Tea Sipper

I like this one! The flavors are great together. I thought the black tea base was sweet tasting and a perfect match for the banana and coconut. I’m guessing there is a bit of an artificial banana flavor, but it isn’t bad at all. And it does seem kind of tropical! The blue cornflowers add a nice touch. Another great tea from the Element tea closing sale purchase I made.

I don’t love chamomile, but I feel like I’ve been spoiled with teas I love lately! I’ve had this in an older Numi sample box. I was actually expecting more of a lemon flavor, as the other Numi with lemon myrtle I had (Rainforest Green Mate Lemon) had so much lemon it reminded me of a sugary lemon donut I had a while ago. This has barely any lemon myrtle with on odd tasting chamomile. Not bad — I guess I needed a chamomile tea more then any other kind of tea. It has been one of those days. But maybe spoiling myself with more tea I loved would have helped.

Edited to add: Second steep: I steeped it hotter and with a longer steep time and both the chamomile and the lemon myrtle were much better. It might even be my favorite chamomile. I’m upping the rating.

This is in teabags. How could a vanilla rooibos be bad? The vanilla flavor isn’t as strong as I’d like, but that might be because it is organic? The Suffuse vanilla rooibos I have, I just love. But that one might not be as organic. But the more vanilla flavor the better! The rooibos is always a delicious base for anything. A deep red color, too.

What I like about this tea… there isn’t a strong hibiscus flavor! But the rest of the flavors aren’t too strong either, and this isn’t really a tea you can resteep (which I usually do with every tea!) The flavors sound like they would be great together (Strawberry, kiwi, apples, rose petals…) but I just wish it was a stronger flavor. I’ll have to put more in the infuser next time, not try to get a second cup out of it and go full flavor for the first cup.

I love love love love Creme Earl Grey! It’s my new favorite! I somehow have in my possession three blends of earl grey in the last month! This was sent to me by Rumpus Parable (thank you!). I love the perfect mix of creme and bergamot and a black base. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t even like bergamot by itself. I could drink gallons of this stuff. But this is why you don’t try the horrible tea bag labeled ‘earl grey’ and then assume you won’t like any other earl grey. As far as my Battle-of-the-Creme-Earl-Greys goes (see the Element Creme Earl Grey), this one is pretty darn similar to that one. Is it possible it is the same blend? But the more I have of this, the better. I won’t ever get sick of it! (I think I’ve already had six cups of creme earl grey in the last two weeks!)

Actually, I’m not sure if this is the tea I have. It’s one steepster select gave out but it is labeled Creme Earl Grey. Can someone confirm if it is the right tea? I couldn’t find Creme Earl Grey and I figured it would be on steepster somewhere, as it was part of Steepster Select…

This is the second favorite from the big batch of teas I bought from the Element closing sale (the first was Creme Earl Grey). It has such a unique flavor! I love the idea of a red and black combined tea. Yum! It has a subtle spearmint flavor and a subtle lime flavor… and some other mysterious flavor.. that must be the rum! It’s all sweet and not bitter at all.

Despite always wanting a roasted tea, I didn’t really have any in my stash. Rumpus Parable sent me some tea (thank you!) and this happened to be one of them! I really like it! I wonder if it has caffiene though? The steep color IS a beautiful amber color. I like it for the steep color alone! The flavor is roasty, toasty and surprisingly sweet (and I steeped it hot and for a while). Good stuff!

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.