Teavana Samurai Chai Mate/ maharaja chai oolong blend

So, I got this as a free sample, which is good for multiple reasons.  For one thing, you have to buy at least 2 oz of each tea when you go to Teavana and since this is a blend, that means 4 oz of tea (probably putting you back $15).  Second, this is a tea that Teavana likes to push so it's nice that I get the experience without having to buy the extra tea.  And lastly, I like chai a lot.  Ok, the last thing I tried from Teavana was a flop, but that can happen.

Outsides:  I'm feeling lazy so I'll just say that this is a blend of green mate, green rooibos and oolong with all those fantansic chai spices.  I brewed about 2 teaspoons of this at near boiling for 5 minutes.  The tea is a medium dark murky brown and smells sweet and spicy.

Insides:  This is actually a pretty good chai and if I didn't have Adagio and the spices to make chai at home, I would probably get suckered into it.  It's a strong chai with a lot of pepper and ginger, but it's paired with a base that isn't so bitter so you can drink it without milk.  This sample already has sugar in it so I'm not really pleased about that, and the tea is a bit heavy on the cardamon.  But this is definately something I'd drink for breakfast since the mate gives a lot of energy (perfect to drink before a night out).

Overall:  I don't think you should buy this for the price they're asking for it but I like it.  Look online for the free sample codes.

My Rating:  Try it!

Teavana is a chain tea retailer found in many a mall across U.S.A and Canada.

Teavana Sweet Mango Chai

  

So, my haul finally arrived.  I tried to get a variety of teas to try from Teavana including 2 white teas, 2 mates, a green, an oolong, a pure herbal and a free sample of a mate/oolong blend.  But, I'm excited because  it's not often that I can actually afford getting this much tea from Teavana and they seem to have some unique blends.  As you know, I'm a huge fan of mango and a huge fan of chai so I thought this should be really good.  Plus, it apparently has oolong which is becoming a favorite of mine as well.

Outsides:  Ingredients include mango, apple, oolong, coconut, cardamon, cinnamon, ginger, tangermine peel, black pepper and mango flavoring.  So, I've made a few teas from Teavana before writing this review and have discovered a new game that can be played called Where's the Tea, because I dug to the bottom of this bag and only got a few oolong leaves.  I brewed probably around 2 teaspoons of this in 8 oz of 90 degree water for about 5 minutes.  The liquid is really cloudy, really light yellow and this smells like spiced mango.

Insides:  Um...where's the tea?  It's not that I don't like flavored tea at all and usually, I want more flavor than less but this is absolutely ridiculous.  I oversteeped the crap out of this and there still isn't any tea flavor to it.  On top of that, the chai is weak as well.  The head of the flavor is sweet mango which is followed by a mostly ginger tasting chai, light body, a little astringency but I did have SOME oolong in there.  It just seems like a mess.

Overall:  No.  This is not tea and if I paid the 7 dollars or however much it was SUPPOSED to be, I would be pissed.

Taste:  Fruit and spice but weak despite me adding an obscene amount of tea.
Price:  Whatever it is, you can probably make this blend for 1/4 of the price.  In fact, I paid 1/4 the price and I feel ripped-off.
Uniqueness:  You get this one, Teavana.  The concept is definitely unique and it would have been nice getting a strong chai with a mango base to it.  This tea is unique for all of the wrong reasons though.
Usability:  I'm updating these criteria for reviews a few weeks after I wrote this post and I have to say, this is not a bad blend for mixing with Prestogeorge's Fancy Mango to give it some umph.  By itself, this tea is utterly useless.

My Rating:  Stay Away!

Teavana is a chain tea retailer that is found in many a mall across the United States and Canada.  Their teas often start from 5 dollars for 2 oz of the most basic blends and they have a lot of flavored teas.  

Zen Tea Tie Guan Yin, ofren called Monkey-Picked Oolong

Here I am with yet another Zen Tea purchase.  Tie Guan Yin is a common type of Oolong and what makes this one interesting is that you are supposed to do multiple infusions using this.  There are lots of different types of tea that can be used for multiple infusions but they work best with Oolongs and not the terrible ones. 

