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This is my second EG Cream blend – the first was by Zen Tea – and I must say that this one hasn’t impressed me quite as much.

The vanilla-cream flavours in this one are robust and well-crafted, but I think the EG falls a bit flat. It simply lacks the crisp bergamot notes that I’m used to in my EGs and that’s a bit of a deal-breaker for me.

Gods, I adore genmaichas…there’s something about the melding of toasty rice and grassy greens that I find intensely comforting. With this blend you get the added layer of sweet and smooth marshmallow (both roots and flavouring, I think) woven in between the familiar notes…

My only real complaint is that it gets sorta bitter and astringent as it cools and that clashes with the sweetness of the marshmallow. It might be better as an iced tea and for that reason I’m going to have to knock the rating down a bit.

Not sure it’s my favourite tea ever, but I’ll probably drink it intermittently.

I’m not a fan of apple teas, I’m afraid, but this one is actually rather tolerable. There’s a rough, woodsy rooibos base that curls under an (admittedly flat) apple layer with hints of cinnamon and spice behind.

I want to like this tea, honestly, but the longer I try to drink it the more I can’t bring myself to enjoy it. It might be good for others, but this definitely isn’t the tea for me.

Oomph…this is a smooth, creamy oolong that slithers along the inside of your mouth and leaves a sweet sort of caramel lingering on the palate. The oolong has all of these roasty notes that sit right in the middle of this whole caramel oozy delightfulness.

I’m kinda in love with this cup, honestly, but I will admit that it gets a little too sweet as it cools. I’ll probably put less sugar in future cups so that I can enjoy the flavour without so much saccharine heaviness at the end.

Great tea, though, and one I’d gladly drink again.

I didn’t see much actual tea in this blend…just a lot of little fruit chunks. It smelled rather like the Strawberry & Cream gummy candies, so I decided to give it a shot (and I’m rather glad I did).

Once brewed it came out to a richly purplish brew – I’m guessing there’s hyacinth in there somewhere – that still has an intense (and slightly fake) candied smell noted earlier. I love sticking my whole face in the cup to revel in the sugary sweetness of it all…

But it’s definitely a lot less palatable than the aroma implies. Even with such a short steep it came out very hyacinth-sour and not all that strawberry at all, which was a bit disappointing.

Had it not smelled like sweetness and candy I would’ve been totally content with the sour fruitiness of this blend, but as it stands I really feel as though I’ve been the victim of a bait and switch, flavour-wise.

It’s not going to be painful to finish the cup, but I’m not likely to make another one.

Even dry this tea is a bit…stinky, for lack of a better word. I wasn’t all that excited to steep it, but figured I might as well get it out of the way so I could figure out if it was worth keeping.

Post-brew it was a bit interesting, still. The pepper still sits at the forefront of the taste and has a definite burn, both during and after each sip. You can faintly taste the fennel in behind the burn…and I can almost tell that there’s some apple/cinnamon/spice layered deep under the rest of it.

I’m tolerating the burn today – although not what I would consider pleasant – because it does such a nice job of clearing out my stuffy nose. It’s not one I’d be willing to drink in the future, though, so into the swap drawer it goes.

I’ve tried the Dreamsicle Puerh in the past, so I’m curious to see how the Darjeeling stacks up. In the bag the smells are very similar – I’d say the darjeeling is a bit more in your face about the orange flavouring, but not in a bad way.

Once steeped – with a tsp of sugar and wee spot of milk – I’m a little surprised by how bossy the darjeeling is…it stomps right up to the front of the cup and demands to be acknowledged, leaving the orange and cream notes to trail meekly behind.

It’s not bad – although nothing like the puerh, where the flavouring sits at the forefront – and strikes me more as a nicely flavoured breakfast tea than as a dreamsicle cup of deliciousness.

And as it cools the orange and cream notes come more to the forefront. It’s still a more full-bodied cup than the puerh, but that seems to be working in its favour.

A tasty cup and one I would have again, but not my favourite of the two.

First off, I hate this name…if it hadn’t been a gift it never would’ve made it onto my shelves. :/

Once steeped it smells remarkably like cherry lifesavers – and with my stuffy nose that’s saying something; I haven’t been able to smell properly in days – in an almost overwhelming fashion. It tastes pretty true to the aroma, though…this is cherry candy in a cup, especially with a tsp or two of sugar added in.

It’s not delicious and I wouldn’t go out and buy more but – in a cherry-medicine-flavoured sort of way – it’s not too unpleasant to drink down.

Tea & Cards TTB

This is a fairly tasty oolong base, but the almond flavour comes across as rather artificial…it’s not one I’m enjoying drinking, but since I’ve a seriously stuffy nose I’m not going to even try rating it.

I really just want to clear out my sinuses so that I can taste again…this is miserable.