Capital Teas

So I had a whole new tasting note typed up and then Steepster ate it in a fit of pique. (Or, unstable server hosting… take your pick.)

After several months exploring the tea world and drinking oolongs from near and far, I’ve returned to this one to downgrade the rating a LOT. I’ve learned a few things, including what a really good oolong tastes like, and what I like in oolongs. This oolong from Capital Teas contains neither.

The flavor is overall rather weak and flat. It is missing the subtlety that I look for in oolongs, and is almost sour/bitter.

I won’t be repurchasing this after I’m done with the tin.

Very nice, delicate flavor. A solid oolong.

This was delicious. The oolong taste was perfectly complemented by the buttery-creamy taste. It reminded me of the seaweed wrap in sushi – but in a good way; there was a slight salty aftertaste that kept the other flavors from becoming overwhelming. The price tag on it is very steep though – $24/2 oz.

Tea is not candy, and should not taste like it. The flavor was very artificial to me… Also the staff at Capital Teas can’t stop selling to you until you’ve bought a pound. I found them a bit pushy, and no where to sit and enjoy a pot of tea.

Wow, here’s another tea I bought a while ago but I evidently forgot to log. I had been thinking this was a green tea blend and I forgot there was black tea in it as well.

The cup brews up to be a medium brown/orange in color. The flavor is really nice in this blend and subtle. There’s jackfruit and orange, but the orange does not overwhelm me like some other blends I’ve tried lately (here’s looking at you, Kusmi). The almond adds kind of a mellow note to this blend. I’m able to sip on it plain which is great, no bitterness or astringency. I’m getting slightly more black than green tea flavor.

This morning I’m drinking it hot but I think this would be really good as an iced tea also, I’ll have to try that soon. Overall this is a really nice blend and I’ve been really pleased with all of the items I bought from Capital Teas in the past. They really do some wonderful blends.

One of my favorite teas — I can’t believe no one else has rated this one. Tastes like pink grapefruit (with tea), but not too tart. A fruity tea, but not a tisane. I like this one for breakfast. No caffeine. 6-2013

Brewed my second infusion while I was drinking the first of this to set it aside to cool down. Poured it over ice. A million times better. I think this is just one that I probably won’t make hot very often, if ever.

Another one from the Capital Teas gift box I got.

The description on the box for this is “green tea, black tea, rose blossoms, sunflower blossoms, natural flavoring.” I wasn’t really expecting the super peachiness in this blend. I’m not sure if I’d like it more next time since I’d be expecting it, but I wasn’t really in the mood for something so peachy this morning. I was expecting the floral notes, which I think are drowned out by the peach.

Not bad, but not my favorite. The Chesapeake Sunrise is preferable.

This is not bad iced, but I think I like it better hot.

I got this as a gift. It’s probably not something I would have picked up myself because I would have been weirded out by the green and black tea blended together, but you know what? It’s good!

The outside packaging and the website say 175 degrees, while the inside packaging says 195, so they need to sort that out. I went for the lower temperature to avoid harshing out the green.

There’s a nice light fruitiness that is hard to describe — I’m guessing it’s the jackfruit, since I’ve never tasted that ripe (only young and green in savory dishes). The almond is definitely very easy to pick out, in an almond-cookie sort of way — delicious! The green and black tea bases are basic, serving as a tasty but nothing-special backdrop for the other flavors. Mixing the two types together seems to balance out what might become a problem in either on its own — grassiness in the green or bitter astringency in the black.

I like it. I bet it’d be awesome iced, too.

I liked the taste of this tea far better than I thought I would from smelling the tin when it arrived. I bought based on the name because I’m a bit of a history buff, and I’m glad I did in this case. It’s just easy drinking and enjoyable.

This is my last new tea to try from Capital Teas. The saleslady mentioned this one when I was checking out, and since it has the Cream Earl Grey in it and I had purchased that one for my mom, I decided to get this one for myself. It’s a pretty blend, with large tea leaves and small blue petals. There are a few pieces of pink rose petal, but not nearly as many as I had hoped for. The dry leaves smell floral and of soft bergamot. The aroma of the tea itself has more of the perfumey rose scent and the bergamot. The flavor is light and malty with a bergamot finish. There is a floral rose and bergamot aftertaste. This tea is very mildly flavored, but it has a wonderful mouth filling, smooth texture. We’re out of organic white sugar, so I added some coconut sugar (it’s almost like brown sugar in flavor) and it made it pretty yucky tasting. Then I remembered that I have some vanilla infused white sugar, so I tossed that cup out and poured a new cup from my little teapot and used the white sugar. Muucchhh better! I’m loving the light rose aftertaste from this tea. It’s not very strong, but it just adds something special to the tea. Glad I decided to get this one at the last minute!

