CHAroma

52teas always seems to create something magical that pulls me in even when I’m hemorrhaging money into an over budget wedding. Gooey butter cake?? Who can resist that?! Obviously, not me. ;) Budget smudget.

The dry leaf aroma is butter and…something fruity? That’s unexpected. Reading the label, it must be the lemon myrtle. What’s lemon myrtle doing in my butter cake? Ironically, I had some butter cake earlier today. It was definitely not fruit-flavored, although it was paired with cinnamon apples and vanilla ice cream (which by the way is a to-die-for combination!).

The brewed tea aroma is most definitely lemon! Lots of lemon with black tea, and a hint of butter. Reminds me of that lemon, marshmallow, green, kitten-in-the-sky tea from a while back (if you couldn’t tell from that horribly inept description, I’m referring to Sun and Cloud Mist Tea). Kind of tastes like a black tea version of that too.

I’m not sure why lemon was added to this blend. It’s not a normal ingredient in any butter cake I’ve had. And it overwhelms the butter flavor almost completely! Hmm, well that’s a bit of a disappointment. It’s not a bad tea. But it’s not the gooey, buttery, cakey tea that I wanted.

It’s also a little bitter. I’m going to add some skim milk and Truvia and see what happens. Wow, much better! I also altered my expectations whilst exiting the kitchen. If I sip this thinking I’m about to have a nice black tea with lemon, it surpasses expectations! It’s really very yummy. But if I think I’m about to indulge in a liquefied butter cake, I’m left disappointed.

Goes to show that expectations really can alter our perceptions. I think I’ll stick with thinking of this as a lemon black. Because in that respect, it’s very very good.

Apricot Guayusa! My first flavored guayusa. This is definitely better than unflavored guayusa. Nice apricot flavor. It’s not bad. I wish I had more to say about it, but it’s a fairly simple cup of tea. There’s not a lot of dimension to guayusa in my opinion. It’s a unique flavor, just not one of my favorites. It is nice every once in a while for a change of pace. Thanks to Kittenna for the chance to try another Butiki creation!

Hmm, this tea is pretty bland. Not sure what all the hubbub is about. I received this sample from the lovely Kittenna who also sent along a giant assortment of teas (thank you!!!). The entire package smells like a hodge podge of tea aromas. So every time I open a baggie and have a whiff before brewing, there’s no way to tell it apart from the rest. It just smells like hodge podge.

But usually once I steep the tea, the brewed tea aroma is clean and whatever the tea is supposed to smell like. But this one? The brewed tea aroma still smells like hodge podge! Which leads me to believe that maybe this little sample overwhelmed all the other aromas in the package…but then it should be quite flavorful, no? Hmm, I’m perplexed. It’s not a bad flavor per say. Just light and kind of neutral and a tad hodge podge-y like the aroma.

I’ll go for a second steep before calling the verdict though. This time I used less water and let it steep for a full 6 minutes. Hmm, there’s really no nutty pistachio flavor to speak of still. Perhaps I let the sample sit too long in my cupboard…Suffice it to say that this tea is not a winner with me. Sad. It had so much potential.

It’s fall, so it’s the perfect time of year to try this Pumpkin Chai from DAVIDsTEA! I’m so excited. I’ve been drinking Starbucks’ spiced pumpkin lattes to get my fall fix. But I’ve really wanted to try this Pumpkin Chai from the moment I heard about it. Thanks to Kittenna for making it possible!

The dry leaves definitely smell pumpkin-y. Part of me really wants to grab these orange hearts out of the mix and pop ‘em in my mouth just to see if they do taste like pumpkin. But alas, I’ll have to wait until the tea is brewed. Pouring hot water over the leaves releases a whoosh of pumpkin spice aroma. Mmm, wow. This smells awesome!!

And it tastes just as delicious as it smells. Mmm yum yum yummy yum! I’m not sure it can replace my Starbucks addiction, but this is pretty incredible. I’m definitely going to have to stock up on this myself! Thanks again Kittenna!!

