terre d’Oc’s Uzbekistan Style Black Tea with Almond and Pistachio

Uzbekistan Style Black Tea with Almond and Pistachio by terre d’Oc
Black Tea / Flavoured
9.95€ for 100g

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First Impressions

I received this beautiful tin of tea for my birthday back in 2015, let’s ignore the fact that it has sat unreviewed for so long! I’ve had it several times since I got it, but I just hadn’t sat down to write about it – until now! I love the tin, it’s bright and has colourful designs all over it. The type face game is strong in terre d’Oc’s game. terre d’Oc is a French company, the internet tells me that they also do cosmetics and fragrances. I greatly appreciate that their packaging comes with French and English. Despite growing up in Canad and taking French (as a second language) in school, my French is incredibly rusty and I would have faltered quite a bit on reading it.

On the tin, it states that “In Uzbekistan tea is the hospitality drink served all through the day and first poured three times into a cup and then back into the tea pot. These three repetitive gestures symbolize “loy” : clay, “moy” : fat and “tchai” tea or water.” I love learning about the tea culture in other places, and the packaging also suggests to drink the tea straight without milk or sugar.

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The lid of this lovely decorative tin fits snugly for a good seal. The dry leaf of this tea has a sweet smell to it. I can make out the almonds, and what smells like apricots and plums (stone fruit). The black tea base smells malty, like an Assam would. The ingredients for terre d’Oc’s Uzbekistan Style Black Tea with Almond and Pistachio is as follows: black tea (organic), natural flavour almond, pistachio and apricot, almond pieces, pistachio pieces, and marigold petals.

Preparation

The packaging’s steeping instructions are to steep in 95°C (203°F) water for 5 minutes. It also says that this tea is “ideal any time of the day”.

First Taste

Ever the rebel, I steeped my first pot of this tea for four minutes to see how the flavours were and to see if it needed a little bit longer. Uzbekistan Style Black Tea with Almond and Pistachio steeps to a deep, deep orange. There’s a malty smell to it that continues to remind me of an Assam base, with a subtle almond smell but I can’t smell the apricots or pistachio.

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On first sip, after it cooled down a bit, there’s the malty flavour from the black tea base and the light sweet fruity flavours of the apricot. I can taste the almonds, although it isn’t very strong, and no pistachios were noted in the overall flavour profile of Uzbekistan Style Black Tea with Almond and Pistachio. There’s a slightly astringency noted at the tail end of each sip that leads to a bit of mouth puckering.

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Despite the packaging suggesting to not drink this tea with sugar or milk, I did want to try. I found adding sugar helped to bring out the fruity flavours even more and bring that apricot flavour to the forefront. I also found that added evaporated milk helped to temper the astringency.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Uzbekistan Style Black Tea with Almond and Pistachio twice. The second steep was very similar to the first steep in terms of flavours and astringency, the third steep was a bit watery and not as good. I would say that this black tea is good for one more steep only.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked terre d’Oc’s Uzbekistan Style Black Tea with Almond and Pistachio. The overall flavour is very good, and I found I liked it better doctored up with a bit of sugar and evaporated milk (but the flavour without the additions is still good and tasty). The beautiful tin helped me to learn a bit about the Uzbekistan tea culture, which I found very educational. I was disappointed in the fact that I wasn’t able to smell or taste the pistachio in the dry or steeped tea, and that’s part of the reason why I didn’t rate it higher. I think it’s a delicious tea, the natural sweetness and fruity flavours in it would lend itself well as a tea to go with desserts or a session of afternoon tea.

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Teavana’s Golden Monkey

Golden Monkey by Teavana
Black Tea / Straight
$19.98 for 2oz

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First Impressions

Golden Monkey is a black tea from Teavana, and one of my Starbucks Rewards choices. The dry leaf has wiry leaves, twisted together, with golden/yellow tips. Inhaling the scent from the dry leaf is a sweet honey, floral aroma. It’s quite inviting. I like the look of this tea leaves with the golden tips. The ingredients is made up of black tea. It’s nice to see a straight tea option, and the name makes me smile.

