Kally Tea

I got my order from Kally Teas in the mail yesterday! The post office workers here probably hate me. I stalk my packages on the internet until they arrive at my local post office, then I run up to to get them so I don’t have to wait for them to be delivered to my door, because I’m notoriously impatient and that crap takes too long.

Dry, this tea smells cloyingly sweet and perfumey, But when steeped it tastes amazing. You can definitely taste the black tea and the peach, with a pleasant spicy background. The peach only comes out more when lightly sweetened.

The first steep was really good. I followed the directions on the package completely. I have an infuser at my house but I forgot to bring it to work with me. I wound up dumping the tea straight into my mug of water and fishing them back out when time was up, because again, I was really excited and I’m impatient.

The second steep was not as good, I shoved the wet leaves into my infuser when I got home so I didn’t have to go chase them again. The cloves in it made my tongue go a numb and tingly. I have to watch out for things like that, I have a geographic tongue,(My dentist said it was “really cool” because he hadn’t seen one before. He scares me but my teeth are healthy so win some lose some, I guess.), it can be wikipediaed if anyone cares to know what that is. I’m probably more susceptible things bothering my tongue than the rest of the population, so I’m not going to knock points off for that.

Overall though, I love this tea, and I will most likely buy more when I run out.

Really lovely Ceylon tea, brisk enough to help me in the morning but smooth enough to remind me why I drink tea and not coffee. The buzz is smoother and slower. A very nice dry maltiness as well. Very dependable tea.

I’ve been disappointed in some of the mate’s I’ve been trying lately. I have been sticking with roasted mate’s that include chocolate in some form or another. So this particular version was a new experience for me.

I really liked it! It was a creamy, smooth, pure chai taste. I didn’t make it with soymilk but I think it would have to be brewed on the strong side to be made with all milk. Brewed regular with water, it would have taken a little bit of soymilk quite well. I was going to try it that way but I was unsure how long my soymilk had been open in the fridge. :-/

I think I may be in love. Darjeelings are my favorite tea. This may be at least a temporary end to trying to choose a favorite among them. This beats even my beloved Sungma.

All the hallmarks of a second flush, smooth and with a lovely amber yellow color. Hints of malt in the background, maybe. Definitely a muscatel note. The steeped leaves are everything I love about Darjeelings – medium sized leaves with a beautiful mix of brown and green colors.

I do wish that Kally Tea offered more information on the origin, however. I’d like to know what estate this came from or if it is a blend of estates.

I can foresee regretting that I didn’t order more…

Liberteas Thanks for this one, too, girl!

This smells lovely! A combo of Orange/Tangerine/Various Spices and it’s almost like a festive adult beverage of sorts.

The taste is great, too! The White Tea base is amazing with the citrus and spice flavors. They all play well with each other. Warming and Comforting.

I really like this! A LOT!

I began my adventures with Chocolate Orange ‘flavored’ Pu-erh
about 9 months ago and fell in love.
It appealed to the ex-coffee addict in me. I had no idea that
there was a vast world of PU waiting for me to discover.

What I started with on my journey was the equivalent of a
Wine Cooler before my discovery of Fine Wines.
Without that ‘Wine Cooler’ though, I never would have developed
a taste and desire for what was under all the flavoring.
I’m indebted to the companies who introduce Pu-erh to people
like me who might otherwise might have passed it by.

I’ve been away from those first flavored Pu-erh’s for a long time, preferring straight leaf and natural blends from several tea vendors who do a really good job mixing Pu-erh with mint, cocoa hulls, other types of tea, roots, vanilla or spices. They are fantastic!

When I saw the Tropical White Pu-erh from Kally, it was too different (weird) to pass up. I hadn’t heard of a Tropical White Tea Pu-erh before and I was almost certain that I wouldn’t like it.

Tropical Pu-erh? Seriously?

Since it was a warm morning ‘Tropical’ sounded appropriate.
I steeped the leaves 3 minutes and made a small pot full of tea.
The liquor was dark and fragrant with a floral, fruity scent.

The flavor was sweet and smooth, like a golden delicious
caramel apple. (Golden delicious apples have a floral,
sweet scent and flavor that is unlike other apples.)
The caramel was light with no earthiness at all.
The tea had body without astringency or bitterness.

I kept thinking about the golden floral caramel apples.
There was a dwarf Yellow Delicious Tree outside my bedroom window growing up. It grew horizontally like a vine, held up by numerous stakes… filled with dozens of yellow apples ripe for pies, applesauce or added in my lunchbox.
Years ago, when I entered a Johnny Appleseed Pie Contest, these
are the apples I used to win first place. They melt in your mouth.