-Dry blend has large black and green tea leaves with small blue petals and a few pieces of pink rose petals.
-Dry leaves smell lightly floral and of soft bergamot. Tea liquor aroma is of perfumey rose and bergamot.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium brown color.
-Light malty flavor with a full soft bergamot and cream finish. Floral rose and bergamot aftertaste. Mouth filling and smooth texture.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Mildly flavored Earl Grey with nice rose and vanilla cream notes. Smooth texture.

As soon as I smelled this tea I knew that I wanted some. I love banana flavored things and this smells just like banana taffy. I was surprised when I got home and looked up the ingredients to see that it has rooibos in it. There are so many HUGE pieces of dried fruit that you don’t even really notice the little rooibos that there is, which is just fine with me. I even had a difficult time scooping out 1.5 teaspoons because it doesn’t even fit in the teaspoon. I finally made do with just picking out some of the fruits and dropping them into my little teapot. The flavor isn’t exactly like banana taffy. I can taste a lot of other sweet fruit and especially tart pineapple in there too. Adding sweetener took away a lot of the tartness and made it more of a sweet fruity banana flavor. I like this one, I just wish it was a little more bananaish. Or maybe that it was renamed to Fruity Banana blend or something instead of Banana Taffy. I’d still like to try it iced. Another customer in the store told me that if you mix this Banana Taffy with the herbal almond tea it tastes just like banana bread. Although it’s not Capital Teas’ brand, I have a Roasted Almond tea that I just may try that with.

-Dry blend has full size pieces of dried fruits with red rooibos.
-Dry blend smells tropical and of sweet bananas, coconut and pineapple. Tea liquor aroma is of warm bananas and pineapple.
-Tea liquor is a clear bright medium yellow color with an oily sheen on top.
-Sweet fruit flavor with a tart pineapple finish. Light banana aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Tart and fruity flavor with a light banana aftertaste.

We went to DC this weekend. My friend lives right next to the Capital Teas in Bethesda, and she took me there since she knew that I loved tea so much. It was a tiny shop, but they had a whole wall full of glass jars with the teas in them to smell. I loved that because I was able to see the tea and also smell it so I knew what I wanted to purchase. This one definitely stood out to me, it smells richly of dried fruit with just a little hint of spiciness. The tea itself has a sweet cherry and black tea aroma. The flavor is very sweet and fruity even without sugar and there is a strong cherry aftertaste that lingers. The cherry aftertaste kind of reminds me of cherry cough syrup, which I don’t love. Adding sweetener takes the flavor back to a fruity cherry instead of a mediciney cherry. I added a little milk and it became a nice and smooth, creamy cup. This was my first tea from Capital Teas and it’s a winner!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with large dried cherries and pieces of dried fig.
-Dry leaves smell of rich dried fruit with a hint of spiciness. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet cherries and black tea.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Sweet fruity flavor and finish. Strong cherry aftertaste that lingers.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Very good tea. Rich and smooth fruity flavor. Candy cherry taste.

I got some of this tea for my mom this weekend while we were in DC. She is the best and watches our house, dog and cats when we are out of town. It’s so much easier going on vacation without having to worry about your pets or home. Earl Grey is one of her favorites, so I thought this would be perfect as a thank you. I’m sneaking a cup before giving it to her so I can try it too!

The dry leaves are big and have pretty blue cornflower petals. The dry leaves smell sweetly of bergamot with just a hint of vanilla. The tea liquor has a soft bergamot aroma. The flavor is a little floral and citrusy. There is a slightly bitter finish, but adding both milk and sweetener masks the bitterness and brings out more of the vanilla flavor. Something about the taste of this tea reminds me a little of licorice, which is odd. I’m looking forward to seeing what my mom thinks, since she doesn’t like licorice at all. Overall, it’s a nice tea, but not your traditional Earl Grey Cream. There’s a little something different about this tea, and I like that it’s not overwhelmingly of traditional bergamot and sweet vanilla.