I’m in an adventurous mood this morning, so I’m going to try something new. My very vocal kitty watched as I quickly brewed up this sample from Kittenna. The dry leaf aroma is chocolate and herbs and spices, while the brewed tea aroma is chocolate and licorice. Really strong licorice! No strawberry is detectable.

There’s lots of floaties that escaped from my strainer, and the liquor is a strange muddy, translucent brown. The taste is kind of strange too. I’m not sure what to make of it. The aftertaste is too funky for my liking. I guess chocolate, herbs, and licorice just isn’t my love elixir. Thanks to Kittenna for the chance to try it! Although I’m not sure it’s bothered me in the past, I think I share your opinion of licorice in teas now.

If anyone is looking for a true chocolate covered strawberry experience, go with Love Tea #7.

Time for an oldie but a goodie! I’ve only tried this milk oolong (or any milk oolong for that matter) on one other occasion. It was delightful!! And I believe I even forgot about it at one point and let it steep for an hour or two and it was still good!

I’m definitely in the mood for oolong, so I picked this one out of my stash, set the tea kettle to boil, and pulled up my favorite application, Word! Today is going to be the day of exclamation points, I can just tell. ;) I can hear the water beginning to boil, and I’m getting super excited!! I’m going to try the first infusion at 1.5 minutes.

It really feels great to be drinking tea and blogging again. It’s very relaxing. And God knows I could use some relaxation after the non-stop dishwashing tour I went on this afternoon. Stupid dishwasher is broken. The maintenance guy came in, looked at it for 15 seconds and said it’s irreparable. On top of that, they don’t have any replacement dishwashers in stock. So, I’m on my own for the foreseeable future.

Thank God I’m leaving this ****hole in a month. It’s just one thing after another. Earlier this week, I went to check the mail and my key didn’t fit in the mailbox. I went by the office and they said they “accidently” changed the lock. What idiots. Seriously, who does that? Ugh.

So yeah, I could use a nice relaxing cup of tea. Mmmm, this is a yummy first cup! It’s sweet and floral and very honey-esque. I’m going to have to take the second infusion to go because I’m off to meet my fiancé, father, and step-mother for dinner. Although it wasn’t a whole lot of time to relax, this tea definitely settled my Ch’i. I’m feeling good!

Buttered Rum! All right! I’ve been waiting to try this one for a while. Thanks to Ninavampi for making it possible!

The dry leaf aroma is butter and coconut. Maybe a hint of vanilla, or I could be imagining it since I read it in the ingredient list and therefore know it’s supposed to be present. Mmm, but it sure does smell yummy! After a four minute infusion, the brewed tea aroma is heaven! Pure butter and coconut!

Oof, I really have the munchies right now. I hope this tea hits the spot so that I don’t break my wedding diet. It was my fiancé’s 25th birthday yesterday, so we went out and had ice cream, buttery popcorn, crab cakes, oysters, snow crab legs, and hot wings. Definitely broke the diet yesterday. Can’t afford to break it two days in a row. Plus, I didn’t work out yesterday either.

Okay, this tea is really calling my name. My stomach is actually grumbling in anticipation! First sip…wow, bitterness followed by coconut followed by a mouthwatering butter flavor. The aftertaste is by far the best part of this tea. I think I’m going to have to add milk and sugar though to cut through that initial black tea bitterness. Or maybe it’s a rum flavoring? Not sure if that’s in here or not.

Mmmm, much better with milk and sugar. Yum! This is a tasty tea. Not sure it’s killing the munchies, but maybe I just need a couple more cups. Second infusion for 6.5 minutes. Mmm, still buttery and coconutty and delicious! Thanks again, Ninavampi!!!

Sadly, this tea is just making me hungrier. I think I might order a pizza. But thin crust. And with veggies! That’s not too bad, is it? Oh heck, you only live once! I still have 8 months till the wedding anyway. :P And now I’ll be guilted into working out tonight for sure!! ;)

Hello, Steepsterites!!!! Sorry that I dropped off the face of the planet. I’ve been super busy with wedding planning, trips to visit family, handling what feels like a million problems at work, and still trying to find time to work out and remain sane.