Outside:  The tea looks like little rolled leaves.  I brewed the tea at a 80 degrees Celsius (which might be a bit too low for this) and varied the steeping time depending on which infusion I used (you're supposed to add some time each infusion).  The first infusion is light but it gets a little darker each infusion.  The first one smells the most vegital while the second smells more floral and the third is a weaker floral.

Insides:  I'm going to divide this into the infusions.

First infusion:  The tea is very vegetative in taste with a floral note intertwining.  Overall, this is a light tea with a medium body and a slightly sweet taste.  It reminds me a bit of sencha except a bit heavier and with more of a floral scent. 

Second infusion:  This one is a LOT more floral and my favorite infusion.  Less vegetative than the first infusion but this one has a nice floral scent (my first thought was jasmine, but the bag says jasmine and orchid).  It has the same body as the first infusion but the tea is a little bit sweeter.  This is really a nice introduction to multiple infusions.  Also physically, the leaves are opening up so if you put a tiny bit of tea in the infuser, the tea has doubled or tripled in size.

Third infusion:  This is the first noticeable drop in flavor, but still drinkable and actually good.  The tea is light-bodied and there's still the floral scent, but no vegetative taste and yet the same amount of sweetness.  I won't brew any more infusions of this because it lost about a third of the flavor.

Overall:  I really like this.  It's a light floral with a medium body and you definitely get your bang for your buck.  Check it out.

My Rating:  Buy it!

Zen Tea is a Canadian Tea retailer that sells mid to high quality tea.  

TasTEA Time! Prestogeorge Peach Oolong

I...I don't know why I started re-blogging today.  I really need to study for my Brain Function and Neuroanatomy test tomorrow, but alas, here I am again.  I guess this is serving as a warm-up before I crunch those diagrams again.  Anyway, this is another cheap Prestogeorge blend (all the ones I got this trip were relatively inexpensive, but this one is on the $3 for 4 oz range as opposed to the $5 for 4 oz).  I honestly have not had as much experience with oolong as with other teas, probably because a lot of bagged companies don't sell as many varieties of it.  But I like peach tea.

Outsides:  Prestogeorge uses plastic-lined paper bags with these neat little twisty-ties on them, so it's nice that they use better bags but you should still buy a canister or store in a dark, dry place.  The tea is golden hued and smells like peaches mostly, with a slight tea scent.

Insides:  I find that I drink this tea a lot, moreso than the other teas I bought from PG.  It's not because this tea is amazing, although it's very good and very balanced.  The oolong used is a much better quality than I've had, having a less-bitter, but warm and robust tea taste that is more mild than black tea, but still having a bit of a kick.  The peach flavor is a bit light, but balances well with the tea and still holds its own.  Why do I drink it more than the other teas I bought at PG?  I guess because it's just so smooth and balanced, plus it's cheap.

Overall:  I can't run in the streets screaming about how delicious this is, but it is well worth the money.  Get it if you want a lightly flavored oolong.

My Rating:  Buy it!  Here's PG's website again:  Prestogeroge's Oolong Tea page

Some random tea sampler I got from the oriental market

I love the oriental market!  Much like Big Lots, I go in with a set budget and list of things I need to buy, see something I "need" and still only be slightly above budget.  In this particular trip, I wanted to get veggies to make my boyfriend some Japanese curry (they often have slightly sub-par veggies for 30 cents a pound.  I mean, we're cooking them anyway).  But I always look at other sections while I'm in there and it isn't a trip to the oriental market unless I look at some tea!

A thing about the tea in oriental markets is that it's usually cheap and of fairly decent quality.  I've bought 8 oz of rolled green tea buds in a metal tin for about 3 bucks and it having a higher quality taste than the cheap tea bags you buy at your grocery store for three times the price.  I really was looking for some matcha, but I have been eyeing these tins for a while since they're just so cute, so I got them as a birthday present at $6.99 (slightly pricier than most for the amount, but whatever).  And then I discovered that there were six different kinds!  Oh, the excitement!

This set contains 20g each of:  Green tea with Jasmine, Pu-Erh, Lung Chin (which I found out is Dragonwell thanks to /r/tea), Lychee black tea, Oolong, and Tikuantin.

