teakruthi

Now this is a great way to start the morning. Like the morning light rising above the horizon. It starts of gentle on the palate with with calming woodsy notes. The sun rises more and the astringency sets in but only slightly. Slight hints of compost and wet woods. Soft mouth feel. The wet aroma is very light. Reminds me of the smell of the woods after a campfire.

The aroma and the visual aspect of this tea scream Darjeeling. The way Darjeeling smells,
the slightly mineral, fresh, like a clean rainfall. It is a unique smell that I can only attribute to Darjeeling. Kinda like saying something tastes like chicken. But what is the taste of chicken? I Don’t Know it just is! Oh, fudge… Now I’m tasting chicken. That’s a weird mix with tea. Speaking of taste considering how it smells I don’t quite get those muscatel notes I’m looking for. This one is utterly perplexing. I have tried both infuser in cup style and gong fu style but I feel both lack the Darjeeling punch I was looking for. If steeped too little there is no flavor. Steeped too long and it’s astringent with a bitter woods flavor.

What an absolutely delightful color! Clear Japanese carmine with golden-amber accents. The aroma is divine It’s a forest of berry aromatherapy. Also very pretty to look at while drinking. The flavor is intensely fruity. My first round wasn’t great though. I steeped it hot and somehow (don’t read this part until you sip it) it tastes like cigarettes. Mind you I don’t smoke and I abhor the smell but that is what I was reminded of. The second steep was colder and no cig reminders. Steep cold to fully enjoy this one.

Hate to say it but this would be better suited for the British drinkers, who like a strong cup with milk/sugar. Due to the tiny size of the leaf it infuses very quickly. A tricky on to brew if not for milk. The astringent qualities come out so quickly. Next time less leaf. If you can make it past the astringency you’ll find it has a fresh feeling on your palate. Filled with some malty and dark woodsy notes of mahogany.

Holy Lemon, Batman! POW! ZAM! BAP! It’s like having a dessert without all the extra calories. Speaking of desserts there are many dessert teas like this one but many add natural or artificial flavor. This tea gets the job done without any of that! The taste starts with a tango of lemon flavor reminiscent of lemon drops and switches to a quirky quick-step with woodsy notes. The aroma is tantalizing with fresh lemon and tropical ocean forest notes. But also slightly weird because sometimes I get a hint of Country Time ‘lemonade’. The name of the tea is also great. At first I thought Kandy was a play on words using Kandy for candy and the ultimate meaning being it tastes like lemon candy. The meaning is much deeper and steeped in the country from which is came. Kandy, Sri Lanka.

Samurai TTB #40

I was so intrigued by this one, as it wasn’t completely clear from the packaging whether it was a black tea, an oolong, or a green tea. I brewed it like an oolong, according to the instructions on the bag. However, I’m thinking I maybe should have treated it like a green tea, as it came out quite bitter. Other than the overwhelming bitterness, it had a very leafy flavor, but like dead leaves, not fresh green ones. I was only able to finish half a mug of this, as it became quite astringent as it cooled and was drying out my tongue with every sip. Definitely my least favorite tea I’ve tried from the teabox!

A sipdown! (M: 5 Y: 37), prompt: A floral tea
Actually it was already removed from my virtual cupboard, or it never been there; who knows.

It’s nice and although almost 4 years old, still pretty tasty. It was more herbaceous than green tea and definitely floral for me. Lavender, mint and linden flowers made very nice combination, somehow relaxing.
Fine and I am glad to have a sipdown.

I get my brother teakruthi’s sample pack for Christmas and he decided to brew a tea for a whole family, so I consider myself lucky trying this tea too. I have tried several teakruthi’s teas 3 years ago and honestly I am surprised how they have developed. I am not fan of vedas or ayurveda and things like that; so I am just taking this tea for taste/aroma/overall rating.

I was working almost all day on my statistics paper, which have to be finished before January 4th, but I have to study for exams (two!) in the very same time, so I am a bit sad it is not done yet.

But this tea should have calming abilities, well it contains lavender and linden, so it would hopefully slow down my heartrate too. Luckily, today just one minor panic attack. Whew.

Ohh, such smooth texture. Some mild refreshing menthol. Quite easydrinking; the base isn’t much present though. Lavender isn’t too floral, which is a bit dismal for me, as I prefer it to mint.

A nice blend liked by all the family.

Close Facebook. Put on music with erhu in it. Deeply inhale. Exhale. Fruits. Strawberry. Peach. Do it again. Pineapple and mango. Drink in a double-walled glass cup in order to fully enjoy the gorgeousness of this tea. Though don’t try to sip it grandpa style. The rose petals will try to choke you. Tiny pink ninjas they are. This tea is better brewed cold. The fruity flavors come out better without the astringency taking over. Personally, I wasn’t really a fan of it when it hot because I thought it was a bit too tannic, even with the fruity flavor.

