Alphakitty

Ah, flavored matcha. You’d think after the roughly 5 thousand flavors I’ve tried (okay, not really, but over 20 for sure!) I’d be worn out and ready to settle down with my current selection of favorites (maple, butterscotch, caramel popcorn, pumpkin pie, and macadamia nut). But no, my tastebuds still seek out adventure and exploration! And since pie is one of my favorite things I snapped up the two new pie-themed flavors the instant they went on sale. Apple Pie was fantastic and I was hoping for the same deliciousness from Rich Berry Pie.

In the bag this smells like… cinnamon? Super heavy duty spices! Which is weird, I don’t think they are mentioned in the description. But pies often have cinnamon or nutmeg added, so I suppose it’s not unusual: I am just used to spice-free berry pie.

I think this would probably be best as a latte but I went with the shake-it-in-a-water-bottle method for my first go-round… mostly because I’d already consumed two lattes that day. Matcha overload! I did add a splash of milk for that creamy quality.

Mm, this really does taste like pie! I think the pie-like qualities of buttery, flakey crust aren’t quite as prominent as they were in Apple Pie but this matcha is also more complex. There’s the multilayered berry flavor (I get mainly raspberry and blueberry) along with the cinnamon and nutmeg. I think perhaps Spiced Berry Pie might be a more accurate description for this one, but either way I am totally loving it! I think it would be especially good mixed with the cheesecake or caramel matcha for that extra rich element. You can get some here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/rich-berry-pie-matcha.html

My mom is attempting to switch from coffee to tea. She loves loose-leaf but she pretty much won’t make it unless I am around. She’s convinced that she’ll mess them up, but really I think she just likes it better when I make it for her! So bagged tea it is. This is one of the ones we picked, because I thought it would taste like one of those fancy coffee shop lattes.

It certainly smells like a latte! Very strong caramel and vanilla. There’s zero discernible tea smell. Worrisome! But the taste is, like, the exact opposite. Strong tea flavor, though it’s that generic black CTC taste. No real depth, but very strong and brisk without being bitter. The vanilla and caramel are really toned down in flavor, in fact this smells a lot better than it tastes. It’s not bad, and I certainly don’t mind drinking it, but I wish the vanilla/caramel was a bit stronger.

Perhaps a longer steep, but the base is already so assertive I worry about it getting bitter. Maybe this would be best as a latte? Or made in a big mug with a bag of earl grey!

I had a very happy accident with this tea. I made candied lemon peels last night and was left with about 7 cups of lemon-infused simple syrup: I didn’t want it all to go down the drain so I saved some for sweetening iced teas. Unfortunately I didn’t spoon this into my Rainforest Nectar coldbrew like I should have but poured it, resulting in CRAZY SWEET TEA. Like “oh god kill me now this is how I die” sweet.

So I cut it with filtered water, added lemon slices and juice and voila: Rainforest Nectar Lemonade! It is SO good with that pop of citrus with the rich tropical fruits, it’s so so delicious. The mix of fruit is great: passionfruit, mango, pineapple, kiwi! A unique blend, especially the kiwi: you don’t see a lot of that. I won’t rate this tea until I have it on its own but if you have this, mix it with lemonade. Trust me, it’s mana from heaven.

I really need to try to space out my tasting notes. I tend to not write any for 3-4 days and then do a whole bunch all at once. Sorry for clogging your dashes, everyone! I just get in the mood to write about tea every few days.

Okay, so this note isn’t really about tea. Last night I went to our local diner, it’s my dad’s birthday week (yes, in my family you get a whole week!) and he requested a diner trip one night. We ended up going after Survivor (another family tradition), so we got there at about 9:30. But it’s a diner, they’re 24 hours! We got a really weird mix of food: my mom (who cares only about dessert) got greek yogurt, my dad got banana pancakes and I got spaghetti & meatballs. Which were totally phenomenal.

