The Spice & Tea Exchange

I had this for breakfast today and it was a good strength for me. I used two teaspoons for about 14 ounces of boiling water. The hazelnut is very nice, and doesn’t come off like Nutella as is the case with a lot of hazelnut flavored things.

I thought the tea base was a great strength since I don’t add milk or sugar, but I do think this could take it and I will probably make a latte with it sometime soon. I did taste a little something I thought was….woody? Toasty? When I checked the description it said this is toasted hazelnut flavor so I think it was that toastiness that I picked up.

Very nice!

I really enjoyed this one – another from Superanna.

I think I liked this better than Victorian London Fog from Harney but it has been a really long time since I had that one.

The creme and vanilla flavors are nice and strong here, as is the bergamot. I drank it plain but I bet this would make an awesome latte, an awesome London Fog, and an awesome ice cream mix.

The dry leaf has such a strong coconut aroma but I see no coconut pieces in the mix. It smells great. The base is bao zhong and it steeps up very light. The coconut is the star of the show. It should last a long time since there are no coconut chunks to go rancid.

Tasty!

This was a gift from Superanna, who just visited Spice and Tea in Florida near Disney and brought back some pressies for me.

I find this tea aptly named. This is maltier than an English breakfast usually is, and less brisk than an Irish or Scottish breakfast.

I rarely add milk and sugar to my tea and I usually don’t need a caffeine kick or a super strong tea to get me going in the mornings, so there are few breakfast teas on my shelf. I have QueenCatherine which is a blend of three Chinese teas, and I have Premium Keemun from Teavivre, as well as a few Earl Grey renditions. Those are what I consider my breakfast teas.

This tea seems to contain Assam and Keemun teas although the Chinese tea in the mix might be a Panyang. It has a rich, classic breakfast tea aroma but it’s not so brisk that I feel I have to add milk to soften it, nor does it need sugar, especially with food. Even when breakfast was finished and I was having the last cup from the pot, it wasn’t too much for me.

I think this is one of those tees that Ashman will love just as it is. I will enjoy it on days when I want a little “oomph” with my breakfast.

This is pretty… been wanting a good chocolate tea for a while but this was a little disappointing despite the rating I’m giving it. I was hoping it’d be a 90 or better… especially since it was only available in-store as a 4 oz package and know I’m kind of stuck with it. It has a slight cocoa flavor but I definitely don’t get the chocolate. IDK maybe I had high expectations… too high, but it fell short. My favorite chocolate tea is still Hot Chocolate by DAVID’s TEA.

New comfort tea unlocked

This blend is so cozy and warm, it tastes just like warm gooey bread pudding. I may need to grab more before the fall season even begins!

TTB
I don’t mean to by a complainypants about the weather, but it’s rained every day for the past two weeks in a place where it typically rains twice a month. So I pulled this out of the box for a comfort cup this morning and got a nice warm cinnamon maple hug. I think this is just as good as Cuppa Geek Morning Waffles and I might need some of this in my cupboard. Thanks for putting it in the box!

There is a lot going on with this tea. My brain didn’t fully process what I bought until just now. I purchased it thinking it would be good for my mom who has digestion issues but she is also not good with tea infusion. I will teach her. When I first opened the bag I was hit with Mint and a medicinal note… dentist’s office. Maybe a slight hint of nilla in the background. But when you infuse the tea the profile changes. Suddenly the back of the dentist’s office bursts open into a fish market. FRESH FISH! It’s so strong! Had to push it away as I was steeping it. But as I bring it back the mint aroma comes back. But it is not dentist mint anymore. Now it’s just peppermint. Almost reminds me of those chocolate peppermints. Not the York with the white in the middle but the green one. Hmm well, maybe the York too. The liquor color is deep and dark brown. Hickory. As you sip it down it turns to a bit more of a rosewood shade. Strangely, the mint isn’t overpowering in flavor. They all kind of meld into one… meh. It’s not terrible it’s just not nearly like anything I was thinking it would be. It’s all fishy and minty and vanillay and woody all at the same time and my brain is going wtf…

This tea was fucking weird.