I don’t think I can keep up with the rate at which I tea blogged and read/liked everyone’s posts. I haven’t even drunk a cup of tea in over a month! Well, unless you count the disgusting cup of overly sweetened iced green tea I had yesterday from Panera. Yuck. Tasted like lipstick. Anyway, I’m not disappearing forever. I’ll pop on every now and then, just not quite as often as I used to (i.e. not daily). Nonetheless, I apologize if anyone has been left feeling neglected. I promise it’s not on purpose and I still love all of you, even if I can’t like all your posts!

Okay, well here’s a long anticipated tea from the generous Kittenna!!! Golden Fleece, you are my heart’s desire. I can’t believe how long you’ve sat in my cupboard waiting to be steeped. Well, your wait is over!

The dry leaf aroma is a jumbled compilation of the other teas that Kittenna sent. But the brewed tea aroma? Malt and bread and cocoa. Ohhhh yeah! This is the tea of my dreams! Well actually, my dreams have been quite strange of late. Most are set in an apocalyptic world with someone trying to kill me. I often wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat. So much for restful sleep.

Anyway, time to actually taste it. Ohhhh, this tea is incredible! Exactly what I could ever have hoped for and more. It’s the perfect Yunnan black. 100% complete yum factor. Who knew a tea could be so flavorful after a quick one minute steeping? I’m going for quality over quantity so the second steep was for two minutes. Mmm, this tea is sweet and silky and surprisingly frothy when you pour hot water over the leaves.

There’s also a hint of darkness. Not full bitterness and definitely not astringency. But there’s a subtle darkness to the cup, perhaps leaning towards bitterness but not completely there. This is interesting and quite unexpected. The first cup was very smooth. Maybe I should have used less than boiling water? Or maybe I should have gone for the gong fu method of brewing instead of Western style.

I’ll try 195 degrees for 2.5 minutes for the third steep. Yay! All traces of darkness are gone! Now I’m left with a cup of the Yunnan black I love. However, for that earlier odd hint of darkness, I feel compelled to lower the rating a tad. I was expecting 100, so maybe my high expectations tarnished the evaluation. But it is still amazing, and I’m glad that I had the opportunity to try it. Without Kittenna I wouldn’t have had the chance. Thank you sooo much!!

I’m not feeling very poetic today, so this will be a short, straightforward review.

Hmm, I’m not sure I like papaya. No way to know until I tried it though! The Bai Mu Dan is quiet and lingers in the background. The mango is fairly quiet as well, overshadowed by the papaya. I’ve never wanted to add sweetener to a white tea before, but that changed with this cup. Then again, I don’t want to ruin a good thing. Thanks to Kittenna for the sample!

On a happy note, I’m in the 6th week of P90X and I can actually do real push-ups now!!! I couldn’t even begin to bend my arms before I started the program. But now I can go really low and still push myself back up!! And I can do more than one!!! EEEEEEHH!!!

This tea really surprised me. From all the mixed reviews, I expected it to be a letdown. But it’s tasty! And sooo much like real chocolate cake!! The only con is that instead of curbing my craving for the real thing, it intensifies it.

I get warm chocolate cake and even sugary chocolate frosting in each sip! You know the thick, luscious flavor of a decadent three-layer chocolate cake from Outback or Red Lobster? That’s exactly what this tea reminds me of. I’m really astonished that they put all this in a tea!

Big thank you to Kittenna for sharing a sample with me! This tea is spot on, but now I really want a big slice of chocolate cake. I bet the two together would be heaven, mmmm! Drool.

Oooh, Kittenna sent me another tea on my shopping list! Woot!! And this is my first Butiki tea; I’m so excited! I feel like I say that about every tea. Tea tasting is just a bundle of excitement for me, what can I say?

The leaves are really neat looking. Tightly twisted, spindly, curled black and gold leaves. Time to brew it up and see what it tastes like!

Wow, this brewed up really light! It’s a very light golden color. I haven’t liked Kenyan teas in the past, but this one is different. It does have that slight aroma and taste that I don’t know how to describe but that I recognize as Kenyan. But it’s not off-putting like I usually find it. It’s good!

