CHAroma

This was a surprise from Ninavampi and I bet it’s going to be good! The dry leaves are little, rolled up, green leaves with huge chunks of dried lemon. The aroma is lemon, grassiness, and a bit of pepper.

The brewed tea smells and tastes really lemon-y! But it’s not overdone or even acidic. There’s a hint of bitterness from the green tea but no astringency or tartness that makes your face pucker. It’s a very well-executed lemon green tea. Ultra delicious!

That hint of pepper from the aroma of the dry leaves appears in the brewed tea taste too. It’s really interesting. I’m definitely going for a second steep! Three minutes later, I have another steaming mug of tea in my hands. The leaves really opened up on this infusion. They’re huge! Absolutely HUGE!

The second infusion is not quite as flavorful as the first, but still yummy. I like it best when it’s piping hot. This strikes me as a good bedtime tea, even though it probably possesses some caffeine. Now if only I lived in Ecuador… :)

Thanks to Ninavampi for sending me a tea that I otherwise wouldn’t have gotten to try!

Ahhh, the lovely strong aroma of bergamot. This tea wakes you up with just a whiff of the dry leaves! This really is the best Earl Grey I’ve ever had. It tastes exactly like the tea they serve in Paris. So decadent! So full and well rounded!

This is a completely different experience than the Creme Earl Grey by Element Tea that I just had yesterday. This tea makes that one look like water. The bergamot flavoring in this Lupicia version is much stronger and more flavorful. It’s truly a wonderful and uplifting cuppa. I’m raising the rating a couple points.

And now my whole office smells like a Parisian café. :)

I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while. Of course, it’s also been chilling in my cupboard for a while. Today is the day to break the cycle and finally try it out!

Part of the reason I wanted to try this is because it sounds good. But the larger reason is because Lupicia sells this tea and one called Wedding in individual packets for wedding favors. Since I love tea so much, I thought it might be fun to give out tea as favors! So I bought one favor as a test run to see how nice the packaging is and to see if I even like the tea I’d give to other people.

The packaging is nice and very appropriate for a wedding. It’s a white mesh, drawstring bag with one tea bag each of the Kotobuki and Wedding, individually sealed in opaque, cream plastic with gold lettering. So far so good.

The Kotobuki dry leaves smell very plum-y. The brewed tea aroma is still plum-y but with the added scent of green oolong. Wow! This tastes very wine-like. It reminds me of a sweet red wine I had at Olive Garden. It also has lovely floral notes that I don’t think I’ve tasted before. Maybe it’s the rose. I know rose teas are common, but I haven’t tried any yet.

This is sweet and delicious and possesses no astringent qualities! I’m confident that this would make a good favor because I think it would appeal to people with varying tastes. It’s also unique enough that most people probably haven’t experienced anything like it.

I’ll keep this in my mind as a possibility. But now I have to try the Wedding tea that comes with it. And before I try that one, I think I’m going to re-steep this. It’s just too yummy to throw the bag away after one cup!

Yet another tea provided by Mercuryhime. Thanks for sharing some awesome teas!

This tea is no exception. It has a well-executed bergamot flavor with a wonderful creamy component added to it. I’m not 100% sure how long I steeped it for because I set my timer for 4 minutes but then didn’t hear it go off. It doesn’t taste oversteeped though, and there’s only a slight bitterness. Nothing unmanageable.

I added milk and sugar and wow! Now it’s ultra creamy and delicious! I can’t believe I’m the first one to rate this tea. If you’re a lover of Earl Grey, you need to check this out immediately! The only reason I’m rating this in the 70s is because Earl Grey has never been one of my favorites. But I do still enjoy it, and this is one of the better EGs I’ve tried.

Very yummy and calming as I try to play Skyrim, which is continuing to freeze repeatedly even after patch 1.5 that was supposed to fix this problem for good. Screw Bethesda. They really suck. How could they release a broken game? It’s so frustrating! The latest patch has only made the freezing worse. It’s literally unplayable now.

This sounded like the perfect tea for tonight! I love jasmine teas, and I think they are complemented well when paired with citrus flavors. One of my favorite teas is Jasmin Mandarin by Lupicia. So, I have high hopes for this one by Ovation and kindly provided by Mercuryhime!

