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I am not the person to be reviewing this tea! The hib is in effect! I smells just like mulled wine, minus the alcohol. It steeps up a very deep purple red. There is a some fruit at the start of the sip, orange flavors, then there is a dive into the metallic tartness at the back of the sip and as the tartness fades the spices kick in in the finish, clove dominating. If I drink it too quickly an alkaline flavor starts to build up in the finish. I think if the hib were dialed back to half strength I’d be into it. I get why the hib is there to create a mulled wine flavor and it really does remind me of mulled wine, I just have a hard time getting into the tartness of hibiscus.
I added some sugar, one of the three ways I can deal with hib (moderation, cold steeped or sweetened) and it really changed the cup for me. The sharp edge of the tartness is gone, but the alkaline taste in the finish is stronger. It also better resembles the sweet mulled wine I’m familiar with. I think this blend is well done and would be loved by someone with an appreciation of hibiscus.

Sipping down the rest of this sample cold steeped. I like it better this way. The mint is very strong, bright, crisp and cooling with a bit of chocolate hidden behind it rounding it out with some depth. Also pretty good with a little cream and sugar, which mellows out the mint a touch.

This is smoky, sweet, spicy and fruity?! This is so weird and I really like some weird in my tea. It steeps up super pink/red, but it’s got to be the beetroot because the tartness is chill and doesn’t overwhelm. It’s sweet in the sip which is bright and fruity with that hint of tartness and almost savory in the finish with mild spice and smoke which makes for a really intriguing mix. I think this is the 4th blend I’ve tried from Arthur that has lapsang in it, so avoid if you are smoke adverse. The neat thing about these blends is that the smoke is just an element, not the mail flavor taking over. Some of his blends are based off songs and this one is based off one he wrote and has on his website. It’s fun to listen while sipping to and try to match the flavors with the song’s mood. I had this yesterday as well. First cup was great, but it seemed to be missing something in the resteep.

This has a super strong bright and fresh rose flavor. I’m imagining the taste of light yellow or pink petals just off the flower. The chocolate helps tether it from being too ethereal, doing a good job at balancing it out. I have this issue with some French teas where the almond ends up being a powdered rose flavor… it’s a weird way my brain is wired, but if I try to pick out the almond that is where my brain goes. I am enjoying this tea and could see it being really good with cream. I’ll have to try that next!

Sipdown!
Cold steeped the rest of this today. Without getting too political over my tea… it’s inauguration day and the first time we have had a woman for VP. I don’t know much about her or have an opinion on her, but I support having more women and diversity in office. People were wearing pearls and converse in solidarity. Converse hurt my feet so I don’t have any and I’m not a pearl necklace kind of girl, so I decided it would be fitting to celebrate this American milestone by drinking pearls instead. And also because I can’t play nice and do things the way everyone else does. Watch me rebel drink some tea!

I couldn’t stand having one serving left of this tea kicking around in my cupboard, so I dumped the whole thing into my thermos. That part about the jasmine flavor being super weak in my last tasting note… I take it back. Could have been a combo of over leafing and cold steeping, but the jasmine was pretty strong. It also had a good amount of caffeine and I started getting a little jittery drinking this on an empty and hungry stomach. Still, I did enjoy the cup. I might pour more water in and resteep it overnight or I might be bored of it in the morning and decide to dump it for something else.

I have no idea what a caramel apple betty was and had to look it up. Looks similar to an apple pie, but with caramel. I approve. I’m always hopeful, yet skeptical that a tea will properly deliver on the flavors of it’s namesake. This tea seems to do alright at that. It smells very caramel apple like. It’s a little light on the sip, but I get some apple on the tea base. The finish is where all the flavors come out. I get a clear caramel apple flavor and a slight sweet sensation. My cup has cooled now and I’m enjoying it a little less than when it was hot. I was distracted from my cup trying to read the inauguration morning news and there is a lot of it! Time to resteep and psyche myself up for grocery shopping! :/

It’s National Popcorn Day! I feel like I should have a bowl of popcorn for lunch as well as a genmaicha to celebrate!

The winds of change arrived late last night here in the California bay area, just in time for the presidential inauguration. What that means is that all the pollen that has settled was whipped up in 26mph winds making misery for allergy suffers. The house I live in is 130 years old with the original windows, so we feel the breeze inside which means the pollen is getting in too and boy can I feel it! It’s distracting me from my tea as well! I’m having a hard time figuring out if my sense of taste has been effected.

I love this tea. I love that it takes the natural rice flavor in the gen and builds off it to taste like the dessert. The mango is faint in some sips and that surprised me this morning. It’s usually pretty present, but today I’m getting intermittent mango…. which would make an awesome band name! Still a really nice cup and one of my two favorites from ETTE.

Now to make popcorn! The ladyfinger popcorn is my favorite!

Sipping down this sample!

Passionfruit they say? Maybe a little, but more like peach/pear than passion. Someone else walked into the room and asked if I was drinking a peach tea based on the smell. It is a little tart when sipping, which I’m not super into, but there is some peach flavor in the sip too. There is a sweetness towards the end of the sip and the finish starts with the peach/pear combo before going slightly sour. I’ve had better passion fruit teas and I’ve had more interesting peach teas. I’d drink this again if it was around, but I wouldn’t seek it out or buy it. Strikes me as a tea that would be good cold steeped.

Trying this cold steeped despite the hot steep horror. It’s a lot better, but I hesitate to say it’s good or enjoyable. It smells very artificial cherry and a little of that comes out in the flavor, but there is some authentic cherry taste too mixed in with over the top maraschino. It’s very tart, which I dislike. The alkaline dusty taste isn’t nearly as strong as when hot. With how tart it is I’d have to add a bunch of sugar to make this enjoyable and at that point I might as well be drinking cherry soda.

Trying this again with half and half. It’s okay. I get mint and chocolate, but it isn’t as intense as I want. My mouth isn’t washed with the cool sensation of mint. I feel like the balance between the mint and chocolate is good, but they need to be turned up. I think I have two more servings of this. Maybe I’ll try it cold steeped. I remember really liking Teavana’s mint chocolate tea cold like that.