Spice and Tea Exchange's Earl Grey Creme Tea

 The Spice and Tea Exchange website says this about its Earl Grey Creme tea:

The comforting flavors of vanilla and cream combine to lighten the citrus notes of a traditional Earl Grey. With its soft, warm flavors, this is a great tea to start off your day.

Ingredients: black tea, orange peel, cornflower, natural flavor (vanilla, bergamot, and creme).

I am approaching this tea somewhat apprehensively.  I love vanilla and orange, but bergamot needs to be handled carefully and most "natural creme flavor" tastes horridly chemical to me, as if Twinkie filling had been dumped into my cup.  The tea has been brewed and my cup and I are staring at each other waiting for it to cool down enough to drink.  I embark on this venture without benefit of milk or sugar in my tea, as per usual.

Well, of all of the executions of a bergamot + creme flavoring tea, this is the least objectionable one I've had so far.  The initial flavor profile is a straight up Earl Grey, with the vanilla and milky elements coming in the aftertaste.  The "creme" flavor is still weird, but it's not blatantly chemical or artificial, just not to my taste.  The bergamot is handled with subtlety.  The underlying black tea is of good quality.  This is not my cup of tea (see what I did there), but it's good enough that I'll finish the package without complaint.  I think someone who likes milk in their tea would enjoy this greatly.

 

Adagio's Fujian Rain Oolong

 Adagio's website has this to say about its Fujian Rain Oolong:

Fujian Rain or Shui Xian, which translates to "Water Sprite," is an oolong produced in a similar style to Wuyi Oolongs. Therefore they share some similar traits, such as peachy-honey notes and a mineral "rock taste." Grown at an elevation of 800 meters, this high-fired, medium grade version results in a rich-tasting amber colored cup with the nuances of minerals, apricots and spice. 

The brew has no particular aroma beyond "tea," but what a lovely cup of tea!  The mineral notes hit first, followed by a delicate bit of sweetness.  The complex interplay of those two flavors rewards sipping, not gulping.  I can see why they call this tea Fujian Rain because there's a sense of petrichor about the whole thing.  It's a beautiful amber color to boot!

Friday Afternoon Tea's Underworld

Underworld is one of Friday Afternoon Tea's mythology-themed blends.  The website describes it thusly:

This dark, dank, lush blend of earthy-sweet decadence is a walk on the underside in a cup. We took inspiration from ancient Greek mythology and crafted a tea to take you on a journey below. Cave-aged puer tea melds with shaved dark chocolate and black cherry flavor to form a bed of velvet darkness. Dry chicory root and bright pops of pomegranate light your way. The tea will brew first dark, and then darker still in its second and third infusion. Lightness returns to the cup after the third or fourth infusion and the lighter flavors grow to guide you from winter to spring flavors.

Ingredients: Puer tea, black tea, pomegranate, dark chocolate*, chicory root, natural black cherry flavoring

     *Dark chocolate contains: cocoa beans, cane sugar, cocoa butter, ground vanilla bean

Gotta love a tea that is DESIGNED for multiple brewings.  

Brewing 1:  Rich, deep dark with an aftertaste of sweet cherry.  Like very good dark chocolate.  Weirdly, despite the richness of the flavors, the aroma isn't much of anything at all.  There's an oily sheen on the top of the tea that doesn't taste like anything and doesn't leave a reside on the lips, but it may be off-putting to some people.

Brewing 2:  I taste mostly plain black tea, with notes of sweetness that could easily be cherry or pomegranate.  The tea flavor is still rich, but it has lost the chocolate notes of the first brewing.  I did let the tisane sit for about 24 hours before the second brewing, so it may not be performing at its best.  

Brewing 3:  The sweetness is amped up a bit from the second brewing, but overall it's uninspiring.

This is definitely an excellent tea, and getting a "mere" two steepings out of it is hardly a criticism.  I recommend it for lovers of cherry, pomegranate and chocolate.

Guest Review: Friday Afternoon Tea's Masala Chai

As I don't really care for milk in my tea, I asked my friend Christine to provide her insight on Friday Afternoon Tea's Masala Chai: 

Ingredients:  Ingredients: Black tea, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, natural vanilla flavoring

Prepared with whole milk and sugar

"This chai has a good balance of  flavors. I can taste the vanilla and cinnamon without them fighting for dominance. I usually don’t like chais that have vanilla but this is good.  Nice mouth feel.  It makes a very enjoyable cup; would drink again."

For myself, I sampled a little bit of the chai brew without benefit of milk or sugar and immediately reached for the jar of honey.  I almost never want sugar in my tea.  Without benefit of milk or sweetener, the cardamom and ginger are the front-facing flavors and my mouth feels a little gritty. 

Lesson learned - make this as the chaiwallas intended!

