Herbal Infusions

Dexter3657 sent me an amazing package of teas! I appreciate it so so much! I can’t even say! thank you! This will be the first to try of many. All of the fruity teas smelled so lovely! I wasn’t sure how to steep Formosa oolong, so I did a search and the teas that actually had steep instructions said boiling at 3-4 minutes. That seemed too high, but I thought I’d try it anyway. As dry leaves, this one had such a lovely sweet citrusy aroma and the flavor is the same. The flavor of the oolong itself is tough to find behind the equal parts grapefruit and lemon… so bright, fresh, sweet, fruity, crisp. Just a punch of citrus. Love this flavor. Very thirst quenching! This is the grapefruit I can manage and not those cups of juice they would hand out in elementary school. The lemon reminds me of bergamot. I don’t think I had any Formosa oolongs in my collection, so now I have a bit of this one left. This is very good! The second steep tasted just as good.

This tea is kind of interesting. I’ m not sure if it was quite what I was expecting, the flavouring is subtle and the base underneath is quite robust. The scent of the tea is a blend between vanilla, lavender, and the base tea that gives it a slightly floral caramel like scent. When hot The lavender is slightly dominant over the vanilla, but both are only subtly present over the base. As it cools, the mint displays its presence both in the flavouring and the sensation on the tongue, but its flavour blends masterfully into the lavender and vanilla. The lavender and mint are present at the first sip but the vanilla is the strongest note afterwards. The vanilla is kind of a French vanilla ice cream vanilla, cool and creamy. The mint acts to emphasise the ice cream note by creating a bit of crispness in the blend. I am enjoying this without additives but brewed a little stronger it would go excellently with milk or cream. I brewed 1 heaping tsp in 225 ml for 2.5 min. the first time I had this I used 1.5 tsp but I found the base to be a little bitter and strong at that point but if you take milk you might want to use this amount. A really lovely blend.

What on earth did I do wrong? This tasted horrendous tonight. I dumped it after one sip. Bitter, and fake-tasting.

Weird how this had decupboarded somehow? Regardless, I love this tea, and still think of it fondly from last night. Tip for anyone new to this one however: make sure to use a paper filter with it, otherwise you’re getting lots of floaties. Which is cool, if you like that sorta thing. ;)

Had this last night, and it was a lovely treat. Think hot cocoa minus the milk, yet still creamy and delicious! I will definitely be drinking this often.

Well, I get the kombucha and green tea combo in the taste, too bad I am not much of a fan of either…. This is a well blended tea, if you like kombucha and greens you will probably like it. My indifference to this blend has much more to do with personal preference. Lesson learned, stick to the whites, blacks, and herbals in my world!

Note: I really wish tea companies, especially those with unusual offerings such as this one, provided some form of steeping suggestions. I’m sending a note to Dan now to ask him if they can both put some on the website, and offer me some as well to post here. I have the same complaint with 52 Teas, BTW.. and the only complaints I have.

Onto the tea! I was surprised at just how much cacao there is in here. Amazing, beautiful and delicious (yes, I tasted some). It smells like rich chocolate (as it should, it is!) and steeps up smelling similarly with a hint of mint.

Straight, I get mint first (very lightly) followed by cocoa. It’s dry like a dry red wine the cacao, and I really like it. I want more. I also want to sweeten it though, because that’s what everyone seems to say is how this should be enjoyed. And so, I do.

As I mix in the Truvia, the smell of cacao wafts up yet again. YUM. It smells like a very dark hot chocolate, and now tastes like it too. The mint has almost completely disappeared unfortunately, which is a shame – but I just add my own mint next time. I have a lovely Arabian Mint I’ve been waiting to use just for something like this.

I could easily drink this nightly. I’ll surely become an enabler of this tea now too. It would’ve gotten a higher rating if the mint stayed present in the cup (and was more present from the start), and if there were better steeping instructions. For future reference: overleaf and oversteep.

