Ian

Backlog!

Thank you Michelle! I actually really like this one. It’s nice and sweet so I don’t have to add anything. It’s not a spicy cinnamon but a sweet one, which compliments the apple nicely. I can’t really taste chamomile but that’s okay because I think if I could it would be funky. This is nice and smells WONDERFUL!

Another backlog! Thank you Amanda for letting me try this!

This one was rather unremarkable. Not bad, but definitely not excellent, either. I don’t hate it as much as other people do. I mean, it’s definitely not disgusting but it isn’t that horrible. If I was offered this, I wouldn’t refuse. It was tart and I got a definite fruity flavor, although I couldn’t really pick out any definite pomegranate, raspberry, OR green tea notes.

Thanks again Amanda!

Thank you Michelle for sending me this tea along with your host of others!

Please excuse me but I will have yet another set of backlogs, though some are more recent than others. This particular one is from Sunday. It’s been very stressful as AP Exams as well as the All State Music Festival for Vermont are next week and I’m stressin’! I haven’t had a lot of time to sit and review stuff but I do have a little time now so I’m going to catch up!

I actually really like this one. I have to be suuuuper careful because it can get really astringent and unpleasant really easily, but if you get it right this one is yummy. I generally lower the temp when I brew Adagio’s blacks because I find they are very finicky. It has a nice black tea flavor that really elevates the coconut, and the tea isn’t fighting the flavor-they work together! It’s really yummy and the coconut flavor is natural and doesn’t taste like fake shredded coconut, so that’s good! Thanks again Michelle!

In other news, I WAS ACCEPTED INTO COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY’S SUMMER PRECOLLEGE PROGRAM IN NYC!!!!! I’m suuuuuuuuper happy, even though it’s looking doubtful of whether I can go or not due to financial reasons, I am super excited that I was accepted!

This one was sent to me forever and a half ago by Emilie and I’ve had it once before, but I never got around to reviewing it (this seems to be a common theme among the past few teas I’ve tried….)

I really like this one. It’s sweet and fruity and overall really tasty! I can’t wait to try it iced (Emilie was kind enough to send me a full retail sample bag of it so I have enough to make a few cups), because I feel like it will be even tastier! This one smells a lot like Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries (I had that same experience with another tea from Adagio…. and from Emilie, what a coincidence!). I really like it though. This one is good!

Thanks again Emilie!

This one is one of the many delicious looking samples sent to me by brandy3392. Thanks!

I thought this one was a rooibos because in the little baggie there was this red powder covering everything, making it look completely red, so I thought it was rooibos. However, it wasn’t until I measured it out into my strainer and came here to see if there was recommended steeping time that I learned that it was a black tea….. Oh well, too late now!

I like this one! I can definitely see how it could get bitter easily-I steeped with a lower temp for only 3 minutes and it is verging on the bitter side so next time I try this one I will make sure to only do it for 2.5 minutes. I really like how I can taste the black tea. The flavoring is definitely on the back side for me. I get a really nice and sweet mango flavor, a little artificial but that’s okay because I love EVERYTHING mango. There’s also a nice passion fruit flavor (side note: DID YOU KNOW THEY MAKE PASSION FRUIT GREEK YOGURT?! I got some at the store today and I’m so excited to try it!) that I get. As this one cools the flavor comes out a little more. I thinks some sweetening could help elevate the flavors a little more but I like it where it is right now!

This is yummy! Thanks again brandy3392!

I had this tea this morning, so I guess it’s a backlog? Maybe?

I got this one in the Steepster Select package that I won (the April box) and I’ve had it once before this but for some reason I haven’t reviewed it yet…….. Blame it on the laziness. Anyways, I really like this one a lot. I definitely like the stimulation effects of guayusa more than mate. I like mate a lot but it’s more comparable to coffee than guayusa, which gives more of a subtle energy rush than an energy hit. It’s slightly vegetal and grassy in flavor, with a little bit of a lemon taste in the background. It’s smooth and yet bold, and very enjoyable.

I really liked this but I feel like I will like flavored guayusas more (I’ve had the Earl Grey Guayusa from 52teas and it was just okay) and I look forward to trying more from Runa.

Hmmm… weird that I’m the first to review this one…..

