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mmmm om nom nom

My first Pu Erh!! Wee!
First time I tried this I steeped it for probably 20 seconds, I was so nervous about it being too strong. I LOVED it. The red-copper cup is so pretty, and the feel of it is ridiculously silky smooth. I was expecting it to be bitter and smoky but it has this lovely medium bodied, smooth flavour that is strangely delicious! I could not have been more pleasantly surprised.

I did a second steep this morning, intending on seeing what happened after about seven minutes, but then forgot about it and went and had a shower!! Total steep time ended up being something like half an hour, and I was completely resigned to sadly having to throw it out, but a quick sip told me no, that would be silly! It was still delicious!! The cup had changed to a dark coffee colour, but bitterness was nowhere in sight!

I really didn’t expect to like Pu Erh, but after having this tea, I can safely say I love it.

As much as I wish I was a mellow type, I inherited my father’s curse of getting incredibly anxious over even the tiniest and silliest things. Part of the reason, I suspect, that I love tea so much is for its calming properties. This one is a gem for me, maybe even a necessity. Just smelling it will immediately slow down my breathing rate by half. Maybe it’s the placebo effect, maybe I don’t care. It works. Doesn’t taste like much, but that’s not what I’m paying it for.

This tea had big shoes to fill: the box promises to “inspire sharing, relaxation, integrity and authenticity.” The first I believe-delicious teas make me want to share them with people. But inspire relaxation? Plain old making me relaxed would be better. Integrity and authenticity, furthermore, do not come from tea. But hey! Maybe a bagged tea could prove me wrong.

I was confused about what category to put this in… it says “Lychee” in big letters on the box but there is no lychee in the ingredients, rather there is ginger root. “Natural flavours” might be the lychee? Hopefully.

It smells like lychee, but that’s about all I really like about it. The flavour is meh and hardly noticable. Would not buy again.

ETA: alright, maybe I was too mean to this tea. But really, it was asking for it, with all of its presumptuous boasts. After two more cups, I found the lychee. Turns out it is in the aftertaste. It’s quite nice actually, lingering very smoothly and making you want more. Problem is, the swallow of tea itself only laughs cruelly at you because it does not taste anything like it. I don’t know that I want to absolve this tea for its aftertaste alone, so I won’t. There are enough lies on this tea box, they should have just called it Lychee Aftertaste and have been done with it.

I am going to admit a very embarrassing fact: this is the second green tea I have ever had, the first being Tetley’s “Green Lemon” BLAAUGHHH. Needless to say, I had been turned off green tea like it was my job. I bought this mainly for the novelty of watching the pearls unroll. I was pleasantly surprised! I have no idea what jasmine smells like, I can only assume the delicious aroma wafting off the cup was it. The taste was much different, definitely grassy. Not normally my cup of tea ohohohohaha ahem. Still, I couldn’t stop drinking it. It had an incredibly calming effect after a very stressful morning. I’m not sure I want to call it tasty, but it was definitely good. At the very least it makes me want to try more green tea!
ETA: I just read one of takgoti’s reviews about green tea, and “celery” is definitely what I want to say this tastes like!

The first steep was straight black, and once again I failed to appreciate a black tea all on its own. They describe it as “extraordinarily sweet” but by the gods I could only think “extraordinarily burnt.” This tea tastes like burnt things. If you like that kind of thing, for sure check this out straight-up, but burnt is not my idea of tasty.
Second steep was with my requisite milk and sugar for black teas, and VAST improvement. The only problem with thinking black teas are delicious with milk and sugar is the possibility that I just like the taste of milk and sugar. But, it has been argued that the flavour of the tea must be in there somewhere, so kudos to it for grounding my sweet tooth?
The “extraordinarily sweet” was true this time, it was much like other black teas I’ve had (English breakfast comes to mind) but actually without the burnt-flavour undertones! Just pure sweetness. It was ridiculously delicious. So sweet I might have to have to delegate it to a dessert tea. Yum!!

Oh man did I ever over-brew this the first time. This is my second Darjeeling experience—the first was a blend of Darjeeling and raspberries and I never took the leaves out! That must have been an incredibly light version, because within 4 minutes this tea was so bitter as to be undrinkable! I literally did the second steep in seconds, for fear of wasting more. The dry leaves themselves have a very fresh, grassy smell, but it’s like the tea itself is completely different. The smell I’m not even sure about… I want to say buttery? The liquor is deliciously smooth and silky. I’m not sure what to call the flavour, but it’s full, interesting, and probably nutty. Darjeeling, they weren’t lying about you!

This smelled marvelously strong, but the taste was what I take it is typical for white teas: very mild. But quite nice. Very subtle fruit flavour, I wanted to say pear, but that isn’t an ingredient! There was unfortunately also a pretty bitter taste, I don’t know if that was from the accursed paper cup I was using from Teaopia (I’m thinking of bringing my own mug next time!!!) or the tea itself. Mayhaps I brewed for too long. Very pretty champagne colour and all in all pretty tasty.

The first thing I noticed was the smell—very strong vanilla scent! Despite the Ceylon, which I normally cannot drink on its own, the Rooibos and flavouring make this delicious enough for me to gobble it up on its own. The little sayings on the tea tags are added fun too. I like having this in the afternoon or when people are over, I haven’t served it to someone who didn’t like it! Makes a beautiful deep red cup.

This is my go-to need-to-wake-up-it’s-morning tea. I find I can have a cup of this (with milk & sugar, I still have to work up to appreciating black teas straight) and be good for the rest of the day. However my caffeine tolerance is super low, so it might not work for all. Delicious. I’m looking forward to trying loose leaf versions of this!