Difflugia
Tea Reviewer
Member since Mar. 9th, 2017. Reviewed 77 teas.
Reviews of Teas & Herbal Teas
Page 1 2 3 4 of 4 pages with 77 results
Japanese Green Tea from Wei-Chuan
Style: Green Tea – Region: Japan35 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 3/5
Oct. 7th, 2018
Wei-Chuan has several different tiers of tea and this one is on the low end.
The tea bag smells very faintly of hay. Adding the water doesn't really bring out any extra aroma. The flavor's almost as weak as the tea smells. While hot, the flavor is practically nonexistent. When it cools down, a little flavor appears ...
Classic Blend from Benner Tea Co
Style: Black Tea – Region: ?????25 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Sep. 13th, 2018
The standard tea bags are wrapped in paper, so if they're not put into an airtight container, they'll probably start to go stale before the box of 100 is finished. The dry tea looks like a blend of orthodox and CTC produced teas and smells smoky, malty and a bit like fresh straw.
The brewed tea is disappointing. The...
Constant Comment® from Bigelow Tea
Style: Flavored Black Tea – Region: ?????55 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Aug. 24th, 2018
I like decaf Constant Comment, but hadn't gotten around to trying the original version. It turns out, it's not much different. I can taste a little of the maltiness in the finish, but that's about it. I already know that decaf black teas have little tea flavor, but I was hoping there would be more in this one. A bit of...
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Smaragdine Green Tea from Tradition
Style: Green Tea – Region: Taiwan / Formosa72 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 5/5
Aug. 21st, 2018
Tradition's "Smaragdine" (which just means "emerald-like") green tea is a longjing (dragon well) style tea from Taiwan. The sachets hold just under three grams of full-leaf tea that has some tips.
Like most green teas, it benefits from cooler water (165°) and shorter steeping times. The review is based on four minu...
Earl Grey Supreme (Teabags) from Harney and Sons
Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: Blend69 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Jul. 25th, 2018
Like the other standard tea bags from H&S, the tea is chopped very fine. Dry, it smells strongly of the bergamot oil, but there's also a maltiness from the tea. It's not strong, but it's a step up from many Earl Grey teas.
Adding the water unexpectedly mutes the aroma. The citrus fades to the background and the tea...
Darjeeling Tea from Lipton Tea
Style: Darjeeling Black Tea – Region: Darjeeling, India72 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 5/5
Jul. 18th, 2018
Lipton Darjeeling Tea used to be known as "Lipton Green Label" and is packaged for sale in India. I buy this tea as a gray market item at a local Indian convenience store.
This tea is better quality than one might expect from Lipton and is overall a medium-quality Darjeeling. The tea appears to be mostly whole, smal...
True Blueberry® Herbal Tea from Celestial Seasonings
Style: Fruit (Herbal) Tea – Region: ?????57 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Jul. 16th, 2018
This fruit tea smells just like crushed blueberries. Sipping the tea emphasizes the tartness and astringency of the hibiscus and rosehips that seem to be in all fruit tea these days. The finish tastes like canned blueberry pie filling.
The flavoring in this is too heavy. I think I'd just prefer the hibiscus and rose...
Da Hong Pao Tea from Starway (Tea King of China)
Style: Da Hong Pao – Region: Fujian, China63 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Jul. 16th, 2018
The tea that I got is packaged in individual packets, each containing six grams (about three US tea bags worth) of relatively large, but broken pieces of tea leaf. It doesn't smell as strongly as most roasted oolongs, but it also doesn't smell overly roasted as inexpensive oolongs often do. Adding water brings out a bi...
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Special Blend with Earl Grey from Ahmad Tea
Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: Blend85 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
Jul. 15th, 2018
The dry tea is quite broken and smells almost like Froot Loops. Unlike most Earl Greys, though, the aroma of the tea is discernible beneath the bergamot.
The brewed tea smells mostly of malt and bergamot. The tea tastes more bitter and astringent than I expected. Based on Ahmad's other teas, I was expecting the blen...
Earl Grey from Bigelow Tea
Style: Earl Grey Tea – Region: Blend63 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Jul. 13th, 2018
The dry tea smells strongly of bergamot. There's no hint of other flavors, citrus or otherwise, that other brands sometimes add.
Adding water really doesn't change much. I smell bergamot and a weak hint of dry leaves. The flavor's more balanced than I would have expected, though. The underlying black tea is mellow, ...
Oolong Tea from Wei-Chuan
Style: Oolong Tea – Region: China40 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 3/5
Jul. 11th, 2018
The standard tea bags are filled with chopped up tea. The heavily-roasted aroma is quite strong.
Oddly, the brewed tea isn't as aromatic as the dry tea bags. It's nice, but there's no complexity. It smells like tea that has already been steeped once.
The tea definitely tastes roasted. It's smooth and easy to dri...
Republic Darjeeling from Republic of Tea
Style: Darjeeling Black Tea – Region: Darjeeling, India70 / 100 Aroma: 9/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 2/5
Jul. 9th, 2018
The tea is made up of large, but broken pieces of leaf. The description says that the tea is graded TGFOP (Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe), though, which should be mostly whole leaves. There is a reasonable proportion of tips, so it is decent quality tea, but not as good as I expected from the description or the pri...
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Wild Raspberry Hibiscus Herbal Tea from Stash Tea
Style: Fruit (Herbal) Tea – Region: ?????70 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Jun. 17th, 2018
This tea's flavor is more complex than the other raspberry-flavored teas that I've been trying lately. No one ingredient overpowers the flavor. It's quite tart, but it doesn't have the astringency that other hibiscus and rosehip blends do. The raspberry is noticeable when smelling the cup, but fades into the background...
