Angela

I’m basing this review more on what I expected than the actual taste. The taste itself is pretty standard. It’s black tea, with a subtle sweetness to it. Not too bitter, which I like.

However, where’s the actual honey pear? I guess it tastes pear-like, but that’s only because what it claimed to be. If you blindfolded me and had me guess what it was, I would have no idea. I was expecting something sweet (come on, it’s both honey and pears), but it was a little bland in that department.

Stuck some in the fridge for later; maybe it’ll be redeemed in the cold version.

There’s popcorn in my tea leaves. Popcorn! (As I oh-so-eloquently wrote in an email to teaplz).

I love this stuff. Second day in a row I’ve made a large mug of it, and just stuck some in the fridge for cold consumption later. The smell and taste is overwhelmingly roasted nuts, which is delicious. The corn is more subtle, but gives it that little extra kick at the end. I fear my little sampler tin won’t be enough for me.

And there’s popcorn!

For someone who’s been drinking an obscene amount of light-ish teas lately (you bet I’ve been getting the most out of my sugar caramel oolong sample), this was a big smack in the face when I opened up my sampler packet. Holy cow, is that stuff smoky. I’m sitting in my bedroom with my cup, and the atmosphere smells like campfire and singed cedar wood. Surprisingly enough… it’s not so bad.

It smells and tastes like liquid smoke; my eyes are actually tearing a bit as my cup is depleted. But I love the smell of a smoky campfire. (Side note: Ever have toast over a campfire? AMAZING.) As the tea cools it’s less potent, but I kind of fear to go back into the kitchen. My mother may wonder what I’ve been cooking, thanks to the smoky after-smell.

Not something I’ll be running out to buy, but wouldn’t pass it up if offered.

My teapot was all ready to receive my hot water, my teaspoon of tea inside… when I knocked it over and spilled tea all over the floor (luckily, the teapot was saved). As I listened to the tiny leaves get sucked into the vacuum I thought to myself, “this better be worth it.”

And of course it is. The instructions explicitly say not to steep over 3 minutes or it will become bitter (and we know how I loathe bitter black tea), so I went with two minutes. This is pretty good with my breakfast. I still don’t love plain black tea, but my “understeeped” variety is good for me. There’s a little woodsy aftertaste as it cools down, which is always a bonus for me.

This is amazing. Just everything about it. The fragrance, the taste, even the sugary sweetness of the leaves themselves.

I was hesitant to steep up anything this morning, seeing it’s steadily inching toward 80 degrees outside, so I was pleased when this was my random sample of the day (no, really. My GM sampler is too high on the shelf for me to see what I pull out). I love the caramely sugar taste. And I let it sit a little while in the teapot before consuming, so I’m not sweating bullets at the moment (like usual. I take “hot tea” literally).

I kind of love it. Can’t expand much upon that.

Thanks to these damp tea leaves, I now understand the proper meaning of “vegetal.” I won’t confirm whether this is positive or negative…

Anyway. This tea is pretty tasty. Lately I’ve been trying to branch out from greens, because it was all I drank when I learned of proper tea, but it’s my fallback. So when I requested a free sample from Chicago Tea Garden, I went with the green. I can’t resist it.

Good choice, though. This steeps up practically clear and has a light taste. I tend to oversteep my greens, but it’s no big deal with this one. Despite the ridiculous amount of green tea I have in my cupboard, I would buy this one, too. It has a complex fragrance, like a hint or roasted nuts or something beneath the tea. It’s quite fun.

It seems I’m the first to review this one… how nerve-wracking.

Another from my Kusmi sampler. I love these little tins!

It’s a gunpowder tea! Since I’m easily amused, these are my favorite. Even in my small sampler the leaves smell quite strong, though I can’t place the scent—a little musky, a little cirtusy. Though not unpleasant.

The cirtus really comes out in the tea itself, and while it cools a little it tastes more fruity. The description says it’s better as an “afternoon” tea, which I obviously ignored (9:30 a.m. at the moment), but it would be a rather good choice for the midday break, when I’m mentally prepared to shut down. Though next time, I’ll consider shortening the steep time. The more I drink, the sweeter it tastes, and I don’t love fruity tea that much.

Rather than go through work emails after vacation, I’m sitting here with a new cup of tea and browsing steepster. It’s about all my brain can handle right now.

