I gave it the recommended 4 minutes (the label said 3-4) at 212F, filtered water. The brewed combination expanded into an attractive combination of dark brown leaves, with a few bright flowers and expanded pieces of lemongrass and lemon peel. The smell of the brewed leaves wasn’t as strong as the dry, with more of a general candy-sweet smell along with a hint of the tea and bergamot.

The tea, while pleasant enough, just didn’t have enough of anything to hold my interest. Ceylon isn’t my favorite black tea, and in this case it seemed rather bland. The fruit and flower flavors seemed barely distinguishable and the tea a bit flat and tannic. I sweetened it with some sugar, but it didn’t make much difference. I couldn’t find the bergamot, which (to my mind) should have been the predominant note, with the other flavors along as supporting characters. I think that a Nilgiri or even a less malty Assam might have been a better choice for the base tea. Even a summer flush Darjeeling might have worked better.

You have to remember that I am evaluating this tea in light of my own tastes, which is the only thing I really can do reliably. I am a tea drinker who prefers bold flavors; that must be figured into this review. Tea fans with a taste for more mild teas might enjoy this tea more than I did. I’m not a big fan of Ceylons, so someone who does favor them might like this more than I did.

I can’t fault the intention or the quality of the blend. I certainly consider Teafrog to be among the more interesting tea vendors, with products that deserve to be purchased and enjoyed. I consider this an interesting experiment, but it doesn’t fit the profile I have in my head of Earl Grey.

But, if your taste is for more subtle flavors, give this a try. If you enjoy fruit-enhanced black teas but prefer them on the less assertive side, you’ll probably like this one. And, if you like less assertive Earl Greys, and enjoy experimenting with twists on the usual, this may be your cup of tea.

This was a half gallon of shelf-stable (non-refrigerated) iced tea for under $3. That’s not really cheap, but it’s not going to break the average bank. Affordable, you’re thinking, but how was it, and what is it? Because you can buy iced tea by the gallon for about the same price. So, why pay extra? This is what the extra money buys you:

Brewed organic tea (filtered water, organic black tea leaves), Organic evaporated cane juice, Ascorbic acid (vitamin C)

Less is more. Four ingredients, including the water. No weird sweeteners, no preservatives. No “natural” flavors. No unpronouncable additives. The water is filtered, everything else is organic; the tea is fair trade and it’s sweetened with real sugar. It even contains the RDA of Vitamin C in one serving, probably as a preservative and to balance the flavors. There are 60 calories in the suggested 8 ounce serving, but 8 ounces goes a long way when you’re pouring it into a glass filled to the brim with ice. Add a lemon slice or two, or a sprig of mint, and you’re all set for a hot summer afternoon.

So, how was this tea? It tasted like good black tea, lightly sweetened. My eight ounces of tea was poured into a mug absolutely filled with ice. That was more than 3 hours ago and it’s still holding up. There is a good deep tea taste, sweet but not overly so, and the melting ice hasn’t diluted the flavor in any significant way. There’s even still a flowery nose that is very nice. There is a quality to this tea that makes me want to know its origins, but nobody’s talking. I would guess Ceylon, or perhaps someplace new, like Kenya. There isn’t a lot of varietal character, so I expect it’s a blend. Whatever it is, they’ve gone to the effort to procure not just organic and fair trade teas, but teas that taste really good and have the character and body to stand up to ice and dilution.

It is sweet, but not overly so. A fan of southern sweet tea would probably have to add more sugar. On the other hand, I’m a sugar freak, and I haven’t even been tempted to add any more. It’s a really nice balance, one that makes it possible to appreciate the quality of the tea they’ve used. I’m drinking four hour old tea now, and it’s still nicely flavored, with a definite tannic edge that is not at all unpleasant. Four hours is a bit long to expect any iced beverage to survive well (except water) so I’m not going to fault it for that.

Would I buy this iced tea again? Yes, in a heartbeat. I know it’s easy to make iced tea at home, but I’ve always done the “four teabags in a gallon of water, set it in the sun for 2 hours” routine. And, now I don’t want Lipton or Tetley or any of the grocery store brands. I don’t currently own any teabags. I have tasted some really good iced teas lately and I’ve lost my taste for less than that. Anyone who says the flavor of the tea in iced tea doesn’t matter because of the ice and dilution has never had iced tea made with really good quality tea. But, making iced tea is more complex when you’re using loose teas. I don’t want to mess about with simple syrup. I also don’t want to use up my preferred hot teas in an experimental search for the right iced tea blend.

