Josie Jade

This week has been wonderful so far . . . I found out on Monday that I have been accepted to nursing school and will start in the fall! I wasn’t expecting to find out for quite a while, so it was a very pleasant surprise! Tomorrow I’m going to dinner with two of my best friends, and Friday my mom and I are having an afternoon tea. And Sunday is Easter, which is one of the best holidays ever in my opinion. :)

I’m starting today off with this Russian Earl Grey from Angelina’s Teas. The dry leaves smell like really tart lemon and orange, and the tea smells the same except it has a hint of sweet orange. The flavor is tart and citrusy, but there’s a mellowness to it. The aftertaste is of really bitter lemon, but adding milk and sweetener helps with this. With milk and sweetener it becomes a cup with more of a black tea flavor with just a little hint of citrusy sweetness. It’s different than a regular Earl Grey because it has more of an authentic, sour lemon flavor and less of the overwhelming bergamot taste. I like this one, it’s nice and soothing. A gentle cup to wake up with.

-Dry blend has large greenish black tea leaves and pieces of lemon grass with large pieces of lemon and orange peel and blue flowers.
-Dry leaves smell like tart lemon and orange. Tea liquor aroma is of tart and sweet citrus fruit.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium golden brown color.
-Mellow and tart citrus flavor and finish. Bitter lemony aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A sweet and mellow lemony cup.

I picked up this blend at Angelina’s without really knowing what it is. Now that I know, I like the sound of it – cinnamon, mango and passionfruit! The dry leaves smell entirely of mango and sweet passionfruit. The tea itself has a tropical, fruity aroma. The flavor is fruity with a strong malty mango finish. There’s a light tart and fruity aftertaste. I’m really not tasting any cinnamon in this tea. The difference between this tea without milk and sweetener and with is like night and day. Without, the flavors are all sharp and far apart, but with it becomes a really smooth, flowy cup full of soft and sweet fruitiness. And I can detect a very faint touch of cinnamon, or more like the warm, dull spiciness from the cinnamon. The milk and sweetener saved this tea for me!

-Dry blend has medium black and green tea leaves with pieces of dried fruit, cinnamon bark and yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell like mango and passionfruit. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet tropical fruit with a hint of cinnamon.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color.
-Fruity flavor with a malty mango finish. Light tart fruity aftertaste with a faint warmness of cinnamon.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A smooth and sweet fruit flavored cup.

Ugh, this weather. I suppose I shouldn’t complain since so many Steepsters to the North are still getting snowed in, but this cold weather is just so abnormal for the South at this point in the year. When we went out to dinner last night I saw some older lady in shorts and a tank top and she looked so crazy (and cold)! Now, to her credit, it was in the almost-70’s last week and I think she was just really confused, like the rest of us, bless her heart.

Since we are having such a dreary, wet, cold day I’m having a cup of a little something tropical to warm me up. My tea doesn’t look exactly like the picture, because my coconut pieces are a really bright green color!? I imagine it’s just from being mixed in with the green tea and am hoping it doesn’t kill me :) The tea has that really fresh coconut aroma. The flavor and finish are mostly of green tea and the coconut comes in afterwards. It’s a creamy coconut taste that is more of fresh coconut than sweetened coconut. I tried adding a little sweetener to see if that would bring out the coconut more and it didn’t really help. This tea is alright. I think that I just love coconut a lot, so I like for it to really stand out in a tea. If the flavor of this tea had more of the creamy coconut in it, rather than just the very end aftertaste I think it would be perfect!

-Dry blend has large flat green tea leaves and twigs with small pieces of dried coconut.
-Dry leaves smell like green tea with a hint of coconut. Tea liquor aroma is of fresh coconut.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy bright medium yellow color.
-Vegetal green tea flavor and finish. Light creamy coconut aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Fair tea. Very subtle fresh coconut flavor.

