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Trying to clear out old tea bags in my travel bag. I made this with boiling water and added a dash of soy milk. It’s fine, but not exceptional. I get some tannins and malt, but without the milk it wouldn’t be an enjoyable cup.

This blend is from a TTB but I can’t recall which one. I’ve had it several times but did not finish it off until today.

The green tea is a bit astringent and bitter. I find it drying in my mouth. The aromatics are quite nice, though, because I can make out floral and fruity notes. Distinctly, coconut/creamy and passionfruit as well as what might be rose or general floral notes. The smell is very fruity and vegetal, like matcha. The after taste is where the coconut and rose come in.

Steep 1: 80 deg C water, 500 mL, 4 minute steep
It smells strongly of honey and honeysuckle, lightly floral. Liquid is light amber yellow. I can taste a slight bit of dried leaf pile, straw, and vegetal green beans. It isn’t as strong as I anticipated but it is also an old sample.

Steep 2: 80 deg C water, 500 mL, 8 minute steep
Very lightly flavoured. It still smells much different than it tastes. Very slight bit of bitterness and tannin but bitter like grapefruit rather than typical bitter gourd I notice in other light teas. Slightly vegetal. Honey smell is gone. Flavour is more powerful than before. I get a faint whiff of herbs like a spice cabinet or a herbal tea blend (this was stored in a sealed container so not from storage). I can’t make out any specifically.

I decided to be a rebel and brew this as a traditional English cuppa. 5g leaf, hot but not boiling water, 6-7 minutes steep in 500 ml water. I added a dash of vanilla soy milk.

There are a lot of tannins despite the liquid being lighter amber. The milk smoothed it out nicely. I can taste a lot of honey notes. Not just the sweetness but distinctly honey. A little malt but more focused on the honey. Although I don’t drink a lot of plain teas or caffeinated teas, it made a nice morning cup. It has a strong orange pekoe flavour but the aftertaste of honey was a nice surprise.

This is a really old tea I’ve had for many years (originally from a user on here or possibly a TTB). It’s older 2015 harvest or before but has been in a well sealed pouch in a dark drawer.

I went with 225 mL water (hot, maybe 75 deg. C) and steeped 5 minutes. The liquid has no colour but has a faint flavour of dried oak leaves and fresh fiddleheads or green beans. It’s very faint, through, and more vegetal than anything else. It wasn’t a very good cup due to the very faint flavour and few nuances. I’m not going to rate this one because my tea sample is so old. If I did rate it, I’d give it maybe 30-45/100 but that wouldn’t be fair to the quality of the fresh buds.

Review from May 2022

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Yep, that’s a chai! It’s got all the typical spices and a good amount of flavour. As always, I drank this with some vanilla soy milk and a tiny bit of sugar (~1/2 tsp). Nice cinnamon and warm peppery spices but balanced out by the clove and cardamom. Nothing particularly exceptional about this blend, but it is an enjoyable cup. Best with milk to round out the CTC black base, which can be a bit overly tannic and tending towards bitter.

May 2022

Trying to use up random teabags and made this hot and then made a second cup iced with lemon and sugar. The hot cup was generic, bitter, vegetal notes of corn husk and matcha powder. I dislike the bitterness in this green tea, which is why I avoid bagged greens whenever possible.

The iced cup was better, but not very flavourful or memorable. If anything, it was mostly lemonade with a touch of green tea. The sugar takes care of the bitterness but it’s just so bland. :( The second cup was too weak to really make out any motes.

I bought this on a whim last November for my stocking and kinda wished I had bought a second box. This has an excellent dessert flavour reminiscent of cream and digestive biscuits. It really says “cream” to me more than just being creamy or milky. It has a natural sweetness as well (but no stevia! hell yeah!). The biggest downside is that it is caffeinated. However, this does mean that the black tea base isn’t hidden or washed out like decafs can be. You get a lot of malty, strong black tea flavour. It’s got a very English tea with digestives thing going, which I love. I love digestive cookies (especially with tea)

The only way to drink this is with vanilla soy milk/milk of choice. You could also add sweetener if you wished but I don’t think it needs it.

I’ve missed you all dearly. I have a bunch of reviews saved that I want to post, so please excuse the spam.

I got this as a sampler from Well.ca and was delighted that they had a free sample I actually cared about. This is a wonderful peppermint. My teabag was called “Minty fresh” but it seems to only contain peppermint.

This is a fresh and strong peppermint with a lot of menthol. I brewed this sachet (single serve mesh sachet – but both the sachet and the wrapper are compostable/recyclable) in hot water (~90 C) for 5 minutes. I could smell the mint right away. Even as a dry leaf it smelled very potent. I’m impressed! It wouldn’t be my go-to just for cost reasons but this is one of the best straight peppermints I’ve had.

New Years Resolution – January 1st: Drink An Comfort Tea

An old favourite that I always keep in stock. It is so warm and comforting. I really like wintergreen and spearmint so this blend is 10/10 for me. Nothing more to really say since I’ve written detailed reviews several times.