Click here for more information about the company. Click here for more information about the tea. I’m going to snag more of this next time I’m at the market. I say it was under $3 only because I can’t find the bloody receipt and I know I wouldn’t have spent any more than that. It was probably closer to $2. I AM a tightwad. Whatever. I didn’t have to go to the health food store and spend a small fortune. I didn’t have to mess with sugar and water, or make a gallon of tea and strain it. And it’s a delicious way to stay cool in this desert summer. That works for me.

To be honest, that isn’t the fault of the teas. It’s just that I like this one so much, I haven’t drunk much else since I opened it. I tried it originally because of the Lapsang designation; I do love Lapsang Souchong and other smoky teas. This has turned out to be quite its own thing, with a smoky character that is different from any others I have tried and loved. My research says that this is because this tea is roasted over fires of special pine wood from the Wuyi Mountains, rather than the cheaper and easier burning pine oil. This special pine wood is supposed to be deeply infused with fossilized resin, or amber, and this is what gives it the special delicate fruitiness.

And make no mistake, I really love this tea, much in the way a student loves a master, for I keep learning new things every time I brew and drink. I hope our relationship will be a long one, and I have no doubt that it will continue to be fruitful. They say that this tea comes from the small village where drinking tea as a beverage originated, and while that is impossible to prove, I can well believe it.

The details:
Black, short, thin, wiry, some broken, a very few stems. A light smokiness to the aroma, but more a smell of oaks and distant burning leaves in the fall. Not the typical “burn your nose with a rubber hose” smell of many Lapsangs, but a subtle and sweetly tangy smokiness, along with a very characteristic “tea” smell. The tea aroma is very like the fragrance of a “tea” rose, without the rose character.

Two rounded teaspoons in 212 degree, filtered water, 5 minutes steeping time in my beloved IngenuiTEA. Sweetened with sugar. Green Hill recommends steeping times of 3-7 minutes, and they know whereof they speak, but more about that later.

A beautiful brewing process. Another TeaViews reviewer wrote recently of tea leaves dancing in her brewer, floating to the top at the start and then sinking with the process. This was like that; leaves swirling madly around the circumference of the clear pot, coming to rest at the top, then gradually drifting to the bottom, one by one. A beautiful and engaging dance of tea.

The wet leaves have an appealing jammy aroma, along with the still attendant smokiness. The oaky character is still there, but I have to add here that the predominant aroma at all stages is pure tea, a very steady, gentle, assertive presence, owing more to depth than breadth. Which is not to say that this is a narrow tea. Anything but. It actually reminds me of Golden Monkey, another tea from Fujian province. It is a very round tea.

The first mug was wonderful, as I said, subtly smoky and jammy, lots of swirling flavors that went in and out. The second steeping was much the same, still a dark golden liquor with beautiful clarity and a rich texture that is almost chewy thick.

The surprise came the next day, with a 6-minute steeping on the second series of steeps. For me, that would normally push a black tea over the edge into tannins and bitterness, and I seldom do it. I will have to adjust that position, because it made this tea even deeper and more nuanced, and brought out a rich spiciness that I hadn’t tasted before. It’s not specific, just an overall spicy flavor and texture that wasn’t present with the shorter brewing time.

At seven minutes, the third steeping held its own with its predecessors. A bit paler in color and less dramatic in flavor and texture, but still quite enjoyable. The fruity character was more present without the stronger components dominating, so this steeping had its own statement to make.

I would go out on a limb here and recommend 6-7, even 8 minute steeps with this tea. It seems impossible to over-steep, but more than that, it becomes a different tea with every additional minute of brewing.

I was unable to find this tea on the Green Hill website, so I don’t know what the price is like. Their regular Lapsang Souchong (Bohea Lapsang) is $9.00 for five ounces, a very fair price for better quality Lapsang. Based on my experience of the Fancy Grade, I wouldn’t hesitate to try the regular; I’ll be doing a review of the regular very soon.