I added sugar and cream to my Pu-erh because I had a feeling that it was meant as a morning tea or dessert tea. It seemed right to do so.

I was waiting for bitterness, the one thing that I can’t
stand in flavored Pu-erh’s, but this didn’t happen.
I’m glad really. Kally Tea didn’t go too far with the flavoring
but kept this blend light and bright.

One good flavored Pu-erh and definately different than the rest!

I’m so excited! Today is the Anniversary Celebration at Happy Lucky’s Tea House and there’s free tea tastings and Oolong and Puerh classes in the afternoon (and prizes).
I’ll take some pictures to share on another review, but for now…I’m kick-starting this rainy day with a little Green Almond Chai.

It doesn’t take a lot (1.5 tsp) of Chai for an 8oz. cup, but you need to read the instructions. This is meant for adding 20% volume milk and should be sweetened with something. The steep time is long at 5-10 minutes. I chose 5 minutes and can’t imagine going longer. My tea was just on the edge of bitter before adding milk and honey.

The instructions for adding milk and sweetening are serious. I wouldn’t drink this plain (tried and bitter). Adding sweetener was fine but the best way to drink this Chai, in my opinion, is with honey and a rich milk. Whole milk, half & half, soy or almond.

You can really taste the cardamom and almond. The cinnamon and clove spices are very light (thankfully the clove isn’t taking over the Chai).
The Green Tea base wasn’t a player. I couldn’t taste any tea, just almond and spices which I didn’t mind.

Depending on what milk and honey used, that could overpower the taste of the tea too.
I tried Clover honey and whole milk, which was more subtle flavored and gently scented than when I tried Wildflower honey with Almond milk, much bolder.

This is where you can play with how you want your Chai to taste. Orange Blossom honey? Coconut milk? Raw sugar?
My store http://copocoshoney.com (here in Fort Collins) has lots of flavors of honey for tea experiments as well as cooking.

I prefer Black tea Chai’s because I can taste the tea base, but this is nice to play around with and I’m not sure I’d do that with my other Chai’s as much. I’ll have fun experimenting.

Happy Sipping!

I smoked my own tea! (In the culinary sense of the word smoked)

I had tasted some smoked oolong recently and when my Camerons Stovetop Smoker arrived (a present from my brother) along with 5 types of wood chips, I made a plan to smoke some tea.

There were no instructions for smoking tea of course. I had been unable to find anything online other than Lapsang Souchong smoked with Pine.
That’s all, and of course no ‘how to’ included.

I chose Alder wood because it’s mild, and placed a half ounce of tea on some foil that I had poked holes in so that the smoke could freely come up through the leaves. One quick sprinkle of water and I began the smoking process.
8 minutes later, I was done.

Today, I took my packet of regular Kally Formosa Oolong and the Alder Smoked version for a tasting at Happy Lucky’s Tea House.

Joe set up 2 Gaiwans and a row of white (regular oolong) cups and a row of brown (smoked oolong) cups for tasting.

The consensus was that the smoked tea was pretty good for a first attempt, not harsh like many Lapsang Souchongs and not like anything anyone had tasted before (not in a bad way or great way but something in between). George (the owner) liked it, and we went over how to make the flavor better and which tea’s to pair with the wood chips (cherry, oak, hickory, apple, pecan, bourbon, mesquite).

Why would I do this in the first place?

I tried to find some culinary smoked tea and couldn’t find any.
Now I’m making my own. I make rubs and steaming potions out of tea and herbs but the Lapsang Souchong was a bit strong. Now I’ll have some options. When I’m finished with this project, I might have some samples to send out!

I’ve started to roll with this….and I’m having some fun!

For anyone who read my notes yesterday about how I was searching for my CANE (I need to name her, she’s 3 years old with silver, blue and black little squiggle flowers and a black wood handle), and I’m reporting that I found her at Old Navy. She was shopping.

Usually I find my CANE having tea at Happy Lucky’s.

I went looking for her after my hair appointment.
There was an odd ad on the radio for a Viagra type product that you had to ‘qualify’ for (huh?) and the first 200 men who called would receive a free stop watch to time the effects of the product (really?!). I certainly got some good puns out of that ad.

When I got home I finished some tea from earlier and roasted some root veggies for dinner. I set some tea aside for the morning, hoping the weather would brighten so that I could take some Fall Photo’s.

