TassieTeaGirl

Another one from my swap with azzrian. Having this one as my post-Christmas lunch tea. Lovely and sweet, very delicate black base too, not at all bitter. Very smooth. A nice dessertish tea to ease into my Christmas Day belly with no discomfort. And now, for doctor who proms!

Nice and soft and tasty. A lovely contrast to my Christmas morning pancakes. Merry Christmas everyone!

So this is the first ever tea from my first ever tea swap! International and everything. Thanks Azzrian for this one ( and the others, they look delightful). This is my first array into American tea companies (the only teas I had while there visiting about 5 years ago are not worth mentioning).

The smell of this dry is so good! To me, it smells like chocolate covered strawberries you get from the Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm in my state’s north. They do both freeze dried and fresh covered strawberries. The smell in my house right now is of the fresh covered berries, all warm and melty. I can’t do that smell justice in words, maybe you have a place nearby that does something like that and know it? My other half just bounded (literally!) over from his cup to sniff at mine. I can tell I’m going to have to hide this from him, based on smell alone!

First sip – it’s still pretty hot, but the smell is getting to me, must try! Oh my! How tasty! I got a huge hit of chocolate in my mouth, with a hint of the strawberry at the end. More sips – definitely very chocolatey, with just a hint of strawberry. The black tea base is very soft, not at all bitter, and compliments the flavours well.

An FYI – when trying a new tea, I always have my first cup without additions, unless there is unanimous suggestions to do so on here. For this tea, I’d very happily drink it straight, but if you have a sweet tooth, adding some sweetener would go well, and would probably bring out the strawberry. Milk would also be nice, but I’ll probably have it black.

I’ve just had a few nibbles of a muesli slice for breakfast (I know, it’s a dessert tea, but I’m rebelling) which is sweet, and I can taste the strawberry more. Yes, this one will have a bit of sweetness in the next cup I think. The strawberry is lovely! With the sweetness in my mouth, the chocolate and strawberry are very well balanced and work very well together. The black base is just sitting there, underneath, providing a nice home for the strawberry and chocolate. Not competing, supplementing.

Yes, I really like this! The only other berry/chocolate tea I’ve had is DavidsTea’s love tea #7, which is nice, but this is better.

Just delightful! Thankyou Azzrian!

(I steeped it for about 4mins, iPad functionality does allow for precise time selection. Was boiling point water).

Just because its the 2nd last work day before Christmas. Well third, but tomorrow is my first full day at the market with The Art of Tea, and talking about tea for 6 hours doesn’t count as work. Even if I start at 7am. And even if I’m getting paid.
So today is for Elf Help, because who doesn’t need help getting through the 2nd last day of work before Christmas (and not running away early because my DavidsTea order and my swap box from Azzrian arrived this morning and I desperately want to try all of it now!)

Om nom nom…..

I’m almost at the very end of the bag. And I only just tried this iced! It’s really good iced! Now I’m sad I didn’t get more in the order that’s its way to me. Still nice and apply, with hints of caramely goodness and popcorn. Very tasty.

This is a sample I was yet to finish from an order I did a few months ago. It’s one is tasty, but very fruity, almost lolly-like. Not very white tea-ish. But still quite drinkable. Probably would have preferred this as a herbal.

Advent calendar day 11. This is one of the few teas I’ve had that gets the hibiscus blend right. There’s enough for you to taste the flavour, but not too much that it goes really tart. The other flavours are appley and cinimony, like Forever Nuts as others have described. I’ve enjoyed having another cup or so of this in the advent calendar this year.

I went to Melbourne for a long weekend about 6 weeks ago, and went to the Oriental Tea House about 4 times and tried lots of their teas, both full cups and testers. This was a delicious iced tea they had for testing, so much so that I had to grab a box to bring home. The other half and I have been having this iced in the last little while quite a bit, we’ve almost gone through the whole 100g! Looks like an order might be needed…

So what does it taste like? Sweet and refreshing and very tasty. So good as an iced tea. If you order from the Oriental tea house or live in Melbourne, I’d definitely recommend checking it out.

Will probably be doing a bit of backlogging on some of their other offerings today, but in general, OTH do lovely teas, so I’d recommend a look if you’re interested. The yum cha is also good!

