"a crisp black tea with prominent cocoa notes "
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One of the many perks of working on the Teaviews staff is that I get to be exposed to teas of many different origins. Whereas the large majority of teas are of Chinese, Indian, Sri Lankan, or Japanase origin, every now and then we get to sample teas of a less common origin. Today’s tea is a black tea from Indonesia’s Kertasarie Estate. The dry leaves are very small, consisting of chopped leaves. The leaves have a very prominent cocoal aroma. I prepared my first cup using boiling water and a three-minute infusion. The flavor of the bright reddish-brown liquid was crisp and clean. The flavor was similar to that of a higher quality bagged black tea, and while not very complex in its flavor profile, it did deliver a nice clean black tea flavor. I prepared a second cup with new leaves, this time using a four minute steep time. I was happy to see that the extra minute did not make for a bitter tea, as I was concerned that the broken leaf sizes would result in a tea that goes bitter too quickly. The flavor was perhaps a bit stronger in the second cup, but the same crisp flavor ultimately came through. Both the first and second cups were completely enjoyable without adding any milk or sugar. The cocoa notes of the tea provided enough sweetness to forego adding any sugar. However because this tea is fairly robust in body, I imagine it would take milk and or sugar well for those that prefer to take their tea in this manner. This is an ideal breakfast tea, because it is definitely hearty and sturdy enough to serve as a decent morning brew. I later sampled this tea as an iced tea and found that for me it was perhaps just a little too heavy as an iced tea and was much more enjoyable as a hot breakfast tea. Overall, despite my initial concerns based on the appearance of the dry leaves, I was impressed with this tea. This crisp black tea with prominent cocoa notes is recommended for anyone looking for a strong morning tea.
Visit Mark T. Wendell Teas for more information on this tea and many more from their extensive product catalogue.
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Vanessa Teaviews.com Reviewer » Read more about this reviewer on Vanessa's profile page. » Find a list of recent posts by Vanessa. |

First and foremost a small cheer for actually telling us some specifics about the tea instead of just a generic story as to its origins. While I wouldn’t say it was rampant or even the norm to eschew specifics about your product, but I do see it quite often and I’m glad this isn’t, here, the case. I’d love to see more information like this circulating in the industry as its a shame that we rarely know the proper names of the varietals we drink, or much beyond certain details of their region. Imagine if French Viticultural regionalism denied you even a general knowledge of the varietals used in your favorite wine.
“Organic genmaicha matcha-iri is perfect combination of medium roasted brown rice, matcha (green tea powder) and high-grade green tea leaf. It has a toasty flavor and inviting aroma from the roasted rice. The matcha mixed in with the tea gives it a very distinct and smooth flavour.” —Grand Tea website.
The existence of this particular type of honeybush came to my attention – and inevitable fancy – as part of a discussion 
Aw, the first day of vacation. Could anything possible be sweeter? Well perhaps an excellent Darjeeling to add to the day. My sample today is a Darjeeling from Selimbong Estate. This tea was awarded ‘Super Star’ status from the prestigious Tea Board of India. I have to admit that I am really looking forward to tasting it.
TeaGschwendner 

English Breakfast is the second breakfast tea I’ve tried from KTeas. I find that these blends are nice “go-to” teas and I tend to have many varieties stashed away in the cupboard. This particular blend includes tea from Ceylon, Assam, Java, and Darjeeling, which makes it sound like an all-star cast for breakfast tea.
At some point I should just get over the seemingly countless tea merchants in existence today, but today as I sampled Chah’s Dragon Phoenix Pearls, I marveled at the fact that there was (yet another) new-to-me tea vendor. Chah is a UK-based tea company whose website seems very user-friendly and offers a nice variety of tea and teaware, although perhaps not as large of a variety as many other online tea shops. The dragon phoenix pearls present themselves as smallish, tightly rolled spheres with a pleasing jasmine aroma that I, as if I was Goldilocks, found to be “just right”. The brewed tea, which was prepared by infusing about 10 pearls in 10 ounces of sub-boiling water for two minutes, was sweet with a soft jasmine flavor. This tea was very easy on the tongue. An ideal one-word description for this tea, whether with respect to the jasmine flavor or the green tea base, would be “delicate”. By this, I do not mean that the tea was weak, but rather that neither the floral nor the green tea component was too pungent or overpowering. The overall effect was a refined cup of tea with a remarkable smoothness. The Chah website mentions that the tea leaves are scented with jasmine petals six times before being rolled into the pearl shapes. After reading that, I would have expected a much more potent flower flavor, but I also must say that I was personally pleased that the jasmine contribution did not become too excessive. I don’t drink jasmine teas all that often, but I would have to rank these pearls among the best of all of the jasmine-infused teas that I have had. I think this is a good option for those that are just venturing into jasmine teas, and I also see this as being an ideal selection for those who, like me, enjoy floral teas that do not reach “maximum strength” floweriness.
American Tea Room refers to this as a “premium botanical infusion”, and they weren’t kidding. With no flavoring agents to speak of for the blend, it packs a wallop of a whiff with the ingredients alone; organic cacao husks, organic vanilla beans, and organic rooibos. One would think some sort of flavor extra was included, but given the pungency of their like-minded Brioche blend, I can believe that the fusion is natural.
“Your senses will pop with this perfect berry-blended brew! Dark red cranberries and bright beautiful blueberries produce powerfully sweet, tart flavors that add a savory essence to our premium high-grown Indian and Chinese black tea.” —Boston Tea Company website.


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