Mrnixonpants

Every time I have this it just gets better and better. This is one of my absolute favorite evening blends. It’s such a guilt free- I’ve had a long day and I need something sweet as a pick me up- tea. I’m upping the score on this one because I really do love it that much and I’m going to be heartbroken when it’s gone…

Do I love honeybush? I’m thinking I might because every honeybush tea I’ve tried so far has been a real hit. Hmmm…something I’ll need to continue investigating…

I really love Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream so I absolutely love the idea of this tea! The dry leaf smells so deliciously cherry. This tea is astringent as mentioned in other reviews. A teeny splash of milk and a pinch of sugar helps to balance out the sharper aspects and allows the creamy cherry ice cream flavor to come to life. The chocolate is subtle which I appreciate in this blend.

It’s a nice comforting cup without a doubt. Especially on a day like today – I’ve been watching movies on the couch all day and just have not had the motivation to get up and cook dinner. I think I’ll have one more cup before I get going. Then I’m pretty sure another movie is in order. It’s just been one of those kind of days…

Thanks to darby for sharing this tea! It smells like fall – pumpkin, spice, warm blankets, fuzzy boots, and hay rides. Sadly this tea doesn’t taste much like it smells. I’m not getting pumpkin much at all. It tastes like black tea with a little spice at the very end of the sip. Not nearly as much flavor as I was hoping for. The cream however is a very nice touch here.

A little sugar doesn’t really help bring out the flavors either. This isn’t bad really, I’m just one of those people that really likes an in-your-face pumpkin spice flavor.

Thanks darby for this tea! Oh wow! This tea is so tarty and I love it! Raspberry tart – almost like sour candy. I really don’t find the tart to be a negative aspect at all, but then again I love sour candy! With a little pinch of sugar, it’s still super tart but the other fruit flavors comes through and the whole cup blends together very nicely. This is not at all what I was expecting from this tea – I love the surprising characteristics here. And it’s a beautiful dark pink color too which I adore.

I’m wishing I had some of those shockers candies I used to love when I was younger to go with this tea. It’s been so long since I thought about them…I think I’ll go and get some tomorrow =)

Smells like earl grey to me. In the past I haven’t had much luck with earl grey teas. I’m not sure what it is about them that strikes me as odd, but I think it’s bergamont. Since I haven’t cared for the strong flavor of earl grey in the past, I decided to lower the suggested temperature and steep time. There is something very bitter to me about earl grey tea. It reminds me of when I was younger and my sister and I would play in the neighbors backyard which had tons of rhubarb growing everywhere. We would play pioneers and we would “hunt” and “gather”. We’d take logs from the woodpile and pretend they were hunks of meat from a recent kill and the rhubarb was our crop of choice. We’d even put the rhubarb and logs on my dad’s grill and pretend we were cooking them. He would get so mad when he’d go to use the grill and it was filled with logs and rhubarb! Anyhow, I remember after picking and playing with the rhubarb it would leave the most awful taste on your hands and if you accidently put your fingers in your mouth (as little kids often do) you would regret it! The taste I find in earl grey tea is similar to that taste.

I very rarely add milk or sugar to my tea, but this seems like the perfect candidate for a little something extra and to my surprise it actually helps a lot! I’m able to taste something other than the bitter “rhubarb” flavor. I can detect the citrus aspect which is very enjoyable.

All in all I just don’t think earl grey is my thing really. I’ll finish this tea, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing out to order more. Someone who really enjoys earl grey might love this.

My Red Leaf Tea order came in the mail yesterday! I did a happy dance through the hallways back to my apartment (and got a few strange looks on the way). First order of business : try my matcha!

I went with the destinctive flavor on this one because I am a HUGE cheesecake fan and I’m also a matcha newbie, so I thought destinctive would be a good choice. I also included a bamboo whisk and scoop in my order and boy am I glad I did! The whisk I recieved is so neat! It even comes with a little case that I can store it in without worrying about the bamboo getting all messed up and I know it will keep it’s shape better. I have to say, if you are preparing your matcha without a bamboo whisk you are really missing out! Using the whisk really did change my results. Instead of my matcha being grainey, it’s now all blended very well and thick. When I prepared matcha with my metal kitchen whisk it was never thick like this and the matcha always ended up settling a bit at the bottom of my cup.

If you don’t have a whisk you should include one in your order next time! It is well worth the investment and very affordable through Red Leaf.

For my first cup I made my matcha the traditional way. Sift matcha, add water, whisk until frothy, add a bit more water and enjoy. Mmm I’m getting such a different result with this matcha than with the tiramisu I’d had previously. I think that’s due to the flavoring difference (destinctive instead of delicate) and the fact that I have the proper tools now. It’s thick and the green tea base is much less sharp than I previously remember. It’s there, but it’s more enjoyable this time. The cheesecake flavor is very smooth.

