TeaAmigos Tea Reviews

Numi Decaf Black Vanilla Tea – Hothing Sans Caffeine

Amigos — Wed, 16 May 2012 22:54:27 +0000

Mike

: Numi Decaf Vanilla Black Tea is about as good as any decaf tea will ever get. That being said, I’d rather just have a cup of Twinings. Man, nothing takes the wind out of the sails of a tea like decaffeinating it.

Numi Decaf Vanilla Black tea still packs a punch. The smell is delicious and you can tell that they used real vanilla, not the chemical flavoring that is about as effective as spraying on cologne after the gym and going out sans shower. That’s what I always think of when I drink artificially flavored tea. No, Numi doesn’t stoop to that level and deserves kudos. Hands down, this is the best decaffeinated tea I have ever lifted toward my mouf.

Rating: B
Rating for a Decaf Tea: A+

Wu-Yi Tea Company Wu-Yi Acai Power Tea – Worth A Second Look

Amigos — Sun, 13 May 2012 08:43:14 +0000

Dax

: This Acai tea has more Wu-Yi’s than playing Streets of Rage at full volume.

WUUUUYIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!

Wu-Yi Tea Company Acai Power Tea at first glance was placed in the overly-hyped-antioxidant-rich tea pile and left to grow mold. Why? Well there are many a fruit tea out there that boast extreme flavor/weight loss/power surges directly after consumption. You already know, this tea did none of the sort. What it did do is taste like acai stems at first. Did I oversteep? Prolly. Did I try again? Sho ’nuff. Lo and behold the second steep of this tea made me double-take. It’s not that the flavor is off the chain, it’s the fact that it actually tastes like stale green tea. Call me crazy, but a nice stale tea is kind of addicting – sorta like when people crave genmaicha.

Just fyi, this tea was named after the Wu-Yi mountains in China, a place where people walk barefoot through the snow uphill both ways to pillage their tea. I thought that it was stale and plain, in a good way.

Rating: B+

Mike

:Wu-Yi Tea’s Acai power better be damn good for me. I would drink this tea professionally, but not recreationally. Meaning, if the purported benefits of acai are real, it may be worth it bite that bullet and drink this concoction once a day. To be fair, it’s not BAD. There are far more booty herbal fusions to be had. It tastes a lot better than it smells so I recommend either holding your breath mid-sip or breathing via mouf. The taste is leafy and twiggy, if that tells you anything. If you search acai berry you’ll find a lot of outrageous claims regarding its health benefits ranging from cancer treatment to penis enlargement. According to the only source I trust, Wikipedia, none of this is scientifically supported, so I would hold off on getting this Wu-Yi Tea.

Rating: C

Impra Earl Grey Tea – Quite Possibly The X Factor

Amigos — Sat, 05 May 2012 20:48:17 +0000

Mike

:Impra Earl Grey tastes and smells the part of a perfect daily drinker Earl Grey Tea. It’s got that magical bergamot essence in the right concentration to attain multi-pinnacular ascension in a single bound. It lacks that refined bourgeois finesse of some of the more expensive, silk satchet, monocle wearing Eurotrash teas from the likes of Mighty Leaf, but this tea is exactly what Earl Grey should be. Impra tea has that aura of dependability to it, something you can wake up to and go to bed with. I just finished my cup and enjoyed it immensely.

Rating: B+

Dax

:At first glance, Impra has some pretty slick design work going for them. The typography is nice to look at for sure, but will their earl grey tea back up their steez?

Straight up now tell me do you really wanna steep me forever? No no no.

Paula Abdul isn’t really feeling this lack of bergamotability in Impra Earl Grey Tea. The black tea base is solid, no doubt, but I would really like to taste a bit more bergamot. This EG passes the oversteep challenge with flying colors though, as keeping the teabag in doesn’t cause bitter tea face. Another positive to this steep is the lasting satisfaction that the back of my mouth exhumes; it is currently making my morning warm and fuzzy. I think they slipped me a Mickey.

