Keshwyn Send Message

I adore this tea. I am so sad I cannot get it anymore. It is the most coconutty of chais I’ve ever drunk, and I really, really like coconut. When my last tea bag is gone, I will lament.

This is my go-to Decaf Assam, and it keeps going out of stock which is thoroughly infuriating. It’s nicely malty, and I keep around for when I want my basic standard cup of tea that won’t distract me from what I’m doing, and won’t leave a cloying taste in my mouth. Takes milk nicely.

I love rose tea, I love almond tea, I thought the two together would be excellent – and they were fine, but didn’t manage to transport me to the flights of happiness I was expecting. Perhaps I was expecting too much of this tea? :-) I did not regret buying a tin of this at all, and it was thoroughly enjoyable while I had it, but I don’t feel the need to purchase more.

(I drink T&A’s Starry Night for my coconut/almond tea addiction, and I mix my own rose tea at this point, so yes, I was probably expecting too much of this tea.)

Meh.

I like coffee, do not get me wrong, but when I want to drink tea, I want tea, not coffee. I found the coffee beans in this tea completely overpowered all the other flavors in there. I kept trying it, hoping milk or different brewing times would change it, but I couldn’t ever find the other notes that were supposed to be in there, except possibly the occasional hint of cocoa. The tea was completely lost. I will not be buying this one again.

I really liked the banana-coconut combination, but I’m a sucker for coconut teas. I quite enjoyed this one while I had it, but it did not win a place on the “keep in constant availability” shelf. I would happily drink it again if served it however.

This tea brews up extremely pink. To a degree that I found quite startling, given the lack of hibiscus. I like to drink this tea in front of a fireplace with a book, but I have to be in the right mood to do so, and I absolutely have to have a splash of milk in it to cut the sweetness of it, because the candied fruits make it very sweet indeed. (At one point, I had a tin of it in my luggage while traveling and it exploded, and the inside of my suitcase pocket was sticky and had bits of popcorn in it for quite a while afterward.)

I am not a huge fan of tisaines in general; I will often mix them with decaf black tea to get the “tea” flavor in them, but this one doesn’t need it. It does, however, need the correct mood. It’s supposed to evoke the feeling of being in a subterranean common near the kitchens of a fictional school, and it does that well – but you have to be in the correct mood to want to be there, and it’s not a great drink if you’re not in that mood.

I don’t like mint tea. I’m super picky about my green tea. I’m on my third tin of this tea. This tea is really, really good for a hot summer afternoon over ice. I also have been known to drink it on an early spring afternoon when I’m looking for a palate cleanser after thinking really hard and I need a break.

The mint is not punch-you-in-the-mouth strong; it compliments the green tea well, and the green is not grassy tasting the way some of my less-favored teas have come out. This one is on the shelf of “keep on hand for regular use.”

I quite enjoyed this tea; it is very fruity and sweet without requiring any additional sugar. I drank it with a splash of milk, and brewed according to instructions. I’m glad I tried it. (It didn’t end up meriting a space on my “keep on hand at all times” shelf the way T&A’s Elixer of Wisdom or Starry Night have, but that’s a very high bar to reach and should in no way be construed as disparagement of this fine tea.)

I love this tea. It tastes like all the best parts of Marzipan to me, without being cloyingly sweet. I drink it with just a tiny trace of milk, and brew it slightly stronger than recommended. Do not underbrew, or you will be sad.

Sadly, the leaves do not rebrew to anything like the strength of the first brew, so I often have to adulterate them with a bit of assam to make a second pot. Still worth it.

I love this chai. It is very heavy on the cardamom, but on the score of Chais that I have tried over time that are decaf, this has the rare distinction of not being “default chai flavor.” I am quite sad that I can’t get more, and that when my current tin runs out, that will be the last of it.