Lisbet

This would make an outstanding cocktail. It’s simply delicious- a bright, vivid lime with a backdrop of the ginger. I might have to acquire more of this one just to make the best iced tea ever- if not this summer, than really any season in Houston. This is so limey that I’m almost tempted to think about lime lollypops, but I hate lollypops and am enjoying this, so…. maybe I shouldn’t have brought up lollypops. Again, I say, why do I not order more often from Tea Forte? They’re excellent tea mixologists. They’re going on my Steepster shopping list.

I really need to order a lot more from Tea Forte. I adore everything I have ever tried from them, and this is no different. They have such a way with flavor combinations. This is minty and citrusy at the same time- two tastes that I’d have been a bit wary of pairing, but am loving nonetheless. Both are very well balanced- the mint hitting first, and the citrus hanging on a bit longer. This would be so nice as an iced tea. p.s. thank you to OttawaTea for letting me try this one!

Yep, it’s earl grey. I’m not quite sure I can taste anything that the blue flower might be adding to this. It’s a good earl grey though, quite possibly a candidate to keep around when I just want a cup of EG. Oh, and my tummy hurts. I think I OD’ed a bit on the spicy kimchi-bean curd stew at the Korean restaurant last night. And the kimchi pancake. I’m trying to drink soothing tea with almond milk to make it better, but it’s not working so far. Anyway, good thing I like earl grey by itself…. I have had blue flower in delicious chai blends, and I thought it added sweetness? Eh? Well, I’ll finish the sample. I bought too much earl grey at once, and I may hate it by the time I’m done the 3000 lbs of it in my house.

This doesn’t taste at all like Earl Grey to me, and doesn’t taste at all of vanilla, or green tea either. It’s basically a plain ceylon tea. This turns out to be fine, because sometimes that’s what I’m in the mood for. When my allergies have been acting up due to pollen (oh god, so much pollen), this is pretty nice! I’m drinking it without any additions, just letting it soothe my throat. Too bad this is the last of my sample… but on the other hand, I have plenty of plain black tea in my cupboard. Also, this is heinous oversteeped, as you might expect.

I actually feared this was going to taste a bit too much like Teavana’s white ayurvedic chai, which I liked when I began my enormous bag of it, but a year later was ready to bury out back in the compost pile when nobody was looking.

I didn’t follow the directions and add sweetner and milk, but next time I will. First impression is a mild, spicy blend. The apple does come through, but it’s not gross to me like it is in Tazo’s rooibos vanilla blend (ooh, I want to try a pot of the two together now- maybe it’d make the Tazo less severe.)

I’d say this is a good addition to anyone’s chai collection. It’s not sweet on its own despite having a vanilla component, so you may want to do better than me and follow the directions to sweeten it. (I also accidentally forgot to set the timer for this cup, but it still tastes good even after a 10 min steeping.)

I have a head cold and can hardly taste a thing, and this is still awesome. I honestly don’t know how, because I don’t like pina coladas much, and I really don’t like pineapple. But as a tea, slightly softer than the cocktail version, I like it quite a bit. It’s helping to make me feel less like falling onto my couch and not getting up again for hours. If it tastes this good when my nose is stuffed up, I have high hopes for it in a few days! Delicious.

Ugh, cough sneeze I hate having a cold. But this tea really does help. I’m on my second bag of the day, and it mostly tastes of ginger and pepper and a hint of basil and oregano. (Don’t worry, the latter two are muted and don’t taste unpleasant.) Though this has the ubiquitous Yogi Teas licorice in it, the flavor is actually rather dormant.

I am such a fan of Yogi Teas and Traditional Medicinals to help cure what ails me. I use this one for allergies too, as it’s for overall respiratory health, and to help keep my sinus infections at bay.

I’m not sure where the vanilla is hiding in here, because I’m getting that hot jell-o mix taste that I get from so much red fruit tea. But I’m in a hotel, and I’m exhausted, and this tea bag came with the hotel. It’s not undrinkable, but it’s certainly not delicious either. I really can’t distinguish this from most other teas in the same genre.

So instead I’ll complain that this Marriott, like most, has no free ‘net access from anywhere but the lobby, and I didn’t realize this until after changing into my pajama pants with the little skulls and stars on them. And since I am here in a professional capacity, I’d prefer for folks in the group not to see me in my nightwear. I was admiring my room’s lovely desk with copious wall jacks for my laptop, before realizing it’s just all part of Marriott’s attempt to seduce me into paying $12.95/day for internet access. Dear Marriott, I am getting reimbursed to be here, but considering what I paid your hotel for my lunch I think I’ve already used my per diem for the day.

