108 Tasting Notes

70

This full-bodied tea is a foundation for so many builder’s brews all around the world. It’s strong, but still has plenty of flavour and isn’t over-powering, like some black tea bag-type teas. Brewed too long it can be bitter and astringent, brewed just right it can be lovely and really wakes me up in the morning.

What I like about it is that the strong body of the tea means you can pretty much flavour it however you like and it will still taste like Yorkshire tea.

A trustworthy tea and a totally dependable brand.

Flavors: Astringent, Earth, Malt, Tannic

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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66
drank Honey by Acquired Taste Tea Co.
108 tasting notes

I’ve had a lot of honey flavoured teas in my time in the world, and, sadly, this one is not one of the best I’ve had. It’s perfectly mid and acceptable but I often forget what flavour it is halfway through drinking it.

The leaves are a beautiful ceylon-brown and then there’s lovely yellow flowers and chamomile to make it a very attractive blend. The flavour of it is of a very sweet, floral honey, but I am missing the smoothness and the body of the honey in the tea.

Flavors: Floral, Honey, Sweet

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 15 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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85

This tea smells so lovely out of the tin. It does have a very strong smell, but it’s a burnt sugar, caramel, nutty smell that I love. It’s made with Irish Breakfast so it’s a full-bodied black tea, malty taste which means it is possible to oversteep it.

But! It’s lovely. It’s sweet, warm and has a lovely almond flavour. It feels like burnt butter or burnt sugar, the crispy bottom of a cinnamon roll, that sort of thing. I enjoy it because the sweetness has a real depth and taste to it, it’s not just blindingly sweet. It’s lovely in autumn, but also perfect for any time of year.

Flavors: Almond, Burnt Sugar, Butterscotch, Caramel, Malt, Maple, Nuts

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 15 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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70

When I purchase tea, I generally do so in one big lot, with a wide variety to cover all my bases. So, there’s usually a breakfast tea, an earl grey, a smokey tea, an afternoon sort of tea and then a couple of vanilla/almond/marzipan/maple teas. I bought this tea to be my afternoon tea and replace the Wild Cherry blend this company also sells, which, is fine and drinkable but not great.

So I think the biggest thing with this tea is it is a black and green blend. Looking at it in the tin, I find that’s so easy to forget, because it looks like a majority of black tea. I’ve brewed it once before and it was sweet, delicate and smooth. You can definitely taste the blackberry, there’s a sharpness and a sort of soft vegetal-ness that tastes like blackberry leaves, but I don’t particularly taste the maple. It is sweet, but from what, I don’t know.

It is possible to oversteep this tea though, which is what I did today and I found it a little bitter, but once I added some cooler water it was totally salvageable. So, brewed well, this tastes delicate and light and green, brewed too hot, it understandably tastes like grass.

But an enjoyable tea and lovely as it cools!

Flavors: Blackberry, Floral, Grassy, Sweet

Preparation
170 °F / 76 °C 3 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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77

I am not a huge fan of earl grey tea (unless it’s a latte) or unless it has other flavourings (lavender, lemon) but was intriguied to try this one. It’s beautiful! It’s quite astringent without being flat, which I like in an earl grey. The grapefruit comes forward right away, then there’s the bergamot flavour, but then there’s a subtle sweetness that I think is mandarin after that.

So it’s quite layered! I drink it black but I’m not sure how it would do in a latte, but I would be curious. A welcome edition to my cupboard and something I would love to share with my mum, who loves an earl grey and who often complains you can only smell tea flavours, not actually taste them.

Flavors: Bergamot, Grapefruit, Mandarin

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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75
drank Gingerbread by Gewurzhaus
108 tasting notes

I got this as part of a Christmas gift from my mum, and it’s quite lovely. It’s a lot like a chai blend (it has many ingredients of a chai). It tastes warm and spicy, but then it’s got this lift and it feels light and peppery and not quite as heavy as some chai blends can.

It’s black tea without being bitter or too astringent, but it still tastes like tea. If I really want to concentrate, I can pick up a lot of the flavours listed on the ingredient list, but otherwise, I just enjoy it. A welcome edition to my cupboard. <3

Flavors: Anise, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Clove, Fennel, Nutmeg

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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55

So, I bought this tea a long time ago, but when I opened the bag it smelled so strongly that I shut it up in a tin and left it for a long time. It smelled heavily of cherry candy, like, syrupy-sweet and the scent was so heavy I felt like it would give me a headache.

