QueenOfTarts

Oh! I’m getting really excited about Christmas and all of the yummy holiday treats. I’m not usually a big eggnog drinker because it’s so rich, but I will have a few sips. Being a huge lover of creamy teas, this one sounded like a dream.

This tea is buttery, silky and relatively mild. The flavoring and tea blend so well together and I’m happy to say that I don’t taste any sharp vegetal notes. This one is all about that wonderful eggnog creaminess. I love that there is no nutmeg or spice as I don’t really like either. FINALLY a holiday tea without the distraction of those darn spices! This is a fantastic winter delight!

This was one of the teas I most wanted to try from Butiki Teas. Maple pecan reminds me of really sweet, sugary pastries studded with pecans. I love oolong and this looked like such a tasty tea!

I am in absolute love! The leaves are dark & long & beautiful. There are actual pecans throughout the bag and they are huge! One of the things I most appreciate about Butiki Teas is that their tea always looks so pretty, unique and fresh. The scent is toasty, sweet, nutty and is mostly of maple.

Sipping… it’s smooth and rich. I taste a sweet, woodsy, toasty oolong with a sweet maple finish. I also detect that kind of drying, almost bitter part of the pecans. That sensation that fills the back of your throat. What I think I love about this tea is that while you are drinking, the oolong and nuts are most present, but as you finish sipping you taste that scrumptious, sticky, sweet maple. The cup is satisfying and rich, but not too much! I simply love this tea.

So many Butiki Teas have arrived & I’m so excited to try all of them. I had the strawberry oolong earlier, but wasn’t in the mood to write a tasting note (I’ll do so later). My favorite coconut rooibos used to be from Teas Etc. The last pouch I ordered just tasted… rather gross, like something was wrong with the batch. I haven’t purchased that tea since. It’s been a while since I’ve had a coconut rooibos & I’m very happy to have a good one back in my collection!

I wasn’t expecting anything that different from when I last enjoyed this tea. There are small oily dots on the surface of the tea — I find them to be present with most coconut teas. The flavor is smooth & very full of coconut! For me, the rooibos is relatively hidden, but adds almost a hint of spice to the cup. The finish is creamy and sweet. I love the way it lingers after the sip has disappeared.

This tea has now taken what used to be coconut custard’s top spot. I’ll be buying more of this when I am all out!

My very first tea from Della Terra Teas! I’m very excited after reading many of the great reviews.
I first taste the black tea base. It’s not bitter.. but just very present. That taste quickly changes into a smooth milk chocolate with a little bit of graham cracker. This tea reminds me of a cereal I had when I was younger. I can’t think of WHAT cereal it is, though. The strange thing that happens is that none of the flavors stick around for a long time. They fade very quickly and don’t leave a really memorable taste. I was expecting a tea like Teaopia’s Fireside S’mores — that one still remains my top S’mores/graham cracker flavored tea. This blend isn’t all that bad.. it’s just not memorable & lacks the graham cracker/marshmallow flavors I want.

My brother and my mom gave this tea to me not too long ago and I remember being so happy to have a gingerbread tea. The large cinnamon pieces were a little bit scary as I usually do not like cinnamon in teas. This tea smells terrific! It’s very much a seasonal tea with heavy notes of cinnamon, ginger and bread. The baked aspect of gingerbread is present in the scent. Yay! I love it when teas created after baked goods actually smell (and taste) like them.

Sipping… this is like gingerbread in a cup! It’s not really like gingerbread with a ton of icing or powdered sugar, but a nice, warm rustic slice. I actually don’t mind the cinnamon too much because it blends so well with the other flavors. This tea is warming and so perfect for the holidays! Delicious!

I’ve finished off the pouch of this tea & now I’m a bit sad as I don’t have any more. I’ve spent a boatload on other teas and held off on a Verdant Tea order. I know I’ll have others to drink, but Verdant teas are so special.

