Kally Tea

Sipdown!
This one is from one of several trades I’ve done with Sil.
It’s not bad, but not something I’d crave or ever purchase.

Drinking a pot of this, while doing the prep work for dinner, although it’s another ‘low & slow’ type meal, & because I was busy doing other things, it won’t be ready until probably 9pm, lol.

Last night’s dinner was also way behind schedule, so the boys ate egg salad. I went to Tony’s to watch the first World Series game (if you’re from Boston, go ahead & gloat), & Tony fed me dinner. When the dinner at home was finally ready, I had the boys let it cool & then stick it in fridge. For breakfast today we reheated the slow-oven BBQ pork steaks, & had crispy potatoes (not good for me, but so damn good),& a pile of chard from my garden. I know that’s not what Normies eat for Brekkie, but it was amazing!

This tea is ok. I got it from my tea sister Sil awhile back. While it’s hot is a little bright & nicely lightly floral, but as it cooled down, the floral turned to an almost soapy perfume taste. :p

Backlog:

A really good Ceylon offering from Kally Tea. (By the way, Kally now has a full line of Organic teas … good stuff!)

This Ceylon has a certain gusto to it that I really liked … most Ceylon teas tend to be very even-tempered. Sort of just … there. You know what I mean? This one though has a good strength to it. Not over-invigorating but enough to keep me going. Robust and malty, which I always find surprising when I encounter a malty Ceylon. This is a good one.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/06/23/new-vithanakanda-ceylon-sftgfop-1-black-tea-from-kally-tea/

1 tablespoon for 318 ml

Bold flavour but dilute-tasting; this may be because it was sitting around in a sample baggie for a while. I like the profile of this tea. I can taste faint notes of everything that I love in my favourite blacks; the leathery notes, hint of sweetness, straw-like notes, smooth mouth-feel.

Thanks to Indigobloom and Sil for sharing!

Backlog:

The first couple of sips of this was kind of lackluster … all I was really tasting was the rooibos and honeybush base … where’s the chocolate? Where’s the berry. And where was the chocolate? (Yeah, I asked about the chocolate twice. That’s because I’d like there to be twice as much chocolate.)

After a couple of sips, the berry notes began to present themselves. A sweet and tart berry note. Not enough chocolate for my liking. Like I said, twice as much chocolate would be good. That is, it would be a good start. But if you really want to make this chocoholic happy, double up on the doubling up of the chocolate. Remember, more chocolate = better.

Always. There is no exception to this rule.

This is from Nicole, who super generously sent me a buncha tea samples without wanting anything in return. My first Steepster mail interaction! Thanks for all the exciting tea Nicole! It’s making Friday a lot more fun than it’d otherwise be, ha.

Oh darjeeling, how I’ve missed you. Been so caught up in exploring teas I don’t know much about that you’ve been lost in the shuffle as you’re one of the only ones (along with assam) I knew quite well before all this Steepster stuff. But here you are, in all your second flush glory, with that trademark dry woodiness + true flower perfume combo I love and that no other tea possesses. <3 Sometimes, with tea, you CAN go home again, ha.

Backlogging from yesterday.

First cup of the morning. I’ve been holding on to this sample for a while, but when I was thinking about having a pastry and tea for breakfast I knew it was a perfect time to give this one a try. I chose to be lazy and have tea and toast instead of getting dressed and driving to the bakery. Some Saturdays are meant to be spent doing as little as possible.

Really good. Lots of honey flavor at the front of the sip with the cookie/pastry note coming after. There’s a very slight spiciness – something like cinnamon – that is really pleasant. It doesn’t overwhelm the tea in any way, but it really enhances to the cookie flavor. The honey flavor is strong, and this is a sweet tea. I didn’t see a need to reach for the sugar bowl. This is a definite plus in my book. I love having dessert teas that are satisfying and completely guilt free.

One more tea added to my shopping list. This is a good one.

do.not. like. I was fairly certain that would be my impression in any case after smelling this one as it has a very artificial taste. Since i’m trying to taste ALL THE TEA, i made myself make a cup of this. I took a sip and promptly refused to drink any more of it. Some people might enjoy it but for me it’s just too fake tasting to me.