Immediately I knew I had to make another cup as a latte. This really allowed the creamy cheesecake flavor to come through. Toward the end of the cup I was really able to taste the buttery crust. I made a latte for my boyfriend and he really enjoyed his too! Success.

Get your cheesecake matcha here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html

And don’t forget to pick up a bamboo whisk while you’re at it! You won’t regret it.

First of all I want to say that this tea is BEAUTIFUL! Both in color and smell. It brews up a gorgeous reddish pink color. It’s so pretty it makes me wish I had a clear mug to admire it in (specifically the clear perfect glass mug from David’s Tea – the one with the tree on it). I am in love with the smell this tea gives off. It’s very lemony which is awesome for me because I absolutely love lemons! I even like to eat them raw by themselves =)

I think the name African Summer really fits this tea. I’m picturing a red sunset over dry African plains…maybe there’s a zebra lingering somewhere in the distance…

I like that this tea is naturally sweet and tarty. The lemon isn’t too overpowering and neither is the hibiscus. They are in perfect harmony with eachother. I can definitely see myself reaching for some of this on a cold winter day when I need a little warmth. It would also be a great go to during cold/flu season. I think I’m going to have to order some more of this!

I’m really very happy with this tea. I can’t wait to try it iced! Mmmm…fabulous African Summer!! So glad I tried this.

http://flic.kr/p/deqyP6

Thank you Zen Tea for this sample! I followed the instructions on the description here to make this chai on the stove with milk and water. I did enjoy preparing this one. Sometimes it’s fun to do something a little different with tea. It smelt very good cooking. Definitely spicy like chai, but also chocolately. It reminded me of making hot chocolate on the stove. The color is even a nice chocolate brown. Watching all the different bits swiriling about in the simmering water is fun too. It’s like some chocolate chai tea soup!

I’m so anxious waiting for it to cool it looks so creamy and delicious!! When I was a big coffee drinker, I used to order chai lattes a lot, but this completely blows those out of the water just on appearance/smell alone.

It tastes good, but it’s not as strong as I’d hoped it would be. I like my chais to be very spicy and distinctive. This tastes more chocolatey than chai to me. I shouldn’t be too surprised because the description does say mellow, but since I used 2 TBSP per 2 cups of liquid (which boiled down to about 1 1/2 cups) the mellow flavor is a little disappointing. That’s not to say it’s bad, I just want a little more spice.

The chocolate is very plesant though and I do like that this chai has mate in it. Okay whoa, I added a little sugar halfway through the cup and it completely changed the flavor! I’m actually getting more of that spice I was looking for now. If you aren’t enjoying this cup as much as you’d hoped, I recommend adding a little sugar even if you’re like me and don’t usually take any in your tea. Mmmm…there’s that spice I was looking for =)

I’m getting more coconut and vanilla now too..this could be an interesting hot cocoa replacement in the winter. I have just enough to make this tea the usual way so we’ll see how the flavor changes then. For now, this is pretty good.

Since I had such a bad experience with this tea last time I drank it, I decided to cold brew some of it in the fridge overnight to see if that would make any difference in my opinion on it. Bleh….I wish I knew what it was in this tea that tastes so bad to me. Maybe it’s the bergamot? I’m not sure because I don’t really know what it tastes like or if it’s what I’m tasting. I think I may have to swap the rest of this away….

This tea is just not my thing at all!

I went for another matcha latte this morning and wow, something has really changed since the last time I attempted this!

I think I’m getting how to prepare this stuff a little better now. This time my matcha wasn’t grainey, but thick and smooth instead. I don’t think I was taking enough time whisking in the past and I would end up with a grainey, funky texture and would even have some green globs at the bottom of my cup.

Mmm this time it’s much more enjoyable! I can see what all the fuss is about. Here is a picture of my matcha latte this morning:

http://flic.kr/p/ddFq2W

Thank you LiberTEAS for sending me this tea!

Nothing too elaborate to report on the smell of this dry. Smells exactly how it looks, which could be a good thing.

First steep I did one minute : A nice light color that I enjoyed. It smells and tastes light also, but not light in a bad way. Light in a it’s getting late and I’m enjoying a nice light cup of tea to round out the day. Strange because others described this as “musky” or “strong”. It’s probably because I only steeped it for one minute, but sometimes I actually appreciate a nice light cup. You can taste some of the more subtle aspects of the tea this way. I love the vegetal quality of this tea. It’s very refreshing.