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves and twigs with small blue petals.
-Dry leaves smell sweetly of bergamot with a hint of vanilla. Tea liquor aroma is of soft bergamot.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Floral and citrusy flavor with a slightly bitter lemony finish. Vanilla and licorice aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Lightly floral bergamot flavor. Unique licorice note.

Got this from my mystery swap with Moraiwe. Breakfast in bed for me this morning with some brioche toast with Nutella and some catching up on Greys anatomy from last week. Perfection in a cup. The aroma was very sweet. To the taste you can taste the caramel and smell the toffee. In the second steep I will add a little sugar and milk. Latte style. Thank you for this tea!

http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=8770078064

Not sure how I missed logging this. I’ve had it several times.

I like this one a lot. I can taste the fig and the cherry both. Admittedly, the tea base takes a back seat. Nevertheless, the base is smooth and non-astringent. Smells wonderful.

It makes an excellent infusion for mousse and probably would make a good infusion for ice cream or creme brulee.

Good evening Steepster…
The weekend has been busy with an Xavier Rudd concert on Saturday and World Cup festivities today. Finally getting a chance to relax a bit with some herbal tea.

It’s been almost a year since I had this tisane, which is not exactly a testimonial to how much I like it. This blend is very fruity with apples, pears and strawberries in the mix. It’s a little on the sour side in the finish. I wonder if I will end up keeping this? it isn’t bad it just seems to belong in the “meh” category.

Geez, I bought this months ago when I was in Washington DC and I evidently forgot to do a tasting note on it until now!

Normally I steer clear of fruit tisanes as they are generally full of hibiscus but this one isn’t. The bag is full of dried fruit and flowers. For a tisane I think this is pretty good, it is slightly on the sour side but I think it’s the strawberries that are making it this way. A little pinch of sugar did remedy the situation. I’m always in the lookout for a good tisane and this is nice, the pear flavor also comes through fairly well. I might be more inspired to try some of their other fruit tisanes as well. I have yet to have a fruit tisane that I really LOVE but I know I will finish this off happily and might even get some more.

I had this iced last year and I remember it was good that way. It would also be nice to mix this with other things like Maria suggested to see what happens.

Also I’m excited I’m going to Portland, Oregon tomorrow and have a few tea shops on my itinerary. :)

Thanks to Nicole again for this one! This tea smells very good today. Cherry teas can be a bit tricky for companies to pull off, but this one smells a lot more subdued than others that I’ve tried (which is probably for the better). I’ve never had anything from Capital Teas, so here’s a first!
This tea was very inviting. It had very subtle cherry notes and warm, almost spice notes too. I really enjoyed this one!

This was the free sample that was included with one of my Capital Teas orders. I have only had one tea with mate before (I think it was Celestial Seasonings Morning Thunder or something like that) and while it was okay, it quickly became a taste I didn’t like more than about half a cup of. So I was a bit nervous about trying this since there is no tea at all in it, just mate.

I made up the whole sample in a pot to share with Tea Club today. Used half 1% milk, half water and I went decently heavy on the sugar.

The predominant taste that most of us noticed was cinnamon, followed by ginger and lemongrass. Perhaps prepared in a different way, other spices would have come to the fore. It was pretty good. I don’t think I’d keep it in my cupboard over other chais, but I’m glad to have had the sample to try.

I got this one as a free sample with my first order from Capital Teas. (If you haven’t tried them, their customer service was AMAZING!). My first try I tried while half asleep at six am on a Saturday . . . and forgot to shake the bag so I got all the light ingredients and no mate. Determined I gave it another shot tonight. This time I did a double strong and made sure I got some of the heavy!

The tea itself is good quality, and a really intriguing blend. I’m not a fan at all of roasted mate, and am picky about my chai blends, so I was a little afraid of what I was getting into. But free tea, right? I was pleasantly surprised on first sip. The mate is definitely there and makes a lovely base for the spice blend. The roast is mild and if anything adds a uniqueness to the otherwise unmemorable chai flavours. If you’re a fan of roasted mate and chai, this is a must try. Me, I definitely won’t mind finishing it up but I probably won’t be rebuying it, especially at seven bucks an ounce.

Another purchased with a half price certificate that would otherwise be out of the normal range of consideration for me to buy without tasting first.

Malty and smooth with a hint of sour hiding in the background. Not overwhelming sour, but definitely there.

This is good. Not sure it justifies the price tag for me. There are other tippy and nontippy yunnans that I like as well or better. But this is a good, high quality tea and I’m glad it is in my cupboard. I’ll enjoy it till it’s gone!