Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Rington’s Premium English Teas
Tea Description:
Aromatic light black tea bags. From our ‘Extra Fresh’ family of teas. A premium quality fair traded aromatic blend of black tea, delicately flavoured with natural bergamot flavour.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Earl Grey Tea from Rington’s Premium English Teas: another bagged Earl Grey. I decided to go into this experience with an open mind and determined to find the good in this tea. I feel like lately, most of my bagged tea reviews have been ‘bagging’ on the tea bag. I want to try to keep an open mind because I have, in fact, tried decent bagged teas. Sure, loose leaf is better. Loose leaf is the way to go in about 98% of all situations, but there is the occasion when bagged teas are certainly more convenient even if they aren’t more flavorful.
So I steeped the bag in one of my favorite mugs, using 8 ounces of boiling water for 3 minutes. Now that I’m sipping this, I wish I would have gone with 2 1/2 minutes because this is a tad more astringent than I would like it to be and I think that a slightly shorter steep time might help to reduce that.
My first impression: the flavor is a bit off. The bergamot tastes strange to me, it doesn’t have that crisp tangy flavor that I expect from bergamot.
Again, I want to find the good in this tea, so I’m not tossing it yet! The black tea. It’s alright. It has a pleasant flavor. It’s rich and has a light malty note to it. It is astringent, like I’ve already mentioned. It has a dry sensation toward the tail of the sip.
On the good side: although the bergamot isn’t quite what I expected when I tasted this tea, it isn’t ‘bad’ – it’s just a bit sweeter than I expected from bergamot. It tastes like maybe the bergamot has been ‘enhanced’ by another orange flavor to soften the edge of the bergamot. The black tea has a pleasant flavor. And this tea does taste better as it cools – this would make a really nice iced tea.
I suspect that this might be alright to someone who hasn’t tasted better Earl Grey teas. That is to say, if all they’ve been drinking is other brands of bagged Earl Grey teas, they might find this one to be just as acceptable as some other bagged Earl Grey teas, perhaps even better than others. It’s certainly not the worst Earl Grey I’ve ever tried, but it’s not the best either. But if you’ve tried a really good, loose leaf Earl Grey tea, you’ll more than likely find this one lacking, I’m sorry to say.
Organic Chai from Twinings of London
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Twinings of London
Tea Description:
Select black tea from Assam expertly blended with sweet and savoury spices including cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and ginger to deliver a flavourful tea with a warm, soothing aroma and a fresh, spicy taste.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
After trying two other rather lackluster teas from Twinings of London recently, I wasn’t sure what possessed me to actually try another today. But I tried to keep a positive outlook and without having too high of expectations, I brewed this cup of Organic Chai from Twinings of London.
My initial thoughts: this is better than both the two previous recent tastings of this company’s teas. I can taste the robust Assam tea beneath the bold spices. I like that all the flavors that I expected to taste are represented.
About now is where I might say something like “the flavor of the spices are well-balanced,” but I can’t really say that because they aren’t well balanced. I taste more clove than any other spice. I taste a hearty cinnamon flavor and in contrast, there is very little ginger flavor. The cardamom is tasted, but, it’s not as strong as the clove and cinnamon.
But! I do like the Assam here. It’s a rich and flavorful tea. It’s almost creamy because of its thick, malty texture and I find that very enjoyable.
Overall, it’s not a terrible chai. It’s certainly not great though. It’s not the tea that I’d keep stocked in the cabinet. There are so many great teas out there and this is simply average or perhaps even just slightly below.
Smarty Pants Herbal Tea from Indie Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal
Where to Buy: Indie Tea
Tea Description:
An Intelligent Herbal Concoction of Ginkgo Biloba, Brahmi, Gotu Kola, Ginger, Peppermint, Hawthorn Berries, Passionflower Holy Basil and Lemon Verbena
Hocus Pocus…Where’s My Focus? Is It Here? Is It There? I Can’t Find It Anywhere. Perhaps If I Would Drink My Tea, I Might Become A Smarter Me.
Steeping Instructions: Measure 1.5 teaspoons of tea to 8 oz of water. Heat water to boiling 208 degrees, pour over the tea leaves, and steep tea leaves for five to six minutes.
