Tea Sipper

Yes, there is a reason ginger is in the name of this tea. I’m not a fan of ginger. It’s really all I can taste here. The lemon flavor isn’t too strong. I had a lemon tea from Numi a while back, the lemon verbena in that one reminded me of a sugary lemon candied donut I had years ago. So this is a disappointment. There is barely any honeybush in the bag either. It isn’t bad — it should just have a better flavor. I think lavender in the place of ginger would have been better.

I’m pleasantly pleased with this one! Though the base is a black tea, the pear flavor is consistent and delicious! (it’s labeled “china black”? It’s kind of perfumey — not in a bad way.) You’d think the black tea flavor would overpower the pear, but it doesn’t. I didn’t think there would be actual pear pieces in the blend. It’s hard to believe that just a couple pear pieces would make the pear flavor this strong, so it must be helped by the “flavoring” they have added. There are also tiny leaves in the blend, I’m not sure what those are since it isn’t anything on the label. Not too bad!

I also received this from Iheartteas sale. I’m not sure I love lemony teas, but this one isn’t that lemony. It has a nice black tea base and a mild lemon flavor. I really liked the Assam I had the other day from TeaGschwendner better. There isn’t even really much to say about this one. I’m not sure if ceylon teas are for me, this one seems really bitter.

I was looking for a smokey tea this morning, but this one didn’t smell very smokey. It actually has a very sweet scent. The brew is a reddish brown color that looks delicious. The flavor is very full! It has many layers almost. It is a bit smokey, but when I want a smokey tea, it has to be very, very smokey. The flavor is a bit malty, robust. I love the description of the flavors up there! And I’d say they are pretty accurate! Very delicious!

I bought this with a bunch of other teas from the Element sale thinking it would be the ONE tea I didn’t like of the bunch. But it turns out, it’s my favorite from the bunch and I’ve tried most of them! (The other stand out was ‘Mojito’.) I’ve had bad experiences with yuck Earl Greys in the past, but that may be they were not very good teas to start with (I don’t remember what they were but they were tea bags in a popular find-them-at-the-grocery-store brand.) But I think the creme makes all the difference! I love the cremey smooth flavor and I probably wouldn’t like it as much without it — the bergamot/citrusy flavor just doesn’t appeal to me but the creme makes it so so good. I think the citrusy aspect isn’t that strong anyway. I received some of Teavana’s Earl Grey Creme in a package that iheartteas sent me, so it will be nice to have a Battle of the Creme Earl Greys! Up until now, I just assumed that Earl Grey was one of the rare teas I didn’t like, but Earl Grey Creme suddenly became a favorite! Yikes.

I can’t be the first reviewing this… hmm. Anyway, this doesn’t have much of an oolong flavor. And the peach flavor seems very artifical to me, actually reminds me of a slight bit of kerosene. Obviously not very good. At least it wasn’t the more expensive oolong I bought from Element’s sale. (The other oolong was $5 and this was $1.) Maybe I steeped it too long, I don’t know. I won’t give up on it yet!

If you add vanilla to something, I’ll probably like it. This is nice because it technically has three types of peppermint in it. So three times the peppermint helps the peppermint flavor! I loved the smooth creamy flavor to it, which I was hoping was just from the melted candy cane pieces, but reading that description up there made me realize there is vanilla too. And black tea is a nice base for the peppermint. I didn’t like the initial unsteeped smell of this tea, so I’m happy the flavor is much better!

I just HAD to buy this one since it sounds like the perfect tea — BASIL (my favorite), lemon, strawberry, rose petals, all on a nice base of rooibos! It is good! I just wish the flavors would shine more. The main flavor is like a creamsicle type flavor, which I’m guessing is from the lemon, though I didn’t see many of the lemon granules in my unsteeped tea leaves. (Do you call them leaves if it is rooibos?) The rooibos has a mild enough flavor that it allows what little of the other flavors there is to shine through. I still think think this is the perfect combination of ingredients, I wish they stronger here though! Still very delicious, especially when it got to 97 degrees today (though I know that ain’t nothin for other parts of the US right now.)

