Meghann M

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Another sample from AmazonV. Thanks for all the wonderful tastings to come and that I’ve had! I like trying these teas.

I was a bit skeptical about this tea, as most Rooibos teas I’ve had taste the same (berry and woodsy). This one quite surprised me, it has almost a tropical taste to it along with a sweeter undertone and something citrusy/lemony. This tea really makes me happy, I think it may be green rooibos (just due to the steep being more similar to a green tea than red rooibos I’ve had previously).

I didn’t brew this as strong as recommended. I did one bag to 12 oz boiling water and steeped for 7 minutes. I’m really enjoying this brew. I don’t know that it is making me more passionate, but this may be a reorder down the road for evening tea.

Got this with a bunch of samples from AmazonV. Brewed up 2 bags to 6oz with boiling water for 6 minutes per AmazonV’s instructions. I really wanted to like this tea, it smells delicious, like creamy dark chocolate bliss. Brewed a nice cloudy brown cuppa tea. First sip was pretty boring, watery chocolate so I added 1 tbsp of half and half and it was meh. I took a few sips and ended up dumping it out. I think chocolate and tea just aren’t my thing. I can do a little chili chocolate Azteca Fire from teavana once in a while, but probably steering clear of chocolate teas in the future. Ugg.

Didn’t know exactly how to steep this as it was a green and black tea blend, so held the temperature around 175 for 2.5 minutes for the full sample bag. I would definitely order this tea, I like the way the vanilla calms down the mint and the black tea alerts you as the green tea soothes. It was just what I needed this afternoon as a refreshing tea. I’d love to try this one iced.

Ahh…got it back to how I remember it. A nice light green color after 2 minutes @ 175. Much more depth to the flavor, light indescribable to me at the moment, but not the hay taste I’ve been getting from other greens (like cocomint green). This is one smooth tea. I will have to sample more greens to start improving my vocabulary.

This was a good tea to drink after a good size lunch, not too rich to make me feel full, just light and enough flavor to enjoy a good cuppa.

Much better than my previous chai of the evening. Brewed up 16oz with two full leaf bags. Added a splash of half and half and 1 packet of splenda and this is heavenly compared to my previous attempt at stove brewing Masala Chai by Teavana. This tea is a bit heavy on the anise for my tastebuds, but I like the blend of spices more than most I’ve tried. This is one I keep coming back to.

Epic Chai Fail tonight. Tried using 4tsp tea to 3 cups water, boiled together for 10 minutes, added 1 cup milk and simmered for 10 minutes and then strained. Something just is missing from this mix. I thought it was awful when I made it with the Soy milk, but I think it is the chai base. I’ll have to try this one as a regular tea next, other wise it will be passed on to a better home.

Giving this a higher rating as I tried it iced today and the raspberry baked sweetness really made this tea a tasty iced beverage. Great to sip on while waiting for my Masala Chai to steep on the stove. (we finally got milk in the house)! I hope Teavana’s blend is good. If not I’ll try mixing it with Tazo’s as those are the two I have in my stash right now.

I enjoy this blend. It ha a strong black base with a slight hint of rooibos. The flavors seem to meld together into a flavor of their own. I don’t know how to really describe this one. Too much going on in my brain after a stressful workday to really tear it apart. Just trying to enjoy the relaxation a cuppa tea brings. Maybe green tea would have been a better choice for me right now.

I steeped 2 bags of this tea for 14oz water @170F for 4 minutes. This tea is a beautiful light lime green color with an aroma of coconut plus something savory/spicy that I’ve never smelled before in a green tea.

This tea tastes light and buttery with an aftertaste of coconut and a bit of the ginger zip to it. I found this refreshing hot and am curious as to how it would be iced? Maybe the second steep I will try iced if I get any flavor out of it.

The leaves in these pyramid bags get almost too big for the bag, they certainly expand beautifully. May have to cut the bag open next time and experiment!

I’m quite surprised at how much I like this tea. Full leaf loose green teas still scare me a bit (the hay aroma), but this one brewed up quite nice. I brewed 1.5 tsp @ 170F for 2.5 minutes and got a beautiful pale greenish yellow liquor. This tea smells like champagne with a hint of spearmint. I was surprised at how well the tea matches the taste of a light bubbly champagne, the mojito minty ness is there, and I love it. I like this much better than a fresh mojito, something about mojitos just weren’t my thing, but this sure is my thing. Will brew more when I have more time to enjoy it and more time to do something other than ramble!

I had high hopes for this tea, which this tea didn’t quite hold up to. I brewed it as a cup of tea (no milk or sugar). Maybe it needs to be used as a chai tea latte, but it’s not quite strong enough of an apple flavor to be called apple chai, and not quite enough spices to be a spiced chai. I think if I added some other tea/spices to this it may be better, but before giving it a rating I will try it as a traditional chai with milk on the stovetop and see how that pans out. Darn, was really hoping for a good apple cider flavor.

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Thanks SoccerMom for this sample! I got it today. This is actually my first green loose leaf tea experience. I probably should have started with a plain green sencha or Gunpowder or something, but this is what I have. I didn’t know how to measure the leaves as they are so large, and I don’t have a food scale, so I did a few pinches of tea to 16oz. I heated my water to 180F and steeped for 3 minutes.

