Ahmad Tea

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Recent Tasting Notes

51

Tonight I’m comparing this and two other Camomile-Honey-Vanilla combo teas. I’ve poured all three cups separately at the same time (quickly, consecutively). I’ve used one teabag per one 10 oz cup apiece, steeping for 5 minutes, the recommended time.
This one, the Ahmad was the lightest in color of the three cups, also the weakest tasting. I hate to say this, since I love various Ahmad teas, but this one is insipid. The perfume of it is lovely and light—but sadly, it doesn’t translate to the cup, at least not with only one teabag.
I can taste the camomile, and maybe a little vanilla, but I’m missing the honey. Quite frankly, I’m disappointed.
I’m also comparing the Twinings and Celestial Seasonings versions. But just looking and sniffing, then tasting, this seems to be the least satisfying of the three.
I shall use this one for mixing with other teas to blend in a mixed pot—it should work well for that, especially if I pair it with something I want toned down.

Flavors: Chamomile, Flat, Vanilla, Watery

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 10 OZ / 295 ML

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44
drank Apricot Sunrise by Ahmad Tea
40 tasting notes

Made this tea hot and could not enjoy it until I iced it. It has a nice flavor once iced, but just tastes like hot water otherwise. Definitely only recommend cold.

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 45 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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75
drank Apricot Sunrise by Ahmad Tea
3986 tasting notes

Sipdown! (44 | 318)

From my October Sips by box. I’m actually pretty happy with the selection this month, at least theoretically. I do find it weird that they don’t seem to choose teas that fit the season, maybe that’s because they want you to buy their themed boxes…

Anyway, this is a pleasant enough tea. I do wish the apricot was a bit stronger though, since it’s not like the base tea is amazing quality. I do taste the apricot, it’s not subtle or anything, and it has a fairly authentic flavor. It blooms a bit in the aftertaste, leaving a nice tart finish. The black tea is smooth, a bit malty, a bit biscuity – a nice enough foundation for the flavoring.

Just a bit more apricot would make me like this a lot more, I think.

Flavors: Apricot, Biscuit, Malt, Metallic, Smooth, Stonefruit, Sweet, Tart

Preparation
200 °F / 93 °C 2 min, 0 sec 16 OZ / 473 ML

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drank Apple Refresh by Ahmad Tea
127 tasting notes

I don’t know what I think of this tea. On first sip, I thought I loved it. Very apple-y, nice and fruity. But then the bitter from the black tea came in in full force and it just does not mash well in my opinion, it tastes spoiled. A bit of milk mellowed it out and made it drinkable again, but it certainly was a ride of good vs bad…

Flavors: Apple, Bitter

Preparation
8 OZ / 250 ML

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40
drank Peach & Passion Fruit by Ahmad Tea
127 tasting notes

I remembered these fruit teas as being amazing last time I had them, but I may have been spoiled with other teas since. The peach flavour is very artificial, like peach candies, and i’m not picking up on the passionfruit at all, this would not be an unpleasant flavour if it did not clash with the bitter tea as much. I felt the combination made it rather medicinal, like those flavoured disolvable painkillers kids get sometimes. Not very enthusiastic about that.

Flavors: Bitter, Candy, Medicinal, Peach

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 250 OZ / 7393 ML

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40
drank Strawberry Sensation by Ahmad Tea
127 tasting notes

This reminds me of haribo strawberry sweets, but not in a very good way. It has a much stronger scent than it has flavour, and what it does have in flavour is artificial. I am not at all impressed, very average teabag.

Flavors: Artificial, Bitter, Strawberry

Preparation
Boiling 1 min, 30 sec 8 OZ / 250 ML

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drank Peach & Passion Fruit by Ahmad Tea
2891 tasting notes

From a sampler; long neglected in the office stash. I think I scorched the first round, which may have something to do with the age of the remaining couple of bags. However, a shorter steep time helped. Nice balance of both flavors and tasty on ice even without completely chilling it first.

Jason

I’ve bought this brand before and it was hit or miss for me.

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75
drank Darjeeling by Ahmad Tea
2 tasting notes

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60

This is an OK tea. Not much taste really, you have to add sugar to taste the cinnamon in it at all.

