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So I finally got my package from Dragon Tea House! My mail people have avoided giving it to me for almost a week while they tried to figure out where in the world they had placed it. This was the first tea to be brewed in my new little teapot.
After taking a semi-break from tea I’ve come back and noticed that this tea has far more white tea leaves than some of Teavana’s blends. If I was blind testing the smell of the leaves would really throw me off. It smells like apples and mixed fruit juice.
The flavor is very crisp. I think this aspect is what reminds me of apples. I think that this tea would be very nice iced. I noticed on this brew that there is almost a sharp note at the end of the sip. It reminds me of something peppery; very odd!

Happy Holidays Steepster buddies! I hope that everything is going well. :) This is one of the only cups I’ve had all week as I’ve had a terrible cold.
This smells wonderful today. I’m still a little stuffed up but I can smell a very distinct cinnamon tint to the liquor this time around. I think that this blend would be fabulous with chocolate. I really love sipping this on cold days. It is a great dessert blend.

Firstly, I won’t be rating this tea today because my smell and taste have been severely impaired all week (cold of doom here).
It brewed up a very light yellow liquor. Even though my sense of taste is not the best atm I am sensing some astringency. I think that I will have to try this again when I’m not so congested. The flavor is there I just can’t tell what it is! lol :p

After my recent experiences I really think that Frank’s blends taste the best after resting. This one was so predominantly banana the first time I tried it. But this time I can taste much more of a balance. I love the roasted quality that is lingering under the surface of the flavor profile. It is not smokey or overpowering, but it helps blend the coconut and banana.
Another thing I love about this: smooth, smooth and smooth. I love that the base of the tea adds to the flavor profile as a whole instead of being an afterthought or the main player. I think that I would have enjoyed more of the “crust” flavor. But overall, I’ve really enjoyed this tea.

I finally finished my finals the other day and I’m actually feeling a bit down. I don’t have a lot to do around here so I’m just taking it easy. I needed a mid-day pick me up so I chose this to see how it does!
The smell this time is very roasted and very dark chocolate/coffee smelling. I like that a lot a bout this tea. I am not really a coffee person, but this resembles it enough in some ways to make it enjoyable without the bitterness.
In this cup I’m getting much more vanilla than my previous one. I think it’s pretty pleasant. It makes it so I don’t have to add anything (which I don’t normally do anyways) to make it have a little bit of a sweet/soft side. Pretty good!

I’m starting to realize that my package of this tea is almost out. This is a very sad realization because out of all of the flavored teas I’ve tried this is the one that takes the cake; literally. The mouth feel on this is even perfect. I think I noticed someone mention that sometimes these blends taste even better over time as the flavor “settles.” I think that this is true and that this tea has actually gotten better from the first time I tasted it. The smell itself is enough to make my mouth water and waiting for it to cool is tortuous.
The most interesting flavor pulled off here (to me) was the butter. I think that the maple is not as prominent as I would have expected. But, there is still that thick, carb loaded awesomeness.

I got this from DJBooth. I have to say it’s been fun to swap with him because I just told him “send me a surprise!” and he did deliver, lots of different things! This is the first that I’m catching up with as I back-log.
The liquor on this is very dark! I was pretty surprised. The smell is coffee, chocolate and somewhere in there I smell a warm caramel type smell. If I was rating on smell alone this would score pretty high.
The chocolate in this is very different than the other Teavana chocolate I’ve tried (the new oolong). It skipped the chocolate-oil flavoring for something much more natural tasting; to me at least! I feel that the only thing that could have gone better is that I was expecting a kind of fullness in the mouth feel that is missing in this cup. I think that this may be a personal preference when dealing with chocolate flavors, but there needs something to back it up so it doesn’t end up being so watery feeling.
Overall, a pretty nice cup.

I decided to make this to relax before cleaning some more! :) I think I would be hard to find a strawberry that could stand up against this one. I think that the flavoring is quite nice. I over-steeped this one but nothing wrong with it! It’s actually a pretty forgiving blend. Excellent.

2nd steep of this. Beautiful. I can’t say this enough. I added a very minuscule amount of Savannah Bee Company’s raw honey to this and it just added so much. This honey has been hidden in the dark part of my cupboard waiting for such a moment. I’m so glad I did a second steep because the flavor on this has only gotten better. It is very smooth and still has no astringency. The very back of the throat flavor is very delicate and has a lasting tinge of sweetness that I’m coming to savor. I’m changing my rating on this one to something higher.

I’ll be honest. Non-flavored whites freak me out. The dry smell of this one especially! I got this as a gift. I’m feeling a bit guilty for not getting around to this sooner. The hardest part of brewing the small amount I did, about 150ml, is that I only added as much as I guess-timated would be the best.
The smell on this one is very, well, dry. I find it has a lot of hay like notes. The liquor itself is very light and surprisingly has a very strong smell.
But oh my gosh. I’m so glad I tried this one! I think the water should have been heated just a bit higher b/c this is already cool and it’s only been 2min. But it is much sweeter than I thought it would be! The sweetness is actually in the forefront of this cuppa.
I actually really enjoy this tea! Coming from someone who avoids this type of style generally I am floored. This is an extra silky, extra sweet liquor with a small amount of dry/hay flavor that right now I’m willing to overlook.