Darjeeling Black from Teapigs

by Roswell Strange

darjeelingTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black (Darjeeling)

Where to Buy:  Teapigs

Tea Description:

Pinkies out, bone china cups and saucers, silk neck scarf and snorty laugh at the ready – this is the poshest tea around. Darjeeling tea without milk has a unique, clean, refreshing taste. Traditionally drunk in the afternoon it tastes equally good early morning from a chipped mug.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Thanks to one of our sisters, Scheherazade, I got a chance to try a few sachets of this tea! Teapigs is a company I’ve been kind of curious about for a while; the Sobeys I work at carries a small selection of their teas (though not this one) and I’ve always found the packaging cute. I just simply haven’t known enough about the company or seen enough reviews to be interested in trying one of their teas.

I steeped up one of the pyramid style sachets I received from Scheherazade this morning during a heavy downpour and sat on the steps outside of our house, listening to the pitter patter of the rain, while drinking it. It was definitely the perfect atmosphere to enjoy and appreciate the warmth of the mug and the clean, well rounded flavour. I thought in particular it tasted rather floral, with a slight bit of malt and a sort of autumnal vibe – probably from the very slight spice notes throughout the cup. The mouthfeel is very, very smooth and silky. It’s not the best Darjeeling I’ve ever had but it’s far from the worst.

Very pleasant, comforting and unobtrusive flavour overall. I don’t know if I’ve been sold enough on this tea to want to purchase more of it, but I might finally pick up one of the different blends we carry at the Sobeys I work at as my curiosity has definitely been heightened.

Roswell Strange

Hello; my name is Kelly. I’m a nearly twenty tea drinker and reviewer living in Saskatchablah, Canada. I started drinking loose leaf fairly casually a little over a year ago, and at some point between then and now that ‘fun little hobby’ turned into a serious, serious obsession. Typically I drink flavoured blends more that straight but one of my mini goals this year is to get that ratio to a more 50/50 level. I do a daily cold brew, and have at least (but usually a lot more) two hot cups of tea every day. Naturally I lean towards black or white blends, but I WILL drink everything; the last half year or so I’ve been challenging myself by further exploring Oolong and Pu’Erh which are the tea types I know the least about overall. My default for preparation is Western Style with zero additives; so unless I mention otherwise you can assume that’s how I’ve prepared my tea!

This post was posted in Black Tea, Darjeeling

Watermelon Barley Herbal Tea from Lupicia

by thelastdodo

WatermelonbarleyTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Herbal

Where to Buy: Lupicia USA

Tea Description:

Aromatic six-rowed barley produced in Japan flavored with fresh watermelon. Limited flavor just for summer.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Tis the season of iced tea and delicious summer fruit! Nothing says ‘summer’ to me quite like mugicha (which is roasted barley tea, traditionally sipped on iced as cold as my heart.) and fresh, sweet, and messy watermelon. Lupicia’s Watermelon Barley tea sounded almost too good to be true on their website, I just had to bite. I’m hoping that the hype I have built up in my brain lives up to this fantasy blend.

The combination of roasted and toasted barley with fresh and juicy watermelon sounds like it could be either really great, or really awful. The only way is to drink this tea and find out!

Upon opening the bag, the sachets inside are large and offer a tiny hint of what I am about to brew. The main scent on first whiff was the roasted grain smell, rich and full. Cloyingly sweet in the background is the fruity watermelon. I didn’t let myself investigate further, I was dying to sink my teeth into the brew. I attempted the cold brew in 2 cups of cold water for 4 hours, simply out of laziness. This resulted in the toasty flavor of the barley becoming a little too overpowering for the watermelon to handle. I could only taste a whisper, it might as well have been regular old mugicha.

The next day I wanted to make it right. I knew it was just a user error on my end, and I needed this tea to taste differently than it had when I brewed it cold. So, I used one pyramid type bag in 16oz. of freshly boiled water. Steeped for 5 minutes then chilled in the refrigerator. When I brought it out the next morning and huffed the liquid, I was met with a satisfyingly sweet smell. The watermelon! Drinking it throughout the day was greatly refreshing. The watermelon was so very melon-y, juicy, thirst quenching. It leans on the side of becoming candy-like in flavor, but stays true to the actual fruit. The barley is still the forefront, but not obnoxiously so. The brew as a whole tastes like grilled watermelon, in a good way. (which is a great thing to try for your next barbeque, by the way!) Probably my new favorite go to easy iced tea for the summer!