I was hesitant to get tea with my dessert (a totally divine cannoli) because, well, it’s a diner. But I saw some brightly colored boxes on the back wall that I immediately identified as Harney & Sons. What, H&S in my local diner?! Awesome! Since it was rather late I just got peppermint, which while simple is one of my favorite herbs. It’s just so naturally sweet and refreshing and relaxing.

It’s kind of hard to rate peppermint teas—I mean, it’s just one ingredient! But this was a really nice one. Smooth and naturally creamy, with a strong but not overly strong bite from the peppermint and that great natural sweetness. That’s why I love peppermint and not spearmint! Bleurgh, spearmint. My arch mint enemy! This, though, was the perfect after-dinner treat.

How does this have almost no notes after being released for a month?! I just got mine and I had to try it right away based on the smell! I love love LOVE cardamom in non-chai teas—I mean I like it in chai too, but it really does shine on its own. Peach seems an unusual combo, but it really works!

I actually made this one for my dad, he always likes when I make him blends he’s never tried before. He was in the mood for something fruity so I picked this one! Mm, it smells so good brewing!

Peach can be a love it or hate it flavor for me—I hate even slightly fake peach and I often get “over-peached” where I get tired of the flavor after like 3 sips. But sometimes I am really in the mood for it! Thankfully this is not a fake or overdone peach, it’s quite subtle—in fact it’s not even super evident as peach in the cup. Very mellow and summer-y tasting, like super ripe peaches that you’d use for a pie.

The cardamom is what really makes this though. Earthy and strong, it tempers the peach and makes it into something totally different. I’m not surprised that this combo works so well, peach goes fantastically with strong spices (look at all the peach & ginger teas!). Cardamom is the best pairing I’ve tried with peach by far: better than ginger, cinnamon, vanilla, any other fruit. It’s just… perfect. These two were meant to be together!

And the base! It adds a really nice, vegetal background. The 3 ingredients are all so different but Frank worked his magic. This is so great! If you were on the fence, get this—you won’t regret it! Unless, you know, you don’t like peach/cardamom/green tea.

Woah, the reviews on this one are all over the place! I like to browse other reviews before I write any notes on a tea, though I always like to start with a general score in mind first. I don’t want to be affected by other reviews, but at the same time it’s nice to get a general sense of what others think! But this, goodness, I have no idea! It has plenty of 90+ scores but then quite a few lower than 30. Divisive!

I think many people aren’t fans of RoT’s small teabags and steep(ish) prices, but they were my intro into loose leaf and I’ve stuck by them. I have a tiny mug of tea before bed every night and their bags are the perfect size for a small cuppa! This is a blend I’ve been meaning to try and I got a sample from Marcel Duchamp. Thanks!

There isn’t a whole lot of depth here. It’s strongly almond and the vanilla makes it taste like marzipan! The base is strong but kind of one-note. You know, it tastes like black tea! Generic but tasty. Maybe this isn’t the most complex blend and I probably haven’t made it sound that appetizing but I really enjoyed it. For a before-bed, no-fuss tea this is great! I LOVE marzipan and while this isn’t advertized as a marzipan blend it really tastes just like it.

I ordered this one because several reviews mention liking it better than Lupicia’s Strawberry & Vanilla, which I adore! So of course I just had to try some. I should have known from past attempts though that whenever a blend is compared favorably to one of my faves, my opinion will be the exact opposite. I’ve come to terms with the fact that I have strange tastebuds when it comes to some teas! Like Tower of London: a lot of people like it more than Paris, but I find it kind of flavorless and flat in comparison.

So, this tea… I wish I wasn’t thinking of Strawberry & Vanilla while I was drinking it, I might have liked it more. S&V isn’t very natural tasting I’ll admit, it’s like strawberry quick milk, but this strawberry doesn’t strike me as being very natural either. It’s like strawberry hard candies! I also don’t get a whole lot of creamy flavor either. I think more cream/vanilla might balance it, but at first sip this just reminds me a lot of strawberry chapstick. Kind of takes me back to being 12!