Flavors: Cinnamon, Rooibos

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75
drank Ceylon OPA by Ahmad Tea
113 tasting notes

Almost one year later, and still have a lot of this tea hanging around, because I bought 1 lb. My feeling on it has changed from the initial couple of brews – Maybe I was doing something wrong or had some dirt in my teapot? This is actually a decent and lighter Ceylon black tea, not unlike what you might expect from a supermarket Ceylon bagged tea. It does its job and is enjoyable. Budget-priced at $10.00/lb from Amazon.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 5 g 16 OZ / 473 ML

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75
drank Ceylon OPA by Ahmad Tea
113 tasting notes

Well, it’s tea. Very underwhelming. I’ve purchased budget-priced Ceylons in the past that I was satisfied with, so I figured why not give this one a try? I suppose if you like adding milk or sugar this tea is probably doable, but I like drinking my tea straight. Has some obvious Ceylon characteristics (hints of lemon, maltiness, leatheriness, etc), but the good stuff takes a back seat to the muddy harshness. I don’t know how they describe this as having a “golden color” and “light flavor,” because this tea brews pretty dark and has a harsh charcoaly taste that predominates.

Preparation
Boiling 2 min, 0 sec 10 g 32 OZ / 946 ML

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84
drank Earl Grey by Ahmad Tea
68 tasting notes

Delicious, but not my favorite. Could use more bergamot flavor. Better with sugar.

Flavors: Bergamot

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 15 sec 4 tsp 32 OZ / 946 ML

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66

Day 3 of my Etsy Tea Advent calendar. This is one from Ahmad Tea. I have had a few things from them I’ve enjoyed. It looks like this advent calendar will feature various bagged teas from a number of different tea companies whose products may be easy to find in the grocery store. In a way that is nice. In past years I’ve done advent calendars from David’s, Damann Freres, Bird & Blend, The English Tea Shoppe and Tea Forte. They all had hits and misses, and was a great way for me to decide which teas to re-order from that company. This one, being (apparently) made up from fairly easily obtainable bagged teas, is a little different. I think I like it, although I haven’t LOVED any of the teas yet.

I am not a fan of hibiscus, so I kinda thought about not brewing this one. But I gotta try it, right? It brews up a gorgeous shade of dark pink, like hibby does. It looks so pretty in my white bone china cup. The flavor is hibiscus heavy, but not unbearably so. All I am able to taste is four things: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. This is a bit (quite a bit, to me) sour. Some people love sour things. Jolly Ranchers, anyone? But I have never liked sour, even before I lost my sense of smell. I added a small dollop of honey and that helpd. I was able to drink the cup.

It’s really not fair of me to rate tea since I completely miss most of the complexities that make tea such a great beverage. I guess I’m like an armchair art critique. I know what I like. I would like to have my sense of smell back, but it will be at least a year before I can have that steroid that restores my smell for a few weeks. Chemo completely destroyed my immune system and with the Covid pandemic my doctor refused to give the steroid to me when i saw her in October. But maybe next October? And hey, I beat stage 3c colorectal cancer. It would be a shame to die of Covid just because i wanted to be able to smell for two weeks.

So I am giving this tea a cautious recommendation. I think if you like hibiscus you will like this one.

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 8 OZ / 236 ML
Michelle

Congrats on beating cancer! I had never thought about trying to taste tea without a sense of smell before, it sure seems a strange thing to me and I thank your for describing it. Sometimes its the little things, like being reminded to be thankful for tasting tea.

Maddy Barone

Thanks, Michelle!

tea-sipper

Yes, congratulations on beating cancer! You are tough!

Maddy Barone

Thanks, @*tea-sipper*

Crowkettle

Congratulations :) Stay safe!

Rating a tea on taste sounds fair to me… On the flipside, I know I “forgive” teas some questionable tastes (sour, bitter) because the smell smooths it over for me, but should I?

Maddy Barone

Thank you, CrowKettle! I think everyone has different standards for rating teas and no one is wrong. I miss my sense of smell so much. But if I like a tea well enough to want a second cup then it is a good tea, right? Or if it is too sour or too bitter for me, then I do not want a second cup. So that is a pass for me. It might be that someone else adores that tea. Neither of us is wrong. Just different tastes.

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1

What they don’t tell you on the box is that the 8% natural flavoring isn’t flavor at all, it is clearly the code word for an analog of MSG. Great unless you have a food sensitivity to it. It made my tongue burn like fire for a couple of hours. The tea tasted like what I imagine licking a metal can would. YUCK! Thanks for cheaping out on ingredients and wasting my money. I won’t buy ANY of their teas ever again!

Flavors: Metallic

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80
drank English Breakfast by Ahmad Tea
157 tasting notes

I’ve yet to try an English Breakfast blend that I did not like, and this was no exception. Very hearty, smooth, silky…altogether a very enjoyable cuppa black tea.

