Lisa (harmony_bites) Send Message

I ordered a bunch of Ceylon teas from TeaSource to give them a try. I tend not to be a fan of the Ceylon’s I’ve tried—from this or earlier orders. I think because I hadn’t found then very distinctive—I feel I might as well be drinking a bagged Lipton tea. This tea is different—my favorite of Ceylon’s I tried, one I’d order again, though I’m not sure yet it’ll be an absolute favorite. But this one does have richness and complexity—a malty, chocolatey note, but also a plummy, fruity note as well. Both my aunt and I (who tends to like more “basic” teas) liked it very much.

This is one of several Ceylon teas we ordered from TeaSource, one of three we’ve tried. So far this is smack in the middle. Not a keeper by any means—but drinkable. I find it hard to summon much more enthusiasm than that, but I should note I’m not generally a fan of Ceylon teas—at least thus far—I find them very basic, not standouts, and this one isn’t an exception, with nothing that much distinguishes or detracts. It does stand up well to milk.

We’re trying out various Ceylon teas from TeaSource—this is the third from this order we’ve tried. My problem with Ceylons so far is that they strike me as very basic teas, like something you’d get from a Lipton teabag, without the personality of darjeelings, assam or Chinese black teas. My aunt who I share these with on the other hand likes basic, unflavored teas, so you’d think she’d favor those. This is her favorite so far, one she said she’d like to see again, and on that basis it may get reordered someday. As promised on the label it’s smooth and mellow—although to me nothing all that special and is getting a relatively high rating more for my aunt’s liking of it than my own tastes—I can say though it stands up very nicely to milk.

I found this OK—but nothing special. I found it a very basic tea—but I should mention that’s how I’ve felt about all Ceylons I’ve tried to date. To me they just don’t have as much personality as Indian or Chinese black teas. However, my aunt who I share these teas with tends to love the basic teas and didn’t care for this one—she said for a black tea, it felt “light” to her. The package label describes it as “medium-bodied” and it does tend to seem lighter to me than the black teas we’ve enjoyed—although I did enjoy this—enough to drink, not enough to order again given the many alternatives we enjoy much more.

We really enjoyed this tea—about the only Green tea out of four we ordered we can say that about. This one was mild, without a vegetal or grassy or brothy taste which I find hard to enjoy. This is definitely one we’d order again.

This is OK. Maybe I’ll get used to it? I’ll give it another try. Given I love vanilla, chocolate and coconut but this was my first taste of rooibos, it must be that last that causes my lack of enthusiasm. It smells—and tastes—rather medicinal to me. Not my cuppa.

I like this without quite loving it. It has a roasty, toasty taste and definitely is on the dark side of oolongs. I don’t taste the honey-like note in the description of the tea on the package and on the site. But I would describe a note reminiscent of caramel.

I did really like this—and maybe I might like it even more ice. If I don’t rate it that high—well, I’m actually not a huge fan of herbals. I decided to get some hibiscus tea because I’d read it could lower cholesterol—so why not give it a try? But I found the pure stuff way too sour to tolerate. I got this to see if I could enjoy it with the mix. It may be there’s too little hibiscus here to be therapeutic, but at least I can enjoy this, and the hibiscus, though still apparent, is not overwhelming. The smell when I opened the pouch was a treat in itself—flowery, fruity, candy-like. And it tasted almost as good as it smelled.

Yet another green tea we won’t be ordering again. We did like TeaSource’s Pi Lo Chun Imperial—this one is a different story. My aunt said to her it tasted “like food” and when pressed what kind said “frankfurter.” I think it does have a brothy, umani undertone to it. Something in it anyway we don’t really like.

Of all the teas in this new order this might be my favorite. It’s described on the package as having a cocoay/molasses. I can certainly taste that in it and it gives it a fairly unique character among the black teas I’ve tried—I can’t recall a similar flavor profile. My aunt found it only “Okay.” She likes very basic teas like the Kenya Milma in our order. The things that for me make this tea stand out are exactly what she doesn’t like. But yes, personally this is one I’d order again. If I’m rating it a bit lower than the Kenyan tea it’s only that given both my aunt as well as I like it I’m just that much more likely to order it again.