I do like the green/white blend, it makes this tea very light and airy, but it’s weighed down by the candy-sweetness of the strawberry. However everyone else seems to be really enjoying it, so I can’t help but wonder if maybe mine had a bit more flavoring than others? In any case I’m not a big fan of this blend, though I won’t have any trouble polishing off my ounce—I think it would make a great summer iced tea with some lemon slices!

I ordered this almost a month ago but had it shipped to my parents’ house due to issues with my post office, and the wait (as you can imagine) was killer! I ordered this and the Berry Pie matcha the first day they went on sale, and I’ve been lusting after them since I hit the order button.

Red Leaf’s dessert flavors have impressed me again and again, but they’ve totally knocked it out of the park with the Apple Pie matcha! Before I get into the flavoring the matcha itself is super green, the color is so concentrated! I wonder if it’s a different base than usual? It’s got a stronger flavor too, pleasantly grassy and sweet.

When I first opened the packet I was a bit nervous because it smelled like super-strong chemicals… maybe because the poor thing has been sitting in a bag for a whole month? I was worried the chemical smell would carry over to the flavor but it doesn’t at all. In fact, there’s not a trace!

I got this in the delicate flavoring so it’s pretty subtle when you drink it: the matcha taste is in the forefront. But then once I finish a sip my whole mouth is filled with apple pie flavor! Super authentic and delicious. Warm, gooey apples, a hint of caramel and spice: cinnamon, nutmeg! It’s so amazingly good, the most accurate apple pie flavor I’ve ever tasted! This is such a winner. You can get some here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/apple-pie-matcha.html

Today is my dad’s birthday, and as tradition dictates I baked a cake! I love baking but I usually try to keep my cakes simple. Well, not this year! My dad said he wanted “something fruity” so as tempted as I was to make a fruitcake just for laughs I went with a blueberry lemon theme.

The base cake was a fluffy white cake, much less sweet than your usual cake, studded with blueberries. In the middle was a blueberry mousse, the frosting was lemon cream cheese and it was topped with more mousse and candied lemon peels. All from scratch!

And because 4 components weren’t enough apparently I also made a sorbet on the side. Using… this tea! Water, sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and this tea simmered for 15 minutes, then chilled and poured into an ice cream machine.

So this note isn’t really that centered on the tea (because CAKE) but the sorbet came out SO GOOD. The blueberry was strong, you’d swear there were fresh blueberries in there somehow, and of course EG is great in any cold form. All in all, a huge success! Worth the 5+ hours of work the total ensemble took.

Apparently it’s Girl Scout Cookie season! I honestly don’t keep track of these things but my parents always get me a box of Tagalongs (which are the best Girl Scout cookies for sure!). I eat two or three a night and keep them for as long as possible. They’re so yummy!

So what does that have o do with tea? Well, this tea smells JUST like a Tagalong. If you blindfolded me and stuck this under my nose I would think for sure it was a cookie. A fresh cookie! Imagine how amazing a Tagalong would be fresh out of the oven. Mmmm.

It doesn’t really taste like a Tagalong, which is a good thing. I love genmaicha, I love flavored genmaichas, but I don’t like them heavily flavored. This is essentially Marshmallow Treat (which I adore) with dark chocolate added. So, yes, it’s amazing! The cocoa nibs are fantastic, dark rich chocolate without being sweet or icky fake. The marshmallow is, of course, fantastic.

I drank this hot—I have surprisingly never tried Marshmallow Treat hot, always iced, but s’mores are supposed to be hot so of course I had to try it out that way first. I’ll be cold brewing the leaves tonight though!

This note was kind of all over the place, huh? But in closing—I love it! Marshmallow and chocolate and genmaicha, oh my!

One of my Christmas present requests was the Lupicia sampler that had all their holiday teas. I love that they don’t go with the traditional holiday flavors like peppermint, orange and clove—they seem more original and inspired by the season itself. Sadly they sold out the day after I added them to my wishlist, so it was not meant to be. But thanks to Emily M I am getting to try a few of them!

