365 Days of Tea - Day 44: Starbuck's Oprah Chai Tea Latte.

 Its been a while since I've done a real tea post. I've had a lot of ups and downs, but that doesn't mean I'm not drinking tea. I drink tea everyday. I have some tea products coming, so I'm excited for that. I did not pay for this tea at Starbucks, I used a gift card them gave me.

This fancy Starbucks is inside of a Target. Target has some pretty cool vegetarian food in the frozen section, also seaweed snacks.

This is my first time ordering at Starbucks, and my biggest frustration is the cup size names. That being said, whatever the hell reason they named them that way; I'm calling them "Small, Medium, and Large."

Its foamy, as a latte should be, and for those who do not know what a typical latte is: it is usually expresso with steamed milk. This is made with tea instead of expresso, I would assume some crazy thick sirrup or something that would create a stronger flavor than regular brewed tea. (This is a theory, as I was too busy taking pictures to pay attention)

The aroma always reminds me of pumpkin spice, at least Teavana's chai tea does. (I've had Teavana's chai tea before.) I know that it is not the same, but it seems pretty similar. This is "Oprah's Chai Tea Latte" though, so it is special, somehow. (Might totally just be sponsored for added price.) It is not a strong enough scent to carry far from the cup, I actually couldn't catch any of the aroma without bringing it to my nose.

Boy, is it creamy! As you may know; I usually don't ever add milk or sugar to my tea, I like to experience it with full-bodied flavor, without any additions hindering it. This being a tea sold at a huge chain is, indeed, loaded with sugar because people love sugar. Though, the sweetness it carries actually enhances the subtle flavors of the cinnamon and brings it forth. There is a subtle mix of other spices, blended so well its kind of hard to pick them apart. It didn't so much taste like tea, as I would have hoped however.

Usually, a tea like this would be too sweet for my tastes, but I actually found myself enjoying it, hell, I even finished it. It tastes like fall and the holidays, which carry a lot of warm memories. My only problem is the price; I think its way over priced for what it is: steamed milk and tea. The tea they use isn't expensive at all, and neither is milk. I kinda want some more though.

Can be found @ your local:

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365 Days of Tea - Day 35: Infusion Friday 4 - Jasmine Dragon Pearls + Citrus Kiss.

So I reached out to Xing tea, and not only are they sending me tea to review, but also a tshirt. Which is totally awesome in my book. I'm also getting a graze box which is a healthy box of snacks. You can get a box free here. Click on it, you know you want to.

I decided to mix a loose leaf and a tea bag this time. I want to see what the outcome would be, if it were unique in any way. I'm mixing Jasmine Dragon Pearls, which you can see in the bottom half, and Citrus Kiss in the top half. I'm hoping that it adds some green tea flavor, since citrus kiss doesn't contain a lot of it to being with.

It carries a very similar aroma as the citrus kiss, but with some jasmine. The jasmine itself, is very subtle, sorta like it barely brushes against your nose. There isn't much else to say that hasn't already been said at this point. Its very citrusy, lemon, oranges, all of it kind of tickles your nose.

Its very citrusy flavor. You can taste the lemon grass, and the added sweetness from the stevia. The jasmine is there, but not very strong. Its the last taste on your palate. Sadly though, it didn't add anymore green tea flavor, but I think its pretty good anyways. I think that it could have been better if I just used regular green tea,  but sadly, I don't have any!

I think its a decent infusion but its not something I'd do again. I feel like its a waste of the jasmine, basically because it gets so muddled. The citrus kiss is just a very strong tea, as opposed to the not so strong jasmine, so it was easily over powered. (TEA WARS!)

Citrus Kiss can be found here & Jasmine Dragon Pearls can be found here.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 9.

This is going to be a rather short post (at least I think so) and I might even edit it later to go into more details. I'm kind of having a day, and I started this really late because a lot of things didn't go as planned. Also in the near future, I'm going to make a short video on how to brew loose-leaf tea. So that might something to look forward to!

So this is another herbal tea. I'm assuming it will contain dried strawberries, dried lemon pieces, and dried lemon rinds. It might even contain a bit of apple, to add sweetness.

