Mason Wallis Send Message

I really do like this tea. I really do.

But it smells burn when you brew it. And it’s really off putting.

It tastes fantastic, however. Very nice, not too tannic, but still definitely a black tea. It resteeps well, which is good (because I hate going down the hall to the communal bathrooms to throw out leaves. Also, I’m lazy.) I just hate how it smells in the cup the first steep.

I got this in the mail yesterday along with the Laoshan Black 2013 (which is becoming a drinkable temperature at this moment.

I tried this with both the western brewing for around 15 seconds or so and the way recommended on the website (tumbler method). I think the tumbler method is what I’ll be using from now on.

Firstly, I will just say that this is the best green tea I’ve ever had. By far.

The leaves are long and flat, almost like they’ve been pressed (maybe they have, I’m not sure). The smell of the dry leaves is actually very fruity, almost like a strawberry tea, but with that vegetal green smell present. Mm.

I didn’t get as much of a fruit flavor in the tea; it was almost negligible at first. It tasted at first very grassy, but not astringent. It was so smooth it was almost like I had put milk in it. Almost. As it went on, the leaves became slightly less grassy and more vegetal in general, with a little bit of spinach or something like that in there. By the end, I could almost barely taste the fruit. But it was so subtle that I could have been imagining it…

Bottom line, fantastic tea.

I love moroccan mint tea. This one isn’t my favorite. I got this a while ago from Teavana (like a year ish ago) and took the last 3 or so tsp. with me to college. I decided to finish it up today so I can free up the tin for a new incoming tea. This tea is ok, and I like the spearmint, I think it’s an interesting flavor, but for some reason this blend doesn’t do it for me.

I chose this tea last night as something to try and do consecutive re-steeps with, and it worked pretty well. I had 2 steeps, took about an hour and a half break for an audition at the school of music, then two more, adding about half a tablespoon of leaves the third and fourth time.

First cup was good. Very malty, and just a little bit of a honey note. However, it was just a bit too tannic for my taste, but I might have oversteeped a little bit (4 and a half minutes). Still something brisk and enjoyable though.

Second cup I honestly don’t remember about. So I’m going to guess it was alright.

Third cup was pretty weak. I tried adding half a teaspoon of new leaves then steeping for 30 seconds less for whatever reason.

Fourth cup was the best of them, as I think I found the way I best like to prepare this tea. I added another half teaspoon of new leaves and steeped for about 4 minutes and 15 seconds.

Overall, something I will look at re-ordering and staying stocked on as a staple tea.

This is my go-to tea. It’s not the most intricate tea, or the finest quality, but it’s a great every-day cuppa, and it’s loose-leaf counterpart is one of the prettiest I’ve seen. I will say that the loose leaf tin I purchased tasted a bit better than the bags (surprise, I know). However, since I left the rest of my tin with my girlfriend before I left for my tour, I will happily stick to the bags for now.

I don’t like earl grey. But I love lady grey. I think it’s because I personally like only a little bit of bergamot, and it seems this tea offers that. I’m not sure if the cornflowers add anything to the flavor profile, but they are certainly visually appealing.

I ordered a sample of this along with a Scottish Morn sample and 4oz of Assam back before I left on my summer tour with the Academy Drum and Bugle Corps. I loved this tea before I left, and I hoped it would keep in it’s airtight bag, and it did! I had another cup of it today, and it tastes just as great as when I first had it months ago. It definitely has that chocolatey taste to it like a good black tea does. I can taste a little smoke, but not a whole lot. I find this tea to be great because it’s on the simpler side of the flavor profile, but still is very satisfying to drink as it’s so well balanced. This is something I will definitely consider ordering in bulk for my next order to have alongside my assam.

On another note, I just tried re-steeping it, and while it’s currently too hot to drink as of yet, I can say the brew looks significantly lighter, so this might not be the best tea to re-steep. But that is speculation.