Carol is very much like one of my favorite Lupicia blends, Strawberry & Vanilla. It’s strawberry, vanilla, and a hint of rose with a black base instead of green. So, Strawberry & Vanilla minus the matcha and with black tea instead of green. And honestly I don’t remember if there are roses in S&V… I think there are? Maybe not.

The strawberry isn’t as candy-tasting here, a lot of people have said S&V reminds them of Nesquik and I definitely agree, that’s one of the reasons I love it! The flavor here is more natural and juicy, with softer vanilla tones. I don’t get any floral from the rose though, maybe a tiiiiiny bit at the end of the sip but it might be wishful thinking.

This is a nice tea, but I keep comparing it in my head to S&V. They’re so different though even with all the similarities—this is a lighter, softer, less sweet blend with a fuller black base that “covers up” the flavors perhaps a bit better than S&V. I think this would be really great as a latte, and I definitely have enough to try it out that way!

For some reason I got this confused with Prairie Berry and made it as one of my cold brews last night because I was craving berry tea. Why I thought this was a berry tea I’m not sure—did those two come out the same time? Either way I really like Prairie Berry yet I seem not to have logged it. Mysterious!

Anyway, I got a sample of this from TeaEqualsBliss—either from our swap or the TTB, which arrived together. I really need to start logging my samples when I get them so I can keep track of everything, sigh. I’m so unorganized! I used to have a spreadsheet for all my teas (well I guess I still do), but I stopped logging teas in it once I got to 300. Laziness and tea organization do not go well together.

Anyway, this tea! It’s peach. Very peach. I don’t mind peach teas but they are not my favorite, unless it’s peach from Lupicia which seems… I don’t know, riper than other peach flavorings? Peach can be so terribly generic tasting, it’s one of those really popular flavors and almost any bottled/canned iced tea will have a peach variation. So sometimes I just feel peached-out!

This isn’t bad, just not what I was in the mood for. It is nicely creamy but not as creamy as I had hoped—I think a hint of vanilla would do wonders here. I have enough for one more cup so I’ll have to try again when I am in more of a peach mood!

Mangosteen is a pretty unusual fruit. I had mangosteen-flavored things often as a kid, growing up in the city has many advantages when it comes out to trying exotic fruits and veggies! But generally it’s quite hard to find anything that really tastes like mangosteen, usually in teas it’s just flaunted as being a “superfruit” and then drowned out with peach or melon.

Mangosteen is the queen of Thai fruit, sweet and syrupy and at times a little floral even. It does remind me of lychee, though with a fuller flavor (if that makes sense). Usually you eat just the center flesh, but this matcha is made with the outer purple part as well! So it’s not just flavored, but actually uses parts of the actual fruit. Interesting for sure!

The flavor is not what I expected. No syrupy-sweet fruity tones, but a more earthy, nutty flavor. It reminds me of almond and mango rind mixed together! Which isn’t that surprising, given that it’s the rind part (which I will freely admit I never tasted—I go straight for the fleshy heart). Mm, gruesome, fleshy fruit hearts!

Anyway I really enjoyed this one, plus it’s extra good for you with the bits of rind in there. I added a splash of almond milk to bump up the nutty flavors and it really shone! Super unusual but in all the right ways. Thanks so much to Azzrian for letting me try this one out!

This is a tea I was really looking forward to. I mean, lemongrass and rose? Yes please! Sounds divinely simple. But as soon as I started brewing this one up last night I knew there was something a little off. The bag (I got sample sized, so it’s around 1 ounce) has tons of lemongrass but very few rosebuds. Which wouldn’t be an issue if there was rose flavoring (note that I have zero issues with either natural or artificial flavoring!), but sadly there’s just not a whole lot of rose here.

The lemongrass is nice and very high quality, but I am missing the rose. There’s just a wisp of it at the end of the sip, a hint of floral, but this tea just leaves me wanting. I’m going to give it another try, possibly as a cold brew, before rating it but right now I’m just disappointed.