Anyways, this is a backlog from two days ago. I had this one iced as that makes sense to me. It was….. weird. It wasn’t bad, but it definitely tasted different than I thought it would. The name suggests that it’s like a strawberry fruit tea, but the ingredients and the taste beg to differ. It definitely has a fruity flavor, but it’s more like a berry fruit-punch flavor. I could definitely pick up some strawberry on this one, but it tasted more like other berries than strawberries. It was all enveloped with this…. weird flavor. I can’t really place it. This was okay, but not excellent and definitely a little off putting.

Thanks to Fusion Tea Room for sending me this generous sample!

Le Sob

I didn’t have as much left of this as I thought :‘( In fact, I only had about 1 teaspoon left, and I brew with 12 oz, so I made sure to use EXACTLY boiling water and I steeped for 5 minutes instead of the recommended 2-4 so I could be sure to get as much flavor as possible out of this. On the plus side, I’m all caught up with the backlogs I wanted to do! So that’s good. I don’t know what you guys do, but I have my separate tea cupboard and then whatever tea I want to drink and review, I put it out on top of my counter (separated by variety) and then when I drink something, I either review it or if I don’t have time to review it at the time, I set it aside and that’s my backlog pile (for those who were interested).

Alright, SO. Now that I’ve successfully rambled on, onto this tea. There was a brief period where a lot of people were raving about the Hawaii-Grown Oolong tea from Samovar, and I sadly don’t have that one. But, I’m in a straight-black mood today and I went looking for a Ceylon to drink (which sadly, I don’t have :( I’m going to order from Upton soon and they have a bunch I’ve been wanting to dry!), when I saw this one and wanted to try it! I think the concept is really interesting plus it sounds yummy, so I brewed it up.

This one smells really good. Like sweet with an almost caramel-y note in it. Maybe a bit of rye? I’m not so good at describing scents…. Something to work on! Oh. My. Goodness. This one is so good! I can’t even! This is so deliciously sweet and mild. Someone described this as sugared and grilled fruits and that’s so true! It’s a nice, dark fruit taste. I also get a kind of creamy note on the finish. There’s a little astringency, but it’s not unbearable.

Oh yes, this one is super tasty! This one is going on the shopping list (which is waaaaaay too long)!

Backlog from yesterday!

Yesterday was a very nice, laid back Wednesday. I didn’t have any homework after I finished my online stuff that was due for this week, so I sat back, watched some Netflix and Food Network (my favorite channel for anyone who was wondering!), read, and enjoyed some nice, simple tea. I wasn’t in the mood for anything too complex or difficult, so it was a simple flavored black tea kinda day-one where I could just put the water on, wait until it boiled, steep, and enjoy!

This one was sent to me by Amanda along with a host of other teas that I have yet to review because I’m lazy! Don’t worry, those who have swapped with me! I have got your stuff and it will be reviewed! :P Anyways, last time I drank this I wrote that there was something funky tasting about the chocolate and I think that I’ve discovered what it is-it tastes like hazelnut coffee! Which I mean, that’s okay because I happen to like hazelnut coffee, but I won’t raise the rating on this one because it’s not supposed to taste like hazelnut coffee, it’s supposed to taste like chocolate covered strawberry. I do get a little bit of juice from the strawberry but it’s not really as strong of a flavor as I’d like. I have yet to find a chocolate covered strawberry tea that I like (I believe I said that last time I reviewed this one, too). When I think of chocolate covered strawberries, I think of a really sweet and juicy strawberry that you bite into and you get the sweetness and then the chocolate is kind of a background creamy, sweet kinda note. Anyone get what I’m sayin’? I just think that strawberry is supposed to be the main flavor and so far (I’ve tried three!), all of the teas I’ve had of this flavor have had chocolate be the main note! Oh well, I’ll have to keep trying!

Yet another backlog! It’s the last one, I promise!

I got this one again from LiberTEAS and I’ve logged it once before. I’ve had it quite a few times since and I still have enough to make one more cup that I will be saving! I really like this one! It’s nice and bold, and for those looking for a coffee substitute, I would go for this! It doesn’t really taste like coffee, but it has a nice and robust, nutty-esque (it doesn’t taste like almond or anything that extreme!) flavor! This one reminds me of traveling. I think that’s purely coincidental because I brewed this one up after a long time of it sitting when I went on a long car ride and I fell into re-love with it.

