Invader Zim

This is a lovely green oolong. I like my teas nice and light with a floral taste to them and this is one. The little green balls expand so much into large whole leaves, I’m always amazed by this and enjoy watching it. Dry, it has a lovely floral smell without it being overpowering like a jasmine tea can be. Wet, it retains that floral scent to it but there is a slight vegetal-butteriness to it. The taste is nice and light and fresh and again very floral. In the aftertaste I get a bit of the vegetal-butteriness. After the third steep the mouth-feel became a little too much for me, almost cloying, and I decided to take a break from it. The butteriness stayed in the back of my throat after the third steep for a decent amount of time, I’d say a solid half hour. This is a nice light, floral tea that can be re-steeped many times that I really enjoy. It is beautiful to watch steep, it is beautiful to smell (both dry and wet), and it is lovely to taste. Truly a wonderful tea.

I’m not a black tea fan, but it’s blended with green tea and some flavors that sound good. I treated this like I would a green tea because I didn’t want the green tea to get bitter. It turned out well. The guava is strong with this one. There is a sweetness from the strawberry in there but mostly what l I taste is guava, I do taste some tea base. It’s a decent tea every now and again if you don’t want to think much about the tea. I’m betting this would be nice iced…I’ll have to try that when it gets warmer! May the guava be with you.

This was my mom’s tea but apparently she didn’t like it as much as she thought she would and passed it to me. I like oolongs, typically greener ones, but I’m up to trying it and there’s only about an ounce left. Holy cow there are a lot of flavorings in this tea! Granted I like a lot of the flavorings in this tea, but there are just way too many here and I certainly cannot taste them all. I mostly get the spices: cinnamon, cardamom, I think I’m getting a hit of the ginger and I’m getting almond too. It says there are fruit pieces and flavorings in here, I’m not tasting or smelling most if any of them. It smells like cinnamon oatmeal raisin cookies, it sure doesn’t taste like it though! I’m on my third steeping hoping that the spices would have calmed down by now, nope, maybe a little, but not really. I feel like I need some peppermint to calm my stomach down now. This tea isn’t totally bad, not one I’d buy, but if it’s there I’ll drink a cup. Definitely too much going on with this one to make it any good.

A nice flavored rooibos. Nice creamy vanilla, nice earthy rooibos, and a nice non-overwhelming taste of berries, yum.

Another one from a sampler package I received from Christmas, going to be a few of these this week. It is a decent flavored green tea, more flavoring than green tea base, smell and taste-wise at least. The mango and peach I would say are equal in both the smell and taste categories and it’s not bad, quite tasty, but not one I would have every day, I feel it’s easy to get tired of this one, better only once in a while. I used the little pyramid tea bag twice and there was definitely more peach the second steep, yum. For whatever reason I did not get any sort of notes of mint, granted I wasn’t looking for it, I had already finished my cups by the time I went to write this. Still, I saw mint was one of the ingredients and I must say I did not come across it.

The first few things I notice upon opening the tin is a waft of vanilla and a lot a tea dust. There is so much tea dust in there it is ridiculous, just about the entire inside if the tin is covered, some is even clumped, it’s very off-putting. But I take careful sniffs, don’t want any dust up the nose, and it’s predominately vanilla. There is a decent white tea base and coconut, other than dust it doesn’t seem too bad. I brew it up and the white tea is there, the vanilla is definitely there, the coconut is there but less so. Some reviews said they had fruit in theirs, I am not picking up any fruit smells or tastes whatsoever aside from coconut but that is more creamy here. Aside from the massive quantities of dust, this tea isn’t too bad.

I came home to visit my folks for spring break and went to make some tea. Unfortunately most of them are stale and ick and I just had to get rid of them. I hate throwing away tea, even if it is no longer any good. Fortunately this one is still good, but I only have three bags left. This is a nice light white tea with mellow melon and peach flavoring. No one note over powers any of the others, everything is nicely balanced. I left it steep a little longer than I usually do and it became slightly astringent this time, but overall this is a decent flavored white tea.

I bought myself this for Christmas since my family didn’t get the hint when I got the catalog in the mail and I circled this one in the gift set and left it on the coffee table for all to see (I left it open on that page too). Anyways, I’m on my second cup and it’s a decent blend. The tea base is a stronger white tea than I prefer and the immediate smells and taste coming from this tea are almond and vanilla. I can get a hint of cardamom in the aftertaste, but I can’t say I taste the chamomile at all. This tea isn’t bad, although I think it would be better with less almond in it.