As you can tell from the imagine there is definitely a small piece of apple, and a lot of little strawberry bits.  I only see little shreds of lemon, but I imagine that lemon gets stronger when dried. I'm hoping that the fruits add a bit of sweetness to counter-act the natural tart favor of the lemon.

A less golden color then our typical herbal teas so far, but it carries over some nice lemon coloring. Its actually kind of pretty.

Smell - It smells very strongly of lemons, but almost candy like. Sort of like the smell of lemon drops. A very faint smell of strawberry carries a back note over the edge of your nose. Its very perfume-y. Its kind of nice.

Taste - At first it was nothing a mildly tart lemon favor that rolls over your tongue, but it slowly gets complimented by a mild sweet favor, which I'm assuming is from the strawberries and apples. Although, I get a little bit of strawberry scent now that it is brewed, but I can't really taste the strawberries. I know that it is there, but if you didn't know there were strawberries in it, you'd have no idea where the favor comes from. Honestly it is a very light tea, and I would probably enjoy it more if it was brewed all day and turned into ice tea, but maybe at the point I'm better off just drinking lemonade.

Overall - There isn't whole lot more to be said about this tea that isn't already said. I think it taste good, but it lacks depth. It lacks a common complexity that a lot of teas have that I am spoiled with. Its generally a good tea, but I would recommend it as something memorable or fantastic.

(2 out of 5 tea leaves)

Can be found here.

365 Days of Tea - Day 8.

I was suppose to get one of my review tea boxes today at least according to the 3 days shipping and what the tracking said, but it hasn't move an inch since it was "sent". Oh well, hopefully I'll get it on Monday. I'll do an unboxing as soon as I get it though.

(Man, what a bad photograph - sorry!)

It seems like I have a lot of sweeter, less "pure tea" teas. Which is true, but it isn't entirely my fault. My girl friend more or less picked most of them when we were at teavana last. With this tea and a lot of the other teas that contain cinnamon - I would usually assume the cinnamon would be the strongest flavor and scent. I would also expect this to taste like apple pie. Hopefully not the kind from that one movie.

It looks like bark mulch. You can see a lot dried apple skins and cinnamon bits. I also realized it contains dried oranges as well. The rooibos tea itself is rather hidden in the rough, but its still there. It also feels very mulchy to the touch, but not sticky. You can see larger apple pieces in the back, too. That will probably add some natural sugar. I have high hopes for this tea.

 It brews a really deep red - it actually started to change colors right when I put the tea in. It really had a "apple red" glow. Its like a thin apple cider beer color. Typical 6 minute steeping time.

Smell - If you could take all those spices from your mom's most amazing apple pie, that is exactly the smell you'd get. You can smell cinnamon, but it isn't nearly as strong as the regular teas with cinnamon in it. Its quite a light cinnamon smell. It also mixes with a slight orange smell, and it all gently graces your nose. None of it is overwhelming at all, and its actually quite warming to the heart. Hop on the nostalgia train with this tea.

Taste - It is almost strange to me when a taste tastes sweet, but doesn't contain any unnatural sugar. This tea is unexpectedly sweet. It comes from the apple pieces so it isn't too overwhelming or teeth-hurttingly-sweet. Its a delightfully sweet. The cinnamon is actually a back note, to my surprise. Its a very subtle cinnamon flavor that you don't really notice right away. The base favor is definitely apple, with a tiny bit of sourness from the orange, but the sourness is complimented by the apple's natural sweetness.

Overall - If you miss mom's apple pie and for whatever reason have a desire to drink it instead of eating, I would highly recommend this tea. I can imagine myself drinking this tea on a cold night in the winter, and it would constantly remind me of the holidays. Its a good heart-warming tea, for even non-tea lovers to enjoy.

(3 out of 5 tea leaves.)

It's a seasonal tea - at this time it is not sold online.

365 Days of Tea - Day 7.

I've sort of realized by now that I probably wont be able to acquire 365 teas by myself, and although I might be growing in readership, I'm not growing financially. So that means that at some point when the review products stop coming in and when I'm out of money to spend on this project, I'm going to have to mix some teas, and create my own infusions. So maybe I should make Friday's posts always be custom infusions. (Infusion Friday) Today's tea is actually a blend (another name of an infusion) of 3 different teas that teavana sells. This is their own blend and nothing I came up with.