Organic and Fair Trade Ingredients: Organic Ginkgo Biloba,Organic Hawthorn Berries, Organic Ginger, Organic Gotu Kola, Organic Brahmi, Organic Peppermint, Organic Passionflower, Organic Tulsi Holy Basil, Organic Lemon Verbena
.8 oz. Tube…$5.99 • 3 oz. Tin…$13.99 • 8 oz Bag…$29.00 • 1 lb Bag…$57.00
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve been a fan of Indie Tea in Las Vegas since the very first time I saw them! Not only because of their creative blends of tea bases and flavors but because of some of the secondary ingredients they use – herbs, for example, that you would normally find in regular teas and tisanes. Another reason I LOVE their company is the artsy-vibe they incorporate into their tea packaging, logos, labels, and website! They are CLEVER thru and thru – that is for sure!
When I first saw the tube of SMARTY PANTS – it made me smile! It said “Put on your thinking cap SMARTY PANTS” and as you can see above use quite the combination of ingredients in this herbal. I tend to not really reach for herbals teas but sometimes LIFE calls the shots for you, right! I’m glad I listened, in this case, this is a mighty fine herbal offering from Indie Tea!
I would agree that it is an intelligent blend! A hint of berry flattened by the Ginkgo and Basil, mostly but also the yin and the yang of the Ginger and Peppermint dance nicely to create their own flavor, too! The Lemon Verbena really brings everything together nicely in the end.
This isn’t overly herb or leafy tasting. The ginger and the peppermint are subtle and nicely done. I can’t think of a more well rounded mesh of flavors for this herbal. I don’t think I would change anything!
Queen Mary Black Tea from TeaLeafs
Tea Type:
Black Tea
Where To Buy:
TeaLeafs
Product Description:
Origin: India, Sri Lanka, Kenya – Ingredients: Luxury Black tea – Good flavor tempered with flowery character and malty notes. 50%+ Ethical Tea Partnership, 50%+ Fair Trade Tea.
Tasters Review:
It had been a while since I had a Queen Mary tea and the last time I was in the Buffalo area I stopped by my new favorite store front…TeaLeafs. It was just a quick stop to get more of their beloved Fig Formosa Oolong that both hubby and I LOVE. But I bought two other teas, too! This was one of them! TeaLeafs’ Queen Mary Black Tea is bold, a bit brash, malty, and a semi-crusty floral type flavor to it especially in the aftertaste. The more it cools at room temp – it gets even more malty…both in taste/flavor and texture. This is a beautifully bold tea to wake up to! This was VERY MUCH worth the drive – which for me – was about 2 hours!
Organic 2014 Risheehat Darjeeling First Flush from Happy Earth Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black (Darjeeling)
Where to Buy: Happy Earth Tea
Tea Description:
A fragrant tea with floral-fruity notes and a classic Darjeeling first flush briskness from one of the most popular Organic tea gardens of Darjeeling.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Another HAPPY SPRING first flush Darjeeling from Happy Earth Tea. The aroma of the brewed tea is beautiful – a fruity scent mingling with notes of flower and hints of wood. It is a wonderful celebration of spring.
And it tastes so lovely! It is sweet with notes of fruit and flower, and it has a light, crisp body. The fruit notes are somewhere between sweet peach and apple, with the crispness of a green apple but the sweeter flavor of a red. It is very smooth and there is only a mild astringency that is slightly dry, sort of like the finish of a dry wine. The aftertaste is cool and clean.
The description on the Happy Earth Tea website suggests a hint of vanilla too, and after a few sips, I started to pick up on the soft vanilla undertones. It is sweet and silky … not so much ‘creamy’ as it is silky.
There are hints of vegetation to this cup too, as well as woodsy tones and earthy flavors. I would describe the complexity as a balance between masculine and feminine notes: Imagine crisp, light airy notes that deliver whispers of flower that rustle the leaves as you’re walking through a fruit orchard while the trees are blossoming.
A remarkable Darjeeling from Happy Earth Tea. I love that this is Organic, it’s also Fair Trade Certified and Rainforest Alliance Certified! I love that these things are important to Happy Earth Tea.
