Difflugia
Tea Reviewer
Member since Mar. 9th, 2017. Reviewed 170 teas.
Reviews of Teas & Herbal Teas
Page 1 2 3 ... 5 6 7 of 7 pages with 170 results
Wild Sweet Orange from Tazo Tea
Style: Herbal Tea – Region: ?????90 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 12th, 2017
I'm pretty sure this tea/tisane is almost artificial. While the ingredients aren't artificial, they aren't just plant parts, either. First, I think most of the orange aroma comes from a layer of orange oil ("natural orange essence" in the ingredients) sprayed on the teabag. The teabag itself is actually yellow-orange a...
Read Full ReviewPrince of Wales (Loose) from Twinings
Style: Black Tea – Region: China75 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 12th, 2017
The dry tea is quite broken and, though there is quite a bit of dust at the bottom of the tin, most of the pieces are noticeably larger than the tea in the teabags. The aroma is faint, but malty and pleasant.
Adding the water draws out a smoky, earthy aroma that is characteristic of other Chinese black teas. The ini...
Prince of Wales from Twinings
Style: Black Tea – Region: China45 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Apr. 11th, 2017
This tea smells great, but the flavor is weak. The aroma is both earthy and sweet. The flavor, though, is a pale shadow of the aroma. The first time I bought a box of this tea, I assumed that it had to be stale because of improper packing or storing. A second box was the same.
The tea isn't bitter or astringent at a...
Qimen Black Tea from Tea King of China (Starway)
Style: Keemun – Region: Qimen, Anhui, China95 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Apr. 5th, 2017
Like other Starway teas, this tea is very inexpensive ($6.99 for 6 ounces) and is packaged in a red tin of the same style as other Starway teas. The leaves are broken, but in reasonably large pieces.
The dried leaves are quite pungent and smell strongly of raisins. As the tea steeps, the aroma is of earth, oak leave...
Green Tea Decaffeinated from Twinings
Style: Green Tea – Region: ?????30 / 100 Aroma: 4/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 1/5
Apr. 4th, 2017
This is one of the weakest decaf greens that I've tried. It brews up with a darker color than even many caffeinated teas, but the flavor and aroma remind me of dry hay. It tastes and smells slightly vegetal, but is nondescript and uninteresting.
I'm actually surprised that this tea is so bad. Twinings isn't exactly ...
Organic Dragon Well Tea from Wei-Chuan
Style: Dragon Well (Long Jing) – Region: China75 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Apr. 4th, 2017
The tea in the sachets is a mixture of broken and whole leaves, so the first appearance is of tea that would be mediocre if sold loose. The dry tea is quite fragrant, though, smelling fresh and grassy.
I typically steep green tea at 170° for four minutes. With decent quality tea, this generally gives a comfortable ...
Lemon Ginger Herbal Tea from Stash Tea
Style: Herbal Tea – Region: ?????70 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 3rd, 2017
The dry teabag smells strongly of ginger with a lemony background. Adding water really brings out the lemongrass. My first thought is that it smells like a kind of Thai soup.
Ginger tends to overpower other flavors, but in this case there's a nice balance between the ginger and lemongrass. I can taste the lemon and ...
Green Tea Decaffenated (Classic) from Bigelow Tea
Style: Green Tea – Region: ?????60 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Apr. 3rd, 2017
It's apparently easier to decaffeinate green tea and still have some flavor than it is black tea. One thing I've learned about decaf greens, though, is to use hotter water than one would for the caffeinated varieties. Conventional wisdom for green tea is to use cooler water and shorter steeping times to keep from cooki...
Read Full ReviewGold Blend from Barry's Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: Blend65 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Apr. 1st, 2017
The dry tea is strange-looking. I think it's CTC tea that has been broken up into smaller pieces. Each teabag contains 3g of tea, so expect a strong cup of tea if you're used to American teabags.
Dry, it smells like CTC Assam tea, malty, tannic and slightly smoky. Adding the water opens up the aroma, which is rich a...
English Breakfast Decaffeinated from Twinings
Style: English Breakfast – Region: ?????60 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 5/5
Mar. 29th, 2017
While the dry tea is nearly odorless, the brewed tea smells much more like tea than many of its decaf competitors. The aroma is faint, but is of a tannic oakiness and light maltiness rather than just wet leaves.