Body + Mind is a blend of  Monkey-Picked oolong with Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls green tea and Mao Feng white tea. Which can all be bought separately on their website or you can buy this blend. Supposedly monkey picked oolong used to actually be picked by monkeys that were trained by monks, but now its picked by human hands. According to the website its considered one of the highest gradest oolongs. This probably means that there isn't very much in the blend to save costs.

You can't really see it in the image but there is some jasmine pearls that look exactly like the pearls from the other tea. The black-ish green bits are the "legendary monkey picked oolong", and I would assume that the threads are the white tea. White is picked young and isn't left to oxidize nearly as long as other teas. Its usually extremely delicate favor. I don't have any images of the tea itself, it brews the same color as the last one.

Smell - The tea offers a pretty similar scent that most jasmine teas have. Jasmine itself is pretty strong so I imagine it would be hard to have a tea containing jasmine that would smell like anything but. It is a lighter jasmine smell, but only because it is blended with other teas as well. None of the other teas give off a strong enough scent for me to pick up anything other than that. I still enjoy it however.

Taste - There is a lot of potential complexity here, the oolong implies a woods-y favor, the jasmine gives a flowery favor that slowly rolls onto the tongue, and the white tea allows a gentle but subtle favor of the forest to carry all the back notes. Only this isn't really the case, though. The jasmine favor is there, and the other favors are very subtle. You can barely taste anything but jasmine, although it isn't a strong jasmine favor. It is a very light-favored tea. There is two real favor components here; the jasmine that weakly tingles your pallet, and the "tea" favor. If you took the jasmine favor out, it might be more complex.

Overall - Although I did generally like this tea, I expected more from something that contained so much. This is one of this "less is more" things. I had much higher expectations, for something containing "Monkey-picked oolong" but perhaps I need to experience it by itself to fully judge this tea better.

(2 out of 5 tea leaves.)

Can be found here.

365 Days of Tea - Day 6.

Some really awesome graphical changes to the blog thanks to Chris B. Pye. This blog is really coming along and seems to be becoming something a lot more than I'd ever hoped. I've had a little bit of trouble getting today's tea done. I'm feeling a bit under the weather, so this one might be a bit short.

For those who don't know jasmine is a wonderfully scented shrub. It is almost always paired with green tea, but you can also have just plain jasmine tea, as well as oolong, or white. I've personally never seen a jasmine black tea. Dragons are magical creatures which consume the tea and jasmine while leaving pearl shaped droppings in it's wake. I've read that the general idea of rolling the tea into pearls is to help it release more favor, supposedly as it heats up it unrolls and that allows move favor to develop. Also as a side-note; its good to know that research has show that the smell of jasmine helps people sleep, so that might make this an appealing night time tea.

As far as looks are concerned, there isn't anything special. Its looks like tiny dragon poops  pearls of tea. They're sort of hard to the touch, but not as hard as a rock.

It has a fantastic golden color. Its almost the same color as a flat beer. The tea is very clear, and contains almost no residue.

Smell - Out of all the teas I've had in my life-time, jasmine has always maintained the most appealing smell. Jasmine has a special kind of smell. You'd assume because its a flower that the smell would be quite perfumey, but it's not. Its sort of like that smell you remember from when you were a child, and you can't quite understand where it was coming from, but you loved it anyways. Very lilac-y, scent without any notes from the green tea, and that is okay. The smell alone is very relaxing, and soothes the mind.

Taste - Ever heard the saying "It tastes like it smells"? That fully-embodies the favor of this tea. It taste just as good as it smells. Its a soft, yet complex favor, Its flower-y but in a very gentle way. Its not sweet, or bitter, its perfectly balanced.

Overall - If you want a absolutely amazing tea, that nearly fits into every aspect of that a perfect tea could be, then Jasmine Dragon Pearls is what I'd recommend. If I had a complaint, I'd say that I wish I could taste the "green tea" more in this. This tea not only warms up your soul, it soothes your heart. It can take any bad mood, and make you smile. This is what tea is all about.

