Shab Row Tea Emporium

I need a clapping emoji for this tea. I clap forking hella clap adore CLAP this clap clap clap clap stuff.

This tea tastes like pot smells.

I love terpenes.

Amen, hallelujah, and thank you, Skysamurai, for indulging me!

What a fascinating tea. From the first sniff to the first taste it is a flavor explosion exploration all over the place. The dry leaf aroma starts out very perfumey but then you find a hint of campfire smoke and cedar wood. All very northern woods smells. With the first sip I am tasting some smoky notes along with perfume, woody highlights that dance with resin and lacquer, both become a bit unbearable the longer the tea steeps. Not quite sure I would call this … nutty. Wait. There was a mouth feel and an aftertaste of walnut. But the perfume is still overpowering everything else. The sweetness sort of reminds me of stevia. But not as overpowering. The mouth feel is soft with a slight bit of astringency. Though it is unique and good it is one I find that I wouldn’t buy again. It’s not bad just not quite my taste.

When I was home visiting my parents, I went to this place, which was new to me. I got three teas, this being the first I’ve tried, and despite preferring to sell in two ounce amounts they sold in one ounce when I asked. I assured them there was no risk of me not buying more at a later time, as I am moving home in a month or so. Something I am not very happy about, but no other strong leads for contract jobs have come up, and at least subbing while living at home will let me save a little money.

Anyhow, I will absolutely be back because this tea is RIDICULOUSLY amazing. It actually tastes exactly like a coffeecake, with the baked taste being equal to apple and cinnamon, with absolutely no sugar or milk added. It looks like the website will eventually offer online ordering, but until then, this is one of the best flavored teas I have ever had. I can’t wait to try more. Bonus, compared to the other tea store in Frederick, this one seems a bit cheaper and more nicely organized, and there is a place to enjoy a cup or pot upstairs. Price was right also. Winning all around.

Milk Oolong, the really heavy, smells like it’s going bad, milk oolong is one of my favorite teas. And this tea hits me right in my sweet spot.

There’s something about a good milk oolong that takes me right to my happy taste. The butter flavor rolling over my tongue, the almost salty-sweetness of the tea. YUM.

This tea smells really, really strong. I drove home after buying some of this, and I swore there was fruit gum sitting on the heater vent. It was REALLY strong.

But like most fruit black teas, the flavor is not as strong as the smell. I can definitely taste the acai berry, and it’s a pleasant fruit tea. I really like the taste, but I find the smell overwhelming and almost nauseating.

I will definitely need to repackage the 2 oz I bought into something a bit more airtight than the ziploc baggie the store used.

The first time I tried this, I wasn’t very impressed. It dawned on me last night that I was probably using too hot water, so I steeped this tea tonight with not boiling water and it turned out so much better.

This is the first caramel tea I’ve found that actually tastes like caramel. It’s not strongly so, but pleasantly sweet. I can’t really get any apple from this at all.

The smell of the dried leaves was why I first bought this tea. It was so strong and delicious. The taste, once I figured out not to scald the tea, matched very nicely.

I had a cup of this today. It was a bit nippy, and I needed some caffeine to wake me up. Earl Grey it was!

This is a STRONG tea. I steeped it for 3 minutes and it was much stronger than most other Earl Greys have had. The tea actually overpowered the other flavors and I could not get any currants or rose flavoring at all.

That said, I enjoyed the tea. I don’t mind tea a little on the bitter side, and the bergamot was definitely there, so it was like a very strong cup of Earl Grey. I do want to try steeping this for a shorter time to see if the other flavors come out more.