I almost didn’t want to make this last cup since the leaves at the bottom of the pouch were a tiny bit crushed and very small. In my experience, the last cup made from tiny leaves is usually very astringent and not nearly as enjoyable as the first. This particular cup isn’t the best cup I’ve had and it’s actually on the verge of being too bitter, but I still taste those flavors that I love. It’s grassy and a little bit creamy. I liked the Summer Harvest more (it was more creamy.. and those notes of soy milk… mmm..) and have yet to try the Autumn Harvest.

This has been a solid and very nice green tea to have in the cupboard. I’ll be looking forward to buying more in the future!

Before I saw this tea, I had never made a gooey butter cake before. I had stumbled across different recipes, but never actually made it. So after I saw this tea, I thought that it would be a good time to bake the cake so I would know what this tea was trying to be! I made the cake and my family loved it. I think I will try making it again when everyone is home for the holidays. It will be better if there are more people around to eat it so there is less for me!

I’m very surprised to see that this tea has lemon in it! The cake I made was pure butter and sugar, but no lemon. The dry leaf smells yummy — very much like a sugary lemon pastry. I’m talking about that buttery pound cake with that tangy, incredibly sweet icing. It makes me think that I’m in for a real treat!

This tea is actually very mild compared to its scent. The flavors seem very watered down. Yes, I taste lemon with a nice sugary note. The black base adds a hint of astringency to the end of the sip. Normally, this would bother me (I think astringent teas don’t do well with creamy flavors), but as there is tart lemon here, it’s fine. I’m afraid to go past 3 minutes with 52Teas black tea bases, so I think I’ll stick with my steep time even though I want more flavor. This tea is lemony & yummy.. but very mild and not at all like the gooey butter cake I made. I think renaming this tea something like “lemon loaf” would be appropriate!

Sometimes after I eat something rather rich, I crave fruit teas. I don’t have any without a black tea base & I’m all out of any fruity herbal teas. This one seemed like a good pick! There is a strong scent of peach and apricot together and something a little bit like pastry in the background. It’s not exactly like puff pastry… but resembles something like a sweet bread.

This tea is a nice balance of flavors. I do taste the apricot and the peach (neither one by itself) as well as the oolong base. The oolong works so well with these flavors. There is a flavor in the background that I can’t really identify and I think it belongs to the almond slivers. The finish is tangy and bright.

I’m trying to drink all of the tea I have to make room for new ones I have ordered this past weekend (Oh, the sales!). It seems like the perfect time to try new teas that I’ve had for a while.

The first thing I noticed with this tea was the strong scent of fish after the water was added. I am still hopeful that this tea won’t taste fishy.. but the scent is enough to scare me a little bit.

Hmmm. This cup has earthy & hay flavors that fade into something a bit sweet. Sadly, this tastes a lot like fish to me and I really dislike fish. I can see how this might be a yummy tea, but I can’t continue to drink it as the fish notes are all I can taste/smell. I’m disappointed that I can’t taste any of the cake/pastry notes. Well, I’m happy that I sampled this tea before buying a bunch more.

I’m not sure how long this tea has been on my shopping list, but I feel like it’s been ages. I remember checking the Rishi Tea website to see if these little buds would be in stock, but each time I have, they’ve been all sold out! I was very lucky to receive some from Invader Zim. Thank you so much!

The scent of this tea is lighter than expected. It reminds me a little bit of golden monkey tea. Something like sweet potato and flowers. It’s actually very delicate and soft!

Sipping… how interesting! I taste very light notes of flowers, and something darkly sweet and leathery. Sometimes I think I have a grasp on the flavors I am tasting, but before I know it, they slip away. They’re present, but not strong enough to really be defined. The finish is sparkling on the tongue. Very beautiful.

When I saw this pop up on the 52Teas website, I knew I had to buy a pouch. It sounded like the perfect caffeine-free dessert tea. I don’t have any tea like this in my collection! It was just Halloween and I definitely had my fair share of peanut butter cups.

