Michelle Butler Hallett Send Message

1 bag for 250mL water @100C, steeped 8 minutes.

It takes a while to get many tisanes to taste of anything at all, and the risk with a long steep and a fruit tisane from Celestial Seasonings is giving space for that bully, hibiscus.

In this blend, hibiscus is fairly far down the ingredients list. Rosehips shine here, and the peach aroma is quite convincing, if the flavour a little less so. Still, I really like it, and it’s definitely cheap to buy and easy to make. I think I’ll toss a bag of this into a pot of steeping black tea and see what I get.

1 bag for 250mL water @100C, steeped 4-7 minutes. Sometimes I just leave the bag in.

An old favourite form university days. A rare fruit tisane that does not just smack me upside the head with hibiscus — Celestial Seasonings relies way too much on hibiscus — though the dreaded H is in there. Still, this is a gorgeous tisane, with the orange and spices able to stand up to the hibiscus and make it behave. I really dig the cloves and coriander here. Strong and comforting. One caveat: like many tisanes, it needs a fairly long steep to taste of anything at all.

1.25 tsp for 330mL water @90C, steeped Western style 3 minutes — because sometimes I;m greedy with oolong. First infusion.

Oh
my
GAWD, this is good! I adore tieguanyins, and once again, Master Zhang shows us how it’s done. This is beautifully floral, of course, but there’s also lots of fruit notes — like dragonfruit and lychee and peach — and a tingle almost, which is very refreshing but could become a bit soapy if steeped too long. Lesson learned: I’ll make this gong fu next time. It’s deeper than a spring tieguanyin. Crisp mineral notes. Fruit and flowers dominate. Just gorgeous.

4.5 tsp for 1L water @85C, steeped 3 minutes.

Dry leaf: lots of big, unfurled leaves, light and dark green, plus bits of dried fruit and some red and white blossoms (pomegranate and sunflower). Strong scent of papaya that sort of resembles peach. Sort of.

Wet leaf: dark green, slightly less-scented.

Liquor: bronze. Dark for a white tea.

So the dried fruit is mango, papaya, and pineapple coated in sugar and citric acid. There’s also “natural flavours.” Don’t be frightened off — this one works. The scent is a bit strong on the first steep and may lessen on a second. Lots of peach-like taste, though I can tell it’s not peaches. Decent white-tea taste as well, with lots of tea oils released into the water. Very nice mouth-feel.

While this is not a tea I’d want every day, it does deliver a peachy aroma and taste, and the flavouring does not overpower the white tea.

I’ve had this tea before and steeped it too long then. Treat this one delicately, no warmer than 85C on the water and a short steep, and you should get a pleasantly peachy white tea. With hotter water or a long steep time, this blend can get bitter fast.

1 sachet for 275mL water @100C, steeped 5 minutes, evaporated milk added.

A decent ‘breakfast’ blend, though not worth the premium price charged. Stands up reasonably well to a teaspoon of thick and creamy evaporated milk … but could be stronger. It does have an unexpected and most welcome floral-bread scent. If I had to guess, I’d say this blend is Nilgiri-heavy, with some heft but no depth and very little maltiness.

2.5 tsp for 400mL water @90C, steeped four minutes Western-style.

First, I have too much leaf here. Second, the water temp is too damn hot. I’ve got scalded and bitter tea here. Bleah.

Still, I can taste a ghost of the lovely sample I tried at a DavidsTea yesterday, which was between a quangzhou milk and a tieguanyin. The DT staff tell me it stands up to multiple steeps and gets more floral with each re-steep.

Okay, as it cools, it’s improving. Definitely gonna use water at 85C next time. Can’t wait to try it gongfu.

This is a pricy tea almost $16 for 50 grams, but I think it’s well worth trying if you’re a fan of milky and floral oolongs.

1.25 tsp for 250mL: water @95C, steeped 4 minutes.

UPDATE: I couldn’t finish drinking this tea. It’s like drinking heartburn.

Dry leaf: dark greenish black with many visible chunks of ginger and cardamon. Sneeze-worthy spicy scent.

Wet leaf: very little tea. Mostly chunks of spice and cocoa shells.

Liquor: cloudy brown. Most unappealing.

Aroma: assertive ginger, cinnamon , and caradmom. Everyone in my office wants to know what I’m drinking.

Flavour: well now! That’s some hot ginger and cinnamon. I quite like it. Very subtle earthiness in the finish from the pu ehr. Thin-bodied tea, not much heft or mouthfeel, We’ll see later what effect the guarana has.

I loved the old Chai Guarana, made with a black tea base. It was one of DavidTea’s more interesting blends. Like most of my DT favourites, it’s long since been been continued. (Oh, what I wouldn’t give for Super Chocolate to come back!) In fact. DavidsTea’s deplorable habit of offering a truly interesting tea or tisane and then withdrawing it is one of the reasons I hardly ever shop there anymore.

This blend’s decent for a spice hit, If you don’t mind not getting much actual tea, this should work for you.

1.5 tsp for 350 mL water @95C, steeped 5 minutes 30 seconds.

Nice! Sharp and sweet cinnamon and non-woody rooibos. Simple and good.

1.5 tsp for 350mL water @100C, steeped four minutes fifteen seconds.

Dry leaf is very pretty, with colourful cake sprinkles against bright red rooibos. Wet leaf looks a bit sludgy with partly melted sprinkles. Liquor is cloudy dark red. No woody taste, just roobios and honeybush with a tiny bit of green rooibos, plus vanilla and maple-ish flavours. Better than I expected. A lovely sipping tisane. A longer steep might make it even better,.