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I made cups of this for the boy and I this morning. I was excited to try it, since this was my first tea from Dammann Freres. I like the name of this tea, as Easter is by far my favorite holiday. There is nothing better than getting a colorful basket full of goodies on a sunny spring day! The dry leaves smell wonderful – extremely sweet and fruity with just a hint of champagne or white wine. Maybe the alcoholic smell that I’m noticing is from the maraschino? Whatever it is, it smells wonderful, although a little strong. The flavor is chocolatey and malty with a heavy fruity aftertaste. With a little milk and sweetener, this becomes a creamy cup with flavors of vanilla and maraschino. I am glad that this tea came out so nice, I was a little put off at first from all of the heady aromas from the dry leaves. A big thank you to Shelley_Lorraine for this wonderful sample! The fiancee is loving this tea also and already asking when we can get more – anyone know where to purchase Dammann Freres online or in the US??

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves and twigs with pink and yellow rose petals and small blue petals.
-Dry leaves smell overwhelmingly sweet and fruity with a hint of champagne or white wine. Tea liquor aroma is malty with sweet floral and fruit notes.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Chocolate malty flavor and finish with a heavy fruity aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A decadent and creamy cup with a light flavor of maraschino and chocolate vanilla.

I’m extra sleepy this morning. It’s been raining for two days straight here since that tropical storm is passing through, and I think it’s making our dogs and cats anxious or crazy. They’ve all been so ornery and into everything! The foster kittens were up all night long, and I was afraid that if I put them out of my room and shut the door that I wouldn’t hear what they were destroying. Even our laid-back greyhound has been a ‘velcro dog’ and is glued to my side, following me from room to room. Needless to say, I need the strongest cup of tea I can find this morning!

I’ve tried Peet’s Pride of the Port and loved it, so I am sure that I will like this tea. The dry leaves smell lightly sweet and malty, and the tea itself smells much the same, with the addition of a light floral note. The tea has a strong and sweet malty flavor and finish. There is a heavy malty aftertaste that is just wonderful – this will surley wake me up this morning! There is a slight bitterness, but nothing that a little milk and sugar won’t take care of. And this certainly is an ideal tea for milk and sugar – it is just perfect. It’s been a long time since I’ve had an Irish Breakfast, and this one is exceptionally good! Thank you to Serenity for this wonderful sample!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell lightly sweet and malty. Tea liquor aroma is sweet and malty with a floral note.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color.
-Strong and sweet malty flavor and finish. Heavy malty aftertaste. Slight bitterness.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Strong and sweet malty flavor. Perfect with milk and sweetener.

I received a wonderful surprise package in the mail yesterday, and this was one of the teas in there. I had a cup last night before dinner, and was pleasantly surprised at how delicious it is! The dry blend smells sweet and savory, which is initially a little odd. While it’s steeping, however, there is a scent of warm orange juice. I was worried that it would be greasy since I’ve had that experience with other Teavana blends, but it’s not at all! The tea liquor is a little cloudy, but is a pretty pale yellow color. There is a strong citrus flavor with a very light sage finish. The aftertaste is of fresh orange and pineapple and is so refreshing! This is one of those teas that I would’ve never picked out for myself, so a big thank you to Serenity for introducing me to this delightful little tea! I can easily say that this is my favorite Teavana blend and I am already tempted to go purchase some!

-Dry blend has a mixture of dried fruit and berries with lavender petals.
-Dry blend smells of sweet oranges with a hint of savory sage. Tea liquor aroma is of warm orange juice and sage with a hint of lavender.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy pale yellow color.
-Strong tart citrus flavor with a light sage finish. Fresh orange and pineapple aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Fresh orange flavor with a savory note. A refreshing cup.

It’s been raining all last night and all day here. I’m supposed to do a group run this evening, but I don’t think it’s going to happen with all of the storms that keep moving through. I’ve taken the rainy day opportunity to lay in bed all day with a book and some tea – perfect kind of day!

This tea has pieces of raspberry leaves and pieces of dried raspberries in it. I don’t know if it’s because I know that, but it definitely tastes more like raspberries to me than pomegranate. I get a little of the tart pomegranate flavor in the finish, but other than that it’s either bitter black tea or a very subtle sweet raspberry. Even with milk and sweetener it’s still just ok, nothing amazing at all. I can still taste a little of the bitterness as well, and since I followed the steeping directions exactly this one just isn’t a winner for me. I don’t like finicky teas, unless they just taste amazing at the end, which I doubt this one would even if I played around with steep/temp. This one doesn’t classify as terrible, it’s just not that great. I actually really like Bigelow’s Black Pomegranate tea, which is funny because it’s in a teabag.

