TeaFrog

The last time I had this tea I really disliked it for being way too bitter, despite my best efforts. Now this is one of those times that I wish I could rate each tasting individually, because cold brewed it has none of the problems that I encountered in the hot brew. I’ve bumped my rating up, but not by much, because if I can’t finish a cup of the hot brew a good cold brew isn’t really enough to redeem a tea in my eyes. It is, however, a great way to use up a sample like this that I otherwise would have tossed. I even considered doing just that after my last cup, but I’m glad I didn’t because it did make a tasty cold brew.

The tea is creamy and bergamotty with a decent, solid black tea base. The bergamot is fruity and citrusy, and combined with the cream and the cold it really does remind me of something like a creamsicle (except, you know, not orange). I hadn’t tried an EG Cream cold steeped yet but I don’t know why, because it is a really tasty combo.

Trial number 2 of this tea, with a very precise steeping length this time. It certainly smells really creamy, with a hint of citrusy bergamot underneath. I’m afraid I’m still getting some bitterness in the taste, and now I’m thinking it’s the bitterness of the bergamot actually. It doesn’t taste as much like tannin bitterness as it does the bitterness of citrus, like eating the bitter pith of an orange. I feel like this cup is even more bitter than the last one I tried! It completely overwhelms any other flavor in the tea. I’m actually dropping my rating on this tea, because I don’t think I can finish this cup! Other folks like this one, so it could just be my extra sensativity to bitterness, but this tea is not for me.

This is the last of the TeaFrog samples I have that I took to work (I left all the rooibos at home, and I don’t drink tea as often there). The aroma on this one is super sweet creamy-vanilla, with just a hint of bergamot and black tea peeking in from underneath. The taste is surprisingly bitter for an Earl Grey cream. Maybe I steeped it longer than I thought, but certainly no more than 30 seconds longer. Guess I’ll make sure to go down to 3 minutes exactly next time. Anyway, the creamy vanilla flavor is also there with a good helping of astringent bergamot. I feel like they’re somehow separate, though, like they don’t meld together well. Usually I feel like cream Earl Greys are tamer than traditional Earl Greys, but in this one the cream doesn’t seem to mellow it as much. I’ll definitely adjust my steeping parameters and try again, but right now this is not my favorite as far as cream Earl Greys go.

Another tea from the first round of my Earl Grey tasting. I’m doing 5 at a time, each tea brewed under the same parameters: in a tea filter bag, for 3 minutes with 205°F water. I dunked the tea filters around to make sure they were getting enough water flow since I don’t usually use them.

This tea might not have really belonged here since it really isn’t a straight Earl Grey. It has not just citrus peels but also lemongrass and jasmine flowers in the mix. Nevertheless, it’s here, and it’s definitely a different flavor. This tea tastes almost spicey in comparison, which is a little odd (though looking back at a previous note I caught the spiciness before), but perhaps it’s the lemongrass adding that note. It’s also has the least inspiring tea base, which is not as flavorful and a little bitter. Definitely the weakest competitor in this round.

Going back through my half-empty sample pouches, this one actually had more than one cup of tea in it. I’m saving the rest for an EG side-by-side taste test. This cup is fairly strong, and the tea base is malty and a little spicy, almost. I get the lemony/bergamot overlying note, but it doesn’t seem like the main event; it’s almost like I had a cup of plain black tea and squeezed lemon into it. As it cools a little more of the complexity comes out, as well as tiny hints of jasmine, but overall its still more black tea than anything else.

Hmm… I think I brewed this one a little weak. I don’t know what happened, but it’s just overall kind of weak this time. Oh well… my sample should give me a few more cups, so I can try it again at full strength, since I did enjoy this tea the first time I had it.

ETA: Occasionally I get a hint of jasmine from this cup, which I actually didn’t get the first time I had this! I guess the jasmine isn’t overpowered by everything else this time.

What’s this, another Earl Grey? I feel like I have so many kinds now, I really am going to sit down and compare them side by side when I decide I need to order more than just samples. Anyway, I got this one with my bunch of samples from TeaFrog, and I was intrigued by all the extras; I love Earl Grey, but I’m not an EG purist by any means, and I enjoy blends that throw other things into the mix. This one brewed up a medium reddish orange, with an aroma primarily of the black tea base with some underlying citrus, and a bright lemony note over all as it cools. For all the additional ingredients, this one tastes like a fairly standard Earl Grey to me. There’s a maltiness to the Ceylon base, and a not-overpowering bergamot flavor with a very slight astringency. I actually don’t get a distinct lemony note, but I think it’s mostly contributing to the overall citrusy flavor. I’m not getting any distinct jasmine flavors. A pretty solid Earl Grey over all.

I wanted to go back and have these Jasmine Pearls again after my rapturous Harney & Sons experience this weekend. These were the first Jasmine pearls I’d ever tried, and I liked them a lot, but how do they stand up now?

