Market Spice

Another from the traveling teabox! TeaEqualsBliss included this one, thanks! The leaves here are so DARK. But somehow the flavor of the black tea isn’t. It doesn’t steal the spotlight from the cinnamon. It’s a lot like Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Sunset. The cinnamon is super sweet but the Harney’s has three types of cinnamon or something, so it’s a cinnamon triple threat. Like the Harney’s it’s almost tough to tell that it is a black tea. The cinnamon kind of overpowers it, but I love it that way. I was also smelling a hint of orange in the dry leaves, but there wasn’t much in the taste. I think I’ll take a bit of this out of the tea box to add to my stash and add Harney’s for comparison! I really like both of them!

:) yummy.

Yummy! Nice chilled or hot, the mango flavor is mild and the green tea grassiness shines through. Makes me want to try other flavored greens.

Another fun sample from Cavocorax! This one is interesting because it has a lot of sugary white powder in with the tea leaves. Not surprisingly, the smell is very sugary sweet also. I am not sensing much orange in the aroma, but a lot of creamsicle flavors are more vanillaish than orangey. Wow, the orange flavor in this one is definitely unexpected, but really juicy. It’s almost like biting into a fresh piece of orange. With just sweetener it tastes like orange, but if you add milk in it really brings out more of the vanilla flavors and becomes a little creamy. Thanks for sending this one, Cavocorax!

-Dry blend has small tea leaves with white sugary powder and pieces of orange rind.
-Dry leaves smell very sugary sweet. Tea liquor aroma is of vanilla and a little orange.
-Tea liquor is a medium brown color.
-Juicy orange flavor with a light vanilla finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener or just sweetener.
-Good tea. Ripe orange flavor toned down with vanilla sugar.

Thanks Yssah for this sample. I brewed a pot of this when I came home early from class today. It smells like a flowery (especially the lavender) EG – very lovely. The bergamot comes through in smell mostly as I do not notice must of the bergamot astringency in the brewed product. A milder EG nice for an early afternoon pick me up.

I don’t know why but this tea is synonymous with late-night sipping. Even though it tastes artificially sweet and orangy, i still crave it. I guess it’s like when I crave Big Macs or something like that. :P

Once I’m done drinking the 2 oz I have left, I have 2 oz of this Three Cinnamon Tea my mom brough me from the interior. :D

I was surprised by this! I was worried about the artificial flavours, but it’s not bad. It really tastes like cinnamon hearts with a splash of orange. I have 4 oz of it and don’t imagine I’ll have any trouble drinking this all down!

I’m still a bit sick so I’m being lazy with my reviews. It’s either that or a) I don’t log anything or b) I’m afraid to drink anything.

This is okay. A nice basic black with a bit of fruity mango taste.

Sipdown, 186. This is a pretty decent tea, though not one I will be restocking. Almond and jasmine go remarkably well together. The oolong is definitely a kind of generic formosa oolong but it is a bit nutty and slighly roasty (not too much!) which provides a nice background note.

This is a backlog from yesterday… forgot to log this tea! This one comes to me thanks to Alphakitty!

This is a blend of a medium-dark oolong, a jasmine green, and almond flavor. I’ve never had a blend quite like this before, but it sounded intriguing! Fortunately, upon brewing it did not smell like pot to me (see Kittenna’s tasting note), but just like a roasty dark oolong with a few light sweet notes to it. Not super floral, and no flavor really took over in this blend. It was like a nice nutty oolong with some sweetness from the almond and a little bit of jasmine. It all blended rather well. I quite enjoyed this one!

Chai of the evening…..

I can’t believe how long it has been since I have had any form of chai! It is typically a cold weather choice for me, but for some reason, I have not been into the spicy teas this winter.

As far as chais go, this is good. I get lots of cinnamon and coriander. Definitely some clove and a hint of anise (mind you, a hint). I also catch the nutmeg which makes it really cozy tasting. This is definitely a good rooibos chai.

It was yummy! Hmmm. I think I will have some more chai tomorrow…. Hopefully, it will be memorable enough to log it!

Usual pan method for chai.

My brother and my mom gave this tea to me not too long ago and I remember being so happy to have a gingerbread tea. The large cinnamon pieces were a little bit scary as I usually do not like cinnamon in teas. This tea smells terrific! It’s very much a seasonal tea with heavy notes of cinnamon, ginger and bread. The baked aspect of gingerbread is present in the scent. Yay! I love it when teas created after baked goods actually smell (and taste) like them.

Sipping… this is like gingerbread in a cup! It’s not really like gingerbread with a ton of icing or powdered sugar, but a nice, warm rustic slice. I actually don’t mind the cinnamon too much because it blends so well with the other flavors. This tea is warming and so perfect for the holidays! Delicious!