Discovery Advent Tea #6
Might have let my sample sit next to something it shouldn’t have because I found this one to be rather dull. Thought it was an oolong but it’s a green. Might have to return someday

Discovery Advent Tea #3
Nice spicy chai for those who like it spicy. Though I picked up some weird soapy flavors too. Did not taste the cinnamon but Id be willing to give this one another go.

I generally don’t drink many Ceylon teas but they have been growing on me. This one especially because the tannic after taste you generally get with black ceylons can be a bit much and so people tend to add milk and or sugar, which I don’t, but this one is very slight. It has good woody and slightly earthy tones.

The last of my teakruthi teas I haven’t reviewed, even though I had to throw out the four hibiscus blends with living bugs in them: https://steepster.com/teas/teakruthi/91972-summer-isle I can’t say that I’m not hesitant. sigh.   This is supposed to be “chai” but only has cinnamon added.  To me it seems like a cinnamon flavoring, because it’s certainly not a cinnamon I’m accustomed to.  This is Ceylon cinnamon, of course, so maybe I never had Ceylon cinnamon.  Anyhow, the base tea is extremely savory: notes of black pepper, basil, tomato and the savory cinnamon fits right in there.   Not really what I was expecting, but it’s different. 
Steep #1  // 1 1/2 teaspoons for full mug // 16 minutes after boiling  // 2 minute steep
Steep #2  // 2 minutes after boiling //  4 minute steep

Finally got around to drinking some of my accumulating but neglected loose leaf tea, and felt it deserved a note. I quite like how the lemon flavor is handled here, the lemon is convincing but has a touch of sweetness. The teakruthi teas in general seem a little on the weak side though, and I always find myself using more leaf than I normally would, so not sure what that’s about.

In other news, Inktober has started and I’m not sure why I do this to myself, but I guess I just wanted an excuse to draw my favorite book characters. Already tired though. https://www.instagram.com/p/CF2vTUsByKt/

booooorring. sipdown, sample from VariaTEA. For me this was an average every day boring sort of tea both ways that i tried it.

I have come to find out that this tea is called orange, yet it is not flavoured. What they mean is orange as in “orange pekoe”. Still an ok cup, but misleading IMO. There is no citrus to be found. Lots of tannin but still smooth and overall a nice solid basic black tea.

WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVE TEAKRUTHI’S HIBISCUS TYPE BLENDS:  They might have living bugs in them.
So a couple days ago I was going to steep up some of So Berry and was trying to pick out some of the hibiscus in my hand before putting the rest in the infuser.  I saw a tiny brown three segmented bug on my hand, looks kind of like an ant or tiny termite.  Thought it was a fluke.  Then there was a second one on my hand, so it was definitely coming from the pouch.  My pouch of So Berry was ordered in March.  Since then, I’ve been emailing the wonderful people at Teakruthi.  Then got curious just a minute ago and wanted to test the other teas.  My method:  I poured the tea pouches onto a paper plate, agitated the tea, and then kept it still for a minute to see them start crawling around.  The hibiscus focused blends from March had at least a few bugs before I stopped counting.  This one was particularly bad.  It was crawling. 
From a March 2020 order, these pouches have bugs in them:  Summer Isle,  So Berry, Serendipity and Ceylon Peach.  I feel terrible giving Teakruthi this news, because they are otherwise fantastic.   But I drank these teas… with living bugs actually living in them.  This is disgusting.  Serendipity I luckily didn’t even open before today, so I KNOW it isn’t a problem from my end of things.  I’ve never even seen these bugs before.  I sent some of you guys these teas!  Luckily not these four.

I tested ALL Teakruthi’s blends that I still have, by pouring on a paper plate and observing.  From what I can tell, these teas are FINE: 
Original samples from 8/2019: Ceylon Emerald, Lemon Kandy (though there was a big piece of what looked like pocket lint), Vanilla Earl, Colonial Mornings, Afternoon Ritual, Zen Mint, Ceylon Ivory, Majestic Chai
From 3/2020 order that were FINE: big pouch of Lemon Kandy, big pouch of Ceylon Emerald, Wild Monsoon, Southern Malt, Cinnamon Chai
I hate bringing anything to light that is negative about the great Teakruthi BUT I also don’t want my Steepster buds to be drinking living bugs.   They clearly have a production problem, at least with these four blends. BUT they do say they make really fresh batches, so the problem might already be solved by now?  I HOPE SO.   I’m also glad Teakruthi uses very thick quality, fully sealable pouches because if I had a bug infestation in all of my teas, I would be pissed. I know I’ve been lucky with the thousands of teas I’ve sampled, I think I only have found a tiny bird feather in one of them before. So yes, very lucky. At least I didn’t say this tea was the most delicious tea ever?  I guess I could taste the bugs. :/