I’m bumping the rating up (did I already say that? Seriously, though, I don’t remember but I’m too lazy to scroll up and check…. I’m tired, what can I say? :P) because I love it so much. All of the teas I’ve tried from Fusion have been pretty tasty and I definitely think that my next order will be from them!

Another major backlog!

I got this one from LiberTEAS! This is a really nice, traditional breakfast blend. I’ve only had one cup from the generous amount sent to me by LiberTEAS and I had it black, but I can say almost positively that this one would be equally as nice with milk and sugar. It has a nice, smooth, bold taste. There’s definitely some Assam in there, which gives it a nice bold and somewhat malty taste, but it is smooth too. Overall a very nice breakfast blend!

Major major major backlog but I’ve been putting this one off forever and I want to review it so it feels loved :P

I got this one a while back in a swap from The DJBooth and I liked it so much that I got 2 oz of it during my Tevana haul from about a month ago. I really do like this one a lot. It’s nice and spiced but not in a chai, spicy way. It’s more…. robust, I guess you could say, and there’s a really nice creaminess to it that I find to be really yummy!

I read in the Steepster Select giveaway thread for this month that The DJBooth likes this one iced and I really want to try that…. I think this would be exactly like a Thai iced tea! Yum, I’m excited!

Fair Warning! I knew this one would be long but now looking back on it after I’ve written it, it’s absurdly long. In fact, it’s most likely my longest post ever. I rant a lot in it, but I also talk a lot about my super fun trip to Philly! And I talk forever. Just as an idea, even the WARNING for how long this post is is long. So yeah…. Read at your own risk :)

Hello everyone! I’ve had a brief absence as I went to Philadelphia with my father this weekend (so of course this one will be long! :D). Of course I’ve still been drinking tea, not even a hotel room can slow me down! (although, our hotel room was actually really nice…

We stayed in King of Prussia, which is a suburb of Philly and it’s right next to Valley Forge which is were my grandfather’s ashes are. We went to visit him and then we decided that since we were there we might as well go into the city! We also went to a HUUUUGE mall, which I talked about briefly before, and it was so much fun, though very overwhelming. I stopped by Teavana (more on that later!) and picked up this and Blackberry Mojito (as par Bonnie ‘s recommendation. I didn’t end up getting the Yixing I wanted but I think I’ve found a place here in VT to get one and it will no doubt be cheaper and nicer! Then, on Sunday, we went into the city. It was rainy and crappy out but it was still a lot of fun! Philadelphia is truly an amazing city and I can’t wait to go back when it’s nice outside (no doubt there will be another trip this summer!) but I still had loads of fun. We went to do the standard stuff like the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, and while I usually try to stay away from super tourist-y stuff in cities (I’ve never really liked all that tour crap and stuff, I like to actually explore the city!), I felt an obligation to go as Philadelphia has always been an interesting city to me and I’m in AP US History, and I felt like touring the place where this nation was basically born was absolutely necessary! After that we stopped by a coffee shop to plan our next move and, with a lot of persuasion on my part and the survey of a third party of local Philadelphians, we decided on the art museum! It was so much fun as I’ve never been to a huge art museum like that and I’m also in AP Art History, so it was so cool to see the stuff we’re learning about! My favorites were the Impressionistic and Post-Impressionistic pieces, along with the modern art wing which I absolutely LOVED! They had quite a few installments that were really cool and then they also had two rooms devoted to two of my favorite artists-Duchamp and Picasso! For those unfamiliar with Duchamp, I would definitely recommend looking him up! His Nude Descending a Staircase is one of my absolute all time favorite pieces! They had a whole section devoted to him and they had not only a collection of his later works but also his early works, before he got into Dadaism and other avant-garde styles. I’m sure you all know who Picasso is, and he had a huge room as well, which was really interesting.