Uhm so, something very odd just happened. I had picked up a package of Queen Mary tea from The Secret Tea Room a while ago and decided to have a cup today. After reading the description of this particular tea, and the descriptions of several other Queen Mary teas, I was expecting a nice, malty tea with some floral notes. Ohhh, this tea was so not that. It had those little tiny granules of tea leaves with a whole bunch of large pieces of dried spices (cinnamon bark, maybe, and some other thing that I’ve seen before but can’t remember what it is, it looks like marshmallow root maybe?) I thought, well maybe this is just their adapted version of a Queen Mary blend. So I steeped it, and it was terrible. Alright, maybe not terrible, but just so not what I was expecting. I had anticipated sweet, warming maltiness and instead had some borderline bitter tea with a strange, icky spiciness to it. I am sad because, 1. I couldn’t even finish the tea; and 2. I feel like I can’t even really rate it because I don’t even know what tea it was. I think TSTR obviously mislabeled this one, and I will ask them the next time that I go in. It will drive me crazy until then, though! Has this ever happened to anyone else???

So, after that mess, I am really in need of a tea that is exactly what it says it is. I’m trying this Prince of Wales blend that TeaRunner sent out for our “The American Heiress” book club. She even sent along a little printout about the tea from the Culinary Tea’s website, which is so helpful! This tea is a pretty blend of medium black tea leaves and those cute little rolled gunpowder balls. There’s also some little blue and orange flower petals. The dry leaves smell like fruity black currant, while there is a lovely black tea and sweet fruit aroma from the tea itself. This is a really nice tea with a thick, malty flavor. The finish is very robust, and almost bitter, but good. The black currant comes out very lightly in the aftertaste, but it’s there. This one sort of reminds me of Harney and Son’s Black Currant, but I think theirs is just a little more smooth and rounded. I do appreciate that this one is so flavorful, though. It would be a great tea to get you going in the morning! Thank you TeaRunner for this one!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs and dark green rolled gunpowder tea with small blue and orange petals.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of fruity black currant. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and sweet fruit.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Thick malty flavor with a very robust and almost bitter finish. Light currant aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Really flavorful with a light black currant note.

We went out to dinner tonight, so I decided mint tea would be just the thing right now. This tea is probably a little older, I can’t remember exactly when I got it but it has to have been a while, since we don’t have a Spice & Tea Exchange in our town. I was surprised to see when I was making this tea that it has gunpowder green tea and mint in it – not just mint. It smells really strongly of fresh mint, but the tea itself has a nice green tea and mint aroma. This is a nice balance of flavors. It’s not too overwhelmingly mint, and it’s a heavier sort of tea. There is a nice little cooling mint aftertaste, but again, it’s not in-your-face mintiness. The label says that it’s great as an iced tea too, and I can believe it. I think it would also be good to have on hand for when you’re not feeling well. It’s a nicely refreshing cup.

-Dry blend has a mixture of small pieces of green tea and mint leaves.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of fresh mint. Tea liquor aroma is of green tea and mint.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark yellow color.
-Heavy vegetal and mint flavor and finish. Light cooling mint aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. A nice refreshing balance of mint and green tea.

I’ve enjoyed this tea many times at The Secret Tea Room, and this is the first time that I am making some at home. I don’t know why, but I just really love this tea. Maybe it’s because I’m enthralled with the show of the same name, or maybe it’s because it reminds me of cold, snowy days and having lunch at TSTR with a pot of this to warm us up; I don’t know. The dry leaves smell pretty plain, just very lightly of an ordinary black tea. The tea itself, however, smells warmly of wonderful, fruity jam. This is a very robust black tea that is almost a little bitter, but it’s not quite there. The best part is the sweet and malty fruity aftertaste. I like this tea best with milk and sweetener. At TSTR, I’ve always had this tea with white sugar and milk. At home I always use Stevia and I was a little worried that I wouldn’t love this tea as much without the white sugar. No worries there – it is just as good with stevia! This tea is everything that I like in a black tea – strong, malty and a little bit of a sweet fruit flavor that can stand up to milk. Perfect!

-Dry blend has small black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of black tea. Tea liquor aroma is of fruity jam.
-Tea liquor is a clear deep reddish brown color.
-Robust and almost bitter black tea flavor and finish. Lightly sweet malty and fruity aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Excellent tea. Perfect black tea with a hint of fruity jam.

