Local Coffee and Tea

I love this rooibos. Lovely berry flavors and woodsy notes.

I thought I would go out of my comfort zone of unflavored tea and get this. The dry tea smells pretty decadent! But the actual brew is just bad. It is so chemical to me; it actually tastes like someone dumped a little fingernail polish remover in my tea or something. Just a little. It even smells that way, brewed.

The best use for this tea is potpourri. It smells wonderful dry.

Don’t let this turn you off of this company, though. I’ve tried a few of their teas iced and they were delicious!

Wait a sec. I just brewed another cup of tea to get that taste out of my mouth and now I’m sure it’s the water. Someone else filled my Zojirushi and didn’t use spring water!!! BAD. I will try this tea again when I have better water.

Thanks to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a very generous sample of this a while ago. Still a delicious rooibos in my book with the sweet berry flavor.

Replacement Box B – sending your way :)

Additional notes: Muahahaha. I decided to take another try with this one after taking most of the hibiscus out of the blend before steeping while it was in my infuser! Most of the tangy tartness is gone… there is just a bit which MUCH better. But it turns out, sadly there weren’t really any flavors the hibiscus was actually hiding! The flavor now is mostly sweet from the pineapple, apple and coconut, but there isn’t much flavor here. I can’t taste much coconut.. I can only smell it. I KNOW there are some amazing herbals that don’t need to rely on hibiscus.. so this one is disappointing. Alright, next time I have to take the hibiscus out AND steep it for much less time.. this steep was around ten minutes.

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending this one in our trade! I’m slowly leaving tasting notes for all the different teas I have right now… I feel like I’ll never get caught up since there are always more tea samples coming my way. Good problems!

That picture for this tea is GORGEOUS. Wow, I love how that picture was done. Anyway, the hibiscus in this one ruined the tea for me, as usual. I think hibiscus really loves to steal the spotlight, so you can’t even notice the other flavors. As I was steeping, I stole a sip that was nice and sweet and less hibiscus. But then I kind of forgot about it and oversteeped and it was so tart! I couldn’t find the apple or coconut, but I know the pineapple added a sweetness to tame the hibiscus. The steep color was a rosey pink. This one could have been worse, I guess. I like the idea of the blend, I just wish hibiscus wasn’t in herbal teas as much. I’d prefer less flavors (like if the apple, pineapple and coconut were less flavorful together) rather than have hibiscus overpower everything else. The next time I try this one, I will be sure not to oversteep!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss!! This is a delicious rooibos :) It’s sweet and mellow. You can definitely taste the current along with hints of the rooibos. The flavors work really well together. Thanks again TeaEqualsBliss!

Thanks for this one TeaEqualsBliss! I like this one. One of my other favorites is Zhena’s Lavender Rooibos, so this one compares. The lavender in the Zhena’s is a lot stronger to me, but this one has other flavors that make it great. I don’t think any of the flavors stand out so any of the others disappear. They seem equally balanced to support each other – the lavender, the rose petals, and the fruits… even the rooibos. This is a delicious blend!

Another from my swap with TeaEqualsBliss! In the bag this smells JUST like Tropicalia and I’m kind of obsessed with that tea so it was a good starting point. Seriously, why don’t I own any Tropicalia yet?! I always just get it iced in the store. Well, I guess this will do for now!

Many of the notes say that this is a tart blend, so I cold brewed it. Actually I would have done that anyway, but I’ve found that it really cuts down on the tartness from hibiscus even in long steeps (and this one was in the fridge for 13 hours). It’s a gorgeous red color when finished, and the tropical smell is a bit diminished. It doesn’t taste as boldly pina colada-y as Tropicalia, but the coconut and pineapple are still prominent. They’re tempered a bit by the hibiscus and rosehips but it’s still a great iced tea! I actually don’t mind hibiscus when it’s not overwhelming the other flavors, and I do think it works well here and keeps it from being too sweet.

I have a nice batch of this still…I’ve going to divvy up some for a few swappin’ buddies. In the meantime…making some iced tea with it

Having a small last cuppa before sending the rest to Courtney and Azzrian!

The first time I tried this (several years ago) I did not care for it at all. It has taken me some time and several tastings to finally come around to this tisane, and now I actually quite enjoy it. It has a flavor that is very much like a creamsicle, but, the first time I tried it, I think all I could taste was that woody flavor and funky saccharine-y aftertaste from the rooibos … with very little orange or creamy yogurt flavor to speak of. Maybe I got a bad batch that first time around? I don’t know.

But now, I am really liking what I’m tasting. Maybe it just needed to grow on me. Whatever … I didn’t like this then, but I like it now. And since I didn’t have tasting notes of it back then, I think I will just rate it according to what I am tasting now.

One of my favorites! It’s light and fragrant, but it is unlike other teas that I have tasted.

This is a perfect blend of white tea and light fruit flavor. I am not a fan of teas with overwhelming floral or fruit notes, but this tea is blended to perfection. I personally enjoy it best chilled, but it is also great hot.