First cup of the day from the Traveling Tea Box. Last night was a somewhat late night, and even after sleeping in, I definitely needed something to wake me up this morning. My mom and I went to see Cesar Millan last night, and it was a very good show. That man amazes me with what he is able to do with dogs!

The dry leaves of this tea smell strongly of honey. I can detect a little baked cookies aroma. The tea itself smells wonderfully of warm cookies with a hint of sweet honey and nuts. The tea has a slight oily sheen on top, which I am guessing is from the nuts. I love biscotti, and the flavor of this tea is very close. The flavor is of fresh baked biscotti with a nuttiness to it and a honeyed sweet finish. There is a light nutty and bready aftertaste that is very satisfying. I added some sweetener, which really didn’t make much of a difference either way, but adding milk brings out a silky smoothness which feels quite nice. Now if we only had some biscotti in the house to go with this cup!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves with slivers of nuts.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of sweet honey with a hint of baked cookies. Tea liquor aroma is of warm cookies with a hint of sweet honey and nuts.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color with an oily sheen on top.
-Fresh baked biscotti and nutty flavor with a honeyed sweet finish. Light nutty and bready aftertaste.
-Best with milk. Sweetener optional.
-Very good tea. Sweet honey and cookie flavor. Silky smooth mouthfeel.

Sil Sample Sipdown #1 (of the day)!
This is an interesting tea. The main flavor I’m getting is a toasty rice breakfast cereal, or a sweet rice crispy treat, with salted butter. I’m also thinking of a payday bar type confection, with the rich caramel center, only with toasted rice on the outside instead of peanuts.
It is tasty. Thanks Sil!

Mmmm, I’m really digging into the box of teas I got from Sil, & this one is very tasty! Thanks Sil!

Thanks to Sil for sharing this one! Only a short tasting notelet, as I probably oversteeped this one (no brewing instructions on the website and I figured a Ceylon should be okay for 4 minutes, anyway). The smell was amazing, and I now know that I must have an osmanthus tea somewhere in my cupboard, though this may not be the osmanthus for me. The taste was much weaker, and as the tea base was rather bitter, it was hard to get anything else. I’ll try again shorter and maybe cooler.

Sipdown!
Thanks again Sil for this Rooibos blend, which I thought was pretty tasty, & my son Drew agrees.

This flavour profile, it is SO FAMILIAR! What is it?? I can’t place what I’m tasting. Orange? but there is no rind in the blend. Maybe the essence of?
Definitely pear and blackberry, though I’m not sure how those would be tropical. Lime is certainly there. Must be the combination that gives it a fruity runt candy like taste. Oh oh!!! wait a second. It’s FRUIT PUNCH BUBBLICIOUS!!! YES! Ha, I beat you, you evasive flavour that reminds me of childhood. Wow. First time ever, I can truly say that I’m looking forward to making an iced tea. Gotta say, I’m a little giddy!
Trouble is, I’m not sure if its the throwback to the eighties that’s seducing me, or the actual flavour itself. Thus, I’ll let things marinate for a bit, and try it iced before rating.
Maybe I’ll make popsicles! :P

Okay, I’ve let this tea sit for a bit (unintentionally) and I have discovered it tastes a little more like cola cold than it does hot. It tastes like an off brand of coke. Not a tea I’d drink all of the time, nor is it a tea I will buy again, but if offered to me I’d drink it.

Hmmm….I find this tea interesting. It tastes good, but I’m not sure if I taste cola in it. Maybe it is because I have a cold, but for now all I can taste is the traditional chai flavor. It has a nice spice to it and I put two tsp of honey in this. I believe my cold is messing with me because I NEVER put that much honey in my tea.

I could kind of smell the cola before it was steeped, but not so much once I started steeping it. Once again, this is probably because of my cold.

I will definitely be trying this tea again when I feel better, therefor I’m going to leave my rating for another time; until then, it is still a pretty good tea.