Nothing on the agenda for today except lots of homework and lots of tea. The tea leaves for this one smell really strongly of bergamot, but the tea itself smells like black tea and mostly a strong, tangy orange aroma. If I hadn’t known there was bergamot in this tea beforehand it probably wouldn’t have jumped out at me in the flavor either. It’s a smooth, malty black tea with a bright, citrusy orange finish. There is a very small bergamot aftertaste, but it’s not all that noticeable. I like this one!

-Dry blend has large light brown tea leaves with pieces of dried orange peel.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of bergamot with a hint of orange. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and orange.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Smooth malty flavor with a citrusy orange finish. Slight bergamot aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Black tea with a tart orange flavor. Very little bergamot.

This is one of those teas that I always wonder why I don’t reach for it more when I do have a cup. It smells really strongly of bergamot. Is there any scent more comforting to an Earl Grey lover? The tea itself tastes much less of bergamot than the smell would lead you to believe. The flavor is a smooth black tea with citrus, mainly lemon. There is a nice, light bergamot finish. The rose is noticeable a very small amount in the aftertaste. If the rose popped out more I think this would be a go-to tea for me. And it’s decaf, so you can drink it right before bed and have Earl-Grey scented dreams!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pink and yellow rose petals.
-Dry leaves smell heavily of bergamot. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and bergamot with a hint of rose.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color.
-Smooth black tea and citrus flavor with a light bergamot finish. Small hint of rose noticeable in the aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. A thin delicate tea. Prominent lemony bergamot flavor.

What an odd little tea! There’s nothing in this that says pumpkin to me – not the ingredients or the smell of the dry leaves. It actually kind of smells like fruity bubblegum to me. Ackkk, this tastes like stale fruit. There is a strange aftertaste that is dry feeling, ew. I’m mostly just tasting that stale, musty fruit flavor. This tea has a whole lot going on, but sadly none of it is pumpkin! I tried adding milk and sweetener, and I still don’t want to drink it. I can’t believe they call this pumpkin cream – I can’t find any pumpkin in this cup at all! Oh well, thanks KittyLovesTea for the sample!!

-Dry blend has red and brown rooibos with chunks of dried fruit and yellow petals.
-Dry blend smells like rooibos and fruity bubblegum. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet fruit.
-Tea liquor is a clear deep orange brown color.
-Very stale fruit flavor with an almost spicy finish. Odd dry feeling and artificial aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Poor tea. Strange fruity flavor. No pumpkin taste at all.

This is an ok tea. I think that I’ve had so many marzipan teas at this point that are amazing that it makes this one seem a little blah by comparison. It’s definitely not the best almond tea that I’ve had. There is a touch of bitterness and the marzipan aftertaste is a little too artificial. I think this one definitely needs milk; it tones down the bitterness and adds to the creaminess to make the aftertaste more authentic (but not quite amazing). I would drink it, but only if there wasn’t a better almond tea in my cupboard.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell like almonds with a hint of marzipan. Tea liquor aroma is of marzipan.
-Tea liquor is a slightly cloudy dark reddish brown color.
-Malty fresh almond flavor and finish. A small amount of bitterness. Light creamy marzipan aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Lightly artificial almond marzipan flavor.

I’m reaching for a comforting tea this morning. I have a big math test today that I am more than a little stressed about, so I wanted something that would wake me up, but not make me think about it too much since I need to be focused on all of these darn math formulas! This tea is just a blend of black teas from Kenya, Malawi and Indonesia. The teabags smell lightly malty. The flavor is smooth and bold with no bitterness. It reminds me of a higher quality PG Tips. It’s perfect with a little milk and sweetener. Thanks to Serenity for this tea! It is just what I needed this morning to ‘wake my motor up’!

-Round natural unbleached teabag.
-Teabag smells lightly malty. Tea liquor aroma is of robust black tea.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark golden brown color.
-Smooth and bold flavor and finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A hearty black tea with no bitterness. Reminiscent of PG Tips.