Second steep I did two minutes : Wow. This tastes like an entirely different tea! It’s much stronger this time. No lightness to this cup. It’s slightly “sharp” if that makes any sense, but not to the point that this cup isn’t enjoyable. I’m getting more of the smoky aftertaste with this cup than the last one, but I think I enjoyed the first steep better. This cup certainly isn’t bad, and I won’t have any trouble finishing it, but the first cup was so much more delicate and I appreciated that tonight.

Thank you LiberTEAS for this sample =)

The dry leaf smells very relaxing and inviting which is strange because usually “chai” makes me think “energizing”

My absolute favorite thing about this tea was watching it steep in my Breville One Touch. As soon as the basket lowered, a beautiful rich brown color started spilling out; swirling through the water, turning it all a delicious deep brown color. By the end of the six minute steep time, the whole pot was so dark I could just barely make out the brewing basket! For some reason teas that produce dark colors make me really happy. I’m not sure why…

I like the way this tastes. Like it smelled, it does taste relaxing to me. It makes me want to put on slippers and snuggle up in a blanket. I’m getting a creaminess from this that I didn’t expect at all but I like it. A nice surprise. To be honest I was expecting this tea to be kind of boring but I am plesantly surprised. A nice evening cup. I’m glad I picked this one out tonight =)

I wanted a nice strong black tea while getting ready for a long work day, so I went through my bag of samples and found this gem from Teavivre that I haven’t yet tried. The sample size was so generous!

This tea smells perfect and tastes wonderful! It is perfect just the way it is you don’t need to add anything to this tea (I generally don’t anyhow). This tea has a natural sweetness to it. In fact I think it’d be a shame to add any sweetner to this. It’s hearty and malty with no harsh tastes to the sip at all.

I think this is the perfect cup of black tea! This stuff is seriously awesome. Love love love it! I’ll be taking the second infusion to work with me and plan to continue infusing this throughout the day =)

Edited to remind myself that I used 2 tsp per 14 oz water.

My first matcha ever =) I tried it for the first time yesterday and it was a very confusing experience. Since I don’t have any experience with matcha, I’m going to hold off on rating it for now. I’d like to try a few more matchas so I can get a good idea of what qualities I’m looking for.

Matcha is a strange taste and texture. My first sip I thought “Hmmm….I don’t think I like this” but as I drank on the flavor started to grow on me…interesting…green…good? I’m not sure yet.

One thing I do know is that I spent the rest of the night thinking about that cup of tea. Thinking about the flavor and texture. I don’t think I can really comment on the tiramisu flavor because I was too busy focusing on the matcha itself.

This morning I really wanted to try it again and this time I made it as a latte. The frothy milk goes really well and balances the cup out nicely. It “takes the edge off” I guess. Not that I wasn’t interested in the edge…I was actually a little dissappointed that the flavor wasn’t as strong. Perhaps I should use a little extra powder when making a latte? The tiramisu flavor was much more pronounced in this cup – sweet, creamy, delicious!

I ordered my matcha basic grade and with delicate flavor (the pre-selected options) but next time I think I’m going to pay for the distinctive flavor level and see how that goes.

I got my matcha here : http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html

Overall it was a very different first experience! It was nothing like what I expected. I have to say I am really really intruiged by the whole thing. I wasn’t sure I really liked matcha upon the first sip, but as I drank on the flavor really started to grow on me. I think my next matcha order will be an unflavored one. I’m definitely going to continue experimenting.

This has got to be the most fun tea to look at! It’s so pretty. And the way it smells dry is absolutely amazing – I could smell this tea all day long and be satisfied.

While brewing this tea my kitchen smelled heavenly. Like maybe I was making Christmas candy in there or something. I love the dark color it produces. The tea itself smells more minty than chocolatey, but the chocolate is definitely there.

What an interesting taste! The mint is definitely first, but there is a real creaminess that comes directly after that followed by a hint of chocolate. I love the creamy aspect of this tea it really tastes like I added something to it but I haven’t. Minty, silky, milky… Wow! What a smooth flavor. I think I’m in love. Like I have to order more of this right away! I don’t care what trouble I’ll be in when my boyfriend realizes I’ve ordered more tea!

Hands down this is my new favorite! No contest. I am so happy right now =)

Read my lips - if I weren’t speechless!

The last time I had this tea I remembered not caring for it, but today I decided to make a pitcher of iced tea so I’d have something to take with me to work, and of course I had to sneak a taste of it while it was still hot. I was surprised! I liked it a lot more than I remember the last time I had it! Maybe I just didn’t steep it properly…

I added a little sugar to it while it was still hot because I like to sweeten my iced tea a little bit. Mmmm…this stuff is really good iced! I’ll be enjoying this during a long day of work.

I’m finding that I’m not a huge fan of earl grey tea, but for $1 per oz I had to include this in my order. I slept in today and have a long day of work ahead of me so I decided to brew some of this to get me going.

