Ovation Teas

However these were created: Great job!
These are not powerful which is why I like them. Most jasmine pearls that I have are just drowning in jasmine flavor. These are not too dry either which is 100% normal for jasmine drinks and my taste buds.
I hope my jasmine teas turn out something like this :)

OMG! I made this way too strong! Dumping half the cup and refilling with water in an attempt to try to save it. I added a little sugar. The orange flavor is dominating. There are a ton of orange peels in this. I’m not able to pick out the blueberry. Not wowing me.

I’m not really tasting anything in this cup. I’m not sure if it’s just that the tea is older or if my tastes are used to much stronger flavors. It’s a little floral, but that is about it. :/

The Ovation EGs I got were very sharp in taste when I first got them. I decided to give them a while to settle down, they made their way to the back of my cupboard only to reemerge now. Now this tea seems a little on the weak side. I added a little sugar which rounds out the raspberry. The EG flavors are pretty muted which gives the raspberry a little room to come out. Adding cream knocks out the flavors a bit and leaves it tasting more like just a black tea. Not super exciting, but better with just sugar.

Sipdown! (19/254)

This sample came from the EU Travelling Tea Box Round 2, courtesy of KittyLovesTea. This was actually Frank’s pick from the original box, I think mainly because I was badgering him to go outside of his usual straight black or earl grey comfort zone, and this was the least outside of it he had to go to get me off his back. He turned out to really love it, and I was originally going to put the samples back ater one cup but he asked to keep it. I kept enough back to have my own cup at the end of the sample to satisfy my curiosity. Honestly, I think it must have been contaminated since, because if not, I don’t understand why he loved it so much.

I have since bought him some lavender earl grey from Adagio,which I have tried myself and really enjoyed. I assumed that this would be similar, but it turns out not really. The lavender scent is very powerful, and the whole kitchen smelled like my grandma’s garden right away when steeping. The bergamot was also present I a light, citrusy way. The smell was super good, but unfortunately the earl grey just didn’t translate into the flavour. The lavender is EXTREMELY strong, and completely drowns out the other flavours. For my first few sips, I found this enjoyable, although as my cup went on I started to find it cloying and was actually quite sick of it by the end of the cup. I also started to notice a sort of stale taste part way through, which I will attribute to the fact that I haven’t kept it entirely well, and the sample has been open for quite some time now. I can’t mark it poorly, though, as I did enjoy the first quarter of the cup, and Frankie’s opinion should be taken into account, too. It’s only fair. Plus I also seem to remember sneaking a sip each time I made it for him, and enjoyed it considerably more than I did today.

Drank with milk to tone down the punch of flavour, and a sprinkling of sugar to round it off.

Years later, after buying a pound of this tea in Ovation’s close out sale, I am finally sipping it down and can take it off my cupboard list! It has always been a really good chai, but has lost a little magic over the years. I was in a hurry this morning and didn’t add any honey, which I usually do with chais, so it is lacking a little something that my other cups have had. Even so, it’s still a pretty decent cup!

This tea has held up surprisingly well over the years. I have a few cups worth left. As nice as it has been, I’m excited to move beyond it while I enjoy these last cups. It’s very smooth and mellow at this point. It lacks a pepper spiciness that I like and find warming in chais and has more of a baked goods flavor. I’m picking out the ginger above all right now and getting hints of pumpkin spice, which always makes me want pie. Every year around Thanksgiving I tell myself I’m going to do a pumpkin pie cleanse, where I eat nothing but pumpkin pie and every year I fail to stick to my cleanse. To be fair, I do get a few pies in before I abandon my mission. I’ll have to better prepare for next year! Until then, I can dream of pie while sipping this tea!

After over two years, this tea is finally starting to loose some of it’s edge. The flavors seem a bit weaker than they have been in the past. After having bought a pound of it during the closing sale (lesson learned to never buy tea by the pound cause I’ll never drink it all down) I think I’m down to my last 2oz bag, which is a fitting time for the flavors to weaken. I may try boiling water or a longer steep time in the future to try to squeeze out the last bit of flavor.

