TeaMaze

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – August 2024 Tea #5 – A wake-up tea

Finishing up this lovely tea for this prompt today.  I really enjoy this coffee flavor.  WAY more than I enjoy an actual cup of coffee. A great blend AND with enough depth to the base.
2024 sipdowns: 61

Gmathis noticed me raving about one of my favorites — the many variations on coffee puerh, so she sent over a sample of this one!  Thanks very much (and also for the super cute card! Books!  Tea!)   This might be the first tea I am trying from TeaMaze?   I could tell even before tipping the kettle over, the scent of the dry leaf could not be better.  This blend should have been called “The Best Coffee”.  At least to this coffee novice!  Then again, this is being marketed to tea people and not coffee people!  The flavor couldn’t be better here, the best parts of coffee — it’s coffee, but sweet, mocha, and a hint of cocoa.  Three steeps with great flavor. The twenty minute third steep was almost the same as the second steep.   However, the base is a little too weak for me, no matter which steep it is.  As a combination of puerh and black tea, I love the concept, but the result of the brew is so light in the mug. (The description says “robust” tea and I disagree.) But where I rate this tea so highly, is the perfect flavor that lingers through all three steeps:  IT’S COFFEE.  Delicious coffee to someone who avoids actual coffee. So I will allow the base here to take a backseat as the carrier of this perfect flavor I’m craving all the time (while not actually craving coffee).  Yum.
Steep #1  // 1 heaping teaspoon for full mug // 22 minutes after boiling // 2 minute steep
Steep #2 //  15 minutes after boiling // 3 min
Steep #3 // just boiled // 20 min

NO-vember is right. I am in denial that the year is slipping down the drain, particularly since we were cheated out of proper October weather. One should not have to wear short sleeves and flip flops at Trunk or Treat! Furthermore, what colorful foliage we did have (not a lot because it’s been so dry) blew away in a three-day gust fest. It’s all on the ground now.

Grump, grump, grump.

On the bright side, the weather has indeed shifted, we are looking forward to a cool, rainy, weekend, and I am able to enjoy a warm cuppa in the evenings. Case in point, this simple little mishmash from TeaMaze. Chamomile, apple, cinnamon. Nicely balanced, nothing else needed.

The only quirky thing about it is the crazy-long recommended steep time. Twenty minutes, seriously. I just started the cup well in advance of rocking chair time, nearly an hour, and heated it back up. Still mild and gently fruity.

I have sorely missed Celestial Seasonings Sweet Apple Chamomile since it got pulled, but we may have landed on a lovely substitute here! The chief difference is less sweetening, which is actually a plus for me. Just chamomile and apple bits with a little spice. The downside, if you call it that, is the recommended 20 minute steep time—my attention span is far too short for that. However, with a paper filter, you can just sip bag-in with nice, gentle, fruity results.

This is getting pretty old and really needs to be sent on its way (boy, I hope nobody says that about me in a few years). But it still has a little life left: mild sencha with sugar sweetening that isn’t obnoxiously cloying. Not sure I’m getting maple—the walnut takes the lead, for sure.

From Gmathis, thanks!
This is savory and salty and charcoal all rounded into one. The lingering aftertaste is nutty hay like hojicha. What is not to like here. Why don’t I drink more oolongs?

I’m almost hesitant to add yet another semi-anonymous Dong Ding to the lineup here, but it is definitely noteworthy—hands down, my husband’s favorite oolong. And, unfortunately, no longer in the TeaMaze lineup, so we are using it judiciously.

But the afternoon atmosphere was perfect for it: it’s the damp, just-above-freezing cold that soaks into your bones and makes you want to light candles and change into your jammies and watch the cats snooze while you sip earthenware cups of quality oolong. (Which we did, as well as watching the first installment of the old Shogun miniseries from the 70’s.)