The dry leaf is very interesting. There are short, flat green leaves, rolled jasmine pearls, marigold petals, and little bits of fruit. Some of the fruit appears to be orange peel but there are these other little things that I swear look like orange seeds! But I’m guessing from the description of the ingredients that it’s little pieces of tangerine. I can’t imagine you’d get much flavor from an orange seed, so I don’t know why anyone would put it in a tea blend.

Anyway, the brewed tea aroma is a lot gentler than I expected. I often find that jasmine teas are overpowering in their aroma, very in-your-face. But this smells more like a citrus-y green tea with subtle hints of floral jasmine. Maybe I didn’t use enough leaf? I followed the directions on the package and brewed this with 1.5 tsp in roughly 8 oz. for 2 minutes at 175 degrees.

The flavor is soft and subtle like the aroma. There’s very little jasmine in this. Maybe the ratio of pearls to green tea was off. Or maybe this tea sat in my cupboard for too long waiting to be brewed, and the pearls have lost most of their jasmine flavoring. Don’t get me wrong, it’s definitely still good! Just a lot less jasmine than I would expect from a tea called Jasmine Citrus Blossom.

The most prominent flavor is the marigold petals. I’ve gotten used to the way marigold petals taste because of their frequent appearance in 52teas’ blends. It’s a very comforting, soft, floral flavor, and I think it’s a good addition to this tea.

Maybe I should try adding a few of my Teavivre Jasmine Dragon Pearls to the rest of this sample. That will give the added jasmine punch I’m looking for. Those little pearls are practically intoxicating (if one can become intoxicated from sniffing jasmine; uh oh now I’m just giving people ideas)!

Yes, it’s decided. I’m going to add ½ teaspoon of dragon pearls and another ½ teaspoon of this tea to the second infusion. I’ll be back in a few…

The flavor is much improved now. But I can’t say I’m not disappointed. I wanted this tea to stand on its own merits. Maybe I just need a fresher batch. I didn’t exactly store this in ideal conditions. But I’m willing to give it another chance. There’s still enough left to try again, and I might add this to an Ovation tea order. In fact, they’re having a free shipping deal right now. So, this may be the perfect opportunity to try out more of their teas!

Thanks to Mercuryhime for this special treat! The aroma of the brewed tea is like nothing else I’ve ever encountered. It’s 100% unique. It smells strangely fruity and meaty at the same time with a dash of pine needles and spice. This is going to be interesting.

I’m not usually a fan of darker oolongs. My first experience with them is funny now in hindsight. I bought an oolong sampler from Adagio, and it was exclusively dark oolongs. I had no idea what was going on because I’d only ever had green oolongs before, which are completely different. I loved the green version and not so much the other. I thought I was losing my mind. Did I even know what oolong was?

The taste is something entirely new compared to the aroma, the beginning of the sip is anyway. It tastes like woodsy honey with a small hint of smoke. The end of the sip mimics the strange aroma from before and lingers into the aftertaste where it morphs yet again into floral, vegetal notes. The aftertaste stays prominently in my mouth for what seems like forever! It’s definitely stayed with me for at least 15 minutes.

And this is only the first infusion! Let’s see what happens with the second steeped for 3 minutes. Hmm, it’s very different and very similar at the same time. It’s less fruity meat and more floral oolong, so that’s a change to my liking. This must be directly halfway between green and roasted. From my research, that would make it a semi-oxidized oolong aka “blue-green tea.” The third infusion for 4 minutes tastes like an above average dark, woodsy oolong with no astringency.

It really is too bad SpecialTeas no longer exists because this is something more people should have the opportunity to try. If it’s from tea trees that have been harvested for over 700 years, hopefully someone else is still harvesting and distributing it. This is harder to describe than anything else I’ve ever tasted. The flavor is so strong yet so capricious. This is truly magical tea.

Okay, so I’m a little crazy. But you probably already knew that.

I’m trying to lose weight for my wedding. Part of my plan is to drink tea whenever I’m craving something bad like sweets or snack foods. I really really want to buy some new bagged teas to take to work. But I have so much tea! I really can’t justify buying any more.

So, I’ve made a pact with myself. I can buy new tea when I use up all my old tea bags that are sitting around and collecting dust (not literally, eww! Just thinking about dusty tea gives me the heebie-jeebies). Anyway, that’s how I find myself drinking this Twining’s Pure Mint Black Tea.

It’s really not a bad tea, but it’s also really not what I want right now. I’m thinking a floral oolong would hit the spot nicely. Of course, there’s no bagged floral oolong tea in my desk drawer, so I’m just going to have to get over that.