Got this… gosh, it seems like ages ago. It’s been at least a year. Found it in my tea exploration (meaning: trying to figure out where all my tea was stored during a six month trip to Europe). Doubt I’ll ever buy anything from this company because of the horrid customer service (saying it was shipped when it wasn’t, getting a package two months later, zero communication about any of it), so I wanted to try and enjoy this.

Sure, it does, KIND of taste like a graham cracker. There’s a graininess to it that’s pleasant, I get the cookie bit, it’s sweet and almost caramel-y, there’s a faint (VERY faint) smokiness to it… I just can’t get over the customer service bits, and so am likely not enjoying this as much as I should be.

Slept a good portion of the day due to being up until 5am. Ripped back the hat I’m making for a friend for his birthday tomorrow, because I read the instructions wrong. Luckily it’s just to the decrease section. Cancelled a first date for the evening due to said sore throat, and their response just confirmed I made the right choice: “I’ll resist the urge to comment on what I can do to ease your throat. ;)” Jeepers.

So, I was thrilled to see my first of two Herbal Infusions orders arrive today; this one I’ve been patiently waiting for since Oct 26th. It’s December 13th. Tracking from Canada Post says #2 will be here on the weekend, or Tuesday. Yay!

This tea called to me, in part because of having Whispering Pines’ Ginger Snaps last night and hoping this might be a good substitute for when I want a black.

Out of the bag it smells DELICIOUS. Almost like a rich chocolate with very faint notes of coconut to add some creaminess. Steeped it smells more like coconut than anything.

Drinking it is interesting. It’s creamy and full, and I can taste the Ceylon base quite distinctly – may be from the (yet again) oversteep, however there’s zero dryness or tartness even though there should be. Getting the ‘graham’ part is a bit of a stretch, even though I can see where it’s coming from at the start of the sip – a bit bready. Sweetened with some Truvia and this POPS. Wow. Definitely the way to drink it. More graham cracker sweet, with a slight touch of bite, and a hint of Ceylon.

I doubt I’ll reach for this daily, however it is very good.

.Had this tonight with just a bit of sugar to sweeten. Amazing!! The chocolate from the cacao is there but the mint is also present. I felt like I was drinking a liquid mint chocolate bar. I have been very impressed with these cacao teas, they steep beautifully and really capture that chocolate taste. I am looking forward to trying the other flavours available!

I was pleasantly surprised by this tea! I am not a huge fan of oolongs, I tend to find them way too flowery for me. This was a really vegetal oolong though. I got a hint of citrus, though little in the way of specific lemon and grapefruit. But the citrus notes blended really well with the oolong base. The oeral tea was vegetal based with hints of the fruit flavour. I am really glad I have a sample of this to play around with!

The black base is really nice and strong in this one. I get hints of lime, I wonder if a bit of sugar would tease them out a little more. The coconut does really take back seat to the other flavours. I found that this one brewed strong and fast, you need to really keep an eye on it or the black will get a little bitter. I liked this tea, I just wish I could tease out a tiny bit more fruit flavour. Next time, I will be trying it with a bit of sugar. However, with the intensity of the base tea I think this will be one to brew at home because I don’t think it will hold up well steeping all day in my traveller.

This was amazing tonight!! I steeped it for ages and threw in a little raspberry agave. It was like a dark, raspberry chocolate truffle. So good!! I will need to try this with vanilla and hazelnut agave. It was such a great cup for the evening!

I learned a few good lessons about this tea today, you need to be careful with the leaf (husks) compared to water ratio, and it needs a dash of sweetener to really bring it alive. I took this to work today because it was freezing cold outside and I needed something uplifting. However, my first sips were really disappointing, the tea was weak and could use some sweetening to give it the boost it needed. As the tea steeped a little more, I felt that is got a lot better throughout the day. By the end of the day, even cold, it was a pleasurable drink. So, lesson learned, do not go easy one the amount of leaf and think about how much sugar my tea traveller will require compared to what my tea cup takes!

Amazing!! Even with just a bit of sugar, this tasted like hot chocolate. This was super satisfying! I got a true, cocoa flavour from this tea. There was not bitterness even with a long steep time. I found that a bit of sugar brought out the chocolate notes. This is something I can see me drinking a lot during this cold winter!