Like the liquor color, the taste is light. That’s not to say flavorless. There’s lots of flavor. It’s just a light, subdued cup of tea with mild astringency. No bitterness though. The description says cocoa and milk chocolate notes. I’m not getting any of those. I can imagine a pear undertone, but I’m not sure how much is truly in the cup vs in my imagination.

The second steep for 4.5 minutes brewed up much darker. Now it’s a reddish amber color. The flavor is pretty much the same, except maybe a bit less astringent. I’m not overwhelmed by awesomeness, but this was a fun tea to try. Thanks again Kittenna for sending me a sample!

I know I just complained about drinking hot tea, but I just have so many new samples from generous Steepsterites that I can’t resist!! So, I cranked up the A/C, and now it’s time for some hot tea! Woot! :D

This one in particular is verrrrrry exciting! I thought it was Golden Fleece, but it’s actually Yunnan Golden Buds. Which means I received yet another awesome Yunnan Verdant tea from Kittenna!! You rock!

The brewed tea aroma is resplendent! Can I say that to describe a tea? I think so. Resplendent!!! After the first sip, I sighed with pleasure. This tea is just…I’m speechless. It’s just incredible. Amazing. It has natural notes of cocoa and malt with some honey thrown in for good measure. Sooooo good!!!!

It’s a good thing I’m home alone, because this tea is evoking some salacious sounds from me, hehehe. ;) I was originally planning on steeping the Golden Fleece right after this to compare the two. But now I kind of want to hoard it, haha! The second steep for 2.5 minutes is just as delicious as the first! Nearly identical, only slightly milder and smoother.

I’m probably gonna’ go for at least four infusions here. There just aren’t enough adjectives in the English language to describe how spectacular this tea is. Thanks soooo much for sharing Kittenna!!!

Phew! How can life manage to be so busy and so dull at the same time? :P I’ve been swamped with school work in the final class of my online graduate certificate. It’s proven to be an astounding amount of work. Luckily, my full-time job is dependent upon the certificate, so they do allow me to complete assignments during work hours. Otherwise, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it.

It’s also been so hot, I can’t even imagine drinking hot tea. Well, I can imagine it, but it’s not appealing. Time to try another iced tea from 52teas’ spin-off brand, Southern Boy Teas!!

I love sherbet! Lime sherbet is probably my favorite. My mom always used to buy me some when I got strep throat. I hope this tea will be a healthier alternative! I brewed it up per the instructions on the packet, except I subtracted one cup of water so I could add ice without diluting it.

But just like with ice cream, I’m not sure sherbet translates into tea well. I believe this tea is lime, orange, and raspberry flavored. Honestly, that’s kind of a weird combination in my book. I’m not sure what to make of it.

The more I drink it, the more the flavors blend together to become a true sherbet taste. It’s good, and it’s definitely well made. It’s just not a favorite flavor combo of mine. I think it may take me a few days to finish off this pitcher. If you love these flavors, then you really can’t go wrong with this tea! I just prefer the strawberry, vanilla, chocolate combo in the Neapolitan Ice Cream tea.

I made this yesterday and ended up drinking half the pitcher! Hahaha! So, I think that probably speaks volumes about how good it is. I try to make myself a cup of tea in the mornings before heading off to work. But today was a little too hectic, so I just poured a glass of this into my tea tumbler and headed out the door.

I don’t know how, but I had almost forgotten what it tasted like overnight. So, when I got to work and had a sip of this tea, my jaw hit the floor! This stuff is soo good! Sooo incredibly yummy!!!

It tastes like all three flavors equally: strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. I don’t get much in the way of ice cream, but honestly that’s one of those things that I don’t think can be replicated in tea form. The black tea base is smooth and assertive. It blends perfectly with the added flavorings. Not a hint of bitterness or astringency in sight.

Truly, this is a fantastic iced tea!! And I’m not a huge iced tea drinker. I almost always prefer to drink teas hot. But this, this was made to be iced and it’s just to die for! I could drink this everyday, and I bet I’d wake up each morning and still be surprised that it tastes this good! ;)

Wow, this smells exactly like buttery, caramel corn! Yum! I really want to make some popcorn right now. But I’ll settle for having this tea instead. Or at least I’ll try this first and then see if the craving is still around. ;)

The ratio of green tea leaves to apple and popcorn pieces is about 1:20, so I’m interested to see how tea-like this is. I also probably could have gotten two cups out of this sample, but I just dumped the whole thing in my strainer without measuring. :P

The brewed tea aroma is also caramel corn with an added component of green tea. I’m not sure the combination is all that appealing. The other popcorn/caramel corn teas I’ve tried have had black tea bases. The taste will be the deciding factor though.