Anywho, art talk aside, TEA! I’m going to have several backlogs so prepare yourself! Alright, really only 3 or 4, but still! I brought a nice selection of tea with me and I had quite a few of those. And, like I mentioned above, I also went to Teavana and picked some stuff up. Oh. My. God. RANT TIME! I got bombarded by my first Teavana employee and it absolutely sucked. The one I went to last time was small and you could tell not very many people ever went there, so it was very mellow and actually really enjoyable. Here, because it was such a large mall and it obviously had a higher customer count, it was absolutely atrocious. I managed to sneak by the snipers at the front and make my way into the back, where a lady asked if I needed help and I politely said no, and she said that was fine and walked away (a.k.a. the way salespeople are supposed to act). My dad, however wasn’t so lucky. I’m going to skip the pushiness part because I’m sure you all know what I’m talking about (pushing to try and trying to sell unnecessary things, etc.). However, there were two main flags that absolutely made me enraged.
1.) HE GAVE MY DAD SOMETHING HE WAS ALLERGIC TO! My dad is allergic to cinnamon oil and the guy offered him some of this very blend (which I enjoy, on a mellow side note). When my dad asked what it was the guy explained that it was a cinnamon-y blend with some fruit and other spices. When my dad said he was allergic, the guy said he should try it anyways because it didn’t have oil in it. My dad did because he believed him, and then it DID HAVE CINNAMON OIL IN IT! Luckily it only makes my dads tongue puff up a little and it makes his mouth scratchy, so it was nothing serious, but still. That was blatantly lying to him and I was so not okay with that. This segues into the next point.
2.) This guy blatantly lied to us. First with the cinnamon, and then with the products. First off, I asked for this one in a tin and not the other (I don’t really think that tins are necessary as I keep the bags in a dark and cool location away from other flavors, and I don’t have enough money to buy tins for ALL of my teas). However, this one was a 4 oz. minimum, so I asked for at in as I know this one will last for a long time. And, when he pulled it up and explained it to me, I noticed it was the 1 lb. tin. When I asked if I could have the smaller, 4 oz. one, he said they didn’t have those. I. Was. Looking. Right. At. One. That made me so frustrated and he refused to get a smaller one, and forced me to pay almost double what I had to for a tin. I know I can reuse them, but still. That was totally not okay with me. And then the second thing he lied to me about (well I guess third, but this is all “at the counter” lies) is about the tea. When my dad complained about the price (which he typically does, though this time it was more rightfully so), the guy automatically went into “Defend Tevana at All Costs” mode. And, this one absolutely set me off and made me run away before I went at it with him, he said that with only 6 oz of tea, I could make well over 100 cups of tea. A.) That doesn’t even make sense. I actually don’t understand how he got to that so it leads me to believe that he was actually lying to my face. I did the math right there in my head and since I brew 12 oz. cups western style, I can make about 20 cups of tea with 2 oz. That’s only 60 cups of tea with 6 oz…. THAT’S ALMOST HALF OF 100! This guy lied and said I could make almost double with this tea, and I know for a fact that it won’t resteep well at all because I’ve tried already. B.) What’s the point of lying about that?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!? I mean, I understand that it makes it seem like you’re getting more bang for your buck that way but I mean, why would you lie to that extent? He could’ve just said 75 cups… That would have been forgivable! But he didn’t…. Which makes me so angry. If I’m ever in the area again and he just happens to be working there I will make sure to confront him, only I’m not joking. He just made me so angry and lose almost all hope in Teavana.

Okay, rant aside. I’m sorry about that, I’m not good at this whole “don’t ramble on” thing. This tea is super good! I tried it as a sample a little while back and I knew that I wanted it. Plus, I’ve been on an uncharacteristic chai kick lately, and this one is super good. I like that I can drink it in the afternoon because the white tea kind of balances out the mate, and it makes the caffeine a lot less than it would be (or maybe I just made that up in my head as an excuse for drinking it at night….:P). Dry this one smells nice and spicy but it also has a nice sweet undertone to it that really makes it so tempting. I also think it’s really pretty. There’s a nice yellow-y green base of actual tea and then you get the little pops of red from the pepper and blue from the flowers. I would go on a rant about Teavana and then say I really like their tea… I guess what it all really comes down to though, is that I actually really do like some of their teas and that’s what makes me keep going back. It would be so much easier to just not like their teas at all :P I really like this one because it isn’t too too spicy when you’re drinking it (in fact it’s quite mellow), but then once you’ve swallowed a lovely, super-spicy aftertaste comes out that’s followed by a nice sweetness. As this one cools down a little, the sweetness comes out more in the flavor and the spiciness starts to play around a little more, too.