(4 and a half out of five tea leaves. I would have given it a perfect score if I could have tasted more green tea.)

(They stopped carrying this exact tea, but the closest one can be found here.)

365 Days of Tea - Day 5.

So The Tea Spot reached out to me and is sending me some teas for review. This is pretty exciting that people are interesting in being on-board with me. I'm hoping this will create more opportunities in the future. The tea spot carries an interest steeping mug that I'd love to get my hands on.

This next tea came in a sort of paper-y container and wasn't interesting enough to photograph. I bought it in a gift set a while back so it didn't have any special tins. I think all teas should have special tins, its what makes tea special. This tea is called Orange Chocolate Sweet Spice Herbal Tea. Its a mouthful.

(The lighting wasn't working for me so it isn't a fantastic photo)

You can see the huge orange piece. It also looks like they might have used both cocoa nibs, and milk chocolate. The red little stems are probably chili pieces. Oh, and I see cinnamon as well. It seems like herbal teas, LOVE cinnamon, though I can't entirely blame then because cinnamon is yummy. (I realize now that I have a lot of herbal teas, but a lot of what I'm getting in the mail isn't herbal). 

I'm using a different mug this time. Its a glass mug with it's own infuser (you can buy it here.) The color is very red, with an orange hue. It looks a little like there is grease in it, but I think its just from the milk chocolate melting. It doesn't make it thick or give it a weird texture so I think its okay.

Smell - Its smells exactly like a chocolate orange. You can't pick up any cinnamon notes, or chili. It mostly smells like chocolate with an orange-y background. Its pretty nice and makes you hungry. You would expect the tea itself to taste like chocolate milk with orange in it. Its the kind of smell that could lift anyone's mood.

Taste - I would have assumed that the chocolate would be the base favor and everything else would resonate from that. I was very wrong though, to my surprise it tasted very orange-y. It also carries a slight bitterness, but its not a bad bitter taste and the chocolate notes really come through right after the bitterness goes away. It is a lot less sweeter than I would have originally thought but I actually prefer it this way. Its also pretty strong, but I don't think it would make very good ice tea.

Overall - If you looking for a great gift tea, or dessert, this would be fantastic for that. I personally love oranges, so I really enjoyed this tea. I imagine if you have a sweet tooth, this might also help. Its a good way to enjoy both oranges and chocolate. However, a lot of the other bits in the tea go rather over-shadowed by its strong orange taste. It seems like you might be able to just use orange and chocolate and take the rest out and I'd never know the difference.

(3 out of 5 tea leaves. Recommended.)

Can be found here.

365 Days of Tea - Day 4.

I've had an interesting morning. On day 1 I contacted teavana and told them I've reviewed one of their teas, and I didn't really think much of it at the time. I just assumed it would go ignored, but I actually got a reply.

So this is pretty exciting. I wonder what they will send. I'm a huge fan of teavana teas.. I will post photos of what I get as soon as it gets here!

I can't really find out what tree nuts it contains, but I'm also going to label that it contains tree nuts, so that people don't get sick or anything. Even with a bit of googling I can't seem to pin-point what. From my research; mate is an infused caffeine-rich drink. So basically herbal tea with caffeine. Sounds fantastic. I just hope it doesn't not contain real samurai. That might be sharp. 

For whatever reason you can't see any fruit bits in the photo, but it does contain pineapple, orange, and papaya. You can see however, bits of green stuff, which looks very much like rooibus (And according to the website, it is.) you can also clearly see some lemon grass, and cinnamon. All of it kind of feels paper-y to the touch.

It almost looks like there some strange bug infestation going on in adventuremug, but I didn't remove the filter when I poured it. I actually prefer tea this way. Its a mild brown gold-ish color. Another one with a long steep time of 6 minutes. Lets get down to business. To defeat the huns.

Smell - At first the smell is a mild cinnamon smell. Surprisingly it changes into a more sweet almost apricot scent on the back of your nose, and grows stronger as the cinnamon smell disappears. Its really nice and makes me think that the tea will taste complex.