Wow, what an aroma! Like freshly squeezed oranges!
Tastes just a bit less orange-y but still good.

This is very nice. The lavender is wonderful in this blend. It is at the perfect strength. Not too strong that it overwhelms the cup, leaving it to taste like perfume, and not so soft that I’m having to really focus on tasting it. The rose and lavender work very well together, providing a nice floral sweetness to the cup. The berries have a tart flavor that contrasts with the sweetness – it is a well-rounded tasting cup.

Very soothing.

Guava and pomegranite? Count me in!
This was another vacation tea (it’s possible I have a problem). After spending some considerable time trying to figure out which bag of tea to take home from Local Coffee and Tea, I picked this one because it sounded more exotic than what I’ve found in Chicago. I love guava and pomegranite so I thought it would be perfect. I was slightly sad that I couldn’t smell it (duh, I could have just opened the bag) but I figured I’d take a chance.

Here’s my beef with non-black teas: I like flavor. White and green teas always smell heavenly and strong but they always seem to disappoint when it comes to taste because the smell just doesn’t seem to translate. This tea is nice, but I wanted something that had some more flavor to it. Yes, I realize that this makes me a tea pedestrian, but I don’t care, it’s my tea and I’ll flavor if I want to.

Nice tea, but too subtle for my tastes so this will end up sitting in my cabinet much longer than it would have it if were a black tea.

I’ve been having a heck of a time with steepster lately…it’s been really slow for me…esp the dashboard…anyhow…

backlogging this one from yesterday…see my other notes

I love rooibos. It’s one of the reasons I fell in love with tea in the first place; I had been an avid coffee drinker. I don’t taste the nutty taste that people are always talking about, and because of which some don’t like rooibos. To me it’s just delicious.

However, I don’t usually like fruity teas. Cirtus is ok, but not strawberries, apples, etc. The rare exceptions are the tart flavored fruits.

This rooibos is one of those exceptions. It’s not too sweet, and the tartness of the currants makes it an excellent tea. I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did, but I think I have found another favorite rooibos.

I like this combination. The licorice and fennel are strong, the lemon verbena softens the sharper tones a little, and the peppermint is a lovely accent to the other ingredients. The rooibos offers a slight nutty/woody taste that is barely distinguishable amid the other ingredients, and that’s just fine with me.

Nice and soothing!

Smells like fresh squeeze O.J. LOVE it! :)
Check out my other notes on this one!

I’m finally home from my conference!! The only good parts about it were a) I was “at work” but not “working” and b) the catering had bags of Numi teas that I managed to sneak a handful of bags of to try later (I did drink several cups of the orange spice one whilst attempting to stay awake during the sessions).

So I go to check my mailbox, and the rest of my Black Friday tea orders are there, along with this mystery box. I opened it up, and it’s from LiberTEAS!!! She surprised me with a boxful of teas that she thought I’d like! I squealed when I saw this one was in it. I’ve been wanting to try it since LiberTEAS and TeaEqualsBliss logged it…I adore tart, and I’ve really been wanting to try some of the teas from this company.

I brewed for 10 minutes. It smells very interesting; the coconut and pineapple seem to be competing with the apple and rosehips. Actually, it smells very similar to Punch Green Rooibos from ESP Emporium!! I loved that blend; what will I think of this?

I’m tasting the pineapple over the hibiscus, as well as the apple and a smidge of the coconut. I’m also getting some vanilla-like notes…but maybe that’s just me. It’s absolutely delicious! It tastes similar to the Punch Green Rooibos. I’ve come to the conclusion, though, that my definition of “tart” is vastly different than others…for me, this is mildly, pleasantly sweet-tart, and is leaning much more toward the sweet end of the spectrum. If you like hibiscus and all things tart, this is definitely for you!

This would also be great iced (perhaps better, but it’s still good hot). I can definitely see myself icing it, mixing it with equal parts lemonade, and adding coconut rum for a summer treat!

Okay…so…I remember this one from 10 months ago and only had enough for 2 or 3 cups in the sample I got from someone BUT this time around I now have a 3-ounce bag! YAY! Right away I am upping my rating! Every flavor is much more intense this time around – more fresh! I can taste the citrus and it’s cheery and bright, of course, but this time around I am picking up on the yogurt MUCH MORE and it’s a delight!

A nice Creamy Treat but also orangey and yummy and very flavorful!

Juicy! I’d say the cherry in this is as strong as the rose. It reminds me of Enjoying Tea’s Rooibos Provence (both have rooibos, rose, and red fruit flavors), but that one is more floral where this is more fruity. I’m not a huge cherry fan, but if I were this is one I’d likely keep in stock – the cherry flavor is rich, sincere (G identified it without being told), and not overpowering. Very tasty!

Will update with resteep info.

Another from the SororiTEA Sisters’ prize package!

2g, 8oz