This one is super good, and despite all my Tevana troubles, I am really glad I picked this one up!

ANOTHER WEIRD CRAVING! AGAIN when I got home today, I had a huge craving for some Earl Grey! So, this is what I’m brewing up! I’ve had one other tea from Compass Teas and it was pretty tasty so I’m hoping this one is too!

I LOVE the combination of bergamot and vanilla, it’s one of my favorites! This one smells like the two and there’s not one scent fighting another, which makes it basically smell like heaven (I use that simile a lot….). I added milk and sugar because 9/10 when I drink Earl Grey, milk and sugar are added (the remaining 1/10 is when the tea doesn’t have a black base). This one is super yummy! Creamy (the milk helps :P), sweet, and very satisfying while still being able to be relaxing. I really like this one! I see an order from Compass coming somewhere in the near future (although, I say that about every company!).

This one is definitely doing its job at relaxing me. I’m in the midst of studying for all of my AP exams and I’m SUUUUPER stressed. For those who don’t know, AP stands for Advanced Placement and they are certain classes (for instance, this year I’m in AP Art History and AP United States History, and next year I’m taking AP Government and Politics, Psychology, and English Language and Composition). The classes are the highest level possible at MOST schools (including mine) and they’re very challenging. In early May, you have the opportunity to take an AP exam, in which you take everything you’ve learned in the year and then apply it to a test. If you get a good score (the exams are graded on a scale from 1-5), then you can earn potential college credit. Plus, the classes look good on college applications. I’m currently studying for my two exams that are in less than 3 weeks and I’m SO stressed. I got two books that I plan on reading on the 8 hour drive to Philly this weekend. Anyways, my rant aside, this tea was really yummy!

The strangest thing happened to me this afternoon-I had a huge craving for a chai tea! I’m not normally the hugest fan of chais, but for some reason I had a craving for one and so I decided to brew this one up. I steeped this one for the recommended two minutes and it literally tasted like water, so I threw it back in for 5 more minutes. That’s how I usually steep whites, and this one isn’t really a particularly high quality white OR a straight white OR a straight white blend-along with the host of other ingredients there’s some green tea in this!

Regardless from my “Teavana overblends their teas” rant, this one is actually really good! I’m bumping up my rating a little, mostly due to my craving. This one is slightly sweet and has a good spicy bite lurking behind it. This is really yummy!

I’m going to a VERY large mall this weekend (the King of Prussia mall right outside of Philadelphia-it’s the largest mall in America in terms of retail size), and they have not one but two Teavana’s there, so I’m definitely planning on picking up some stuff. I’m hoping that they’ll have some stuff on sale in the store because that would be very nice on the wallet! I’m definitely planning on picking up a tiny Yixing because they’re relatively inexpensive and I would like one just to try. I’m also planning on getting some more of the Cha Yen Thai tea (it’s soooo good, so thanks to The DJBooth for turning me on to that one!), some tins, and a scoop. I’m also THINKING about picking up some of the Body + Mind tea and some of the Samurai Chai blend with this one in it. What are your opinions? Likes or dislikes? Thanks! :)

Another backlog!

I’ve had this quite a few times and I can’t believe that I haven’t logged it yet…. In fact this is one of TWO of the teas I got at my Teavana haul from almost a month ago that I haven’t logged yet….. Oops!

Anyways, I’ve had this one both hot and iced and I can say that I prefer it hot a lot more, and this rating is for the hot version. Hot, I find that the tea is more citrus-y, and cold it’s more pineappley. Like, mostly pineappley. Like, I thought this was pineapple juice for a second.

My main complaint, though, is that in both blends, I can’t really taste the lavender OR the sage. It’s still good, I just thought that this one would taste more like the name suggests. I’m definitely going to try adding in some extra lavender and sage, but for now this one will get a medium rating from me.

Backlog! Thank you very much to Fusion Tea Room for sending me this generously sized sample!