Rating: B

Numi Decaf Ginger Lemon Tea – An Uninvited Rabblerouser

Amigos — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:32:17 +0000

Mike:

There goes Numi Organic Tea, coming up with some mess get the party started. Right now I’m sitting, sippin on Numi Decaf Ginger Lemon. Not even Numi, the maker of genuinely delicious teas, can manage to manifest a decaf tea worthy of a teasan. Before I read the ingredients I thought this was some sort of herbal non-tea funk gracing my pallet. This tea is booty but at least the ingredients are simple and pure, if you’re into them: Decaf greent tea, ginger, and lemongrass.

Rating: C-

Numi Breakfast Blend Tea – Sittin’ On Top Of The World

Amigos — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 03:21:00 +0000

Mike:

It’s difficult for breakfast teas to distinguish themselves because there are limited ingredients that can be used. They are necessarily black tea, generally Assam and possibly Ceylon. Average quality ones will taste like Twining’s English Breakfast, which is not bad with its tinge of mesquitability, but it doesn’t bend you over a barrel and make you recite all 50 states. Numi Breakfast Blend will make you do that, and you will like it. It has a lot of that hickory smoked Southwest smell that certainly raises your mesquite expectations but when you taste it has less than you expect. Nevertheless, the taste is replaced by a smooth, rich, almost floral black tea taste. A great steep.

Rating: A-

Te Teas Black Velvet Chai – Pooquito Less Than Expected

Amigos — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 19:59:10 +0000

Mike:

I been out of the tea junket for some time so I gotta recollect my memory on some of these brands. I was thrown back by the fancy packaging of Te Teas with the plastic wrapping and the silk screen sachet. Nice presentation but I seem to remember Te Tea being subpar. The tea smells right so what could be the issue? Let me explain what tasting this is like.

Imagine buying a ticket to Flavor Country. After a short flight you get out of the plane but discover you’re in Eastern Europe; Slovenia or something. This chai tea isn’t bad and it’s got a much stronger citrus essence than other chais I have tried which makes it somewhat interesting. That being said, it’s kind of flat and 1 dimensional, and like many poorly crafted chai teas, Te Black Velvet Chai leaves a weird film and aftertaste in your mouf. Not the end of the world but that are certainly better alternatives.

Rating: B-

Dax:

Te Teas Black Velvet Chai is quite the looker. The combination of the silk sachet and the pyramid box makes for a nice paperweight. Even the steepables in the teabag look scrumptious. It resembles something that a trust fund squirrel would pack in its suitcase for college; there are clove pieces, some cardamom-nut looking thing, and other cute rodent paraphernalia.
Let’s break down the flavor. Mike is right that it doesn’t have an over-the-top nuttiness or chai flavor for that matter, but you just feel good steeping it. That leftover taste in your mouth might be the cure for the common cold so don’t overlook it. I tried this steep with some milk and was disappointed since the malnourished strength of the chai goodness could not mingle with the dairy. One of the few lactose intolerant chai teas that we’ve reviewed.

Rating: B

[GUEST REVIEW] The Republic of Tea Double Dark Chocolate Mate – Droid Digs The Double Dark

Amigos — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 05:33:20 +0000

Guest Tea Reviewer – Alex Fusman

I’m no stranger to steeping teas, but I am a stranger to reviewing them. I’ve always liked trying varieties of teas that couldn’t be stranger. So don’t be a stranger, read my tea review:
When I got the opportunity to be a guest teasan here, I ran to my tea cabinet to find my favorite teas. Luckily, one of my best daily drinkers hasn’t been reviewed here yet, so the choice was clear. I present to you, the Double Dark Chocolate Mate from The Republic of Tea. In my opinion, the Republic produces mostly high quality teas, but this is one I’ve been drinking almost on a daily basis for a long time now.
Tea purists, or pure teasans, may claim that yerba mate isn’t really tea since it doesn’t come from tea leaves. Whatever your thoughts are on that matter, the fact is that you drink it just like you drink tea. Plus, this one has chocolate in it.

Double dark chocolate.

Just opening the canister you get a nice whiff of cocoa powder. So if you like chocolate, you’re sure to get a kick out of this one.
The chocolatey taste is not sweet or overpowering, but it’s definitely there and adds to the character of the beverage. It’s not especially complex, like a fruity tea might be. I’ll be honest – I could do with an even richer, denser taste. It tastes a bit watery. However, this may just be because I tend to use large mugs, which may offset the tea-to-water ratio. Overall, it’s a great tea to drink on the regular, but it’s not the exotic, flavorful treat some of you may be looking for.