There are definite benefits to being a reviewer for Teaviews, and teas like this one fall into that category. I’m usually a second or autumnal flush person, but this tea is just lovely. It’s a pricey tea, at £15.00($25USD) for a tin of 125g.(4.5oz), but you expect to pay more for the best. I followed the brewing suggestions to the letter and all I can do is describe my experience.

“Place one teaspoon per 6oz. cup into an infuser, filter or teapot. Switch the kettle off, before it boils, when you hear the water rumbling. Add the hot, but not boiling, water and infuse for 3 minutes. Best enjoyed without milk.” — from the Tea Palace website

Dry leaf – Green, brown, large broken and unbroken leaves. Aromas of eppermint, cotton candy, cake batter, eucalyptus, flowers, a very “Darjeeling” character.

Wet leaf – Large leaves, green, gold, brown, very fresh looking. Apricots, flowers, a bit of frangipane. A hot sugar smell, but much more complex. A repeat of the dry smells, but muted by the heat.

Brewing tea – leaves floating at the top until I swirled them down at the end of brewing time. Tea is a lovely pale golden-green hue, light and very transparent, deceptive compared to the deep flavors it contains.

Tea (First Brewing) – Green hay, mint, freshness, delicate but very potent. A parade of different flavors, not competing with each other, but taking their turn to point out just how complex this tea is. A very green flavor, not like green tea, more like tasting spring in a cup. Deep, but in a very different way from a second flush tea. Tannins more present as it cooled off, but it was the tannins that are a part of the experience of a very complex tea. Not at all unpleasant. A sweet, minty aftertaste, dessert-ike all by itself. A taste that might result from eating honey made by bees feasting on apricot and peppermint blossoms. Hot tea on a 100+ desert afternoon, actually quite refreshing. I’ll have to try this iced later on.

I’ve had this without and without organic sugar. Both work just fine for me. The Tea Palace folk don’t recommend milk, and I’m with them. I think lemon would fight with it, too. This is just a very happy beverage, tasting of spring and freshness. Still, it is definitely not a green or an oolong, but a very full-flavored first flush Darjeeling. If this tea were a horse, it would be running at Churchill Downs, and prancing up a show, playing to the crowd.

Another reviewer suggested trying all of our teas both hot and iced, and I think that’s an excellent idea. So, I brewed this one up and iced it. I followed the same brewing instructions except for using an extra 1/2 teaspoon of tea. It makes an intereesting iced tea! The first few sips were very disappointing, tasting only bitter and tannic, even just flat. After sitting for about 15 minutes, the flavors were starting to develop. At 45 minutes, it’s delicious; the fruit and flowers are starting to peek out. Tannins are still strong, and I think that I would actually use less tea to brew it for icing, rather than more. I have to say, though, this tea is better hot.

After an hour, it’s very good chilled, but I wouldn’t waste this delightful tea on ice. This is such a lovely, lively, thoroughbred of a tea. If you are lucky enough to obtain some (Tea Palace is currently sold out), drink it hot and enjoy it.

It seemed like a good idea to try this tea in the afternoon. (Get it? Afternoon at the Palace?) Unfortunately, my palace is in the desert, and today’s weather really didn’t lend itself to hot tea. 5:30pm showed 110 degrees outside my door, so I contented myself with appreciating the miracle of air conditioning, whilst examining the dry leaves of this tea. The dominant leaf aroma was good “sweet tea”, reminiscent of the tea portion of a tea rose. It seems funny that that doesn’t seem enough; after all, it IS tea, and good tea at that. Notes of honey, a bit of peachiness, what I can only call a non-specific summer-sweet-fruity fragrance. You can certainly smell elegant Darjeeling in its heritage. In appearance, black broken leaves, not a physically glamorous tea, but even homely leaves can turn into a beautifully nuanced tea.

I gave up and took a nap until time for Dodger baseball. It had dropped to the mid-80’s by the end of the game (10pm), so I braved the heat of the kettle and gave it a try. I followed Tea Palace’s brewing suggestions of 2 tsp. leaves, 12 oz. of fully boiling filtered water, and a 4 minute steeping time. The end result was a deep reddish amber liquor with some golden-green lights shifting through here and there. The undistinguished black leaves unfurled themselves into a muted brown calico, with reddish, greenish, even some golden hues. The flavor and texture showed the same subtle complexity. The overall character was a honeyed sweetness, but there was a deeper note, too, on the edge of tannic, but well controlled. Again, a good Darjeeling heritage is very evident.