Wow, this flavor was completely unexpected from that aroma! It doesn’t taste like caramel corn at all. It also doesn’t taste anything like buttery popcorn. Instead, it tastes exactly like caramel apples! I guess that’s what DAVIDsTEA gets for putting tart apple in here and trying to pass that off as popcorn. Surprise! Apple tastes like apple!

This is actually pretty incredible. I’ve never had an apple tea that really tastes like genuine apple. And the addition of the caramel takes it from nice apple tea to awesome treat tea! For all you people out there combining Red Leaf Tea’s green apple matcha with caramel matcha in hopes of making a caramel apple tea, try this instead!!! It’s not what it promises (because it tastes nothing like popcorn), but that doesn’t mean it’s not a fantastic tea! It just needs to be renamed. :)

Thank you Ninavampi for sharing this delightful surprise!!!

I’m so confused by this tea. I wanted to fall madly in love like everyone else seems to have. But I’m trying to figure out if I even like matcha, let alone vanilla-flavored matcha. I’ve only had matcha one other time, and it was in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. It was part of my Japanese Civilization class in college. I think I liked it back then, but that was a long time ago…

Anyway, back to this matcha. It’s good. It’s spinachy and grassy. It’s noticeably vanilla. It’s very naturally flavored. There’s no weird aftertaste or funk. So, why don’t I love it? I tried it straight. I then added a tiny bit of sweetener. Then I tried frothing it in my milk frother. Finally, I added a little splash of skim milk. All of this tweaking helped squelch the grassiness. I’ve never really been of fan of green tea grassiness.

I think I would love this if I used it in cooking/baking. I can imagine amazing vanilla-flavored matcha icing on cupcakes (see DaisyChubb’s killer recipe here: http://www.daisychubb.com/recipe-chocolate-cupcakes-with-matcha-buttercream-chocolate-ganache/). I bet vanilla-flavored matcha scones would be good too. But this matcha by itself? Hmm, I think it’s something I’d have to learn to love. I don’t love it right now. I like it, and it’s definitely interesting. But it took me a good hour of slowly sipping on it to finish the cup.

Big thank you to Ninavampi for sharing her beloved matcha with me! I’m glad I got to try this before investing in a 30g bag. I think I’d enjoy a fruit flavored matcha more. So I’ll probably buy the strawberry one next with the strongest flavoring it comes with, which I believe would be “There’s matcha in there?!” I’ll let y’all know how that turns out, whenever I’m allowed to buy tea again that is. ;)

Mmm, strawberry shortcake tea! I took one sip plain and immediately knew the flavor would be enhanced with skim milk and Truvia, so I added some. It truly tastes like pound cake laden with strawberries and cream.

My mouth actually felt coated like when you eat heavy whipping cream. That coated mouthfeel overwhelms the strawberry and cake flavor, which is a little sad. I wish the strawberry was more bright and acidic like fresh strawberries.

Still, this is a yummy cup of tea. And who else can say they had strawberry shortcake for breakfast this morning? ;) Thanks for the sample, Kittenna!!

I have so many new teas to experience from recent swaps! I’m going to try and bounce between swap partners so that everyone feels the love. But since I usually only make one kind of tea a day, it will take a little while to get through all these samples. I’m up for the tea adventure though!! Thanks everyone! :)

This morning I thought I’d go for a much loved tea here on Steepster: Paris! Thanks to Ninavampi for giving me my first Harney & Sons tea!!! I can’t wait to try this! I was surprised to brew it up and get only an aroma of clean, unflavored, black tea. Doesn’t this have bergamot in it? That ingredient usually makes itself known! If I get anything else from the aroma, I’d say berry. I’m detecting a slight essence of something fruity and berry-like.

