Elizabeth

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Tried this once so far, and it was pretty terrible. However, did not attempt to make this on the stovetop with blended water and milk, so I cannot yet judge it. Hoping for a better experience next steep.

Still not qualified to rate this one yet. I brewed up a nice strong cup of this baby today…to mix with rum, lemon juice, and honey. I’m sick sick sick; having caught a cold the Thursday before last, getting the flu last Monday, having my cold worsen this past Thursday, study and take my pediatrics final (Friday night, and Saturday morning respectively), then have the cold get even worse (somehow) last night. So, it was definitely time for a hot toddy today.
My regular 12 oz. cup of tea made with two big teaspoons of this gunpowder,
about an ounce and a half of rum, a squirt of lemon juice (a slice of lemon is best), and a tablespoon of local honey. Yum. Soothes the throat.

Alright, alright. This is much better on subsequent tastings. The leaves are long and gorgeous when unfurled, and the scent of the strawberries really is reminiscent of a late-spring/early summer morning. I’ve gotten rather fond of this tea after trying it a few times, and am starting to open up to more greens of late. This is quite tasty with a short steep, at a normal low green-tea temp.

Meh. Not very interesting. As I drink more teas, I’m getting less and less interested in rooibos and tisanes, thus, this “tea” is not working for me. Weak, fruity-ish, rather boring. I’ll finish the cup since I’m sick with the flu and trying to stay hydrated, but it’s not something I’d choose to drink.

Glad I just had a sample of this. Cannot taste the papaya very much, but there’s a definite note of peach in there. Not much else.

Smoky, some depth of flavor, but not my thing. It’s not as full-bodied as I was hoping, and the smoky bitterness is really not up my alley. Glad to try a Darjeeling, but this one isn’t a keeper for me.

Where was the oolong? Didn’t even see tea in the mix until after it had steeped.

Being my first time with this tea, I made it with my usual half water/half 1% milk and a teaspoon of sugar. WHOA, way too sweet. I’m inexperienced with carob, and I guess that must have added some sweet? Also, the fake cinnamon flavor is more than too sweet and a bit overwhelming. This tastes like lots of other masala chais, just with fake cinnamon added.

How do they charge $12 for this? Glad I got it for free, since I wouldn’t buy it. Will try this with minimal sugar, and perhaps less milk next time. Strange brew.

The story behind my having this tea is rather interesting. I ordered from Teavana back in December, and received a couple of the teas (which I had gotten at deep discount) singly, and shipped via UPS (pretty expensive, especially since I live in a rural area). Then, during later January, then February, then the beginning of March, I just kept getting emails stating that the rest of my order would be shipped within 30 days. Great. I believed them the first time, but after the second identical email, I was less trusting.

Anyway, I then contacted Teavana through their website…No response….Then left a message on their Facebook…That got a response. They explained that my teas were all either out of stock or discontinued and would send a package to make up for it. OK, why didn’t they just say the stuff was discontinued a long time ago?

So, that’s how I got this tea. It arrived with a couple of massive tins and some other bags yesterday in a big box, and I opened this at the behest of my daughter who wanted to smell it. It smells awesome. Reminds me of summer mornings when I would get up early with my Mom to pick strawberries. The green tea smells fresh and grassy-green (in a good way), and the strawberries smell real and juicy. After steeping, it maintains its aroma, but on tasting it falls short of the mark. Just not that flavorful. Maybe, if I added more sugar it would be brighter, but I’m not a big sugar fan. A teaspoon in 12 oz. should be enough, and it’s not with this tea. Drinkable, but not something I would purchase…Except maybe to use it as potpourri.

Lastly, I looked at the packing slip from the Teavana “gift,” and noticed that 1 Teavana mug was supposed both packaged and shipped in the order. It wasn’t. I don’t want or need another mug – I just find their customer service to be weird, disjointed, and lacking in follow-through.

That’s my weird story, and I’m stickin’ to it.

