Tavalon Tea

Nothing better than a big mug of chai on a cold day…38 degrees here!

I finished off the last of this stuff. It’s definately a staple for me. Sweet green tea with a rich nutty aftertaste. Gotta love “popcorn” tea :)

Gotta love this stuff. I made a pot to introduce my brother to Japanese tea before his trip to Asia next year.

Drank a whole pot of this wonderfully nutty stuff tonight. Where did fall go? It’s freeze here in New Jersey.

I liked it. Wonderful aroma and pleasant aftertaste. I prefer other ebts to this one but this one is excelllent.

You might think it would be weird to drink a big cup of steaming popcorn.

But you’d be wrong.

Not what I would classify as a black tea although I received this in a black tea samples’ box.

I’d consider this an herbal tea.

Not one of my favorites.

I got this as a sample and decided to give it a soak tonight. First off, I almost want to buy this for the sole purpose of being able to yell SERENITY NOW! whenever someone asks me what I’m drinking. And while we’re on the thread of non-practical reasons to like this tea, it also reminds me of my most favorite canceled television show ever, Firefly.

As for the tea itself, I’m officially impressed. The concept of a Tea Sommelier is pretty cool, but with the way that this tea come together it makes me think that the people at Tavalon have someone over there whose work is more akin to that of a mixologist. I could easily pull out every single one of the components they listed in the description of that tea, and they unfolded very nicely. The chamomile, the vanilla, and the rooibos give it warmth, the lemongrass adds a brightness, and the peppermint leaves you feeling clean at the finish. The combination of it all, at points, reminds me ever-so-vaguely of Red Vines [who, for those unfamiliar, makes the best red licorice in the world and would stab the heck out of Twizzlers in a knife fight]. The tea is not sweet, but the aftertaste makes you think that it is.

I don’t hate chamomile, but I don’t love it either, so this isn’t something that I could drink on a regular basis. When I find myself in the mood for a little chamomile action, however, I can most definitely see this being a tea I would crave.

Sorry, but I’ve got to do it.

SERENITY NOW! SERENITY NOW! SERENITY NOW!

Fin.

Just what I need to recover from a camping trip with the family. This is one of the most highly scented jasmine’s i’ve had. Anyone know of a good recipe using jasmine green tea?

Jasmine Dream is a staple for me. It has a nice balance between the vegetal green and the jasmine. A lot of blends are overly sweet or floral but I like this one a lot.

If you’ve read any of my other reviews you would know that I am a complete jasmine addict. I’ve heard very good things about this blend so I could not wait to try it when I won a coupon in one of Tavalon’s many Twitter contests. The leaves were a very dark green and the scent of the jasmine was so strong that I was able to smell it through the package. I brewed this tea at work so I don’t have the exact specs. It is relatively bomb proof though. I haven’t had a bad cup yet.

This tea is obviously of a high quality because it very heavily scented. The taste and scent lasts through at least three steepings and I am always left feeling like I could have gotten another brew out of it. This was the first jasmine tea I have tried that did not have visible blooms in it. It detracts a little from the visual aspect but did not seem to have affected the taste very much.

I drink many different kinds of tea but tend to heavily favor oolong and green teas. Every once in a while a black tea comes along that changes all that, at least for one cup. Tavalon’s NYC Breakfast is one of those teas. My sample was a funky, do –it–yourself tea bag with a fair amount of dry leaves in it. They had a pleasant sweet and nutty aroma. It’s funny but after writing so many reviews, I can usually tell if I will like a tea by the way the leaves smell. I steeped it using 212 degree water for five minutes.

The resulting tea was robust without being overpowering. Their website describes it as energizing and it definitely is. It had a nice aftertaste and did not need any milk or sweeteners. Quite frankly I think to do so would ruin it. That says a lot for a black tea. This tea was a morning staple of mine when I was working in of all places, NYC. I would definitely recommend it. In fact, I will probably order some the next time I win one of their fun Twitter contests. I will definitely have to try this tea iced as well.

video review’d it: http://walkerteareview.com/?p=1051

video review’d it: http://walkerteareview.com/?p=718

A really unique chai blend. The cloves and cinnamon came through nicely but the vanilla was a special surprise. Creamy.