Jason O'Toole Send Message

This tea was available at a Westin hotel. It tastes like regret, missed opportunity and hopelessness. Bland with a scummy after taste. Almost no aroma. It’s a pitch it and try another tea kind of tea.

It’s a full leaf tea that can easily survive two infusions, maybe more. It smells a bit like potpourri, which might not be a terrible thing…if you like that sort of thing. It’s a bit overloaded with flavors and they are easy to identify: licorice, peach, cinnamon and some sort of wildflower waft up from the cup. I can’t help but think of an executive washroom or a Glade candle. Still, it’s a pretty good tea for what it is.

Snagged this tea bag from my hotel room and brewed a cup after singing a song at a hardcore show, to soothe my throat and perhaps take it down a notch. Chamomile tea usually grosses me out a bit and tastes like licking the weedeater after doing the lawn in May. This tea is smooth and actually tastes palatable. There’s a slight honey sweetness to it and a mild aroma of wildflowers.

It’s the Ritz cracker of teas: basic and just the way you remembered it if your grandma drank this brand. I snagged six ounces of loose tea from their website for cheaper than a box of Ritz. It’s not a bold tea…not complex…it almost has no aroma. A cup of Red Rose is not a key to the gates of the imagination which allow our spirits to soar across the globe to the foothills of the Himalayas or ancient Chinese farmlands. But…a cup will take some of us back to Sunday afternoons on a shrinkwrapped couch, enjoying tea with plenty of milk and sugar with Lorna Doones, while we wait for our favorite shows to come on the telly.

This tasted like weak mint tea. I had to check the tag to be sure it was just billed as green tea. There was only one bag of this in the cupboard so I don’t know if they all taste this way. It’s not horrible…but it’s a far cry from good.

A full bodied, well seasoned, smooth textured and dark cup of tea, even on the 4th infusion with only one teaspoon. This is a full leaf tea with a rewarding spicy and sweet fragrance and taste in every sip. It’s a tea of amusing complexity and is evocative of hiking through a deciduous forest after an October rainstorm. Pairs especially well with rich foods or stands on it’s own as one of the best darjeelings I have ever tried.

This is a light, well balanced tea blended with high quality ingredients. It is refreshing and great tasting. The chamomile stands out the most for me and together with the bergamot and pomegranate, adds a natural sweetness that makes sugar redundant. Then again, I’m sweet enough.

This tea sets the bar high for all over breakfast brews. It’s strong yet smooth, energizing and satisfying. It has a familiar malty taste that pairs well with frittatas or crepes. If you enjoy Irish and English breakfast teas, you can’t miss with a cup of this.

This is the best premium loose leaf Earl Grey I have tried to date. The aroma of bergamot oil is strong but pleasant and does not overpower the taste of the organic full leaf tea from Nilgiri, India. It’s smooth and clean from start to finish. If you love Earl Grey and have no tried this, you need to place an order. If you’ve only quaffed EG brewed from tea bags, you don’t know what you’re missing.

I found a sealed bag from August 2011 tucked away in the cupboard. This six year old blend was still flavorful and brewed to a nice dark amber color. The real peach is most prominent, especially in the aroma. I’m going to have to swing by the Divinitea shop in Schenectady, NY to purchase a new package of this tea to compare it. I imagine this would make an excellent iced beverage and one could avoid adding sweeteners as it’s naturally sweet enough.