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“Decided to be a grown-up this morning. I couldn’t sleep, so am just going to work without sleeping in the hopes that I am tired tonight. It’s my own fault. Anyways, the adult part is having two...” Read full tasting note
“No vendor directions on brewing, but since this has green in it, I went with that. The leaf smells berry-ier than I anticipated. Berries over a campfire maybe? Which would probably smell a bit...” Read full tasting note
“Honey, I’m home!! The Ladies (5 of my adult harp students) & I just got back from our excursion to the London Tea Room. We had so much fun! In addition to lunch, we each ordered a pot of tea...” Read full tasting note
“sipdown! this tea confuses me. It’s smokey but is also full of berry? There’s something in the blend as well that is making me sneeze but i couldn’t tell you what. Overall this is a pretty tasty...” Read full tasting note
Smoky gunpowder, wild winter berries, hints of vanilla bean and a soupçon of Lapsang Souchong. A great fall drink. Remember, remember to drink Fifth of November.
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Decided to be a grown-up this morning. I couldn’t sleep, so am just going to work without sleeping in the hopes that I am tired tonight. It’s my own fault. Anyways, the adult part is having two cups of black tea for breakfast! Not that it’s black… I milked and sugared it up nicely, because I don’t think straight tea would sit well with me right now. My stomach is finicky in the morning.
Anyhow, this one’s pretty tasty done up this way; I like smoky tea when it’s lightened with milk and sweetened. Initially I could taste the berries in this blend, but all I can taste is the smokiness, now. Hopefully this sits well!
No vendor directions on brewing, but since this has green in it, I went with that. The leaf smells berry-ier than I anticipated. Berries over a campfire maybe? Which would probably smell a bit more like burning so maybe just eating berries next to a campfire. Sometimes the berry seems to dominate, sometimes the campfire. But even when the campfire dominates, it’s a sweet campfire because of the berry under-note. I can’t really pick out the vanilla but that’s probably because it is blending with the berry, giving it kind of a creamy berry smell instead of a tart berry smell.
Once brewed though, the tea seems to decide to let the lapsang souchong smell have center stage, but the berry scent is still a big supporting character. Though it does seem to also show of the… fake-ness of the berry. It also smells a little cough syrup-y. Almost. I think the vanilla creamy saves it from that.
Sipping is… odd. The flavor seems to rapidly seesaw between sweet smoky and sweet berry (thankfully no cough syrup memories are being evoked – in fact it tastes more natural than the tea smells). The flavors seem to work nicely together though. It’s weird but it works. There is distinct berry and distinct smoke but both are sweet and that sweetness ties them together.
The aftertaste in particular reminds me of something I can’t peg but that something makes me think that this would be a good iced tea. So perhaps it reminds me of some flavored bottled tea I’ve had? But without the artificial sweetners added because this yea is pretty sweet by itself. It actually tastes likes I’ve put a bit of sugar in it already.
Now here’s the one thing that keeps me from loving this tea. I’m just not a huge berry-flavoring fan. I love strawberries and blackberries, but after that I’m kind of eh. And this is more of a raspberry taste. However, the husband loves raspberries so I had him try some of this. He was able to pick out the berry and the lapsang souchong almost instantly. After a few more sips he said that he could see himself enjoying a big ole hot mug of this though he had a slight concern that the smoky would build and he doesn’t really like lapsang souchong (from my cup I didn’t notice any build up so I don’t think that would be a problem).
Anyway, he gave it a 4/5 stars to my 3/5 stars. But my rating drops that one star just because of the type of berry. As far as the slider rating goes, this one is tough. I like how the flavors work together and I really do think the balance is quite nice so it rates rather high on that. But personally, I’m not in love with the tea because of the type of berry and that’s all on me. But this is my rating scale so I’m going to rate it on the subjective, personal side of things instead of the objective side of things. Because that’s how I roll.
This sounds like something I would enjoy. My black powder blend has really made me appreciate lapsang in blends much more than lapsang on its own. Plain lapsang just tastes like something’s missing for me now. I’ve never considered pairing it with something fruity before. Interesting.
(Psssst! What happens november 5th? I have suspicion I should know this…)
The sweet tastes worked really well together though I’m with you – I’d never have thought of it… it just doesn’t seem like it should go.
And no worries about the date thing… they told us at the tea shop but I had to look it up again – not a part of history I am familiar with! It was a failed plot to kill King James I of England in 1605 which is now known as Guy Fawkes Night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder_Plot and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes_Night
Guy Fawkes! Of course. I knew I should know. I just had an anglophile-fail there, I think.
Maybe I’ll try spicing some of my fruity teas up now.
Hee, I tend to roll subjectively, too. Berries and lapsang souchong sounds…interesting? Also sounds surprisingly November-y, though.
It’s also a relevant date for V for Vendetta. ;)
@Jillian HAH! Now you’ve got me thinking, “Hmm…dark and smoky with a slash of red from the raspberry. Interesting.”
Honey, I’m home!!
