canadianadia

I selected this as the first tea to try out of my chocolate try me pack. It’s smooth and lovely with no bitterness, but to me the S’mores taste is really taking a back seat to the black tea. That’s not a bad thing; it’s just not what I was hoping for.

Now that I look at my dry mix, I’m starting to think I should have shaken the packet a bit more before scooping out my tea, because it looks like there’s still some obvious settling. Maybe my next attempt with this tea will be more up to my expectations. I must admit that when it comes to flavored teas, I’m partial to ones that are in-your-face. I’m sure my preferences will eventually grow beyond this, but for now I still taunt my flavored teas with: “C’mon, hit me, I dare you” “Is that all you’ve got?!”

Hmmm…perhaps talking smack to my tea is a hint that I should lay off watching ultimate fighting for a while?…nah…

This tea totally tastes like maple syrup, but for some reason it also reminds me of those Halloween toffees. The ones with the orange wrappers with the black and yellow images, I think those candies are supposed to taste like molasses though, so I might be alone with this comparison?

I’m quite picky when it comes to rooibos, so I thought I wasn’t going to like this one. I was pleasantly surprised. It’s quite tasty and the woodiness somehow works with the flavor. I have some left, but so far it looks like this one might be going onto my reorder list.

Hmmm…Tastes a little weaker than I remembered (and I didn’t skimp on the the tea leaf). The luck of the scoop I suppose?
Lowering my rating a smidgen, but it’s still good.

I finished the last bit of this from my 12days of tea packet this morning. Thankfully I have more of it from a previous order. I love the caramel scent that emanates from this tea, both dry and brewed. This is one of the few black teas that made it on my full size order list despite my caffeine sensitivity. SLURP! Mmm…Good stuff!

I got so many kinds of tea for Christmas, and yet I’m still experiencing 12days of tea withdrawal. 52teas has managed to take a special place in my heart with their creative and fun blends. After trying a couple other teas this morning, I eventually caved and allowed myself to dip into my 12days leftovers. It was sad to empty this packet, but thankfully I already have a full 2oz. On it’s way to me- YAAAAAY!!!! (picture me saying this with limbs flailing like Kermit the Frog)

This honeybush blend is so wonderfully fruity with its pineapple, banana and orange combo. I love that I can actually taste each individual fruit, even with my cold.

I’m picky when it comes to rooibos, and although I enjoy mint chocolate sometimes, it’s not an absolute love, so this one was fighting a bias from the get-go.

I’m enjoying this tea a tad more than I did the first time. I’m getting the chocolate mintiness, but I’m still also getting the woodiness of the rooibos that reminds me of cedar chips-ick. Thankfully the woodiness decreases significantly as the rooibos cools, and that’s when the mint chocolate flavor really pops.

I’m glad I gave this one a try, but with all the other tea options out there, I don’t think I’ll be buying more unless I plan to serve it to a mint-chocolate loving friend. For my taste, it’s not bad, but I have a bunch of other caffeine-free teas on the way that I would select over this one.

Am I really the first person to review this, or did I just get lost with my Steepster search?

This herbal blend was part of my “touch of herb try me pack”. I enjoy the fresh apple aspect of this tea, almost like biting into a crisp apple, the cinnamon taste seems fairly secondary, which is fine by me, as cinnamon is a hit and miss tea ingredient for my taste buds. As for the Chamomile aspect- Ick! I’m not at all a fan. This tea reminds me of those alpine apple cider mixes, but with less sugar and chamomile added to the mix. If I could erase the chamomile from this tea I’d reorder it, but there are so few ingredients in this tea that I would be left with only apples and cinnamon, so really, I’m asking for a bit much. In any case, as it stands, the chamomile aspect means this blend is just not for me. Hopefully some chamomile lovers will try this tea and give it a better rating though.

I LOVE Christmas :D

But today marks the last day of the 12 days of tea – BOOOO!

