Courtney

I’m enjoying this tea much more so than I thought I would. The only other experience I’ve had with star anise was in Merry Cranberry. Merry Cranberry was quite tasty but the spices made it very definitely a holiday tea.

This is a nice blend of sweet and spice with an added creaminess from the white chocolate. It’s not too heavy for a black tea and it doesn’t give me that specific holiday tea feel. It’s nice in that nothing is overpowering, and the balancing act of coconut, star anise, and white chocolate seems to be just perfect. I can see myself keeping this one on hand in smaller amounts for when I’m in the mood for it.

Thanks Sil for sharing this with me!

It does smell like a warm strawberry rhubarb pie.

This has a lovely taste of strawberry that is not at all fake with a slight bitterness to it. I’m thinking that’s the rhubarb? Or perhaps the hibiscus? Hopefully I didn’t just oversteep it. As it cools more of the pie pastry flavour comes out.

I prefer this much more as it cools, the bitterness subsides and the pie taste really comes out with the strawberry. Delicious.

The second steep of this was just as flavourful.

Well apparently my Guayusa and The Killer’s Vanilla mix didn’t do the trick. I was feeling better for a short time, but evidently I just angered it because the stomach pain is back with a vengeance. All I want to do is finish up this assignment and go to bed. Gah. My stomach is not making that an easy task.

This tea is always my go-to for stomach issues. I cannot drink minty teas any other time. Even the scent is giving me hope that I will feel better once I get that first sip. I haven’t tried David’s Peppermint Amour because the scent alone of that one dry nearly took me out. This one has a lovely inherent sweetness.

Update: The second steep of this was also lovely this morning. Not nearly as powerful in the scent, but still lots of flavour in the taste.

So I’ve been mixing Guayusa with different teas over the last few days with great success. Bamboozled and Guayusa was quite delicious.

Today I have an upset stomach and I have a late night ahead. With this in mind, I paired 2 parts David’s Guayusa with 1 part The Killer’s Vanilla. Guayusa to stay awake and mint to settle my stomach. Best of both worlds!

Thanks to both Sil and Shmiracles for sending me some of this! I’ve been waiting so long to try it out!

The initial scent is a nice strong black. These black Kusmi teas can really wake you up in the morning. I think I’m getting a hint of vanilla and citrus in there, but it’s delicious so whatever is in there is working!

Kusmi has yet to let me down. Excellent start to a Sunday :)

Thanks to Sil for sending me this one :)

I’ve been eyeing this one of the David’s website for some time. I have discovered I love tea with cranberries so I wanted to try everything I could with cranberries, but I’m always hesitant to order 50g of something I’ve never actually tried.

This one smells like some sort of candy, though I can’t quite figure out which candy.

It has such a fascinating taste. I’m enjoying it, I think. There’s cranberries in there somewhere, and the orange peel (or perhaps the barberries?) must give it that little kick. I’m not sure what a barberry is, so I can’t comment on that. Overall an interesting tea. I’m so happy I got to try this one out, thanks again Sil!

This is so lovely and refreshing. I think I’ll go re-fill a tin today at David’s. I have this one for my 3 hour lecture this morning.

I also took it to work yesterday but learned the hard way to REALLY pay attention to the steeping time since I had to take a phone call and went over by maybe a minute or two, but man, was it ever bitter. Fair warning for everyone haha. Thank goodness the first steep was alright and by the time this unfortunate happening went down I had only an hour left of work. Phew.

Hope everyone has a great Friday, TGIF!

Thanks jessiwrites for this one!

This is pretty tasty. I’m definitely getting more black tea than pumpkin or spices. The pumpkin-y spices are there, just not as prominent as the black tea. Given a choice I’d take Pumpkin Creme Brulee or Grandma’s Pumpkin Pie.

So you know how when you see something interesting online, you read it? Then at the bottom of the page, something else catches your eye? Then, hours later, you’ve read so many things you can’t believe it? Well that’s what happened to me this morning. I’ve been reading about Westboro Baptist Church. I don’t know that I’ve ever felt so angry. This is the story that brought me there http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/19/westboro-equality-house-aaron-jackson-rainbow_n_2906337.html?utm_hp_ref=tw

This tea is pretty yummy. It certainly has all the pumpkin pie spices. I’m really enjoying it straight, and it’s not too heavy for a black tea :)

Thanks jessiwrites!

I can taste both lime, lemon, and cream here. That is pretty awesome. I definitely thought the lime and lemon would become one and be either lime OR lemon.

This is again so similar to Lemon and Lime Chiffon. Delicious! I actually think I need to make all three, line them up, and take a sip from each one right after each other to determine which will get to stay in my cupboard. Gah.

Update March 25/13: I’m sure some caffeine would do me good this morning but this one just smells so delectable I couldn’t resist. Maybe I won’t choose between the three and just keep them all on hand, all the time. That wouldn’t be so bad, right?

Thanks jessiwrites for this tea :)

Yet another great tea from Butiki. I can see why it isn’t called Almond Cookie, as it tastes nothing like a cookie. The almond and cinnamon are most pronounced. Perhaps even the cinnamon more so than the almond. Overall a lovely tea.

This is the first rooibos without ANY hint of a medicinal taste! Not even a hint. YES!

Thank you jessiwrites for this awesome sample, you’re too good to me :) I’d like to try Lime and Lemon Chiffon next to one another to see which I prefer. I do have some Lemon Lime Cream Tart I may get to later to at least try that against this lovely. I can see this being a permanent part of my collection.

Just steeping a second infusion, I may add milk this time to see what happens.

I enjoyed half of my second cup straight, then added some milk. It really doesn’t taste all that different to me, just slightly subdued at most. I think I’ll be enjoying this sans milk from now on since it’s delicious that way.