I'll start by saying that the flavor of this tea is very weak and there's no comparison between this tea ...
PG Tips Pyramid bags from PG Tips
Style: Black Tea – Region: Blend55 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Mar. 29th, 2017
PG Tips is a blend of CTC teas. Most American grocery store teas are "orthodox" teas, however. That's worth knowing for a few reasons.
First, while orthodox production results in leaf pieces of various sizes (dust, fannings, broken leaf, whole leaf), the CTC machines produce small, uniform pellets. One thing that me...
Earl Grey Decaffeinated Black Tea from Bigelow Tea
Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: Blend55 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 28th, 2017
Upon opening the pouch, the teabag smells pungently of bergamot. Unlike Twinings, this tea seems scented with only bergamot and no other citrus. Immediately after brewing, the aroma of bergamot is still strong but, like most decaf black teas, there is little noticeable tea aroma. There's a little mustiness that may rep...
Read Full ReviewOrganic Black Tea from Wei-Chuan
Style: Black Tea – Region: China85 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Mar. 28th, 2017
This tea is in large sachets that contain 3g of tea each instead of the usual 2g. The package gives no indication where the tea is sourced other than that it's a product of China. The package is a resealable, heavy mylar pouch, but the sachets inside have no individual wrapping. The dry leaves are surprisingly large fo...
Read Full ReviewEarl Grey Decaffeinated from Twinings
Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: ?????55 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 27th, 2017
Presumably losing the rest of the tea flavor and aroma to the decaffeination process, this tea retains a tannic hint of dry leaves. The Twinings bergamot flavoring tastes much more like sweet oranges and is less bitter than other Earl Grey teas.
I find that the sweet and bitter of the citrus complements the faint ta...
Irish Breakfast from Twinings
Style: Irish Breakfast – Region: ?????45 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 3/5
Mar. 27th, 2017
Dry, this tea has very little aroma. After adding water, the initial aroma is of oak leaves. It smells nice without being particularly complex.
The tea is very astringent and moderately bitter. It's less malty than I would like, so the tea tastes unbalanced. The maltiness mostly appears in the finish, which lingers ...
Organic Golden Monkey Black Tea from Prince of Peace
Style: Golden Monkey – Region: Yunnan, China96 / 100 Aroma: 10/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 26th, 2017
This tea is absolutely sublime, but has a price tag to match.
I was wandering around Chicago's Chinatown yesterday looking for interesting tea and saw a display of Prince of Peace's premium "gift box" teas. At $19.99 for 150g, I was worried that the quality wouldn't match the price, but decided to try it anyway. I w...
Decaf Breakfast from Tea Forte
Style: Ceylon Black Tea – Region: Sri Lanka / Ceylon35 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 1/5
Mar. 23rd, 2017
For me, afternoon caffeine inevitably means insomnia, so I've spent some effort trying to find a decent decaf. I've found a few decaf green teas and Earl Greys that are drinkable, but I've yet to find an unflavored black tea that's worth the trouble. Despite being the most expensive decaf I've tried, Tea Forté's Decaf...
Read Full ReviewGinseng Oolong (King's Tea) Fourth Grade from Ten Ren Tea
Style: Ginseng Oolong – Region: Taiwan / Formosa90 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 5/5 Value: 5/5
Mar. 23rd, 2017
Ten Ren's King's Tea has been my favorite for years. The base tea is high quality to begin with and the ginseng is subtle enough that the flavors blend well. It's difficult for me to tell where the tea flavor ends and the ginseng begins.
On the tongue, the tea is lightly bitter with an initial grassy flavor that giv...
China Black Tea from Foojoy
Style: Black Tea – Region: China65 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 17th, 2017
As mentioned in a previous review, the 100 tea bags in the box aren't sealed in any way, so the first thing I did upon opening the box was to put the bags into an airtight cannister.
The initial aroma of the tea reminds me of damp oak leaves with a hint of maltiness. The flavor is tannic and astringent, but is so mi...
Bilouchun Green Tea from Tea King of China (Starway)
Style: Bi Luo Chun – Region: Jiangsu, China75 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Mar. 14th, 2017
This is presumably the same tea that the previous reviewers tasted, but it's packaged in individual 6g pouches (24 packets totalling 150g). At $10, I paid a little more than the previous reviewers did, as well.
That said, this is now one of my favorite green teas. I find it best with a long steep in cooler water (4-...
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