What’s notable, as far as my sweetie is concerned, about this Dong Ding is its roastiness. It hits the savory/umami zones, with almost no floral hints whatsoever. You can almost feel the warmth from the charcoal.

Green tea doesn’t usually cold steep well for me, but since this is a green and white blend, I figured there was a 50-50 chance that it wouldn’t get bitter in the fridge. Lucky day: the base just feels fresh and clean, with a nice, sweet cherry (syrup) vibe. A good summery cooler on a hot afternoon and I’m sure it will make my tired feet feel better, too. (Picked the wrong sandals to play with my fifth graders.)

When I originally reviewed it, Black Cherry wasn’t on TeaMaze’s online lineup, but it’s back in time for spring and summer. Just a sweet, fluffy green/white blend with a pleasant syrupy vibe—not artificial cough syrup or candy cherry; more like the goopy non-cherry part of your cherry pie filling. A little more special than my usual evening rocking chair fare, but it’s been a crazy workweek, the end of which is worth celebrating a little.

I guess “dopamine dressing” is a relatively new and trendy term. I’ve been doing it for years, particularly during the winter months, which is why I have a collection of obnoxiously brightly colored sweaters and scarves that I trot out to fight the glums.

This is a perfect, perky, cheerful little blend for dopamine sipping. It’s already disappeared from, or never made, the TeaMaze website—we picked this up in the storefront before Christmas. (I’ll update the description when I’m not too lazy to go capture what’s on the label.)

The packet is full of loose, fluffy green and white leaves, with (I think) a little calendula and fruit bits. One of you mentioned a tea the other day that reminded you more of maraschino cherries than cherry cough syrup. That’s a good analogy, and the quality of the base cuts a little of the sweetness as well.

Drinking it from a favorite hobnail mug (I love to run my hand over the warm bumps) with Minnie (imagine a furry, heated concrete block) warming my feet. Not a bad way to end a very long day.

A real sipdown. I dumped all of the remaining packet into the cup, which means about 20% more than recommended, and got the best steep of the whole sample. A nice juicy citrus vibe without being too tart; beautiful ruby red color in the cup.

I see that it’s no longer on the Teamaze website. Seems to me that teas that take tons of leaf to get noticed just don’t sell well, especially when they’re pricey to begin with.

I’m about three cups into my sample pack of this herbal concoction, and although I have concluded more leaf, more time, and more cowbell helps boost the flavor, it still seems a little thin to me. The carrot is a nice touch and makes me feel exceedingly healthy. Tonight’s cup was accompanied by a slice of candied ginger, and it paired so nicely, next time, the ginger may just go into the cup from the get-go.

Been a bit of a drudgey week, and as citrus is supposed to be a mood-boosting superstar, I broke open my packet of this fruity little treat to evoke a little celebration for making it until quittin’ time Friday.

Dry, the fresh orange scent is nothing but natural. I steeped the first cuppa at four minutes, maybe a bit warmer than the recommended 175 degrees. While it was still hot, I was a little bit underwhelmed—-flavor didn’t catch up to the scent. However, as it cooled, I picked up the “freshly squeezed juice vibe” as advertised.

I think this will be a nice nightcap after a little twiddling with the parameters.

I don’t choose chai unless it’s freezing. It is. A balmy 32 F outside today thanks to a two-day freezer express from the Great North. (Thanks, Canada friends—it feels great! Now, at least. I will ask you to take it back in January.)

This chai variety smells like a pack of Big Red or Beeman’s Clove chewing gum in the pouch. Straight up at a five minute steep (my little drawstring filter bags are kind of thick, so they take more time than the seller’s recommendation), it leads with cinnamon and clove, but you don’t have to strain too hard to catch some orange essence.

Reminds me of an upscale version of Constant Comment, with the added benefit of not getting bitter when it cools—sometimes CC wants you to comment very quickly. A nicely done departure from the chai-dentical stuff that comes out this time of year.