This tea is sweet, smooth and slightly creamy. I am disappointed that I don’t taste any bit of peanut, peanut butter or chocolate. Bummer. Isn’t that what this blend is all about? I taste mostly honeybush with some kind of strange flavoring. It doesn’t taste like cheesecake or peanut butter cups. I’ll still drink the rest of this pouch because it is sweet, but honestly, it really tastes nothing like its name. As a side note, this tea leaves a bunch of gross sediment at the bottom of the cup.

I am always on the quest to find a perfect rooibos/honeybush pumpkin pie blend. I want something creamy, with lots of pumpkin flavor & very light on the spice. Pumpkin pie is my favorite pie and I adore anything pumpkin anyway. I love this time of year because I feel less crazy for indulging in everything pumpkin! Anyway, I am trying the last of this tea again because I honestly can’t remember how it tastes.

This tea is interesting because like many pumpkin pie teas, it relies on the spices to deliver the pumpkin flavor. I don’t find the spices to be too overwhelming in this blend (hooray!). It actually morphs into pumpkin pie on the tongue if you really slurp. I actually like the way the spices blend with the honeybush. I think honeybush is a great base to use for this kind of tea because it’s sweet and smooth like a creamy slice of pie.

I am surprised at how mellow this tea is. It could be because it’s very old… I’m sure that the fresher teas would have a bit more strength. So far this is my favorite honeybush/herbal pumpkin blend. It still feels like there is something missing to make this just right… but I’ll certainly finish the cup!

I cannot remember who sent this to me in a swap.. but thank you & I’m sorry I forgot who you are!

This has been my tea for the past few weeks. In the mornings and afternoons, I crave this tea. It smells very sweet and very much like a caramel tea. To be honest, this is more like a caramel black tea with a drop of cheesecake creaminess hiding away in the background. I’ve found that I have to be careful when steeping 52Teas black tea blends. Under 3 minutes seems to keep it from getting too bitter. This is definitely a great choice for a caramel tea, but I miss the cheesecake flavor!

I think this is one of my favorite from 52Teas so far. It’s definitely a close favorite — not quite as good as the Pancake Breakfast blend. Still, I probably should have purchased two pouches of this as I’m just about out!

I was surprised that this tea looked a bit more like a fruit blend than a chocolate one. For some reason it reminded me a little bit of a cranberry blend I had in the past. It might just be the bright bits of red. As a little side note, I have to say that the tea did not appear to be all that fresh. It might just be that it got a little bit beaten up in the mail, but the blend itself looked musty and not too appealing. This didn’t stop me from making a cup and I’m actually quite glad I did.

After water has been added, this cup smells sweet and grassy. Sipping.. I taste mostly a rather pungent white tea. It’s very grassy, but not in the ‘just picked’ kind of way. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s like really dry straw and moist plants. Yes, an odd combination… but true for me! I do get a little bit of white chocolate in the swallow. It’s interesting because it comes out of nowhere, but I like it. I wish I could taste those smooth and buttery notes that one often gets with white chocolate. I think the flavors could be tweaked a little bit because it’s a tad strange.

Thank you to Steap Shoppe for a sample of this tea!

I was so surprised to open up this pouch and find all of these large pieces of dried fruit! Beautiful! I know this tea is called Indian Summer, but dried fruits seem appropriate for fall and the approaching winter. I couldn’t really find much actual tea, but was completely content with these little fruit pieces. The scent of the tea after water has been added is mostly of cherries. It reminds me a little bit of black cherry flavored candies, almost on the verge of being cough syrup.

Sipping.. it is surprisingly lighter than I expected. I find that most of DavidsTeas’ teas are stronger to the nose most of the time. This blend is much more mellow. It starts out a bit like sweet black cherry and becomes more tart. I’m glad that the tartness is somewhat subtle, but I wish that the other fruity flavors could be drawn out. I can’t really identify all of the fruits by taste. It’s more like a fruit cocktail (minus the tooth-aching sweetness) in that all of the fruits are joined in a syrupy cup — cherry, apple, plum, carrot?! The mixture definitely keeps the cup interesting and playful. I couldn’t decide on a tea this evening, but this one was perfect. Light & tangy fruits before bed! Thanks Invader Zim!