Probably should have used more pearls for my first brewing, but was worried of using too many. Oh well. Nice flavor and perfume. Will definitely be trying this again with more pearls. Lovely tea.

Brewed this one again this morning, and have to reduce the score. It’s green, it’s not got a lot of flavor, and the pineapple doesn’t do a whole lot for it. More walnut flavor would make this baby more interesting, but it just isn’t there.

OK, so now that I’ve tried a number of teas, I’m not as enamored of this one as I was at first. Whites are just not my thing, and I need more of a flavor burst than this one delivers. It’s not a cupboard staple, especially when compared to TARDIS or a few others I’ve tried. Sorry Clara, you’re just not for me. : (

At first I wasn’t impressed. I didn’t really know what to do with this tea, and just added a little sugar and left it at that. However, with some experimentation with a little more sugar and brewed with a touch of milk, this becomes an out-of-this-world tea. The berries are bright and sweet, but don’t overtake the EG taste completely. The bergamot is balanced nicely, and the tea is a fantastic flavor-burst to start the day. On mornings when I don’t have the time to do my Thai Chai (and any other day I really need this one), this is my go-to tea when I get up in the morning. Staple status.

Haven’t been on here in a few days, though I think about it much. Gotten into a tea-rut, drinking my lovely Thai Chai in the morning, and Decaf Earl Grey in the evening. It’s been a happy thing, but now I’ve run out of my decaf EG, and I’m getting antsy. What do I drink in the evenings now?! I need more loose options since it’ll be a little bit before I’m ready to order from Adagio again.

Anywho, I’m still madly in love with Thai Chai, and cannot imagine a morning without.

Ok, so this one is too smokey and too burnt tasting. I could barely finish the cup, even with some milk put in to mellow the flavors. I don’t think I’ll be trying this again, since both times I had it this tea really made me feel like my head was in a meat-smoker.

Not ready to do a real rating of this one, but did try it today with lunch. I’m still scared of green tea, not totally sure how to approach it, so I jumped in and made a big cup. This was ok, pretty vegetal, though no more so than any other green I’ve had. It wasn’t bad with a spoon of sugar, and it’s definitely something I’ll be drinking as I continue to battle the forces of the cold my whole family has been through. I swear, my tea-drinking and yoga are keeping me in good hands.

This is quite good. The almond and caramel balance out the citrus of the orange, and make sure this tisane doesn’t become bitter, as many with orange flavoring are wont to do. I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I do, and it’s a great decaf alternative, so I may need more of it!
Since it’s rooibos, it’s not really a full-bodied tea, so spring and summer drinking would be my best bets. Good stuff. Thanks Lariel!

Delicious. Incredibly tasty tea, and a new favorite. This is only my second oolong (gasp), but I’m already finding myself taken in by the flavor, and the coconut in this tea is very noticeable and creamy. The nice, slightly astringent, feel of the oolong is making this almost a competitive morning tea (FLAVOR!), and I’m loving it.

When I looked at the liquor once it was done steeping, I nearly scoffed that this could taste like anything, it was so delicately yellow, how could it have infused any flavor? How glad I am to be wrong. I won’t doubt another oolong strange mystical powers…

1.5 teaspoons in 8 oz. of water.

Oh, and I almost forgot! Thank you T.C.!

Another weird one! Good, it was good, and better than I would have thought, since I’m not a huge fan of things flavored like strawberry. Strawberries themselves I love, but most things that are flavored like “strawberry” are just not that great. This was a pleasant surprise, and didn’t have the fake-out flavor I was expecting. It’s not a staple for me, since I like deeper and stronger flavors, but this was a fun treat, and something I would definitely recommend to those who enjoy a nice, smooth, fruity tea. Thanks to T.C. for this! I’m having a ball getting to check out all these great teas.

Oh, and I have to add, I did indeed know who Walter Bishop was/is, my husband’s a fan of Fringe.

