Culinary Teas
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Its raining out and beginning to look like snow. My cats are going crazy staring out the window. Anyhow, this was my beverage of choice. I didn’t want to try anything new, and this tea fit my comfort zone. I brewed this western style, and since this is bagged, it was super simple.
I bought the 10 bags from Culinary Teas several years ago, and I just opened up a 55 bag one! It smells so good! SO amazing. My mouth actually watered. This is exactly what I used to drink at my husband’s home. I had it with a little brown sugar and some milk. Delicious. I was happy today!
It’s always fun to get tea in the mail when you forgot it was coming to you… such is the case with my envelope of teas from TeaEqualsBliss that came last night! Thanks so much for the jam-packed envelope. This was one of the samples that was included and I decided to jump right in and try it this morning.
The dry leaf on this one smells like cherries, but like actual cherry fruit, not cherry flavoring. Whew! I’m really not a fan of cherry flavoring (like in cherry candy), but I do like the fresh fruit. It reminds me of a french “four red fruits” tea, probably because cherry is often one of the red fruits in those blends. After steeping it has a tart cherry aroma backed up by a brightish black tea base. I don’t get much almond except perhaps as a slightly nutty light note to the aroma.
The flavor is very subdued and pleasant. This isn’t an in-your-face flavored tea. A bit tart cherry, a smooth black tea base, and there’s the nutty almond flavor, blooming in the aftertaste. I would like it if there was a bit more almond flavor to this, since I am an almond freak, but I do really like that the cherry tastes nice and natural.
Preparation
You’ll loose your head over Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai Tea! However, please don’t carry your head around with you after you loose it because nobody wants to see that. It’s just gross and there are infinitely better ways to get attention.
This pumpkin chai is really tasty and not overly spicy as far as chai(s) go, and that’s a-okay with me because Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai is anything but light on flavor. I infused 1 tsp. of tea in 6 oz. of almond milk and this made for a wonderful afternoon treat.
My only quibble is that my sample had no trace of those kickass, colorful sprinkles pictured in the photo above. I deserve sprinkles! Fortunately, the lack of sprinkles did nothing to affect the flavor of this yummy blend despite the injury to my inner child.
it’s also unsanitary… carrying around your severed head. I’m sorry your sample didn’t have sprinkles. Mine did… but there were not quite as many as the photo might suggest. Maybe sprinkles are like pounds… the camera adds a few.
Ha, loved your opening! This sounds like a yummy one to try out.
sounds yummy
Hmm…I wonder if having this at work is truly representative. I don’t have my gaiwan or my teapot—I’m just using a mesh ball (which I filled only halfway, when I know oolong expands way more than that). And the water here doesn’t taste great. But surprisingly, this is a friendly little tea that seems to be working within my limitations!
Smell in the bag is pretty average oolong: green-ish, fruit-ish, vegetable-ish. (And rather fresh-smelling, which speaks well of Culinary Teas; this is my first order from them and already I’m impressed.) In the mug, the brew is a dark gold verging on light brown; I have little tea dusty bits in the bottom, which I am a little surprised at because I haven’t noticed that sort of thing with other oolongs. There isn’t enough of them to continue brewing after I remove the mesh ball, anyway, which would have changed the flavor.
There is no bitterness to this at all; it has a nice sweetness that lasts all the way through the cooling of the mug (I am notoriously slow to drink tea). The flavor is smooth, green-y, and unobtrusive. It’s simple enough in flavor, in fact, that I’m wondering if I should have steeped it longer than three minutes. The package said 5-6 min., which (for an oolong) sounded like somebody’s wildly incorrect guess to me, but perhaps I should try this with a little more time and see if I can get more flavor, or at least more complexity, without courting bitterness. I am usually SO careful to avoid bitterness that sometimes I think I am not getting everything I could out of teas in terms of flavor!
At any rate: this seems like a promising tea for those times when I want something fresh and tasty but not demanding of my attention. But it’s hard to tell at this point. I will try it with a longer steeping time and see what happens. I’ll also bring it home so I can try it with my wider range of brewing options (teapot? Teapot? Baby, I miss you…) and see how that changes things. Wouldn’t surprise me if the tap water here at work is just messing the whole brewing process up.
Preparation
This is a fabulous Assam. Bold but not quite as bitter an Assam as others I’ve tried. It has a strength to it, but it is more of a gentle kind of strength, rather than the sturdy flavor of some other Assam teas.
Delicious and rich! Wonderful! My full-length review for this tea will publish in a day or two, I hope you’ll watch for it on SororiTea Sisters!
This is a lovely way to start the day … and yes, that means I am starting the day at 1:35pm. I like it better that way, because it means I totally missed morning, and my opinions of mornings are not real positive. I’m not a morning person.
This is very hearty, good and strong. Astringent, but not bitter. I do notice a slight sourness to the undertone, as mentioned by my SororiTea Sister, TeaEqualsBliss. It’s not off-putting, instead, I think it seems to enhance the overall experience by giving the palate something different to explore.
A lovely cuppa. My full-length review: http://www.teareviewblog.com/?p=19045
A lovely, hearty black blend. Make that Hearty with a capital H. It has some heft to it, with a strong flavor and a nice biscuity quality that I’m really enjoying. A strong astringency to this one, too, so I prefer it with a splash of milk and a little sugar or honey just to soften that edge.
It’s warm, comforting and at the same time, quite stimulating. A very satisfying cuppa!
Gingerbread is one of my favorite flavors/scents. I even have a smencil that’s gingerbread scented, so Culinary Teas Gingerbread Cream Tea was no dissappointment. Add in some sugar and milk and it’s smooth creamy flavor is delightful. The only thing I would complain about is that it doesn’t have that sharpness that ginger has, and some people may like that better in the end. Brewed two teaspoons per 16 oz. water, steeped for three minutes.
Visually this tea is mostly black twisty leaves with a few golden threads mixed in. The smell when dry is smokey, and when wet slightly vegetal. I brewed this for three minutes and found the unsweetened flavor okay with just a hint of maltiness. I like my Assam’s to slap me in the face with malt and this did not. A perfectly decent breakfast tea when sugar and milk are added.
This tea is fantastic. A wonderful way to wake up.
Serving this non-latte, with just a little turbinado sugar to enhance the spices, this is an amazingly good chai. The description is pretty spot on, with caramel-y tones in the foreground and the white chocolate coming through near the finish. It’s very delicious. The spices are somewhat mild, but along with the smooth white chocolate finish comes a little peppery kick. Overall, it is warm and sweet and very yummy.
