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And Sencha Vanilla makes two.

So it looks like my whole disliking green tea thing is getting thrown out and I thought I was unsaveble in this area – what a relief to find out I was wrong and that there are green teas I like.

Sencha Vanilla is just opening up the box to get some out of the box is like sticking your nose into a honey pot and never wanting to leave – it’s such a fresh vibrant scent and the leaves are so long and green – adding the water makes them unfurl into these beautiful large deep green leaves that are so intoxicating to watch. And the aroma oh the aroma! Beautiful big waffs of vanilla as though vanilla essence has been sprayed in the room it’s just so inviting it’s like a vanilla cupake is awaiting you.

The taste is very light and sweet – it’s a lovely green tea that takes a long steeping well and takes a long time to taste bitter. The vanilla floats on top leaving you with a sweet after-taste but definitely not sickly or over top instead it simply invites you to have another sip. Very easy to never stop drinking this tea it’s so refreshing!

Highly recommend for people wanting to dip their toe into the green tea world and vanilla lovers everywhere.

This tea is awesome.

Dry the leaves are quite large are smell of a natural, soft, sweet vanilla definitely not overpowering or artificial.

Hot the smell is divine it’s a vanilla teacake cooling on a windowsill.

The ‘tea’ component is very light, and as far as away from bitter as you can imagine. I infused it for quite a long time and seemed it to make the tea sweeter rather than stronger which was awesome!

The vanilla is a sweet vanilla – very sweet and so tasty.

It’s the perfect afternoon tea. Absolutely delish! I highly recommend this to everyone. :)

Oh my this is good.

I am not a fan of green tea in general. There are very few green teas that I like and even fewer than I love so I never expected to like Gorgeous Geisha.

I was at Chadstone’s T2 shopping for my sister’s Christmas present and they had Gorgeous Geisha iced and it was oh my God so good. Iced it reminds me of T2’s Strawberries & Cream but without the sweetness. It smells and tastes like strawberries drizzled in cream with a refreshing after-taste of generic sweet fruit. The green tea element seems to make the tea less sweet and more refreshing without any actual ‘tea’ or ‘grassy’ taste making it a really refreshingly sweet iced tea perfect for a hot summer day. I think I would actually prefer this iced compared to Strawberries & Cream because it is less sweet and more refreshing.

Dry you are greeted by very large green tea leaves and small little freeze dried strawberry pieces – the smell is quite unusual it’s like walking into a strawberry field – very strong aroma of strawberries surrounded by an earthy-grassy scent.

Hot a very sweet (almost sickly sweet) strawberry aroma greets you with only the very slightest hint of a grassy smell. The taste is incredible it’s like drinking a strawberry Martini – a very strong strawberry taste with a coating of creaminess chased by a light bitter-grass after-taste.

Oh so good and oh so surprising.

I highly recommend this for fans of T2’s Strawberries & Cream and for people wanting to edge themselves into the world of green tea. It is yumilicious.

I LOVE this. Wow. wow. wow. wow.

When I heard there was a new Rabbit Hole Tea coming out I was so excited and when I found it what it actually was I went into immediate ‘must have’ mode. Cherries, I love cherries, to me Spring means cherries they might be the most expensive fruit on earth but they are also the most delicious and anything with cherries is an automatic must try for me – cherry crumble being the ultimate winner. So I placed my order and I’ve been checking the post since then and as always The Rabbit Hole delivers (and so quick too! easily the quickest tea delivery by far). I ripped open the beautiful postage to reveal Ruby Zing, I opened it up and …. the smell it’s like sticking your nose straight into a cherry pie it’s got a warmth to the dry scent and the cherries intermingled with the coconut is just amazing it’s literally like having a cherry pie in a packet.

The packet says you can infuse for up to 9 minutes and since I wanted the most from my cherry tea I did just that, but I must say this was a real test of my patience (which is non existent in this case). Finally the time was up and I opened the lid of my mug infuser to reveal the most divine aroma warm cherry pie with little pieces of coconut slivers on top it’s just amazing, it really is magical.

And then the first sip it’s like stuffing a whole lot of fresh ripe cherries into your mouth and gorging down oh it’s heavenly – it tastes so amazingly fresh & real – nothing artificial, no added flavours. If I was told that the cherries were just picked and popped in my cup I’d believe it.

Although this tea is in their ‘zesty’ range the coconut adds a real velvety creaminess to the tea which rounds out the taste nicely. It reminds me of condensed milk – like if you got some beautiful ripe cherries and poured just a little bit of condensed milk on top you’d get something near this taste. It really is lovely and so unique, also since cherries are so expensive and you’d be hard pressed to ever eat a lot at once this is a very nice indulgence.

As always the quality of the tea is beyond comparison – giant coconut slivers, huge cherries, hibiscus flowers (that don’t overwhelm the tea at all) and blueberries and as always with The Rabbit Hole absolutely no dust, no tiny pieces that have been through the wars – it’s the real deal and you can taste the love that’s gone into making it.

