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When the hubby and I went to The English Tea Room, this one was the one I ordered as my first pot. I wasn’t disappointed, necessarily, but it was a lot darker than I’d expected. I couldn’t really find the safflower petals, but the jam flavor was there as soon as I got some cream into it. It was very rich, and went excellently with the Scotch egg I’d ordered. :) I probably won’t order that one again, but it was a good one-timer.

Went to The English Tea Room today and got to try this gem. My husband ordered it, and of course we swap. :) I wish I could say I made a wiser choice than he did, but that would be a lie, because this tea was bloody delicious. It was a much lighter color than I was expecting, from a tea that claims to have Irish Breakfast as its base, but the aroma and the flavor made me forget all that. This tea is everything I want in a flavored black tea—rich, robust tea liquor, a sweet but not overpowering flavoring, and a smooth finish. _ It reminded me some of a wonderful tea I had at a tea house in Birmingham that is, to my everlasting dismay, now closed. That other tea was perfection… but this one comes close.

This one was so yummy yesterday morning, I had to drink it again this morning. Firstly, I don’t require that my black teas have THAT much crazy flavoring, but it’s nice when they have a little something extra to add another dimension to the taste. This tea fits that description exactly—the vanilla and the grenadine are mellow and light backup flavors, while the black tea truly does take center stage. The smell of the leaves as well as the brew, as it says in the tea description, is very pleasant and relaxing.

Now, just so I can have a teensy bit of criticism in my review, it’s not all that special, except that it seems to go well with just about everything. I don’t think I’ll keep it as a constant supply (although the husband seems to like it quite a lot), but it satisfies that craving I get for sweet black tea. :)

Okay, so I may have steeped this one a little too short (or so said my husband), but I am always horridly afraid of oversteeping green tea, because all it takes is a few seconds for green teas to turn from perfect to omgbitternastywhatdidIjustputinmymouth.

Sue me. I planned to resteep anyway. xP

Leaf (or in this case, pearl) description: A good size, rolled a little more loosely than I’ve seen in the past. Good distribution of the jasmine leaves and the silver tips throughout all of the pearls, as far as I can tell. Very pleasant smell!
Brew description: After steeping (see time below), the liquor was a pale spring green color, with a hint of butter color, which became more like an amber near the bottom of the pot. I didn’t stir like my husband and I usually do—I wanted to see what would happen.

No sweeteners were added or necessary.

First steep: WOW! This was so much different than most other green teas I have ever tried. The first sip put me in this extremely (pardon the expression, there’s really no better word for it) zen kind of mood, vigorously awake and yet calm as still water. It was almost as if I’d been put under a spell. The jasmine is so delicious, not bitter at all, and the ‘green tea’ flavor was simply sublime!

My review on the second steep will have to wait until next post; I haven’t had the time yet, but I will definitely make the time! I will have to consider this one for my favorite jasmine tea of all time. (Teavana’s Thousand Mountain Jasmine, which I’m not entirely sure if they stole from one of those companies they absorbed, is my current favorite, but we’ll see.)

My husband and I spotted a Celestial Seasonings seasonal tea sale at a local grocery store, so we snatched up this one and a few more. :) It was my tea of choice this morning because (and I am ashamed to admit it) it’s bagged, and it was easy to grab on my way out. I do have some paper fillable tea bags, so I could have grabbed those and some loose tea, but this looked like it would do the job. So far, I’m not terribly disappointed. This is just not the best of black teas. I mean, the flavors are all right, but I don’t really taste the individual notes. It’s just one big Schoenberg cacophony of almost-vanilla-almost-almond-almost-cinnamon-almost-something-else black tea. The cinnamon is the strongest flavor, naturally, which I don’t mind. Overall, this tea gets a “meh.” The hubby likes it, which is good. He can help me finish it. Probably won’t restock this one.

First of all, this tea looks and smells GORGEOUS. It’s got this malty, chocolate-y aroma that just makes your toes curl. MMMMMMmmmm.

That said, on to the specs:

Leafage: The first time, I only made a single cup, so I used one and a half teaspoons. The second time, I used about 4 teaspoons for 16 oz. of tea. I’m discovering that I prefer the stronger, manly side of black tea. It puts hair on your… nevermind.
Leaf color and smell: Pre-steeping, it was that lovely mottled gold/brown color stated in the tea’s description. The leaves seemed to me to be a bit… puny, I suppose is the right word. They looked smaller than other black tea leaves I’ve seen before. The smell was, as I said, malty and chocolate-y, with promise of lots of creamy flavors. Post-steeping, the leaves hadn’t opened all that much, just enough to look like grass shards. I suppose they really are smaller than other leaves I’ve seen, though I’m not trying to say that’s a bad thing. Just be prepared, if you decide you want to order this one. Of course, it may just be this particular batch. le shrug

