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A sample from derk, labeled “Greek Sage from Halki Island”.

This one was a bit outside of my comfort zone, since I’m not a big sage fan to begin with. But I found as long as I didn’t use too much leaf, I was still able to enjoy this tisane. It’s earthy, herbaceous, savory, slightly sweet, a touch eucalyptus-y. Sagey, obviously.

Fun to try, but not something I would reach for often. Happy for the opportunity to try it though, thanks derk!

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I’ve been slacking on my Obubu teas lately, too many things to sipdown at once! Plus, you know, it would certainly help if I’d stop buying tea… ^^’

Anyway, this is a scrumptious hojicha! It’s apparently made from a spring sencha instead of the traditional bancha. I’m not sure I would know that necessarily, it doesn’t taste more vegetal than usual. But it does strike a nice balance of roasty, nutty, buttery, a touch woody, with plenty of nice autumnal dry leaf notes.

I always have a difficult time finding the subtleties of hojicha and roasted teas in general, but it’s tasty! Not sure I would necessarily order it over their other hojicha varieties. But that’s a non-issue since I still have plenty more hojicha backlog to sip through! :P

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Yay, finished off one of my oldest teas! \o/ From October 2018.

This was the last of several teas that I bought at a Dammann Frères storefront in Nîmes, France, while there on a work trip. An odd choice really, I do enjoy black licorice in general, but it’s not like it’s a favorite of mine, and this is simply a black licorice-flavored black tea. It’s executed very well, there’s no licorice root so you don’t get that cloying sweet aftertaste that I hate. The black tea is smooth and the licorice flavor really does taste just like a black licorice rope or black jellybean. It’s quite strong, which is impressive given it’s over four years old at this point!

Not something I would reorder, since it’s a bit of a niche flavor for me, but it’s a yummy tea and I would definitely recommend it for lovers of black licorice! :)

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The bergamot in this one was just a bit too powerful for me to enjoying drinking it plain, so I ended up sipping it with a bit of oat milk added and really enjoyed it that way. The bergamot is quite sweet, but also very strong and floral. I found it overwhelmed the black tea when I tried it sans additions, so I had a difficult time picking out the flavor notes underneath. It’s definitely quite smooth, a touch woody and malty, and perhaps with a bit of a deep caramelized sugar note.

Anyway, not one I would personally order just because I prefer a softer bergamot flavor, but it’s definitely a high-quality tea and I would recommend it for lovers of strong bergamot!

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The last pouch remaining from a Bitterleaf sampler I ordered at some point.

I don’t have much experience with sheng puerh, but this reminded me of a sort of combination of an aged white tea and a shou puerh. It has the smooth and earthy, yet slightly creamy hay and straw notes of the white tea, but then there’s a somewhat funky barnyard note to it that makes me think of shou. A touch of fuzzy apricot skin at the end of the sip brings in thoughts of Chinese green teas as well.

Overall, it’s a nice tea and definitely a change of pace for me. I would like to explore sheng a bit, it definitely appeals to me more than shou does. Maybe next year I’ll look into ordering a few samples to try.

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This is a nice one. I do wish the flavoring was just a bit stronger though. The cranberry does actually taste like cranberry juice, which is impressive to me as I’m always disappointed in cranberry teas. And then there’s the orange as well, which is a true orange flavor with some orange zest as well. They blend together beautifully. The rooibos base isn’t medicinal at all, it has a nice smooth, almost biscuity flavor to it with hints of wood and cream.

So it ends up reminding me a bit of some sort of cranberry orange scone, with that biscuity rooibos up front and then little bits of orange and cranberry mixed in. Even though I would prefer stronger flavoring, I still really enjoyed it. I would consider ordering this one again. :)

So I made an order with Stash to get their White Christmas tea (which is an online exclusive for some reason) and this piqued my interest so it tagged along. And I also got a couple of cute holiday mugs because I have no self-control… ^^’

Anyway! I was excited to try this one, but sadly I just don’t like it very much… The elderflower is fine, but I’m not a fan of the yuzu flavoring. It’s a bit… chemical-tasting? It’s too pithy and bitter, and it’s just an odd combination with the soft elderflower.

So I guess this is going directly into the rehoming box! :P

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Thank you, derk, for letting me revisit one of my favorites! :D

Love this one from Dammann. The combination of the sweet-tart passion fruit with the earthy, warm ginger and a touch of bright lime is just so nice. Overall it’s a fairly subtly flavored tea, which I appreciate as well. I even like the Chinese sencha base, which is not something I would normally say, but here it has a soft, mellow grassiness that supports the added flavors well without being too strong or too sharp.

Just yum, so soothing and perfect for the afternoon. I’ll restock this one eventually! :)

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More derk tea today! ♥

This is a very nice Earl Grey, with long full leaves and bergamot oil. The level of bergamot is perfect for me, obvious without being overwhelming. The tea itself is quite mellow, super smooth but not contributing a ton of flavor. I can taste a bit of woodiness, along with wet leaves and a hint of malt. The bergamot is more floral than citrusy, a bit peppery too.

A very aromatic tea to be sure. I honestly don’t drink plain Earl Grey very often, as I tend to prefer bergamot with added citrus or other flavors, but this was a nice change of pace. :)

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From derk – “Pomegranate Tea from Istanbul”

This looks like a very finely ground fruit tisane? And that’s what I assumed when I steeped it as well. It’s definitely quite heavy on the hibiscus, but there’s some sweetness to it as well which helps balance things. It has a generic sort of red fruit tisane flavor to it, somewhere between juice and gummy candies.

Anyway, not really my thing since I’m not a fruit tisane lover, but it was fun to try and enjoyable as my last tea of the night!