Basilur

It’ll flop back and forth for a month yet—snow flurries on my mid-April birthday are not unheard of—but it was a sun-on-your-bones springlike day. We hit Atwoods, the farm and home store, just because the baby chicks were supposed to be in (we don’t buy; just look). It was a jackpot run—free popcorn and our favorite Juliet tomato plants, for 99 cents, no less! We will love them and coddle them and take them in and out until it is safe to set them. (Imagine the abominable snowman voice in the Bugs Bunny Cartoon…we were that excited.)

One of the greenhouse shelves was filled with strawberry plant sets, which must have subliminally noodged me to seek this little bag out. It’s just a garden variety green tea base, a little spinachy, with pleasant strawberry flavor—not too syrupy or chemically. This is my last bag, but I have part of a tin of Brew-La-La strawberry on the shelf as well—I believe it is a Basilur cousin once removed, so the similarity between the two might be more than coicidence.

A sweet and gentle tea to keep Minnie and me company while we’re watching an episode of Violet Evergarden, which definitely fits the “please, can it be spring now?” theme today!

Brewed in the proper chai way, with milk.
The aroma is spicy, but very faintly.
Definitely more spiciness in taste, especially cinnamon and ginger.
Not bad for a cheap bagged chai tea. Passable for a chai tea in general.

I picked this up at a tea festival in town some time ago. Great juicy true mango and pineapple flavour on a Ceylon base. Yup, quite enjoyed this while making my way through 100 grams of it. I picked up a couple more Basilur fruity black teas—equally good with or without additions.

And it’s a sipdown!

#long time ago internet hiatus sipdown

Very nice Ceylon, bit of bitterness and tannin but at the same time smooth and easy to drink

This one a wee better than Gold. Well, it’s platinum which is more expensive than gold, huh?

Kind of lighter version of Gold, again quite tannic, but I notice some nuttiness and fruitiness now and then.

Maybe there are some cocoa notes reminding me white teas/tips. And hints of malt and astringency in aftersip. This is much better cup of tea.

I had this tea two times while I am this week in Prague at my friend’s flat (I just needed to unwind from my family a bit).

Not sure, if it’s Prague water or what; but this tea was only tannic, not complex at all and kind of flat. It was that “bagged black tea taste” if you know what I mean?

It wasn’t up to Basilur standards to me even. Was the baggie too old? I have no idea. Honestly kind of dismal, especially called “Gold”.

I had surprise mail from gmathis yesterday and it contained a generous sample of this tea! (Where do you get those pouches for the tea? Much nicer than what I use.)

Oh my goodness, the dry leaves smell amazing! This was definitely the right choice for today!

The steeped tea smells equally delicious and the taste is reminiscent of Nina’s Fete de Versailles. Bright citrus but not an astringent base tea, all made lightly creamy by a hint of vanilla. This goes on the “gotta find it” list.

Thank you, gmathis!

Another big bags tea. And again, Basilur. Oh well…

It seems this tea has suffered a bit too much from age. It’s not awful, but raspberry is sadly not much present. It was rather Ceylon tea with rosehip tart/sweet-ness. And common Basilur base, present, but not overpowering the fruits. But others are saying juicy raspberries and I didn’t had them — though, some notes were there. Certainly a tea to re-try one day.

I needed a bold and pure black tea today afternoon, as in the morning I had no time to drink any tea (blame my dentist, not me!) and then I had swollen mouth and had no mood to drink anything but water.

Anyway, I took this tea from Izzy though again, as a Basilur I am sure I had it before. Anyway, thank you! I have last one left to make face-to-face comparison with same region tea, but from MlesnA. I am pretty sure I know the winner already, but whatever.

This tea, after four minutes steeping is indeed a bold black tea, which is quite malty, but as well quite sweet (read: no, or low bitterness) and I notice nuts as well. Mostly in aroma than in taste and pretty much not sure which ones. Theris is some tannic note showing that it is pure tea and no additives added and I liked it, indeed. Low grown Ceylon teas seems like a good daily-drinker teas, I am trying to remember Wild Monsoon tea from teakruthi but unfortunately it is already 4 years and I wrote no notes back then. I recall some nutiness, but if it was Wild Monsoon, I am not really sure about.

Well, into further research of southern Ceylon teas!

Took again a tea bag from my big bags section and I haven’t took a bag from those for long. Mostly because most of the blends doesn’t sound good, or I would rather try something loose leaf than those old tea bags. But while searching for a needle in a haystack I found foilwrapped this tea bag, a tea I always wanted to try.

I steeped it for 3 minutes (there weren’t any steeping parameters on the wrapper), with boiling water.

