Culinary Teas

Backlogging from last night. I know I have had this one before! It was one I have had in my stash for a while and did the ole SIPDOWN last night but drastically over infused and couldn’t drink the cup it was way too strong and I totally ruined it! Eeeeeek! Sooo…I won’t put a rating on this one…just wanted to log for my own personal notes…

I loved this tea. I can not wait to go back to my local tea shop and purchase more.
This tea brought a real smile to my face and my stress melted away.
This is a very mild, mellow Tea.

Tohis tea has a good medium taste of papaya with some tart passionfruit and a light green tea. This tea I think Is good.

Not as sweet as I’d expected, more like an infusion of blackberry bark, rather than the berries themselves. OK iced.

It’s one of my favorites and has a lovely aroma.

Sipdown! 104/365

Should have read my previous note before I drank this, as I had commented that it was quite strong, and encountered the same this time. Strength is not necessarily a bad thing, though, as it means that this should stand out well in a latte, which is how I should have prepared it. It is quite a good blend of spices, though, along with some really nice sweetness, and a creaminess in the finish. Definitely a peppery chai, though; ginger might be another of the more prominent spices, but it is well-blended in my opinion. I’d be happy to have this tea around.

Thanks to LiberTEAS for sending this along as a sample about 7 years ago!

Another sample from LiberTEAS! Thank you!

Clearly I’m not so good at this work thing.

Anyhow, the smell of the dry tea is really just of chai spicing. Nothing particularly special, although it does smell good. I’m excited to see the white chocolate chips in the bag, though!

Steeped, I’m definitely still smelling spices, but one in particular is overwhelming the rest. I’m not exactly sure which it is though. I can definitely smell black pepper… perhaps it’s just the combination of that with the other spices that is throwing me a bit. Ok, mixed it up a tad and it now smells more like a standard chai (or what I’m used to, anyhow). Interesting – I think I can smell some citrus? Or something that smells citrusey. And definitely cloves as well, although it’s thankfully not overpowering.

Eek. I do not think this is a tea that’s meant to be consumed straight. It is too heavily spiced! Consequently it is bitter and… not all that great. Luckily, I have my travel TImolino here, so into it goes the chai, to be taken home and milked/sweetened. I do think this will be tasty once it has some milk and sugar, but right now it is too potent for me! Updates to come.

ETA: Tasty loaded with milk and sugar. I get the creamy notes this way (moreso than a regular chai). I’ll have to re-review later.

Thanks to Alphakitty(?) for this one. Unfortunately, I must have done something wrong, because it had almost no flavour when I brewed it up. Literally, did not taste like anything, and I gave it three minutes. Oh well. Better luck next time!

Why do teas keep confusing me? This is chocolate, no doubt about the chocolate, and I got some nutty goodness, didn’t really taste the caramel. My problem with this was that it was bitter. I can’t decide if the the black tea was bitter, or if it was dark chocolate bitter. This tasted like really dark chocolate with nuts. If you are a dark chocolate lover, you will probably like this. I would have preferred it to be a little sweeter, and more milk chocolaty.
Not bad but not my favorite.

thank you for this yum sample moraiwe
i didn’t make notes and i suspect i just drank it all really really quickly cuz i liked it so much and now it is just a small fleeting memory in my floppy mind.
but i like all apple teas. and i like alcohol flavors. and i like caramel flavors. so i must have liked it tons.
so like i said, voila! it’s gone in a blink!

I was pleasantly surprised by this one. Mostly because many of the teas I’ve gotten from this company I’ve had pretty rotten experiences with.

1st steeping – 4min @190ish- This is a greener oolong than I’m used to having, but it’s not unpleasant. Kinda green tasting but not like an in your face veggies! kind of taste or like I’m chewing on grass or something. Lol. Just fresh and bright. It also has a nice light sweetness, though I’m not getting much in the way of floral taste. Or else it’s there, just very subtle.

2nd steeping – 5min @ 190ish – A bit weaker in overall taste, but still not bad. I probably should have steeped a bit longer. Maybe next time I’ll try steeping it for 5:30 or even 6 min. Probably try both since I have enough. Still greenish and I get a slight peppery taste from it too, which is strange since I’ve never really experienced it. But it’s not that bad either.

I think it’s about all done out at the second steeping since the flavor was very weak. But it was a good tea. I’l definitely finish the rest of what I have and I might even order this one again.

I’m easing into Pu-Erhs and the tea’s name enticed me enough to purchase it. When I opened the tin this morning, I was hit with a very sweet smell. Then the earthy aroma of the pu-erh hit me.