While I was in Canada, I stumbled upon this great little tea shop and simply had to pick up a sampler pack. These tiny tins are adorable. I think I prepared it right, since the directions are in metric units; regardless, this is a tasty cup of tea.

The leaves have a sort of musty rose scent, not at all what I expected. I’ve only had rose tea in black, not green, so I was a little surprised when I opened the tin. The tea steeps up really light, too; I almost thought I hadn’t used enough leaves (have to guess what 3g is in teaspoons) or I didn’t do it long enough. But I certainly did. It’s definitely a green tea, but has almost a subtle smokey taste to it. As it cools it’s slightly sweeter, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it sweet. It’s just not… intense.

For someone who’s still downing the same mint green tea she bought from Teavana eons ago (why did I buy so much?), this is a nice change of pace. Still my trusty green, but the rose really adds a unique flavor to it.

Scene: 9:30 p.m., and I’ve just walked a half-hour in the rain with a broken umbrella. My dress shoes are waterlogged. At that point, any tea is a good idea.

Mint seems to be my default; when I’m tired or cranky it’s a good option. And this was okay for the 10:00 p.m. train ride home, but not something I’d pick up every day. It’s that fake minty taste (someone likened it to toothpaste), not reminiscent of real mint, but I can deal with it as a late-night option.

The moment I saw this on Steepster Select I had to grab it. White tea? Peaches? Instant win.

The leaves smell really sweet. Like, sickeningly sweet. There’s no mistaking this peachy goodness for anything else. Luckily, that sweetness settles down a bit when it’s transformed into actual tea. The peach isn’t overwhelming; there’s just enough flavor that it doesn’t mask the actual taste of tea. This is good stuff. I think it would be pretty fantastic iced as well.

Somehow my tasting note for this disappeared. (I had some issues re-reviewing it, and who knows what I did). I obviously can’t remember now everything I said, but I assure you it was amazing. In fact, it’s probably my favorite tea in my cupboard at the moment. It’s night and light, and has a subtle flavor.

Trust me, my old review was awesome.

When I sat in church yesterday and noticed my eye twitching uncontrollably (this is a new thing for me), it occurred to me that I should probably switch to decaf for a little while. (I was paying attention to the service, honest.)

So this morning I broke out my herbal tea sampler. Now, I enjoy lemon. I’ve been known to eat them right off the rind. But I don’t necessarily want that bitterness in my tea. This may be salvaged by a bit of sugar, lemonade-style, but I’m certainly not adding sugar to my tea at 9:00 in the morning (or, well, ever).

I rather like this smell of this one, but the drinkability leaves something to be desired. (Hey, Firefox, why isn’t “drinkability” a word?) It’s tart on the way down and leaves a fuzzy taste on my tongue. Man, I need some good decaf options.

edit: I’m decreasing this rating because I couldn’t finish the cup. How disappointing.

As with most of my tea reviews… this is the first of this kind. Welcome to my teapot, pu-erh!

I, of course, let this sit a little too long before drinking. I usually like my tea right out of the kettle, and I got a little sidetracked. (Once you start organizing something, you just can’t stop.) But despite that, I’m not complaining about this cup. I stuck my nose in the leaves beforehand and it was a pleasant, dark, woodsy kind of smell. Apparently [judging by other reviews here, yes I cheat] it has a mossy, fungus-like quality. Like this scares me. I eat mushrooms raw.

The tea itself has that same earthy quality to it. I’m not quite bold enough to go over a 2-minute steep right now, but this seems about right for me. It doesn’t smell like much in the cup, but has that sharp, almost spicy taste going down. Again with that “spicy but not really” adjective. What else did I use that for? Oolong? Perhaps.

Days off work = plenty of time for tea. YAY.

I’m kind of torn on how to judge this one. As a tea, it’s pretty fantastic, but I’m not sure it’s to my taste. When they say jasmine, they mean jasmine. It’s seriously all I smell/taste. I went with a shorter steeping time (the packet says 2 to 4 minutes) because I didn’t want to be overwhelmed. Good call on that – I don’t know if I’d be able to handle if it were any stronger. The sample was pretty packed full so perhaps I’ll try it iced later on. (This is my new thing, apparently… anything that can be iced, shall.)

This is my first attempt at oolong… and I feel I should try again in the future.

I think overall it’s too dark for me, and I seem to be tending toward lighter teas (in both color and flavor). It tasted like black tea with a spicy aftertaste. Is spicy the word? Maybe it’s the woodsy, cedar-like taste. I can’t knock it too hard, though. By the end I was looking forward to that aftertaste. Gave it a little kick.

