Acquired Taste Tea Co.

SSTTB: Pick #10

So this is a company that’s new to me. Like, really new to me; I don’t think I’d ever even heard of them? But there’s are a whole bunch of different blends from them in the box so I decided I needed to try at least one of them. Problem is that they’re pretty much all Chais or have Ginger in them. Ick.

But this one smells intensely like juicy lemon candy or lemonade with no presence of ginger at all so I decided to cold brew it with the hope it would be the same way once it was strained. And it is! It’s this really juicy sweet lemonade with no ginger at all. It kinda reminds of Meyer Lemons actually!

It feels like a really good summer tea; lemonade like and juicy! I could probably drink this one often if the ginger stayed absent like it is now. Yummy!

My other coconut green tea from MissB! Thanks! Brewed the same way as the last one.

I think I like this one a bit more (which is convenient, because I have a lot more of it!). I mentioned that the previous one had a bit of a fruity note to it, a brightness, but this one is all creamy coconut. It’s not really toasted coconut but fresh coconut. Now I’m flashing back to eating a “jelly coconut” (young, not really ripe coconut) in Madagascar… Whack it open with a machete, drink the milk, then scrape the jelly-ish insides out with a “spoon” made out of a chunk of the husk. Few things are more refreshing on a hot day! Coconut with green tea reminds me of that since the green tea adds a bit of green freshness to it. Yum!

SSTTB

This one smells much better than it tastes. So lemony and delicious. Mmmmm… However, tastewise, the lemon is muted and the spices leave a drying feeling in my mouth. It is just not for me. I am glad I got the chance to try it though :)

This tea was the perfect pick me up I needed this morning. I ventured out and picked up my first CSA box of the summer. The leaves of this tea has an intense grapefruit smell that I love. After steeping it mellows out, I unfortunately don’t get a lot of earl grey out of this but otherwise it’s very tasty.

Thanks to MissB for sending a sample of this to my wife today! and thanks to my wife for sharing it! I’m always on the lookout for new Rooibos blends, being on a low caffeine diet makes for challenging tea drinking sometimes, so I was excited for this one! It’s a tricky tea, trying for Tangerine was a bold move but I’m not entirely sure the tea made it there. At times it’s a triumph, like a fresh orange on a hot day, but other times it comes across as artificial. Like orange flavored cough drops if I’m honest. I think the problem is that bits of tangerine rind were included, but not tangerine itself (freeze dried or otherwise). Rind can either work or taste very bitter, and in this tea sometimes it went one and sometimes the other. If I had more I might experiment with different sweetners to try and stabilize the taste. I’m going to recommend this tea though because it’s definitely worth a try!

Oooh, this is rather nice. I forget how good a chai can be, especially with a bit of milk to tone down the cinnamon!

Thanks MissB for sending so much of this along!

I tried this one as a cold brew as well, and while i like it a bit more than this hot brewed, i think this is just not the tea for me. Conceptually i really like it, but in execution there’s something slightly off about this one. However, appreciate the share MissB because i love trying all the teas!

this is one of the teas that missB sent my way. It smells quite lovely with the lemon and the addded spice. Drinking it up though, was a different sort of experience. There wasn’t as much lemon as i figured there might be and the spice left a weird taste in my mouth. I’m cold brewing the rest of my sample to see if that makes a difference in the taste:)

I’m sure that all these dutch licorice teas (the two that I have) come from the same company originally, I’m just stuck as to who that is exactly, so this review stays here.

Still a satisfying cup, and one that I’m really enjoying, although overleafing it a bit seems like my favorite way to have it.

Smooth and luscious, this is another lovely Dutch licorice tea. Just like the licorice bunnies I know and love from childhood!

Darn it, I know I logged this the other night. Ah well. This is infinitely better hot; cold, it’s just a faintly flavored rooibos. Hot, it’s all juicy tangerine/orange with something granular added to the mix.

Standard chai spices, with a solid chai flavor. A bit much licorice/anise for me, but otherwise, lovely.

Pleasant, fruity and light – although something I’m drinking, I’m having an allergic reaction to. Very pineapple-y, depending on the sip, with little coconut, but it’s still in there vaguely.

(Just moving this; I think this may be an original).

I swear there was some sort of Fujian base in here, as I’m getting faint chocolate notes along with the black tea and mint. It’s a lovely cup, although very different from the Moroccan tea I’m used to having after a meal. (Perhaps theirs is full of honey though). A solid offering.

This likely came from either Murchie’s or Market Spice originally, however I grabbed it from Acquired Taste in Edmonton.