I just steeped a cup of this and when I sipped it I noticed the tea wasn’t as hot as it should be. Makes me concerned for the health of my beloved Breville kettle! Even at a lower temp, this tea is putting out a good amount of flavor. It is a little lighter than usual, but still very well rounded and the spices come through nicely. Good morning!

Cold steeped some of this overnight and added a little cream to my cup. Although it is good, it’s missing something it had yesterday when I had it the same way. Maybe it needs a little more time? It’s just missing a little of the umph (for a technical term) that it had in my last cup.

You really can’t do wrong with this tea. I have never had a bad cup. It’s really forgiving and delivers the same tasty cardamon chai goodness every time. It is well balanced and smooth, but strong and dependable. It’s like my perfect guy!

Thank you for the sale, Momo! Here is one I get to try from Ovation – miss them! I’ve never tried a bad tea from them and I’ve tried a handful. Always plenty of flavor. This one promises pecan, chocolate and caramel on a rooibos blend. There are plenty of actual pecan pieces. The primary note is chocolate that reminds me of milk chocolate frosting or chocolate whip in candy bars. There is a hint of woody flavor, either from the rooibos or the pecan. I’m not sure if I’m tasting caramel but there is plenty of sweetness! A really nice dessert blend, though I would have liked a honeybush base more.
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min

Lewis & Clark TTB #7

First cup of the morning. Rich color, but not much aroma. I’m not a big fan of Assams, because they tend to be bitter. This one has decent flavors, but an underlying bitterness that doesn’t do it for me.

I just love this tea. This tea is has a wonderful flavor which will make you order it again and again. The aroma and the flavor is awesome. A must try tea.

TTBC Rd2

I wanted to like this tea…really, really wanted to like it. I enjoy tart fruit flavours and have a longstanding love for the Earl, but the two seemed to clash dissonantly in my cup.

Perhaps it was a mistake with brewing, but this was definitely not the tea for me.

Here’s Hoping traveling teabox – Round 3

I had this last night. It was ok, though I wasn’t getting much flavor. From the reviews, I imagine this is an older blend. Back in the box it goes.

I think my tea might have lost some of its flavoring as it is a few years old and I got it in a trade with someone who had it for who knows how long before that. So I find that while I can smell the lemon and raspberry (and it’s very nice) I’m not getting a lot in the flavour, particularly the raspberry. There is a bit of lemony tartness but mostly this blend just tastes like Ceylon tea.

DELICIOUS!
This is a perfect tea for beginners, it is a smooth crisp blend with a creamy finish.

The dry and steeping leaf smell so amazing! Just like a freshly unwrapped Terry’s orange, or maybe like the dark chocolate covered candied orange rind a local chocolate company does (Seriously, though. They’re so amazing. Kind of turned me into a chocolate/ornage candy snob though).

I’m finding the liquor itself has a quite strong base. Almost too much so while hot. The orange only really comes out in the aftertaste and the chocolate isn’t really present. I could believe this was unflavored if it weren’t for that sweet ornage-y aftertaste.

As the tea cools the flavors come together in the sip a lot better. The chocolate still isn’t incredibly forward, but what’s there tastes like a more natural chocolate than a lot of others I’ve tried. It also doesn’t leave an oily film or anything of that sort, so those are definitely points in its favor.

Thanks for the large sample Dustin. I look forward to trying this one as a latte.

TTB Tea 7: This is the first Ovation tea I’ve tried. I wasn’t sure what to expect, because I’ve heard lots of mixed feelings.

This was a pleasant tea, but not amazing. I didn’t really taste much mint with this, but I got some tart berry flavors. I ended up eating a piece of dark chocolate half way through the cup, and the two worked really well together!