Savoy Tea Co

I used to do a lot of whole grain baking. The flour I used featured a recipe on the label for orange cardamom cookies. It’s one of those recipes I always intended to try and never got around to but it sounded good. I always imagined it would taste like . . . Well . . . Like this tea.

This is good. Nice mild orange flavor with no nasty acidity, pleasant cardamom, and a hint of vanilla. My only complaint is I am strongly tempted to add cream and sweetener, cause I know they’d be awesome.

I thought this was a new-to-me sample from Michelle. Evidently, so says my tealog, I tried this 11 years ago. Good grief. I can’t even remember everything I’ve done since breakfast.

However, since breakfast, I do know I have enjoyed another tumbler of this authentically chocolate tea and I’m loving it. Real cacao shells, and while I’m not exactly picking up vanilla separately, it makes the blend sweet and creamy enough to cover that whang-y mate flavor that I’m not enamored with.

The fact that this blend has stayed in the Savoy lineup is further evidence of its tastiness. On my short list next time we visit the storefront!

Sipdown, easy steep, pleasantly chocolatey—-reminds me of a very “lite” chocolate Zinger. Mate’, do your stuff—-the to-do list has already beaten me today and my eyes aren’t even open.

The chocolate-vanilla-mate balance is even; it’s pleasantly drinkable without additional milk or sugar, but if you’re hoping for the sugar buzz of a buttercream truffle or a glop of Pillsbury fudge frosting … not quite.

Eat an almond, then go try something flavored with almond extract. They’re both nice, but they aren’t the same. The scent of this tea is kind of a parallel to this phenomenon. I like pistachio nuts and I like this extract but it’s a different animal, more like someone’s fantasy of what pistachio ought to taste like than the real deal.

This tea has a lovely scent, but no real flavor. It would make a lovely bubble bath or extract for cookies (where all that sugar would no doubt “bring out” the flavor), but I take my tea without cream or sugar most of the time and expect it to stand on it’s own. It does not. As a stand alone tea, it lacks something and doesn’t really meet my standards. I love the fragrance that comes out of the bag when I open it, but this tea always disappoints me.

Oh well, you can’t win ‘em all.

Now if you like a dessert tea with cream and sugar, you’re in luck. These “bring out” the flavor. Indeed, I’ll likely be finishing this batch that way, and will no doubt enjoy every drop. However, I probably won’t be buying it again because I cannot afford the calories necessary to make this tea worth my time.

Your mileage may vary. J

Cheating is such an ugly word, so let’s just say we caught Savoy in an act of creative relabeling. You know how when you shuffle the basket of half-packets just so, sometimes one bubbles up to the top you haven’t seen for a while? And when it bubbles right next to the one labeled “Misty Morning” and you notice the ingredient lists are identical, well…

Not that it’s an issue with something this tasty. Orange, almond, peppercorns, a little sweet vanilla flavoring. It’s all good, no matter what’s on the package.

After a lovely week of downtime, I’m wrestling with a case of post-holiday, here-comes-January-and-taxes, darn-I’ve-gotta-take-down-the-tree, my-favorite-jeans-don’t-fit blues. Seasonal depression breathing down my neck like cold orc shadows.

In an attempt to keep from drowning my glums in the last of the Christmas candy in one gnarf, I made myself the tastiest tea I currently have to hand. I haven’t had marzipan in years, but this is what I think it tasted like. The orange-almond-vanilla combo in this is so sweet and confectionary, it’s a good dessert substitute.

A sample-sized packet was not enough of this!

Manomanomanoman, oh, man…I wish I had Smell-O-Net so you could get a whiff of this, dry. The smooth, marzipanny almond is so rich it’ll make your eyes roll back in your head. I want a candle that smells like this. I want pillows that smell like this.

The first fresh cup was fabulous—tasted every bit as good at it smelled. Orange and almond predominate, with the rest of the godies serving as backup singers (doo-wop!)

Second steep is still smooth; more almond, less orange, and oh, wow—there’s some pretty decent green tea under there!

Unfortunately, this isn’t on the Savoy website—must have been an in-store holiday-only treat. Locals, grab it while you can ;)

I’ve reviewed this multiple times and, averaged out, they’re all pretty much the same: it’s a good, fancy-pants tea with a little mild cocoa and honey flavor, but not nearly strong enough for my morning wake-up needs. One expects something with a name like Black Dragon to roar and smoke and whap you with its tail. This one just whimpers and crawls back into its cave.

The problem with pearl teas is that you never come out with the right number at the end of the packet. So I popped in a Mandala Black Pearl and sailed the door with a cup of co-smoke-coa.

Don’t you hate it when you finally get a perfect cup of a sample tea that’s been elusive and hard to get right…and you discover you’re at the end of the sample?

The sweet spot was hit this morning…longer and stronger is better with this; the cocoa hints became cocoa statements at 5 minutes +. One more cup’s worth before the pouch is empty. Hope I do that one properly.

The pace at work the next three days promises to vacillate between screaminess and utter wild-eyed hysteria, so we’re at least starting the morning with a bit of calm and elegance before I start pulling my hair out in panic-induced wads.

This is sweet and subtle and cocoa-y. Stress subtle. Very good, but not for a morning caffeine jolt. Better for afternoon cookies, or for you gentle non-black-tea subtle people out there.

Phooey. Lost a whole rambly note on this one.

In short, it’s so light in color, even after 4-5 minutes, you wonder if there’s been mal-steep-function.