I like the sound of this one – lemon, strawberry AND black tea? Yippee! The tea leaves smell very lightly of lemon and strawberry, but the tea has a wonderfully strong aroma. The lemon is the most noticeable flavor in this tea, with the strawberry just sweetly popping in at the end. If I would change anything it would be to add more sweet strawberry and just a little less of the intense lemon. There is a fresh fruity aftertaste that is nice. Adding a little milk and sweetener seems to tone down the tartness from the lemon and bring the flavors together more. I think this would be the best iced tea in the summer! I can imagine a garden party with this being served. It just tastes like warm, sunshiney days!

-Dry blend has medium black and green tea leaves with yellow petals and small bits of lemon peel.
-Dry leaves smell very lightly of lemon and fruit. Tea liquor aroma is of tangy lemon and strawberry.
-Tea liquor is a clear deep reddish brown color.
-Tart lemon and black tea flavor with a short sweet strawberry finish. Fresh fruity aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Mainly lemon flavored. A nice summertime cup!

This tea is a long-time favorite of mine. It was one of the first tins that I bought when I was first becoming obsessed with loose-leaf teas. It still holds that same charm for me. The dry leaves smell of rich cocoa with a hint of nuts. The flavor is smooth, malty black tea with a nutty finish. There is a light chocolate and hazelnut aftertaste that is to die for. No bitterness at all in this tea, it is nice and smooth. I like to add a little sweetener, and sometimes milk, to make this tea just perfect.

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell like rich chocolate with a hint of nuts. Tea liquor aroma is of chocolate and vanilla.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Smooth malty black tea flavor with a nutty finish. Light chocolate hazelnut aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Excellent tea. A richly flavored cup of chocolate and hazelnut.

Another rooibos blend that I was surprised to find I like. Except this one really made me laugh! I’ve been struggling with math homework all day and thought I was seeing things. Green tea?!! Wayyy too many quadratic equations = me going crazy, haha! Once I checked some other reviews and realized that yes, this tea is in fact supposed to be green I calmed down. I like that this tea doesn’t taste like rooibos at all. I’m not getting any of that funny aftertaste at all, just a perfect, light fruitiness. I added a little milk and sweetener and it’s so nice and creamy. The main fruit flavor that I can taste is pineapple, but there’s an overall tropical fruitiness that is making me happy. Thanks KittyLovesTea for a sample of this fun tea!

-Dry blend has small pieces of brown, green and yellow rooibos with orange and black cat sprinkles.
-Dry blend smells sweet and fruity. Tea liquor aroma is tropical and fruity.
-Tea liquor is a thick dark green color with an oily sheen on top.
-Light rooibos and fruit flavor with a pineapple finish.
-Best with sweetener. Milk optional.
-Very good tea. A creamy and lightly fruity cup. No rooibos aftertaste.

Happy First Day of Spring! Spring is by far my most favorite season, so I am rejoicing that it is finally here! Back when I was in high school, I remember we went to see one of my mom’s friend’s horses, who was about to have her foal on the first day of spring. It was such a sweet memory and I always associate this day with that special time. They mowed our yard today for the first time in awhile, and it smells like freshly cut grass outside. I almost swooned when I walked out the door!

This tea smells amazing – it’s very fragrant and sweet. I can detect notes of grape and honey in the dry leaves. This tea has a very sweet flavor, nice and malty with a hint of honey. This is one of those teas that even I find is sweet on its own, so it would be perfect without any added sweetener. I added milk and sweetener, and it’s still just as good with both, so just a personal preference. I think this is one that I will definitely keep stocked in my cupboard, it has such a unique flavor. What a perfect tea for the start of spring!

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell sweetly of grape and honey. Tea liquor aroma is florally of sweet grapes.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium reddish brown color.
-Light malty flavor with a hint of honey and a sweet finish. Lingering strong white grape and slightly bitter wine finish.
-Best plain or with milk and sweetener.
-Excellent tea. A fragrant cup. Naturally sweet grape taste.

This is one of those really unique teas that I find myself craving every once in awhile. The dry leaves smell really toasty and the tea smells warm and nutty. There is a light sesame seed finish that I wish it was a little stronger. For me, this is basically a nice black tea with a little sesame seed note at the end. A nice tea, but not one that I reach for everyday.