So there’s this magical place in the city called Doughnut Plant that makes the best donuts in the world. Seriously, there is nothing better than their creme brulee donut. It has actual caramelized sugar on top! But my favorite of theirs is the rose donut, filled with floral pastry cream. It’s so good!

And, happily, that’s what this tea reminds me of. Rose pastries! Rose cupcakes! Creamy, smooth, floral but not too strong with just the right hint of rose. I noticed a lot of reviews complain about it being weak but I cold brewed my cup and it came out quite strong! Kind of sad I only got a sample of this one.

Golden Fleece round 2, fight!

As I mentioned in my last note, I cold brewed my leaves from yesterday. I did 4 short steeps in my fish gaiwan so I knew there was more than enough flavor left in here for a cold brew! And I know some people must be thinking it’s crazy to cold brew leaves like this but let me tell you, I am a cold brew addict. I do it to almost every tea that crosses my path, and 90% of the time I prefer them that way! Teas can taste quite different with this brewing method and I tend to like the sweeter, softer notes that it brings out.

The liquid after a 12 hour steep is… well, it’s golden! My steeps last night were much darker, a murky brown even with super short steeps, but this time it’s a stunning color. Liquid gold!

And the flavor… oh my. Hello, Golden Fleece! It smells like fresh pastries, brioche buns hot out of the oven. I think I am finally seeing (well, tasting) what all the fuss was about! This is liquid honey, soft and floral (yes, floral, from a Dian Hong!), faint notes of citrus and malt. Orange blossom, and the end of the sip is almost custardy. This is Fabulous with a capitol F. I think I’m in love… which is unfortunate given how pricey this is and, you know, the fact that even if I could afford it, Golden Fleece is sold out!

Another from the Traveling Tea Box! I have quite a few rose blacks in my cupboard but I am always up for trying some more. This one smells lovely, very strong rose flavor! I cold brewed it because, well, I was really in the mood for an iced rose tea!

This is nice, the rose is very powerful but not in a prefumey way and it reminds me of many of the rose congus I’ve had in the past. The black base is nice but ceylons aren’t really my favorite (with the notable exception of GMT’s Sinhraja!). I kind of think of them as the “default” black tea since sooo many blends use it. I’m sure ceylons can be very nice but I never end up picking out individual notes, they just taste like strong tea! I think that speaks more of my own bias and tea history (since most bagged ones use CTC ceylon) rather than Ceylon as a region.

I had half a cup of my iced Blueberry Crumble from Della Terra left over, and on a whim I mixed it with this. It went from good to oh my god incredible! Cinnamon and rose, mmmm. The blueberry couldn’t really compete with the cinnamon crumble and rose notes, but holy cow is that a good mix. I think I need to try out something similar with Blueberry Crumble and Amandine Rose!

We meet at last, Candy Cane Lane. As a peppermint junkie I’ve wanted to try this forever: I went to 6 different grocery stores during the holiday season and not a single one had the CS seasonal blends! What the heck. But thanks to a swap with Marcel Duchamp I am finally trying this one out!

Piping hot this really just tastes like peppermint, I was a little disappointed. No vanilla, definitely no cinnamon! But I let it cool a bit as I was reading and once it was hot but not too hot the magic happened. Peppermint, vanilla, cinnamon, oh my! This reminds me of Santa’s Secret and Della Terra’s Peppermint Bark, only a bit softer (because of the green base instead of black) and the cinnamon gives it a really warming feeling.

This is so good! Like, outrageously good for a bagged tea. I usually have Twinning’s Peppermint on-hand for when I need a bagged mint but I think I will be swapping it out for this. I mean, it has everything! Super minty and refreshing, smooth vanilla, warming cinnamon, plus it’s decaf. Yum!

Have you noticed that sometimes a tea will get a whole lot of tasting notes in a few days? Not even a new tea or one in a tea subscription. That is what happened with this one, I saw some notes on it and was suddenly hit by a craving. Thanks to my swap with Marcel Duchamp, which was perfectly timed, I get to try this one!

