chana

Received this in a traveling tea box (not Steepster’s). I love rooibos, I love blueberries, sounded like a great mix. Chose it to break in my brand new single-serving french press (I like to give the leaves lots of room – only put the plunger halfway down to pour).

Smooth, refreshing, sweet but not too much. The green rooibos is not as earthy as the red. I will be trying this iced as well!!

Received this in a swap from a friend in New Zealand. A breakfast tea with a hint of bergamot! It was a very full, very smooth cuppa, minus the bitterness I sometimes taste in other breakfast teas. Even the second cup from the pot, which had been steeping longer, didn’t taste bitter. Tried it with a bit of sweetener, and then with milk, and it was a true morning delight. I’ll be enjoying this tea a lot.

Drinking Lipton Echinacea – my go-to tea when I have a cold, and sometimes when I don’t. It’s sold out of Unilever in Turkey, I’ve never seen it anywhere else but in Israel. Love the combination of herbs, some of which I don’t like when they’re dominant. The blend works. Added a wee bit of wildflower honey.

Was served this in a cafe when I ordered chai. I’ve never seen the brand sold locally. Served in a tall glass with milk and cinnamon sticks. It was very full-bodied, and the spices blended beautifully. So far I’ve only seen it in this one cafe in town.

OK, this tea just saved me. Was on a cruise around the Greek islands, and I totally forgot from earlier experience that while the food on the ship was plentiful, varied, and delicious, the only tea was horrible generic dust in anonymous tea bags. (I understood from the coffee drinkers around me that the coffee served was just as bad…I wonder why that is??) I suffered it until thankfully, I found a little supermarket in the town of Oia on the island of Santorini that carried Twinings tea, and I bought a box of this. Ah, finally a decent cuppa in the mornings! Basic, sweet and with milk, my morning (and evening) tea became a pleasure to be savoured on deck in the sea air. Mm.

Opened it and the smell of cherry drops hit me. Hm… I was really hoping it wasn’t going to taste like cough syrup, but I needn’t have worried, it was pleasant and more like cherry tart along with the basic black tea. Smooth. Second steeping just as good.

Another package from my tea and yarn club. This arrived accompanied by yarn, of course, a lovely mug, and honey sticks, which were entirely unnecessary with this tea. Smelled heavenly, and tasted wonderful and sweet. ‘Twas fine with me that it was mild, it was also soothing. I liked the mix of black and rooibos, I’m not sure if it would have worked so well if it had been just one or the other. And the mix of chocolate, vanilla and coconut was a treat.

Received some of this in a tea swap. I love rooibos, not a great fan of lemongrass, so I was curious about blending them. The overwhelming taste is rooibos, so that’s good. I got a definite hint of the lemongrass in the smell, not so much in the taste. The rooibos wasn’t as strong or as “earthy” as some others I’ve tried, maybe that’s the lemongrass contribution.

A simple, pleasant cuppa before bed. I’ll enjoy the stash while it lasts, I doubt I’ll replenish the supply when it’s gone.

I received a box of this in a swap. I like a hint of ginger, but I’m not a great fan of lots of ginger…like I love a snowflake floating by the window but I don’t like getting smacked in the face with a snowball. The ginger smell hit me like a snowball. It continued while steeping, so I cut the steeping time a little short in fear that it would just be too overwhelming. Luckily I was pleasantly surprised when I tasted it. I taste the lemongrass and the ginger, kind of a peppery taste, but not the green tea so much. And the pear seems to be afraid of the ginger, it’s hiding pretty well. Maybe a little pear in the aftertaste, a faint finish.

The box is interesting reading, all about good karma. They claim this tea is yin, yang and yow – the yin being the green tea, the yang the ginger, and the yow the pear. I would call this a basically yang tea. I will drink this again, but I doubt I will get more after this is finished. I do want to try it iced, I may change the rating then.

Very good basic black, full bodied taste and no bitterness. It brewed up a deep golden red, and there is a very faint hint of fruit in the taste, but exactly what I’m not sure, perhaps cherry. It’s yummy with or without milk.

I don’t know if this is available commercially. I received it as a part of a tea-and-yarn club – The Unique Sheep “Sip-n-Stitch” club – and my package included Goddess Persephone tea, a tea infuser, and hand-dyed organic cotton/bamboo yarn in the Persephone colourway. It may be that this was blended just for the club. And at the moment the Goddess Teas online shop is under maintenance, so I can’t check. I will write and ask, though, as this is definitely a tea that I would purchase again.