The Ladies (5 of my adult harp students) & I just got back from our excursion to the London Tea Room. We had so much fun! In addition to lunch, we each ordered a pot of tea & passed them around, so that everyone got to sample everything. Here’s a list of the teas we tried, & a few of the comments (which I asked everyone to jot down in a small 3 X 5 spiral I carry around with me):
White Peony: “Smooth Flavor” “Pale with a hint of apricot” “I found it calming”
Bergamot Sage: “oooh…that’s different! Kind of minty & not overpowering on the bergamot” “The warmth of sage, the brightness of citrus – a good way to center oneself” “The best full flavor! Love the Sage!” “Love the herb smell as I am drinking it. Has a smooth feel”
Silver Needle: “Mild – good” “Nice & Mild – good for colds”
Blueberry Rooibos: Although I’m not a fan of blueberry, this has an authentic taste & with sweetener, YUM!" “Tart!” “Surprisingly appealing, subtle but lingering, great with a bit of sweetener” “liked the blueberry tartness. Tasted better after sugar was added”
Chocolate Mate Chai: “a hint of pepper, would like to try with milk” “Yum num num, like a chocolate malt” “Great, surprisingly good” “loved the chocolate flavor”
Blood Orange Pu’erh: “Deep Reddish brown. Smells of minerals, orange, & the ocean. Tastes of chocolate, orange, berry. Sweetened, Wow!” “Burst of flavor, yet still delicate” “My favorite! Strong citrus flavor”
Lunch was awesome, the service excellent, between the 6 of us we probably spent enough $$$ to support the place for a week (I spent $75 on food & tea & a cute little glass teapot with basket that I just had to have…).
Sorry I got so off-track! While I was writing this, I’ve been drinking the Fifth of November, which I’ve wanted to try for awhile. It’s like going camping in the woods! Smokey & rich from the gunpowder & Lapsang Souchong base, there is an undefined berry flavor (“Winter Berries” what does that mean? Cranberries? Probably not…), & just enough vanilla. It’s really quite good, & I’m reminded of a sweet fruity pipe tobacco. Robust plain, a little sweetening really brings out the vanilla & fruit. A tasty blend!
Is this in STL area? We get there about once a year and I’d love to check it out!
Sure is – I have a place rating up on it here. Check it out its AWESOME!
gmathis: it is downtown in the Washington St. Art Loft District. It’s one of many reasons that I LOVE living in St. Louis! Next time you’re coming to StL, maybe we can have tea!
My downtown knowledge is limited to the Arch area, the cool sculpture park, and the Loop. I’ll Google to get my directional bearings.
sipdown!
this tea confuses me. It’s smokey but is also full of berry? There’s something in the blend as well that is making me sneeze but i couldn’t tell you what. Overall this is a pretty tasty blend though i think i prefer my smoke without the berry flavour. I do like the texture of this smoke however. I also don’t really grasp the vanilla that is hiding in here somewhere. However, this was an excellent large sil mug full of fun! Thanks terri!
I’ve had this tea for forever and this is my first time trying it. It was one of those teas that I was so sure of in the store that I just had to purchase it, but after getting home I would smell it and be like why did I buy this again? I used some of this in the 12 days of tea gift that I made for my Mom for Christmas and this was her most favorite out of all the teas, she absolutely loved it. The dry leaves smell overwhelmingly smokey, and I’m not quite sure if I’ll like that as a flavor or not. There is a nice hint of vanilla and berries in the smell also that makes it nice. The flavor is overwhelmingly woodsy with a very strong smokey finish. The berry and vanilla flavors come out more as the cup cools, and there is a nice tartness to the berry flavor. I just can’t get past that lingering smokiness that is left in my mouth! Although I probably will be giving the rest of this bag to my Mom, I wouldn’t mind having a mug of this tea to enjoy outside at night around the fire pit. Unfortunately we don’t use our fire pit very often, so I won’t be purchasing more any time soon!
-Dry leaves are small and black with a few dried fruit pieces.
-Dry blend smells very smokey with an undertone of berries and vanilla. Tea liquor aroma is strongly smokey.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Strong, woodsy flavor with a hint of berry tartness. Lingering smokey finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Intense smokey flavor. Vanilla flavor becomes more pronounced as the cup cools. Sweetener enhances the nice berry flavor.
it really does smell like campfire! well, campfire with a hint of berry :D
but it doesn’t taste like campfire, and i suppose that’s a good thing… to be honest, maybe I put too much splenda in- but it tastes like a normal (though very nice cup of black tea) with a hint of berry… and the lovely campfire smell.
i still really like it. The description makes it sound like it’s a wonderful fall tea and it does remind me of burning leaves a bit- but moreso I love sniffing and imagining i’m in a chateau ski-lodge in Colorado.
update uhmm, it’s highly possible i oversteeped this tea… perhaps 5 minutes is too much. because it’s starting to taste bitter.
i added creamer and that’s softened it. much better!
Yay London Tea Room! Yay you posting a review! Yay! :)
I actually had some Lapsang souchong yesterday and it was remarkably not horrible. You might like it – sort of like drinking the sweet aftermath of a light campfire…. MUCH lighter than the smell would indicate. Dan said it was like drinking Liquid Smoke. So how do you feel about that? Hehe.
With the gunpowder in it, you might try 2 -3 mins to see if that helps the bitter. And with berry and whatnot, you might not need your normal mega-levels of sweetener. Maybe. But yay for creamer fixing it!
Berry and cream campfire… While the tasting note was a delight to read, just not my cup of tea:)
Did you make a LTR order? What else did you get if so.
This one is still from you :) I was bad and didn’t acknowledge, mostly because I’ve drank it previously. I can’t justify more orders :(
Remember, remember, the fifth of November, the gunpowder, treason, and plot…
Oh its okay Kit lol no worries. Just wondered if you had made an order and what ya got.
Dylan – wish I had a like button here.