The first time I brewed these I followed the instructions on the package of only putting in 4-6 balls with a cup (so I put in 8 or so with my 12oz cup). With Harney I put in a whole perfect teaspoon, so this time I did that as well. These pearls are a little larger overall, so I didn’t quite get the 24 pearls per tsp that I got with Harney, but definitely more than the 8 I put in last time. Last time I brewed for 5 minutes and it was still very light in color and flavor (no wonder, with so few pearls). This time I went for 4 minutes; the liquor is still light, but the jasmine flavor is a bit more prominent I think, and this time I’m definitely getting a distinct hit of sweetness I don’t remember getting last time. Nevertheless, the taste isn’t as well rounded and it has less depth. The sweetness seems to hang out at the end of the sip and doesn’t quite meld properly with the jasmine aroma. It’s still a nice jasmine tea, and there’s nothing really that’s bad about it, but it just doesn’t blow me out of the water.

I’ve never actually had jasmine pearls before, but I’ve always wanted to since I love jasmine tea. I finally got around to ordering a sample with my big TeaFrog sample order. I initially brewed this tea for 4 minutes (as indicated on the package), but put the pearls back in for another minute when the resulting tea was only barely tinged yellow. The liquor still doesn’t look hardly different from hot water, but it smells wonderfully of jasmine anyway. On the first steep some of the pearls opened all of the way, but for some the inner core still remains.

I’m very pleased with this tea; the aroma is fantastic, and the taste is light but distinct. The jasmine is prominent, and it takes me back to my time in China when we drank jasmine tea with every meal. I can’t compare it to other jasmine pearls, but it’s considerably better than other jasmine greens I’ve had, and it stands up well to my unnamed Chinese jasmine green (unrolled) that I brought back from China and is fantastically jasminey. This definitely makes me want to go try some more jasmine pearls!

Another attempt to clean out some samples from my cupboard. I have less than a cup’s worth of leaf after this cup, but I already have ideas for that. This tea seems toastier than I remember every time I have it. Today the aroma of the brewed tea smells almost exactly like chocolate chips that have been slightly burned onto the cookie sheet. Or maybe even a caramelized sugar aroma, like a chocolate creme brulee. I can also smell the sweet cream in the background, adding to the creme brulee illusion.

For whatever reason this is probably the best cup of this sample I’ve had so far. The aftertaste is chocolatey, creamy, with that touch of caramelized sugar that really adds to the depth of it. It’s still a touch bitter at the base, though, and I wish the main part of the sip had a richer mouthfeel. Still, it’s a pretty decent chocolate tea, especially if you like them to air on the roasty toasty side of things.

Roasty, toasty chocolate. This one is tasting even more toasted than I remember last time; it’s tasty, but I don’t know if I want that much toasted flavor in a chocolate tea. I don’t know if it’s my taste buds today or what, but I’m getting more bitterness from this one despite the fact I brewed it a shorter time than last time.

I love chocolate tea, but I’ve always been a little skeptical of teas with actual chocolate chips in them. It always seemed like cheating; like the chips would melt and make the tea less chocolate tea, and more weak hot chocolate. But I ordered this sample anyway, because I thought this one might be a good one to try.

Turns out my mistrust of chocolate chips in tea seems to be unfounded. I brewed up this tea with it’s little chocolate chips, and it’s really quite tasty! The liquor is a medium-shade reddish brown, and it smells and tastes mostly like chocolate and that hard to describe toasted or roasted flavor I often taste in chocolate teas. I don’t get a strong cream note, but I think it’s underlying the chocolate and giving it the feeling of sweetness without actually tasting sweet. The black tea base isn’t distinct, but it offers a nice background without being too strong and without any bitterness. Overall, a very nice tea!

Another evening rooibos for me. I hadn’t actually drank a lot of rooibos before recently, and I think I’m starting to pick out the underlying base flavor in each tea I drink. I think I like it! The scent of this one reminds me of exactly what it’s called: gingerbread and orange. The taste is a little bit more orange than gingerbread, but there’s a spiciness behind it. I can taste the pink peppercorn, which I like deployed in this one more than in the another tea I’ve had before. I also get note of almond, and an overall baked goods flavor. Orange and gingerbread wouldn’t be my first thought to put together, but I think it works. It’s almost less like gingerbread than a tasty spice cake that you might drizzle with a citrus icing.

Sweet and creamy enough, it feels like candy for breakfast. A little bribe to get a Monday started…

Review now posted here:

http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/2331/tea-review-teafrog-coconut-vanilla-white/http://www.itsallabouttheleaf.com/2331/tea-review-teafrog-coconut-vanilla-white/

and I’m glad I have a little more to enjoy—this was great!

Since this will be reviewed later in detail for www.itsallabouttheleaf.com, I’ll try not to steal my own thunder, but this is really, really, really good!

When it comes to white teas, I’ve always felt like the little old lady (I’m dating myself … oh, well… too late…) in the Wendy’s commercial: “Where’s the TEA?” Either my tastebuds have been burned out by too much double-strength assam or my poor stressed brain just doesn’t have the sensory flavors to pick up tea that just hints at having a taste.