I couldn’t help but feel like Janet Jackson in her video for “Miss you much” where she smiles and dances the whole way through and as a finale she sweetly inquires “is that the end?” (Video link for those who want a little flashback http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVF0zcqr9Dg ) The 12 days of tea made me smile and dance (well, if you call spinning around in excitement waiting for the water to boil as dancing.) Thankfully, I have a bit of each tea left so I can relive them at least one more time – hooray!

Today’s tea was another nice balance of flavors on a black tea base. The candy cane mintiness is paired with the soft sweetness of marshmallow. Such a lovely and festive tea.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I was stoked when I opened today’s 12 days of tea packet and saw Butterbeer. I’ve been curious about this one for a while. Sadly, my sinuses are still not cooperating, so I’m not getting the full taste- booo to my stuffy nose! I feel like Sneezy from Snow White and the 7 dwarves. I’d much rather feel like “Happy” instead.

I gave my Dad a cup and he said it was good. I like what I can taste of it, which is a good sign because I’m pretty choosy when it comes to black tea (I’m caffeine sensitive). I’ll have to hold off on finishing the rest of this tea until I’m feeling better. This one might make the rare black tea reorder list, but I’ll be a better judge of that when I can smell again. I foresee a rating will likely increase the next time I have this, but so far, I’m happy with it.

♪All I want for Christmas is my sense of smell♫
♪my sense of smell ♫
♪my sense of smell ♫

When I opened my 12 days of tea packet this morning and saw Boo-berry Cotton Candy I was so excited, I flailed my limbs and almost wet myself

…I should clarify…I almost knocked over my water filter jug and “wet myself”.

I really was excited though :D

I love the little cotton candy critter on the packet. I call him Bob…I don’t know why?

When I poured the hot water over this tea, a couple of blueberries plumped up and rose to the top as if they were in a freshly baked pie – oooh pwetty! This tea tasted delicious, even with my horribly stuffed up sinuses I would describe it as “pretty darn yumtastic!” I think there may be even more flavor that I’m missing out on, so I will have to try and save the rest to enjoy when my sense of taste and smell are back on track. I decided to rate this tea despite my suspected sensory deficit (wow, not sure why I decided to pull out such fancy terms when “snotty nose” would have also worked?). As it is, my rating is pretty much in sync with the average, so I figure that’s fair enough? If not, no worries, just ignore me.

Ugh! Cardamom- how I loathe thee!

I’m going to forgo rating today’s packet from the 12days of tea because my aversion to cardamom would make my rating unfairly lower than it should be. Besides, it says cardamom right in the name, so there’s no risk that I’d accidentally order this tea.

Despite my disdain for cardamom, I decided to still give this tea a try. I’m too curious to pass on any opportunity to try any of 52teas unique blends.

Considering how much I can taste the cardamom in this tea, I’m amazed at how I can drink it without making my bratty yuck face. It has that spicy warming feeling that I usually experience with ginger tea. I like this tea enough to say: if I had to choose a tea with cardamom to drink, this would be the one. But since I can’t see myself ever having to make that choice, I’ll pass on buying this one.

I gave this one a second chance. The verdict…it’s just not for me. The smell is too much for me. Not sure how such great sounding ingredients can possibly smell so much like playdoh to me, but it does. :S

Lowering my rating to make sure I don’t buy it again.

Not sure if I’m translating this correctly, but doesn’t “la petit mort” mean “the little death”? Hmmm…Maybe it’s a play on death by chocolate? lol

This is one of those teas that I would repurchase if there was a decaffeinated version. I enjoy how the dark chocolate and the black tea complement each other. But I know if I had to choose between this one and some of my other favorite blacks (i.e. Caramel Pumpkin Cheesecake or Cotton Candy), this one could never win. I’m happy I got to try it though, it’s still quite good.

I completely understand that Jello is supposed to be a “fun food”, but I’m guilty of sucking the fun right out of it. For me to eat it, it must not have anything in it, or on it. No fruits mixed in, no ice cream, no whipped cream and especially no custard topping- yuck! AND it must be either : strawberry, red raspberry, cherry or purple grape flavor. If not I will scrunch up my face, shake my head “no”, stick out my tongue and refuse to even taste it. So it probably goes without saying that Jello salad is a definite “notta chance!”