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves and twigs with pieces of green raspberry leaves and pieces of dried raspberries.
-Dry leaves smell of black tea and tart fruit. Tea liquor aroma is of strong black tea with just a hint of sweet fruit.
-Tea liquor is a clear very dark brown color.
-Strong and slightly bitter and malty flavor with a tart pomegranate finish. Subtle sweet raspberry aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Fair tea. Tastes more like raspberry than pomegranate. Unfortunate strong bitter note.

I’ve been so lazy today. I have a long list of things to do, and instead I’ve been reading all day and playing with the foster kittens. To be fair, my ebook loan is about to expire and I’m rushing to finish it before it dissapears off of my ipad, so I kind of have to read all day! Plus I got all of my homework done for the week on Monday night, so I can afford to relax a little. :)

This one smells really light, like fresh green tea with just a hint of sweet pineapple. It has a fruity flavor with a grassy finish. There’s a light, fresh pineapple aftertaste that becomes a little more pronounced with some sugar added. I actually like this one a little more than I thought I would. Even though the flavor is a little mild, it does taste like sweet pineapple and green tea, but without that overwhelming grassy/vegetal flavor that is not my favorite. I think that this is actually a green tea that I would drink regularly.

Our little foster kittens had a vet appointment yesterday, and we scheduled their spay/neuter surgeries, which means we probably will only have them until the end of June/beginning of July. This is our first time fostering, and everyone always says that you get so attached, but I didn’t quite realize just how attached I would get. Especially with the little runt! She has an eye injury that means she will have a cloudy eye the rest of her life and she has a huge hernia on her belly (they will fix that during her spay) and she is just so little and I love her. All of the destruction and chaos that these 4 tiny kittens have brought to our house has been totally worth it. I think if we can just get through seeing these adopted out and getting a new litter to foster right away we will be ok as foster parents. I don’t want to be a foster failure the first time, but I could totally adopt all 4 of these kittens! I think our whole house will be depressed when they leave. Our cats and dogs are all obsessed with them and love all over them throughout the day too. I hope that with all of the socialization, bathing, nail trimming, etc. they will find their forever homes and be the perfect little house cats!

-Dry blend has long flat green tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell like fresh green tea with a hint of pineapple. Tea liquor aroma is faintly of sweet pineapple.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium yellow green color.
-Fruity flavor with a grassy finish. Light fresh pineapple aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Light and perfect pineapple flavor. Green tea isn’t too grassy.

My fiancee and I went to the gym this morning and he showed me how to do a whole bunch of arm exercises. Now my arms are all jelloish and I can’t hardly move them, haha! This tea was on the top of the pile when I opened my tea drawer, so needless to say this will be the first cup of the day. The dry leaves smell like malty black tea and there is almost a chocolatey hint. There is also a scent of fresh fruit. The tea liquor aroma is more perfumey, with the smell of sweet, fresh apricots. There is a heavy, malty flavor with a sweet fruit finish. The apricot comes in with the aftertaste and is very light and wispy. Adding sweetener brings out a lot of the rich apricot flavors and makes me think that this would be a wonderful iced tea. Our milk is expired, so I didn’t add any milk today, but I remember from previous cups that the milk adds an almost creamy note to the apricot flavor. The apricot is a little artificial to me, but not overly so. I think Adagio said this tea was ‘soft’ and ‘mellow’ in the description, which is funny to me, because I find it to be rather heavy from the strong black tea base. It’s still a nice tea, either way. I’m glad I like this cup because I don’t have the arm strength to make a different one! You’d think that lifting the tea kettle so often throughout the day would’ve at least given me some arm muscle to start with! :)

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pieces of dried apricot and yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell malty and of almost chocolatey black tea with a hint of fresh fruit. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet and fresh apricots.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Heavy and malty flavor with a sweet fruit finish. Light and wispy apricot aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Very good tea. Strong black tea with a sweet apricot flavor.

This is my last new tea to try from Capital Teas. The saleslady mentioned this one when I was checking out, and since it has the Cream Earl Grey in it and I had purchased that one for my mom, I decided to get this one for myself. It’s a pretty blend, with large tea leaves and small blue petals. There are a few pieces of pink rose petal, but not nearly as many as I had hoped for. The dry leaves smell floral and of soft bergamot. The aroma of the tea itself has more of the perfumey rose scent and the bergamot. The flavor is light and malty with a bergamot finish. There is a floral rose and bergamot aftertaste. This tea is very mildly flavored, but it has a wonderful mouth filling, smooth texture. We’re out of organic white sugar, so I added some coconut sugar (it’s almost like brown sugar in flavor) and it made it pretty yucky tasting. Then I remembered that I have some vanilla infused white sugar, so I tossed that cup out and poured a new cup from my little teapot and used the white sugar. Muucchhh better! I’m loving the light rose aftertaste from this tea. It’s not very strong, but it just adds something special to the tea. Glad I decided to get this one at the last minute!