First sip without additions…hmm wow. This is interesting. It has a lot of flavor but at the same time is kind of delicate and understated. Is this flavored? If so, it’s very lightly flavored. I’m definitely getting berry plus a caramel note and maybe a hint of bergamot. The bergamot could be my imagination though. Honestly, it’s that light. There’s also quite a bit of vanilla in here, which I’m really enjoying. I love vanilla! At the very end of the sip, there’s a quiet burst of citrus.

This reminds me of something I’ve had before…it was definitely a 52teas tea. Actually, I think it’s Cotton Candy! Now, I don’t mean that Paris tastes like cotton candy. I just mean, the flavor profiles are similar somehow even though they shouldn’t be. Maybe it’s the black tea base?? So interesting.

It’s good, and I can definitely drink it straight without any additions. But I’m going to add some now just for fun. With milk and sugar, it’s become more of a generic creamy tea. I think it’s probably better without. I’ll make my second steep plain. I just can’t get 52teas’ Cotton Candy out of my mind. I wonder why this keeps reminding me of it. I might have to pick up a tin of this stuff. It’s complex yet subtle, flavored yet unflavored, berry/vanilla/citrus yet cotton candy! What a fascinating tea! Thanks again Ninavampi!!

OMG!! SOOOO much tea!! I received a giant swap package from Kittenna today! Just by opening the box, my whole kitchen now smells like a hodge-podge of tea aromas. :) Thank you so much, Kittenna!!

It was really hard to pick out the tea I’d try first, but I have yoga in a little while; so I wanted something quiet and calming that wouldn’t slosh uncomfortably in my stomach while I’m in downward dog for practically an hour and a half. This was the tea that fit the bill!

On first inspection of the dry leaf, I’m even more excited! They’re long, beautiful, fuzzy silver needle leaves. The jasmine scent is overwhelmed by the hodge-podge scent of teas from the swap box, but I’m hoping it will emerge upon steeping. I also forgot to set the timer on my thermometer, so I caught the water at 172 degrees instead of 175. I can’t imagine that will make much of a difference though.

Two minutes later, I pulled the brewing basket out of the cup and was assailed by a lovely, strong jasmine aroma! Yay! Hmm, the flavor is very interesting. There’s an odd bit of pungency to the aroma and flavor that I wasn’t expecting and can’t quite find the words to describe. As the cup cools, that oddness dissipates. So, maybe it was just the other teas lingering around.

Fast forward 12 hours, and I’m enjoying a second infusion at 175 degrees for 2.5 minutes. Again, that odd pungency is also in this cup. This leads me to believe it’s the jasmine and not the influence of any other teas. It’s not bad, just different. I’m sure the Yunnan white base is also contributing to the unique flavor. I don’t believe I’ve ever had a Yunnan white before. I love Yunnan blacks!

So, the verdict? I’m definitely enjoying it, but I prefer Teavivre’s jasmine greens. Those are the epitome of jasmine teas in my opinion and much more affordable. This was my first Verdant tea experience, and I can tell that it’s not all hype. These teas have something special in them. Thanks for giving me the opportunity to try something new, Kittenna!!

I have been waiting to try this tea for an entire YEAR!!! So, a gigantic, enormous, heartfelt, sincere THANK YOU to Ninavampi, who makes dreams come true! :D

Finally, the day is here and I get to try what is sure to be an amazing tea! As soon as I opened the package from Ecuador, I could smell blueberry! It’s definitely a 52teas blueberry aroma. It’s very reminiscent of BOO-berry. I’m so excited!!!

In my opinion, it requires milk and sweetener to take it from great blueberry tea to blueberry cream cheese danish heaven. As I usually find with 52teas blends, the cream cheesy-ness could be stronger. I want my pastry teas to SCREAM pastry, and this one only whispers it. Regardless, it is still very very uber-delicious! Yum! I’m going to go make another cup right away because I find myself suddenly staring into an empty cup. Thanks again, Ninavampi!!!! You’re the bestest!! :)

This tea seems to bring out the storyteller in me. Soooo, crazy story first! Tea review second! I just got home from buying lunch. I walk in the door and my cat jumps off a chair to greet me. I walk into the other room for a second and come back. My cat is in the corner, hunched over. I recognize that hunch instantly. He’s caught something.

