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Tea Dragon Mystery Box
Friday Afternoon Tea was at Worldcon in Seattle, and they have a huge variety of tea blends, some of which seemed very exciting and some of which seemed ill-thought-out. While debating which tea(s) to get I noticed they had mystery boxes, and I was sold on that. Especially since you could choose the caffeine level of the box, because I would never actually get through a box of herbal teas. (Especially since Jethrien is allergic to chamomile and can’t drink half of them.)
The teas came in individual packages of loose tea with roughly 4 cups worth in each one. My biggest complaint was that they didn’t come with steeping instructions, and I suspect that “just put in boiling water for 5 minutes” would wreck several of these blends. Cheap black tea and most herbal teas can stand up to a lot, but green and white teas are finicky. (I tried all of these hot with a little white sugar.)
From best to worst:
Napali Silver Yeti – This is apparently just Nepali white tea. It’s really good, though. I’d actively seek this out.
Black Cat – Roasted oolong tea, pomegranate and vanilla. Interesting, tasty; the vanilla comes through, the fruit is faint.
Shadow Self – “Aged dark tea” and black tea, pine smoke and rosemary. I didn’t think I would like the smokiness but it did work with the herbal rosemary flavor. This worked as a blend where I think the individual pieces wouldn’t work in tea.
Strawberries and Cream – The strawberry flavor is muted and the vanilla doesn’t come through as strongly as in the Black Cat; this is actually a little bland.
Green Ginger Mint – This was perfectly drinkable, but not strongly any of the things. Like, it was faintly mint and faintly ginger and not even a strong green tea. (I was steeping it for exactly 3 minutes with hot-not-boiling water, like one should treat green tea. I wonder if the mint and ginger do better with actual boiling water?)
Daughter’s Rings – Just rings of green tea. I did it wrong the first time and it tasted like grass. (“This tastes like hot leaf juice!”) This is cool looking and certainly a convenient form of loose tea, but there’s nothing special about it and like most decent-quality green tea, it’s finicky.
The Rains of Starsong – This is yerba mate based, which I still am not sure I’m making correctly. (…or pronouncing correctly.) It’s also got the pine smoke, plus rose petal and lemon myrtle. It’s okay? The smokiness is more subtle than some of the others and I think Shadow Self was a better take on “dark, smoky and herbal.”
Womb of Doom – This one had a ton of different ingredients, including yaupon holly, chocolate, rose petals, black cherry and pine smoke; but they were all overpowered by the serrano chili, which made the entire tea unpleasantly spicy.
Overall: I was really happy to try this, though if I ever got it again I’d want a completely different mix. Except for Napali Silver Yeti; I’d just buy that by itself. Oh, and I bought a tea dragon pin from them, too.
The teas came in individual packages of loose tea with roughly 4 cups worth in each one. My biggest complaint was that they didn’t come with steeping instructions, and I suspect that “just put in boiling water for 5 minutes” would wreck several of these blends. Cheap black tea and most herbal teas can stand up to a lot, but green and white teas are finicky. (I tried all of these hot with a little white sugar.)
From best to worst:
Napali Silver Yeti – This is apparently just Nepali white tea. It’s really good, though. I’d actively seek this out.
Black Cat – Roasted oolong tea, pomegranate and vanilla. Interesting, tasty; the vanilla comes through, the fruit is faint.
Shadow Self – “Aged dark tea” and black tea, pine smoke and rosemary. I didn’t think I would like the smokiness but it did work with the herbal rosemary flavor. This worked as a blend where I think the individual pieces wouldn’t work in tea.
Strawberries and Cream – The strawberry flavor is muted and the vanilla doesn’t come through as strongly as in the Black Cat; this is actually a little bland.
Green Ginger Mint – This was perfectly drinkable, but not strongly any of the things. Like, it was faintly mint and faintly ginger and not even a strong green tea. (I was steeping it for exactly 3 minutes with hot-not-boiling water, like one should treat green tea. I wonder if the mint and ginger do better with actual boiling water?)
Daughter’s Rings – Just rings of green tea. I did it wrong the first time and it tasted like grass. (“This tastes like hot leaf juice!”) This is cool looking and certainly a convenient form of loose tea, but there’s nothing special about it and like most decent-quality green tea, it’s finicky.
The Rains of Starsong – This is yerba mate based, which I still am not sure I’m making correctly. (…or pronouncing correctly.) It’s also got the pine smoke, plus rose petal and lemon myrtle. It’s okay? The smokiness is more subtle than some of the others and I think Shadow Self was a better take on “dark, smoky and herbal.”
Womb of Doom – This one had a ton of different ingredients, including yaupon holly, chocolate, rose petals, black cherry and pine smoke; but they were all overpowered by the serrano chili, which made the entire tea unpleasantly spicy.
Overall: I was really happy to try this, though if I ever got it again I’d want a completely different mix. Except for Napali Silver Yeti; I’d just buy that by itself. Oh, and I bought a tea dragon pin from them, too.