Kristin

I’m not sure why I’ve waited so long to taste this one because it’s pretty good. The smell of the leaves is grape jelly. Once brewed, the smell is of black tea with a little berry fruitiness. The taste is yummy… a nice mellow black tea followed by the grape jelly flavor and then… wait for it… ah, there… the blackberry. You’ll definitely want a little sweetener in here, but of course you’d sweeten your blackberries too, right?

I think this will make a great iced tea and I’ve got a glass of it cold brewing in the fridge (with bottled water this time – in case you didn’t see it the other day, our water is contaminated due to local flooding and lots of cows).

No notes yet.

iced. I think I definitely like this better hot, although it does make an ok iced tea. I didn’t have much of my sample left so I made a very small glass of iced tea. I taste mostly mint. I’d love to taste the black in this a little more when made into iced tea. Not lowering my rating on this, because I did find it to be really tasty when hot. I think I like all teas better hot. :)

I got this tea as a free sample from Chicago Tea Garden. I am drinking the second steeping of this tea because I gave my husband the first steeping and according to the directions I don’t have enough tea for more than 1.5 cups (I have just enough left for a tiny mug). So I used the amount suggested and made 2 steepings saving the small amount of tea left for another day.

The leaves are really pretty: golden in color and rolled up into little curly-q balls. The tea has no bitterness and very little astringency. It is nice and malty. I’m trying really hard to come up with something that makes this tea special and I am only finding the smoothness of the tea to be special. Otherwise, it tastes like a black tea.

5g to 11 oz.

Well, I have to say that this one is not my favorite. I don’t drink almost any green tea ever because it gives me migraines (wanted to at least give this a tasting though since Daniel at Georgia Tea Co sent me a sample of it) and I don’t really like mango and papaya all that much… so it might actually be impossible for me to like it.

The smell before brewing was overwhelming in the fruitiness. Once brewed, the fruitiness is still pretty strong but not overwhelming. The Mango takes center stage here. I can taste the green tea in this, but it’s almost lost. Not my cup of tea, but someone who really likes mango & tropical fruit will surely love it.

It’s a nice day here and I’m sitting on the front porch working and drinking tea. The cottonwoods are blowing, so its a challenge to keep the fluff out of the tea. If you have never seen cottonwoods (a cottonwood is a tree) in the spring, imagine that someone took cottonballs and shredded them and then threw them in the air. It looks like it’s lightly snowing, but it’s not. It’s 70 degrees.

On to the tea…
The leaves unbrewed in the bag have a peachy smell. I don’t know if that is just that some other sample leached some scent or not. The leaves had some large pieces of vanilla bean mixed in. Brewed, the tea smells earthy with a hint of vanilla. The taste is a nice black tea without bitterness with a touch of vanilla. I’d personally love more vanilla in this tea but I like my vanilla teas to have a big punch (just my personal preference).

2.5 tsp to a giant mug.

I’ve been burned by so many fruit teas that I was hesitant to try this one. I put it in a drawer when I got it and I’ve been giving it the evil eye every time I open the drawer. But not to fear, this one is good! Thanks to Daniel from Georgia Tea Company for sending me a sample of this.

I’m not sure what’s in it and I can’t find it on the website. Looks like pomegranate, carrots (?), pineapple, blue blossoms… and maybe apple? It interestingly tastes like it has vanilla too. The flavor is raspberry vanilla orange (in that order)… with a creamsicle flavor at the end. I’m guessing the raspberry is actually the pomegranate since I think those flavors are similar.

The more I drink it, the more I like it. Sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be sharing the rest of this sample. :P

Sweetened with a touch of agave nectar.
2 heaping tsp to 11 oz.

I like this tea. The black base seems to be of high quality. It’s not bitter at all and it has some earthiness in the smell. The flavoring is nice, but tastes more like peaches than currants… it’s almost like a mix of peaches and raisins. I like it more and more as it cools.

I think this would make an excellent iced tea and will try that sometime later this week.

I am going to be bouncing off the walls after I finish drinking this one. I am way over my caffeine allotment for the day, but I couldn’t help it. Daniel from Georgia Tea Company sent me some samples to try and they arrived in the mailbox today. I just HAD to try this one immediately. And… I love it.

I don’t tend to drink a lot of flavored blacks because the black tea tends to overwhelm the flavor (and the other reason is the caffeine). This tea is balanced, the flavors are strong, and there is no bitterness. The vanilla and almond are rounded out by the coconut. It definitely reminds me of cookies. I don’t think this sample will last long. And, I can see why this tea is listed as ‘a Christmas favorite’. It has that sitting by the fireplace, watching it snow out the window, & drinking tea, quality.

Almost 2 tsp to 10+oz water. Steeped for only 3ish minutes because I was worried the black would go bitter. Sweetened with Agave Nectar.