YEP! I’m a Jello fun-sucking-snob.

When I tore open this morning’s 12 days of tea packet and saw LIME jello SALAD I automatically had a case of my scrunch-faced, head-shaking tongue sticky-outty protest.

(Aside: I must refuse to even look at Jello salad whenever it’s around because I didn’t know there were marshmallows in it)

I thought all hope was lost in me liking this tea. Both the dry leaf and the brewed tea smells exactly like lime jello, so much that I expected to see some of the jello powder mixed in with the leaves. I seriously expected to dislike this tea, so as I brought my cup to my lips for that initial sip, my face was prescrunched like the Grinch. But as the tea went through my lips and over my gums, my heart grew 3 sizes. “Huh! that’s pretty good!” I don’t think I’d buy a full 2 oz bag of this, but I will enjoy finishing what I have. If 52teas were to ever start selling smaller sample sizes, I would definitely buy that, which is saying a lot for a tea, I thought I’d have to choke down or feed to the drain.

This Jello snob was pleasantly surprised.

This was today’s tea in the 12 days of tea packet. I already have a 2oz. pack of this one from a previous purchase, and a good portion of it is already gone, so I’m not sure how I’ve managed to only log this once before.

Looking at the other tealogs for this tea, I think it’s all been said already about this light tasting, green-mint-marshmallowy-cup-o’-goodness. I also just glanced over my last tealog for this tea, and I can’t even begin to top the …ummmm…let’s call it “quirkiness” in that one. So I will admit defeat on writing anything interesting for now, and get ready for bed instead in anticipation of tomorrow’s tea. These 12 days of tea packets really bring back the childish excitement of Christmas for me. I can’t wait to get up and tear into the next tea surprise! I was going to finish this tealog by saying “visions of teabags danced in my head” but that just sounds a bit wrong :P

I’m not sure what it is, but this tea has evaded me tealogging it, over, and over, and over again. I bought a full 2 oz. bag months ago and I finished about half of it without making a single mention on Steepster. When I opened my 12 days of tea packet yesterday morning and that sweet caramel scent wafted out at me, it was unmistakable. I thought THIS is the day that I would finally get it done and I vowed to finally log this tea before the day’s end.

Alas, the day ended….sans tealog. Boooooo…to me!

So here’s a my long overdue backlog

I have to be picky with the black teas that are in my cupboard, because I’m sensitive to caffeine, and can only drink them in the morning, and I don’t want a cupboard full of teas that I can rarely drink. I’m so happy that I selected this one to be one of the “chosen ones”. Sweet, and rich tasting, I love drinking it black, but I keep wanting to try it as a latte.

Nummy!

This white tea is blended with a light currant taste. It’s nice, but I think I like a bit more strength to the flavor of my teas, particularly in the Fall and the Winter. I’m having sinus problems, so it’s possible that I’m not getting the full experience of this tea.

I suspect I might enjoy this more as a summertime blend. It’s good, but doesn’t blow me away.

Whew! I think I’ve finished making all of my Christmas cards. I started wrapping gifts, and since I decided to give mostly gift cards as main gifts (along with a few little trinkets) I decided to make them into Christmas Crackers, just to amp up the fun factor. I made the first Christmas cracker today, and I’m nervous of whether the snapper is going to work properly. I’ve never made Christmas Crackers before, but I’m happy with how cute they turned out.

My tealogs have been a bit sporadic (I think I only log about ½ or 1/3 of the teas I drink lately). But since I’m finishing off the last little bit of this one, I figured, a tealog was in order. This is a nutty, spicy, fruity rooibos blend that is strong on the almond taste. I am biased against the taste of cardamom, otherwise this would probably get a slightly better rating from me. This is not a rooibos that I would need stocked year-round. It’s fine, but there other caffeine-free options that I enjoy so much better.

The label is hilarious! What’s up with the kitten? I love random weirdness like this, I can’t help but smile.