I added a little bit of sweetener and skim milk. At first, the mint was so surprising that it confused my tongue! It’s not like I didn’t know there’s mint in here. I don’t know how to describe what happened. It just took me by surprise. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a mint tea in so long that it literally flabbergasted my taste buds!

Either way, I won’t miss this too much when it’s gone. The only reason I won’t re-stock it is because I want to try new things. But it’s still a great tea, and I recommend it to anyone that is looking for a mint-flavored black tea!

This morning I brewed up some straight Vanilla tea, continuing the Adagio theme from yesterday. With the first sip, it was horridly tannic and I had to add milk and sugar right away. Well, maybe I didn’t need to add the sugar right away, but I did anyway.

Second sip is much more enjoyable. The vanilla is very soft and mellow. I didn’t have quite the same experience as Ninavampi with this tea. I wish it flooded my kitchen with a glorious vanilla scent, but alas, it did not. Although I do agree that it is a simple, comfort tea. Very comforting indeed. I used 1.5 tsp in roughly 8 oz. of water for 3 minutes. But the flavoring is quite light.

Now don’t get me wrong, light is not bad. It’s not so subtle that it’s nonexistent. It’s just a smooth, mellow, waking-you-up-slowly kind of tea. Not my first inclination for what a breakfast tea should be, but still quite enjoyable. Also not quite as good as that Samovar vanilla tea they stopped carrying. Oh, I wish I could get more of that! Sadly, it disappeared from the website shortly after I received my sample. But I’m happy with my choice of tea this morning.

And now it’s off to work with a belly full of tea and English Muffins!

My fiancé cooked up some pan-fried chicken last night, so I added that to my rather unsubstantial dinner plan. I didn’t have much of a tea drinking marathon last night either. I re-steeped the Adagio Cream tea and this time added milk and sugar. It was still very yummy! I’m pleased with this tea. I’m not sure it will become a staple in my cupboard, but that’s just because I don’t want to become used to the flavor and then lose my appreciation for it. So, I’m going to save it as a special treat on rare occasions!

I’m going to have a dinner of tea, popcorn, and maybe some Cheetos Puffs.

Do I need to even say it? I’ve had one Hell of a day. Rather than go into the sordid details, I’ll just try to move on with a hot cup of tea in hand and maybe a sappy romance movie to go with the popcorn. I’ll save the Cheetos for dessert.

I’ve had these Adagio teas sitting in my cupboard for what seems like forever. Adagio was one of the first (maybe the first) online tea vendor that I tried when my obsession with tea began two years ago. No, Lupicia was the first. Oh well, then maybe Adagio was the second. Needless to say, I really need to finish up these teas.

First up is Cream! It’s nearly eight o’clock, so I really shouldn’t be drinking caffeinated black tea. But that’s always my excuse for not drinking my black teas when I get home after work. And I never make them during the day because I don’t have my ideal tea making apparatuses at work. Plus, then I’d have to bring milk. I can hardly ever drink black tea without milk. But I digress.

Tonight feels like a cream night. If I wasn’t so lazy, I might go out and buy some whole milk to make a chai latte. Or maybe I’d buy some fresh strawberries and whipping cream and make myself a treat. But alas, I am lazy and don’t plan on leaving the comforts of home even for a minute. The tea kettle is whistling and now it’s finally, months later, time to try this tea that claims to taste like cream.

First whiff of the dry leaves is cream. Second whiff is chocolate. Third whiff is…Robitussin? Yep, smells like cherry cough syrup. How weird. Adagio suggests 1 tsp per cup at boiling water for 3 minutes. I didn’t think 1 tsp of leaves sounded like very much (or looked like very much), so I made it more like 2 tsp minus a little bit because I didn’t want it to be too strong.

The aroma of the brewed tea is now just black tea. I’m expecting to have to add milk and sugar like I always do. But it’s called Cream, so I’m hoping I’ll like it straight, or at the very least without adding milk. It’s still a little too hot to try. I don’t want to burn my tongue and ruin the rest of what could be a fun tea consuming marathon night.

Contemplating the warm aroma while I wait, I think this will be a good one. It has a nice, solid, “I am black tea!” aroma. Hopefully, it will be a good morning tea. I’ve been making coffee lattes to go with my English Muffins for breakfast lately. I know, I know. How can I cheat on tea? Well, sometimes tea just doesn’t cut it. Or more accurately, my tea strainer is almost always still dirty from the night before, and I never want to clean it when I wake up. Coffee seems the only choice.