Back-logged from this morning.

I’m not a big fan of black teas needless to say, but this was in a sampler pack I had received and gave it a go. To my surprise this wasn’t too bad. It’s pretty fruity without being tart. I could taste the black tea, but the black currant was strong enough that it made it pleasant for me.

Backlogged from this afternoon.

I was running late for class this morning and forgot to make a lunch let alone pack it. I did make some tea though, always time for tea. Anyhow, I went to the local shop and got some pizza (it was much cheaper than their $6 salads and wraps), a banana, and they had some H&S teas and I picked this one. I wasn’t expecting much but It wasn’t bad at all. The initial smell was very fruity and a bit tart with the floral oolong underneath it. The first steep wasn’t too bad, more fruity, not too tart, but not much oolong either. The second steep was better, less fruity more oolong, not bad at all. A nice sweet, floral tea to offset the cheesy, salty pizza and slightly under-ripe banana.

Backlogged from this morning.

This is from a tiny sample packet I received with my actual order.
This one smells amazing, it smells like a rich hot chocolate! However I was disappointed with the taste, it seemed very weak. Perhaps I messed it up, but I followed the instructions: 1.5 t per 8 oz at 208F. It said to steep it 5-7 minutes and 7 minutes seems a tad long for any tea, so I went with 5 minutes, next time I’ll steep it 7 minutes. It was so weak that I tried adding sugar and milk to it, but it didn’t really help. I have really high hopes for this one though and hope to make it better next time.

I’ve been thirsty for a jasmine tea lately but for the last several days they all smell cloying and off-putting to me. So, in another attempt at jasmine I open my bag of this and while the jasmine is still slightly strong to me, it’s the lightest scented one I have and it’s not that bad at the moments. I brew it up and the wet leaves are almost overpowering to my recently more sensitive nose, but in the cup it’s not as strong and while sipping it is quite a delight. I’m glad I drank this, I’ve been craving jasmine tea and this fit the bill. It’s does not have a jasmine scent/taste as strong as most jasmine teas do, it has a stronger tea base and I’m going to go re-steep this now.

This is very pretty to look at. It smells very nice, cinnamon, but not the tangy cinnamon I usually find in teas, this is more like a cinnamon apple…minus the apple. It’s warm and comforting without being spicy. The floral notes are a nice touch and it tastes just like it smells. Warm, comfortable cinnamon with roses and jasmine. Hopefully it’ll make me feel as pretty as this looks and get a good nights sleep, beauty sleep that is.

Apparently I don’t enjoy licorice in my tea, no matter the amount. I thought this one might be better since it wasn’t the first on the ingredient list, whereas in Bravissimo, licorice was the first ingredient. It was better but alas it wasn’t that much better. Again, another I’m not going to rate because it will be too low and bring the entire rating of this tea down. At least now I know not to buy any more teas with licorice in them.

I’ll start off by saying I don’t mind chamomile, and sometimes I rather enjoy it. So, I open the package and smell chamomile, not bad. I can see other things floating around in there too. I steep some up and smell…you guessed it, Chamomile. I take a sip and I taste chamomile with some citrus and mint, not too bad. I swallow, and there was the mistake. I am immediately kicked in the face of the licorice aftertaste. Holy cow is that stuff sweet and just ick. I think, well maybe it’ll grow on me. So, I take a few more sips and in turn am kicked in the back of the throat by this licorice. It just kind of hangs out, sticking to the back of my throat. This aftertaste destroyed this cup. Because I apparently do not enjoy licorice in my tea (first time trying it in tea) I will not rate this, it would just be too low and bring the ratings down. Good note though is that my mom’s birthday is coming up and I did tell her I was going to get her some tea! I already did, but a little more won’t hurt :)

Today is just one of those days. It’s been raining all day and I found out my raincoat is not exactly waterproof in the shoulder seams anymore. I have much to do for school before the week is out and makes me wish I had an actual job again. I’m not sick but I’m just feeling very blah-like. I was in the mood to drink a jasmine tea but for whatever reason they all smell overly prefumey and almost make me want to gag. I just want a nice cup of green tea. I look at my new tin of this (just bought more the other night) and i know I love it but I wasn’t sure I was in the mood. I open the tin and know I immediately have to make some. So, I sit here and drink this lovely mellow tea, I relax and feel a little bit better.

