New Mexico Tea Company

Sigh! I was really looking forward to this tea. New Mexico is one of my favorite places in the world and I was delighted to discover their website from which I ordered a number of samples. When it came to this tea I ordered a bit more solely based on the description and ingredient list. Biscochitos are the iconic New Mexico cookie. Hard to describe them, but if you’ve ever had one, you never forget the taste of it. I was pretty psyched to see someone had made a tea inspired by it. I will admit to have slightly been put off by roasted rice in the ingredients list, but I figured it was still worth the risk.
But the minute I poured the loose leaf tea into my steeper I knew something was off. The smell was strangely biscochitos adjacent. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it but I poured the water in and waited for it to finish enfusing. After all you never know with teas, sometimes they smell one way in the cup and taste different on the palate. I drank a cup and while it wasn’t a horrible tea, it didn’t taste as it had promised. Something was off. I made a second cup and as the tea bloomed in the steeper I noticed what at first I thought were pieces of dried fruit. On closer inspection I discovered the issue. What I had mistaken for dried fruit -which I should parenthetically add would have had nothing to do with the cookie in question-what I had mistaken for dried fruit was actually a chunk of star anise. I went back and read the ingredients list on the package and even pulled up the page on their website. Both stated this tea included “anise seed.” Not star anise. But what was unmistakably in my strainer was star anise. Somehow they’d blown the recipe. I don’t need to explain to anyone the profound difference between anise seed and star anise. They are not the same plant and really register in very different ways. Somehow whoever came up with this tea didn’t know what they were doing. Or weren’t familiar with the New Mexican cookie in question. Star anise is not a substitution for anise seed, any more than orange peel is the same as bergamot. These are very distinct flavors and it’s the whole point of making good tea blends.
So very disappointed in this tea. While in and of itself it’s not a horrible tea, it is most definitely not what it was aiming for.

SIDE POINT AS SILVER LINING: I need to add that in looking for this tea to rate it, I came across a different tea company a few miles up the road in northern New Mexico. I managed to reach them to ask if their take on this tea included star anise or anise seed. Fortunately they didn’t laugh me off the phone and offered to send me a sample which they most assuredly told me included anise seed. They shared my confusion as to why anyone would use star anise. So perhaps a silver lining for me and a new customer for them.

Sipdown 90-2021
I grew to really enjoy this tea. It tastes exactly as it presents itself- cardamom and black tea. Adding honey really helps soften the intensity of the cardamom.

Enjoying this with some honey. Really smooth, no bitterness. Cardamom flavor is extremely strong.

This is pretty straightforward- a bold black tea, and lots of cardamom. I love cardamom, so I’m really enjoying it. Added a bit of honey and it’s a really enjoyable cup. Would probably add a splash of oat milk next time.

I’m finding this one to be a bit bland. Not really any vanilla flavor, and the spices are too muted for my taste. Not bad by any means, just not a favorite.

Sipdown 78-2021
Sad to see this go, but I will be purchasing more once I get through some more sipdowns.

I’m really loving this blend, and I’m just about out. I’ll be repurchasing this one when I drink the last cup.

This cup wasn’t perfumey and synthetic like the last one was, which I was extremely happy about. The key seems to be under-leafing the cup a bit. Adding a bit of honey brings out the creaminess.

Reducing my score a bit because this cup was just so incredibly perfumey. It still smells lovely- sweet vanilla creaminess and jasmine. The jasmine flavor is just a bit too synthetic tasting.

I ended up overstepping this and it turned out a bit bitter (I didn’t read the label, and failed to realize it was a black/green blend). Still a very delicious cup of tea. Sweetened with a little bit of honey. It reminds me of a perfume I’m currently obsessed with (Nightgown by Solstice Scents). Creamy jasmine. It’ll probably do well with some cream next time.

The appearance of the long and flat dry leaf is the most interesting thing about this tea. The wet leaf smells like tobacco and camphor, and the brew is golden. The first few steepings were quite light in taste and color, the later steepings start out light and sweet, then end with the tobacco and camphor notes present in the wet leaf. Overall its not unpleasant but not really interesting enough for me to purchase again.

Hello, new favorite herbal! I’m a sucker for good lemon flavors and this definitely counts as that. Lemongrass, lemon myrtle, and lemon peel on a light honeybush background with hints of orange. Mmmm. Perfect as a hot cup of tea in the late afternoon. Eagerly awaiting the end of the work day so I can curl up with a cup of this underneath a throw blanket and relax.