I figured it’s probably just a mouse. Sure enough, he picks something up in his mouth and walks towards me. He drops it at my feet and steps back. All I saw was a bunch of legs in the air, and I turned and ran for the kitchen! That is no mouse!! What is it?! What is it??? I tried to make myself look at it, but he’s brought me things before that aren’t entirely dead. What if it’s a giant spider and it jumps at me! AHH! I kept trying to look at it, but I hadn’t even turned all the lights on in the room yet and it was GIANT!! I’m convinced it was a giant spider. Like a wolf spider or something.

I went back to the kitchen and grabbed a big Tupperware thing. My idea was I’ll put the Tupperware over it and slide a piece of paper underneath. Then I’ll be able to take the carcass, dead or alive, outside and dump it. I finally found Tupperware that was big enough and walked back into the other room. And what do I see?? My cat EATING the spider!!! AHHHH!!!! I couldn’t even bring myself to get close to him until it was completely eaten. So gross! OMG! What if it’s poisonous??! What will it do to him?! AHHH!!!!! I’m soooo freaked out!!! I immediately called my mother and she told me to call the vet. So far, my cat is acting perfectly normal so I think he’s okay. I’m just going to watch him carefully for a few hours.

Oh oh ohhh! So gross. I’m so grossed out. I HATE spiders and that thing was gigantic! I can’t believe he ate that. Shiver He was really chewing it too. Crunch crunch crunch. Blech! And that thing was in my apartment!! What if there’s more?! I’m going to have creepy crawlies all day. We have a centipede infestation right now. Maybe the spider came in to eat them! Ugh, I’d take centipedes over spiders any day.

Okay, now on to the tea review. I’m just finishing up what’s left of this sample from the 52teas Christmas sampler. Yes, I know. Christmas was over 6 months ago. But this tea’s held up surprisingly well! It’s very spicy, and I’m getting a strong caramel flavor. I think the vanilla is in there somewhere contributing to the overall splendid flavor. But the caramel and spice notes are the strongest to me. Yum! I’m so glad I got to enjoy one last cup of this tea. It’s delicious! Raising the rating from 78 to 82.

I don’t make much iced tea. This became ever more apparent as I tried to brew up this new teabag from 52teas’ spin-off brand, Southern Boy Teas.

The instructions say to steep the teabag in 16 oz of water. I had to look up what 16 oz was, and it turns out it’s 2 cups. Okay, now what do I have in the house that can hold this gigantic teabag and 2 cups of water and is preferably made out of glass, not plastic? Searching…searching…mixing bowl? I guess that’ll work. I suppose this is why people have teapots.

Now I just have to measure 2 cups…AHHHHH!!!! Okay, the mixing bowl idea was not a great one. I just spilled boiling hot water on my foot. *Sigh. I was smart enough to put a dishwashing glove on my hand, so that was protected. Damn you, cute peep toe shoes!! There’s also quite a bit of water on my counter…ugh.

I’m okay. No permanent damage. Now I need something to pull this gigantic teabag out of the bowl…hmm…searching…grilling tongs? And now all I need is a pitcher. I have one of those! But it’s made out of flimsy plastic and there’s no lid…hmm, that’s okay. I’ll just make a lid out of plastic wrap and a rubber band.

Jeez, this is a lot of work! And I made quite a mess too. I do not recommend that you follow my brewing strategy. This barely worked out. I was able to pour the steeped tea from the mixing bowl into the pitcher without further incident. Now I just have to wait a couple hours for the tea to cool in the fridge.

Finally, I can try it! I carefully poured myself a glass and added ice. First sip…oooh wow! This is cotton candy all right! Yum! Super delicious! Totally worth burning my foot for! :P I wanted to add a little sweetener ‘cause I’m a sweet tooth addict. I think I added a little too much so I balanced it out with more tea. :D This is sooo good, but it honestly doesn’t even need the added sugar. It’s definitely sweeter now, but the cotton candy flavor was just as apparent without it, if not more so. Delish!!