I think it mostly bothered me because it’s composed of soooo many really strong flavours that all together are just a bit too intense and competitive. We’re talking really cooling, menthol heavy mint, a slightly tart red berry notes, veryyyyyy coating and cloying sweetness from the ginseng/licorice root, and a slightly astringent and bitter woody finish. Isolated, I think they would have all been lovely though. I think this is a case of someone trying to build something quite functional and prioritizing that over taste. Not a bad thing, just not the way I personally consume my teas.

This one is a favorite of my husband. Its a healthy tea with lots of good ingredients. I can taste the schisandra’s bitterness and the dandelion as well as the ginseng. I’m not a fan of licorice root as I find it too be a strange flavor. It feels like a good maintenance tea for those that like to drink herbal teas with medicinal properties. Has lots of vitamin C which would also be a good tea for the winter time when the sky is cloud most of the time. (peppermint comes in faintly)

Thick and jammy, but with a pleasant briskness from the black tea base. I had this as a hot cup of tea first thing when I got into the office on Monday and it was just spot on the straight forward and flavourful blend I needed to jump start the week!

Iced Tea!

Y’all know I love a good blueberry tea, especially a black! This was very refreshing with a pretty strongly jammy blueberry flavour contrasted against a nice, simple brisk black tea base. There’s nothing about this that stands out as especially unique or distinct but the execution was really well done with a simple blueberry blend. Plenty flavourful and just quite tasty. I’d happily drink this one again!

Still slowly sipping my way through these coworker teas!

I’m… sort of on the fence about whether I liked this one or not? It’s got a strong orange note that’s closer to a very natural fresh squeezed orange juice flavour versus more of a candy or soda-type of flavour; but without any acidity at all. It’s sort of strange tasting something that has those fresh squeezed and “pure” orange notes but without that pop of juiciness that acidity would give it. It’s also kind of bright and kind of not? Like, the white tea is delicate and the flavour overall is also sort of delicate so it reads maybe a bit borderline like “flat” orange juice? But the taste is good. It just maybe feels unfinished because of the above reasons?

I don’t know. It left me very confused overall. Though, the one thing I do feel strongly is that the name is pretty on point. Can’t think of much else more Florida inspired than oranges – and the sun connection is pretty great too! Even steeped a pretty yellow colour, likely aided by the “turmeric sugar” in the mix.

Gut impression is that this would probably grow on me over time…

Last one tonight!

There’s something about this blend that really straddles the line between generic apple/hibiscus fruit medley (really “catalog” in style) and more clean and simple delivery of a quality flavour. It tastes a lot like elderberry, but not really like much else other than those two aforementioned base ingredients. I can’t decide how I feel about it. I personally like the taste of elderberry but I know it can be polarizing since it had some of that medicinal note that things like black currants also have. By using such a generic mix of supporting ingredients, you can’t hide from that. However, do you want to!?

Taste aside, this is clearly intended to be more of an Immunity and Cold/Defense play since elderberry is so popular right now for its functional benefits. I don’t know, it’s an interesting blend. One I think I’d like to taste again and reflect a bit more on…

I enjoyed this one a lot too, but found it a bit plain/straightforward. It mostly just tastes like a medium bodied with tea with a pure play passionfruit flavour. No acidity/tang, though. I know there’s pineapple flavouring too but it blends a lot into that generic tropical vibe and isn’t quite as distinct as the passionfruit to me.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, though – simple/straight forward and a little plain is OFTEN underwhelming on first taste but does tend to become a lot of people’s favourite teas with repetition. Predictability and flavours that aren’t too extreme for a broad spectrum of moods/situations are REALLY good cupcoard staples.