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Preparation

Teavana recommends steeping Golden Monkey in 205°F (96°C) water for 3 minutes. I steeped this tea initially for 3 minutes.

First Taste

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Golden Monkey has a malty aroma to it when it steeps. On first sip, the first thing I notice is the very malty taste to it. There’s no bitterness to the tea when it’s steeped for 3 minutes. The honey smell to the dry leaf is present in the steeped tea, there’s a very light honeyed sweetness to the tea that is enjoyable. The floral notes I first smelled from the dry leaf isn’t present in the taste though, which is a bit disappointing. Oddly enough, I found that Golden Monkey has a bit of a sour aftertaste that lingers on the tongue. While the tea itself is fairly pleasant, the sour aftertaste is not. I steeped a fresh cup of Golden Monkey at a shorter steeping time to see if the sour aftertaste would disappear.

I steeped the tea at 2 minutes and the sour aftertaste is not present. I steeped it for 2 minutes and 30 seconds and the sour aftertaste is present. I would recommend steeping it for just 2 minutes initially to avoid the aftertaste.

A Second Cup?

Golden Monkey resteeps fairly well. I did it once and the taste remains fairly close to the first steep. If you opted to steep it at the recommended time (3 minutes), I’m sorry to report that the lingering sourness is still present on the second steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I thought that Teavana’s Golden Monkey was just okay. Golden Monkey is a decent black tea, I quite like the honey malty flavours of it. However, the recommended steeping time of 3 minutes is far too long and the sour taste leaves me not overly ecstatic about this tea. It’s a decent straight black tea, that has a great taste as long as you don’t steep it for the recommended length of time. Because of that (and honestly, the price – there are less expensive straight black teas out there!), I had to give it a lower score.

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24 Days of Tea: Santa’s Secret

Santa’s Secret by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$7.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

It is Christmas Eve, the first day of Hanukkah, and day 24 of the 24 Days of Tea advent calendar and the last tea is: Santa’s Secret. Santa’s Secret is one of the first teas that I tried at DavidsTea and one of the first teas that I bought from them. In a word, I would describe this tea as being “cute”. I really like the little candy cane sprinkles in it. The ingredients are fairly easy to see with the black tea leaves and the dried peppermint leaves mixed in.

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When smelling the dry leaf, the tea smells like mint and vanilla, the black tea base is fragrant as well, and tends to linger in the background a little bit but is very much present in the mix. The ingredients in Santa’s Secret are: black tea, peppermint, sprinkles, natural and artificial vanilla flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Santa’s Secret in near-boiling water (90-95°C/194-203°F) for 4 to 7 minutes. I opted to steep my first pot for 4 minutes.

First Taste

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While Santa’s Secret is steeping, there’s a noticeable minty and vanilla smell that comes from the tea. The vanilla reminds me a lot of Christmas baking because I like to use vanilla in my cookies. This tea definitely touches on all the holiday smells that are familiar to me! Santa’s Secret steeps to a golden orange. I find that the mint and vanilla flavours are less in-your-face when drinking the tea, as the black tea base is well balanced with the flavours. There’s a smoothness to the tea that is nice, no astringency or bitterness noted.

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I find that a little touch of sweetener helps brighten up the mint and vanilla flavours in the tea, and I also make this one into a tea latte fairly frequently because it makes for a nice treat.

A Second Cup?

The candy cane sprinkles don’t fully dissolve for me with the first steep. After a second steep (for 5 minutes), I find that the flavours are comparable to the first steep and the little candy canes are completely melted away. Santa’s Secret is good for one more steep. I find subsequent steeps to be lack in the vanilla flavour.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved DavidsTea’s Santa’s Secret. It’s a nice change to a straight black tea, and it has a great mint and vanilla flavour combination to add to an otherwise plain tea. Santa’s Secret is delightful, and the fragrances really make m think of the holidays which I think is great in a holiday themed tea. This is a tea that I already have a big stash of in my tea collection/stash for year-round Christmas cheer and I may need to get more after the 25th…

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