Okay, at the risk of burning my taste buds off, I’m going to try some now. Wow, it’s still pretty hot. I blew on it and the steam fogged up my glasses. I’m probably going to regret this, so I’ll wait a few more minutes. I should just stop writing and come back in a few when I can actually blog about the tea itself. But as I said, it’s been one Hell of a day. I need to keep myself occupied so I don’t dwell on the negative. I have a habit of downward spiraling into oblivion. I do have to say, something smells excellent in my apartment! I wish I could say it’s this tea (not that the tea doesn’t smell good), but this is something else. Bread? Honey? Butter? I can’t figure it out. Maybe I should eat a more substantial dinner than I have planned. My nose could be trying to tell me something. Nah, where’s the fun in that? ;)

Okay, enough’s enough. (Man, I hate it when my fiancé says that, and now here I am saying it). Enough waiting. First sip…wow! I’m pleasantly surprised! This actually does taste like cream! Sweet cream ice cream to be exact with a light background of black tea. This is insane!!! I can’t believe it! I really wasn’t expecting this. Maybe it’s my dark mood or my empty stomach, but this is just fantabulous! I’m even drinking it straight and enjoying it! I wouldn’t have bet on this, but clearly my instincts were on target the day I bought it. Oh, and that aroma I was smelling earlier? Pie crust. It’s definitely pie crust. Like from a chicken pot pie. Man, I’m hungry.

Anyway, the more I sip on this, the more the black tea begins to take center stage. There’s a slight hint towards bitterness at the end of the sip, but nothing I can’t handle. At the risk of turning this into a normal blah cup of tea, I’m going to add milk and sugar. Nope. I just can’t do it. Walked all the way to the kitchen, opened the fridge, pulled out the milk, took the cap off, and held it over the cup..but no. Maybe on the second steep. I hardly ever re-steep black teas. Don’t ask me why. Okay, now I feel like I have to give an explanation. I’m not really sure why. I guess I find black tea too strong on the first steep (thus my solution is to add milk and sugar) and too weak on the second steep (thus my solution is to not brew it).

Man oh man, this is going to make a great base for something! Maybe I’ll try my hand at creating my very own Adagio custom blend. I also still have some pure peppermint leaves left over. I bet just a touch of those would be great with this! Pretty much anything would be great with this. I’m really impressed, Adagio. I didn’t think you could do it. But this truly does taste like cream! Well done!! :)

And I’m buying a chicken pot pie for dinner tomorrow. :)

My first cold brew experience brought to us by Mercuryhime. :D

I was patient and waited exactly 24 hours, as suggested. ;) First taste…whoa! Unexpected! It tastes completely different than when hot brewed. It’s hard to describe the difference. I actually get an almost dark chocolate flavor now.

I know there’s no chocolate in this, but that’s what it tastes like. Dark chocolate covered strawberries. I think it’s because of how the cold brewing affects the bai mu dan. The beginning of the sip is earthy and bitter. The end of the sip is where the strawberry comes out. And the aftertaste is where the chocolate flavor morphs into white tea flavor.

Wow, so different! I just can’t get over it. I like the aftertaste the most. It lingers pleasantly on my tongue for minutes at a time. Thanks for the cold brewing suggestion, Mercuryhime! I never would have come up with this on my own! :) I am all smiles tonight! :) :) :)

EDIT: I gave the cup to my fiance to try. “Tell me what you think it tastes like,” I said. He replied, “Snow.” “Snow?!” “Yeah, it’s cold.”

^sigh The boy just doesn’t understand tea.

After reading the recent posts about this tea, it really made me want some again! Give me that creamy, cherry, cheesecake-y flavor!

I upped the brewing temperature a little bit, and the resulting cup smells heavily of cheesecake and genmaicha. Of course, that’s what it should smell like, right? So far, so good great!

Hmm, this is good but I think I like it better at the lower temperature. The aroma is better now, but the taste is more grassy and less creamy.