Pu-Erh:  Oh god, the fishy-ness.  Ok, I know this is a sign of a low-grade Pu-erh and really I should expect this.  But yeah, this tea tastes like fish.  Not salty like fish, but fish.  I'm a little curious if I can get some kelp and miso paste, mix this all up together and make a pretty good miso soup.  For that reason alone, I'm ok keeping this in the tin, but really it's a PASS.


Lung Chin:  I think this was the most disappointing for me.  It really just tastes like dirt and bitterness, which maybe the bitterness is due to me brewing it wrong but that still doesn't excuse the dirt.  I would say something like "Oh, just use it if you need cheap green tea for something" but you know what?  I can get eight ounces of cheap green tea from the oriental market for 3 bucks that tastes like cheap green tea and not dirt.  As hard as it may be to believe, especially after I said I drank a tea that tastes like fish, this is one of the worst teas I have ever drank.  I just threw it all away and put some blueberry red in the tin.  My rating is something along the lines of KILL IT WITH FIRE or BURN IT or whatever I had as the rating.

Jasmine Tea:  Thankfully, this one isn't so bad.  It's not great either, but probably good to drink before a date so your sweat smells like flowers.  I tend to like my jasmine tea with more of a hint of jasmine and a nice pleasant green tea, but I can drink this and really, that's what matters with this tin.  Pass if you don't like jasmine, Try it if you do.


Tikuanyin:   This tea is OK as well.  OK in the way that it's really quite inoffensive and tastes like nothing despite me thinking I added enough.  It's the second time I've made this and both times, it tasted like bland and cheap green tea, kinda with this kelp-y flavor.  Honestly, I can see myself just boiling a pot and drinking it out of thirst.  Pass or Try it.


Lychee Black:  I often complain about teas not having enough fruit flavor but don't usually complain about them not having enough tea flavor.  There is a fruit flavor here, a little more than a subtle hint but far from strong.  But there isn't really a tea flavor.  If anything, this tea tastes a bit like soapy water with a lychee scent, but that's only a bit and I can drink it.  Pass or Try it.


Oolong:  I applaud this tea for having a flavor.  Compared to the Touch Organic Oolong Tea (which I haven't posted yet), it's not as robust a flavor, but compared to the rest of these, it's probably the best.  It's a little...smokey and has a woody taste to it, stronger than a green but not as strong as a black.  Plus oolong is supposed to be the most effective tea in terms of weight loss so yeah, it's not bad.  Try it!


Overall:  I bought this tea for the tins and if anyone would ask me about them, I'd tell them to buy it for the tins with the tea as a pretty crappy bonus.  The oolong and jasmine are easily the best as they are the only two that have a decent flavor.  I could probably mix the lychee and tiku....whatever with complementing teas just go get rid of them and the Pu-erh and Lung Chin (dragonwell), you might just want to throw away.

My Rating:  Try it, by which I mean buy it once for the tins and if you're tolerant of tea and want to try something new.  Don't buy it if you think you have enough tines.  Considering that the box didn't even have a company, no web site this week.

TasTEA Tips #1: How to Brew Tea

It's really quite simple.  You boil water, throw in your tea, wait for like five minutes and enjoy!

Not really.

Most of the tea-drinkers I know say they like black tea a lot more than green tea.  Now, I don't think this is completely due to your inborn taste preferences but because when you don't brew green tea properly, it's pretty much just bitter water with a hint of grass flavoring and that doesn't sound good to anyone.  Heck, I've been brewing green tea properly for about two months now and when my mom (who brews tea by sticking it in a coffee pot DON'T DO THAT EVER) gave me some "green tea" she brewed, I just wanted to punch something.    It's really not that difficult and if you don't have time, this is where I really recommend getting a water heater since it's quick, easy and safer than a stove.

Note:  These are general guidlines for people who probably don't get any really fancy tea and who don't have any special equipment  If you have a really expensive tea which requires you to be ultra-specific when it comes to temperature and timing, you're going to have to do research on your own.