Heyo! The scent of lime when I cut open the package nearly knocked me over. That may have made me a wee bit wary, especially since I’ve been so impressed with Herbal Infusions’ natural, absolutely no artificialness teas.

However, now that’s it’s cooled sufficiently to drink, it’s still got that natural goodness. The lime is quite a bit more toned down now that it’s steeped and the Ceylon base really comes through. I’m really enjoying this one, though I’m not getting much coconut flavour at all. The lime with the black base is really neat though.

This one is fascinating. The cacao is clearly there, but aside from than I think I’m mostly getting nutmeg with a hint of vanilla. Overall, I prefer the original cacao, but again – and this seems to be a recurring theme – the flavours are so natural here. I can’t say enough about that.

I was on the fence about this one but the Canadian relationship to moose description won me over. When I was first learning to drive, we were driving round the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton and I had to stop the car to let a moose cross the road and then lazily eat some shrubbery along the side. Needless to say, I have a love of all animals, but the moose holds a special place.

This is an interesting cup I must say. It truly reminds me of a hazelnut coffee, but surprisingly not in a bad way. As a general rule, I haven’t like coffee flavoured tea, because let’s face it, if I wanted coffee I’d just have coffee. This tea is different – it really pulls it off. I’m not sure I’m getting a lot of coconut, but there are subtle hints of it amongst the hazelnut.

I am continually impressed with how natural tasting and not artificial Herbal Infusions teas have been. I have a feeling this is the beginning of a good relationship.

I usually adore this tea, but the last couple cups have been sub-par. I’ve been rushing them. Tonight is much better. Back to the normal tastiness I enjoy.

I’m procrastinating and putting off the copious amount of schoolwork I have to do, which means I’ll have to work even harder tomorrow, but I have zero motivation tonight.

This tea is wonderful. It isn’t nearly as sweet as the smell may lead one to believe, which I personally really enjoy. The graham-ness comes through clearly as well.

I’m almost packed guys. I actually just used my carry-on size luggage piece, and I’ll bring my bookbag too. There is a massive storm at home right now, so hopefully flights will not be delayed or cancelled flying into Halifax tomorrow, eek.

This tea is a nice treat. It satisfies the need for something sweet, without actually being truly sweet. Tricky, tricky. I love the graham-ness. I said last time I would consider rotating this one in, and this time around I ordered a sample rather than a full 50g. I need to remember next time to just bite the bullet and get 50g.

Update: Oh yes, I’ll definitely need more. I finished off my cup far too quickly, without even realizing it, then stared longingly into my empty mug.

The flavours I want to add are never options. I shall send a third flavour email now.

I’m not sure what exactly possessed me to try a dessert-like black tea at 10:30pm, but there you have it. Maybe that ridiculously long day at school affected me more than I thought.

When I opened the package, the scent really intrigued me – dessert-like, but not sickly sweet smelling. Almost like a true dessert smell and not just an overwhelming amount of sugar. The consistency of the tea seemed almost ‘sticky’, which reminded me of Della Terra’s Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I know so many people here really enjoy that tea, but I was not one of them hah.

There is a natural sweetness to this, but it’s so very subtle. The graham flavour really comes through and it’s very enjoyable. The graham seems to be the most predominant flavour, followed up by the coconut, and then that natural sweetness. I musty say I’m really happy I ordered this sample size and I may contemplate rotating this one in occasionally.

This is really nice. High quality milk chocolate melted into steamed milk – that’s what it’s like.
Thanks Courtney for sending me a sample of this.

Having this one as I take a break from studying to get swaps ready to go out tomorrow. I seem to have a lot of swaps going on right now. Swaps out = cupboard decrease, and room for more teas (well, until swaps arrive). Yes!

I may have forgotten about this one steeping on the counter, but that just makes it all the more delicious.

I wish my HI order would ship already, I’m so impatient! I suppose they are at the tea festival, so I will try to be patient.