I don’t dislike this tea, but it’s nothing that really stands out to me. I added a little local honey that I picked up from the farmer’s market and it’s a fine cup. I won’t be rushing out to get more of this.

I needed this tea this morning because I just could not wake up today to save my life! When I finally did muster up the strength to get up out of bed, I stumbled in the kitchen and made myself a cup with my eyes half closed.

The smell of the dry tea is so good. It smells like mocha coffee with cream. One of the things I love about this tea is the dark color it produces. Looks like coffee, smells like coffee…must be a good substitute…

It doesn’t taste quite like it smells. It’s good, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a little weaker than I expected. I can detect some spice from this tea. I’m not sure where the vanilla is…

Overall this is a good morning cup. With a little milk and sugar it’s very good. I’m enjoying it.

Another sample from Anne from LiberTeas (still working my way through this box).

I’ll start off by saying that I chose this tea because I needed something to really get me motivated to get my cleaning for the day done. I’m on vacation from work and wanted to really enjoy the rest of the week in a nice clean apartment. The only problem – I woke up this morning feeling extremely lazy…so I brewed up a nice hot cup of this black tea for a little inspiration as I sat lazily watching TV.

That’s where things get kind of crazy. I ended up spilling the entire fresh cup all over the coffee table. After hastily throwing everything on the floor to avoid the tea flood that was coming its way and wiping up most of the liquid, I looked down into my now empty mug of inspiration. Boo. Good thing I saved the leaves…I’ll just resteep it. Put some hot water in my mug, dropped the tea ball in, grabbed more rags and some cleaner and started cleaning the rest of the mess up. After getting the table wiped down and everything back in its place, I noticed some of the tea had spilt on the carpet so I got my carpet cleaner and started cleaning that up too.

Ah…nice clean coffee table. Okay. Now I’m cleaning and the coffee table looks so good…better just continue on so into the dining room I went. After cleaning up in there I was really going so I decided to continue onto kitchen.

There it was. My second steeping cup of tea…with the teaball still in it. Yup. Definitely oversteeped this one.

So long story short, I ruined both cups of tea and didn’t even get to enjoy any of it. Not even a good sip. BUT – I did however get all of my cleaning done for the day which was exactly what I was hoping from the tea this morning. So in a way I guess this tea did do exactly what I was hoping for. I just wish I’d have been able to enjoy a little of it.

Time to dump the leaves and try again….wish me luck! (I’ll have to reserve my rating until I actually taste it)

This is one of those teas that I find myself going back to the store to pick up more. Originally I was looking for a good morning tea that could compete with my usual cup of coffee habit I’d been trying to kick. This tea was definitely a good option.

The dry leaves smell so amazing. I could smell them all day. Mmmm chocolatey and rich.

Brewed this tea is dark and almost looks like it could be coffee. But it doesn’t taste like coffee – it’s much different. Chocolatey, nutty, and roasty. I am picking up on a hint of creaminess as well. Very nice all in all. I’m happy with this tea. I think it will be a staple of my tea stash for a a while.

Mmmmm the leaves look and smell delicious! Even though it’s not my first time trying this, I could barely wait for this stuff to finish steeping. I love the color it turns out too. Beautiful.

I really love the way this tea tastes. It’s sweet and satisfying. I like how all the different flavors come together. A unique tea indeed. Definitely a great way to round out a relaxing evening. I’ll be sad when this one is gone.

Backlog from a quite some time ago: I’m not sure exactly what it was about this tea, but I really didn’t enjoy it much at all. I can’t pinpoint if it was one thing specifically or just the whole thing overall, but this definitely isn’t my cup of tea.

The first thing I have to say is that the sample size sent to me was so generous! There is enough tea for multiple pots rather than just a cup or two! I was very pleased when my sample box arrived =)

I really enjoyed this tea this afternoon while watching documentaries on netflix. I’m not too farmiliar with green teas, but this was very plesant. A nice clean, fresh flavor but not too overwhelmingly grassy or anything I was worried green tea would be like.

I do think I could have used more leaves though. I used 1 tsp per cup of water and got a very light flavor on the first steep. Second steep I increased the temp and steep time a little and got a better result.

I think I can see more green teas in my future…

This is my first “real” experience with green tea. Meaning something other than the green tea with citus that’s sold bottled in stores hahaha. But I was feeling brave after meditating this afternoon…

I was a little worried regarding green teas because I always imagined they’d just taste like chewing grass or something. Well there is definitely a plant-y flavor here, but it’s not the bad taste I was expecting. Not sure really what to make of it yet, but I’m interested.

I think I’ll have to add another tasting note to this one after I’ve got a few more greens under my belt. Thankfully Anne was very generous with my sample :)