Compared to the Coco-Raspberry Mate this one is simply an “eh” tea. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good, it’s just somewhat unremarkable. I definitely plan on making this one again with milk so I can play around with the taste a little more, but for now this one gets a medium rating in my book.

Tieguanyin time!

Truthfully, this tea is the sole reason that I made my order at Verdant. I knew that I had my monthly tea allowance to spend so I decided to just save some money and spend it all at one place. Needless to say, however, I’m super excited for this one. I feel like I ramble on too much during my infusion notes so I’m going to try and make this one as brief as possible.

First Infusion
Rinse with 208F for ~15 seconds, steep with 205F for 1 minute. The second I poured the water on the leaves, a strong aroma of fresh spinach filled my nostrils. That quickly faded a certain fresh aroma that I can’t place has somewhat masked it. This is really good! I can see why David described this as the Essence of Spring-it definitely tastes very fresh and floral and almost like that new smell in the air that you associate with spring. This is super good!

Second Infusion
208F for 1 minute and 15 seconds. Again I got a spinach-like aroma that dissipated really quickly. This infusion is a bit grassier than the first, but there’s a super sweet rock-candy-esque aftertaste. As this one cools, the floral notes come out more. This one is yummy too!

Third Infusion
208F for 1 minute and 30 seconds. This one is a lot more floral! Wow, this tastes like flower juice! I’m 98.6% sure that this is my favorite out of all of the infusions so far. This is magnificently floral and sweet, and it does taste like spring in a cup! I’m getting exhausted and (although this tea is extraordinary), I’m ready to change teas! This one has lasted me practically all day!

So far, all of my teas from Verdant have been AMAZING! I’m so glad I have two more to try but I’m going to try and space out my trying of them so I don’t ware them all out at once!

VERDANT TEA NUMERO DOS!

I actually have no idea if that’s how you say the second because I take French not Spanish :P. I was going to try and make the Spring Tieguanyin but I don’t have enough patience or the right environment to do that in right now, so I figured I’d make this one! I’m realllllly hoping that this ends up tasting like the reviews say it does because they make this sound like heaven in a cup.

I’ve never seen a tea like this before. I am familiar with pu-erh bricks and I’ve seen those before, and I’ve seen loose pu-erh, but I’ve never before seen a nugget…. They’re actually kind of cute in a way! I’m brewing this one western style as I still have not gotten my hands on a gaiwan or a yixing teapot, but I do know that Teavana has yixings (alright, well not true ones, more like mass produced ones, but a yixing is a yixing right?!?) and I’ll be near one when I go to Pennsylvania next weekend, so I plan to pick one up while I’m there! Anyways, back to the point at hand, I put two full sized and then one little baby nugget in the infuser basket and did a double rinse with 208 degree water, both for ~15 seconds.

First Infusion-205 degrees for 3 minutes. This is interesting because it didn’t brew up to that dark color that every other shu I’ve had (not that I’m experienced, because I’m not by a long shot!) has done. It looks more like a regular black tea, with a deep amber color, almost like maple syrup. It smells somewhat earthy, maybe a little hay-like. Oh my goodness (on a side note, I can’t handle how many times I’ve said the phrases “OMG,” “oh my god,” and “oh my goodness” in these past few reviews, it’s actually getting kind of ridiculous). This tea is so amazing. There’s nothing added to my cup and yet it tastes so naturally sweet. I can see why this would be compared to angel food cake! There’s a nice graininess that lends itself to the actual cake, and then there’s a nice sugary note that sweetness the entire thing. I am not disappointed at all. This is so incredibly interesting and delicious. I could easily see myself drinking this all day but unfortunately until I have a method of gongfu brewing, I can only really make 4-5 infusions with one set of leaves :(. le sob that’s actually so upsetting because if I used a gaiwan I suspect that I could easily make this tea all day without the leaves ever running out of steam. But, regardless, there’s no use crying over spilled milk (or in this case, there’s no use crying over milk that you don’t have), so I will have to live with my (more than functional) current brewing vessels.