Oooh, I’m so excited for this one! I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time because of all the great reviews here on Steepster.

Starting with the dry leaf aroma, it smells like blueberries and something weird. Maybe it’s the Stevia? Stevia was also in the Ice Cream Cake tea I had yesterday, so maybe that’s the weird aroma here too. But it’s strange because I have some Stevia (Truvia) and when I open the package and smell it, it just smells like cotton candy and caramelized sugar. Either way, the aroma of Ice Cream Cake was waaaay funkier than this Blueberry Jam. So, I think this will be okay.

The brewed tea aroma is a little calmer in the weird department. Now it just smells like blueberries and something super sweet. I guess it really could be the Stevia that’s contributing to that weirdness. The aroma is filling up the room, and I’m definitely getting a warm blueberry jam smell now. Awesome!

That super sweetness is in the beginning of the sip, and then it dissipates and the blueberry takes center stage. This is yummy! The aftertaste is heavenly and pure blueberry jam! That’s definitely the best part, the aftertaste. I’m going to add some skim milk now. Mmm, creamy smooth! Adding milk is interesting because it usually turns the tea an almond brown color. This tea is purple! Hahaha!

The blueberry in this is very strong and kind of overpowers the black tea base. But it’s still delicious! I don’t love it as much as BOO-berry from 52teas, but I also can’t buy any more of that. I agree with others that this would probably be better without the Stevia. It’s just contributing a funky kind of sweetness instead of a pure sweetness. I’m not sure why this is weird because I pretty much use Truvia exclusively and that doesn’t bother me at all. Perhaps it’s that the Stevia has sat with the tea leaves for a long period of time? I don’t know.

Second steep for 8 minutes. The weirdness is gone from the aroma! Hooray! It’s just pure, buttery, blueberry jam now! Yum! I added milk and a tiny bit of sweetener right away before trying it. Ohhhh yeaaah!!! This is the stuff!!!!! That funk is gone, and now it’s perfect!!! Sooo delicious!!! Perseverance pays off!

I really want to eat some ice cream right now. So, what am I going to do? Drink ice cream cake tea!

The dry leaves smell really weird. Like something sweet but in an artificial, chemically way. Uh oh. There’s a myriad of stuff in this tea, and I think that stuff is outnumbering the actual tea leaves, of which there doesn’t appear to be much. The brewed tea aroma is different but still weird. It’s turned towards a sweet cream, buttery smell but there’s still something artificial about it. Maybe this will be okay. The liquor is really dark like Salted Caramel was, but there’s also some floaties that are probably the dissolved remnants of sprinkles.

Time to try it! First sip without additions tastes sweet, slightly artificial like the aroma, but then the after taste tastes like ice cream! And I’m even getting a slightly bakey taste like there’s cake in here too. Hmm, this is an intriguing tea. The tea itself is completely masked by the flavorings, but it’s very creamy! I’m also getting a weird scritchy scratchy feeling in the back of my throat with each subsequent swallow. I think the freeze-dried ice cream in this blend was probably a mistake.

Have you ever eaten freeze-dried ice cream? Like the kind that comes in a bag and is always labeled astronaut food? It’s disgusting. Really. It’s really really terrible. I think that addition is probably what makes me not like this blend. You know what else this reminds me of? Non-dairy creamer. How can it be cream if there’s no dairy in it? That’s what this tea is like. It’s ice cream without the ice cream.

Also, I have to say that I have NO idea what people are talking about who compare this to a Neapolitan. There’s no strawberry flavor or milk/dark chocolate flavor. And rightly so since there’s only white chocolate in the ingredients and it doesn’t say anything about strawberry. But the lack of strawberry doesn’t make much of a difference to me. That’s not the dealbreaker anyway.

If you can get past that scratchy feeling in the back of your throat and the artificial tasting flavorings, then it’s not that bad. It’s drinkable, but I don’t think I’ll be buying any more once my sample runs out. It’s also not settling my craving for the real thing. Actually, I’m kind of getting a sore throat now. Maybe this stuff isn’t good for me…I don’t think I’ll finish the cup. Oh well. It was worth a shot! And that’s why you buy samples. ;)