Huge thank you to Invader Zim for this tea. I love banana bread — so I’m really excited to taste DavidsTea’s version.

The first thing I notice is the incredibly sweet flavor. It reminds me a little bit of Forever Nuts only less tart. The rest of the taste is mainly banana. I like that the banana tastes a little bit nutty — not like the banana runts flavor I find in so many teas. I don’t taste anything that resembles bread.. but more of the bananas and nuts that someone would find as the actual ingredients.

This tea is sweet, nutty and has a little bit of a strange aftertaste. It’s almost sour? I don’t think that I would purchase more of this tea, but I’m glad that I was able to try a cup. It’s a little too strange for me.

These are the sweetest looking pearls. So adorable and delicate! I haven’t had much experience with pearls before but I was thrilled to give these ones a try. I’m even more impressed that they were not crushed on their long journey across the sea. They arrived in perfect condition in a lovely little pouch.

The scent of the dry pearls is calming & sparkling all at once. Soft, beautiful jasmine. I wasn’t sure how many pearls to use so I started with about 7 & then added about 7 more… didn’t seem like too many for my 8 oz cup.

Sipping this tea.. I realize that it’s just perfect for what I need this evening. I didn’t want my usual bedtime rooibos and even though I avoid teas with caffeine at night this tea called to me. There is such a nice floral taste that quickly morphs into a sweetness that truly lingers. It’s a bit like cotton candy — light, twirly sugar faintly on the tongue. There isn’t a hint of astringency or that sharp note some floral teas can have.

I’m so glad to have these pearls in my tea collection. As they are quite pricey, I think that they would be great for special occasions. Thank you to Pekko Teas for this lovely sample. It’s been such a nice cup of tea!

I’m drinking this tea tonight because I needed a simple tea (without caffeine) after all of the food I had today. This weekend I am studying for a big exam on Monday and when I get stressed I have the urge to bake. It sounds strange, but baking helps me relax. I made a gooey butter cake (thanks to the 52Teas blend in its honor & the suggestion from Azzrian) for dessert tonight and couldn’t deal with all of the sweet teas I have. I used two teabags for this cup tonight and it tasted significantly smoother than my first cup. I think I will keep using two teabags with this tea. As for the butter cake… so good. It’s the kind of thing I can only have probably once a year!

I am giving this tea another try because… well, I talked to one of my friends and she said that she enjoyed this tea. Even though we have different tastes, I don’t think that I gave this one a fair shot. I was really excited to find this tea at the store as well as a limited edition Sleepytime tea box. I’m usually not one to buy Celestial Seasonings, but Sleepytime has a soft spot in my heart.

Well, back to this tea. I’ve noticed that this tea has a bit of a strange scent. Maybe it’s the citrus… but it just smells funky. Underneath all of that is the sugar cookie. It really does smell like raw sugar cookie dough. YUM. I’d love a nice plate of warm sugar cookies at this moment.

Sipping… first comes the citrus and then comes the raw dough. This coats your tongue with a buttery, doughy flavor. The finish is crusty sugar & something weird.. it’s cooling, tangy.. almost like a peppermint. Not the most pleasant thing. The more I drink it, the more I notice it. I’m surprised to see how quickly this tea went from being a hit to more of a dud.

I am thrilled with the idea of a red velvet tea. The Republic of Tea developed their own red velvet blend a long time ago and I remember being so excited to buy a tin. That tea wasn’t too strong on red velvet flavor and left me hunting for a new red velvet blend.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered this tea on Steepster. Thanks to momo I was able to sample this tea. Thank you!

This tea smells like rooibos and creamy chocolate. Sipping.. it’s really, really yummy. I taste the nicest blend of rooibos and chocolate. The chocolate mixes so well with the rooibos. It’s almost a bit like baking chocolate in the way that it leaves your tongue a little dry. The raspberry notes are at the end of the sip. They add a nice tartness to the woody, milk chocolate. Yes, this definitely beats any other red velvet tea I’ve tried in the past. I only wish that there could be more of that distinctive crumbly, moist red velvet cake flavor.