I love rooibos. It’s been a favorite of mine since I first tried it years ago while visiting Sweden, and I’m once again looking for interested blend that I can count on for another evening tea (though I’m pretty addicted to my decaf Earl Grey right now). This tea doesn’t have a whole lot of caramel flavor, so it’s not terribly interesting. It doesn’t taste all that different from plain rooibos to me, so this is not one I’d buy. There’s certainly nothing wrong with it, and the nice rooibos flavor comes through, but I’m looking for something a little more special.

Thanks to Lariel for this sample! I really wanted to give this a try, and she let me do so.

Backlog from yesterday. This was such a strange tea! It smelled a bit unnatural when I put it in my cup, but the true sweet, caramel nature of this tea truly bloomed when I added boiling water. Smelled apple-like, which is good, and rather fake, which usually isn’t so good. But, this tea tasted pretty awesome…Just a little bit of sugar and this becomes an awesome dessert tea! I was having a niggling desire for candy when I brewed this, and by the time I started drinking my 12 oz. cup with just a teaspoon of sugar, I didn’t even think about sweets again, the tea was enough. So, this is an amazing alternative to have in the cupboard to tame any sweets cravings one may come across.

Not a fan of the fakeness in the scent and flavor, but the overall tea is good enough to make up for it.

Thanks to T.C. for this sample, the tea was definitely fun to play with.

Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sure a fan of having wine with breakfast. At least that’s what this lovely wine-infused tea tastes like, and I’m now just a little in love. The tea itself didn’t smell terribly similar to icewine when dry, but as soon as water is poured on the leaves (which become vibrant green and utterly gorgeous), the true scent emerges: light, sweet, slightly fermented. The liquor is slightly red and has a surprisingly full-bodied flavor for a white.

Since I love strong teas in the morning, and this tea satisfies me bright and early, it’s definitely a keeper. Thanks to T.C. for giving me a chance to try this baby!

First cup of this tea. Pretty tasty, and a nice white….But why the hell did I think it was a good idea to try this for the first time when I was waking up? This is totally a mid-morning tea. I need something stronger, pungent, a$$-kicking to wake me up in the morning. Chais and mates are great for doing that…A fruity white doesn’t cut it. Good tea, though. I will review this baby when I’ve got a mid-morning tea-craving to sate.

I love chais. It’s just something I have had to accept about myself. I adore the mixture of comforting milk, the sweetness of boiling it with sugar or honey, and the complex spiciness of the resulting tea. That being said, I like interesting chais, and am not a fan of the repetitive spice chai formula that seems to be done by various companies all over the place. So, when I brewed up a bit of the Masala Chai sample I had been given by Adagio, I hoped it would be different from some of the others I’ve tried. Very much like Good Earth chai that I used to drink as a young teen; also similar (though, obviously, not as sickly sweet) to Oregon Chai.

Yes, this formulation is traditional and a standby, and it certainly holds up, but it’s boring having the same ratio all. the. time.

So, Masala is nice and spicy. I love cloves, and you can definitely taste them in this blend. Cloves and cinnamon are the two big flavors in here, and ginger adds some good heat. Cardemom makes an appearance, but is mostly clouded out by the other strong spices.

I would drink again, but not necessarily buy this from Adagio. There are bagged chais that are cheaper and compare to this.

3 teaspoons tea, 12 oz. water and milk in a 1:1, 1 teaspoon sugar.

Pretty good for a bagged tea. This one has a ton of flavor, and is a good pick-me-up in the evenings on long days (it’s decaf). This stuff was definitely a craving while I was taking my previous class, TOTALLY stressed out the whole time (in my nursing program, we go through one class at a time, obsessively in-depth), I ended up needing this sweet boost some evenings.

Now, this is my daughter’s favorite. When she goes to my tea cupboard and insists “tea, tea!” this is what she wants. I brew this for her for about 6 minutes, but like many tisanes, it doesn’t hurt to be forgotten for a few minutes.

The bags are good for an 8 oz. cup, and a little sugar goes a long way.