Wow do these leaves get ginormus when steeped! I was quite surprised. Makes me want to order some green tea pearls to watch those unfurl. Anyways, back to the tea at hand (in cup?). This tea smells like junior mints and hay. I don’t know if hay is my way of saying “vegetal” but it definitely has a hay aroma. Thankfully this doesn’t come through in the taste. The flavoring is definitely flavoring as there are no chocolate nibs or cocoa in this tea. I believe the mint is an flavor and not in here in any form either. I think they probably could have thrown in some peppermint leaves but maybe the cocomint is all one flavor combination.

Tastes alright, glad to have tried it, not sure I’d order more.

I had some hot water in my kettle and wanted some tea with out the fuss of loose leaf. Added 1 bag to the remaining water (roughly 6oz). This tea brews up some powerful tart berry. I can definitely taste the hibiscus, but there is a stronger, more tart berry flavor to it which I think is the acai. Tastes like the acai smoothy I tried at Caribou Coffee. Pretty good for a late night tea.

Grabbed a cup of this at Barnes and Noble, was excited to see they carried a tea other than tazo (because it’s starbucks inside). I’ve been looking for some herbal alternatives for evening tea, and thought this description sounded appealing. I tried a few sips and enjoyed the berry tartness of it. The rooibos really seems to do well with berry. I remembered enjoying a little cream with my rooibos teas I’ve tried previously. Adding cream, the tea curdled.

I don’t know what element it is in this tea, if it’s one of the ingredients, the fact the half and half is not super cold at starbucks, or possibly a reaction to the high heat of the water? This has happened to me with two rooibos blends before. Cream blends wonderfully with Tazo Vanilla Rooibos, but not the two berry blends I’ve tried. I remember raspberry syrup curdling in lattes when I worked at a coffee shop, maybe it is the cranberry?

Anyways, I took the tea home, tried a few sips and dumped it. I rinsed the bags and tried steeping a longer time 6-7 minutes with near boiling water. Taste was weak, barely there so I dumped it out.

Will rate again after I pick some of this up. I think its worthy of being an evening tea.

Another sample I received from AmazonV today.

I was so excited to try this one as I could smell it immediately once I opened the package. It smells delightful, raspberry, cream, baked goodness.

I brewed it for 8 minutes with nearly boiling water. The liquor is a brilliant red brown in my clear glass mug.

It smells divine, fruity bake-y with a hint of creaminess to it. The taste is berry, but not a tart ripe berry, more of a calm baked in raspberry coffee cake with cream cheese in the middle. I think this tea gets across its flavor quite accurately, I just don’t think it’s the tea I was craving this evening. May add a tad of sweetner to see if this improves.

Received a sample in this in a package from AmazonV today.

Steeped 2 bags in boiling water for about 6 minutes (MIL called while steeping and couldn’t get back to the tea).

Tried first few sips with out additives, tasted pretty watery with a slight note of spice and a bit of citrus tang at the end. I added a splash of cold cream which gave the tea more body and spice upfront, after notes of citrus. (Maybe the apple is the tarty citrus?) Not sure where it is from the ingredients, but definitely there.

This tea is alright, but I like something with more oomph.

Found this tea in the local grocer’s organic section today. I was impressed that they also carried a few mighty leaf teas, although not loose.

I bought this to compare with the Thai tea (Teavana) and Thai Chai (Adagio). This tea has a light orange brown liquor with a spicy aroma. I really can smell the coconut in the dry tea, but once steeped, I’m not getting much smell or taste of coconut. I definitely enjoy this blend of Chai better than my Tazo Chai. It gives me that spicy tickle in the back of my throat. I added just a spash of Vanilla Soy, and think it may be better without it.

This tea is great iced! I cold brewed this overnight in my french press and poured it this morning. Before cold brewing, I awakened the leaves with a quick 20 second steep. This really let the flavor unfurl overnight.

Back to the tea, this tea tastes like the traditional black iced tea I’ve had at tea shops prior. I’m not sure it tastes like true, fresh peaches, but it tastes just like how I enjoy my peach iced tea. No added sugar needed. I may try blending it with another ceylon based flavor tea such as raspberry or ginseng, for more flavor.

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The black tea leaves in this are smaller than I thought, they look crushed or broken maybe? I believe that is intentional in this tea though.

I made this as a tea latte using 2 cups of water and 2 cups of Vanilla Soy to 4 teaspoons chai tea. I brought the water to a boil and then added the tea, boiled for 5 minutes and lowered heat to a simmer, then added the soy while stirring frequently. I let the soy mix simmer another 10 minutes and then removed from heat, letting it cool with the tea still in the mix for another 20 minutes. Then I strained and left in the fridge overnight.

I think I need to do this with water: soy in a 3:1 ration, too much soy in a 1:1. The chai holds up well, but not quite how I want it. I still have some tweaking to do.

I also purchased chocolate soy to try with the chai…excited to try this one hot!

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This tea was much improved by controling my temperature and brew time at home.

1 teabag to 16oz water @ 170F for 7 minutes.

This tea has such a great aroma, getting such a strong cranberry (tart) and a softer calmer berry aroma.

The taste is much richer this time, still a white tea, but more fruity notes to it. Much improved on the cardboard water taste of my last brew attempt.