So, today, I finally tried it! And it was just okay. It tastes sort of like cherry, but as it cools, it tastes like soap. It also doesn’t really taste enough like black tea to feel like tea, it tastes like tea in a bottle you might buy at a petrol station (which I guess is its own type of tea!) but not the type of tea I was expecting. Maybe it’ll grow on me, maybe I’ll like it, but for now, I remain skeptical.

Flavors: Candy, Cherry, Soap, Sugar

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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20
drank Orange Pekoe by Red Rose
108 tasting notes

I bought this because my area of Canada has decided that Twining’s Orange Pekoe doesn’t exist and will not be available to me in any shape or form whatsoever.

This, to me, is the worst kind of tea, but when I asked friends about it, they said they all drank and enjoyed it. I think the best way to drink this tea is to dip it in boiling water, remove the tea bag and then add milk and honey. Anything else, letting it steep for a longer amount of time just makes it turn bitter, black and totally undrinkable.

I can tell that this type of tea is made with the leftover tea leaves from the drying / roasting process, which is totally fine. I am not above cheap and cheerful tea bags, but this doesn’t have any flavour other than tannins. Once it starts to cool, it becomes acrid and I end up abandoning my cup with prejudice.

I haven’t tried it with milk and honey yet, it might even be nice, but it’s not my cup of tea, y’know? Shame, as I have a box of like 50 tea bags. I’ll probably end up drinking them at a glacial pace with lemon honey any time I’m sick (and therefore can’t taste very much).

Flavors: Dirt, Malt, Musty, Tannic

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML
ashmanra

Sounds like a good tea for “foot tea.” Very few teas have become foot tea in this house but it has happened. Basically, make a tub full of tea and soak your feet in it! Supposed to be good for them.

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65

This tea is so sweet and so floral. The blend has an almost overpowering smell of roses and flowers. When I read the ingredients I saw that black currants was an ingredient, which I was then able to taste, but any time I drink this tea the thing I can taste is a lychee kind of sweetness, that almost sugary, syrupy flavour of sugar that comes from fruit.

It’s hard to know when to drink this, because it has such a distinctive flavour it’s hard to pair with my regular breakfast fare, but then any time I drink it, I enjoy it. It feels odd to say, but it tastes almost better cold, it gets a little less sugary and a little more astringent and vegetal, but not in a bad way.

Flavors: Black Currant, Floral, Fruity, Lychee, Rose, Sugar

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 4 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML
ashmanra

Sounds like an interesting blend!

Lydia H

It’s lovely, sort of nectar-y sweet, but still slightly perplexing to me. The mystery of tea continues!

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60

This tea is like … perfectly acceptable and mid. It’s sweet, not tooth-achingly sweet or melted sprinkle sweet like DAVID’s Tea sometimes can be. It is not the finest vanilla tea blend, or the most developed or most delicate of teas, but it totally works. However, if you were expecting any other vanilla flavours, don’t, it’s just vanilla. I feel like this would be really nice as a latte, but I haven’t tried it that way yet.

This is like a perfectly acceptable vanilla ice cream flavour. It is not the super cheap ‘frozen vanilla dessert’ but neither is it the fanciest vanilla ice cream to ever exist. It’s okay! Would I go out of my way to buy it again? Probably not. Do I like it and enjoy it anyway? Yes. Would I recommend it? If you think you’ll like it, sure. Other reviews are much more glowing than mine, but it’s a solid tea.

Flavors: Marshmallow, Sweet, Tannin, Vanilla

Preparation
2 tsp 10 OZ / 300 ML

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Tea student, lover of loose-leaf mixtures, chai-ist and professional peppermint propagandist. Frequenter of teahouses, tearooms and tea shops. Partaker in tea rituals, ceremonies and tea times. Protector of a tea library, cabinet or cupboard. Steep, simmer, steam, a pot, a pitcher or a mug. Gunpowder green, rose black and plum white. While waiting for another kettle tea-twitter will be an outlet for me.
After all that, I suppose the only question left is:

More tea, vicar?

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