-Dry blend has large black and green tea leaves with small blue petals and a few pieces of pink rose petals.
-Dry leaves smell lightly floral and of soft bergamot. Tea liquor aroma is of perfumey rose and bergamot.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium brown color.
-Light malty flavor with a full soft bergamot and cream finish. Floral rose and bergamot aftertaste. Mouth filling and smooth texture.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Mildly flavored Earl Grey with nice rose and vanilla cream notes. Smooth texture.

As soon as I smelled this tea I knew that I wanted some. I love banana flavored things and this smells just like banana taffy. I was surprised when I got home and looked up the ingredients to see that it has rooibos in it. There are so many HUGE pieces of dried fruit that you don’t even really notice the little rooibos that there is, which is just fine with me. I even had a difficult time scooping out 1.5 teaspoons because it doesn’t even fit in the teaspoon. I finally made do with just picking out some of the fruits and dropping them into my little teapot. The flavor isn’t exactly like banana taffy. I can taste a lot of other sweet fruit and especially tart pineapple in there too. Adding sweetener took away a lot of the tartness and made it more of a sweet fruity banana flavor. I like this one, I just wish it was a little more bananaish. Or maybe that it was renamed to Fruity Banana blend or something instead of Banana Taffy. I’d still like to try it iced. Another customer in the store told me that if you mix this Banana Taffy with the herbal almond tea it tastes just like banana bread. Although it’s not Capital Teas’ brand, I have a Roasted Almond tea that I just may try that with.

-Dry blend has full size pieces of dried fruits with red rooibos.
-Dry blend smells tropical and of sweet bananas, coconut and pineapple. Tea liquor aroma is of warm bananas and pineapple.
-Tea liquor is a clear bright medium yellow color with an oily sheen on top.
-Sweet fruit flavor with a tart pineapple finish. Light banana aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Tart and fruity flavor with a light banana aftertaste.

I got some of this tea for my mom this weekend while we were in DC. She is the best and watches our house, dog and cats when we are out of town. It’s so much easier going on vacation without having to worry about your pets or home. Earl Grey is one of her favorites, so I thought this would be perfect as a thank you. I’m sneaking a cup before giving it to her so I can try it too!

The dry leaves are big and have pretty blue cornflower petals. The dry leaves smell sweetly of bergamot with just a hint of vanilla. The tea liquor has a soft bergamot aroma. The flavor is a little floral and citrusy. There is a slightly bitter finish, but adding both milk and sweetener masks the bitterness and brings out more of the vanilla flavor. Something about the taste of this tea reminds me a little of licorice, which is odd. I’m looking forward to seeing what my mom thinks, since she doesn’t like licorice at all. Overall, it’s a nice tea, but not your traditional Earl Grey Cream. There’s a little something different about this tea, and I like that it’s not overwhelmingly of traditional bergamot and sweet vanilla.

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves and twigs with small blue petals.
-Dry leaves smell sweetly of bergamot with a hint of vanilla. Tea liquor aroma is of soft bergamot.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Floral and citrusy flavor with a slightly bitter lemony finish. Vanilla and licorice aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Lightly floral bergamot flavor. Unique licorice note.

We went to DC this weekend. My friend lives right next to the Capital Teas in Bethesda, and she took me there since she knew that I loved tea so much. It was a tiny shop, but they had a whole wall full of glass jars with the teas in them to smell. I loved that because I was able to see the tea and also smell it so I knew what I wanted to purchase. This one definitely stood out to me, it smells richly of dried fruit with just a little hint of spiciness. The tea itself has a sweet cherry and black tea aroma. The flavor is very sweet and fruity even without sugar and there is a strong cherry aftertaste that lingers. The cherry aftertaste kind of reminds me of cherry cough syrup, which I don’t love. Adding sweetener takes the flavor back to a fruity cherry instead of a mediciney cherry. I added a little milk and it became a nice and smooth, creamy cup. This was my first tea from Capital Teas and it’s a winner!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with large dried cherries and pieces of dried fig.
-Dry leaves smell of rich dried fruit with a hint of spiciness. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet cherries and black tea.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark reddish brown color.
-Sweet fruity flavor and finish. Strong cherry aftertaste that lingers.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Very good tea. Rich and smooth fruity flavor. Candy cherry taste.