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Okay, there’s no excuse for me not trying this by now. I bought it in July! And yet the Harrod’s sticker was still across the top of the bag. Sigh.

This is going to sound weird for a vanilla tea, but it smells like a fig newton cookie. It’s slightly fruitier as it starts to brew, but still, fig newton. I’m pretty sure I bought this because it smelled almost alarmingly vanilla-y, too.

Oh, but this is nice. This isn’t the kind of vanilla I was expecting at all. This isn’t sugar-cookie vanilla, but the darker, fruitier tasting stuff usually used in perfumes and rich desserts. Without milk it’s lovely, but when I add milk the flavors intensify even more and it’s almost like drinking custard. Oh my goodness, this is good.

Second steep. I’m not exactly following the directions on steeping, here: 6-8 oz. of water, just short of boiling, 2-3 minute steep time. I’m awful at timing steeps, and I’ve said before that my steeping technique is “hey, this looks done.” So far I haven’t had any problems with that, but maybe I should get better at it.

I wondered what the funny green lumps in this were the first time around: they are apparently popped rice! They look like little popcorn kernels, how cute! This is probably a standard thing in genmaichas but this is the first one I’ve tried, so pardon my surprise. :)

This one is really not resteeping like I thought it would. The sachet did, but this isn’t turning the green I’m expecting. Maybe the matcha all escaped into the first cup? It’s lighter this time around and thinner in taste but the roastiness is still there. It’s also sweeter than the first cup, but there’s less matcha visible in the water. Still not a bad cup, but not as full-bodied as the last.

I don’t think I’ve ever made a cup of tea with the intention of getting rid of the last cup’s taste in my mouth before. I figured the sweet green notes and roastiness of this would help cut the bitterness of the last cup, and luckily I had two samples of this to tide me over until my Den’s order comes in.

The smell of this is so pleasant. I really get the comparison to burnt popcorn this time, but I always liked that smell as a kid so it’s comforting now. I also love the color this turns as it brews! Neon acid green. In the loose-leaf version it’s much easier to see the matcha coating everything, and it’s interesting to watch it steep. The last two cups I had were from a sachet. For some reason this strikes me as a “fun” tea(?) Watching it and smelling it cheers me up.

The taste of the loose tea is stronger than in the sachet, possibly because I put it in a huge strainer so it could spread out. The flavor is the same and definitely cuts the breakfast blend taste that was lingering. I think this could easily become a favorite once the full bag reaches me!

What to drink with bacon and eggs in the morning? This, it seems. This poor sachet has been sitting on the counter for weeks, waiting for my mother to drink it. Apparently she’s not into breakfast blends anymore; when I was little, they were all she would drink, and I hated them then too. I’m not sure what it is about them, but it takes anything that was interesting about the teas individually and compresses them into one generic “tea” flavor. This probably means I’m a terrible person to review this one. Oh, well.

This is undoubtedly an Irish style blend. I don’t mind assam by itself but for some reason in blends it makes me cringe. This tea also needs to be closely watched, because if it’s left too long it’ll get so strong it’ll walk away. Since I can’t stand Irish style breakfast teas and can’t stand Guinness, does this mean I can’t claim Irish descent anymore?

On to the brew. So bitter! So…I don’t even know if this can be called malty. More like “muddled.” It doesn’t have a clear flavor. Well, at least this is gone now. That’s the last of the sachet sampler I got from DAVIDs, and I liked 5/6 blends. Not too bad.

Probably about time that I try some of the other things that came in my December Select box! Things got busy and I just forgot. There’s definitely more than one serving in this pouch, and depending on how much I end up getting out of it I might send it along in a swap or the upcoming Tea & Cards box. :)

It smells impressively caramel-y both dry and wet. It also brews up incredibly light for a black. Possibly because it’s based on oolong varietals? Regardless, it’s a lovely golden color that I’ve never seen from a black tea before. The taste is very nice. I like bright blacks and this is right up my alley. There’s no bitterness at all, and the slight caramel note contributes to make it a nice, smooth cup. Unfortunately I’m not getting the cherry notes, just an earthiness underneath everything that seems halfway between a traditional black and an oolong. What an interesting tea!

ETA: After it cooled down about 5-10 degrees I got the cherry tang at the end. It’s more of a dried cherry flavor but it’s definitely there and makes the cup even more interesting. Upping the rating.

Okay, I admit it: I don’t “get” white tea. I tend to like bold flavors in my tea and whites just don’t deliver. I’m constantly afraid of burning/oversteeping/take your pick, even more than with greens. In general, white tea is Not My Thing.

But this tea! First off, it has chrysanthemum in it. How could I not try it first out of my huge box of samples? The taste is great, too, and much stronger than I expected from my previous experiences with white teas. Mellow, just slightly sweet, and very satisfying. Is this my first good white tea experience? I think so. I think this also means I’m pretty darn impressed with this company so far.

This is…eh. I don’t have much feeling about it either way. An acceptable orange blend. I haven’t had green rooibos before so I can’t comment on that at all, but I don’t taste much aside from orange. To its credit, it smells wonderful, but the taste is lacking something in comparison. I think I wish there was more carrot in it; it seems like it can’t decide whether to be a juicy fruit tea or a savory tea.

ETA: Getting a chalky aftertaste with the end of this cup. It’s also slightly more spicy and interesting at the end, but the mouthfeel is unpleasant.

Wow. Just opening the bag is a punch in the face of ginger smell. I was a little scared to try this at first, because the ginger chunks are huge. I love ginger flavor but I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to spicy ginger tastes. I’m also not a liquorice fan. This was one of the blends I got for my mother and I couldn’t let it go without trying it at least once.

It brews up a light, lemony yellow, and smells strongly herbal. Actually, the dry mix smells more like fresh ginger and the brewed tea smells more like dried ginger! I didn’t expect that. As for how it tastes: in a word, surprising. It’s a pure ginger flavor, but not sharp or overly spicy at all. There’s no liquorice favor for me, just a slight sweetness. I’ve been a little stuffy today and this is the perfect treatment for it.

Sigh. Got a sample of this for mom for Christmas—she requested caffeine-free things she can drink any time of the day, as she is sensitive to caffeine—and now that we try it it’s a bit of a mess. The ingredients list is huge, none of the flavors seem to go together, and it’s incredibly tart thanks to my nemesis hibiscus. Add cranberry and rosehips in there too and it’s just tart, tart, tart, and very red-fruit-y. Luckily I also got her samples of other things, because we’re both disappointed with this one.

Drank two cups of this this morning: hot milk and cold milk. The smell of the dry matcha is intensely eggnog. I’m picky about my eggnog (mom always buys the low-fat stuff, oh no!). This smells like the good stuff.

Sadly the taste is pretty generic. I’m not sure what strength the flavor is in Red Leaf’s samples, but this one tasted mostly like matcha to me. It wasn’t even a generic vanilla flavor, just matcha with a slightly sweet edge to it. It might be good in their robust style, but I don’t have much opinion on it right now other than “I didn’t hate it.”