Definitely a better base than MlesnA uses in their bags. Malty and lightly citrusy and certainly not bitter base. Combined with fruity and sweett cranberry flavour, just top-notch of those berries to keep it fruity but not tart.

In conclusion, a wonderful cup, but for calling it winter… I miss something. Probably some spice hints.

My morning cup of tea today is Basilur’s Radella green tea. I’ve got the teabag version, rather than the loose leaf.

It’s a pretty basic, simple green tea. Grassy hay notes swirl around in the aroma and the flavour is light and slightly sweet like freshly mowed grass. It’s smooth too, with no bitterness. Refreshing.

An inoffensive cup of green tea. It’s not something I’d go out of my way to buy, but it’s still pleasant. It makes a great mixer with fruit tisanes.

Blog review with images: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/basilur-radella-tea-review/

Drank the penultimate tea sachet of Basilur Love Story Vol II this morning. It was the right kind of subtle after a terrible night’s sleep.

The rose dominates the aroma, leaving it sweetly perfumed but not overpowering or sickly. It’s the first flavour note you get when you take a sip too, but with the light-bodied black tea and sweet nutty almonds, it really works. This is a gentle tea. A caress.

I’m not sure what amaranth should smell/taste like, but there’s definitely a new floral note hidden in there. I assume that’s what the amaranth is. It’s not strong enough to define with words.

Reading my initial blog review after my first cup of this tea is nice. When I started blogging, I didn’t imagine looking back a year and 5 months later. It’s good to reminisce. Although my photography skills weren’t all that… https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/basilur-love-story-volume-ii-tea-review/

It is absolutely freezing right now. Feels like -3c outside and I just can’t get the warmth back into my fingers even though I got back from my walk hours ago.

So I brewed this tea to hang on to. I think it has changed since it was first logged on Steepster, as there’s definitely no added caramel flavouring in the teabags I’m sampling. It does have a natural caramel and nutty aroma though.

The smooth sweetness of this tea just glides over your tongue – there’s no bitterness, even though I’ve brewed it deep and dark. Rich malty notes and nutty hints (a mix of almond, roasted chestnut and maybe pecan) are delicious.

It could be better though. The flavours could be brighter. The sweetness could pop more. But no. It’s missing something. Perhaps if this was loose leaf it would be different.

Nonetheless, it’s as pleasant and satisfying now as it was when I first reviewed it for the blog: https://www.immortalwordsmith.co.uk/basilur-ruhunu-tea-review/

I got a sample offical packed by Basilur itself and it’s from Izzy again. The sample has BB date 22/02/2020 (DD/MM/YYYY) which is almost 10 months past, but I think there is nothing what could go wrong in sealed small sample and leaves and everything seemed okay, so I decided to brew it.

I am pretty much sure I tried moringa before, but can’t recall, moreover it seems this is a blend. I don’t see any rusty rooibos pieces, so maybe they used green one? I see lemongrass and leaves, not sure if only moringa, or as well blackberry which should be in. Also not sure about ginger in, but I just don’t think it’s pure moringa.

The aroma of dry stuff is mostly on orange/herbal note. I used approximately bit over the half, so I think it could be around 3 grams. They recommend 2 grams, and 5-7 minutes long steep. I thought that four would be just right, as it got correct colour in my opinion and smell was already quite heavy.

In the aroma I do notice the orange quite clearly. Then some herbal and musty note, but certainly not awful. There is a lemongrass for sure as well I think!

Oh my… the orange is even in the flavour! It’s not even much musty as I was afraid of. Actually not at all, at least in taste! There is another citrusy feel from lemongrass. There is as well aftertaste of Jaffa cakes with orange flavour, and I can’t really find out why. The cup was cleaned. I had used that strainer for Passion Fruit (Advent tea) before, but was washed afterwards and I make sure there is not single forgetten leaf that would contamine the flavour.

There is not a mouth-coating quality. There is not long aftertaste. But flavour itself? Wow! I wasn’t expecting that. I just hope that pyramid sachets (available on Amazon btw) are in same great quality as my loose leaf sample.

Found two tea bags in my huge bags.

Very straweberry; the kiwi is almost non present. Base tea was present as well.

But overall, somehow artificial. Strawberry – artificial, but quite juicy. Kiwi adds little and pleasant sourness. And that taste of kiwi, I don’t know how to describe it. But it is very weak.

Not bad, but past from it’s best times.

I am on the same boat as T.C. . It is an oolong, or it is green tea? Or blend of both? Anyway, in the mug the tea bag from foil wrapping goes. I have smelled it dry, almonds. Not generally nutty as previous reviewers wrote.
The brew was acutally closer to green tea. Light green tea with yellow notes. The aroma is same as the dry bag. Almonds, lightly roasted.