This morning was what I hoped for, shimmering light and blue sky.
I’m going to Douglas Lake behind my daughter’s house to get a sweeping view of the Rocky Mountains. I’ll post later pictures from my shoot.

I had to have the tea I set aside first.

When this tea was ordered I had a long conversation with the owner of Kally Tea and enjoyed the down-to-earth friendly conversation about tea and life.
He lives in the small high desert town of Hemet, California.
In my whole life as a consumer, I can’t think of any product besides tea where you can get to know the owner of the company providing the product.
I’m 64 and unless I walk into a physical store in my town and confront an owner and get to know them, it isn’t going to happen. TEA IS DIFFERENT!
(It’s a miracle really)

The tea
The dry Oolong was loose, not tight little pebbles of leaves
that would unfurl during steeping.
They looked like Black tea leaves and smelled sweet.

I used 1.5 tsp dry to 8oz. water at 160F and steeped 3 minutes.

The liquor was light honey brown, and tasted lighter than I expected for a first steeping. (I will try a little more leaf next time.)

The flavor was soft clover honey melting away on my tongue like water. There was a roastiness so light and savory that it kept drawing me back for more.

I sipped and sipped the smooth, gentle Oolong, thinking how nice
it was to have a tea that wasn’t requiring much of me.
could just relax, not going into ecstacy over it’s wonders or
into disappointment by some flaw.

As the tea cooled, it didn’t blink. Everything stayed as it was.
“Well now, an Oolong for anytime drinking,” I thought.

This type of Oolong is harder to find and one that I’m glad to have. By the way, I think this is one that’s good pared with food.

Here’s a picture from the LAKE http://flic.kr/p/diVvp6

Another interesting Earl Grey variation. I’ve had the Earl Grey with lavender and the Earl Grey with citrus but I haven’t had Earl Grey with apple, calendula, and caramel. It’s interesting, I like the apple flavor and the caramel but I’m not a fan of the calendula, I think it’s giving it a waxy taste. Also I love Earl Grey and I’m losing the bergamot to these other flavors, it’s pretty much a flavored black tea now. Not bad but not my thing.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me some of this tea.

This is an adventurous tea – it takes the palate on an adventure. It is also quite different than I expected it to be. With a name like Tropical Island, I expected something pineapple or papaya or mango … or a combination of these flavors. But I didn’t get those at all.

The first flavor that I tasted was lime. It really stood out over all other flavors in the cup with the first two or three sips. After that, the blackberry flavors began to emerge, and I also began to notice the flavor of the black tea. After a few more sips, I tasted a sort of “sweet and sour” kind of taste, and I guess that’s from the sour sap? Soursop? I’m not real familiar with this fruit, as I tend to shy from things called sour. But, I’m liking it just fine here.

By about mid-cup, I notice a hint … very subtle hint … of pear.

A really intriguing cup that kept me on my toes. I like the challenge that this tea offers.

First let me talk about the smell, it’s a whollop of marshmallow with a slight hint of almond. I can actually see pieces of almond in the tea which makes me think you could just eat this like granola. Tasting the tea is like drinking a melted almond joy bar. Sadly I do not like almond joy bar’s but this is my own bias and should not mar anyone else’s opinion, especially if they love almond joy. I know there isn’t any coconut in this but I am still getting a phantom taste of it somehow. This came as a generous sample in my kally tea order but I am not a rooibos fan. It’s a pretty unique dessert tea so I’m sure for some it’ll be right up there alley, not my thing though.

Oh, I don’t know, it was OK. It tasted like an herbal tisane to me, and I like my tea to have a tea flavor in it somewhere. I had put two Splenda in there and still got a tartness from it—and you can probably guess from how much Splenda I use that I am not really a fan of sour/tart. It wasn’t horrible or anything, but I have so many amazing teas in my cupboard that this one would probably go on my trade list. Probably great for some people, especially sweetened and iced. Just not my style.

This is a wonderful morning tea, with an incredibly smooth finish. I’m getting a lot of the Ceylon more then anything else, which makes it smooth and malty. I love tea in the morning without milk (unless I’m in England eating a full English Breakfast) and this perfectly balances briskness with smoothness. Also holds up to multiple steepings on those days when I need two cups of black tea to really start the day. I’m gonna need this on hand for those rough mornings.

My ‘Brew’ before scooting out the door to Church on a beautiful Sunday cool morning!