This tea isn’t super sweet, but still manages to satisfy my sweet tooth for the night. It’s not my perfect red velvet tea, but it’s an awfully good chocolate rooibos tea.

Now that the weather is really changing from summer to fall, I’ve decided that it’s about time I open up this package. I grabbed some of this tea when it was out this summer and have been saving it ever since. I typically do not like fruit in black teas, but this isn’t just a strawberry tea, but a strawberry shortcake tea!
I was really surprised to see huge chunks of strawberries and brittle pieces. I certainly didn’t need to fish around in the bag to pick up any of the fun pieces. The scent isn’t too terribly sweet or fruity. It’s rather smooth and tame, actually. The black tea is more present now than in the dry leaf scent.

Sipping… it’s funny. I can taste all of the different components of the tea. Tart strawberry, a light black tea and sweet brittle. Each ingredient has its own moment to shine.. and by the end of the sip they all come together to make a flavor that wants to be strawberry shortcake. I have to say that it’s not like strawberry shortcake to me. I am not all that disappointed because I wasn’t expecting this tea to taste exactly like the dessert. The flavor is nice, just not anything that I would like to keep drinking. It’s sweet and tastes like strawberries & brittle — nothing really grabs me, though.

I am usually not someone who likes the scent of green tea. In my experience, oolong and black tea are much more appealing to my nose than greens. This tea is something special. It’s buttery, sweet, fruity and toasty. Mmm.. so many different notes and all before sipping!

First Infusion: First sips offer something light and milky. It’s not terribly buttery, but milky instead. The sip finishes with a deeper kind of green flavor. It’s very similar to spinach or Brussels sprouts. What I like about this first cup is that all of the flavors are rather tame. It is very much a smooth, creamy and calming cup. I can’t wait to see what the second cup offers!

Second Infusion: This cup has a lovely mouthfeel. It’s full and creamy. It’s very similar to the first infusion, but the flavors are not as strong. I really do detect something that tastes like soy milk… but it’s natural and unsweetened. Very nice. I could keep sipping on this tea all night!

Third Infusion: I detect more of a chlorophyll taste in this steep, but it’s still sweet and yummy. I love that it isn’t astringent at all… throughout all three infusions!

This tea is my favorite green tea I’ve ever had. It’s so delicious and pleasant on this cold night! We had our first snow today & have more planned for tomorrow! Even though I’m not a fan of the cold, this kind of weather means I’ll be drinking much more tea during the day and night.

I was very excited to try this matcha after all of the great reviews! Even though this is my third matcha from Red Leaf Tea, this is actually my first matcha with the standard matcha base. No red matcha this time! The first thing I noticed was that the scent of the matcha was much more smooth than the others I’ve had. This could be due to the difference in bases, but this one just seemed so much more… nice. I’m not sure how to explain it.

Sipping, I taste a little bit of a grassy flavor, but mostly a nice caramel sweetness. It’s smooth, a tiny bit astringent and very, very comforting. I don’t think that I can compare this with the red matcha because they seem so different to me. I would like to have both in my cupboard so that I could have one to drink at night!

I only wish that I could create a creamy and thick texture. The flavor has me looking for a richer mouthfeel.. not something so watery. I know that it’s tea, a liquid, but the flavor leaves me wanting something more. I’m going to try this as a latte next.. I think it would bump this matcha up to the next level.

It’s a really nice companion to have while studying on this very boring Sunday afternoon. Back to work now! Here’s the link to purchase this matcha: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

This tea smells amazing! Incredibly sweet & floral. Mmm.. first sips are wonderfully tasty. I am really loving the strong & sweet floral flavor. This is funny because I tried another floral oolong from Verdant Tea before and really hated it. This one seems completely different and completely delicious! Even though it’s very yummy, I find that I can’t have too many cups of this because it’s so floral and intense. I think this would be a nice tea to have for those times when nothing but a rich & sweet treat will do!