The London Tea Room

Smells much like other coconut oolongs I’ve had. Taste is a little bit sweet and nicely coconutty, without much oolong aftertaste. I have some of Golden Moon’s coconut pouchong left (and some more on the way from iheartteas.com); I should compare the two. Unfortunately I did use up the sample from Spice & Tea Exchange, so can’t compare that one with it, but it would be nice to narrow down and choose the best coconut oolong!! Hopefully more infusions this evening.

Thanks for the sample, Azzrian!

ETA: Second infusion, 180F/3min, is toasty and light. Still pretty tasty, so I suspect a third would work well. (A day passes) Yep, the third, 180F/3:45, is still pretty flavourful. I wish I could taste more oolong though, that’s my only complaint. I love that toasty coconut flavour. The leaves don’t smell like they have much left in them now, so I think I’ll stop there :)

At the risk of sounding ungrateful for the lovely care package Azzrian sent to me…

This is absolutely the worst tea I’ve ever drank. It smells like Country Time Lemonade and kind of tastes like it, too. It is incredibly artificial.

I know I shouldn’t say anything at all if I can’t say something nice, but seriously, folks. This is disgusting.

Yum. Managed to sweeten this one perfectly today so it’s just sweet enough to be noticeable, but doesn’t overpower anything, so I can taste the delicious fruitiness alongside the smoke. I do so love lapsang blends with milk and sweetener – otherwise I can find them a tad harsh. I think I prefer other smoky blends to this one, but it’s still quite good (and better/more interesting than drinking a straight lapsang with milk/sweetener).

Decided to be a grown-up this morning. I couldn’t sleep, so am just going to work without sleeping in the hopes that I am tired tonight. It’s my own fault. Anyways, the adult part is having two cups of black tea for breakfast! Not that it’s black… I milked and sugared it up nicely, because I don’t think straight tea would sit well with me right now. My stomach is finicky in the morning.

Anyhow, this one’s pretty tasty done up this way; I like smoky tea when it’s lightened with milk and sweetened. Initially I could taste the berries in this blend, but all I can taste is the smokiness, now. Hopefully this sits well!

Hmmm, my tea definitely doesn’t look like the picture here – there were bits in it! I didn’t look too closely, bits of fruit, perhaps?

Last tea of the evening. Have been half asleep for a while now. Thinking the caffeine in this one will do diddly-squat because I’m just so exhausted.

The aroma is sweet, smoky, and fruity. Mmmmm. Loving these lapsang souchong blends.

Flavourwise I’m definitely getting all three as well. It’s a touch on the weak side though – I was worried about the 5 minute infusion instructions so went with four, perhaps a mistake. Too tired to review further.

I kinda like this :) Definitely want to keep trying more LS blends. Thanks Azzrian!

Steepster is so lonely… there are hardly any notes on my dashboard between the notes I managed to post last night, and the one I’m posting now. So few it only took me a couple minutes to get through. So sad :(

Cold-brewed the rest of my sample of this one overnight in a cup of water. It is so crazy sweet it’s ridiculous. I highly doubt this is a calorie-free tea. It’s almost too sweet, actually. Anyhow, it’s pretty good iced, but there’s a lingering bitter flavour that I am not enjoying. It’s possible that it’s from the orange slice in the mix, but I’m not sure. Turns me off a bit; although this one is ok, I don’t think it will make a reappearance in my cupboard. But thank you again for giving me the chance to try it, Azzrian!

Side note: the fruit somehow still tastes quite sweet! So I ate some :D Usually cold-brewing sucks everything out, but not this time apparently!

Ooh, bad me. Thanks to Azzrian for this sample!

A bad time to be trying a new tea apparently, what with my mouth being all mad at me for brushing my teeth before some teas (yeah ok, I knew it was a bad idea.) But, it’s steeped and sitting here, so I may as well drink it!

This one smells much like Mango Madness (DavidsTea) to me, although stronger, and without the (useless) white tea. OH WOW. So sweet! Way sweeter than I’d expected. Like, so sweet it’s literally juice. And I’m pretty sure there are calories in this. Too sweet not to have any (and it doesn’t taste artificial). But anyways, other than sweet, this tastes slightly citrusy, and… (surprise), like mango.