For some reason I was expecting more apple, I don’t know why, since I wanted a nice apple tea. BUT this one is good anyway! It is just like Joy’s Teaspoon Almond tea, which is one of my favorites (hmm.. possibly they have the same supplier, I don’t know). Very delicious fragrance and taste. And I love that it doesn’t have hibiscus in it! This is an example of a herbal tea that really doesn’t need hibiscus to be amazing. I love the pink color that the beet root leaves. There isn’t too much of a cinnamon flavor, but it is better that the almonds shine! The apple flavor isn’t too strong either. I guess I’ll just have to keep searching for a scrumptious apple tea, but this one is a fantastic almond!

I love the unsteeped look of this, a nice woodsy cranberry red. The flavor is less cranberry and more of a sweet flavor. I would never guess cranberry if it wasn’t already mentioned. But it is delicious anyway. Very sweet, considering that cranberry is more of a tart flavor. A really great rooibos base.

I decided to buy this tea because the picture of the leaves is gorgeous. How does that not look delicious? The tea that actually showed up in my package didn’t look QUITE as vibrant, but everything is there. Sadly, the flavor isn’t. The hibiscus sure is though. Even with hibiscus, fruit teas don’t have much flavor anyway, so I don’t see how hibiscus will improve things with its tartness. I’d rather just have the other flavors featured, even if it’s milder, than have everything drowned out with hibiscus. I think more fruit teas should also have a base of another type of tea. This is an okay tea, I just wish the hibiscus hadn’t overpowered the other flavors. This is my least favorite from the 10 I’ve tried from ESP Emporium.

First, the unsteeped leaves in my sample bag do NOT look like the picture up there. But I love the idea of this tea. Jasmine, roses, strawberry.. they should all work great on such a great green base. They DO, but I expected a stronger flavor maybe because of all the great ingredients in it. The flavor itself is very fresh and clean. Floral and slightly fruity. The steep color is a light yellow. I’d say it’s a great tea, I just wish the flavors were stronger!

This reminds me of why I love black tea — and tea in general! An absolute delicious flavor. It isn’t too strong of a flavor but some black tea is very light but this isn’t too light either. The flavor is a bit oaty in the best way possible. I had a hint of a floral scent for a second. The flavor is very smooth and a bit smokey. (But I like some VERY smokey teas, so it doesn’t bother me!) The unsteeped leaves are definitely a black color! The steep color is a deep brown. A great tea paired with my breakfast of blueberry pancakes, or probably any breakfast really. I only got a few hours of sleep last night, and it seemed to wake me right up too! I’ve tried a few of Teavivre’s teas (thanks to their VERY generous free samples) and they have been so so delicious. I doubt that Teavivre has any tea in stock that isn’t fantastic. They know what they’re doing! I’m looking forward to trying any and all from Teavivre!

I never reviewed this? Hmm… Well I’m drinking it now, and it is almost the last bag. I don’t like this too much. It’s much like drinking potporri to me. ew. It seems like there is less of a plum taste and more of a hibiscus taste. And the plum that is there is bitter. I don’t think I would buy this one again, but the sugar plum idea is nice.

The times I’ve had this since have been better, just as long as you DON’T oversteep it! This is probably the worst tea for oversteeping!

I just love the look of the unsteeped tea. It has some great things in it: pistachios, sliced almonds, pink peppercorns. The smell is interesting. It’s sweet. Both the scent and flavor remind me a bit of a dessert roll with orange icing or like a creamsicle flavor with less orange. And in the ingredients list, orange is actually listed so that makes sense. I think the majority of the flavor comes from the last ingredient: flavoring. I don’t see the flavor coming from the almonds, pistachios, cumin or peppercorns. It’s more of whatever kind of flavoring they add to it. Maybe I didn’t steep it at a high enough temp or long enough time. The black tea itself isn’t a strong flavor, but you wouldn’t really want a strong base to go with these flavors. Overall, it’s a good tea. But I wish the ingredients would have shined more than the “flavor”.

I thought I’d try more of a medicinal tea today. Though I’m not sure how a tea could help your kidneys. This did taste a bit medicinal. Like most Yogi teas, there is a lot of ginger, ginger, ginger. Which I don’t like. I’m not a fan of ginger. But the pepper and the cinnamon almost made it like a chai cookie or something. There certainly isn’t a peach flavor. My tongue is kind of buzzing with pepper right now, probably because I drank the last gulp at the bottom of the cup. Not a complete gross out medicinal tea, but I don’t know how much it will detox. Compared to what? I wish Yogi would make non-ginger teas.

