Silk Road

Backlog…

I had this a few weeks ago with my breakfast, and it was nice. I only steeped for about two minutes and I didn’t add anything to it, and it was lovely! I think a smidge of sugar or honey would have brought out some of the berries more, but I was ok with it as is, which is great…Ihave been reducing my sugar intake more and loving when I find teas I am ok with unsweetened now. I look forward to cold steeping this one soon!

Despite the floral bits in this tea, they’re barely noticeable under the mint of the tea, which works for me…had a cup hot last night, and a cold steep today. Nice and light and refreshing on a warm day like today. Normally I would not get a tea like this, but I was given a small amount from a friend to try, so I did. The rose petals are usually a no go for me, but she said they were very understated and barely noticeable in it once brewed.

Extremely heavy on the hibiscus. Even iced, I couldn’t drink this. In fact, during the tea tasting session, this was the only one I couldn’t drink. Very sour, generic berry flavour, a bit of citrus, I can’t taste much else because of the sour. I like to be able to taste the tea base, but the white tea can’t be tasted at all.

Do not try this hot unless you enjoy tart fruity teas!

A tart and fruity blend. I tried it iced with white grape juice and it was nice made with juice. I’m not sure I would enjoy it hot because of the hibiscus, but it isn’t too bad cold. It made a nice refreshing drink that I could see myself enjoying by the pool side.

A very tasty genmaicha, but it isn’t my favourite green tea base.

I tried this hot

Although this is very herbal/medicinal tasting (herbs like lemongrass and mint), you can almost taste the underlying green base. Barely. Light citrus notes. The tea itself is really pretty, but most of the bogus health claims they make put me off.

I really like the spice combination in this. Lots of interesting herbal notes. I taste citrus (lemon grass and maybe catnip or lemon mint?), a medium intensity mint, and something floral. Very nice hot and cold.

I found this tea underwhelming, to be honest. I almost bought a tin of it last time I went to Silk Road because the loose leaf smells so good, and now I’m not sure I will ever go back for it.

I bought a cup of Silk Road’s Sour Cherry green tea because I needed some tea before my flight and I knew I would be stuck at the airport for a while. They used a lot of leaves in my tea bag, at least 3 teaspoons, which quickly expanded to 6 teaspoons after a few minutes of steeping. The leaves were mostly large pieces of a medium green colour. After about 3 minutes of steeping, the tea was a light yellow and tasted very faint, so I let it steep for another 3 minutes. The liquid was now a more attractive amber colour and smells like green tea and cherries. Unfortunately, the flavour was lacking. To my disappointment I could taste very little cherry, and I dislike the tangy and astringent aftertaste. However, under all that, there was a pleasant green tea flavour. If you are someone who does not mind astringent tea, you will enjoy this tea strong. Otherwise, I would not recommend this tea.

I wish this tea had a bit more chocolate flavour, but it is still one of my favourite chocolate mint teas. It is very nice plain or with light sweetener and goes well with milk. In the summer I make it iced with honey. The best part about it is that you can re-steep it 4-6 times without losing any flavour.

I tried a sample of this iced today, but my view of it has not changed. This is an overly tannic black tea with generic berry notes and some bitterness. I hate the base they used, and I can’t pick out any distinct fruits. This would have been so much better with some freeze dried local woodland strawberries, blueberries, Oregan grape, and salmon berries. The base should have been smooth and fruity, but instead it tastes like a cheap bagged breakfast tea.

Too acidic and astringent for me.

When this is brewed too hot with a shorter steep, it tastes mostly of lemongrass with hints of mint.

I tried brewing it for 5 minutes with hot but not boiling water, and it brought out the other important ingredient: seaweed.

Here’s the thing: I like seaweed. But I like toasted nori, but that thick bull kelp rotting on the beaches near my house. The smell of this tea is really unnerving because it reminds me of octopus/squid flavour or fish broth. It smells REALLY fishy. Luckily, however, the taste is more similar to the smell of bull kelp, and not what I would describe as fishy. It pretty much tastes how one would expect this blend to taste like. Strong lemongrass, the longer steep made the peppermint a bit overpowering, and then in the aftertaste is bull kelp. If you have ever tasted dried Kombu seaweed, that is what this tastes like.

For those who don’t know what bull kelp looks like:
http://otlibrary.com/wp-content/gallery/bull-kelp/bull-kelp-on-rialto-beach-in-olympic-national-park-wa-ruth-hager.jpg

I tried this over at a friend’s house last month and it was amazing! It is a typical “Vanilla Earl Grey” but with less bergamot and more of a rounded, malty black tea flavour. Next time I am at Silk road I’m going to pick up some of this to make London Fogs out of. It is soooo good with milk/