I have measured 5.75" of rain in the last 5 days. In my city alone there are a reported 400 houses with flooding/sewer back up. There are also dozens and dozens of communities under a state of emergency and one even evacuated due to flooding. My house has been safe, thankfully my sump pump is working steadily. My sincerest thoughts to everyone who is spending this Canada Day throwing out personal belongings, cleaning up sewer back up, or who are displaced and not able to be with friends and family. The sun has finally come out to shine today, it will get better :)

I like black tea and I like citrus. I usually like both of them together. So I got a sample pack of this to try.

The dry tea smells pleasant. It is kind of but not quite fruit loops smelling. It has an artificial citrus scent to it but it is still pleasant for the nose.

The brewed tea is just ok. Pretty flat tasting. It could have used some sweetener. The citrus is quite artificial in the taste. It is not astringent but just slightly bitter towards the end. The black tea base seems to be quite thick and bold. I may have used too much tea or brewed too long.

This one was ok but a but disappointing. I still have some left to play around with though.

This tea is amazing.

First of all, the leaves are perfectly whole, just dried and flattened out. They are so HUGE. It almost felt sacrilegious to put them into a cup and pour boiling water over them.

The dry tea smells slightly vegetal, similar to cabbage or spinach but not quite. The smell is familiar to a vegetable soup base.

The brewed tea brews up fairly strong. There is definitely a vegetal flavour but it is very light and mild. It is not floral, but it is not strong cabbage, it is just somewhere in between. It is smooth and creamy. Just slight butter notes.

This tea is delicious. Thank you Angel from Teavivre for this free sample. I appreciate being able to try such awesome and high grade green teas.

This tea is beautiful. It smells nicely sweet and slightly smokey. Smells delicious. The dry tea leaves are small and curly and uniform. It actually hurts to take the first scoop out of the tin because it feels like I am crushing the leaves. Gives a new meaning to agony of the leaves :)

The tea brews up really nice, and also really strong. It agains have an excellent balance of sweet and slightly smokey keemun. It is very bold and malty. Just a slight dryness in the aftertaste but it is not astringent or bitter.

For some reason, I do not associate keemun with spring. This keemun is very fresh but the boldness and maltiness reminds me more of a late fall or winter. But I don’t care, it is delicious.

Made this one as per package instructions with about 2tsp added white sugar.

I was a bit apprehensive about this one as the dry tea did not do much for my nose. It smelled like the SBT Watermelon but kind of “off”.

The brewed tea is nothing like what I was imagining from the smell. There is a very light candied watermelon flavour but there is surprisingly a smooth cucumber flavour. Very much like cucumber water. The melon and cucumber flavours mingle nicely together. Not overly sweet, but I am happy I did add some white sugar to this tea.

The black tea base has a moderately bold flavour. It almost overshadows the melon cucumber flavour, but not completely.

This one is much better than I though it would be which is a very nice surprise.

Edit: re-steeped for 3 minutes with white sugar added. It brewed up really light. I only added 1 L instead of the usual 2 of cold water to the concentrate. It is drinkable but not as enjoyable as the first steep. I have noticed the last few SBT that I have had, new flavours and re-blends just haven’t been holding up to the re-steepability as previous. Not sure if it is just me?

Finally reviewing this tea.

This one is delicious, as with all other A&D blends I have tried.

It is a beautifully thick and malty Yunnan. I laughed when I read some of the descriptors that steepsterites had given this tea. Now I totally do not get the cannabis flavour. But I do get the autumn leaf pile. Not in a bad way but the smell of the tea is kind of like the sweet scent of drying leaves in the autumn. There is a very slight dry vegetal flavour to this tea which I would attribute with dry and crumbly leaves. I also feel like a get a hint of sweet potatoe flavour, more potatoe than sweet though.

I feel like I should hoard and savour this tea but not sure if it will last that long now that I have started drinking it.