When I went online a few weeks ago to order a few Kally Tea’s, I had trouble with ordering off the website so I made a call and ordered over the phone. I have to say that the 30 minutes or more chatting with the owner was a fun time. He lives in the ‘High Desert’ in California and is passionate about his tea. I hope to see Kally next year at the Boulder Tea Festival!

I notice when smaller companies attempt interesting blends using real fruits, flowers, nuts and natural flavoring. When I can afford to, I give them a try and support their effort.

This Earl Grey was a pick for me because of the flowers, caramel and apples. I don’t drink much EG…so this combination sounded interesting and delicious.
The package recommended a 3 minute steep, but after steeping my tea for that amount of time, I would hold back a bit to 2.5 minutes if you plan to add cream and sugar. A 2 minute steep would be enough for plain tea.

Wheee this was bold. In fact, I had to add cream and sugar because the tea was almost bitter it was so strong.
There was the Earl Grey bergamot flavor which you look for and a hint of caramel apple. Instead of those flavors taking over and hiding the Earl Grey, those flavors are enhancements in the background.
Why even buy an Earl Grey then cover it up!

This tea has a nice flavor but you need to cut down the steep time. When I have this again, I’ll make any adjustments to my steeping and the rating.

Off and away!

I’ve had some pretty cheap-tasting Ginger Peach teas in my day. This is not one of them. The peach flavor is fresh and adds a nice scent to the room.

The spicy heat of the ginger is buoyed by the addition of cinnamon and clove, which added a little “hmmmm, what is that?” as I was drinking. I didn’t realize the additional spices were in there until I read the company’s description just now, but it solved that mystery for me. Sorry for the problematic grammar in the last paragraph. :-/

I would recommend this as a hot tea; I thought it tasted a little strange as it cooled in the cup. I think the cinnamon and clove might make an iced version taste somewhat off.

Good Morning!

My grandsons, Ian (11) and Donovan (9) spent the night and this morning they asked for TEA before anything else! (Well trained boys!) (Mom is away with 15 year old daughter Kiah learning about sustainable living. The 6 other kids have been farmed out to friends because dad has to work weekends.)
When I picked the boys up from school yesterday,we went straight to Happy Lucky’s for tea. This is expected. Tea with Grandma!

This review will be a combined one. We are writing it together.

All the boys have their own gonfu tea sets, and a collection of tea’s at home. (They admit to drinking tea more in Winter than Summer)

The mood this morning was snowboarding competition (Red Bull Snow Scrapers) on a sports channel. (not a bad backdrop for drinking tea)

Both boys were in PJ’s on the couch with trays and mugs. I fixed a pot of this tea and poured some for each boy and myself. We smelled the wet leaves.
Ian said the leaves smelled like Chai.
Donovan agreed the leaves smelled like spice.

We all began drinking tea which was lightly sweetened, and then we added a little cream. (This was the request of the boys)

I thought the tea tasted a little perfumy. This might have been the honey flakes…not sure. I had noticed big flakes of pistachio nuts in the dry leaf. At first I thought the tea tasted odd but later, I began to like the taste. The flavors reminded me of Italian and Middle Eastern Pastries.

Ian and Donovan said they liked the tea. Ian said the tea tasted like coffee and Chai (flowery sweet). (Who’s coffee had he been dipping into at home?)
Donovan said the tea tasted like the Assam Strong Malt tea that I let him taste at Happy Lucky’s yesterday (good call).

True ‘drinkability’ test? The boys finished the pot of tea!

I’m not sure why, but this was a quirky tea. A different taste.
If you get a chance to try this tea, don’t judge too quickly.
Think about Baklava with pistachio’s and honey that you find in authentic Middle Eastern shops. This tea tastes more like those than Biscotti I think.

Gotta go watch TV with the boys!

First to review this? I feel so special! First off let me say that I am very impressed with Kally Tea, their product packaging and everything is super spacey and I am very excited that I have a whole huge box of their teas to try!

I bought this to have as an iced tea, and I doubt that I will be trying it hot, so this is an iced review. I mixed roughly 3 teaspoons of rock sugar in about 10 oz of water and steeped 2.5 teaspoons of tea. Poured over ice this made a medium size pitcher worth of iced tea. (recipe rant, sorry!)