Second Infusion-208 degrees for 3 minutes and 30 seconds. I just noticed how much I rambled on the first infusion notes and I would like to apologize for making you read my incoherent babbling :P. This infusion has a lot more of an earthy feel to it, though there is still a nice sweetness. I don’t know if anyone else has gotten this, but I get a wine-like flavor as an aftertaste…. Maybe it’s the elderberry that David mentions on the website? I’m not familiar with elderberry so I have no idea, but there is definitely a dark, fruity flavor. This is also really nice. It’s pretty late and I’m beat so it looks like this session will only get two infusions, but this was SUPER good, and I’m so glad I asked for this! Thanks again David and the folks at Verdant Tea!

MY ORDER FROM VERDANT TEA CAME AND I CAN’T EVEN CONTAIN MY EXCITEMENT!

Included in the package were the four teas that David generously let me custom pick for a sampler pack, a generously sized sample of the Wuyi Mountain Big Red Robe, and a nice handwritten note from David! Verdant is truly such a wonderful company and I can’t wait to order from them in the future!

I got my package last night on my way home from a Fair Trade event that I hosted at our school with the Environmental Club (it was pretty successful, a good number of people came!) and my mom handed me this package in the car! I freaked and ripped it open (in the car :P) with the cap to a soda bottle (one of the ones that are reminiscent of a beer bottle)! Obviously I couldn’t try them at 9 at night, so I had to wait until now to try them! I picked this one because a black tea always makes sense to me in the morning.

Dry, this one smells so good! It’s got kind of a peppery scent, with a sweet aroma somewhere in the mix! I followed the directions and used a tablespoon and a half of leaves for my cup. I used a bottle of filtered spring water for this because I’m a firm believer that high quality teas should be made with pure, untainted water. Steeped, the aroma is very similar, but a honey like scent has come out. The color is a really nice golden amber. This is a fine example of a beautiful cup of tea.

The first steep is yummy! A nice honey taste is present and there’s a slight spiciness in the background, crawling around. It’s a bit dry on the swallow, but a nice juiciness arises just before the finish. Alright, I’m breaking down and adding a little bit of honey to this for good measure! I didn’t add too much, but OH MY GOD! This is delicious! I agree with every other review-this tastes like you’re drinking honey candies! I’m not generally a fan of pure honey, but this is so nice! Sweet and then there’s still that spicy note in the background. This is delicious. Truly liquid gold.

Second Steep-Boiling water for 3 and a half minutes. OMNOMNOMNOMNOM! This one is so good! Even better than the first! The honey is more subdued and the other flavors come out more! There’s still as nice lingering sweetness, and the astringency has all but disappeared! This is very good! I can’t wait to try the other teas I got!!!!

Another Backlog! Again, thank you to Amanda!

This was pretty nice! I think that it’s really comparable to Love Tea #7 from Davids, but I think I like that one a little more. This one was good but it was rather unremarkable to me. The chocolate was nice and had a sort of….. nutty? flavor that I can’t really put my finger on, but it was good! The strawberry wasn’t very strong, which was kind of disappointing because I’m still searching for a chocolate-strawberry blend that I really like!

Backlog!

Thanks to Amanda for this tea! This was pretty nice! “Black” (is that the right term for tea with no additions?!?!), the flavors were somewhat subdued but once I added a little bit of sugar, the flavors really came out! It’s not as good as the Coco Raspberry Mate from Fusion, but it is comparable!

Many thanks to Amanda for sending me a huge amount of this!

This is actually pretty good! It does have a TON of hibiscus in it, so I added a little tiny bit of sugar to help ease of the tartness. It is still pretty tart, but it’s enjoyable! The blood orange really compliments the other ingredients and the result ends up being a pretty fruity blend that is purely delicious!

Thanks again Amanda!

So, like many other Steepsterites, I’m making an attempt at Spring Cleaning! Part of this (okay, most of this) is clearing out all my samples! So, I have a big pile of stuff that I have set out on my counter that I’m going to try to get through by the end of the weekend!

This was one of the teas sent to me by LiberTEAS. This smells absolutely DIVINE! Like an actual cinnamon bun, sweet and slightly spicy! The taste is pretty darn good, too! This tastes a lot like a cinnamon bun, with a little bit of tang that I can’t put my finger on, but I’d blame it on the hibiscus and the orange peel. A nice, sweet, frosting taste comes out at as an aftertaste, and it’s absolutely delicious!

Hooray! That makes two teas today that are really good! Let’s keep this going!