… cannot get over how sweet this one is. It would be a great juice substitute. I mean, I know people talk about teas being “juice-like” and whatnot, but this one blows them all away… Also have just realized that brushing my teeth was totally in vain now that they’re probably coated in fructose…

ETA: Second infusion in practically 1/3 cup water (oops) was great too. Third infusion in a larger amount of water will be too weak, I think. Pretty impressed with this tisane though!!

Sipdown! And still pretty tasty. I had low expectations given that it’s probably over 7 years old and has been in a baggie for the last 6 or so, but it was actually quite pleasant. Delicious black currant flavour on a solid base.

Yum. Drank some of this a looooooong while ago. It was good, but I don’t find a great deal of difference between most black currant/cream blacks. Still have some left, so I’ll write in more detail when I drink it again (although I assume I have another note on this somewhere)…

To celebrate having gone to bed at a decent hour AND having woken up on time (in spite of the fact that I’ve done nothing productive since then), I decided to have a nice cup of black tea! And what better to have than a surprise sample given to me by Azzrian: the Naughty Vicar!

The dry tea smells a bit fruity and rich. Mmmm.

Steeped, it smells exactly like some sort of familiar candy! Perhaps sour berry gummy candies? The $0.05 ones? I can’t quite place it, but it is SO familiar. And yay, it tastes true to the aroma! Not sweet, but it tastes like those candies, backed by a light black base (it might have been stronger had I steeped it longer than 3 minutes, but I’m SO wary of oversteeping right now).

This is pretty good! Not a tea I’d rush to go out and buy myself, but I doubt I’ll have any difficulty finishing it. Thanks Azzrian!

I got this as a lovely surprise from Azzrian – thanks so much! It even gave the package it came in a lovely, fruity aroma.

I brewed this for 3 mins on the nose as I have a tendency to over-steep black teas. This is highly fragrant when brewed and yields light, juicy blackberry notes. I can sit by this and enjoy the aroma drifting over from the cup.

With the first sips, the taste is more floral and less juicy than other flavoured teas I’ve tried, and the black tea seems smoother and (as another reviewer pointed out below), tastes of good quality. I think this would be something I’d have as a breakfast blend on days as a change from Cream of Earl Grey. As I get further down the cup, it’s growing on me more and more. The slight sweetness reminds me of chewy sweets I used to have in the UK as a kid (in a good way).

This may be a fine tea but I am not fond of Lemongrass and this tea has a very strong lemongrass flavor to it. One of my least favorite teas thus far.

One of my favorites thus far. Perfect amount of mint and a perfect balance of berry. I love a good mint tea – this mint is not overpowering but present for sure. The berry comes through first then the mint follows perfectly on the aftertaste.

Sipdown. It was lovely. Stayed fresh considering it is one of the first loose leaf teas I ever purchased. London Tea Room seems to have a ton of new teas. I think I will hit them next month for an order.
This … was delicious!

Every time I have this tea I think “this is a dependable tea” and it is. I have to raise the rating now for that. I have been tempted to many times and have stated in the past that I just could not taste the oolong in the tea but I think I am getting more experienced and appreciative of quality tea. I have said before that this tea would only taste like water without the coconut but now I feel differently. I can admit I was wrong. It is still not a punch in the face tea but you know I have had some that are and the punch was not that wonderful. This tea is one I find that I go to for real comfort. Sometimes that is necessary. Like an old pair of shoes that you know will be comfy all day shopping in or your best friends shoulder. Nothing wrong with that! Its simple, basic, and soothing with great flavor BOTH in the coconut AND the oolong!

I was tempted to raise my rating because this is such a dependable standby. Creamy mouthfeel, no astringency, excellent aftertaste, and the smell is wonderful, reminds me of that tanning oil I used as a kid before I knew how bad that stuff was for me.
The only real issue I have with this tea is that the green tea flavor itself is understated and no matter how natural and wonderful the coconut flavor is – without that flavor, the creaminess, it would be like drinking water.
With that aside I do enjoy this cup when craving something creamy and coconutty.
Edited to add: Oh and I decided NOT to raise the rating due to this!

Lovely Coconut taste but wish it were a tad stronger tea. Still working with trying to get the perfect brew out of it. Have followed brewing instructions – next time will add more tea and see if I get more flavor.

The first time I logged this was 11 months ago when I first got started on Steepster. I have tried hundreds of teas since then but this one still holds up to being a really excellent tea.
Fruity, a creamy mouthfeel, good with or without sugar and creamer, even just a tiny tiny bit smokey.
A rich full cup.
I still love you Monks Blend and that is more than I can say for many of my “first teas”.