The third steep of this is still just as delicious. Perhaps this could be steeped forever?

Update March 27/13: jessiwrites was awesome and sent me some of this AND Lime Chiffon AND Lemon Lime Cream Tart to hold me over until the next Della Terra order. And it was waiting for my in my mailbox after a frustrating day at school. Ahh yum :)

This is the fiance’s current favourite, so in making him a cup I also made myself one.

The scent of this one dry is so sweet it always turns me off, but I should know better because the taste is much better and not nearly as sickeningly sweet. I always reach for other teas but I’ll have to somehow embed it in my mind that this one is delicious and not to smell it dry haha.

Thanks to Stella for sending this my way :)

I could definitely smell the ginger when the tea was dry, which I don’t like, but now that it’s steeped the mixture of scents really compliment one another for a great smelling tea.

The ginger is certainly in the taste but the creaminess of the coconut and subtle vanilla tone it down and makes it this quite a nice tea. I’m impressed.

The second steep of this is nearly as flavourful as the first, perhaps with ever so slightly more ginger taste. And the third steep is also pretty good. I’m glad I got to try this one out.

Oh hey there caramel and mango smoothie. Didn’t realize just how much you’d taste like summer.

This has been an excellent day tea-wise, from Pumpkin Creme Brulee to Caramel Matcha. Does it get any better?

So I’ve been averaging about 5 hours of sleep per night this week and it’s not doing me any favours.

I’m sure I could have gone for some Good Morning Sunshine but alas, I’m out. However this tea seemed to jump out at me instead. It’s so smooth and calming. The flavour of pumpkin-y sweetness is just what I needed to get this day started on the right note.

Update: Having this again this morning to get started my day, ahem, weekend of studying and paper writing.

Thanks Shmiracles for this tea sample!

Dry, this smelled quite yummy. Some sweetness mixed somewhere in with black tea. Now steeped, there’s a bit of a different scent – and it includes the scent of pu’erh. I don’t care for pu’erh. At least not yet.

Initial taste is maple-y or hazelnut-y with something else there that is the pu’erh. But it doesn’t seem to be overwhelming.

In conclusion, there is a lovely sweetness to this tea and it’s quite bold. I think it would be best enjoyed in the morning.

The pistachio here has a unique nutty flavour that makes me wonder why I haven’t come across more pistachio teas!

The green tea base is great for this tea. Again, a perfect balance of pistachio and green tea. I’m really enjoying it straight but I think I’m going to add some sugar to see if it really can taste like pistachio ice cream.

A wee bit of sugar makes this nothing short of amazing.

The second steep turned out quite well for this gem.

I can see how this would wake someone up. That lemon is lovely. All these Butiki teas are perfectly balanced! I’m amazed.

The lemon goes great with the guayusa. I think I’d take this one over the Cider Guayusa – not that that wasn’t good – just this one seems better placed. A nice wake-up call for rough mornings. This may be a reorder.

The second steep of this is pretty well just as flavourful as the first.

This tea is fascinating. I’ve never had a tea with cilantro, or much of anything with cilantro really.

The pineapple is there, but is much more subtle than some teas with pineapple. I’m guessing this is the cilantro balancing it out. It’s actually quite nice. Sometimes I find pineapple to be a bit sharp in teas and this tea has created a perfect balance of ingredients so nothing is too overpowering.

Overall a nice creamy pineapple taste. Yum!

The second steep is less flavourful but still tasty. I’m going to cold brew some of this to see how it turns out.

Update: Definitely prefer this one hot. It’s refreshing cold but I’m getting much more of a cilantro than pineapple taste.

This is definitely one better to have cold in my opinion. It was alright hot, but nothing special.

One day on a whim, I asked David’s to make me whatever they wanted and I got a cold Goji Pop. It changed my view on this tea for sure.

So of course, when I was out yesterday getting tea for a friend I picked some of this up for myself and stuck a mason jar full in the fridge overnight to cold brew. It has an almost lemonade-like bitterness to it chilled, but it works so well!

Now I get to enjoy it whilst studying :)

Thanks to jessiwrites for sending me a sample of this :) I know it must have been difficult since you love it!

First a story. I am so frustrated trying to figure out all my necessary graduation requirements! The science advisor is a very nice person, but if anything, I leave her office more confused then when I went in. So I’ve been calculating and contemplating all day about what courses I need and what courses go where and gah! The worst part is I have an exam on Friday I need to study for but my brain seems to be in overdrive about graduation. End rant. Perhaps getting that out will help.

As soon as I poured the water over the leaves the scent of maple and pecan wafted out. It smells delicious, but also very sweet. Hopefully it won’t be too sweet for me.

The first couple sips are definite maple, but not too heavy, which surprises me. A few more sips in and I’m getting a nutty taste alongside the maple.

I’m finding it very sweet and at the same time not sweet at all. How bizarre. It’s delicious though, and that’s what counts right?

The second steep is great as well. It almost tastes sweeter than the first actually.

This one has a nice peach taste amidst the oolong. It mixes really well where I can taste both the peach and oolong, but neither is too overpowering. It’s a bit more flavoured that the Grape Oolong I’m finding, which I like. Slightly more oolong than peach but I think I prefer that over fake or overwhelming tastes that overpower the actual tea. This is one I will repurchase.

I let this one cool a wee bit too long. I prefer it hot.

Thanks to Shmiracles for this treat!

As it’s steeping it smells like a toasty caramel amidst the black tea. I’m finding Kusmi black teas seem to have a distinct scent to them.

This one is lovely. A nice strong black with a hint of caramel. I’m really enjoying it straight. I may add some brown sugar once I get down to half a cup or so to see what happens.

Okay I couldn’t wait to add the brown sugar and I’m glad I didn’t. Just delicious!