Rachel Sincere

When I was at Fava Tea, one of the ladies there told me that this French Breakfast was her favorite blend. I have English, Irish, and Scottish Breakfast at home, so I figured I’d give this one a sniff. Wow! It smelled amazing! I was surprised at the ingredients because I wouldn’t have guessed them at all. I was almost thinking hazelnut. Give me a break, I have a cold. :-)

Once I steeped it, the vanilla scent and flavor is definitely there, but not overpowering, and it is natural. The cherry and pineapple are there as well, but you really have to think about it to get their flavor—they aren’t taking over the black tea at all. The overall effect is quite smooth and pleasing. Recommended for a crisp fall morning.

This tasting note is a combo tasting note from the last three days. My girlfriend and I have been sick. I introduced her to Graveyard Mist and now that’s all that she asks for. Darn it, now I have to share and my stash is going down, down, down…

I am a tea drinker. I drink tea. Not herbals, not rooibos…well, I make exceptions for things like guayasa and mate that have caffeine or caffeine-like substances! Anyway, both my girlfriend and I are sick and have sore throats, and I popped into my new favorite tea shop, Fava Tea, to find something medicinal. This is what was recommended to me.

When I got home and opened the bag, I was dubious. This stuff looks like the substrate from a gerbil cage. The smell reminds me vaguely of Indian food, is it cardamom? I steeped it in boiling water for the recommended 5 minutes and threw in two packets of Splenda. Hmmmm, this stuff isn’t half bad! I like it with the sweetener. It has a nice flavor and coats the throat without feeling too thick. It did work for my sore throat. Licorice haters need not worry; I didn’t get that taste at all. Highly recommended for your winter cold needs!

So I’ve been absent from Steepster for awhile. I have an autoimmune disorder and when I get sick, I get sicky sick. It’s just a reality of life every now and then that I have to disappear. But I’ll always come back! I’m sorry I can’t do a backlog, it’s been too long.

Therefore, I’ll start with this morning’s tea. Bailin Gongfu. I sure was hesitant to try it when I smelled it. It smelled like hay. Then when I brewed it, it smelled like wet hay. What the heck, I thought, my senses might not be all there yet. So I tasted it. Wow! I loved it. My taste in unflavored blacks runs to English Breakfast, which technically is blended, and that’s about it. So this was a revelation. The more I drank, the more I enjoyed it. I’m sorry I couldn’t pinpoint the flavor I was getting with this tea, but it was different. My girlfriend thought it was OK until she sweetened it, and then she liked it a lot more. I had sweetened mine as a matter of course. I was glad it didn’t taste like wet hay though. :-)

It’s great to be back!

Hmmm. This is a nice medium-strength black tea with the exact taste of root beer mixed right in. It was a bit strange to me at first; hot root beer? But as I kept drinking, it started to grow on me. I bet this would be so good as an iced tea latte for a root beer float type of preparation.

I had to buy this because long, long ago I bought Sweet Cranberry Black from Teavana (before I stopped shopping there) and it was one of my go-to teas. This tea from Fava Teas is beyond comparison.

I don’t get the taste of dried cranberries. Not at all. The taste I get is fresh, fruity cranberries with a flavorful black tea. Whenever I drink a tea from Fava I tend to use the word “fresh” at least once but that seems to be the first thing I think when I take a sip. Highly recommended, and I bet it would be wonderful iced.

Ohhh, this is good. The citrus, ginger, and mint are perfectly blended so that none of the flavors overwhelm the other. The citrus flavor grabs you in the beginning of the sip, the fresh ginger comes out in the middle, and there is a lovely mint aftertaste. Ginger and mint are both recommended for upset stomach. Since I had a yucky tummy today, I chose this tea for the evening and I’m glad I did. A fresh, tasty tea.

I’m adding this tasting note long after I actually tasted this. Actually, I traded it away already. I also don’t remember how I steeped this; I’m sure I followed the directions on the label, if there were any.

