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I really loved the various teas that I tried from What-cha. This is a top-notch company, and if you’re looking for good pure teas (and who isn’t?) you should really check them out.

To get my full thoughts on this tea, please check out my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/29/assam-2nd-flush-2014-silver-needle-white-tea-from-what-cha-tea/

Sweet, delicate (but not as delicate as a Chinese silver needle), with distinct hay-like notes. Notes of malt! Calming to sip. No astringency. Gentle notes of fruit and flower. I would add this to the “must try” list from What-cha.

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This is a tea that I reviewed previously, but because they sent me another sample of it, I reviewed it again. What the heck.

http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/29/sleepy-hollow-pumpkin-chai-from-culinary-teas-2/

It’s a yummy chai. And I think that this one is a little different from the previous Sleepy Hollow Pumpkin Chai I reviewed, if for no other reason than this sampling didn’t have the candy sprinkles in it. I’m just fine with that, as I think that candy sprinkles in tea are over-rated. I might understand some candy sprinkles in a blend like ‘birthday cake’ or something like that – but, it seems like the candy sprinkles thing is getting way overdone.

Anyway, that’s my rant about that for now.

A yummy chai. A good strong kick of ginger and cinnamon. The black tea has a smooth, rich flavor but it’s not quite as robust as I might have wanted it to be. I mean, with a chai it should be a strong black tea base to support those strong spices.

At first, the pumpkin flavors were somewhat reserved, but after about a fourth of the cup was consumed I started to pick up on the savory-sweet notes of pumpkin.

Overall, a pleasant cuppa. I previously rated this a 95 and since I’m now “discontinuing” the practice of numerical ratings, I cancelled the numeric rating for this. With this particular tasting, I probably would have given it a 90 even though I think I may have enjoyed it more this time than previously – it’s just that my tastes are a-changing.

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The appearance of the dry leaf surprised me because the leaves look more like a CTC black tea than a green tea. The leaves are small and dark in color. I examined the leaves after brewing too – to see if maybe it was just a very fine pelleted gunpowder green but the leaves didn’t seem to unfurl into something more recognizable as green tea so these are just finely cut green tea leaves that are darker in color than most green teas I’ve come across.

The aroma is like green tea though, it smells earthy and vegetal. I don’t smell a lot of lemon or citrus notes.

The lemon flavor is very delicate. It seems as though the lemon flavor is reliant upon just the addition of lemongrass and lemon pieces and not on lemon flavoring here. So, it is, as I said, very delicate. If you’re looking for a distinct lemon flavor – this isn’t the tea for you.

What little lemon notes that there are are tart and tingly, softened somewhat by the buttery notes of the lemongrass.

The real flavor of this cup comes from the green tea. A sweet, refreshing green tea flavor that’s only very lightly vegetative. A gentle smokiness in the distance. There is a dry astringency toward the tail.

I don’t know how “detox” this actually is. I don’t know that I really consider green tea with lemon pieces and lemon grass to be a detox blend. That said, it’s an enjoyable beverage. Light and pleasant to sip.

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A really nice Green Assam tea. The dry leaf has a distinct vegetal aroma. When brewed, the tea smells much softer, not quite as grassy as the dry leaf.

It’s sweet and smooth and it has very little astringency. It’s both energizing and relaxing to sip. Hints of honey, buttery, nutty, vegetal without bitterness. The vegetative tones are something between grassy and mild steamed veggies.

A really nice cuppa.

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/28/assam-green-tea-from-starglory/

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In my full-length review of this tea – http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/27/pumpkin-chai-blend-from-52teas/ – I found myself wondering if this blend was crafted with 52Teas new black tea base or not. I know that Frank was talking about making another new black tea base but I wasn’t sure if this tea was crafted using that new blend.

Anyway, I enjoyed the black tea base here, it was strong, smooth and robust. A wee bit of astringency but I didn’t find it bothersome.

The flavor of pumpkin shines through. A good amount of spice! A warm spicy chai! I found myself wanting a little more pepper but overall, I enjoyed the spices here, and I liked that I could taste the pumpkin.

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I love the dry leaf aroma: notes of berry and vanilla. Once brewed, there are more black tea notes, and the vanilla fragrance becomes softer and the berry notes seem to disappear.

It’s tasty! Even though I can’t smell the strawberry in the brewed tea, I can definitely taste it. Hint of chocolate. Vanilla. Sweet strawberry with a tart note in the aftertaste. The chocolate was very subtle. As I say in my full-length review of this tea – http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/27/secret-gardens-secret-black-tea-from-the-secret-garden-tea-company/ – the chocolate is very unassuming, it’s a note that sort of hides itself but every once in a while the palate notices it and the taste buds jump up and say, ‘whoa, what was that? chocolate???’

The black tea is lovely with notes of malt.

A really enjoyable tea.

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So, when I went to Trader Joe’s before Thanksgiving, I grabbed a can of this. I also grabbed some of the pumpkin butter as well as the pumpkin ravioli that they had because back in the samples area, they were sampling the pumpkin ravioli with a sauce made with the pumpkin butter and browned butter and it was so good. That pumpkin butter has become a favorite ‘syrup’ for me, I mix it with equal parts half & half and it’s delightful on pancakes and waffles.

Anyway, this is pretty tasty. Sweet, yes. I wish it wasn’t so sweet, BUT I do like that I tasted pumpkin and I tasted the black tea and the spice. It wasn’t an overly spicy chai, but it was pleasantly, warmly spiced. I finished off the can in record time, so I guess I either enjoyed the convenience of the powdered chai latte mix or I enjoyed what I was drinking enough to polish off the can so quickly.

So, it’s good. I don’t know if I’ll be buying more when pumpkin harvest happens again at Trader Joe’s. I’ll definitely be buying more pumpkin butter though.

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Having never actually eaten rhubarb, I often feel like I’m at a disadvantage when I review a rhubarb tea because I’m not exactly sure what a rhubarb should taste like because I don’t have that experience tasting actual rhubarb.

For this tisane, I taste the rooibos. The honeyed, nutty flavor seems to work well with the custardy notes and the notes of rhubarb.

In my full-length review, I mused a bit about the stevia in this blend: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/26/rhubarb-custard-rooibos-blend-from-bluebird-tea-co/

Overall, this is a tasty tisane. I enjoyed it.

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A seriously AWESOME Milky Oolong. So sweet and creamy and luscious. I appreciate that this is a natural milk Oolong (no additional flavoring added). I enjoy both the ‘milk’ flavoring added and the natural Milk Oolong, but I think I especially appreciate the non-flavored Milk Oolong because I like that pure flavor.

Soft, creamy … lovely! Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/10/25/alishan-milky-oolong-tea-from-teasenz/

Backlog:

I’ve been very busy evaluating the prospects to join SororiTea Sisters that I’ve neglected my posting of backlogs so that I can get caught up, so now I’m allowing myself to fall behind again.

I MUST get this caught up by the end of March. MUST! You’ll soon find out why!

Anyway, this is a good Hojicha! Roasty, toasty, warm. Nutty. Tasty! I love a good hojicha especially in the autumn because it’s got those lovely nutty, toasty flavors that taste so autumnal to me.

The texture is smooth and light. A pleasure to sip.