I really liked this tea, but it doesn’t really taste at all like what I’d expect a berry blend to be. Sure, there are a lot of berries in the blend but all the heavy lifting with the taste is being done by the flavouring and it’s plum/lychee – NOT berry. You can taste it too; this is like a less floral lychee white tea with a tinnyyyy bit more depth to it. The inclusion of berries contributes a little bit, but not as much as the average person thinks they do. Dehydrated fruits just don’t work like that. So, tasty as it may be, I find the composition to be sorta deceptive.

This tea smelled really good and it looked even better. Almost glossy looking dark black tea leaves with very bright and contrasting curls of orange peel, bold blue cornflower, and lots of purple lavender. The aroma was rich and creamy with strong notes of orange and lavender alongside that. Gave me a bit of an “Earl Grey Creamsicle” vibe but floral.

The taste wasn’t as great as the aroma. It was just sooo floral and lavender heavy. Arguably too fresh to the point where it read a bit like really heady perfume. But the orange, bergamot, and cream notes were solid – just drowned out!

A coworker just came back from a vacation to the states and brought with her a whole bunch of teas for us to try from stores she visited – so I’m gonna try and taste through them over the next week!

I feel like I’ve tried so many variations of this tea. Literally and figuratively. It sort of just tastes like your standard medium sorta quality green blending base with a light handed addition of strawberry flavouring. Sort artificial, and definitely leaning on the more floral and aromatic side. Not tart, juicy, or overly sweet. In a kind way, it’s the type of strawberry blend I would feel very comfortable serving to a grandparent. It just feels safe and, in that safeness, comfortable.

However, I did not personally love it.

One of my new favorite green tea blends, for some reason I love creme brulee green teas exclusively. I don’t like creme brulee in black or herbal blends. This blend is caramelly, sweet, and cakey. A perfect treat for a stressful day.

Evidence of trichomes on the inside of the package. With an interesting wine aroma. Like a Burgundy. With a very slight sweetness from a Visanto. Golden tips and curly tightly twisted leaves. The wet aroma is very nice. A mix of what was already mentioned but then it switches to heavily wooded notes. This is definitely a woodsy brew. Wood chest. Wood compost. Playground wood? Also creamy with a bit of astringency. Would go well with milk.

It seems utterly impossible to me that there is no note for this tea. It was a gift from a former student just a couple of weeks ago and we have already finished it. I drank the 1st cup hot right after I got it and it had lovely champagne flavor with a hint of berry. I was so sure I had posted a note.

Ever since Thursday, we have been drinking it as a flash chill tea. It makes an incredible amount of foam and even after you drain your glass the foam stays for a very long time. In fact I don’t think I have seen it break down yet .

Making this way, shaking the hot tea in a cocktail shaker with ice, the champagne flavor is very strong and the berry flavor is practically nonexistent. In fact, the three of us who tried it could only detect the berry flavor in the aftertaste and then we had to look for it. The champagne flavor is so good, however, that it is going to be very hard for me not to immediately re-order this one. It is an awesome summer flash chilled tea that tastes great with no sugar.

Sipdown – this was a Christmas present from my sister. We were doing local gifts. So this is local to Arizona (at least the shop).

Pretty good flavored tea with the flavoring lasting into the second steep. Juicy and melon flavored and the base is solid. It would sometimes get astringent when overleafed. I enjoyed it.

I don’t know why I let myself toss this one into the basket when we visited the Spice and Tea Exchange back in November. The dried fruit bits were just so pretty in the packet. If you like cranberry and tart, you’ll be fine with this one, although there’s not really anything else noticeable in the blend. I couldn’t find a whole lot of apple, either.

But I bought it, overpaid for it, so I am bound and determined to drink it. Tonight’s attempt was aided by additives—an extremely generous glug of vanilla syrup from a sample sized bottle, for which I have now lost the lid. I think I absentmindedly cut off the protective sleeve around the lid, then threw away the lid and left the sleeve in my hand. You haven’t ever done anything like that, have you? I didn’t think so.