I invented this with Design A Tea’s awesome concept of adding two flavors to a base tea of black, oolong, rooibos or green. You can create two teabags that they send you for $2 shipping. I don’t know if I just made a not-so-great flavor combination or what. It’s okay, but nothing spectacular. The steep color is almost like an apple juice, which is fitting I guess. I can’t really taste an oolong flavor, which means it is probably very light. The apple flavor is subtle. And I can’t tell if there is much of a pecan flavor. The second steep is just as flavorful as the first. Do apple and pecan really go well together anyway? I don’t know what I was thinking, but I’ve been on the lookout for a really good apple tea if anyone has any ideas.

I didn’t steep this at a very high temp OR for very long but the color was very dark — almost like a coffee. It doesn’t taste or smell like a chai OR a rooibos. It has a very perfumey taste. No spices at all that I can taste. And the red tea isn’t really like a red I’ve had before. So basically it didn’t seem like a rooibos or a chai… just very perfumey. I wonder what they put in it?

This tea doesn’t seem like a black tea. I steeped it a WHILE and the tea color was barely brown. I don’t really love the flavor… it seems kind of oaty. The flavor is a bit floral. But I can’t really describe the flavor otherwise. Also, the tea leaves themselves didn’t seem too consistent. I’m not sure, but if it is one type of tea, shouldn’t the leaves all look the same? Another disappointing tea from Teavana. I’d rather order from less expensive, better quality tea companies in the future. Even on sale I don’t think I’d buy this again.

No notes yet.

This was included in an amazing free sampler package from Teavivre. Check them out! So it is a little foil package that contains enough tea for a few infusers full. (Well i see other reviewers here using an entire package, but my infuser isn’t that big!) Then there is another plastic piece holding the tea, as this is sticky with honey. It’s a bit diffiult to get the tea into the infuser, but I find clamping the infuser onto a bit of the bag and sliding the bag out works well! SInce this is an oolong, I can get multiple steeps out of this:

First steep:
The sent of the dry leaves aren’t overly honey-like but they are sweet. The steep color is a nice yellow. Oolongs have the most diverse flavor, ranging from a mild, floral, peachy to a stronger flavor. I think this one is in the mid-range of flavor strength. It has a nice floral sweet flavor. but isn’t a mild one. Again, the honey isn’t too present. The lack of honey is kind of disappointing, as it was one of the reasons I wanted to try it. If you try it not expecting much out of the honey, it is still an amazingly delicious oolong. The directions say 212 degrees, but I like gettiing the temp a little lower, especially on the first steep (so that the flavor can be stronger the second steep!)

Second steep: I may have kept the infuser in a little too long this time, but it’s still good. This steep it seems more floral and less sweet. The flavor is more pronounced.

I almost want to go back and start giving my oolong teas a flavor strength rating… where a one would be light and floral and peachy and a 10 would be a bolder flavor… maybe I’m the only one who will know what I’m talking about?? But really, it all depends on the temp and the steep time. Even the same leaves will result in entirely different cup.

I don’t think I put enough tea in my infuser! I don’t have much of this and I wanted to get what little I have to last a few cups. This is the first 52teas I’ve tried! I really would love to try them all. But like I said, I didn’t put much tea in the infuser, so I don’t think I gave it a fair chance. The rooibos steeped is more of an orange color instead of a red, so that’s the first hint. I don’t taste much of an apricot flavor here, but there is another flavor I can’t place. It’s a sweet silky flavor that lingers. I hope I can try others from 52teas in the future!

I love the smokiness of a russian tea. I guess that is the main characteristic of a “russian” tea. I usually can’t keep my russian teas with my other teas — they smell that strong. This one is more of a mild scent and flavor. It isn’t too smoky, so it could be for someone who wants to try a smoky tea and then if you like it you could try a stronger one. (The Choice Russian Caravan is pretty strong for a tea bag — one of the couple I’ve tried.) But with this one, the flavor isn’t even that strong for a black tea. It’s still good though, just mild. Maybe I should have steeped it longer and at a higher temperature.