Finn88

This must be the candy cane that tattooed_tea sent me since shes the only one who reviewed it! Two different lovely steepsters sent me two different candy cane samples and I got myself all mixed up.

The dry smell of this is strong and delicious. A highly aromatic scent of peppermint, black tea, and cinnamon. I at first thought the cinnamon was an odd addition and wondered how it would mix in. It smells absolutely amazing while brewing…I almost didn’t want to wait for it to finish.

I liked this one a bit better than the one by adagio teas. The adagio one had more of a peppermint taste, but this one blended nicely with the taste of cinnamon. Again, I wouldnt say that it overwhelmingly tasted like candy cane, but still…it was amazing and reminded me of Christmas time. I would definitely add permanently to my collection.

Yummm! Spent 3 hours waiting for gas today, watched a cop get suckerpunched in the face, and now I need to relax with a cup of hot tea. KallieBoo or Tattooed_tea sent this to me as a sample (I’m so sorry I don’t remember…it’s been hectic!). I love candy cane flavored and scented things. I’m a christmas freak :) So I was super excited when I was sent this without even asking.

The dry smell smells mostly of black tea with a hint of peppermint. Smells delicious, just not necessarily like a candy cane. Brews a nice dark brownish black color. Lightly sweetened with German Rock Sugar. Nice dark sweet tea with a hint of peppermint. Absolutely delicious, but does not really remind me of a candy cane. I think that I expected more of the peppermint taste.

I would highly recommend!

sigh Spent two hours waiting in line for gas, only to have them run out right before it was my turn. Damn you Hurricane Sandy…now I have to call out of work and my poor patients don’t get enough staff and the attention they deserve. Anyway, on to the tea. After that whole waiting episode I had a nice refreshing glass of tea to relax. This is my standby that I go to all the time. It makes a nice large pitcher, goes with almost anything, and relaxes me. Delicious!

Eh. The first few tazo bags in the sampler I liked, but this and the chair bored me to tears. Granted I’ve never had an Earl Grey before, but this tasted like I stole perfume and guzzled it. It was not enjoyable in the least…I actually threw most of the cup away, which I never do. I will try again maybe when I am less tired and cranky.

Blech. This is by far THE most underwhelming Chai that I have ever tasted. All I tasted was a slight hint of stale cinnamon and hot water. I love Chai’s! They have some of the strongest flavors of tea…this one mearly tasted of water. I was not happy at all. I was excited in the cold of working with no power to have a nice hot cup of chai (a nearby dunkin donuts was nice enough to provide the patients with hot water and coffee since we have no power at work). I was disappointed. Oh well, I still have ones I love…won’t be buying this again.

What a terrible time for NJ. Hurricane Sandy devestated the lives of so many people around me. Luckily me and my family are fine, but so many lost so much. Work has been non-stop with no power. A fun sidenote in nursing is that in an emergency if no one shows up, you don’t get to leave. The last 3 or 4 days have been literally nonstop working making sure my patients survive this storm. Needless to say, its been a little stressful and I turned to tea to help me relax and sleep in the middle of chaos. I can’t tell you if it’s sure exhaustion or if this tea actually helped, but I slept like a rock. I didn’t move for the 4 or 5 hours that I got.

It tastes a bit like sleepytime tea, with a hint of citrus which I feel definitely improves the tea. Verrrry strong taste of chamomille, which I like. If you don’t though this tea will overwhelm you. I was suprised to like this because I think Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime tea tastes like someone’s dirty foot :). I was just glad to have a little bit of sanity through the aftermath of Sandy…

Teavana was nice enough to include a 1 oz sample of their blend: Maharaha Chai Ooolong/Samurai Chai Tea Blend. I’m still learning what sort of teas that I like, and apparently I love chais. This was delicious. I didn’t even have to add milk, just a little bit of sugar to bring out the spices and its a nice delicious winter blend. Out of all the teas I have tried yet, this one is by far my favorite and I never would have even thought to order it!

Teavana was nice enough to include a 1 oz sample of their blend: Maharaha Chai Ooolong/Samurai Chai Tea Blend. I’m still learning what sort of teas that I like, and apparently I love chais. This was delicious. I didn’t even have to add milk, just a little bit of sugar to bring out the spices and its a nice delicious winter blend. Out of all the teas I have tried yet, this one is by far my favorite and I never would have even thought to order it!

I always thought that I only really liked flavored teas, but I think I might be a black tea fan. I thought this was absolutely delicious and had a nice kick to it, keeping me from falling asleep at the nurse’s station last night. Definitely had a bold, robust taste. Maybe I will have to start sampling black teas, which I thought I would hate. I was definitely pleasantly suprised.

So apparently I’m on a bagged tea kick, since that’s all I really have time to brew at work. I bought a Tazo tea sampler, and this one was included. It was okay. Not anything to brag about, but not bad either. Had a very herby taste with suprisingly minimal green tea taste. It’s good to have in the cupboard, but not something you necessarily look forward to.

Another free sample that KallieBoo threw in for me :). This tea was a bit odd done hot. The dry smell was delicious, like a sweet, fresh picked raspberry. Something about fruity teas served hot throws me off though. It was okay…not something I would go out of my way to buy, if it was made hot. I think that if it was cold I would have liked it a lot better, but seeing as I was at work I didn’t have much of a choice brewing wise. Also, I may have steeped it way too long considering one of my patients randomly started screaming. It did seem to give me an energy boost though, which was a plus.

