Alana237

I ordered this from iheartteas not long ago and I’m always so impressed with the service! Shipping is prompt and I love the little handwritten notes thanking you for your order. It’s the little things that really count.

On to the tea! I made a huge batch of snickerdoodle cookies to have with this when it came yesterday, but by the time I had finished and they had cooled, it was 8 o’clock and way too late for any black tea. So I consoled myself with a few cookies and waited to have it this morning.

I promise, we are really on to the tea now. Out of the bag, this has that zing of freshly ground cinnamon (one of my favourite scents in the world) but also a hint of vanilla that takes the edge off the cinnamon, and calms it slightly. I’m not really sure what my steeping parameters were, I think I might have used water that was quite a bit too cool for black tea and I got distracted while it was steeping. It smells mostly of cinnamon and it is such a homey, warming scent. I love it.

The taste is predominantly black tea, which I wasn’t expecting from the aroma. The cinnamon and vanilla support the tea, instead of the tea base supporting the flavours. This means it is very smooth and soft. Although this isn’t what I expected, it is still really lovely. (and perfect with my cookies, which, if I may say so, were REALLY good).

I thought I would try this iced, seeing as I have just received an iced tea maker from Nothing but Tea! I honestly didn’t think I was going to like this one, I generally can’t stomach ginger in teas. Suprisingly, though, it’s nice! The ginger isn’t too overpowering annd the orange adds a fresh quality to the tea. Overall, it make a very refreshing, summery iced tea!

For the first time trying this, I had it hot. The dry leaf smells very strongly of strawberry but there is a certain warmth from the pepper as well. I love pepper in tea! There is tons of strawberry pieces and peppercorns in the leaf. While this was steeping, my sister came in to the kitchen and asked where the jelly was – this smells exactly like strawberry jelly cubes!

I can taste soft strawberries – not tart, but not too sweet either. The pepper adds a good kick at the end of the sip. I didn’t think these two flavours would mesh well, but the bite of the pepper really compliments the strawberry. The flavours don’t overpower the tea base either – it is slightly earthy and very robust. Very good!

I like this more than I did when I first tried it. Liking it sort of snuck up on me. It was good the first time I tried it, but I really do like the way the white chocolate tones the mint downs, softens it and rounds it out. I think mint can often be to harsh and overpowering, but not in this blend. I also love the sweet honeybush in this – it isn’t overpowered by any of the other flavours.

My stash of this is getting depleted worryingly quickly. This batch isn’t as creamy as the last one, but it still is very smooth and creamy. This is my most favourite vanilla tea – it isn’t too sweet and it tastes very natural.

I’m really going to miss this tea when it is all gone, but happily, I’m not out of it yet. It is so delicious. The fruit flavours are light and natural and balance well with the green tea. I found that a lower steeping temp and longer steep time gave the best results for this tea.

I made a large pot of this to relax with this morning. I think it was an excellent choice. Although I really like this tea, I don’t think it is one that I could actually drink that often – I have to be in the right mood for it. One thing I noticed this morning is that while it was very hot, the smoke was extremely strong and I didn’t get any other notes, though as it cooled a little bit, it got that underlying sweetness which makes me love this tea. It is so suprising that such a harsh, savoury tea has that sweet note.

I brewed this hot last night and it has been in the fridge chilling overnight. I put sugar in this time because I find when it is chilled, it doesn’t really make it taste like sugar, it just enhances the toffee part of this tea.

I’m back! I have been having computer issues for the past few weeks so I haven’t been able to post any tasting notes. I have been having this tea a lot recently. I love its smoothness, the green tea isn’t bitter at all. It is so light and tasty!

No notes yet.

No notes yet.

My second tea from this company – and so far, they have really impressed me. This produces a light green liqour that smells like cherries and maybe strawberries. Vanilla is there – although I cannot say it is a very prominent note, it sort of binds the notes in the scent together and makes it very smooth.

This really is a fabulous tea. It is very smooth and the berry flavour is very natural-tasting (there is nothing worse than berry flavours that taste artificial). On the sip, the taste is mostly the sencha, but with creaminess from the vanilla and berries coming through ever so slightly. The aftertaste is where the berries really shine – sweet, not tart but not cloying.

I am having this iced again. It is nearly all gone, though, so I will have to stock up soon (and perhaps try some of the other new Whittard teas…)

No notes yet.

Made this as sun tea today. Very refreshing!

I get cravings for this every once in a while, and I got one today, so I dug it out of my stash. This tea is very soothing, I’m not really sure why. It smells like those foamy banana sweets I would eat as a kid! I think rooibos works well as a base for this becuase the woody notes of the rooibos sort of calm down the sweet banana taste.

Thanks Ellen! Sorry it has taken me so long to get round to it!

Dry, this has an intriging scent. Soft and citrus-y, with a little bit of jasmine. Steeped, I can smell the oolong much more but I still get hints of citrus. The taste, however, isn’t so exciting. Don’t get me wrong, it is nice, but I was expecting something a little more complex based on the scent. I can really only taste the oolong base and citrus. The jasmine is noticeable at the end of the sip, but other floral notes are evident throughout the sip, although they are faint.

I generally don’t like black currants, but received this in a Chi of Tea order ages ago, unearthed it today and decided to try it. The dry scent is suprisingly nice – quite sweet and fruity. I can see lots of blackcurrant pieces in the leaf. The smell of the steeped tea isn’t very pleasant. I can’t find anything I don’t like about it, but something about it is a little off. This doesn’t translate to the flavour, though, and it tastes much more like the dry scent – sweet and black curranty. The black currant isn’t overdone, which is good, because I can still taste the body and depth of the nilgiri base.

Thanks go to LauraR for the chance to try this one.

This smells and tastes like rooibos, I can’t really taste the sceletium. It is quite weak, and I only made a small cup of this – 200ml with one bag. I didn’t really feel any relaxing effects from the sceletium either.

2nd steep:

Pretty much the same as the first, but it does get a little watery. The second steep is not as fruity as the first, but has a slight floral tinge to the back of the sip. I don’t think this will do a third steep, but it gives a good second steep.

I visited Bettys in Harrogate a while ago and had this. I was very impressed with it, so I bought some to bring home.

The dry leaf scent is not very strong, but has faint notes of peppercorn and fruit. The first few sips are very peppery but the tea becomes more fruity as the tea cools – specifically apples and something that reminds me of ripe cherries. As it cools further, the peppercorn notes disappear and by now, when the tea is room temperature, I can’t taste it at all, just a brisk black tea taste.

I finished off my sample of this today. I liked it, but although the dry scent was quite chocolatey and not very minty, the taste was almost all mint. I would have liked quite a bit more chocolate in this blend, but it was certainly pleasant the way it was.

This is my first lapsang souchong! I have always been hesitant to try them because they smell sort of intimidating. But I’m glad I got the courage to try this one! The dry leaf scent was VERY smoky. Steeped, it wasn’t as strongly smoky as I had feared. The taste is incredible – the smoke was very prominent but I do get the sweetness Angrboda talks about under that.

Backlogging – I had this yesterday morning so I’m just going off my notes. The dry leaf had loads of apple pieces and the pink peppercorns look so pretty, with the scent mainly mild black tea with perhaps a hint of apple. The steeped tea followed in the same vein as the dry scent – black tea with a little apple. The first few sips were just black tea with a strong apple aftertaste but after cooloing a little bit, I could taste sweet apple, tart berries, hibiscus, and peppercorn.