But this one is excellent … you don’t have to make a pretense of picking up flavor, it’s there. And it’s there in a yummy vanilla-white-chocolate sort of way. Maybe I need to save my next cup until I have a hollow white chocolate Easter bunny to gnaw on.

I haven’t tried many caramel-flavored teas, but I’m not really sure why; I love caramel. When I first opened this sample I got a blast of caramel scent that somehow faded a bit. There were little caramel cubes mixed in with the rooibos. Brewed up, this tea didn’t smell very much like anything. Perhaps a bit of the rooibos, but I didn’t get a strong caramel aroma. Tasting was thus a pleasant surprise; I enjoy the buttery caramel notes along with creamy vanilla in this tea, and I’m getting some almond too. It’s very faintly sweet, and overall very tasty.

Being pretty much done trying new teas means that I’m starting to think about cleaning out my cupboard a bit from all the older samples I still have lying around. This was one that had probably just barely a cup of tea left in it. I added a few Jasmine Pearls, also from a TeaFrog sample, to fill it out a bit.

The brewed tea still smells a bit fruity, but the jasmine pearls have gone a long way to up the jasmine content of this tea. I got rid of most of the tea “dust” that was left before brewing it, so thankfully it didn’t brew up too bitter, though there is the faintest hint. I like this tea for all it’s florals, but I’m not quite as enchanted with it than I was before. I can definitely see myself looking for blends like this in the future, but I the indistinct sweet-tart candy fruity flavor in this one is throwing me off a bit. Still, it’s an enjoyable cup this morning.

Getting to the bottom of my sampler on this one, and my cup this time included a ton of powdered tea leaves and flowers. Quite a bit made it through my infusion basket, and the tea definitely seemed stronger after 3 min than before, so the flavors are strong to the point of being a little bitter. Nevertheless, I like this blend and I think I’d want to keep it or something like it in my cupboard!

Mmm, I think I’m going to have to bump up my rating on this one. I love that the overall foundation is that of a jasmine tea, but overlayered with other floral and even fruit notes. I’m digging these kind of sweet floral teas right now, so this is right up my alley.

I got a box of tea in the mail last night, which was very exciting. I’ve been waiting for a couple of tea packages recently, two of which had to deal with customs coming from Canada, this being one. I ordered a bunch of samples from TeaFrog, and this tea was one of them.

I couldn’t really tell you what the dry leaves smelled like; the plastic pouches don’t do much to keep their smells in, and after 11 days of sitting in a small box together they all smell somewhat alike. When brewed I get a really fruity aroma from this one, which I was not expecting! Kind of a sweet/tart fruity candy scent, actually, which initially makes me wary because I have had some blends with that kind of smell that I did not like the taste of at all.

The taste is pretty nice, however. For me the jasmine is the main note here, but I definitely get an underlying fruitiness (not that I can put my finger on the fruit). By going in between the black and green in my brewing paramenters, neither tea suffered. This tea makes me think that I’m drinking a jasmine green, but then a fruitier black tea comes up in the background. I think it works, ending up being a nice balance of floral and fruity.

This was exactly as it purports to be. A blueberry-flavored white tea. Ingredients are White Peony, cornflowers (for show), and natural flavors. (Or “flavours” if you’re Canadian like the company.) It brews up like a normal white tea but retains a loud blueberry presence in the aroma. Same goes for the taste. This does not – I repeat, does not – need to be sweetened. It tastes like fruit candy on its own. If you’re looking for subtlety, don’t look here. If you want BERRY! This is your cup.

Full Review: Pending on www.itsallabouttheleaf.com

I was a bit apprehensive of this tea because honestly, orange and gingerbread don’t necessarily sound like a good combination to me. However, after brewing this for a good long time I actually like this tea! I don’t know if I love it, but with a little honey it is smooth, rich, and only slightly citrusy. I’m not getting a ton of gingerbread but I am getting just enough to understand the name of this tea. The orange is really juicy and delicious though! I would definitely recommend at least trying this tea.

The first thing I noticed was the beautiful blue flowers interspersed into this tea. They definitely added an enjoyable element to the presentation. Following the suggestions of the package, I steep this tea for two minutes, using three teaspoons of leaf (in a two-cup teapot). The water was heated to the point where small bubbles were forming on the bottom of the kettle.

I am really impressed by the aroma of this tea. I have drunk a few blueberry white teas before, most of which tasted immensely of blueberries, but in an almost-artificial manner. This tea is different. The blueberry flavour does not jump out at the drinker. Instead, it meshes well with the flavours of the Pai Mu Dan base. The blueberry flavours are everywhere throughout the tea, when it is first sipped and in the aftertaste, but the flavours do not dominate. Thankfully, they also do not underwhelm. It may sound like this is a lot to say to merely describe the way in which this tea is well-balanced, but it is my opinion that this tea deserves the accolades. I really enjoyed drinking this tea. It is indeed worthy of the 93/100 I give it on my personal enjoyment scale.