I love this tea. It’s malty, earthy, and rich with the barest hint on bitterness in the background. It smells a little earthier than it tastes. I like its flavor more than its scent.

Lisbet sent me a sample of this one. Thanks!! I tried it today, but I think I didn’t have enough tea leaves for the mug. I will have to try it again with more tea. It was weak. I could taste the gingersnap flavor and a malty cigar like flavor in the rooibos. I’m thinking it will be better with more tea. Reserving rating for now.

I tried this one iced today too. I didn’t like it iced. I don’t particularly like iced rooibos. This one is much better hot.

OK, I finally broke down and made some of this iced. I haven’t before now because (a) it’s been cold and snowy here up until this weekend and (b) I love this tea and didn’t want to waste it to make iced tea. But, I have to admit, it is really tasty iced. It needs no sweetener (or maybe the barest smidgen of agave nectar). The white tea is excellent iced and the black currant pops. I still think I like it better hot (but I always feel that way about iced tea).

1 T per large glass of cold water (~16 oz) steeped about 15 hours in the fridge.

I got a surprise tea package in the mail today from my friend Lizbet and this is one of the tea samples she sent. I’ve been wanting to try this one!! Thanks Lizbet!

This tea is interesting. I taste white tea, blueberry, and something else. I can’t figure out the something else part. But in the mouth, I taste the mystery flavor. In the aftertaste, I get the blueberrry and the white tea flavor. The mystery flavor when you first drink it is almost vegetal, like spinach… which I’ve never tasted in a white tea. Strange. It makes me think about it a lot while I drink it. The blueberry flavor is fantastic.

I am always disappointed in vanilla teas. There is never enough vanilla flavor in them. But, I like this one! This one tastes like a vanilla wafer. It’s still definitely a rooibos (for you rooibos haters out there), but the vanilla is strong with this one.

May the vanilla be with you.

This tea is a little different every time I taste it. That is probably due to the large chunks of nuts and spices. This time I think it’s perfect. Spicy and full of that butterscotch candy flavor.

2 heaping tsp/8 oz.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I just cracked open the 3rd bag of this tea. I don’t think I can live without it.

Today is my husband’s birthday, so I’ve been baking his favorite cake today (and working at the same time). He likes a white cake with white frosting and asks for it every year (not only do I make this cake vegan, I also bake it at 6500 ft in altitude!). Here is a pic of last years cake and a link to the recipe:
http://parkcityvegan.blogspot.com/2009/05/another-year-another-cake.html

All this cake making and frosting tasting made me want some tea. So, what did I grab? Carrot Cake. Today I made it with more tea (3 tsp tp 11oz) and steeped it a smidge longer. It’s very very tasty. Now, I think I’ll be able to make it untill cake cutting time later tonight.

So confused about how this tea tastes like it does. Blindfolded, I would have told you that this is cinnamon snickerdoodle. But the ingredients to get that are bizarre… there is not even cinnamon in it. I mean seriously, it has: candied pineapple (w/sugar), candied mango (w/sugar), candied papaya (w/sugar)… and a bunch of nuts. But it does kind of sort of taste like a cookie. Weirdness.

From the packaging it looks like this started out being called Harvest Fest and got renamed. My package is labeled Harvest Fest but I ordered Nuts for Cookies sample. The bin number and the ingredients are the same. I’m guessing someone tasted it and renamed it.

It’s ok. I’ll drink it. Not sure I’d order it again. It is actually tasting a lot like the Sweet Heart but a little more subtle (perhaps because they both have almond and candy).

This is my last cup of this sample. The free sample TG put in my last order made 2 cups. I really like this tea. I could see myself drinking this all the time as my evening tea. I will probably have to order some of this.

More comfort tea. This cup had a bunch of cardamom pods in the leaves so it is spicier. I went back to 2 tsp/11 oz and got the weak butterscotchy flavor back. :)

I’m seriously cranky today. It’s snowing. And I mean SNOWING. There is at least 6" on the back porch and the snow plows are out. I’ve been out scooping heavy wet snow off the baby vegetable sprouts in the garden that I covered last night.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowboardbunny/4635099565/
(this pic was taken a few inches ago)

So, I need something decadent and homey. Yep, this calls for maple syrup and since I don’t have time to make pancakes, this will have to do. I steeped it for only 3 minutes this time and used less tea. This did get rid of the bitterness, but it’s definitely weaker. Sweetened it with maple syrup this time.

This tea was pretty good. Definitely tastes like blueberry. I had to add a fair amount of agave nectar to it to get it to taste like sweet ripe blueberries. Without sweetener it tasted like unripe berries.

I did something to this today and I’m not sure what.. but i made it bitter. I think I used the same amt and the same time. weird. It definitely looks darker today. Not docking it’s rating yet because I know how good it can be. I will just need to try again.