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5
drank Energy by Ahmad Tea
251 tasting notes

I don’t know precisely what I’m tasting, but this particular tea reminds me of going to the grocery store while sick and grabbing some kind of medicinal something that promises to make you feel better, and it kind of does but also it’s a little gross and then the box is relegated to the back of the cupboard until you get sick again or toss it?

Flavors: Medicinal

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80

Again big bags tea bag. It is from their “A gift from London” series.

This tea held its qualites great. It was like brand new, full-bodied tea. I am pretty much impressed. And it wasn’t bad at all, flavourful and bold, quite tannic, quite malty. Decent English Breakfast bag, athough drank in the afternoon.

Nice caffeine boost as well, and very welcomed today.

Flavors: Malt, Tannic

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 30 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML

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45
drank Lemon and Lime Twist by Ahmad Tea
961 tasting notes

Samurai TTB #2

Didn’t love this one nearly as much as the Apple Refresh. The lemon lime flavor is very light and somewhat sour. Adding honey made it a more pleasant experience, but I don’t think it’s something I’d drink again.

Flavors: Citrus, Lemon, Lime, Sour

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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75
drank Apple Refresh by Ahmad Tea
961 tasting notes

Samurai TTB #1

It feels like Christmas came early with this huge box of teas to try! I didn’t have time to go through the TTB properly yesterday, so I just grabbed a handful of teabags to take to the office with me. This was the first one I tried. The name is very appropriate; this is a refreshing, lightly flavored black tea that tastes like a whole Granny Smith apple. No caramel or cinnamon, just lots of appley goodness on a nice smooth base.

Flavors: Green Apple, Smooth

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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64

Another cuppa with tea from Izzy. Thank you.

And this tea is for our hibi lover Mastress Alita. Well, seeing hibiscus already in name is, well — not something I look into.

The bag was smeling quite of artificial fruits. But as well quite good. It wasn’t really off. After 5 minutes of steeping (recommended) I get deep red drink.

The aroma is quite nice and berry-like. The taste is though quite watery, tart and completely weird fruityness. You just can’t pick a simple berry from it. Maybe blueberry is most prominent. And hibi tartness isn’t great for my mood right now as well. But it’s in the name, so I expected it.

In conclusion, according to the name, it’s exactly that. It’s fruity, unfortunately it’s in mixed bag, so it’s some generic fruity. And tart… hibiscus is taking its part as well. Not bad actually, but not my cup of tea.

Flavors: Berry, Blueberry, Fruity, Tart

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 5 min, 0 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML
Mastress Alita

One day I’ll just have to start up the Alita Happy Hibiscus Rescue Home.

Cameron B.

I can just imagine the logo now! ;)

Martin Bednář

I don’t mind hibi, but here… it was just too much maybe? Or just the combo didn’t suit me well? I don’t know…

tea-sipper

haha, I can imagine you would acquire so much free hibiscus tea, Mastress Alita!

Mastress Alita

I’d have to create a dedicate drawer for them all!

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66
drank Detox by Ahmad Tea
104 tasting notes

I bought this as part of the herbal assortment. The herbal flavor shines through making me feel very virtuous.

Flavors: Ginger, Herbaceous

Preparation
5 min, 30 sec

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85

Three entries of same tea. I decided to use this one.

Huge bags section after loooong time. A tea bag. A tea that old, that Ahmad doesn’t offer it anymore in the Czech Republic.

The bag was in foil wrapping, so I have hoped it will be still quite fresh. It wasn’t much overpowering when I have opened that outer wrapping, but it’s black tea blend! I took a sniff on the bag and noticed citruses. Not sure if bergamot, it was rather lemony for me, but again it’s old!

I went for two and something minutes steep and mug was filled with dark brown (read: mahagony) liquid.

Aroma of Chinese teas mostly — think Keemun chocolate note, with hints of citrusy. Probably bergamot as they say.

Taste is very mellow (I bit blame the age, to be honest), again Keemun taking most part, smooth, and hints of citruses. Again the bergamot I suppose. Backbone of malty notes.

Whoa, I haven’t expected such a great flavour for that old tea. Just be careful with steeping time I guess.

Flavors: Cacao, Citrusy, Lemon Zest, Malt

Preparation
2 min, 15 sec 10 OZ / 300 ML
White Antlers

Hey Martin-Take it from an old tea bag here-we are full of surprises! LOL!

Martin Bednář

LOL White Antlers; indeed old tea bags can be very surprising!

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75

Bought as part of the Ahmad herbal assortment. Delicious blend, heavy on the chamomile with just a suggestion of something else. Perfect before bed. Love it. Can’t wait to try the other flavors.

Flavors: Flowers

Preparation
5 min, 30 sec

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