After a four-hour car trip with my mother, I put on a kettle of water. “Why are you making tea now?” she asked, at 11:00 at night.

Why not?

I went with this; it’s a good wind-down tea. It’s calming and spearminty. I don’t recall a whole lot more about it, since it was 11:00 at night and all, but it was a good selection for a late-night fix right before bed.

It was a nostalgia thing that made me pick this one up. When I worked in an indie movie theatre, I often went for it during my breaks. I thought maybe I just didn’t know enough about tea back then, since it didn’t taste particularly special. Thus I tried it again.

Nope. Same thing. I keep on thinking it will be amazing, because the tin itself definitely smells like, well, vanilla almond. And I like anything with one (or both) of those scents. And the smell tempts me when the mug is sitting on my desk, untouched. But I just don’t taste it in the tea. There’s something in the aftertaste… but if I can’t figure out what it is, well… not a good sign.

Rose tea, iced version: Better than hot. You know every so often you order unsweetened iced tea, and even though it’s gross and bitter you still drink it without sugar? This isn’t the case. The rose acts like a natural sweetener of sorts, so I didn’t have to sacrifice taste for health. I’m excited that I didn’t use the entire sample the first time around. The rest will be used for more iced tea.

I’m kind of disappointed. After hearing/reading rave reviews of proper chai, and going out to actually buy milk (this rarely happens in my house), I expected to be amazed.

I loved the smell. It has that smell of a country farmer’s market. I want to go pumpkin picking now, or something. And it certainly filled the kitchen with its spicy, woodsy fragrance (surely mother won’t be complaining).

I used the “authentic” recipe that teaplz forced upon me [ever so lovingly]. Know what this reminds me of? Why I don’t add anything to my tea.

The first few sips were enjoyable. It’s really rich, probably due to the water/milk ratio (1:1). But toward the end I had to force it down. I’m just not used to thick teas, and it reminded me more of “milk with a tea aftertaste.” How disappointing. Maybe chai isn’t for me after all.

I have a soft spot for roses. Sure, they’re the stereotypical favorite flower of the female species, but there’s a good reason for that. Because nothing quite beats the look and smell of a rose. That being said, it’s no surprise that I was a little giddy when opening this sample. It smells pretty! There are actual roses in there! It almost feels wrong to drink it.

I skimmed over other reviews here and some complain that it’s more rose than tea. This is fine by me. I can sacrifice the black tea taste for a little bit of femininity, something that makes me feel like I should be sitting in my parlour in Victorian England donning a hoop skirt. (Okay fine. I’m more feminine than I admit to.) This tea actually tastes pretty. It’s kind of sweet, and not too heavy. Of course, the fact I didn’t steep it quite as long as suggested helps in that, too.

In short: I like it. I probably won’t go out and buy it on its own, but I certainly wouldn’t pass it up if offered.

When you’re lazy and cranky, bagged tea is an excellent choice. And this one isn’t too bad. I picked up a Celestial Seasonings herbal tea sampler at the grocery (good default bagged tea company) and I went with this one rather than their normal chamomile.

The bag (leaves, I guess?) smell sweet itself, almost like candy. It’s fun. I can sense it a little in the tea itself, and I do taste a hint of honey. Apparently there’s vanilla in there, too? Sure, I’ll take it. Hey, it’s soothing and goes down easy. I have no complaints.

Just as tasty in the iced version. Just don’t drink it too cold (ow, my teeth).

I told myself I wouldn’t review any more black teas, because they all tend to sound the same.

But one note here: It is “better Earl Grey.” When I cut open my sample bag and inhaled, before I even read the description here, I said, “wow it smells like Earl Grey. But better.”

The taste is better, too, and has the potential to be delicious. If you’re into that sort of thing.

I pretty much knew I’d love this by its name alone.

I stuck my nose in my sample bag and could swear it was a peppermint patty. I even brought the bag to my mom (whose tea knowledge extends to… nothing) and it was the first thing she thought of, too. Which is curious, considering it’s vanilla…

I’m a sucker for anything mint. Didn’t catch the vanilla until the aftertaste, which was a pleasant surprise. Since it’s freezing cold [for May] I decide to steep another cup, and then another, and I never lost the vanilla minty flavor. This one is a win. I need to buy it.

I may have enough flavor left in the leaves to try an iced version. Stay tuned.