Rating: B+

Stash Holiday Chai – Meditate On The Possibilities

Amigos — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:06:12 +0000

Mike:

Got a chance to steep some Stash Holiday Chai last night while watching The Daily Show. Useless details aside, perhaps this chai tea is best steeped between Thanksgiving and New Years, the same way no one even considers drinking eggnog during other times of the year, because I wasn’t feeling this at all. I like chai and Stash tea has some decent blends available for the budget teasan but this Stash Chai felt unoriginal and uninspired. I’m pretty sure they relabeled their original chai with some new packaging and sold it as a unique blend but they can’t pull the wool over this teasan’s eyes. Let’s see if Dax agrees.

Like the Super PACs, we can’t coordinate. See how I tied the Daily Show back into this?

Rating: B

Dax:

I tried to get gangster with this Stash Holiday Chai. Usually when you are in the holiday spirit, you tend to put extra effort into the little things. Hanging decorations in your home, actually flushing the toilet after you use it; the list goes on. My attempt at this is that after I steeped the OG, I added a little milk, some cinnamon/sugar mix, and a diet smidgen of honey. The result was pretty tasty, but artificial by definition.
This isn’t my normal MO for steeping, but yakwii, holiday times call for holiday measures. The chai tea is pretty basic with a hint of nuttiness and I do agree with Mike that this is prolly their OG chai with a new packaging. But hey, ’tis the season to be bogus.

Rating: B

Bentley’s Jasmine Green Tea – Smells Like Second Place

Amigos — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 01:14:18 +0000

Dax

: Before I jettisoned to Arizona, I had a stash bag of teas that I didn’t get to share with Mike, therefore I get to HOTH a few solo steeps. Bentley’s Jasmine Green Tea is one of said solo steeps. It’s one of those Marshalls/TJ Maxx finds where they sell the collection of a brand on clearance. That being said, I didn’t expect too much. Upon steepage, a blast of jasmine hit my nose and told my brain to be ready for goodness. Upon sippage…average in the full essence of the word.
The jasmine tea is overpowering so I’m not getting that sweet green tea taste at all. Didn’t pass the oversteep challenge either, as I doubled up like R. Kelly on the water situation and entered into bitter country.

Rating: B

Steep and Resteep: The Mathematics of Teasanship

Amigos — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 07:24:56 +0000

Mike

: Let me start off by saying, we’re back! After a long hiatus with major financial and geographical moofs, the Tea Amigos have emerged from the ashes. That’s what it is, you already knew that because YAKWII.

Today I’m going to discuss a little technique I call the Steep and Resteep that I developed at work. I’m sure many of you have unknowingly performed this Class A-2 Teasan Bagged Tea Maneuver without even knowing it, kind of like accidently performing a FATALITY while the guy is all wobbling.

The Steep and Resteep is performed simply:

1. Steep some tea
2. Drink the tea
3. This is where a lot of folks screw up when trying the Steep and Resteep. Do not take the original teabag out. Simply add another teabag and fill with hot water.
4. Repeat steps 1-3.

You done good son; reward yourself with some tea.

The Steep and Resteep is a powerful style move but it has some other advantages. If you’re using plastic or paper cups like I do at work, then you’re helping save the environment by using just 1 cup. You’re also getting some of the flavor love from the previous steep to give your tea extra umph.

Everyone knows girls are impressed by guys that drink strong tea and when you got 9 teabags sticking out of your cup you’re definitely going to turn some poonheads. But how strong is it really? Let’s do some teasan math.

Assume that a cup of tea has total tea content of 1 and each time you steep it 80% of that flavor is infused into the water.

Steep 1: .8

Steep 2: .8+.16=.96

Steep 3. .8+.16+.032=.992

This is a series and the sum of a series is determined by this formula:

Sum=A/(1-r) where A is the first term (.8) and r is the common ratio (.2)

.8/(1-.2)=1

In reality, no matter how many teabags you put in or ratio you use, the strength of the tea will never exceed 1. By the time you have 3 teabags in the tea, that’s pretty much as strong as the tea will ever get, but people’s eyes will be popping.