Adagio's Ti Kuan Yin Oolong Tea

 Why yes, I DID get a sampler package of various Adagio Oolong teas for Christmas.  Today's tea is Adagio's Ti Kuan Yin, which the company website describes as follows:

Ti Kuan Yin (also spelled Tieguanyin) is a legendary oolong tea from the Fujian province in China. It is one of China's most beloved oolongs and is extremely time-consuming to produce (well over a dozen distinct steps in the processing are observed). Our fine version of Ti Kuan Yin produces a cup that is warm, soft and soothingly mineral in texture. Notes of toasted walnut and tender collard greens. Intriguing lingering floral aroma, lightly orchid and gentle astringency. A meditative cup.

 I definitely taste the mineral quality - it reminds me a little of NJ shore well water (in a good way).   I have no idea how anyone would taste collard greens in this tea; I am not tasting any of that at all.  It's slightly nutty, I suppose walnut is as good a description as any.  It's an interesting, textured brew that is still essentially tea-flavored.  The aftertaste is clean and refreshing.  I have two more small packages of this tea and I may go out and buy more.

Adagio's White Tropics

 We're in the teeth of a sleet storm here at Mackyntoich Manor, so it's the perfect time to open up a tea that reminds me of warmth and sunshine.  Adagio's White Tropics is a white tea base with flavors of coconut and pineapple - essentially intended to be a tea pina colada.

The aroma is stronger than the flavor.  It has a sweet coconut smell that reminds me of umbrella drinks and old fashioned sun tan lotion.  Tasting the brew, I definitely notice the coconut right up front, but fortunately, the white tea base is solid enough to duke it out with the coconut for supremacy.  There's a gentle sweetness that could be pineapple, but doesn't really have the citrus bite to it.  Finally, the brew has a slightly sweet, very slightly floral aftertaste.  It's not like drinking potpourri.  It's like drinking the scent of the flowers on a summer porch.  All in all, Adagio's White Tropics was a nice visit to summer in the middle of a dreary February.

Adagio's Jade Oolong

 Here's what the Adagio website has to say about its Jade Oolong tea:

Jade oolong tea from the Tung Ting mountain in Nantou County, Taiwan. A highly prized tea, Jade oolongs are a beautiful deep green in appearance, with large, tightly rolled leaves. Once infused, these lightly oxidized leaves gradually unfurl to release their essential oils. Jade oolongs are known for their fresh green-floral aroma, sweet flavor, and clean, delicate mouthfeel.

 It brew up looking more like green tea than a normal oolong.  It has no noticeable aroma to me.

I find the taste to be slightly sweet and a little nutty, very subtle.  I think I probably should have steeped it longer than the recommended 5 minutes because the flavor from my first brewing effort was very feeble.

I'm going to take a second try with either a second steeping or a fresh longer steeping.

OK, I increased the steep time to 6 minutes and I am starting to taste things.  What I'm tasting is nothing more remarkable than an ordinary green tea, however.  Still no noticeable aroma.

It's not a bad tea, it's just very very ordinary.

Adagio's Ali Shan Oolong

 Here's what Adagio's website says about its Ali Shan oolong:

Grown in central Taiwan in a region of 18 mountains, this oolong enjoys both high elevation and a cooler climate that slows its growth. That means the leaves contain a higher concentration of sap and essential oils and these supple green leaves respond well to rolling into ball shapes that may be delicately roasted. Brew in a gaiwan (covered cup) at lower temperatures to fully reveal its delicate soft honey-like flavor with an edge of spring grassiness. A relatively new tea to the scene, only a few decades old, it is harvested twice yearly.

I found the brew to lightly grassy in taste -- in a good way, like the aroma of fresh grass in the spring made into a flavor.  I didn't pick up the honey taste some have described.  This is not a tea to be chugged for its caffeine content.  It's a tea to be sipped and savored slowly.  It's gentle and light and soothing.  I imagine a slight bit of honey would go well in this brew, but it's hardly necessary.

Harney & Sons RMS Titanic Blend

 This tea blend apparently was created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic (which was in 1912/2012).  The blend was designed to imitate the type of tea that would have been available on the voyage, using a combination of Chinese Keemun black tea and Formosa oolong.

If you like tea that tastes like tea and nothing else, this is the brew for you.  It's a rich, multi-layered tea flavor that keeps on giving with a smooth, clean aftertaste.  It stands up to honey and other sweetener without becoming cloying.  It also doesn't get bitter when you forget the cup and it gets over-steeped.  Since I got this blend for Christmas it has become my go-to morning tea, and I'm going to buy some more once the tin I have runs out.

Adagio's Coconut Grove Pouchong

 I am always a little dubious about coconut in tea.  They don't seem to be flavors that go together naturally (and I say this as someone who likes coconut).  But, Adagio has surprised me once again with its Coconut Grove Pouchong.

Pouchong, more usually known as Baozhong tea, is lightly oxidized and usually not roasted.  It falls somewhere between green tea and oolong tea in flavor.  This particular pouchong has floral notes that are enhanced by the addition of blue cornflower to the mix, along with the coconut.  The coconut notes are ever so slightly sweet.  The whole brew (without sugar or honey) has a clean mouth feel and a nice smooth aftertaste.  It smells really nice too.

If you like coconut, it's worth trying a sample of this tea; it is not for everyone, but if you like this sort of thing (and I do), it's a fine cuppa.