My only regret with this tea is that I didn’t bite the bullet and order a larger packet – it’s so good I can see it disappearing very quickly especially since I’m already on my second cup … only three more to go.

Highly recommend this to cherry-lovers everywhere and anyone in the mood for a real Spring-treat.

This tea is surprisingly and delightfully sweet and is reminiscent of lemon and sugar dusted pancakes.

Prior to having this tea the only T2 citrus tea I had tried was T2’s Citrus Punch, a fruit tissane that is way, way, too tangy and strong to have by itself. So when I was able to smell the heavy citrus smell wafting from the unopened box I feared it would be a black version of citrus punch. However, I was not to be put off and opened it up to reveal that the smell minus packaging is both sweet and tangy. So curious as to what was to come next I made up a pot for myself and wow… the hot version of this really impresses. The aroma that greets you is a mingling of lemon and sweet black tea it’s very inviting and not at all strong and signals what’s in store for you.

The taste is really special there is no ‘tang’ rather you are greeted with a sweet lemon and mild black tea taste and the after taste is more of the same it’s like swallowing a piece of a lemon and sugar dusted pancake. If I didn’t know better I’d swear I had added sugar to the tea because it really is quite sweet, it’s a natural sweetness that suits the tea and really makes this a quite addictive drink – I’m already onto my third pot for the night.

The black tea itself is quite mild and unlike a lot of T2’s black teas it seems very unfamiliar with the word ‘bitter’ I got called away from second pot and didn’t go back for about twenty minutes and it hadn’t turned bitter at all in, it was quite nice actually.

Dry the leaves are quite large and you can see small pieces of orange and lemon peel scattered throughout – there’s a very generous amount that’s not reflected in the picture it’s definitely heavy on the peel. Wet the leaves expand massively as does the peel it’s lovely to see them all unfurled.

This is a very good quality that tastes amazing. I thought it would be like adding lemon to a cup of black tea and while in some respects it is, it really is so much more than that the sweetness that accompanies this tea is really lovely and adds a layer that is both unexpected and welcome. Indeed adding a piece of lemon to this tea made the citrus flavour ‘pop’ out but still allowed the sweetness to remain intact. Delish!

I imagine this would taste wonderful iced.

I highly recommend this to people who already add lemon to their tea I’m sure you’ll fall in love with this, also to anyone who likes fruit flavours as it’s fruity without being overpoweringly citrusy.

I thought the happiness of wining might cloud my judgement of the tea but I’ve had three pots already so either my taste buds are as happy as the rest of me or I really do like this tea. ;)

Om nom nom…. berry goodness is what this is, delicious, delectable berry black tea.

Imagine a sweet summer berry tart – now imagine someone liquefied that because I swear that’s what’s happened here. This is an AMAZING combination of natural flavours – as a rule I don’t believe in ‘desert replacement’ teas because quite frankly no matter how good a tea is how can it really satisfy that craving for a good piece of cake? But this definitely works as a desert replacement because it manages to be sweet, tart and ‘filling’. It makes for an extremely satisfying cup of berry tart.

Dry you are greeted by big black tea leaves, freeze dried blueberries and raspberries and the smell – oh my – the smell is intoxicating – it is oh so good it’s like walking into blueberry and raspberry fields in the heat of summer where the fresh fruit is really ripe and you’re blown off your feet by the intensity of the fruit. I’ve actually got the opened packet on my desk right now because I can’t bring myself to put it away it’s making my whole room smell of berries and I love it.

When made up the berry aroma is softened somewhat and you are given a tight generic berry smell mingled with an almost soft floral fragrance and rounded off by the smell of shortcrust pastry; it’s different, a good different and gives you a hint of what’s to come. The initial taste is not as sweet as I thought it would be, but this turns out to be a good thing because what you get instead is a very good approximation of a blueberry and raspberry compote mingled with a tart pastry-esque taste thanks to the black tea, oils and apple juice which is just a tiny bit bitter in a very good way. The aftertaste is where this tea takes it off there’s no bitterness in the aftertaste at all, instead, the tea really packs a punch here delivering an intensified version of the first sip really amping up the sweetness and flavour of the berries. This carries over into sip after sip resulting in the tea tasting sweeter as you finish off your cup.

I think this works really well as an after dinner tea as it’s not particularly strong and can satisfy those sweet night time cravings. It would also pair well with a sweet cake in the afternoon.

I highly recommend this to sweet-toothes and berry lovers and particularly for those who are seeking a non hibiscus berry tea or a less sweet berry tea as it definitely isn’t as sweet as a lot of other berry teas on the market and the fact that everything is natural is really evident in the taste – the tea is of an impressive high quality.

I’m off to have my sixth cup of the night…

This tea suits its name it has a rustic feel to it and would be well suited had by a camp-fire on a cold morning – it’s a strong, full bodied black tea with a heavy plain black tea aroma with a slight hint of gingerbread.