I love spiced orange teas. Not cinnamon orange, which can quickly become overpowering, but that kind of melded ginger-cinnamon-anise blend that’s not quite chai. This tea smells SO good while it is brewing, rich and wintry and divine.

The orange and spice are definitely strong here! I don’t know if the oolong really stands out at all, maybe it’s a little woodsy but honestly it’s Teavana, I don’t expect the base to shine. I just want a nice orange cinnamon cup!

But, lurking in the background… hibiscus! What. Not in the description at all! I don’t even know why it is here! The orange flavoring is tart enough as is. I think without the hibiscus I would be head over heels in love with this blend but as it is I just like it. Well, actually I really enjoyed my cup! But I’d like it more without the hibiscus. I’ll be cold brewing my leaves though, which I’ve found lessens the hibiscus (especially if they’ve been brewed once already).

Ah the mythical Golden Fleece. It’s been built up to such levels of epicness by fellow Steepsters that I’ve been hesitant to even open my sample. I had convinced myself that I needed to refine my pallet more so that the beauty of this tea wouldn’t be lost. I mean, it’s such a rare tea and people love it so much… I honestly almost felt guilty having it, like I knew I wouldn’t appreciate it fully and someone else who could was missing out.

Three days ago I decided that was the stupidest thing ever. Tea is about the journey, not building any single leaf up to be some mythical destination. Golden Fleece is not the endgame, it’s a step on my teaventure! So I ripped open the packet with glee (okay, I carefully cut it up, but that is not as dramatic sounding) and inhaled the delicious aroma. Malt! Chocolate! Like fancy chocolate cake. Flourless chocolate cake, the “so dark and decadent it should be illegal” kind. And that just from the smell~!

So far I’ve brewed up 4 steeps in my gaiwan. I tasted them all individually and in the end mixed them together into a mug. There was not a huge amount of variation in steeps 1-4 so I feel like it’s okay to do! 1-2 had some faint vanilla notes that weren’t present in 3-4, and 3-4 were a bit deeper in color and flavor (though I chalk that up to the longer steep time).

I love Yunnan blacks, and this is a delicious one! Malt and caramelized sugar are the predominant notes, the sugar flavor bordering on almost bitter but the brew is smooth enough to make up for that. Oddly enough there is no cocoa or chocolate in the steep even though it smelled so heavily of it! My cup is leaning more towards yeasty bread, rye bread, maybe even pumpernickel! Very dark and deep.

There are also some citrusy orange notes similar to what I got from Teavivre’s Yunnan Dian Hong. Blood orange!

I’ll be honest: I like this tea, but so far it’s not showing me any “wow” qualities that I haven’t seen in other high-quality Yunnans. Of course I have many steeps left in these leaves and half the sample to go, so the journey’s not over yet! I will hold off on a rating until I feel like I have really “gotten to know” this tea: I brewed it at near-boiling as per the instructions on the back but some of the notes (caramel, orange) verged into bitter territory and I think this tea would benefit from a lower temperature. Also going to try out cold brewing, because why not? Gonna get as much use out of these pretty leaves as I can!

My neighborhood is the exact opposite of a food desert. A food oasis! It’s so packed with places to get delicious goodies that I honestly don’t know about even half the places within a 2 block radius. Might sound like I am exaggerating but it’s the truth! For example, 2 weeks ago I discovered a Chinese bakery literally around the corner from me that has been there for years. Yet I missed it! Considering that I am addicted to red bean buns this is like the best news ever.

Plus, everything is insanely cheap. Spent $4 today (no taxes since it’s cash only!) and got a red bean bun, a taro bun, a pastry cream stuffed croissant and a raisin & cream cheese pastry. Yum! Of course I can’t eat all of those in one day, I’m so stuffed from my late lunch of homemade korma that I don’t even have room for a bite right now. But they smell so delicious! I keep sticking my face in the bag and taking big whiffs.