Now to the flavor! The balance of ginger and peach is actually rather spot on. One sip you get a really peachy note, and the next is gingery, then a mix, then more ginger, etc. I really like that about this tea! It almost creates a “What is this sip going to taste like?” (between ginger and peach)

Overall, pretty impressed and glad I found a good ginger/peach tea. I’m lucky enough to live where it is hot most of the year, so it’s nice to have a lot of variety in ice teas. I am really looking forward to tasting the rest of what I ordered as well!

Really good.

I’m not sure if the flavoring here is an orange flavoring or a tangerine… and possibly I’m just being too picky. I happen to prefer tangerine to orange, because the tangerine is lighter and sweeter than the orange, but in the context of tea flavoring, the two are similar enough to one another that it is difficult to discern one from another. Then again, I’ve never really done a side-by-side to compare the two.

Back to the tea at hand though, I’m really liking this. The cinnamon is gentle, almost a sweeter cinnamon as opposed to a hot cinnamon, although it does offer some warmth to the cup. It isn’t overly spicy. The delicate quality sets the tone for the overall cup, and the spices are also a bit more subtle as is the citrus. It’s a nicely balanced cup, one that I find to be very enjoyable as the weather appears to FINALLY be taking us toward autumn! I’m so ready for it!!!

Thanks to Dhart1214 for this sweet sample tea!

Happy new old car to me!

Well, I sold my baby, my Silver Rav4 and now, I have a new, old,
Grandma car! Hooray for me, sigh! (I really am grateful though)
Don’t you think the best way to celebrate would be with some White Bubbly Berry Tea?!

I am now driving an older Mini-Van. It’s in perfect condition with new tires and low mileage (116,000) for a (gulp) 1995.
The poor grandma who owned it has MS. Her name is…Bonnie. No lie! Not a rattle or scratch on the car. (Weird her name is Bonnie,huh)

So, here I am driving an old lady car and learning again that the things I have don’t matter. (The turn indicators go click, click which my granddaughters like…they think it’s retro! Heck, I’m retro!)

BUT, THE TEA I DRINK DOES MATTER! HUH! (Got that right!)

I’m celebrating with a sweet bubbly berry tea and I like it!
The wet leaves smelled like raspberry green peas and I giggled.
How cool? I wondered what the tea would taste like.
I would have slurped down a sweet pea raspberry tea, but the sweet pea wasn’t there. Arh.
Instead, there was a soft, floral raspberry flavor which made my mouth tingle. The tea was smooth with fire around the edges of my tongue and sweet enough not to need a thing added to it.

I added some sweetening to it anyway.
I spent the whole morning getting a smog check, and at the Larimer County Building doing the car registrations.
If you don’t think I needed something sweet after that, then you probably haven’t done this task in awhile!

I loved kicking back with my sweet bubbly berry tea! I’ll enjoy this again and again! (She sent me an ounce…goodie!!!)

Thank you so much for the White Berry Bubbly!

Am I the only person who never saw this funny/cute Japanese/Thai Tea commercial with the little dad and son worms? http://youtu.be/TgPmaNMReKQ

This blend has a lot going on. After reading some of the other tasting notes, I brewed with caution, making sure I didn’t oversteep. 170°F for 2 minutes. The result: a pretty pale pink brew, very little color from the hibiscus, and very little texture. A hint of tart, most of which seems to be coming from the naturally tart fruits like lime and pomegranate – the lime is pretty distinct.

This is tasty. I do wish I tasted more of the green tea. I taste the watermelon, and that makes me very happy because it would seem it might be a bit too delicate in the midst of stronger flavors like hibiscus and lime. But I notice that the lime seems to act as an assist to the watermelon, accenting its sweet, juicy notes. While I can taste the green tea, I wish it was a little stronger – this is much more of a tisane-y tasting cup than tasting of tea. Not bad, actually, it’s very delicious.

I remember doing a quick taste-test on this a while back and enjoying it but never logged it. So here is my official taste-test today as I finish up my sample!

This is a fine tasting Ceylon to have on hand any-time of day or year! It’s nice and even from start to finish and mellow-creamy-sweet! It has a MARVY MALT to it. That just might be my fave part of this tea!

-Dry leaves look like a trail mix with rolled green leaves and clusters of seeds, carrot and fruit pieces. Wet leaves have tightly clumped leaves and plump pieces of carrots and apples.
-Dry leaves smell of tangy lime with a hint of watermelon. Tea liquor smells like sweet watermelon.
-Tea liquor is a pretty medium pink color.
-Slightly tart lime flavor with a delicate watermelon finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. True watermelon flavor without being artificial. Tastes like summer.