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English Teatime from Bigelow Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: ?????40 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Jun. 15th, 2018
The aroma is faint, but malty. The tea tastes thin and a bit cooked. Not offensive, just not much going on. If I take a big sip, there's a warm bitterness on the sides of the tongue that's nice.
As the tea cools down, it's more astringent and bitter than before. I'm trying to taste what might be in the blend and it ...
Raspberry Royale® Black Tea from Bigelow Tea
Style: Fruit Black Tea – Region: ?????65 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Jun. 9th, 2018
I like this tea. The flavor is quite complex and I'm not sure which flavors are the tea itself and which are "other natural flavors." The malt sweetness of the tea is foremost and the raspberry flavor is unmistakable, but subtle. The tea tastes alternately of Ceylon and Assam, coupling the malt with an almost roasted f...
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Raspberry Zinger® Herbal Tea from Celestial Seasonings
Style: Fruit (Herbal) Tea – Region: ?????55 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Jun. 9th, 2018
The dry tea bag smells like dry raspberry Kool-Aid. Adding the water just intensifies the raspberry aroma.
The flavor is similar to Bigelow's Red Raspberry, but with a different balance. The raspberry flavor is much more pronounced, and the hibiscus is less tart. I feel it on the tongue more than taste it, but it se...
Red Raspberry Herbal Tea from Bigelow Tea
Style: Fruit (Herbal) Tea – Region: ?????70 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Jun. 9th, 2018
The dry, standard tea bag smells like "blue raspberry" candy. Nice, but no complexity. Adding the water brings out the aroma of the hibiscus. The brewing tea is even deeper red than hibiscus, so the elderberries must be for color.
The flavor is hibiscus and rose hips with a little raspberry in the finish. The tartne...
Iced Black Tea with Raspberry from Pure Leaf
Style: Fruit Black Tea – Region: Kenya68 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 3/5
Jun. 8th, 2018
The dry tea in the sachets is broken, but in decent-sized pieces. Pieces of hibiscus flower are apparent. The sachets smell like dried raspberries with an additional herbal, leafy scent.
Adding the water intensifies the raspberry. It doesn't quite smell like fresh raspberries, but it doesn't smell artificial, either...
Iced Black Tea with Peach from Pure Leaf
Style: Fruit Black Tea – Region: Kenya35 / 100 Aroma: 5/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 2/5
Jun. 2nd, 2018
The plastic sachets of tea are transparent enough to see the tea leaves and some of the flavorings. The leaves are obviously broken, but the pieces are the same size as in the Pure Leaf loose leaf offerings. Looking closely, I can identify pieces of hibiscus and orange peel.
The dry tea smells overwhelmingly of fres...
English Teatime Decaffeinated from Bigelow Tea
Style: Black Tea – Region: ?????35 / 100 Aroma: 3/10 Flavor: 2/5 Value: 3/5
May. 25th, 2018
I tried this in another attempt to find a decaffeinated black tea that tastes like tea.
The dry tea bag out of the foil wrapper smells vaguely spicy if I hold it to my nose, but there's not much there. Adding water brings out a small bit of aroma, but nothing that really smells like tea. It smells lightly earthy and...
Ceylon (Ceylon Orange Pekoe) from Ahmad Tea
Style: Ceylon Black Tea – Region: Sri Lanka / Ceylon75 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 5/5
May. 19th, 2018
A local Middle Eastern grocery store stocks several varieties of Ahmad tea, including this one.
The dry leaves are quite broken, with medium-small pieces. The aroma of the leaves is malty, but not particularly strong. Once the tea starts brewing, though, the aroma greatly intensifies. It's not as complex as some oth...
Decaffeinated Green Tea with White Tea from Celestial Seasonings
Style: Green and White Blend – Region: ?????60 / 100 Aroma: 6/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
May. 15th, 2018
This is one of my favorite decaf teas.
Like all Celestial Seasonings teas, the stringless, tagless, square tea bags are connected in pairs and are not wrapped. The box has an inner package of waxed paper to keep the tea fresh until the package is opened, but I always move the tea bags to an airtight container after ...
Iced Classic Black Tea (Loose) from Pure Leaf
Style: Black Tea – Region: Kenya72 / 100 Aroma: 8/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 3/5
Jan. 11th, 2018
I'd never tasted Kenyan tea that wasn't part of a blend from multiple sources, so I bought a jar of the Pure Leaf. Even though this tea is labelled for use as iced tea, I'm drinking it hot (four minutes in boiling water). This is still the only tea solely from Kenya that I've tried, so I don't know how much of the flav...
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Organic Black Tea from Equal Exchange
Style: Black Tea – Region: Blend70 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 4/5 Value: 4/5
Jan. 1st, 2018
The dry tea in the bags is finely chopped and smells strong and malty, like most grocery store Assam blends.
I steeped it for four minutes in boiling water and the brewed tea is more complex than I expected. The strong malt flavor has chocolate and molasses notes that set it apart from other Assam blends. It's moder...
Taiwan High Mountain Green Tea from Starway (Tea King of China)
Style: Jade Oolong – Region: Taiwan / Formosa65 / 100 Aroma: 7/10 Flavor: 3/5 Value: 4/5
Dec. 31st, 2017
The can calls this "green tea", but it's clearly a jade oolong. It's much better quality than Starway's other oolong teas. It's mediocre compared to other Taiwanese high mountain oolongs, but they're usually much more expensive than this.
The dry tea smells fresh, mellow and pleasant. There's no hint of a roast. The...
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