The Jade Teapot

This is the next Jade Teapot sample I’m trying out of the ones I’ve received.

The first things you notice with this tea are it’s amazing smells of lavender and the bright purple flowers throughout this black tea. While steeping this tea, you’ll notice how the black tea stains the purple flowers, so they turn to this almost greenish color and won’t be the vibrant purple they started out to be. But tea is all about the taste, not about what the infused tea looks like afterward, right?

After steeping this tea, the lavender smell is still pretty strong, but not nearly as strong as it was in loose leaf form. I can definitely smell the bergamot in this now.

Taste wise… It’s really strange, but a good strange… I was expecting a huge floral punch in the face, it’s not as bad as I thought it would be. There are floral notes to it, but it’s a slight bit, has a relaxing feel to it. I can definitely taste the earl grey, the bergamot flavor isn’t huge, but it’s there. I think this has a very nice balance to it. This would be a solid buy.

I would write a bit more, but the Blues are on now. KICK THE SNOT OUT OF COLUMBUS!

EDIT: quick note… there are multiple steeps in this, but the second and third steeps lose the taste of black tea and I taste nothing but floral, which isn’t really a bad thing.

This was a free sample from The Jade Teapot. I chose this because I love Adagio’s White Blueberry, and pomegranates are good too. So why not combine them and see what happens?

It smells fruity. The pomegranate smells a lot stronger than the blueberry. In fact, I can’t smell any blueberry, but blueberries are light and pomegranates aren’t, so I guess that is to be expected.

This is a little overpowering. I expected this tea to be light, but it’s a very full bodied tea and I’m not sure I like it. It is overly sweet from the pomegranate, and I can’t taste the blueberries or even the white tea base. Still, it isn’t all bad. I’m not going to be able to finish the cup, though. I still appreciate the free sample from The Jade Teapot.

Jade Teapot sample

Zarafina brewed at the black/loose/strong setting

Smells divine – the vanilla blends into the tea base aroma beautifully.

I drank it with milk and sweetner, my personal preference for the darker teas, and it was lovely. No bitterness, full mouth-taste, and the flavor of the vanilla blended well with the milk.

Lovely tea. A mellow, soothing tea.

Like the others, I got my sample from the Jade Teapot. Unlike the others, I was having a harder time tasting the blood orange through the rooibos. I think that I’m more sensitive to the rooibos taste than most, making some teas that are amazing for others tasting overly woody to me. This tea was good, but not one that is inspiring song and visions of large orders.

I do just need to say that the free sample from the Jade Teapot was very generous and shipped quickly. I’m very much hoping I fall in love with one of my samples, because I want to give this company my custom. Thanks Jade Teapot for being awesome.

This is a sample I just received today from the Jade Teapot.

This tea smells like blood oranges, and tastes like rooibos tea with a nice strong citrus background. Italian Blood Orange leaves a warm citrus aftertaste that is pleasant to me. This is a great tea for the evening.

I really am enjoying having orange herbal and orange rooibos teas at night. They are calming and relaxing.

This was a free sample from The Jade Teapot. It sounded lovely, and I was intrigued by the idea of the star shaped white tea. My sample didn’t have any stars : (

I took this plain, without milk or sugar. I can smell the vanilla in this very strongly. Something also smells faintly of smoke.

This is quite nice. I can taste the Assam as well as the vanilla. I also get a hint of something fruity, like a very light tangerine. It really is a soothing tea.

I just received my samples from The Jade Teapot (thanks btw!), and this was one of the ones I decided to sample.

The citrus flavor in this is amazing, it’s not too overpowering, because you can still taste the rooibos. But you can definitely tell it is a blood orange by both the taste and smell. The hibiscus isn’t overpowering, I think this makes for an amazing nighttime tea. I’ll write more on this later

Alright, that is the end of this sample. The last serving of this didn’t turn out as good as previously. The rating will slightly suffer because it wasn’t that memorable and didn’t make me want to buy more.

After tonight, I have enough of this tea left for a scant pot. I’m so sad! The more I drink this tea, the more I enjoy it. I bet this would be amazing iced, so that is how I will try it tomorrow. I think this will be going on the shopping list.

Oooh….this is awesome. I think this tea and the caramelized pear are really changing my mind about herbals. I really get the coconut in both the smell and taste, I didn’t get the pineapple until I added just a bit of sugar, but it is there. This is a really great tea experience, the tea tastes just like the smell which doesn’t happen that often (at least for me). I almost think I prefer this to the caramelized pear which is more dessert like because this is more everyday type tea for me.

Alright, I’m having this again today in an attempt to brighten my mood after the unsuccessful tea experience I had earlier. I still think this is pretty good, but not what I’m looking for right this second. Hmm…I wonder what I actually want today. I guess the search is on.