But as it should be milky oolong, I guess it is . It have smooth texture and slight milky – creamy taste.

The tea pieces in the bag are naturally very small but I think for tea bag they aren’t that much small. It’s not dust.

Last line written about hour before publishing. I forgot to hit the “save tasting note” button. Meh.

Tea Lemonade Sipdown (311)

Earlier today my sister asked me to make her a Frozen Raspberry and Lemonade. I told her I would but she had to share it. I then offered the second glass to my brother in law who at first said no but ended up trying it and then drinking the whole thing. I was fine with that but then I got thinking about a tea lemonade and decided I wanted one for myself.

I was originally thinking I would make a mango tea but then I thought of this and how it’s older than mango teas I have. I also thought I wouldn’t be too upset if all I tasted was lemonade since while I am happy to try something new and am thankful to Evol Ving Ness for sharing, raspberry and rosehip doesn’t appeal to me too strongly. Turns out that was the case since I am mostly just tasting the lemonade. Lemonade plus since there is something more but it’s not particularly distinct.

Thank you for sharing, Evol Ving Ness!

White Chocolate London Fog Sipdown (327)

I’m still on my white chocolate kick, inspired by the white chocolate matcha latte I had at the coffee shop in London before corona-crazy hit. So far I’ve made a white chocolate chai latte, a white chocolate latte with strawberry matcha and now this. I debated about using my Pumpkin Chai tea but this has been sitting in the swap box from Evol Ving Ness (though I’m not sure if it’s from her or Sil – thank you to both of you for getting it to me!) for over two years now and just seemed like a better choice. Since I don’t love earl greys, I always am happy to find ways to dilute them down a bit and a white chocolate london fog seemed like a good way to do that.

The bergamot smelled soooo strongly when I was making this which made me nervous and led to me adding a bit more white chocolate than I originally intended to add. Thankfully this time it wasn’t too much white chocolate but instead ended up being quite smooth. The vanilla and white chocolate are coming through most strongly as a top note, with the underlying bergamot leaving a crisp finish at the end of the sip.

It’s nice prepared this way but I just know this would have been too strong of a bergamot flavour for me without all the additions. Even as a plain London Fog it might have been too overwhelming. Still fun to try though so thank you Sil and Evol!

I have tried a side-by-side comparison to other Uva region tea I have. See other review here: http://steepster.com/Martin-CZE/posts/439062

I have received both tea bags from Izzy I believe, however 2 years ago I think, but both were foilwrapped.

Also, it seems I had this time several times before. And it is much better than MlesnA one, mostly because it is much less bitter and I am able to recognize some other, mellow flavours as for example malt notes. Woody notes were there too and somehow it complements the very robust, but not awfully strong and bitter tea. It has been steeped as well for 3 minutes (the minimum set by manufactuer).

90 seems very high, but I will keep that one, as my previous experience seems to be with not so old tea, so maybe was delicious back then (for a tea bag).

Year ago I wrote a tasting note about this tea and now I was drinking it again and it is same deliciousness.

For a bagged tea (thanks to Izzy) it is one of the most perfect black teas I ever had. It’s not boring anyhow. A full-bodied, brisk tea I needed today with some a bit of other flavours that complement the malts. It is mostly cherry wood and tobacco somehow, but not in smoky way today.

I would give a try a loose leaf version, I never had it before yet.

Got a tea bag in my huge bags section and… as many of you know, I kind of adore Basilur brand for price-quality ratio.

This tea is exactly what I expected from it. Full bodied taste, very malty but it have got character – it is not one-dimmensional as some are. I notice notes of tobacco, cherry wood, bit of smoky as well. Steeping for three minutes was enough to have all of this!

I am not sure if I should look for loose-leaf version. It’s worth to have even teabags!
As for tea bag – I have to rate it that high. I feel I am lover of Ceylon teas – they “speak” the most for me.

Green tea with mint sounded great for this afternoon, although, it seems it is another very old tea.

And just aroma of the tea bag it confirms. It smells after hay, bit musty as well.

When brewed, it turned out it is – what I said; old tea with notes of hay. And musty peppermint flavour. It’s not actually so bad, but nothing much to enjoy as well not.

Yesteraday was another day tea-free. I was leaving quite early to logistics (and mechanical engineering) fair and returned so late I just showered and went to bed.

And today, is not much better at all. In the morning I had some unnamed pu-erh in small ball prepared grandpa. It was okay I think. And now this tea.

Yep, it is quite late (7.20 pm when writing this line). So caffeine-free. It smells quite strongly after blood oranges and bit of peach. But in taste is peach much more dominant. Really ripe peach flavours, with tartness of orange. The taste is full and in no way watery or something. Good!