I got distracted before I could brew my second mug, but it’s tasting really great now with some toast here at 4am. Yes, I keep odd hours, but it works for me. I steeped the second mug for five minutes, with much the same results as the first time, albeit a bit muted. The same tea rose, honeyesque (if that’s a word) character predominates, tasting more than anything like a “just plain good” tea. It tastes wonderful right now, when it’s still quite warm outside, but 66ish here in my office. Living in the desert is very odd at times. With the drapes drawn and my tea and toast at my side, it’s autumn in my imagination.

I can’t say I would or wouldn’t buy this tea, because there are a lot of good everyday teas out there. I can say that this tea is everything Tea Palace promises it to be. If you are a picky black tea drinker, in search of a classy blend, moderately priced for every day, you won’t be disappointed by this lovely tea.

By the way, for those who need convenience, this tea is also available as Crystal Tea Sachets.

TeaGschwendner is a premier professional company and their website reflects their reputation for quality. Lots of information, lots of beautiful teas and accessories. Just a fun website to go play and learn on. I’m always happy to sample a TeaGschwendner tea.

So, I’ve been looking forward to this tea for several reasons. I love Assams; they were the first quality loose teas I sought out after learning that they were the foundation for my favored Irish breakfast blends. And, I have to admit to a preference for second flush teas. The sturdiness of the summer growth provides more foundation for the flavors to dance upon, whatever the variety. It just makes for a fuller and rounder flavor profile.

And this is a flavorful tea. The dry leaf isn’t anything glamorous, small, wiry, deepest brown and dark black. Still, the aroma from my small sample was bigger than the bag containing it. A good malty and toasty Assam, this is a tea of substance. So, two teaspoons to 16 ounces of 212 filtered water, steeped for 5 minutes in my IngenuiTEA. Sweetened, no milk.

Again, malty, toasty, with a sweet undertone that brightens the cup. It’s June as I write this, but we’re having an unheard of cloudy and cool spell. Just perfect for this beautiful, coppery, bracing tea. Another aspect is very present for me, more a matter of texture and character – this tea is buttery, not exactly, but the only word I can come up with.

This is no wimpy tea, but just when you think it is heading into tannic bitterness it settles into deep and gentle sweetness, without sacrificing any of its stand up character. The aftertaste is sweet, buttery, malty, toasty, everything I’ve already said; the taste stays with you long after you’ve finished the cup.

And still the memory lingers, and pulls me out to the kitchen for a second steeping. I’m emboldened into a whole wheat PBJ to go along with this; I guess a California version of high tea. The second go-round is flavorful, but isn’t as full-bodied as the first. Still, I think 3-4 minutes would have been fine for the first and left a bit more for the second. I’m already looking forward to finding out.

At almost $11 for 100g, or $26 for just over a half pound, this really doesn’t fit into a starving student’s budget. A couple of dollars less would have earned it another couple tenths of a point. Still, it’s a fair price for what would be a great morning wake up call or afternoon bracer. I’d call it a super choice for an every day Assam.

Heavy Sigh. What IS a tea snob to do? Well, I’ve grinned and born it, or done without, letting my expensive tea over-steep itself in the pot. Or, I’ve spent way too much on lovely pots with matching infusers, which guaranteed that either pot or infuser (or both) would get broken before I’d begun to get my money’s worth of usage.

All of that is a dim memory now. I have found the tea lover’s grail, and it is made in Taiwan of food grade plastic. The IngenuiTEA, from Adagio, is a clever contraption that holds my steeping tea for its allotted time, then dispenses it directly into my half liter mug. Leaves and bits, no matter how small, remain behind, trapped by the super-fine mesh filter. Place the dispenser on its own plastic coaster (included) and enjoy your tea. And, it’s only $19. It would be a steal at twice the price for any tea-head.

