girljacklemmon

Ooh, I liiiiiike this. I perceive a vague, mineral-esque taste to this one, but my palate is super-unrefined, so what do I know? I find the flavour is very much affected by the steeping time and the temperature of the water, and it’s the only tea that I can ever be bothered to actually be careful with (I’m lazy, see). When the bitterness starts to rear its ugly head… well, make that heads. If we’re using heads as a metaphor for bitterness, then this one’s a hydra. But when it’s right, it’s very, very right.

This may well be my favourite tea. Nice and strong, and a little bit sweet on its own accord. I could drink this tea anytime, anyplace. And I’m really fickle, so that’s saying something.

Now here’s a vanilla done right. I’ve gotten so used to artificial vanilla flavours that it’s a real treat to have something that tastes… real. This is light and creamy and sweet. And delightful. Very delightful.

Simple and sweet, but bizarrely, this appears to contain no actual vanilla. What gives? To me, Vanilla Oolong just tastes sweet. Generically sweet. I much prefer the newer Vanilla Orchid, which has a creamier vanilla flavour.

Lovely! Full of flowers, but doesn’t taste perfume-y. Gets bitter if steeped for too long. I’d serve this if I was having grown-ups over for afternoon tea. Mild & pleasant & different. Not my usual thing when it comes to tea, but nice enough for something different.

THIS IS THE BEST THING. Pineapple coconut awesomeness, and tastes just like a pina colada. Perfect for summer.

Lemon. Why am I getting lemon from this? The tin says orange peel but my taste buds say “Lemonnnnn!”. Anyway, I find this tea fine. I neither want to sing from the rooftops about it, nor send it down to the bowels of hell. This one’s a refreshing cup, not a comforting cup. Supposedly, the eleuthero root is an adaptogen, which is meant to help your body adjust to stress. I don’t drink it enough to know whether or not that’s true, but there you go.

The colour is indeed off-putting. People (including the man I’m married to) rave about this one, but to me, it’s rather nondescript. Sugary-sweet and not overly memorable. But, cat sprinkles! So, yay for that.

Green tea with chocolate and cinnamon. Super Chocolate is SUPER YUM. This tea has a weirdly comforting flavour. It reminds me of something, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. I wish it was still readily available in the shops.

I’ve drawn the conclusion that I’m bound to love any tea from David’s that has the word “cake” in the name. Tastes like strawberries and cream. And tea, of course. It’s good!

Another favourite from Spring 2012. A good balance of sweet & spicy. Very nice iced, but also palatable when served hot. Count me in among its fans.

Green tea with tangerine, schizandra berries, orange, dandelion. The taste is fairly nondescript, but omg, is this ever good when you’re feeling, um, unwell after a bit of overindulgence. Maybe it’s just the power of suggestion, but hey, whatever works.

It has pineapple in it. Among other fruits. By all accounts, I should hate this. But I don’t. I do have to be in the right mood for it, though. Arguably the best smelling tea I’ve ever consumed… I’d wear this as a perfume if I could. Reminds me a bit of Forever Nuts, but with a more pronounced fruity flavour.

I love this and drink it almost to the exclusion of anything else throughout December. The mini candy canes are a nice touch. It’s sweet and minty and evokes all kinds of delightful flavours that I’m not entirely certain that it should. It alternately reminds me of cinnamon, vanilla, and caramel. It’s sweet, it’s minty, it’s fun, it’s holiday cheer in a mug. Yum.

I expected this to be saltier, but it’s not un-delicious. Very similar to Creme Caramel, but I get a richer flavour from this one. Rather than finding it salty and sweet, I find that the salt just takes the edge off the sweetness. If Creme Caramel Rooibos is Mackintosh’s toffee, this is a luxury caramel sold in a boutique and packaged in a tiny box with a ribbon on top. Both are good in their own way.

Very interesting. A bit minty, a bit peppery, cooling & spicy & sweet all at once. Mint stimulates your brain’s cold receptors, and pepper stimulates your pain receptors (creating an impression of heat), so I find this tea really uniquely refreshing. Reminds me a lot of the mint chocolate Girl Guide cookies that they only sell in the Fall.

I didn’t get this one at first. I bought it as the result of the sort of exchange that goes, “I normally put milk in my tea.” “If you like milk in your tea, then you’ll love…!” What can I say, I’m susceptible to classic sales techniques. The thing is, this is milk-y. Milk-like. It does not taste like tea with milk in it. Therein lies the difference. In fact, now that I’ve grown to enjoy this one, I daresay that adding milk to it would positively ruin it. So, if you are someone who likes tea with milk in it, then this is not necessarily the tea for you. You are probably after a black tea, probably a breakfast blend of some sort. But, if you are somebody who enjoys milky flavours, then this would be a good pick.

YESSSSSS. Was Autumn not amazing enough, with the leaves and the scarves and the what not? If it wasn’t my favourite season before (it was), it is now (just like before… just go with it, okay?). You can reeeeeally taste the pumpkin in this one. Creamy, spicy, pumpkin-y goodness. Call me crazy, but I really think the whole pumpkin spice thing works better with tea than it does with coffee. Best Autumn beverage, hands down.

Oranges, tangerines, lemongrass, eucalyptus… reeeeeeeefreshing. This is tart but doesn’t taste overly acidic to me, which is a problem that I have with a lot of fruity teas. To say nothing of the hibiscus! Normally, I avoid hibiscus like the plague, but it’s workin’ for me here! All things considered, this tea really reminds me of grapefruit (although, as far as I know, there’s none present here), and grapefruit brings me joy, thus, I’m into this one. Good stuff.

How can something comprised of one simple ingredient be so incredibly, amazingly, wonderfully good? Strong. Ready in 2 minutes. It’s simple, but sometimes you need simple. I’m into it.

From the Summer 2012 collection. Tastes like pears and vanilla. Lovely.

Black and green tea, hibiscus, apple, mango, orange… I don’t know why I thought I’d like this one. I hate hibiscus and I hate hot fruit. This is literally an amalgamation of all the things in life that I don’t like. The only way this tea would be less appealing to me would be if there were bees in it. It’s actually really unfair of me to rate something that’s so incredibly unsuited to my taste. I’m sure it’s a perfectly lovely tea for people who enjoy hibiscus and/or hot fruit. It’s just not for me.

I grew up with two kinds of tea: Red Rose and Twinings Earl Grey. Every night around 7 p.m., my dad would ask everyone in the family if we’d like a cup of tea, and 99% of the time, I chose the Red Rose. So, I grew up with Orange Pekoe, and thus, I am very, very fond of this tea. It’s the flavour of Red Rose, tidied up and amplified. This is my hug-in-a-cup tea, and it suits all my wildly varying moods. Who doesn’t love Orange Pekoe, though?

Soooooo super good, and I’ve not yet acquired a taste for pu’erh. Were I a more refined human being, I’m sure I’d have oodles to say about the sublime earthiness and so on and so forth, but even my father says that I’m no shrinking violet. Thankfully, I find that the chocolate orange flavour mostly overpowers the taste of the pu’erh itself, so it pretty much just tastes like a Terry’s chocolate orange, liquified. Great and good. A keeper.