Taste - I was seriously expecting basically a cinnamon tea, something similar to another one. To my surprise though, the cinnamon flavor was more "spice" then favor. It was a pleasant tone. It carries a very sweet, but complex favor. I can't exactly pin point each thing because they overlap in such a perfect way that, but you can tell there is a bit of citrus and cardamom. Its less of a tea favor and more of an herbal favor, and that is okay.

.

Overall - If you're looking for a really good, naturally sweet dessert tea, then I'd recommend this. It carries a surprising complexity, which is noted by it's aroma. I would also recommend completely filtering out the bits, it seems that I chewed on a cardamon seed a few times, which didn't bother me, but might bother others. It could also translate well into an ice tea. Its very soothing, and definitely gives a mild energy boost. It's one of those teas that just puts you in a good mood. Really cold day in the winter, make a huge piping hot pot of this.

(4 out of 5 tea leaves. Highly-Recommended.)

Can be found here.

365 Days of Tea - Day 3.

Day 3 begins. So when I pick the tea of the day, I decide completely at random. I take the teas I've already reviewed from my shelf and put them a side then just grab a tea tin and roll with it! I usually have no idea what I'm getting myself into but I think that is what makes this special. Though, I do not have 365 teas to select from, I will have to find the financial means to acquire them. I also like the idea of readers sending me samples of their favorite tea to review as well it'd be a nice surprise to see what other people like out there. At this time, though, my readership isn't substantial enough for that. 

(Random Stock Photo. Don't sue me.)

I wanted to talk a little bit about what I brew with. Its a pretty typical tumbler (I wonder if you can guess the brand. lol.) It has this metal strainer looking piece that you put the tea leaves in, and you can push this button down and sip right out of the top. Depending on the tea, I don't even remove the leaves from the tumbler. Some of the herbal teas are best like this. I also realize I have a lot of herbal teas. For my reviews, however, I stick to the instructions because that is how it is expected to be consumed. I try not to alter any of the tea in anyway, so I can get as much of the intend favor as I can. Ideally, I'd like to get Breville One-Touch Tea maker, but that is a little... out of my price range. Maybe I should make a gofundme? Haha 

I don't have the typical label photograph today. Sorry!

Apple Lemon Pomegranate Rooibos Tea is today's favor. Rooibos is actually a legume. I'm drinking bean tea. Delicious. Rooibos is from a small area in South Africa, and its fermented and oxidized. 

You can see that there is also lemon grass, and strawberries in here, too. I'm drinking a fruit salad. There also appears to be some flower petals, apple stems, and yellow-ish seed things. I can't really tell the difference between the lemon grass and the tea, but supposedly it is in there. Since this is a rooibus tea, and they are usually closely related to herbal teas, steeping time was 6 minutes. (As stated in the instructions)

Color/Smell - It has a very strong fruity smell. I can usually pin-point what each component is adding to the smell, but in this case, I can only slightly tell the difference between the lemon smell and the rest. Its a good scent though, at least I thought so. It doesn't really brew dark at all. Its a rather golden hue, even after 6 minutes. After brewing the smell is all but gone. Rather disappointing.

Taste - Rooibus tea leaves don't really carry a lot of favor, but that is why it is usually pared with other herbs, dried bits.I should probably try my own infusions someday. It carries a very sweet taste, but its light. The sweetness isn't there in full force right away though, it kind of rolls onto the tongue. The rest of the favor is mostly a light lemon taste. I don't notice any notes from the pomegranate, but it might be adding the general sweetness. Afterwards it kind of leaves a mild strawberry sourness it in's wake.

Overall - It is a pretty light tea, I was expecting a lot more favor considering the brew time and the amount of stuff involved. I would imagine if you brewed it all day in really hot water, then added some sugar, it would make really good ice tea. This is a tea I would probably drink in the morning, or when I have an upset stomach. It tends to be rather gentle on you. I did enjoy it, but its definitely not my favorite. Actually, you might even consider putting some of the raw tea in a loaf of bread, or scones. Or brew it really strong and use it in place of water.

(2 and a half out of 5. Mildly-Recommended.) 

Can be found here.

Its my girl friend's favorite tea, she might kill me for this.