-Dry blend has medium shiny black tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell like toasted sesame seeds. Tea liquor aroma is nutty.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium reddish brown color with an oily sheen on top.
-Malty and nutty flavor and finish. Light toasted sesame seed aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Black tea with a toasty flavor.

I’m very sleepy this morning, so I am hoping this one will do the trick and wake me up. The tea leaves smell very odd – I can detect a little butter, but it smells artificial. There’s also a strange sourness to the leaves, like vinegar. The tea liquor smells like vinegar also. The flavor is sour and malty, yuck. There is a light butterscotch aftertaste, but not enough to make up for the ickiness of the initial sip. I really just don’t even want to finish it. If this tea didn’t have the strong tart sourness to it at the beginning I think it would be an alright cup. As it is, though, I just cannot like it.

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves, small butterscotch chips and small yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell like artificial butter and sour vinegar. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and vinegar.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium golden brown color.
-Sour and malty flavor and finish. Light butterscotch aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Poor tea. Tart and sour vinegar-like flavor.

I was on a roll today with green and white teas, mainly because I was out of the milk that I normally have in black teas. Thanks to KittyLovesTea for this sample! I had a quick cup before my mom and I went grocery shopping. It was beautiful here today – lots of sunshine and a little breeze. I feel like this was my first real taste of Spring, since I can finally see the trees blooming and little flowers are popping up everywhere. I’m so happy that the dreariness of winter is almost over!!

-Dry blend has medium green tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell sweet and fruity. Tea liquor aroma is vegetal with a hint of strawberry.
-Tea liquor is a clear pale yellow color.
-Grassy flavor with a light strawberry finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Very lightly flavored. Fresh juicy strawberry taste.

Adding a little festivity to this ordinary Tuesday morning with some Champagne green tea. This tea has large slices of strawberries and white blossoms mixed in with the Sencha tea leaves. It smells fruity, with just a hint of that sharp champagne aroma. The tea itself smells just like champagne. I doubt I would know the difference by smelling it if I was blindfolded. The flavor is strawberry up front, with a champagne finish. There is even a lingering alcohol taste, just like with real champagne. This tea certainly fits it’s name! I will probably keep some of this on hand for those times that calls for a celebration, without the icky after feeling the next morning that comes with real champagne. :)

-Dry blend has long flat green tea leaves and twigs with large slices of dried strawberries and large white blossoms.
-Dry leaves smell fruity with a sharp hint of champagne. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet champagne.
-Tea liquor is a clear pale yellow color.
-Strawberry flavor with a champagne finish. Lingering alcohol aftertaste.
-Best with a small amount of sweetener.
-Excellent tea. A festive cup of celebration! Authentic champagne flavor. Fruity and light.

This is my second Della Terra Teas blend that I am trying, thanks to KittyLovesTea! This tea has big, fluffy green tea leaves with small red berries and pieces of dried pineapple. Not surprisingly, the leaves smell lightly of pineapple. This tea is the lightest shade of pale yellow, almost clear. Wow, the flavor is very much of a true pineapple taste. There is a little hint of vanilla at the beginning, and a clear pineapple aftertaste. The flavor isn’t overly sweet, just a fresh pineapple taste. This tea has really surprised me, since I usually don’t get this excited about white teas. If all of Della Terra Teas are this amazing it looks like I will be placing an order very soon!

-Dry blend has large fluffy green tea leaves, small red berries and pieces of dried pineapple.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of pineapple. Tea liquor aroma is of earthy pineapple and vanilla.
-Tea liquor is a clear very pale yellow color.
-Smooth vanilla and pineapple flavor and finish. True pineapple aftertaste that lingers.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Authentic flavor of fresh pineapple. Not overly sweet.