When it comes to lemon flavored anything, I’m quite picky. So this tea didn’t have much chance of making my reorder list. It’s still a nice blend where I can taste both the green tea and the lemon in a complimentary balance. Those are two flavors that I wouldn’t have thought could taste good together, but what can I say, that’s the magic of 52teas!

However, because of my lemon indifference, it’s not something that I’d choose to reorder for myself. There are just too many other teas out there that I’d prefer to drink. I’m still glad I had the chance to give it a try.

Speaking of reordering, I went ahead and placed another order with 52teas yesterday. Not that I needed more tea. I have a rule that my tea collection must fit in a shoebox sized Rubbermaid container. For now, my collection still fits, but I recently (and conveniently) lost the lid to the container, which can allow me to pile my teas sky high. So far the container isn’t overflowing, but I ordered a bunch of tea a while back,and gave it to my Dad to give me for Christmas, which is only a few days away. Thank goodness I ordered mostly sample sizes for that company. So hopefully I’ll be through a good bunch of them before my 52teas order arrives.

I was a little disappointed when I first tasted this honeybush, but it was entirely my own fault. I brewed it up and poured myself a cup. When I tasted it, I felt let down with the lack of flavor. I left the rest and carried on with my laundry. When I returned I added a bit more of the brewed tea to my cup to warm it back up, but since I left the tea steeping, the flavor was much more true to what it was supposed to be like. Darn me and my excited impatience! This tea smells so good I even managed to get my husband to have a few sips, which is very remarkable since he refused to try almost all of the teas I’ve made in the past.

I have a feeling this would taste even more amazing as an iced tea in summer. I don’t think my sample will last that long, so hopefully I’ll catch it for sale sometime between now and summertime. A definite repurchase.

I didn’t have time to write my tealog for this tea when I had it yesterday, so I’m playing a bit of catch-up. I try to minimize the number of black teas I keep in my cupboard, because I’m limited to when I can drink them unless they have lower than usual caffeine. This tea was delicious and fun, and if I were to ever see it available for sale, I would include it as one of the few black teas to keep on hand. The smell is bang on cotton candy, and the taste is a lovely black tea, nicely complimented with cotton candy.

I had to run some errands yesterday, so I had some of this tea and I had to leave the rest behind that I couldn’t fit in my travel mug. I must have been missing the tea, because I randomly purchased a perfume called cotton candy, without even smelling it first (totally out of character for me). Oh how I love cotton candy! Thankfully the perfume is pretty good, but I must say I like the tea even better. Deeeeelicious! Well done Frank!

I am finishing off the last few sips of this honeybush while I type this tealog. I’m a little sad that it’s done, but the good news is, I’m also brewing the first of my 52teas 12 days of teas, and it smells heavenly.

I love my no caffeine teas, and this one is no exception. I would definitely repurchase this tea (once I drink through some of the selection of tea I already own- of course).

I was trying this tea for the first time while going through some paperwork in preparation for next semester’s practicum, and I decided to take a quick break and write this tealog. Although I am enjoying this tea, it isn’t one that I anticipate repurchasing in a large quantity in the future. Sporadic small sample sizes would be sufficient for me.

I can taste the caramel, and the smell and aftertaste are so familiar, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Hmmm…I guess it reminds me of the chocolate scented scratch and sniff stickers my teachers used to put on my homework when I was a kid. But unless your teachers put the same stickers on your homework, that comparison won’t really help most of you.

My brain is so random

This is the second sample I tried from the Fruity try me pack. Sadly, I was a little disappointed with this tea. The blueberry taste isn’t as obvious as I like, and there is something about the freshly brewed smell that kind of reminds me of the Playdoh I used to play with when I was little. I used to love playing with Playdoh when I was little, but I don’t want my tea to smell like it.

I had high expectations for this tea because I absolutely adore David’s Tea blueberry jam, and although I wasn’t anticipating an exact match, I was hoping for a similar intensity of the blueberry taste. It didn’t deliver. Oh well, can’t win them all. This tea is not bad, but it won’t be joining Lemon Chiffon on my Della Terra Teas repurchase list – there are so many other teas that I enjoy so much more.