Right after I finish this really good lavender earl grey.

EDIT: I didn’t finish it. I think this is a tea that you have to be in the mood for. The rating will be slightly adjusted because this just isn’t a tea I can see myself drinking on a regular basis. I suppose it tasted different to me yesterday when I was still recovering from being sick.

It is a slightly odd sensation of being awake due to caffeine yet wanting to sleep because of the lavender…huh…good tea though. I think 2 infusions is about all this tea can handle. I may try for 3 though.

I wanted to get a sample of this because I love earl grey and was curious how lavender would complement the traditional flavors. I was so excited when my samples came in, this tea is so cute!! Just look at the picture! I already love this tea just based on the pretty little leaves.

This is actually a very good tea. The bergamot isn’t as strong as I would normally like, but the addition of lavender more than makes up for it. I think if the bergamot was any stronger, the lavender wouldn’t taste right. This doesn’t seem to be a very strong tea, but has a nice lavender aftertaste that is very calming. There is a great caffeine kick as well – although I wasn’t sure about that based on the extremely smooth taste. I don’t typically like that many floral smelling/tasting teas, but this is great. I could see myself buying a big container this in the future. Although I would also have to invest in a regular Earl Grey. This is a good alternative, but not a complete replacement for me.

I tried another infusion of this hoping the overly sweet smell wasn’t as strong this time. It worked to an extent, but not enough. I like the flavor but the scent is just way too much.

I had this again tonight and realized that it doesn’t taste as good as last time. Probably due to last time being when I was still under the weather. It is good, but the smell is a bit too sweet for me. Just smells off to me. This is dropping only 1 point because I don’t plan on buying this, but it is a good tea.

I’m still on the search for great caffeine free options for the evenings, any suggestions?

This is really good, and I don’t even like rooibos! I added just a tad of sugar and the caramel/pear combo is perfect. I think this could be my new favorite before bed tea. I think this will definately be going on my shopping list after this sample is out.

I had saved the last portion of leaves from last night and steeped them again this morning which I placed in the fridge. Now I have an amazing iced tea, better than most iced teas that I have had. I may just have to buy this for the summer. I’m bumping the rating a little.

I think that the longer the steep, the better this tea is. Adding a bit of sugar seems to bring out the strawberries a bit more. This is the last of my sample, so I’m glad that I figured out the best cup for the last one.

I decided to have this tonight before I switch over to caffeine free options. I’m really trying to find a way to bring out a heavier strawberry taste. I brewed this tea for 5 minutes at not quite boiling water. The resultant color is like a very dark honey. While I’m not getting more strawberry, the tea tastes juicier, but not a specific fruit flavor. I really think this tea just gets better with higher steep times. So far 5 minutes is a winner, but I have enough leaves for one more pot, so more tinkering will happen on another day.

I tried steeping this longer than I normally do, and it was quite good. I got a bakey type taste with a hint of strawberry. I would like to taste more strawberry, but this was a very soothing tea for the afternoon.

This tea brews up to a nice golden honey color and the scent is definately of fresh, juicy strawberries. I’m giving this tea another go with rock sugar instead of regular sugar hoping that the rock sugar will add just a hint of sweetness to the strawberries instead of making it taste like sugar water. The tea exhibits a bit of tartness just like real strawberries, but I’m not sure if I would have realized this was strawberry just by tasting it.

I really want to like this tea and I think I appreciate it slightly more each time I drink it, but I’m still not convinced that white teas are my thing. It is okay, nothing that I will severely miss when it is gone, but okay.

Overall, this is a good white tea, I just don’t know if white teas are really my thing. I tend to like teas that are stronger and more in-your-face about their flavors. I had this hot earlier, and made this infusion iced/sweetened which was really good. This would be great in the summer. I may have to order more just for iced tea.

These leaves are huge, it was really hard to measure out the right size portion for my teapot, but I managed :)

To be fair, I’ve been a bit on the sick side the past few days so my taste may be off. The smell out of the package was interesting and very sweet and bakey…like the smell of a strawberry cake in the oven. I don’t usually like white tea, so hopefully this will change my mind. This brews up a very pale color, almost clear, which I guess is typical for white tea. The taste is good, there actually is a taste. With white tea, I usually just get scented hot water, but this has a taste. Maybe adding a bit of sweetener will bring out the strawberry more….I’ll be right back…

Okay, I added just a scant bit of sugar. WOW! What a difference a little sweetener makes! The strawberry is actually at the forefront now, although the bakey type smell doesn’t translate into the taste. I wonder if a bit of milk would really transform this into more of a dessert tea, but I’m a little scared to try it because the tea is so light to begin with. Maybe another day.

I’m rating this tea based on it being the only white tea to date that I would love to have more of. I don’t know if I will order this when my sample is done, but it is possible.