This tea just wasn’t for me. It was OK, I didn’t want to spit it out or anything, but for some reason I already have like 4 or 5 different mate’s with chocolate in them and this one doesn’t come close to being as good as any one of those. Sorry! It went to a new home and I’m sure it will be appreciated.

Weird, I had a tasting note and then it disappeared. Anyway, I usually love flavored guayusas from Butiki Teas, but I just didn’t get the flavor I was supposed to be getting from this tea. I think I’m not the right audience for it…and it’s going to a great new home. :-)

I’ve had some pretty cheap-tasting Ginger Peach teas in my day. This is not one of them. The peach flavor is fresh and adds a nice scent to the room.

The spicy heat of the ginger is buoyed by the addition of cinnamon and clove, which added a little “hmmmm, what is that?” as I was drinking. I didn’t realize the additional spices were in there until I read the company’s description just now, but it solved that mystery for me. Sorry for the problematic grammar in the last paragraph. :-/

I would recommend this as a hot tea; I thought it tasted a little strange as it cooled in the cup. I think the cinnamon and clove might make an iced version taste somewhat off.

This is a nice, fresh citrusy green tea from Harney & Sons. I have yet to have a bad experience with an H&S tea but this one was quite lovely. A great palate refresher, especially after a Chinese dinner. I taste lemon and orange; the aftertaste is mostly that of a juicy orange. The green tea flavor is light but it asserts itself just enough so that you know you are drinking tea and not lemon water. I would keep this on my shelf as a general people pleaser. I served a cup to my girlfriend and asked her if she had anything to add to my tasting note and she said to say “it’s delicious.” There you have it. :-)

This tea really does taste like lemon merengue. The lemon flavor is quite strong but it’s mellowed by the merengue flavor, so you aren’t left puckering your lips. The black tea base is quite nice as well. This tea lives up to expectations, a very nice mix of flavors.

I stopped in at Teavana last night just to check out the mate’ types that I don’t have yet, and I got a whiff of this one. Mmmmm, cocoa. I picked up 2 oz. and had a nice cup this morning.

Before I rate the tea, I’m going to put on my tinfoil hat and sit on the grassy knoll and tell you my Teavana conspiracy theory. Now, I am pretty convinced that the Teavana employees know darn well what a 2 oz. scoop of tea looks like. Yet EVERY TIME I buy tea from them they put 2.8 oz. on the scale (which of course is almost a full oz. extra) and say, “Is 2.8 oz. OK?” “NO,” I always say, “2 oz.” They pour out a little bit. “2.6 oz.?” Me: “No, 2 oz.” They pour out a little more. “2.3 oz.?” Me, exasperated: “Fine!” I have a feeling they are trained to do this so that people who are not paying attention buy .8 oz. (almost a full oz.!) more than they asked for…it adds up, customer by customer! Am I crazy? Is it just me? Tell me your experiences!

So on to the tea. I drank it down pretty fast, which is a good sign. I am not a coffee fan, but I can see why they compare it to coffee a little bit. I get a roasted taste and an aftertaste that is reminiscent of coffee, but not in an offensive way. I definitely get a nice cocoa flavor without it seeming like a hot chocolate. It’s a good mate’ and I’ll gladly drink what I have. I’m going to reserve judgment on whether I’d buy more of it or not.

Don’t buy this. I’m serious. Do not purchase this tea.

I want it ALL.

What an awesome, unique flavor. I feel like this tea was made exactly for me. There’s a hint of spearmint, a hint of cream soda…it sure sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does. I thought it was amazing and I am just hoping this one keeps flying under the radar until I can get some more money into my PayPal account and stock up!

I feel like my tasting notes have been a little blah lately, but honestly, besides 52Teas’ Butterbeer and Graveyard Mist (OMG) I haven’t really been inspired. Now, this tea tastes very nice. I get the caramel reference but not really the cheesecake reference. I do sweeten my tea. Maybe I will try it with a little soymilk to see if that brings out the cheesecake flavor. It was good, just for me there was no WOW factor. Am I just spoiled?