1.  Tea is not Coffee:  My mom isn't the only person out there who uses a coffee pot to brew tea.  Coffee tends to need a higher temperature to release the right amount of flavor and even if you are dealing with something like black tea, you're not going to have the correct steep time.  There's also those Kerug machines which leave me feeling apprehensive.  I don't know if all of them are like this but the one at work uses the same setting for tea and coffee.  Plus a lot of the tea they offer is green tea!  Just trust me on this one and don't do it.

I couldn't find anything to do with rinsing so enjoy this picture of a cat in a cup!

2.  "Rinsing" the Tea:  I've just started practicing this recently.  Fill the cup or teaware with enough water to submerge the tea leaves, let it soak for a couple of seconds then dump the water out.  This is said to yield a better brew and I have to admit that my tea doesn't taste as bitter as it use to.  Something controversial I've noticed is the amount of time, some people say 1 or 2 seconds while others say a full 30 seconds or even 3 to 5 minutes!  I think it all depends on the amount of caffeine you want in your tea (high: 1-2 sec, low: 30 sec) so rinse longer if you want less caffeine.

3.  Each specific tea is different:  So, we aren't brewing our tea coffee-style, we rinsed the tea and now we're going to brew it.  When I said that tea isn't coffee, I also should have added that each type of tea is its own special little snowflake (or...tealeaf).  You should treat black tea and green tea differently or else you'll have crappy tea.  Heck, some people think you should treat tea from specific regions differently and honestly, that's all up to you.  Here's a list of tea and what's an appropriate steeping time, temperature and measurement.

Black Tea:  
-The most common type we see in the US and Europe.  Strong taste and lots of caffeine
-Temperature:  90 to 100 degrees Celsius
-Time:  3 to 5 minutes
-Amount:  1 teaspoon per 8 oz cup

Green Tea:  
-Picked then dried.  Freshest and has tons of antioxidants.  Also, some of the highest variety.
-Temperature:  65 to 85 degrees Celsius
-Time:  1 to 3 minutes.  I've even seen as low as 30 seconds
-Amount:  2 to 3 teaspoons/8 oz.

White Tea:  
-Made from the youngest tea leaves.  Slightly oxidized like Oolong.
-Temperature:  75 to 90 degrees Celsius.
-Time:  2 to 3 minutes
-Amount:  2 teaspoons/8 oz.

Red Tea:  
-Not technically "tea", made from the African Rooibos plant.  No caffeine, high in antioxidents.
-Temperature: 90 to 100 degrees Celsius
-Time:  It doesn't matter.  The tea doesn't get bitter.
-Amount:  1 teaspoon/8 oz cup

Oolong Tea:  
-Slightly oxidized, halfway between green and black.  Good for weightloss.
-Temp:  75 to 90 degrees C
-Time:  2 to 3 minutes
-Amount:  2 teaspoons/8 oz.

Herbal Tea:  
-If it's with a tea in the above list, follow suggestions
-Temp:  95 degrees C and above
-Time:  3 to 7 minutes depending on the herb
-Amount:  Depends on the herb


There are other types of tea out there, the most "common" type is Pu-erh which behaves like black tea for quick reference, but I haven't even found anywhere that sells yellow tea or any of the other crazy blends.  My advice for them is that the internet is a wonderful place and looking up info on them (or even some of the teas I just made a few points about) is not a bad idea.

4.  Multiple Infusions:  This goes along with the rinsing point.  Some people use tea meant for 1 cup of tea to make several cups of tea (like grandma used to).  I understand that tea is expensive but I feel like most tea just ends up losing too much flavor/getting bitter after the first batch.  Rinse it for 30 seconds if you want it decaf but after that, just use the bag/tea once.  And this is coming from a cheap person!

Well, these are all the basic tips you need.  And because I just LOVE bullet points....

-Don't brew tea in a coffee machine
-Try to rinse the tea with hot water for a couple of seconds
-Each tea is different.  The less done to it, the more gentle you should be in terms of temperature and time.
-Don't be a cheapo and just use the teabag for one cup of tea.


Oh, and here's the obligatory cute picture of Tommy.

Happy Drinking
-Domino

Here's my sources:  Wikipedia, Teachat and Enjoying Tea.