Um, yeah, so this is supposed to be about tea. Whoops, I got carried away by my love for red beans! Can you really blame me? I made this last night while planning my bakery trip (see, they are connected!) thinking that a citrusy jasmine would go well with heavy desserts. This tea isn’t really what I expected, though. It’s floral and citursy but not in any identifiable way. I’d never go “oh, this is jasmine and lemon!” Really, it might as well be rose and lime or lavender and orange on the label.

It’s weird that the flavor is so vague. I am usually really good at identifying floral scents—we had all kinds of flowers in the garden when I was little and I spent a ton of time gardening with my dad (or rather, running around with the kitties while he worked ^^;) so I can generally tell the difference between lilac, magnolia, violet, hyacinth, rose, etc. But here it’s just… kinda generic floral. Like walking by a flower shop—you get hit by all these flowery smells but none of them are distinct. And the citrus is the same way! What kind of magic is this?

It’s not a bad cup of tea, it’s just… weird. Well, not weird tasting, but it’s frustrating not being able to identify smells and tastes. Ah well, lemon jasmine tea does sound really good so now I am thinking about hunting one down!

I have been on the hunt for a rose, lavender and peppermint herbal blend for a while, so when I got home from my meet with Mercuryhime and saw that she’d put a whole ounce in my goodie bag I nearly squealed with joy. Secret Garden, are you the tea I’ve been looking for?

This is not a pure rose/lavender/mint blend—there’s chamomile and rooibos in there as well. The chamomile I don’t mind at all since it’s good for getting sleepy, and there’s so little rooibos it’s not enough to trigger a headache. So far so good! I made up a cup of this last night and actually fell asleep before I could finish it so I guess that is definitely a good sign.

This is a really floral blend. I mean it has 3 floral elements! The rose is quite strong but there is not a ton of lavender, just a soft backing note. The chamomile is more in play than the lavender I think. The mint is almost as strong as the rose, which being a peppermint fan I love! And then finally there’s my old enemy Mr. Rooibos, which thankfully is doing little more than making the cup kind of red. There are some woodsy notes that I associate more with honeybush and no gross medicinal taste (or headaches, yay!).

All in all, a success! I would eventually like a blend that is just mint, rose and lavender… though probably it would be easier and cheaper to blend it myself. Thanks Mercuryhime!

Blueberry coffee cake! That is what this tea tastes like. It’s not as in-your-face cake-y as Pineapple Upside Down Cake, but the flavoring is still there. Soft cinnamon backs up a very natural tasting blueberry flavor for a really wonderful cup.

While this is a green/black blend it tastes like a pure green one to me—and looks like it too, it brews up very pale! I’ve been looking for a good cinnamon & blueberry tea and this is most definitely it. The cinnamon isn’t hot and spicy like in some other Della Terra blends, but warming and soft like you’d find in baked goods. The sprinkles add a little sweetness so you definitely don’t need any added sugar in the cup!

Plus it’s such a pretty blend, the pink sprinkles and green leaves really make me think of Easter and the egg hunts I used to do as a kid. My cousin’s neighbor had a HUGE farm and she would hold a massive Easter Egg hunt there. Eggs filled with candy, not real ones! It would take all day to find them all, they would be everywhere: tucked down rabbit holes, hidden in tree branches, even some in her house hiding under table legs and in teapots! There would always be a few in the chicken coop too snuggled in with the real eggs. It’s a miracle we never broke anything (both her china and our limbs from climbing around so much!). Some of my favorite childhood memories are from that farm and for whatever reason this tea is bringing me right back there. A lovely blend!

Another holiday blend from the Traveling Tea Box! It’s funny that Candy Cane Lane seems to get such amazing reviews (and I finally have a sample of it to try, hooray!) but the rest of them have low ratings. I was disappointed in the Nutcracker blend but I must persevere!

This is, hmm, interesting. Doesn’t taste a whole lot like gingerbread, though there is definitely ginger and cinnamon in here. But I am tasting this odd almost chocolatey element which sounds like it would be good but it’s oddly fake and waxy. And at the end of the sip it’s sour for some reason? I greatly prefer the Bigelow Gingerbread one, this is just a little funky.