The taste is pleasant – definitely caramel; sweet and creamy yet earthy and musty all at the same time. I did not add sweetener and it was just fine for me. Unfortunately it did not hold up as well for the second steep which was a bit bland for my tastes. I have a tin of this so I’ll keep it in the rotation for now but it is too early to determine if I’ll repurchase – another 2-3 “experiences” with the tea should reveal the answer.

A pleasant pu-erh but not too harsh. Could be a good pu-erh desert tea. It’s also a good selection when just beginning to explore pu-erh teas.

So I decided to give another rooibos a shot. Mostly because I still had a few from an order I’d gotten before I realized that rooibos is not, erm, my cup of tea. Lol.
This is actually the second one I’ve tried since my last ‘I hate rooibos’ tasting note. But I burned my tongue something awful making dinner while the other was steeping, so I have yet to leave a tasting note for that one. It wouldn’t be fair if I can’t really taste it.

Anyway, so this one isn’t that bad. But for the effort, I think I’d just make myself an equivalent black or oolong tea to be honest.
I get a nice caramel taste from this, especially after a bit of sugar. And it’s pretty smooth. It’s not an in your face caramel, but if I didn’t know this was rooibos I’d almost think it was a nice mild black of some sort. I don’t get the awful minty taste I’ve associated with rooibos since the first time I drank an ‘only rooibos’ tea. Maybe that company’s rooibos had an issue or something so now I’m judging all rooibos unfairly.

But in any case, this wasn’t bad and I’d definitely say give it a shot if you’re looking for a caramel-y rooibos. I just won’t reorder it myself since it’s a pain in the butt to clean out of my tea maker. Lol.

I thought this would be a good morning tea to try. And it was a good wake up, but not for the reason I was hoping. This tea was horribly bitter with an almost burnt taste that lingered. Even after putting a half a packet of sugar in this it wasn’t tolerable. I couldn’t get past that taste to find any of the other notes that were supposed to be in this tea. I ended up pouring the whole cup out and dumping the leaves. Maybe I should’ve tried this with milk to cut the harshness but I can’t imagine that milk would’ve made it any better really.
Maybe it’s just me but this tea is definitely not for me.

I had enough for one more cup of this. Woot! First tea I’ve finished! lol. I liked this about as much as I liked this the first time. It’s good don’t get me wrong. I do like the vanilla flavor here. Just not enough to buy considering I have another vanilla rooibos that I have quite a bit of.

Earthy and a hint of sweetness. This tea seems very well balanced, not too overpowering in any one direction. Lovely reddish amber color, and I love the aftertaste. Something about it is just warm and comforting. Very happy I got to sample this tea thanks to a friend :)

I’m at work so this will be a brief one to start.

I am such a pleb. I like bold flavours. I don’t want “a hint of”. If you have a hint of whatever, you might as well not bother.

In the bag this smells so good I want to shove it in my mouth and eat it (what a barbarian, eh?). I might have under leafed, black teas scare me a little. So I’m getting some strawberry and almost no chocolate. I think the aftertaste is really goo though, get more chocolate here. I dumped in a bunch of sugar.

I’ll have to add more leaf next cup. It’s good but the aroma is way stronger than the flavour.

Can’t rate yet.

Ps. Thanks, Dexter3657 for sending this.
P.P.S: I get a feeling a lot of my notes will say thanks Dexter. Sorry if you’re bothered by it! I give credit where it’s due.

from the TTBB (that’s Traveling Tea Box B)
nice strawberry scent. not tart at all and a mellow chocolate tone.
went nice with my animal crackers too.

I enjoy senchas and this fruity blend is good for iced tea. Cold brewed over night with two rounded teaspoons in a 16 ounce mug produces my afternoon iced tea. I drink it chilled without added ice. Today’s tea is brewing in the fridge as I write.

The smell of dry leaf in the can is grassy, overly sweet, and a bit artificial. The cold brew softens both the aroma and the taste to produce a nice strawberry flavored iced tea. I drink this without any sweetener because it is sweet enough as is.

Not my favorite green tea for icing but I’ve already had it several times and I know that I’ll continue to use it and enjoy it frequently.

Sipdown! 803. Pretty tasty today – I think I had been craving chai but didn’t know it! Why did I rate this so poorly previously?! I don’t care for the sprinkles, nor is there anything in the way of pumpkin flavour, but it’s a decent chai.

Last Culinary Teas sample from Jackie T.

Hmm, initially I thought there was a creaminess, but then I only really tasted spice. And not quite chai spice either. No pumpkin either. I’m also not a big fan of sprinkles in tea… they make things gross and are totally unnecessary. If you want to make a tea pretty, put in flower petals or something.

Anyways, not really impressed with this tea. I’ve had better pumpkin spice teas.