I’ve bought a couple sampler pouches of this as gifts for people before, but I’ve never tried it myself, for some reason. Finally got around to snagging a 4 ounce pouch from Ohio Tea Company when I was there. The dry aroma is absolutely heavenly, like strawberry lemonade gummies and naturally sweet black tea. It doesn’t carry over as strongly to the drink itself, but that’s fine! You can’t expect it to. I’m glad I bought a big portion of this right off the bat because I can see myself drinking it again and again as a non-fussy afternoon tea. I almost never put anything in my teas to alter the taste, but it seems like it would be fantastic with a bit of sugar and lemon juice. A prime candidate for iced tea lemonade.

Something different, and something good. Lemon lands first but is swiftly obliterated by smokey dry pine. It’s easy to think of brush piles around this stuff. The juniper shakes loose at the end, and that berry note neatly caps the experience. It’s unlike any other tisane I’ve ever had. Plus, it’s snazzy looking stuff. Holds its own paired with lunch and dinner, too.

This is one of the first white teas I ever tried. I took a whiff of the little sample tin at the Ohio Tea Company store and bought a couple ounces to test. The dry leaves have a delectable sweet grape smell that’s complemented by the light, dry, tannic aroma of the white tea itself. It’s the aroma of a refreshing ice cold spring drink.
When you brew it, the taste is pleasant while hot—a classically delicate white tea with prominent grape notes—but it’s a completely different animal when you allow it to cool to room temperature. Icewine is an accurate descriptor, although the only sweetness comes from the natural honeyed notes of the tea leaves. There’s a touch of white florals somewhere in there, almost like a perfume note. Saving the rest of my bag for cold brewing this spring and summer. I have a hunch that it’ll be fantastic when it’s properly chilled and the flavors have been slowly extracted.
On a side note: this actually holds up to grandpa-style brewing when you use a smaller amount of leaves. The taste of the liquor produced by soaking a teaspoon of leaves in a 12 ounce mug filled with hot water for an hour is extremely similar to that of liquor from a quick steep in a filled gaiwan, if a tad more tannic.

This tea is weird. Not in a bad way, but if you go into it thinking it’ll be an ordinary herbal, prepare to be thrown for a loop. I distinctly remember my grandma bringing me back “Native Tea” from the Southwest as a souvenir when I was a little kid, and I absolutely loved it, but my mother thought it tasted like burnt grass and threw it in the bin.
Well, this tea is a less burned and more pine-heavy version of that tea I remember, so surprise! What I got hooked on as a 5 year old was cota and I still like it however many years later. The dry cota needles are so pointy that I had one splinter up into the skin of my foot when one escaped onto the floor, and they’re long and stiff which makes them hard to measure.
Once you brew them, though, dang. Southwestern Christmas in a cup. Light yellow liquor that reminds you of an unsavory liquid and the leaves are good to brew again and again until you get tired of drinking the stuff. Juniper berries are the perfect complement to the dry pine of cota. You know how gin has that dry taste to it? Yeah, so does this tea. The juniper builds on that and makes it taste slightly less like sipping on a liquidated alcoholic-but-not pine tree.
I have to say, though, I do love this tea. It’s delicious in a terribly weird fashion.

I blindly bought this tea online based on the picture alone. The beautiful combination of lavender buds, cornflower petals, mallow blossoms and bits of rose and hibiscus had me sold.
From the moment I unzipped the little grey packet, this tea had me hook, line, and sinker. It’s even prettier in real life where you can properly appreciate the colors and textures of the blend, and my god, that smell. Lemongrass and lavender and mango and a sweet kick of florals.
I’d highly recommend steeping it loose in a glass teapot or jar so you have the experience of watching the liquor turn hot pink as the tea expands and the little flowers pop open. It’s deliciously tart from the lemongrass and lemon notes, sweet from the mango, and floral from the lavender and rose. You can taste each individual component and the medley they create at once. The longer you let it steep, the more intense the tartness becomes, and it goes from a light fruity floral at 2 minutes to a near lemonade at 7.

I got this on the way to the Botantic Gardens. There is a very nice cherry scent. When brewed, I get more of the rose aroma. The flavour is sweet cherry, and nicely floral.
Very good spring tea.

My tea while playing Harvest Moon.

One of my new teas for spring. There is a very nice orange scent. The flavour is a creamy citrus, with floral notes. Good on rainy afternoons.