It accomplishes all of this magic by simple mechanical means and it can quickly be disassembled and put in the dishwasher. Of course, I say simple mechanical means, but I still get a disproportionate thrill every time I watch my tea brew, then pop this puppy onto my mug and watch it magically empty therein, with no muss, no fuss, and no leaky filters or strainers.

This is perhaps the best tea purchase I’ve ever made. No, it IS the best tea purchase I’ve ever made. It makes it possible for me to fully enjoy all of my lovely teas, brewed properly and easily. My only complaint? I wish there was a multi-cup size, so I could warm a tea pot while the tea steeps, then fill it with my ingeniously brewed tea. For now, though, I’ll just have to have a few of these marvels, so that I can share tea with a companion or two.

Then I opened the bag and was assailed by aromas I couldn’t begin to identify, not all of them pleasant. Used and ignored gym apparel comes to mind. I could get a faint background hit of bergamot, but I had to look for it. The website lists “black tea with the perfect proportions of citrus and bergamot” and that works for me. The good side smelled like an orange creamsicle or an Orange Julius to me, with a faint tang of bergamot. The only problem was that the more I sniffed the bag, the more I didn’t like it. It was almost a chemically nasty aroma, and it made me apprehensive about the taste of the tea.

Still, I try to be a good little tea reviewer, and fair, so I brewed some up. Black tea standard modus operandi, 212, 1 teaspoon per 8 ounces, 4 and a half minutes. The hot tea smelled and tasted exactly as the dry tea had smelled. I was on the edge of calling it undrinkable, but I decided that I at least had to try a second brewing of the leaves. At 4 minutes, this was slightly better, especially copiously sweetened, but I still managed to leave my mug sitting, forlorn and forgotten on my desk.

The tea was quite cold when I rediscovered it. Just as an experiment, I decided to add ice, and that was when revelation hit hard and between the eyes. This made some of the best iced tea I’ve tasted, a flavor of sweet orange, bergamot and other citrus, with a really good black tea base that can handle the competition. The whole thing also handled ice well, not losing flavor or character with the dilution.

As summer approaches, I highly recommend this tea for iced tea. It’s just perfect for this use. My rating for this tea is based mostly on its success for me as an iced tea. At 7.99 for three ounces, or $33,50 a pound, this will keep you in beverage heaven all summer.

Picture a perfect Sunday. Good late breakfast and conversation with three lovely friends, then a Costco run with the cute one of the three. (Don’t tell him I said that!) Good company turned tedium into giggling fun. We finished waiting in line, and I headed out to transfer a cartload of groceries into my trunk. That’s when things started to go a bit sour.

I don’t do heat well. After several bouts with heat exhaustion, my tolerance is about five minutes and then I need to head for shade, coolness and liquids. Loading the car in the afternoon sun left me tired and sweaty. I know women are supposed to glow, but I felt like an abused stevedore. It was a very warm desert spring day and I was HOT. I started the drive home, leaning into the air conditioning vents and swigging warm water from the car’s emergency jug. That helped a little, but not much. I was halfway into the 40-minute trip before I started to feel a bit cooler, and then, not enough.

I stumbled on home. All I could think about was ice and liquid. I planned on iced water, which was fine with me, but it was taking me a few minutes to get to the kitchen to assemble it, and I was more tired with every second it took to get there. I finally made it and that was when I remembered this tea in the refrigerator. I had gotten the bottle in the mail the day before, and I wanted to wait for it until the time was right. Well, boys and girls, the time was more than right.

It’s not like bottled iced tea needs an owner’s manual (after all, you’re really just renting it), but I inadvertently and exactly followed the directions on the bottle. “Fill a nice tall glass bursting with ice and indulge in a simple, healthful pleasure. Taste the difference real tea makes.” I poured the tea into the ice, settled into a comfortable spot, and took a big swallow.

My internal temp dropped about 10 degrees. I stopped hyperventilating. I could see colors again. And I realized that this wasn’t just cold, tea-flavored liquid. This was genuinely good tea that just happened to be chilled and on ice, and originally from a bottle. And it had the power to turn me back into a functioning human.