The barely moderates the black tea taste creating a softer milder and not so severe generic black tea taste. It pairs well with with a sweet treat to temper the bitterness of the tea and would be well served by the addition of milk and sugar or honey. Had black, as I always have my tea it comes across as a bit too much – the barely and ginger seem to almost be competing for attention with the black tea with no clear winner and with me wanting a real ginger tea afterwards.

If you want to kick start a cold morning with a strong black tea that tastes a bit more mellow than English Breakfast than this would be a good tea to check out. However it doesn’t suit a sweet tooth or someone seeking a ‘pure’ tea taste.

Berries n Cream is something unique; it blends the smooth vanilla rooibos with rich red berry tastes of strawberry, blueberry, elderberry and black current. The result is a deep warming cup of berry goodness.

Dry you are greeted by small chopped up rooibos leaves, big rose petals, black currents, apple and a few others for good measure and the smell is absolutely intoxicating so much so that I can barely pull my nose away from the packet – it’s generic berry mingled with a strong, strong overtone of vanilla.

When made up hot the dry smell transforms into even heavier notes of vanilla with berry aromas floating around. With the first sip you taste a sort of generic mix up of berry flavours but as with any good rooibos it’s the after-taste that packs the punch and pulls you back for more – you’re left with a really smooth, really warm vanilla taste in your mouth and a sort of light lingering of berry. Each subsequent drink enhances both flavours with the after-taste adding more depth and flavour to each drink.

I really like that the rooibos is used to add depth to an otherwise fruit / herbal tissane it gives the tea a real edge above other berries n cream infusions on the market. It is not a particularly sweet tea in that whilst the vanilla rooibos gives it a sweetness it is very much a natural sweetness and therefore by no means a ‘sickly sweet’ taste. It’s different to what I have come to expect from ‘berries n cream’ in both a good and a way bad – the rooibos makes it more deeper and more tea like but at the same time that means it isn’t as sweet as I’m used to experiencing from sweet fruit teas and I almost found myself wanting to sweeten it up a bit (I do have a big sweet tooth).

It says there is apple in it and while I can see some apple I didn’t taste the usual ‘tang’ quality that you normally experience with apple but I think that’s good because the berry and vanilla overtones of this tea are enough and I never found myself wanting to taste the apple.

I highly recommend this to berries n cream lovers as while it’s more of the same it’s more of the same and then some with the rooibos adding a different take on a much loved classic. But if you are a sweet tooth like me just be aware that this isn’t as sweet as berries n cream normally tends to be, or at least tends to be in my experience.

If you have been to one of those lavish chocolate high teas like the Langham have where there’s a chocolate fountain and oodles of goodies to dip into it then you will be delighted with this at home special. There’s no mistaking what this is – white chocolate drizzled over raspberries – simply divine!

This tea is exquisite – the white tea is light and delicate, not at all grassy, just the way a good white tea should taste and the flavouring is sublime truly sublime. I feel as though I’ve got a stack of beautiful fresh ripe raspberries in front of me and with each mouthful I’m dipping them ever so slightly in high quality white chocolate and finishing it all of with a drop of ever so light white tea. This really is the perfect afternoon tea.

When dried the leaves, chocolate pieces and raspberries smell exactly as you’d expect – sweet, raspberrish, white cholatish and leafy. The aroma when made up is of sweet raspberries and a whiff of white chocolate in the air and the taste is well seriously there’s no other way to describe it but each sip is a raspberry drizzled with white chocolate. You know you’re drinking white tea, it’s light and carries the flavours well.

If you love raspberries like I do you are going to fall head over heals for this beautiful cup it’s really something special. Also if you’re wanting to try white tea and aren’t sure where to start then you can do no wrong with this one, it really is complemented perfectly by the flavours.

Warm Apple Pie anyone? Come on, you know you want to! The smell of this is absolutely divine – it’s like warm apple pie, there’s heavy apple, an almost pastry kind of smell and a strong wave of honey-vanilla. The taste is something else entirely it’s like a sweet oven baked apple that’s been drizzled with honey.

This is so incredibly good, it really is desert in a cup it’s amazingly satisfying and it’s not over sweet either; it’s the perfect combination of apple sweetness and apple tang. This just blows away all the other apple and Turkish apple teas I’ve had before. The Honeybush gives this real depth so it doesn’t feel like you’re drinking warmed up pieces of fruit, it tastes like a full bodied drink which is really, really delicious. I can totally understand why the tea is called ‘Red Delicious’ because that’s exactly what it is. Although it’s not a brilliant red it’s more a browny-red but that’s totally nit-picking.

I bought this tea without trying it and I am always so apprehensive about doing that, but the picture is so captivating I just had to try it. And I have to say I’m sold- the quality of the tea is very impressive and when boiling water hit the infusion all the leaves, berries and apple pieces expanded fully revealing their true natures. Big and I mean BIG berries are in this and they look just amazing.

I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who likes apples and especially to people who enjoy Turkish Apple but are trying to avoid the sugar intake because not only does this taste better than any Turkish Apple I’ve had there’s no sugar in it (or at least it’s not made of sugar and what sugar there is occurs naturally).

This is just incredible – seriously incredible.