Smells like lemon, tastes like a lemony chai, sort of. A bit drying. All it is supposedly is lemon and cinnamon with Ceylon, and I get the faint idea of a lemon flavored cinnamon heart. Mild though, just… drying, and it feels like it’s from the cinnamon. It’s not a bad tea, just probably better suited for someone else. I also brewed it wrong, as it looks like a green… maybe it was mislabeled? Dunno.

I’m going to hazard that this is the same blend that Bayswater here in Vancouver, BC sells, and that both companies grabbed it from Simpson & Vail (but they call it Citrus Paradisi Tea). Ah, I wish this process were easier. :) Maybe a name, supplier and where purchased needs to be added?

Anyway. This is a lovely tea, and I’m super happy that I grabbed it. A tiny bit tart like grapefruit, juicy and sweet, with zero flowery blergamot that I can detect. It smells amazing too!

Almost positive this is The Tao of Tea’s 500 Mile Chai, however I still need confirmation so I’m putting this here.

Hoo boy, this is one strong chai. The base is a bit much for me; I like my chai less in-your-face. Hasn’t stopped me from drinking it… the ginger is quite lovely here, as is the cardamom and something sweet, sweeter than normal in a straight chai. I do like it, it’s just something I probably shouldn’t have had at 12:41am…

I’m sure this is an offering from some other company, but I’m at a loss to figure out which. It’s definitely strong on the lemon and quite lovely, however there’s zero ginger in it – and I’ve had this three times now, all oversteeped in the hopes to pull some ginger out of it. Boo. It’s not a bad tea, it’s actually quite lovely… I just wanted ginger.

A straightforward chai, almost gingerbread-like in the smell and taste. It’s leaving a weird feeling on my teeth though, almost like it’s stripping the enamel? Hard to describe, it just makes my teeth feel… dry.

The description calls this a chai – I’m not sure what to call it exactly, other than shockingly delicious. Barely can taste the base, then there’s vanilla, some creaminess from the cardamom, something nutty, and orange. I love this tea!

Hm. Methinks this is the same chai as the Spicy Chai, except that this has vanilla in it. Interesting. I definitely like this better – smoother – however it’s still too bitter as it cooled.

I think (?) this is what I’m reviewing? I have two chais here, and I forgot which was which. From the ingredient list, this looks like what I should be drinking… I need to look at my pictures… yep, this is the spicy chai.

I’m finding it really drying, and spicy, but more that it’s got a lot of spice in it than any sort of heat. Very thick, full bodied chai. Bitter as it cooled as well, which blows.

Yum this made for a good cup today. It doesn’t seem as waxy, just sweet with heat in the aftertaste from the chilis. Warm on this frigid day. I wanted to go to the gym, but I really don’t want to step foot outside in -36 C windchill weather haha. I will just sit and have more tea I guess :P at least it’s not bad for me! See previous notes on this one :) oh and decreased rating a little bit, just due to the slight waxiness.

This is the other tea mom got me for Christmas, I tried to remember the ingredients the lady gave me on the phone but not sure if I got them all, no nuts at least! The dry leaves consist of black tea, chocolate chunks, what looks like strips of chili peppers, and red peppercorns. Interesting, kind of a version of Chocolate Chili Chai (davidstea).

So I’m not sure on steeping parameters, but I tried 2 mins with boiling water in my new little teapot. I stirred the leaves to get the chocolate to dissolve. Oh, the dry smell is wonderful, strongly chocolate with spice. A big smell for the tea flavor to live up to lol.

The steeped tea smelled kind of weird…almost a waxy smell? It could be the teapot too lol, as after I poured it it’s mellowed into a faint chocolate scent, maybe it’s the spices? Whatever it was, it’s almost gone luckily haha.

As for the taste, wow this is interesting haha. There’s a slight waxiness like a crayon….that sounds bad, but I think it’s just the chocolate being artificial. The wax fades in the middle of the sip to actual chocolate, then, pow, the spice from the chilies and peppercorns hits you and you feel a spicy burn. Definitely not just a chocolate tea haha. The chocolate flavor comes back after the heat too. The only other tea that has made me feel a burn like this was one from Della Terra, a rooibos I can’t find on their site now haha.

Oh, and as the cup cools, the waxy flavor is fading. Hurrah! What an interesting tea. I’ll have to try Davidsteas’s CCC to see how it compares. This one definitely warms me up! A good present from my mom, as it’s not one I would have picked on my own lol. Rating 81 (hard to rate on my tablet without the keyboard attached lol)