Smells like a barbecue, smoky. A good roasted flavor. Despite the dry smell, not overpowering.

Hmm…not bad. I was hesitant to try this one because mint and cranberry seemed an odd combination, but it’s really ok. I cold brewed this overnight, which resulted in an amber colored brew. Like beer! The smell is pure cranberry. The taste is a light cranberry, almost like cotton candy, with a rooibos-y finish. Then the mint hits you at the end. Seems like spearmint. Very cooling. This is a great drink for hot days, I would imagine. Right now though, it’s just a drink for this morning while I’m waiting for the first few rinses of my puerh to be completed.

My husband hates mint, but I think the taste is mild enough in here that he might not notice. At least, not at first. :D

Sipdown! 53/365

I brewed this as an oolong, which was too hot for it. It did not taste good, and I recognize that it was definitely in part a brewing error. Too bad; this cup went down the drain.

Well, I enjoyed the second cup I’ve ever had of this… but it was travel-mugged, so I couldn’t say much more than that I enjoyed it. Not sure if at the time, I realized it was an oolong…. so might have steeped it weirdly, possibly like a green (because it looks kind of like houjicha or something). Oh well!

Ehm… I drank through this cup quite quickly as I’m writing an email and it was just sitting there…

Nobody else has written a tasting note on this one, so I don’t know if I’m the only one making this association, but the flavour of this tea totally reminded me of pot. Not that I have any experience whatsoever, but… that is the overwhelming association I made. Perhaps slightly influenced by smelling that deliciously intoxicating (read: vile) aroma while running earlier tonight.

Anyways, I enjoyed it regardless, so thanks for the sample Alphakitty! I’d like to know what you thought of it :)

This is not the vanilla tea you’re looking for.

I’m probably rating this a little harshly, as I’m comparing it to my favorite vanilla tea (Colonille from SerendipiTea). The base tea is less smooth, more of a bite to it. Not exactly astringent, but a little bit of a darker tea flavor. Unfortunately, the vanilla doesn’t come through as powerful or as pleasantly. So, I’m not really terribly fond of this as a vanilla tea. I mean, it’s not terrible. It will probably be decent iced. But, it really has zero chance of supplanting Colonille in my cupboard.

Win some, lose some.

Oh my! Spicy is right!
mmm I love it though. My favourite part is the black pepper taste, more than the tellicherry pepper. This is by far the most peppery chai I have ever had! I want to try it with chocolate milk, but right now it’s starting my day (and clearing my sinuses) with milk and honey – paired with my creamy maple syrup rice pudding.

A good way to start the day before work takes over at 12:30! We’re only allowed water bottles at work, but everyone else sneaks in redbull, so I will find a way to drink my tea!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending this my way! It’s spicy goodness – I LOVE IT

Alphakitty! Thank you SO MUCH!!!

This smells like EG, Lavender,and Rose. I can see those ingredients as well. It infuses to a mellower-medium brown color.

The flavor is comforting, creamy, slightly Earl Grey – more Bergamot than the stereotypical astringency I usually taste in a EG, plus, floral…mostly lavender and a touch of rose.

My favorite traits of this tea…the citrus and the creamy. Very nice!

Generous sample from TeaEqualsBliss.
This smells like pipe tobacco!
The dry leaves, and wet, as well as the tea brewing.
But,good quality pipe tobacco.
Something my father would sit outside on a summer’s eve and smoke.
Beautiful red in color.
Tastes mainly of Rooibos, a twang of vanilla on the back of the tongue.
I might play around with this tea.
Maybe mixing some of this with a Chai I have.

I’ve had this for a while, but I keep forgetting to log it when I drink it. Mostly because when I am enjoying it, it is later at night and I’m not sitting at the computer … but I was determined tonight to write the note!!!

This is one of those teas that tastes better than it smells. When I first opened it, it kind of had a tobacco-y kind of scent, and I like the smell of tobacco (so long as it’s not burning in a cigarette) but, not to drink … you know? I mean, it’s a pleasant smell, but it’s not something I’d think “mmm…that’d be good to drink.”

But, like I said, it tastes better than it smells. It tastes of vanilla, first and foremost, with a hint of apple-y chamomile. I taste a bit of the woody tones from the rooibos, but it melds nicely with the vanilla notes. Overall, it’s a very pleasant tisane – and it’s really nice to have on hand for those evenings when you want something smooth and easy to sip.

This is sort of a bread and butter tea, it’s nice and cheap, it’s comforting, and the sweet rum flavor on the tea itself is very calming. It’s a great kick-back-after-a-long-day tea.

We brewed this up today to compare it to the Pot O Gold from 52teas. It falls a little flat in the flavor comparison. It’s still good, and it’s still probably going to be a permanent collection tea, because of the price. It is an awful lot of enjoyment for $0.94/oz.