Ahmad Tea

Again big bags tea bag. It is from their “A gift from London” series.

This tea held its qualites great. It was like brand new, full-bodied tea. I am pretty much impressed. And it wasn’t bad at all, flavourful and bold, quite tannic, quite malty. Decent English Breakfast bag, athough drank in the afternoon.

Nice caffeine boost as well, and very welcomed today.

Samurai TTB #2

Didn’t love this one nearly as much as the Apple Refresh. The lemon lime flavor is very light and somewhat sour. Adding honey made it a more pleasant experience, but I don’t think it’s something I’d drink again.

Samurai TTB #1

It feels like Christmas came early with this huge box of teas to try! I didn’t have time to go through the TTB properly yesterday, so I just grabbed a handful of teabags to take to the office with me. This was the first one I tried. The name is very appropriate; this is a refreshing, lightly flavored black tea that tastes like a whole Granny Smith apple. No caramel or cinnamon, just lots of appley goodness on a nice smooth base.

Another cuppa with tea from Izzy. Thank you.

And this tea is for our hibi lover Mastress Alita. Well, seeing hibiscus already in name is, well — not something I look into.

The bag was smeling quite of artificial fruits. But as well quite good. It wasn’t really off. After 5 minutes of steeping (recommended) I get deep red drink.

The aroma is quite nice and berry-like. The taste is though quite watery, tart and completely weird fruityness. You just can’t pick a simple berry from it. Maybe blueberry is most prominent. And hibi tartness isn’t great for my mood right now as well. But it’s in the name, so I expected it.

In conclusion, according to the name, it’s exactly that. It’s fruity, unfortunately it’s in mixed bag, so it’s some generic fruity. And tart… hibiscus is taking its part as well. Not bad actually, but not my cup of tea.

I bought this as part of the herbal assortment. The herbal flavor shines through making me feel very virtuous.

Three entries of same tea. I decided to use this one.

Huge bags section after loooong time. A tea bag. A tea that old, that Ahmad doesn’t offer it anymore in the Czech Republic.

The bag was in foil wrapping, so I have hoped it will be still quite fresh. It wasn’t much overpowering when I have opened that outer wrapping, but it’s black tea blend! I took a sniff on the bag and noticed citruses. Not sure if bergamot, it was rather lemony for me, but again it’s old!

I went for two and something minutes steep and mug was filled with dark brown (read: mahagony) liquid.

Aroma of Chinese teas mostly — think Keemun chocolate note, with hints of citrusy. Probably bergamot as they say.

Taste is very mellow (I bit blame the age, to be honest), again Keemun taking most part, smooth, and hints of citruses. Again the bergamot I suppose. Backbone of malty notes.

Whoa, I haven’t expected such a great flavour for that old tea. Just be careful with steeping time I guess.

Bought as part of the Ahmad herbal assortment. Delicious blend, heavy on the chamomile with just a suggestion of something else. Perfect before bed. Love it. Can’t wait to try the other flavors.

This one surely took its time in my cupboard…
Very faint aroma, malty, the flowery and blossom notes are almost nonexistent.
Solid malty and earthy base black tea with slight astringency plus marigold and orange blossom flavouring in the background.
Not bad. Surely not as overdone as the majority of Xmas teas.

This is a smooth cup of black tea for morning. There are no harsh notes but it also does not have a lot of flavor. I would say it is moderate for most Assams I have had, and moderate for most black teas.

Has a broth-y mouthfeel to it. This one is heavy on the fennel and ginger, with the peppermint giving it a little bit of a green, cooling edge in the aftertaste. I do wish I were getting more of the dandelion and rosemary.

Did not have high hopes for this one. Another boring plain Ceylon? Thanks, Sips By…
But this is actually really nice! It’s flavorful and hearty, but doesn’t have the icky astringency that Ceylon teas usually have. And I’m getting a note of… ginger? Whatever it is, I’m liking it a lot.

Samurai Travelling Tea Box – Tea #5

When Shae asked me if there were any teas in her cupboard that I wanted to try, I must have really been craving apple teas because I ended up asking for A LOT of apple blends; apple cinnamon and apple ginger in particular…

I’m glad she added this one in though – it’s a tea bag and without having the chance to sample in this type of format, it’s a tea that I would have likely passed up/ignored. However, I thought the flavour was really nice this afternoon and of the five teas I’ve tried from the box so far it was actually my favourite!

Simple in execution – this is basically a medium to full bodied and slightly astringent black tea coupled with a consistent sweet green apple flavour and a hint of something floral to the undertone. It’s rare to get a green apple tea without any tartness/sourness, but that’s what this tastes like to me and I really appreciated it!

Smells like pinesol tastes like limeaid. Don’t really taste the black tea, but I know it’s there as I see the bag expand in size. At least its not bitter, and I think this would actually be a good candidate for grampa style brewing. Maybe throw in a bag of ginger(which typically disappoints as a solo cup). I am always looking for bags that taste good as they travel much easier than loose leaf, but I’m not sure I’d purchase this again. I’ll experiment with iced tea, but as hot tea the lime taste seems decent up front, then lingers into meh as a chemical afterthought. A small dollop of honey makes it a little less aftertasty and more limey.
It’s nice that there’s a best before date on the box as I’m not sure I’ll be drinking this all that fast.

I do not like mint teas, but this may be the blend that convinces me otherwise.

Usually I find that mint teas have little flavor and no real body, especially when they are considered a herbal infusion. No one should want that kind of mint water, it would be like drinking bland tea with a mouthful of toothpaste. Yuck!

Then this blend comes along. A pleasant and light spearmint nose, like smelling some Wrigley’s Doublemint gum fresh out of the wrapper. There is just enough body and bite on the finish to remind you it is a green tea with mint flavor.

A refreshing blend, that would probably do pretty well iced. So far the best bagged mint tea I have tried.