Okay, now the rest of this post is going to have nothing to do with tea. But I need some advice. You see, I spend a lot of my time reading. I’ve always loved reading. I have a huge collection of books that I cart around with me every time I move, which unfortunately is quite often. It’s getting to be a bit ridiculous. With the invention of the Nook and Kindle, I’m starting to think that’s the better way to go. You can carry 3500 books in one tiny little tablet! But honestly, it’s hard for me to get over not having the actual book. I like looking at the covers and feeling the pages. I like the smell as they age and the sound of the pages as they turn. I like having a collection of books. Will an eReader really appease me? It’s hard to tell. I know you can’t tell me what to do, but I’d appreciate any advice you can give me. What has your experience been with eReaders? Which eReader would you recommend? Thanks in advance everyone!

I wanted to make this tea over two and a half hours ago, but I’ve had a sleeping kitty on my lap. How could I move and force him to get up when he’s soooo cute? Cutest kitty on the planet!

He must be super tired or super comfortable, because he won’t budge despite my yelling. Why am I yelling? Well, you see, I’m watching 24. If you’ve seen 24, that’s enough of an answer right there. If not, Sean Astin just walked on screen. Without pausing to think, I shouted, “IT’S SAMWISE!!!!!!!!!”

Frodo, my kitty, jolted awake on my lap and then calmly laid his head back down and promptly returned to napping. In case you couldn’t already tell, I’m a wee bit obsessed with The Lord of the Rings. But Frodo didn’t seem fazed by my outburst, so I had to wait him out for another 40 minutes before making this tea.

I can say though that the wait was definitely worth it! The brewed tea aroma is roasty toasty houjicha! Ah, how I love roasted green teas. Oh yum! It’s just so yummy! I’m getting caramel and almond notes, and a bit of milky creaminess too.

This tea is awfully tasty for being nearly one year old. This is renewing my love of houjicha. I’ve been drinking a crappy, minced, bagged version of houjicha lately, and I’ve gotten sick of it. I’d forgotten how wonderful real, fresh houjicha is.

For those of you that haven’t tried houjicha before, GO! DO IT NOW!! BREW PEOPLE BREW!!! But really, try it! It’s nothing like regular green tea. The grassy vegetal flavor is roasted right out of the leaves, and it turns into a soft, mellow, toasted cuppa. Soooo good! Thank you Mercuryhime for yet another amazing tea experience!

I can’t comment on what the dry leaves smell like because this tea was influenced by the ones it was stored with. But the leaves themselves look great! Classic, green Bai Mu Dan leaves. I’ve had a couple strawberry-flavored green teas recently, so I’m looking forward to a white tea version.

The brewed aroma is light strawberry syrup. The taste is mostly lovely Bai Mu Dan with a light, sweet, strawberry flavor at the end of the sip. I don’t usually like flavored whites, but this is pretty darn good!

I have to say that I think I understand the oddity Mercuryhime describes when this tea is hot. The strawberry flavor is different and not what I expected. I don’t want to say artificial because that has a negative connotation. But it definitely doesn’t taste like biting into a ripe strawberry. The only way I can think to describe it is “syrup.” It tastes syrup-y.

Syrup or not, this tea is yum! What a nice surprise from a box full of goodies! I just might have to add this to my next tea order. Thanks to Mercuryhime for sending me this sample! You’ve introduced me to a great new tea vendor!

So, I just realized I’m kind of a schmuck. I swapped some teas with a few generous Steepsterites about 3.5 months ago, and I never wrote tasting notes!!! Blasphemy! I apologize for being unappreciative, ladies. I got engaged shortly after receiving your packages, and although that’s no excuse for my ungrateful behavior, I haven’t forgotten you! I’m going to make it a priority to try all these wonderful samples that y’all were so kind to share with me. Please bear with me as there are quite a few, and it may take a couple weeks to make it through all these. But I’m sorry for my shameful behavior, and I vow not to let it happen again.

Now, on to these teas!!! First up, this White Coconut Crème tea, complements of Mercuryhime!

The dry leaves smell like candy! Very sugary sweet! The leaves are a faded green, almost brown color with lots of coconut bits and tiny flower pieces. It was hard for me to brew this tea for 3 minutes, but I quelled the impulse to pull the strainer out of my cup at 1.5 minutes and again at 2 minutes. The brewing instructions say 3 minutes for a reason! Be patient!

Finally the 3 minutes were up, and I handed the cup to my fiancé to smell first. His response? He said it smelled like “a milky tree. You know, like a tree made of milk.” Hmmm, while I’m not sure I share that opinion, it definitely doesn’t smell like any other white tea I’ve tried. I get coconut and cream in the aroma, which is just as good since this tea is called White Coconut Crème!

