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This sample is from Marzipan. She sent me a few teas by this company in her holiday package. This looks like it’s basically the same thing as David’s Santa’s Secret – black tea with peppermint, vanilla, and sprinkles. Although this version has some odd things in it… My sample has an unpopped popcorn kernel, which I can’t imagine serving a purpose, and some of those little silver dragee sprinkles. Dry scent is mildly minty and sweet.

Hm, this is just okay for me. The black tea base doesn’t have a lot of taste. The peppermint is nice and mild, which I appreciate. However, I think it could do with a touch more vanilla to balance the mint. It’s not bad, but not amazing either.

Last French tea from ashmanra! I reduced the steep time to 3 minutes this time, just to make sure there’s no bitterness. This one has some lovely flower petals mixed in with the leaf, which is very Easter-y to me and the colors are well-chosen.

The steeped tea smells of sweet fruit and vanilla. Hm, surprisingly I can barely taste any flavoring in this one. It’s odd how some of DF’s teas are super subtle with the added flavors (or I suppose it could be old). The base tea is mellow and smooth, and I can taste a little bit of vague fruit as well as sweetness and a tiny bit of cocoa. It’s okay, but needs more flavor as the base tea can’t really stand on its own.

Another sample from ashmanra. This one sounds amazing, and it even has fig, which is my very favorite fruit flavor! The tea itself appears to be only smallish brown leaves mixed with flower petals.

The base here is somewhat earthy as well, maybe it has some Keemun in it. I can taste the fig, which is lovely and sweet and syrupy. I’m not sure whether I’m getting any clementine or nutmeg, but this cup also came out a teensy bit bitter, so it could be covering them up. Actually, I think I can taste a tiny bit of citrus. Overall, tasty.

This sample came from ashmanra, who was kind enough to send me samples of some of her French teas. Apparently a charlotte is the same thing as an icebox cake, yum. The base tea here looks unusual for DF, the leaves are super small and super thin, and almost jet black in color. According to the description, it’s a Keemun. There are also some dried flower petals mixed in, which doesn’t really make sense given the flavors here.

The steeped tea smells quite earthy, which makes sense given the Keemun base. Whoa, for some reason this came out quite bitter. And other than that, I’m not a huge fan of this tea base. It’s very earthy with strong mineral notes and an almost smoky thing going on. I don’t really taste chocolate much, I think it’s somewhat lost among the similarly bitter base tea. I guess this one needed a shorter steep time, I’m used to DF teas being able to handle a 4-minute steep without getting bitter.

I actually have two samples of this tea – one from Stephanie and one from ashmanra. Sorry ladies, I dunno how that happened. I’m not the hugest puerh fan, but I find some flavored puerhs can be quite tasty. The loose puerh here is a dark chocolate brown color. Dry scent is earthy but sweet with a touch of cinnamon?

Hmm… I’m actually not getting a lot of additional flavor here besides the puerh itself. And I will say, this puerh is earthy but it’s extremely smooth and there’s no fishy taste at all. I can perhaps taste a tiny touch of caramel? I think the vanilla may be hidden by the fact that the puerh is pretty woody and vanilla is sometimes woody as well. It’s not bad, but it tastes like a straight puerh to me.

Another sample from miss Stephanie. I love figs, so I’m always interested in fig teas. I’m really hoping the coconut in here doesn’t ruin this one, I try to avoid teas with actual coconut in them because it ages so poorly. I can already smell the soapiness through the plastic baggie. :( This is a fairly chunky tea, there are large chunks of fruit along with the coconut shreds and some crushed spices.

The steeped cup smells mostly of soapy coconut. I can definitely taste the soapy flavor in the taste as well, aww… Otherwise this tastes quite mellow for a puerh base, and it’s mildly sweet and spicy. Withholding rating. :(

This tea came from Stephanie. She was talking about it in Steepster chat and it sounded amazing! Luckily she was sweet enough to send me a sample in my holiday package. I’ve been pretty impressed with Dammann’s teas, especially after doing their advent calendar this past year. This one has small black leaves and there are pieces of dried fruit and some flowers included.

Steeped tea smells of dried fruit and a touch of booze. Flavor-wise, it’s pretty subtle. I can taste the prune, and it’s dark and rich and yummy. There’s also a little bit of a booze note from the vodka. Perhaps a little bit of almost-bitter cocoa? Overall, it’s yummy, especially for a dried fruit lover like me.

This one also came from the December Amoda box. I have to say, for some reason it seems like blueberry teas get the brunt of the hibiscus abuse. And that makes me sad, because I love blueberry, but I hate hibiscus. Hopefully it plays a small role here. The dry tea reminds me of a very specific blueberry-flavored something, unfortunately I can’t think of what it is. It’s a very sweet and jammy blueberry smell.

Unfortunately, I can already smell the hibiscus tartness in the steeped cup. Why must they do this to me? This has a much milder flavor than I expected. And the flavor is actually quite lovely, mostly (fresh) blueberry with no real tartness. However, it’s a teeny bit bitter even though I only steeped for 3 minutes, and other than that the base doesn’t taste like much. Also, a touch of astringency is showing itself already. I do enjoy the depth that the elderberries and currants add to the blueberry.

Time for some lazy notes! I have a lot of untried flavored tea samples from various sources, and since I haven’t been enjoying flavored teas much lately, I thought it best to get them all over with in one sitting. So this one is first up, and it came from the December Amoda box. Dry, it actually smells almost boozy? Must be the vanilla flavoring. I can also smell a bit of ginger.

The steeped tea smells much more gingery, but I can also smell the vanilla still. The taste is actually less gingery than I expected, which is a pleasant surprise. And it does taste creamy and vanilla-y. Still, never going to be a favorite since I don’t like ginger.

My last Yezi black tea sample! I’ve enjoyed all their teas so far, though they tend to be a bit expensive for my tastes. This is actually one of their cheaper black teas, so hopefully I enjoy it as much as the pricier ones. The leaves are medium-sized and while they’re long and slender, they’re not wiry-looking. The color is a medium to dark brown with some golden tips included. Dry scent is hay and potatoes.

The steeped tea… smells exactly like French fries to me. Excuse me while I sit here and sniff it for a few minutes… Wow, it tastes very potato-y as well! Totally French fries. There’s also a light sort of green vegetable flavor as well as a slightly sweet and rich caramel/molasses touch. Mostly though, I taste French fries. There is perhaps a touch of fruit near the end, some kind of dried fruit, perhaps prune? Overall, this is a nice mostly savory and thick tea. It’s almost bitter, but not quite there.