Taste: I maaaay have walked out of the room temporarily while the tea was steeping the first time (don’t judge me D:), so when I came back, the timer had been going off for probably a couple of minutes. However, I sugared it anyway, prepared to soldier through the tannins to the bitter end (ha ha ha)… but then I found that it wasn’t nearly as bitter as I had expected. In fact, it tasted very much like someone had sneaked in the room while I wasn’t there and poured some semisweet chocolate chips in my tea. The texture wasn’t right for chocolate… but the flavor was SPOT ON. I didn’t have to add any milk (which is typically my cure for oversteeped tea, which happens in my house more frequently than I care to admit… myself not being the most fastidious person in the world). I was floored.

The second time, just today, I decided to break it out again for myself and the hubby when he came home for his lunch break. :) This time, I deliberately steeped it for about four minutes, instead of the recommended two or three, to see if I could achieve some of that chocolate-y flavor without quite so much of the bitterness from last time. Sadly, the chocolate flavor wasn’t QUITE there… but it was nonetheless enjoyable, tasting more like the creamy notes I detected in the smell. I will be trying this one again! Sooo gooooood :)

My husband actually helped me with my second sampling of this tea. We used a lot more leaf this time, four teaspoons to make 16 oz. of tea. The honeysuckle flavor, while not that much stronger, did seem to last longer, all the way into the third steep. However, by the fourth steep the flavor was again completely vegetal/floral. After that point, neither of us were really that interested anymore. After it loses its sweetness, it’s just not quite as delicious. And when it’s gone, it’s gone. It almost tastes like a completely different tea. Well, overall, I don’t think I’ll be purchasing this one, just because the flavor degenerates so much, but I’m glad I got to try it. Thank you to Angel from TeaVivre for allowing me to sample this one!

I actually received my samples about two and a half weeks ago, but have been so CRAZY busy with wedding stuff that I have had no time for tea (seriously- I had no tea for about six days solid, and it was awful D: ). But I survived.

Anyway, on to the specs:
Leaf appearance: Greeeeeen, with a hint of oxidization, in loosely rolled clumps. Very much the greenest oolong I have ever seen. They smell very grassy.
Steep temp and time: Around 197° F, for 3’12". I tend to steep my oolongs at below boiling for the first steep at least, because I find it brings out their natural nutty flavor that separates them from the green teas. Second steep was at full boil, steeped for the same time.

Liquor appearance: Very lightly green in color, a spring-ish green. :) Second steep came out slightly darker and a little bit browner, but not much. It smells like the same grassy aroma that came from the loose leaves, with hints of a honeysuckle-like fragrance.

Taste: In the first steep, the grassy flavor was at the forefront, the first thing that hit my to tongue. Then came the nuttiness that is characteristically oolong, with a touch of sweetness following right behind. This tea is sweet in the way that asparagus and other green vegetables are naturally sweet. Love it! And the more you let it cool off, the more the grassy, vegetal flavor just sort of falls away, leaving you a very tasty cup.
In the second steep, I didn’t get as much of the honeysuckle sweetness. The grassy vegetal flavor reigned supreme. To this, I added a TOUCH of unrefined cane sugar (I’m talking about 1/4 teaspoon), and that helped it taste better. (What can I say, I like my tea a little sweet. Sue me. XP) Again, as it cooled, the nutty oolong flavor came forward. It was very, very nice. :)

Okay, so, the verdict. I liked it pretty well. I tend to find that with oolong teas, I like the second steep more than the first, but not so with this tea. Maybe I needed to give it some more time, but I don’t know. I’ll try it again, for certain (the hubby will want a taste of this one). I didn’t try any more steeps today because of that. I also didn’t use as much tea as TeaVivre prescribed, so that was probably a factor.

Running low on this tea, so I thought I’d drink some this morning to help the supply dwindle a little more (not that I don’t like this tea or want it around—I just could use the tin space xD). It was pleasant as always, with that awesome nutty flavor from long-steeped rooibos. I’ve been steeping all rooibos teas a little longer than normal recently, and have had good results. I approve of the almost pecan-like flavor that sits on your tongue like a contentedly napping cat. :)

Anyway, I’ll make this one short. I love this tea, as it pairs beautifully with way more teas than Teavana lists here. I’ll probably get more eventually, just right now there are more pressing matters. Like tin space. Since moving in with the new hubby, I’ve discovered that we’re going to have to create a space outside of our tiny pantry in which to store tea, because there’s just not room for it all. Combined, we probably have around 70. It’s kind of mind blowing.