The taste is a floral, smooth, coconut-y dream! It’s really too bad I let this sit in my cupboard so long. I bet it’s sensational when it’s fresh! As is, it’s still very delicious. Thanks again, Mercuryhime and I’m sorry this tasting note is so belated.

Okay, I admit my taste buds might already be compromised. The fiancé decided to cook steak and habanero peppers in his cast iron skillet. Basically, he poisoned the air. I had to retreat into the bedroom because the air was so peppery I couldn’t stop coughing and sneezing. My nose is now running like crazy, so I’m not sure how reliable this tasting note will be.

The dry leaves smelled like tea. Yeah, I know, not very descriptive. But really, there wasn’t much to it. No overtly recognizable scents. The brewed tea aroma is a similar experience. It smells like Teavivre’s other black teas.

Now let’s see if I have any better luck describing the taste. It’s much stronger than I anticipated. It tastes like it could be a great base for blending. No bitterness or tannins detected. I feel like it’s a little peppery, but then again that could just be from the air. Toasty might be a better description.

It came in pre-measured, individual, little, red packets. So, maybe it tastes strong to me because the leaf is more proportional. When I measure the tea leaves out myself, I almost always err on the side of too little. Still, I think the Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea was more to my liking. It just had more flavor.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t flavorless. It just tastes kind of standard to me, like something I would drink as my morning cup of tea. Oddly enough though, the Teavivre site says it has minimal caffeine (less than 15% of a cup of coffee). I guess that’s a good thing since I’m drinking it at 8pm on a weekday.

But I usually choose black tea for its taste as well as caffeine content. So, if this doesn’t have much caffeine in it and the taste is lacking, there’s not a whole lot of point for me to drink it. It is a good cuppa, just not my favorite. Despite its high quality, the taste just isn’t enough to my liking for me to reach for it often. So, if you like Bailin Gongfu, you’ll like this one too!

Now it’s time to peek out tentatively like Groundhog Phil and see if it’s safe to come out yet.

YAY!!!!! I’ve been waiting for this tea to return for an entire year!!! It’s seasonal, and I missed it last year. I’ve been keeping an eye on the website ever since, not knowing when exactly it might pop up again. Then I read a recent review of this tea by Amy oh who mentioned it came in the monthly newsletter.

So, I knew I’d be getting my newsletter shortly and the long wait for Tochiotome would soon be over! I ripped open the package and was assailed by the dry leaf aroma, which is succulent fresh strawberries! The brewed tea is the same mouthwatering strawberry with the added aroma of verdant sencha.

Sadly, the flavor is little bit of a letdown. It’s very grassy with a touch of bitterness. The strawberry flavor wanes on the end of the sip, and the bitterness takes front stage in the aftertaste.

I guess I built this tea up in my head for a year, so I was expecting heaven. The beginning of the sip may be close to heaven, but the tail end ruins the illusion. It’s too bad Lupicia doesn’t use a nicer base. I was expecting something more like 52 teas’ Strawberry Pancake Green Tea minus the maple flavoring. I suppose if I liked sencha more, the grassiness wouldn’t bother me.

Well, if nothing else, this tea gave me the idea for an interesting quest for when I go to Japan. I’d love to try one of these tochiotome strawberries for myself (sans tea)!

This will be my first experience with chamomile tea. I’ve never been very big on herbal teas. There’s no real tea in it! But here we go anyway.

At first blush, I thought the aroma was awful, like strong damp weeds. But I had my nose less than an inch from the cup, so maybe I was just smelling it too closely. I stood up and stared off into space while I waited for it to steep. I was breathing deeply and inhaling the tea without meaning to. Oddly enough, now it smelled good! I bent down and wafted the aroma towards me. But again, when I stuck my nose near the cup…phew! Stinky! So, who knows what that means.

The taste is similar to the aroma but stronger. When it’s actually on my tongue, it tastes great! Kind of like how the aroma is great when I’m standing over the steaming mug. But then I swallow and the aftertaste gets me. Blech! Strong, too strong. Icky. I can’t help but shake my head.

No no no. I don’t think I like chamomile. Or at least, this bagged version of it isn’t going to fly. It has potential, those little moments when I thought I liked it. But then it got squashed by yuck.