REALLY wanted to try this one (smells DELICIOUS) but I looked it up first and noticed there was real honey in it :( Boo! I guess this is a fake tasting note because all I could do was smell it :(

1000th note right here!
So I thought I’d do something special with it and chose to make gingered peach potato pancakes with my Aunt. I love cooking with her.
And the pancakes… oh my! It was quite yummy. The ginger really shines through, while the peach added that sweet zing that really made the pancakes pop. Sour cream and sugar (traditional way to serve it) made it almost like a peaches and cream dessert. Yum!!
My Aunt quite enjoyed the tea as well, so I gave her the rest of my packet (seeing as I don’t like it at all!)
Spending the day with my aunt was fun. We had a great time!
Oh and we also made Strawberry Pu-erh pancakes but those came first and we made a few errors when prepping so they were less flavourful. I wish we hadn’t used up the last of my sample on that. Oh well, I can always grab more.

Not gonna rate this because I used the water at a meeting yesterday, and it came out luke warm! so I consider this to be “cold brewed”… well, somewhat anyhow.
And it turned out UBER sweet. Sickly ginger sweet, with a hint of peach pulp.
Definitely need to try again with a proper kettle! I’d rate it around 70 for now.

Raspberry perfume… (she said as she hummed Prince’s Raspberry Beret. After having my cuppa, I now cannot get it outta my head!!!)
Big thanks to Sil for hooking me up with my Kally order. You are one cool tea friend :)

Seriously, I feel as if I’m drinking berry perfume. The raspberry part is coming through loud and clear mind you. and the aftertaste… wow that is lovely. I think that’s my favourite part.
Dad had the first cuppa, then I just drank the second steep so shall withhold a rating til I can sample it properly.
In the end, I think the perfume aspect will overwhelm me to the point of not enjoying it. Sad thing is, it’s more of a scent issue than it is a taste one.
I tried plugging my nose while taking a sip and it was pure berry goodness. A little tart, a little sweet. Oh yes, I quite like that. Then as soon as I take in a breath through my nose… BAM! Le sighs.
Adding a splash of milk seemed to help.
I wonder what this would be like in a pudding. Vanilla raspberry pudding?

Raspberry beret… The kind you find in a second hand store…

Sample sipdowns count for something right?

Since my mom declared tea to not be her cup of tea, I’m keeping the perfect tea mug I got her for Christmas. It also doesn’t help that she just bought new dishes and it came with mugs, so there are now 8 new, bigger mugs in the cabinet. So mine, I get to have one at my place and one at my boyfriend’s.

I have a test tomorrow in Int’l Finance and I want to study a bit before dinner, so I figured another cup of tea would be perfect. I’m not worried about this test at all because I am a Bretton Woods and Eurozone expert as well as way too well versed in the subprime mortgage stuff that occurred here so joy, going over that stuff for the 1000th time.

This is not as tasty as the first time I had it…it tastes oddly like a Lipton soup I’ve had. I’m not sure if that’s because I did not steep it as long as last time or what. But the pistachios are kind of giving it that taste.

I can’t drink this because of it, hahaha I don’t know what the problem is but it’s just too weird that it tastes like chicken noodle soup.

Grazie, Azzrian!

I went outside to check my mail but nothing was there, so now I am of course cold. This was in the nearest container full of tea, and the first one I grabbed that I’ve yet to try, so it was clearly a winner.

I was thinking it would be very almond, but the predominant smell is most definitely honey. I get the same taste from this tea as Bonnie: it actually reminds me far more of baklava than it does of biscotti. This has quite the bold base tea! It’s malty, but it blends so nicely with the sweet honey. The nuttiness adds a good bit of savory flavor to the cup, but I am still enjoying it a lot.

I don’t think it’s something I will buy for myself, but I will have no problem making myself a cup with the rest of the sample. It will definitely come in handy on a much colder day, preferably in the morning!

Funny story I have to tell now that I remember. I bought a couple tins of tea when I was with CupofTree and I left them in the paper bag and stuffed them in my suitcase yesterday morning. So what happens in the security line? They cannot see into the tins or whatever so a TSA agent has to take them out to inspect. I’m like seriously, they are tea. So of course they checked out as not being drugs but tea, and at least the agent was a super nice lady. In Atlanta they are SO mean which I thought was funny because on Saturday night, I was saying that the bartenders at the wedding were like genuinely touched when you thanked them. And people kept telling me it’s because people aren’t nice in Florida.
Anyway I was glad I had not purchased any oolong.