This tea is very pretty to look at with the flowers in with the oolong. There seems to be a lot more flowers than actually tea, but after steeping the leaves expand and make up for it. This is a very citrusy, floral oolong. I can barely even taste the oolong in the first steep, but it’s still alright regardless. Even with the vast amount of flowers in the tea the flavor is not nearly as strong as an actual Jasmine tea, the citrus mellows it out. While this is a nice tea and I am enjoying it, I would prefer more oolong flavor. It’s more of a flavor tisane with some oolong added, not an oolong with added flavor, I hope that makes sense.

Backlogged from last night.

This tisane isn’t too bad, I can smell and taste just about every flavor listed…except the goosberries. I’m sure I smell and taste them but I have no idea what they are supposed to smell or taste like, although I have figured out what they look like. I would say the prominent notes are the apple and the citrus, but as someone else noted, the citrus is more creamsicle-like.

I’ve got a lovely bunch of coconuts diddly diddly dee There they are standing in a row bum bum bum Big ones, small ones, all shredded in my tea! If you like creamy coconutty goodness and rooibos then you should like this tea, and the coconut is not like tanning oil either. This is the best rooibos I’ve ever had and I’ve been having quite a bit lately…yum!

This tea is quite a delight. Dry it smells nice, sweet and crisp with a hint of grassy notes. Wet it smells slightly more grassy. The taste, the taste is just wonderful. Imagine going outside early in the morning as the sun is rising on an early spring day with dew and a slight frost is on the grass. Close your eyes and smell the crispness of the air and the wet grass with the sky tinted with the rising sun and the birds chirping beautifully in the air. That’s what this tea conjures up to me, beautiful and delicious.

I opened the bag and was awash in a divine smell! Full citrus smell, oranges and lemons but not like dish-soap, just very fresh and crisp and yummy! It tastes just like it smells, delicious! There is a bit of the earthiness from the actual rooibos, but the citrus flavors have the limelight here! (Yes, I know that’s my second terrible joke today.) There might be some sort of mint to it. I could be wrong, but there’s this hint of something tingly like mint, may just be the citrus though. Either way once this sample runs out, or even before it does, I have all intentions of buying more, it’s just so good!

This smells predominately strawberry and peach, both dry and wet, it reminds me Teavana’s Rooibos Tropica. It tastes like strawberry and peaches, the citrus is mostly in the aftertaste and becomes stronger in taste as it cools. I didn’t care for this one too much, especially as it started to cool, I guess it’s the way the citrus blended with the strawberry and peach. At any rate, I’ll stick with Teavana’s Rooibos Tropica.

Just got in my package of samplers from Adagio, and this is my first one from the package. All of them are flavored rooibos, trying to find a new one to add to the stash, very excited about them!
Anyways! Opening the package I can immediately smell the peach and it’s lovely, I can still smell the rooibos underneath the peach too. Wet, it smells a little more strongly of rooibos. The taste is quite good, the peach is not overwhelming, actually I wish it was a little bit stronger, but the rooibos is definitely there, and it’s not at all bitter. The aftertaste isn’t much of the rooibos, it’s more peach actually which surprises me, but I like it.
Now that it is starting to cool down a bit the peach is getting stronger, yum! I’m not big on drinking my teas iced, but I’m betting that this would be a good one and I intend to try it iced in the future. I’m having a peachy time with this rooibos! Sorry, couldn’t help it!

I love drinking this tea. I love that it’s good to brew several times. I love that it blends with other teas and tisanes so well. I love watching the pearls unfurl. I love the way it smells dry. I don’t love the smell of it wet though. For whatever reason when I pour the hot water onto the leaves the jasmine becomes so strong and cloying, it sticks to the back of my nose and throat which really sucks because I don’t really brew my tea according to time, I do it by scent (unless I’m sick). The tea sitting in my cup, sans leaves smells good, it’s the actual leaves when they are wet that I do not enjoy, other than that this is a divine tea to smell and taste. Jasmine green tea in general was my first introduction to actual tea, loose leaf tea (I used to drink Lipton as a kid) and it’s still my favorite (the jasmine tea not the Lipton) and these pearls have a permanent place on my shelf, I just love them!