Lifting some text from the label: A long steep is worth the wait for this classy and unique dessert tea! Tart apples, rich walnuts, and sweet marshmallows combine to create a flavor reminiscent of apple cake. Guess how long the recommended steep is: 25 minutes! I thought it might be a misprint, but after checking out the packet contents, which look exactly like the photo, I decided to give it a long bath while I was taking one myself.

It performed exactly as advertised: tart, juicy apple tempered by marshmallow and nuts. We’re still doing the summer-autumn temperature teeter-totter and today tilted toward summer, so a slightly cooler evening cuppa didn’t hurt.

This is going to be a lovely autumn evening beverage, but only for those rare ones when you’re not in a hurry.

I’ve been enjoying this one sporadically as a welcome departure from conventional herbal nightcaps. Not much new to say about it, other than it’s a lovely, fragrant, creamy rooibos/orange blend that doesn’t taste medicinal at all—I forget more often than not to let it steep, but it does well with an insanely long steep (8-10 minutes if you can stand the wait.)

The last time we were in the TeaMaze shop, the lady in line ahead of me was buying a large tin of Golden Orange and said it her favorite of the TeaMaze lineup. It’s a good one from this little purveyor of nicely flavored tea.

Forgot I had stashed away a few little TeaMaze treats to tide me over until the next run. I should have been drinking this all summer. It’s a very sweet orange-roo combination that the packet (not the website) says is reminiscent of candy. It is. Remember Creme Savers?

There’s also a discrepancy between the prescribed steep times on the website (3-5 minutes) and my physical packet (8-10). I went 8:30 and it is indeed a cup of creamy goodness that leaves sweetness in your mouth after you swallow.

Thanks to gmathis again for the sweet little package! Wow, this flavor gave me such a blast of nostalgia. When we were kids, on long car trips, we’d sometimes stop at gas stations and mix together all the various cappuccino and hot chocolate flavors they had to create delicious concoctions. This tea is that flavor! I haven’t really had any coffee in the intervening decades, but I remember that flavor well. I taste coffee and cream and maybe some chocolate? This is great. I’d totally drink this again.

Thanks to gmathis for the sweetest little surprise tea package! I’ve never tried TeaMaze before, so this was really fun! The main flavors I taste are black tea and coconut. I shared this sample with my dad, and he enjoyed the coconut flavor and said he tasted a bit of berry as well. I mostly just taste coconut, and it’s not the #1 freshest coconut, but coconut just isn’t my favorite. Thank you, gmathis!

Happy fall! It arrived bang on time here with a cold front and welcome gray skies with some much-needed moisture, even if it was barely a drizzle.

I think excitement over the relief from a relentlessly hot summer made the last of this bag taste better—rooibos laced with orange, ginger, and a little vanilla, steeped far longer than recommended—close to 10 minutes instead of four. When it was new last winter, I couldn’t coax any pastry aspect out of it at all, and I couldn’t this time, either, but it was still gently sweet and spicy on a cool evening.

I still haven’t tried this with milk to see if it starts tasting like pastry (or if I did, it didn’t register), but yesterday’s snowy-day cup with a couple dried orange slices was a juicy and gently spicy treat.

Normally, by the first week in January I am absolutely done with chai, mint, and spiced concoctions and crave just plain strong black tea—but after four days of clogged nasal plumbing, I can’t seem to get enough. I killed off multiple bags of Twinings Gingerbread Joy at work, and have settled down for a nighty-night with this loose leaf blend from TeaMaze.

As I mentioned in a previous review, I’m still not getting a lot of ginger bread vibes, but I’ve discovered that with the leaves in a DIY paper teabag, the longer you leave it, it starts tasting like a cookie with a little ginger in it. The citrus hasn’t gone bitter, and there’s enough spice to open the sinuses and burn out the throat gunk. Without the Christmas-y label on the packet and more accurately renamed Ginger Citrus Rooibos, I think this would still sell well.