Conclusion: this is just supposed to be delicate. I don’t think I have a delicate or refined bone in my body; which may be why it puzzles me. (I expect black teas to wear ten-pound Doc Martens.)

My first dragon pearls! Savoy is fast becoming one of my favorite walk-in-the-door tea sources. For a cheapskate like me, they’re a leetle pricey, but no shipping/handling and no waiting. (That’s the walk-out-the door advantage.)

Dropped two of these little gems, about the size of your pinky finger tip, into a big clear mug, added the recommended 8 oz. water, and … at first, not much. Was a little worried about impending tea fail, even after four minutes, because the water seemed awfully pale for a Yunnan.

Not to worry. I ran it through a little tea strainer into a smaller, opaque cup, which showed a little more color—bronze. Flavor was pleasantly surprising. A little savory and brothy and yep! cocoa as advertised.

Off to try a second steep. (Do dragon balls bounce back? ;)

An appropriate sipdown after a damp, raw, wind-cutting-right-through-your-jeans afternoon running the last gift shopping errands. Was hunting for a classic children’s book for a friend who’s a new granddad (in other words, a package full of bonding time). But mercy—which one? One Fish, Two Fish? Goodnight Moon? Little Critter? The Runaway Bunny? A Fly Went By? Between overthinking a simple purchase and wistful nostalgia for a cuddly toddler to read aloud to, I’m now mentally and emotionally wrung dry :)

Savoy still carries this…a black tea counterpart to CS Candy Cane Lane. Even though I was down to the dregs of the packet, there’s still plenty of vanilla-minty goodness for one last cup.

Woke up with a crazy craving for this…it had bubbled up to the top of my half-drunk-up basket when I was rummaging yesterday. Vanilla mint. It still doesn’t make me think of candy canes, but it’s sweet and perky. (This morning I am neither of those…must do it artificially!)

Good black tea with a ton of vanilla-mint flavoring. Reminds me more of wedding butter mints than it does candy canes, but a very pleasant and sweet tea. (It was my out-the-door steep this morning, but I think it’d be better for an afternooner.) Looking forward to trying it with milk to bring out the creaminess.

Incidentally, Savoy Tea has a nice little website up and running now: http://www.savoytea.com/default.asp Looking forward to a trek down there sometime during Christmas break!

Celebrating a string of several days that won’t be governed by an alarm clock or time clock—so this was in order.

(Actually, I just woke up craving sugar and we have no ready-made frosting in the house to break into.)

White cake flavor is spot on with this one; the sprinkles are cute but just make it a little cloudy. Easily remedied with a dark-colored mug.

This came in an unmarked baggie from a work buddy. Black tea with birthday sprinkles sounded like a nice antidote to a dreary gray Friday morning.

It’s very similar to H&S Vanilla Comoro; the sprinkles don’t do much but add a little levity to it. Milk would probably boost the buttercream illusion; I just didn’t get that far. Tasty and fun.

Some weeks ago, I went to Savoy Tea Company in search of autumn blends. One thing I like about the place is there are little “sample jars” of each tea to sniff and examine to aid in the selection process. This is so much more helpful than merely looking at artwork and ingredient lists on boxes.

This variety was dark in the container with little orange bits and smelled wonderful, so I grabbed a package to go with my other autumn selections.

The directions on the package called for a five minute steep! I was a bit surprised at the notion of such a long one but . . .ok.

When the water hit it, this tea smelled like Christmas to me. I stood over the steaming cup reminiscing about sweet winter spices and the fresh oranges I used to find in my Christmas stocking. Finally, the timer went off and I got to sample it.

The tea was strong and sweet with cinnamon and a good tea base which didn’t seem to mind the long steep at all. The orange was less strong after brewing but still a good balancing presence amid the background flavors.

A word of warning: This is NOT a subtle tea. If you favor delicately scented, poetry-in-a-cup sort of blends, do not waste your time with this tea. It is strongly flavored with cloves and cinnamon. If you hate red hots, this is not for you. I’ll admit to some hypocrisy here—I’m the one always griping about the chia artists who get heavy handed with the cinnamon oil—yet strangely enough, I really like this variety. Perhaps it’s because I’m not terribly subtle either.

This stuff was very spicy, a little stingingly so. It made my beloved Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange Spice seem like kids stuff as this packed a much bigger punch. I found it a good morning blend. With a nice bite from the spices and a good kick of caffeine from the black tea, it certainly woke me up!

This always reminds me of my mom’s fruitcake (erase typical Christmas fruitcake preconceptions): a light brown-sugar fresh apple cake with a little extra candied fruit added in.

When one is writing one’s umpteenth review of the same tea, one is hard put to to find an umpteenth-and-one way to say mmmmmmmm. This is is just fruity, sweet, and lip-licky.

This one is earning a place in my heart for “favorite flavored green comfort tea” (as opposed to “favorite unflavored green comfort tea” and “favorite comfort tea ever” and… Now that you think of it, I don’t believe I want a tea that I can’t consider a comfort tea.)

The green tea basket in my kitchen gets the least traffic—-so it’s always a happy surprise to paw through it and discover something I forgot was there.

I’ve written about this one several times; if you had to roll those tasting notes into one, it would boil down to this: the sweetest, most dessert-y green tea I think I’ve ever tasted. Syrupy and fruity and pleasant on what’s turning out to be a chilly June afternoon.