It’s really too bad. I’m so stressed out I can hardly function. I haven’t slept in 3 days. So, I thought the most recommended stress relieving bedtime tea would do the trick. Sadly, I think I’m going to have to rely on something else. I thought I could finish the cup, but I’m afraid this dirty floral tea is going down the drain.

Uh oh…I think I already messed up the preparation of this tea. I’m not sure I used enough leaf. The liquor is almost clear! Clear!!

The aroma of the dry leaves was great: soft, clean, not overly grassy. The dry leaves themselves were a long, thin, crispy, mixture of green and yellow leaves and stems. The brewed tea aroma is very very soft, a little too soft. Again, probably because I didn’t measure the leaf correctly. I hate when I mess up brewing a new tea. It makes me not even want to write a note about it.

But here we go anyway. I apologize for my incompetence in advance. I’ll add a little more leaf to the second steeping and let you know how that turns out. This first cup is surprisingly good, even though it’s a little watery. I can tell that this is fantastic tea if brewed correctly.

Okay, second cup! I steeped this one for 2 minutes 45 seconds at 176 degrees. The liquor is still basically clear, but the flavor is stronger now. For some reason, this tea reminds me of the way cotton candy melts in your mouth. It’s sweet, but not too much so. This must be what people call umami. I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced a texture like this in a drink. Simply exquisite.

This is my favorite green tea from Teavivre so far, although the Silver Jasmine Green Tea (Mo Li Yin Hao) is a pretty close second.

I’m so excited to try this tea!! I suggested a flavor combination to Frank recently (maple pecan granola), and this is pretty close to that! Plus, I love maple and brown sugar oatmeal. It’s my favorite kind of oatmeal, and almost the only kind I eat.

I do have to say though, I’m not sure the picture on the package is adequate for this blend. It looks kind of…unappetizing. But this is uncharacteristic for 52teas. Usually Frank’s pictures are mouthwatering and make me go over my allotted tea budget. But clearly, the picture made little difference in my decision to buy it.

Anyway, the dry leaves smell really good! It’s hard to describe why, but I’ll try. It smells very similar to the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie blend, but minus the raisin. So, what’s left? This wonderful oatmeal, black tea, sugary sweet fragrance.

The funny thing is the brewed tea has a completely different aroma! It still smells amazing, but so different. I think the black tea itself is more pronounced now and masks that overwhelming sweetness. I can still make out faint traces of oat, but it’s softer now. As for the maple? I didn’t forget. I just can’t find much of it in the aroma. Hopefully, it will be there in the taste.

Mmmmm, the taste is wonderful! There’s none of that tannic bitterness common to black teas sans additions. I’m not sure how much it matches the description, but it tastes wonderful regardless! It’s not nearly as sweet as the aroma makes it out to be.

I added a tiny bit of unsweetened almond milk and a little brown sugar too. It’s still very good. I think I like it about the same with or without additions. Unfortunately, I’m still missing that maple syrup aspect. I wish that were significantly stronger. But like I said, it’s a delicious tea nonetheless! So, if you happen to not like maple and brown sugar oatmeal, give this blend a try anyway! You’ll be pleasantly surprised.

These leaves are beautiful! Long, narrow, perfectly straight, vibrantly green leaves. They’re quite large actually and thus hard to correctly measure. But I think I did all right. The aroma is lovely, fresh green tea.

The taste is even lovelier than the aroma. Light, fresh, vegetal, and sweet. Light is the perfect description. It’s not heavy like Dragonwell.

There’s also virtually no aftertaste (as in the taste doesn’t linger). I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad yet. But it is definitely a noticeable characteristic of this tea. The aroma is grassy, but luckily for me that grassiness doesn’t make it into the flavor much.

Overall, this is a wonderful green tea. The second steep for two minutes was just as flavorful as the first, and I’m sure it could keep going for several more infusions, if I was so inclined. This tea is quite affordable for such high quality. It’s deserving of my stamp of approval! I highly recommend!

I’m looking forward to trying the huge stock of green teas I have from Teavivre. They’ve sent me tons of samples, and I haven’t gotten around to trying all of them yet. But I’m on a green tea kick, so bring it on!

This is my second experience with gunpowder green tea. Although the first time I tried some, it was a mint, bagged concoction. So, that’s probably not the most representative of this type of tea. I’m confident that Teavivre will give me the best possible experience with gunpowder.