My morning cup.

Time for a trusted favorite.
I have had a MEH tea morning. First I tried re-steeping a tea from yesterday but alas it was done. Too bad as it was only a sample that I had and it was OHHH SO GOOD!
Then I tried a chocolate mint tea that was just BLECH! Dumped that.
Then ran daughter to work and took an iced tea with me but it was too early for iced for me and my tummy was upset and needed warm so I came home and decided to go for something I knew would be satisfying.
Getting used to a new schedule (day time schedule) is difficult. I don’t know if I am just lacking sleep and run down or coming down with something. Tummy has been upset for a few days.
Monk’s blend is a good standby. Its not my all time favorite black by any means but it is trustworthy.
I added a little sugar this morning to curb the smokiness though – tummy still was not totally happy with that.

This is one of my favorite teas from The London Tea Room … bear in mind that the only loose leaf I have other than ONE is from The London Tea Room. Also the first place I have ever really tried loose leaf tea from. Regardless of all the teas I bought from them – this is one of my favorites. Tonight for the first time I have tired it with a little milk. I have had it straight, I have had it with honey, and with sugar in the raw. Tonight I added sugar in the raw and milk. VERY YUM! It seems fruity and a little smoky with the milk and of course creamy. Now I have not added milk to many teas, if any that I recall so maybe this is normal but it makes it very much like a dessert tea. Now I just want to brew a pot and have it without the milk and do a closer comparison!

Wow I can’t believe I have no tasting note on this one!
I had to go back to my roots of loose leaf today.
This is one of the fist loose leaf teas I ever had in my stash before I had a stash even!
I got this while in St. Louis for my daughter’s neuro surgery appt. (one of many) – we were lucky enough to be able to go to The London Tea Room! We all loved every moment of our time there – wonderful place!
This tea reminds me of the struggles we all went though and the good times as well.
We love St. Louis so many positive changes happened there for my Emma and our family!
Happy dance.
This tea is smokey and fruity.
It has a little bit of a Lapsang Souchong flavor to it but only slightly and please don’t be discouraged if you don’t like LS – London Tea Room does not even mention if the black base is an LS but I just sort of get that smokey thing from it – but only a touch. It is more sweet and vanilla.
Great berry flavor.
I do have to say I have never tasted anything else like it!
If you want something new and different in a black tea this is the one to order!

This tea just makes me happy. Reminds me of the Renaissance – woodsy smoky flavors with a light berry undertone which is perfect. Add a little sugar in the raw or not – its great both ways. Wonderful LS base. The berry notes are not over the top.

I drank this one a few days ago, but with work pressing in on all sides and stifling my tea drinking efforts, I haven’t had the chance to really log it until today.

So, first off, big shout out to Auggy for sharing this with me! She brought this back from a trip to the London Tea Room, so I was pretty excited to try it.

First things first – I’ve never had a Kenyan tea, but Auggy described this to me as a blend/cross between Yunnan, Darjeeling, and Assam.

The leaves here aren’t the largest, and the smell coming off of them is interestingly fruity. In a Darjeeling sort of way, but mixed with a darker tea smell. That black tea smell. Malty and earthy and full.

I steeped this one up, and boy is the cup a dark red and quite a bit murky too! The taste is… interesting. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it, days later. At peak hotness, this one really tastes like an Assam. Malty and strong and bracing. Very eye-opening stuff. There’s a tiny pipsqueak peep of Darjeeling that grows and grows as this tea cools.

By mildly hot, this one tastes like a weird mix of Yunnan and Darjeeling, with the Assam only slightly echoing in the background. The Yunnan provides this sort of earth tone, while the Darjeeling brightens things up with a fruity, grape/currant type taste.

There’s so many weird things going on here, that I’m sort of flabbergasted as to how to rate this one. It almost reminds me of SerendipiTea’s Autumnal Darjeeling in the super-crazy-magic flavor changing.

I feel like such a bore right now, but I’m so tired from work lately that I’m not really focusing and the synapses aren’t quite firing the way that they used to. Also, with the shrinking amount of sleep I’ve been getting, I’m finding that tea is more likely to upset my stomach, and I haven’t been feeling well in general.

Le sigh.