This was pretty good. I enjoy pancakes with maple syrup on the odd occasion and I imagine I will enjoy this tea on the odd occasion. There is a definite maple flavor, with a pancake aftertaste. The black tea base is pretty good, with a slight astringency. It’s a good tea. It isn’t inspiring much in the way of exclamation points and ALL CAPS, but that’s OK sometimes.

I’m afraid to go to the 52Teas website after I write this note. I’m afraid that the Butterbeer will be all gone and I won’t be able to order say dozens more packages, for me, and to force upon all my friends and family: SEE?? TEA IS AWESOME! I’M NOT CRAZY! TRY THIS!!

Ahem. Sorry.

I’m reading the other tasting notes and seeing that I was supposed to be getting a root beer flavor and yes, in the beginning, I suppose I did. But towards the middle and end of the cup, it was creamy dreamy butterscotch candy that I was tasting. And I want more and more and more. I’m scaring myself a little; I know this tasting note is a bit on the manic side…

Blame it on the Butterbeer.

Off to check that website! Wish me luck!

Thank you to Stacy of Butiki Teas for adding this sample with my latest order!

I have found that I just love guayasa. Granted, the only guayasas I have tried have been flavored ones from Butiki, so there’s that, but I haven’t been let down yet. This cup is nice enough, a smooth concoction. However, I can’t get over the smell and taste of banana that I am getting from this brew. I really dislike banana flavor. :-( I think my taster might be broken today, so I am refraining from rating this one. I know Butiki Teas are wonderful and despite the banana thing I drank it all, so it couldn’t have been that terrible!

This guyasa had a lot to live up to, since I had just tried Tangerine Creamsicle and Good Morning Sunshine, also from Butiki Teas. But I thought it was pretty good! To me, the mint was the featured flavor, and the vanilla just added the right amount of creaminess. I didn’t taste the lavender at all—at least I don’t think I did, which is good, since I’m not that fond of lavender. I would certainly recommend this one for a mint tea lover who wants to try something different.

Smooth lemony happiness in a cup.

Confession time: I love Dreamsicles. I love orange sherbet, gelato, sorbet. I love clementines. So I was predisposed to either love this guayusa like crazy, or hate it for not living up to my expectations.

I LOVE IT. This was my first try at a guayusa and my first Butiki Tea. I just received the order today and had had a good whiff of it (ok, fine, I practically shoved half the bag up my nose) when my girlfriend asked me to make her some tea. What kind? I ask. Something good, she says. So I decide to make this.

Oh, the taste. It’s amazing. The tangerine flavor is so real. It’s juicy and fruity yet not overwhelming. The creaminess in the background is just enough. Some teas with a creamy mouthfeel leave your tongue and palate feeling sort of coated. Not this tea. It’s only refreshing. There is a slight earthiness from the guayusa. It’s all good. This will have a permanent home in my pantry!

Now this is more like it. Harney & Sons, you have never let me down. This tea is a perfect even blend of cherry, plum, apricot, and black tea. There is no astringency, there is no “all I taste is fruit,” likewise there is no “all I taste is tea.” I always sweeten my tea, FYI.

And even though it’s lukewarm at this point, the way it’s going down, I’d highly recommend this one for the iced tea people out there. This one would be a luxurious iced tea.

I’d say this tea is a nice, nondescript smooth fruity blend. Sometimes there’s just not much to say. I’ll drink it but I won’t get excited about it.

I was apprehensive about this one, considering another “flavored” berry tea from the same place seemed to have no flavor beyond the black tea. But the dry leaf smelled pleasantly like raspberry and there were raspberry chunks in the blend, so my hopes were raised a little bit.

Once steeped, this hot tea tastes quite naturally like raspberries. In fact, I almost don’t get the black tea background flavor to it; there’s really no depth. Only until it cools down a bit and I’m halfway through the cup do I get the full flavor of the black tea plus the arctic raspberry. All in all a nice enough cup of tea. I bet an iced tea enthusiast would like this one.