thelastdodo

I dream in tea. Hello! My name is Maddi and I love to gongfu and listen to good tunes. I live in Denver, CO with my big dumb malamute and three other people who are not bid dumb malamutes. I like to take boiling hot showers and meditate in my closet. I talk about tea so much that it has become a punch line of sorts with my family and coworkers. Besides my unhealthy obsession with the drink that gives me life, I do yoga frequently, watch Korean Dramas religiously, run as a form of moving meditation, make green smoothies out of any vegetables and fruits within the nearest vicinity, and play video games with my patient and forgiving boyfriend. I also cook for a living and have at least one waffle a day. Likes: Tea, Teaware, All forms of nature, Old movies, People with infectious laughs, Blankets Dislikes: Watching sports, People who don’t tip servers, Slipping on ice, drinking tea for the ‘health benefits’ I tend to only drink loose leaf, although I will have a bagged tea every once in a while in an emergency. I also never sweeten my tea because, ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!’ I like the following flavors: Smokey Floral Coconut Majority of chai Anything Tropical Vanilla Grassy/Vegetal Citrus Stone fruit/melon Earth/Wood I am not so fond of the following flavors: Hibscus Lavender Strong Bergamot Berries Chocolate Cloves/strong cinnamon

This post was posted in Fruit/Herbal Tisane, Lupicia, Tea Company, Type Of Tea

Irish Breakfast Tea from Epi Tea

by liberteas

Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  Epi Tea

Tea Description:

Epi Tea’s Irish Breakfast is a great morning brew with a deep malty flavor and a smooth finish.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

I’ve been reading about Epi Tea all over Steepster, but this is the first chance that I’ve had to actually try one of their teas.  Epi Tea have been actively promoting their teas offered in biodegradable pyramid sachets.

While I tend to prefer loose leaf, I do occasionally enjoy teas that have been bagged, and I really do like these pyramid sachets that Epi Tea uses for a couple of reasons:  1) they’re biodegradable and I appreciate any company taking steps to protect our planet; and 2) I can see the teas through the silken material that is used in these sachets, and it looks to be very high quality tea – not unlike what I’d use when preparing loose leaf tea.  These pyramid sachets appear to offer offer the quality of loose leaf in a very convenient, biodegradable sachet.

I also like that the size of the pyramid sachet is sufficient to allow the tea to properly expand.  After brewing, the leaves had plumped up, but, there was still a bit of room left in the sachet … telling me that the leaves had plenty of room to do their thing.  That’s important if flavor is important … and flavor is the reason I drink tea!

Which leads me to the real test of these pyramid sachets:  tasting … and this tastes great too.  I love Irish Breakfast tea because it is usually offers a bolder taste than English Breakfast and it is also very invigorating.  And this Irish Breakfast is indeed that.  It is a bit milder than some Irish Breakfast teas I’ve tasted, and along with that milder flavor comes a smoothness that I was not expecting.  Very nice.

But it wouldn’t be an Irish Breakfast (at least, not to me it wouldn’t!) if it didn’t have some of the basic characteristics of an Irish Breakfast tea:  A delicious malty tone.  A sweet, caramel-y undertone.  And this tea brings those qualities to the cup.  It is good and strong, and it tastes really good – and I can feel it start to work on my caffeine needs too.

Yes, I’m addicted to caffeine.  I am sure that comes as no surprise to you.  As a result, in the morning, I usually have a slight headache as a result from caffeine withdrawal.

But this Irish Breakfast has offered me a speedy recovery from my caffeine withdrawal, and I am feeling fit to face the day thanks to this tea.

liberteas

Anne (aka the Mad Tea Artist) has celebrated her 29th birthday for many years now. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her hubby and her youngest daughter. Her oldest daughter is married and has bestowed Anne with the proud title of "Gramma" and her grandson is about the cutest boy you ever did see. Anne started her journey with tea as a casual drinker and became more serious about her tea drinking when she realized that she couldn't drink coffee. Shortly thereafter, she started becoming obsessed with the beverage and she started creating small-batch, artisan blends of tea that she sold online as LiberTEAS. After a few years, she realized she wasn't cut out to be the sole proprietor of a business so she closed LiberTEAS and started reviewing teas online. She met Jennifer through another blog that they both reviewed for and they decided to start their own review blog. This review blog! Throughout her journey as a tea reviewer, she discovered 52Teas and became enamored with the idea of creating a new tea every week. When the founder of 52Teas decided he wanted to move on, he offered the business to Anne but knowing that she wasn't cut out to be a sole proprietor, she instead offered the company to her oldest daughter who employs her as the Mad Tea Artist for 52Teas!

This post was posted in Black Tea