Let’s put this into perspective. If you gave your grandmother a bottle of iced tea, she would taste it, make a face, wag a finger, and go make something much better. But, even your grandmother would use tea bags. Not MaryAnna’s. The flavor is good loose leaf tea, followed by sugar and lemon, not just a tea-colored, vaguely sweet, fake tea, tannic, lemony liquid. Sweetness preferences in tea are very subjective, but I loved this one, it was spot on for my taste. It was very much a “sweet tea” in the southern sense, with lemon added. The real sugar made a perceptible and very nice difference. The tea base was excellent, a classy black Nilgiri. The nicest part was that the tea flavor lingered, so my first taste was tea, then icy tea with sugar and lemon, then a lingering taste of the tea at the back of my throat, a spicy but mild tannic complexity, a peppery-sweet, rounded flavor. It’s usually difficult to balance cold flavors in the mouth, but this blend manages that feat well. I was a tad doubtful about the lemon, which was “100% lemon juice from concentrate,” but it worked perfectly. This was good, honest iced tea, made with REAL tea.

I found myself savoring each sip, swirling it around my mouth before swallowing, then waiting for the next, to give myself time to enjoy every nuance. When I had finally finished it, I continued to let the ice melt at the bottom of the cup, so that I could drink the flavors that were left in the melted ice. That probably went on for another hour.

I finally had the last of the tea flavored melt and filled the glass back up with water. I could still taste the tea, which was exactly what I was hoping for. This bottled iced tea was a pleasure from start to finish. I found myself wishing I lived in New Jersey(!), because this is a very local brand, carried only at seventeen New Jersey locations. Or, by mail order. At $32.95 for a case of a dozen 16.8-oz. glass bottles, it’s a bit pricey, but I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that shipping is free. Since it cost them upwards of $10 to send me one sample bottle, I find that a more than generous offer.

If you have the money, spend it and get hooked. For taste alone I would give this bottled iced tea a good solid 8.5. If you live in or near New Jersey, this is definitely an 8.5. Because I live in California, I would say more like a 7.5. For price and lack of availability I’m going to knock off a bit, but I’m not honestly sure that having a bigger operation wouldn’t change the quality of the tea. So, enjoy it as it is, with all its difficulties. It’s worth the effort and the money.

In this case, it’s Stash’s Earl Grey. The loose leaf is undistinguished, broken, black, twisted and a bit wiry. There is a strong scent of bergamot to the dry tea. Everyone knows that Earl Grey is scented with oil of bergamot. Not many dealers will bother telling you what their base tea is, other than ‘black’. Stash’s Earl Grey is blended with “superior grades of Ceylon black tea from Sri Lanka and black teas from China” and it shows. The bergamot is definitely there, but everything is just so well balanced. I’m enjoying both flavors, along with the combination. It’s rather like music, being able to appreciate what the soprano sax is doing, and the voice of the vibes, but not losing the flavor of the whole.

I also like that the website gives background that you don’t always see, like how the bergamot oil is processed and stored. I’m pleased to be drinking this, after a stressful day and week. It’s feeling like an island of sanity, even if it took me until after 10pm to find it. It’s rather like being there-there’d by a perfect companion, one who understands everything and doesn’t insist you talk about it.

My usual M.O. is at work here, 212, 17oz, 2 tsp., 5 minutes, sweetened. And it’s awfully nice. This is a tea that stays in the background. I almost said, ‘where it belongs’ but that isn’t what I mean. This is a tea that doesn’t clamor for attention. It doesn’t insist on being the star of the show, even for the short time I’m spending with my nose in my mug. I’m very pleased with that as I head back to the kitchen for my second mug. I’m smiling a bit, I’m breathing more deeply. I don’t even mind the four hours of homework I have in front of me before I can go to bed.

…Okay, I was bad, I left the leaves in the pot with the second cup, so they got overbrewed. All it did was contribute a tannic note that wasn’t there before. It isn’t really unpleasant. The combo is still going strong, a bit discordant, but not in a bad way. This tea is definitely drinkable. I wish I had a third cup in the pot and I’ve just started sipping the second. For a tea, I’d call that a success.

Stash Earl Grey is a bargain at $4.00 for 50g and $6.75 for 100g. If you’re looking for an everyday, comfortable companion, something to pull off the shelf when you’re stressed and don’t want to contribute a lot to the conversation, this is your tea.