So this one seems almost the same as Mistie’s Blend, except this one doesn’t have hazelnut in it. I think the fiancee voted for this one, and that’s why I purchased two blends that are so similar. This one does include rose petals in it, as listed, so I am pretty happy about that. The smell, like Mistie’s Blend, is of strong, rich cocoa. The tea itself smells like warm milk chocolate with a florally hint of rose. The flavor is malty and chocolatey with a light rose finish. The chocolate flavor is strong, but the black tea is still nice and malty. The rose just gives it enough of a floral note without being overwhelming. I really like this tea. As with Mistie’s Blend, the tea is a little thin, but it’s not too bad. And Chocolate Lovers seems pretty true to it’s description and ingredients, yay!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with pink, white and yellow rose petals.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of rich cocoa. Tea liquor aroma is of milk chocolate with a hint of rose.
-Tea liquor is a clear golden brown color.
-Malty chocolate flavor with a very light rose finish.
-Best with the smallest amount of milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Silky chocolate flavor with a floral note.

We were our of town this past weekend at a soccer tournament. Saturday was nice and sunny, but Sunday was absolutely freezing and rainy. It was pretty miserable sitting on the sidelines watching the games. But I’m sure the girls who were playing were really cold and wet, so I didn’t complain too much. I was glad that we took our little 16 oz. Bodum electric kettle and some sample teas so that we could make some teas in the room to take to the games and then also to have a cup at night.

We went up early on Friday to spend the day in Richmond and went to the Carytown area to have lunch and visit Carytown Teas. Overall, I wasn’t super impressed with the store. I took a list of teas that I had found on their website to try, and when I got there and realized that a lot of their teas are Harney’s that they just resell. That cut my list down a lot, since I already have a lot of Harney’s and would just rather buy from them. The shop was really cluttered, there was literally stuff all over and it was all jumbled and didn’t really make me want to browse around a lot. My fiancee asked to use the restroom and he told me later that there were actually teas being stored in the bathroom! They were in clear plastic bags on the floor, but still . . .

I ended up purchasing 3 teas. Mistie’s Blend was the only one that I really wanted to try from there. It smells heavenly, like very rich cocoa. There is a nice hot chocolate aroma while the tea is steeping. The ingredients list rose buds and hazelnuts, but there are only ordinary black tea leaves in the blend. I’m not going to lie – I was a little sad, since I love rose flavor and if it’s listed on the ingredients I kind of am expecting it to be in there when I open up the bag. Maybe I am just being too picky? The flavor is malty and chocolatey with a little hazelnut finish. There is a nice cocoa aftertaste that lingers. Sadly, I can’t taste any rose in the blend whatsoever. The tea is a little thin also, but not terribly so. This is a nice tea and it really does taste like a tea version of hot chocolate, but if I could find another tea with rose added in I would probably purchase that one.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of rich cocoa. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and nuts with just a hint of cocoa.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Malty chocolate flavor with a small hazelnut finish. Lingering cocoa aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Thin hazelnut and hot cocoa taste. No rose flavor noticeable.

I really love this tea. This used to be my go-to morning tea, and I still look forward to revisiting it frequently. It’s malty and strong, but with a delicious marzipan aftertaste. It’s just like those pretty little marzipan candies. The flavor of this tea is so true to actual marzipan, nothing artificial about it. I like mixing this one with the Bon Bon tea from Tin Roof Teas – chocolate covered marzipan magic in a cup!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs and pieces of almonds.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of marzipan. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and almonds.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy medium brown color.
-Malty almond flavor and finish. Strong marzipan candy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Authentic marzipan flavor.

Having a cup of this one this morning to mix it up a little. I’ve had a sample pack of this for awhile, but not much has been taken out so I don’t think I liked it very much. I think that with the name I was hoping for some type of banana flavor, but there’s none of that. (Should have read the ingredients, haha!) The flavor is pretty bland. I taste a little maltiness and a little fruit, but you can’t really pick out the individual strawberry or pineapple flavors. There is a light citrus finish that reminds me of the way a fresh orange tastes. This is just a very subdued tea. Adding sweetener helps to bring out more of a candy-like fruit flavor, but it’s still very light. I guess I don’t love this tea because nothing really stands out about the black tea base, and the sweetness/almost artificiality of the fruit flavor masks it. For me, this would be an ok afternoon tea; kind of a little sweet pick-me-up in the afternoon.

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves with yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell fruity. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet strawberries and pineapple.
-Tea liquor is a cloudy dark brown color.
-Candy fruit flavor with a light citrus finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Lightly flavored. Sugary fruit taste.