Got this in a swap from KallieBoo! I mostly grabbed this because I’m coming down with a cold and the package conveniently says that it supports immune function. I figured what the heck, it can’t hurt. I didn’t expect to like it considering I didn’t even know what Kombucha meant. The smell when steeped is like lemon mixed with medicinal herbs. Suprisingly good when mixed with a little sugar. Not something that I would necessarily drink for fun, but not at all bad when a cold is brewing. I would definitely add it to my collection.

I was pleasantly suprised by this tea! It’s a cold brew tea, so I just left it in the cool water for 10 minutes. Okay, i lied 14 minutes because I forgot that I was brewing it :). It’s a beautiful reddish pink color and tastes nice and sweet. I couldn’t imagine this as a hot tea at all. For a bagged tea, I really enjoyed it. Nice and sweet, something that I can imagine having daily in the summer.

Ahh. Thanks to KallieBoo! I got to taste a sample of this. Okay, or 3 cups of it. :). Today was going horribly, ended up with me crying in the middle of a bank, but this tea was there to comfort me when I got home.

The dry leaf smell is a little underwhelming. Sweet and tangy but subdued, the green tea really stood out to me. I was a little hesitant making it because of the fact that I like the flavors in the tea. I’m not good with green tea, but KallieBoo gave me nice little instructions that helped me. Steeped it for 3 minutes at 175 degrees. Normally, I would have boiled it for about 5 minutes.

The color is a nice dark orange and again, smells more like green tea than any tropical flavor. I let this cool and threw it in the fridge for when I would actually have the time to drink it. Today was that time.

I was pleasantly suprised. It didn’t get great reviews on here, but maybe its becuase I like overly sweet things. It’s very sweet and a little tart, with more of the taste of mango than any other fruit. Reminds me of being on a tropical vacation.

Thanks again KallieBoo! You gave me my escape for the day :)

Someone gave me a gift card to drugstore.com, so of course I don’t buy anything but tea. :) Grew up with the plain old Lipton tea bags, but these are their attempt to keep up in the growing loose tea market. First sniff smells to me like pure strawberry. Not overwhelming, just a nice light hint of strawberry. Supposedly there is passion fruit in there, which I’m not quite sure that I could identify if I tried :). After steeping, the liquid is a medium colored brown and smells wonderfully sweet, and less like strawberry. My guess is that is the passion fruit chiming in. Served iced, its a very nice light sweet fruit tea, predominantly tasting of strawberry. Pleasantly suprised for a bagged tea.

Cold brewed for 10 hours. At first sniff I was a little put off. Don’t ask me why I was expecting it to be fruity and instead it smells like old lady perfume. Thankfully, it tastes a little better than it smells. Brews into a nice, light pink. The predominant taste is definitely roses, which isn’t as weird as I thought it would be. It’s a nice sweet tang that sits lightly on the tongue. I don’t love it, but I wouldn’t turn down a cup if someone offered it to me.

Ahh so woke up this morning half asleep, mostly excited to make my tea sample from Teaves Tea. It smells heavenly. A beautiful blend of coffee and black tea. Since this is my first time making it I brewed it according to their instructions. 3 to 4 minutes at boiling. Added a small amount of rock sugar and a dab of milk. The first sip you taste the subtle hint of coffee beans with a hint of smooth black tea, with a little hint of something sweet I can’t place. LOVE IT! Normally I don’t like coffee all that much because the taste smacks you in the face. The tea makes the coffee beans subtle and smooth. Definitely would by from Teaves.

YAY! Got my prize from Teaves Tea. Have to brew it, but 8 at night isn’t a good time for a caffeinated tea. Smells heavenly…like coffee and tea mixed with creamy goodness. Once again, Teaves Tea Company picked my mood up on a bad day. Tomorrow AM – BREWING :)

Ahh haven’t had any tea in a few days. Work has been absolutely insane. This was the easiest to make a big pitcher of so I steeped it for the five minutes and refrigerated it for later. One of my standby’s. Fruity and light it’s something that I can drink with every meal.

Oh! What a pleasantly delicious suprise. Bought this on the spur of the moment today at Teavana and i am suprised how much i enjoyed it. Reminds me a bit of Tazo passionfruit tea. Definitely recommended iced over, as all the fruit flavors are much more distinguishable. I dont taste acai so much but then again i am not 100% sure what that tastes like. Nice light and refeshing.

This definitely was tart! Made it this morning (or last night, I get confused with the overnight shift :))When made hot it’s just so so. As other reviewers stated, it stand more out as an apple when it’s hot then as a pear. Probably would taste really good iced…

Ehh. Brewed this last night to help me stay up during my overnight shift. Smelled delicious, like a combination of coffee and chocolate. Took the first sip expecting it to be delicious, but it had some sort of weird smokey aftertaste that didn’t sit well with me. Also, once it cooled it was downgraded from okay to absolutely disgusting. Note to self: when chasing after patients in the hallway, make sure you don’t let your tea get cold. Overall, not one of my favorites from David’s Tea.

This tea is one of my absolute favorites. Wakes you up in the morning without the jitters that coffee gives me and tastes like a cinnamon bun.