The dry leaves smell exactly like the alfalfa hay I used to feed my pet bunny, Jasper. He was the cutest white bunny in the whole world with a few light grey spots on his back, grey ears, and grey spots around his eyes that made it look like he was wearing eyeliner. Sooo cute!! I had to get rid of him when I moved across the country from LA to D.C. But he was a birthday present for an adorable little girl, so at least I know he went somewhere he’ll be loved and cared for.

But I digress. Ah, I never get over how certain smells bring a rush of memories. Anyway, the liquor is a pale yellowish green. The brewed tea aroma is less hay now and more…hmmm, interesting. It has a little kick of something that’s tugging at my memory, but I just can’t quite place it. Maybe it’s just a green tea smell. Man, how long has it been since I drank a high quality green tea?

Okay okay, on to the taste. Wait! Puer!!! That’s what the aroma reminds me of!!! Wow…really? Puer? Yep! I admit it’s strange. But my nose isn’t lying to me. Finally, the first sip…okay it tastes nothing like puer. Thank God! :)

The taste is back to the dry leaf aroma: fresh, green, alfalfa hay. It does have some kick to it, similar to the puer aroma. It almost reminds me of red hots. Not because it’s spicy. But because of that initial burning when the red hot first hits your tongue. But this sensation is a fleeting one and quickly dissipates.

I wish I could describe the aftertaste. It’s not like anything else. It’s also somewhat palate cleansing. This is a very interesting and unique green tea experience. It’s not like your standard green tea. Really, the thing it reminds me most of is puer. Except it’s muuuuuch more stomachable than puer.

The second steep for two minutes at just below boiling yielded a much darker brew, almost murky (excuse the lack of a better descriptive word). The leaves fully unfurled during this second steep. The taste is basically the same as the first cup, maybe a bit more flavorful.

I wonder if anyone has ever made a flavored gunpowder green tea. I think it could be really good if you found the right ingredients to add to it. It would make a very unique base. Despite its distinctive flavor, it’s not quite to my liking. But I highly recommend that people try this one of a kind tea!

So much for not buying more tea. Didn’t I just explain how much tea I have? How do you do it to me, Frank?! I just can’t say no!!

I’m sooo excited to try this blend! I don’t know what happened, but one day it magically reappeared on 52teas’ in stock page. It had sold out in less than 24 hours! I was sure I’d never get to try it. But then 2 pouches showed up, and I snagged the last one!! Yipee!

I’ve been exhausted all day, so I can justify drinking black tea at 7pm tonight. I’ve already had a total of four shots of espresso and one grande coffee. What’s a little more caffeine?

The dry tea smells heavenly! The perfect mix of strawberry and orange. The brewed tea has a very similar aroma but more citrus-y. Others described this tea as largely orange, but I’m hoping the strawberry will be equally present. First sip without additions…mmm, it is a good mix of strawberry and orange. But I prefer black teas with milk and sugar.

Second sip with additions…wow! This is really delicious! It’s not very scone-y. And it’s a fairly light black tea as black teas go, but that’s a pro in my book. This is full of flavor and reminds me of liquid Starburst, if such a thing existed. Yum yum!! I’ve discovered a new favorite!

This is my first from 52teas’ permanent collection, and I can’t wait to try it! Although it looks like Cinnamon Roll Honeybush and Pancake Breakfast finally made it into the permanent collection! WOOT WOOT!!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!!!!!!!!! GO 52TEAS!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAYYYY!!!!!!!

Ahem. Excuse me. I’m just really excited about Pancake Breakfast being around indefinitely. But on to this tea…

The dry leaves smell strongly of strawberry. Like insanely strong strawberry! The brewed tea has the same aroma. Okay, I think it’s cool enough to try now. ((Takes a huge swig & splutters.)) Ugh! This is the bitterest black tea I’ve ever had! Blech!

I rushed off to the kitchen and added milk and sugar. Thank goodness, that took away the overwhelming tannic bitterness. Hmm, now it’s just a cup of really sweet, really strawberry tea. I think I need to use less leaf next time. This is quite strong, and I’m afraid not in a good way.

Overall, it’s definitely a strawberry tea. There’s no mistaking it for something else. If you’re in the mood for strawberry, this is the way to go. But I think I like the green tea version better (and by that I mean Strawberry Pancake Green Tea).

I’ll try this again later and let you know what happens then. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. I just didn’t do a very good job of preparing this first cup, and now I’m a little scarred.