The Tea Time Shop

The tightly rolled pellets remind me of dry steel cut oats, but magnified and greenish gray.

Steeped, the liquor is olive and slightly cloudy from tea dust that emerges from the unfurling leaves.

The flavour is slightly smokey, vegetal, earth, and vaguely seaweed-like.

Steeped: 4

Thank you, MissB, for passing this along for a belated review.

Well, let me start by saying that, generally, I am a big fan of Keemun tea. Let me follow that up by mentioning that this week, I have drunk Zen Tea Life’s Keemun Finest, which sets the bar quite high, in my humble opinion, because it is a big favourite.

The packet here offers no information beyond the bare bones. No point of origin, no specific flavour notes.

I steeped this western style. The packet here said boiling, so I went with boiling. I steeped fast, perhaps two minutes instead of the four minutes recommended on the packet.

The solid black leaves contained a considerable amount of dust and the tea liquid steeping in my clear glass steeper was murky brown.

I had been looking forward to the Keemun smokiness and was disappointed. Instead, the brew is reminiscent of that you would get from a hotel teabag, English Breakfast perhaps, slightly stale. Sadly, this cup lacks the fragrance and taste I would ordinarily associate with Keemun.

As it cools slightly, a bit of the Keemun sweetness comes up to rescue it, but the sweetness is faint, just barely barely. That sweetness is defeated by the astringency and dryness that catches the back of your mouth towards the throat.

This is a strong kick in the pants kind of tea, I’ll give it that. Good for when you need to get out the door and fast, with no time to dilly dally and ponder the subtleties of tea, or anything much. Or this might be a good tea to drink with a pancake and maple syrup breakfast when you need a strong brew to wash it down.

Perhaps milk and sweetener would make this a kinder cup.

Thanks, MissB, for passing this my way to review. I will keep trying.

Not a fan of this tea , which started well before I drank it… so I’m not rating it.

a- Ingredient list is merely “berries”. For someone with a strawberry allergy, this is problematic. I searched through the tea, didn’t see anything but round dried berries, so I took a risk.

b- papaya. First and only other time I’ve ever had it, I got sick from the smell. Opening this bag… yuck. Same smell.

c- passionfruit. Not my favorite tea ingredient.

d- hibiscus. Too much of this and I’m out. Steeping it, I think there’s quite a bit.

Steeped, this is a dark, bloody purple. It smells MUCH better steeped than dry. Whatever offputting odors I (personally) smelled from the papaya, were gone.

Unfortunately, I took one sip and I had to dump it. It’s just not something I’d ever seek out, and that papaya flavor… nope, not for me.

Anyone in Toronto that likes this sort of stuff, want to try and review it for me? I can’t do it justice.2

Oh, hello Forever Nuts (DAVIDs Tea). How I’ve missed you…

Yep, same tea, same ingredients, I’m assuming the same supplier. I love both just as much — although I might love this version more, because The Tea Time Shop in NYC sent me a HUGE bag of teas to sample and review. This was in it.

YUM.

Cinnamon apple pie. In a hot mug.

Zesty? Yes. Turmeric? No.

Really, there’s no turmeric in this tea – or, at least it’s not on the ingredient list, and I couldn’t taste, smell or see any in the blend.

Still, it’s quite tasty! A bit of a spicy zing to a citrus peel twang, along with a LOT of hibiscus (I say a lot, but really, it’s just my tastebuds… I don’t love hibiscus). There’s a touch of woody rooibos in the mix, and I swear something more spicy too, but again, nothing on the ingredient list to say what it might be.

Regardless, with a bit of sweetener, this is really tasty and easily drank. I’ll happily finish this generously sized sample bag (good for about 5-6 cups of tea).

A beautiful hug in thanks to The Tea Time Shop in NYC for sending me an enormous package of sample teas for me to taste, test out, and review. Like, we’re talking a dozen teas with about 5-6 cups each. WOW. Many thanks!

Full review and sample links at my site, or IG account when I get a chance to post. http://instagram.com/teatravelninja