Just finished this off as a giant jug of iced tea in my takeya flash chill set on a balmy 32oC afternoon. Lovely and cooling.

Had the other half make me a mug of this when I got up. So comforting!

Made a glass of this when I got home at about 9 last night and it was still about 25oC. Didn’t end up drinking it but I left it in the fridge overnight and it’s lovely this morning. Hmmm,mm…….

This was the other tea I took to my yoga workshop. This was also well received, lots of appreciation for the berry taste, and a few people said how nice it would be in the height of summer.

I did a yoga workshop at my barre studio yesterday, and took in a tayeka jugful of this iced. It was well received! They were mostly tea novices, and for many of my classmates, it was the first time they’d had a green that hadn’t been burned and all bitter tasting. Lots of nodding when I explained the prefered steeping temperature for greens… I think endorsements from tea novices is always a good sign.

Oh my….

Had this iced this morning. Just lovely! Would never have thought of icing chai until I went to the Oriental Tea House in Melbourne a week and a half ago. Nice idea to be able to drink chais in summer. Yummo.

Finished this one off last night. Dear me its tasty. The ultimate dessert tea. If you’ve been thinking of doing an RHTB order, I’d strongly recommend this one. Will definitely re-order.

Have I logged this yet? Can’t remember…

Anywho, I added a little honey to the steeper while this was brewing, just to further bring out the appleness a bit more than my first cup, and HOLEY TEANESS! This is amazing iced with that bit of honey. Will definitely be a re-order for summer. Yummo!!

Just love this one. A great flavour in this blend and the black is lovely, doesn’t go bitter even with ‘creative’ steeping parameters. Finished off the bag a couple of days ago, will re-order next winter. Yes, I know it would be great iced with rum for summer, but I SERIOUSLY need to clear out the cupboard.

I had a sample of this. Used the whole lot in my cup, but steeped it twice. It was really tasty! A lovely blend o f flavours. I loved seeing whole pistachios fall out of my foil pouch. A lovely blend of flavours, very soft and drinkable. Very nice. I’m really enjoying this years fall collection, keep up the good work DavidsTea!

The other half has been having this iced quite a bit and is loving it. Very easy to do – just add the ‘tea’ to the bottom of a glass/mug. Pour in about 1/3 of a cup of boiling water to dissolve, then add ice. Stir and wait for it to melt a bit and enjoy! Its quite tasty iced, a bit less tart than the hot option. Will be enjoyable drinking this over summer.

I got this as a sample with an order. A bit disappointing to be honest. A nice dose of hibiscus which acts as the tartness from the rhubarb, but not much else. Wasn’t getting anything berry or crumbly. For me the tartness would have been perfectly balanced if I’d had a stronger strawberry taste, but it was about all I got, so it was too strong. Was a bit sad to not be able to taste anything crumble-like, given my increasing fandom for DT’s cake teas.

Not for me, but thats fine, I have many other options!

So I went for round two with this this morning at home. A much better result. A lovely soft black with berry tones in the back of my mouth. Quite enjoyable. Going to use the last of my sample to make an iced glass to see how the berries perform cold.

Despite being in the process of narrowing my tea cupboard, I went and ordered more RHTB samples. Damn you RH peeps, your teas are just too tasty, I couldn’t stay away!

I opened this this morning when I was madly finishing making lunch to brew for travel in my Timolino. Holey moley this smells like a berry farm! No, more than that. More like the smell on your hands after spending a day in the sun picking fruit. Intense, lush and authentic. Smells just as amazing when brewing. In fact, after I’d discarded my leaves from the steeper, the other half asked if he could lick out the sink becasue it smells so good. Yes, he’s a bit odd, but THIS TEA SMELLS RIDICULOUSLY AMAZING!!!!!

And now for my morning disappointment – I uncapped my timolino just as a meeting started next to my desk (my desk sits in the middle of my workplace next to a meeting space, there’s no office for it), and someone came in from outside who was wearing strong, floral perfume. Bitchface. Seriously ruining my tea experience. But underneath, the black base is nice and hasn’t gone bitter, and the berries hit the back of my mouth. Just so disappointed my first cup of this got intereferred with. Will rate when I have a more accuracte sample.