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I’ve had this tea several times prepared in many different ways and I have come to the conclusion that I prefer it prepared under leafed and at lower temperatures. The description describes it as a great accompaniment to an English Fry up and I have to agree, this tea like some wines really is a tea that goes best with some food preferably rich slightly fatty ones. It is probably a tea that would take milk well.

When I first had this tea I brewed it at boiling for around 4 minutes. The resulting brew smelled of lemon, sweet potatoes, roasted, blackened potatoes, hint of artichoke, spice, and a hint of malt. The brewed tea had a full, thick, mouth feel with a mild to moderate astringency. It tasted of malt mixed with a vegetal note and sweet potatoes, anchoring a citrus mixed with bitter cocoa top note. This is not a particularly sweet tea but more a mix of bitter tones and citrus. A little rugged, this is a tea that would probably do well with additions. With its citrus top notes and it’s coffee like bitter notes I could see how it could compliment a fry up. The tea re-steeped well with the second steep bringing out more cocoa and hints of honey notes.
When steeped at a lower temperature and with less leaf cherry and sweet potato notes are more prominent and the tea has less vegetal notes and lemon, but the other notes and rugged texture remain. The tea remained
moderately astringent. Although this is not my favourite black tea blend, it does have an interesting and varied flavour profile and I am glad that I had the chance to try it.

I finally tried this tea again with a lower brewing time and temperature. The vanilla really shines with these changes and there is less of a white chocolate taste. The green tea does impart a little bit more creaminess. A nice vanilla tea with a long lingering aftertaste. Upping the rating a little.

I am sick once again, sore throat ( for some reason when I get sick this tends to be where it concentrates), runny nose etc. To doctor my self up I made a tisane of ginger, sage ( full leaves from last years garden), cardamom, ginger, cloves and honey. It actually tastes quite pleasant, herbal, but not overly medicinal. The brightness of the ginger tempers the earthiness of the sage. Sage and honey are both known to help sore throats and the other ingredients are also known to help fight infection so hopefully it’ll help. At least it’s soothing on my throat!

I bought this tea in the Toronto China town South of Dundas at the store labelled China Arts City ( next to a tourist shop) that sells Bonsai. She had 4 or 5 greens and this rose conjou that she sold for about $5 for about 2 ounces.

This tea is quite nice though it is a bit heavier and fruitier than the Pure Aroma Rose Congou I’ve tried. It brews to a nice maple colour and smells of a spicy tea rose with a hint of smoke and a fruit mix of cherry and grape. It tastes of rose water (a spicy sweet floral with hint of a metallic tinge) similar to the PureAroma rose flavouring but slightly more fruity and not as crisp a floral. The base tea is very fruity tasting of plum and cherry and wine. It has a faint hint of charred crust from smoke that provides a hint of bitterness and becomes more prominent with more leaf or a longer steep time. There is a hint of chocolate. The tea is mildly astringent, leaving drying feeling on lower tongue. There is a hint of lemon. The tea re-steeps fabulously well. So far I have re-steeped it four times while retaining a pleasant rose overlaying fruity tea flavour while retaining a medium bodied texture. The body of this tea is slightly heavier than the Pure Aroma and it is not quite as smooth as a result of the astringency but the flavour is very nice and the tea is satisfying.

I had forgotten how much I like this one it is such a really nice mix of creamy green tea, fruit and a fresh tasting floral that blend together to create something that is really quite refreshing perfect for one of our first really nice and warm days!

This is one of the teas that Teavana decided to keep from Teopia, whether they reworked it or not I can’t really speak to because I mostly used the one from Teaopia as a mixer to add nutty or caramel notes to other teas.

The tea brews to the colour of oak and smells of spice, nut and dark toffee. The tea is moderately astringent. The flavouring is a mix of bitternut like toasted hazelnut, mixed with the flavour notes of browned sugar and butter without the sweetness. The base tea is slightly bitter with floral and red fruit notes and a hint of malt and cocoa. The tea is not creamy, or sweet but has flavour notes of butternut toffee. The flavouring is subtle but blends well with the tea.

Wow this is actually pretty fabulous. It reminds me of having desert and coffee( or some dark rich bitter tea )all at once and would probably be fabulous with cream ( something I never add to tea ).

The dry leaf smells of cinnamon and cloves and raisins and is scattered with sliced almonds, raisins, and pieces of dried apple. After 2.5 minutes it brews up to a nice fragrant copper coloured brew that smells a bit like apple crisp taken right out of the oven. It tastes of a buttery, spicy, apple pastry with the flavour sweetened and deepened by the raisins and with the cinnamon and cloves balanced nicely. The tea underneath is a nice slightly bitter Assam that has a hint of biscuit and cocoa with a medium mouth feel and a light astringency that helps to bring a sense of pie crust to the blend. The tea also has a nice dose of caffeine. All though the flavouring has a sense of the richness of a buttery crust the tea is not creamy. It re-steeps decently well. A touch of sugar really helps to make the fruit pop in this tea. Quite a nice desert tea.

Hot this tea emits a fruity smell with an orangey peachy top note. It is slightly candy like, and has a hint of malt. The tea brews to a maple wood colour.

At first sip the tea has a green faintly floral note that quickly dissipates into a sweet orange taste, closer to a mandarin orange. This is followed by a rich deep note from the base tea that hints of malt or chocolate and a sweet note from the base tea that is seperate from the flavouring. The peach notes in this tea may be the result of the almonds. There is a slight sharp tang from the orange flavouring and the orange peel and hibiscus. There is also a faint hint of spice. The cloves are not in your face but instead leaves a faint tingle on the tongue and bring a certain warmth and brightness to the tea. This is not a spicy tea it is not like the fruity chais you get in fall, and while it tastes warming it is something that I could happily drink all year round.

This tea brews to a nice copper colour. It smells of biscuit, plums, honey, and a slight hint of cocoa.
This tea is great when I’m craving baked goods as it has the powdery taste of biscuit, and a slight hint of apricot and plum jam with honey and citrus. There is a faint hint of bitterness from malt and cocoa. It is fairly smooth easily drinkable little to no astringency after the 4 and half minutes I brewed it for. There is an aftertaste like eating scones. The tea Offers great value for the money.

This is a bagged tea that brews to a dark mahogany colour and smells of sweet potatoe, lemon and a hint of floral.
It tastes of sweet potato with a hint of floral, over malt. It is lightly astringent. The tea develops more malty, bitter tones as you drink down the cup and tastes mostly of citrus tones and malt, with very little sweetness. The tea is best drunk when hot as the flavour dissapears as it cools. However it does develop a nice potent dose of caffeine.