A subtle smell of spearmint hit me when I opened the package, and something else that I couldn’t define.

While steeping, I could smell the spearmint and a hint of citrus…that would be the key lime. That’s the taste I got, too. Not too grassy, which is good because I don’t like too grassy. I think the something I can’t define is the essence of champagne? It’s funny, the aftertaste has some of that dryness that I get when I drink champagne. Part of why I love champagne! It could be that my palate isn’t refined enough when it comes to green teas, since I usually go for blacks and rooibos. I’ll need to work on this.

I was looking for something light, not too flavourful but not too bland, something soothing while the rain pounds the windows. This was the perfect tea for the specific moment.

OK, Chelsea has just become my new BFF. Opened the package, and the smell of chocolate and banana jumped out at me. It’s always tough when the first whiff of something is so fantastic, it sets the bar high and often the taste just doesn’t match up. I needn’t have worried about this one, I almost burned myself trying to gulp this down, instead of savouring every sip… The mellowness of the rooibos is perfect with this!

This is going to be saved as a special treat, and I may very well hide it from the rest of the family.

Opened the packet and smelled butter! I expected more of a cinnamon smell, but then, I make cinnamon toast very heavy on the cinnamon. Brewed it up, and this time the smell was raisins. I added just a touch of sweetener. (I also add sugar to cinnamon toast…) The taste was interesting. I tasted the butter and the raisins when I sipped, but the toast and cinnamon came through with the aftertaste. I liked it.

Read the reviews, had to give this a shot. Once I got it I kept putting off trying it, not sure why. Finally opened it and took a whiff, and was hit with a malty smell that was both unusual and tempting. Brewed up a cuppa, and I really like it! Nutty, toasty, malty….hard to describe. I love a unique taste, and this is one. After a hot cuppa I made one iced, and it was just as good. I can’t wait to serve this to guests.

Second tasting note, backlogged from last night. Love the rooibos, vanilla and caramel smoothness, but this time I really noticed the hint of anise. Pretty unexpected, and I’m not a fan of anise, but it really worked. Too bad I don’t have much more of this in my cupboard.

Received in a swap. I love rooibos. I love chai. Was intrigued to see how they mix. This gentle rooibos is lightly spiced, and it tastes great. It doesn’t have quite the bite of black chai, it’s a little more soothing while still being full-bodied. I’m sitting here sipping it while listening to a storm rage outside. Perfect.

Ingredients: peppermint leaves. That’s it. Golden honey-like colour, fresh peppermint taste. The peppermint lingers on the tongue.

Finnish tea I received in a travelling tea box. The black tea is nice and strong, the fruit flavours are tart rather than sweet. I don’t know about the “cheery” part, but it’s a nice cuppa tea on a rainy day.

Second tasting note, this time in the morning. Wonder if that matters.

The smell: cinnamon. Comments about the cinnamon smell from others in the kitchenette at work. The taste: heavy on the cinnamon, then the orange, apple and rosehips come through.

They’ve done it again, another very good fruity infusion that tastes genuine without going overboard. At least when it’s hot, haven’t yet tried it iced, but I definitely will when the weather gets warm again.

Received several Inti Zen teas as a gift, this is the first I’ve tried from this Argentinian company. It’s described as a spiced assam. The assam tea comes through beautifully, the spices are just hints that make the tea that much richer. This isn’t a tea that I’ll be searching out to get lots more of, but it’s a very enjoyable cuppa and I look forward to trying other teas from this brand.

First you taste the banana, then the chocolate with a hint of vanilla in there….and finally you realise that there’s a cherry on top you didn’t notice at first. The black tea comes through and keeps it from being overly sweet. An enjoyable cuppa. Not for every day, but a nice treat once in a while.

I was so disappointed with this tea! I adore vanilla chai, but this was simply anemic – very weak despite me trying longer and longer steepings. I could barely taste the vanilla, and couldn’t taste the spices very well at all – and considering which spices are supposed to be there I was very surprised. I received this as a gift, now I’m wondering if it’s simply an old supply that has lost much of its flavour? Or is this the way it’s supposed to be? I’m not sure how much more I’ll try – maybe mix it with something else.

Opened the package and it smelled wonderful! The spices (and cinnamon) are just right, not overpowering. Slightly sweetened, with milk, this is a treat for a rainy day.