This sounds delicious. But I’ve had a fair few blueberry teas lately, and this doesn’t taste too different. Maybe even just a bit weaker than some of the others. I definitely am not getting cream cheese out of this one, which is seriously bumming me out. I was hoping for an almost blueberry-vanilla. Something with an almost blueberry tea-latte taste to it. But it’s mostly just black tea with a pale note of blueberry. Argh. So wanted to like this one! I’ve tried messing with the steep time, but just got oversteeped black tea if I left it longer than 5 minutes.

(Edited- after reading the other reviews I am seriously confused. I do not get anything even remotely resembling pastry, vanilla, danish, dough, or anything else other than faint blueberry out of my pouch. So weird!!)

Oh man do I want to try this one.

Ugh, what is this crap? When I read ‘sweet peach’ I didn’t imagine that it meant that the tea came pre-sweetened! I thought it was perhaps just a description of the peach. This is like the tea equivalent of those General Foods International Coffee powders. Yeuch!

(Until I made this listing I was without a product description, because this k-cup was a gift.)

I typically don’t buy tea k-cups. Although I own a Keurig machine, I hate the waste k-cups generate, so I mostly buy coffee and use the reusable Keurig filters. And tea, well, I make tea without my Keurig machine. But last time I was at the car dealership, the guy who sold me my car felt badly that it already needed so much expensive maintanance. So he gave me a bunch of tea k-cups as a consolation prize. (I guess he’d seen me tossing back cups of complementary tea.)

Anyway, I am consistently surprised by how much I like Gloria Jean’s k-cup teas. I truly enjoy the chai, and this one is good too! The black tea tastes fresh and not at all overly astringent, and the mango is very bright. Huh, I’d… drink this again. I could even see buying it. Must resist!

I am mostly getting green tea plus coconut with this one. I almost wish it had a touch of vanilla, or that the lemongrass was a bit stronger. It sounds like it should be so delicious, and I’m just finding it to be ‘okay’. Honestly, I had to look at the flavor description for this one, as I just wasn’t sure what I was even supposed to be tasting. My first thought was actually that this was just an odd green. Odd in what way? I don’t know. Maybe almost like a gen mai cha.

I can actually smell the lemongrass, but while the nose is supposed to be the key to taste, I just can’t find the taste of that component in my cup. At least not very strongly- it does appear a bit more as the tea cools.

I still want to give this one a bit more of a chance. I wonder how it’d taste with sweetener, vanilla, etc. Alas, I have but one teabag for now.

Well, it’s lemon verbena. Not quite lemon, not quite…. er, anyway. I took a sample sachet of this from the British shop in town, and it’s just okay. I suppose I could see combining this with, um, something I like better. Maybe something with vanilla. But by itself this just isn’t very interesting.

If I’m going to drink a tisane, it either needs to taste delicious, or have some sort of medicinal function. Actually, I guess that goes for anything I’ll drink, deciduous perennial shrub or no.

The British shop near Rice University allows you to buy Harney & Sons by the sachet, in addition to selling the usual tins of sachets and loose leaf tea. They even have a bag open for each flavor, so the customer can sniff them. I thought this blend smelled pretty good in the shop, so I nabbed a bag to try.
I don’t know what ‘lemony bergamot’ is, but this doesn’t taste like bergamot. It tastes mildly sweet actually, like a lemon-cream black tea. I don’t know if I associate this with Paris personally (that spot is forever taken by pear tea), but it’s pretty pleasant. I imagine this would appeal to those who aren’t much into flavored tea.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell when to go to the doctor. And it seems to me that when I get there, my symptoms mysteriously vanish, only to return once I leave. Severe body and chest aches mean I want something comforting. And I have to wait ’till tomorrow to get my prescription antibiotics.

I though this tea would make me feel better. I usually am strict about caffeine-free after 5, but I am so dead on my feet I doubt it’ll matter (and this is no black tea). Orange and ginger are great when one is ill, so I just had to make this one again.

Mmm the orange complements the earthiness of the tea so well. Chi of Tea has great orange flavoring- so bright. I feel better just sipping this… good tea is like cold medicine for adults anyway.
I must have had green oolong before, but I can’t recall it. It definitely has a bit of the grassiness of green, with the telltale oolong taste to it. That’s my probably ill-informed and inaccurate feeling lousy and lazy assessment anyway.

Do try this one… it’s really nice.

I think I’ve finally found a blend that tastes like the delicious chai I get in Indian restaurants- but without having to simmer spices in milk for an extended period. This is… so ….good. With a touch of my vanilla soy milk it’s even better. I feel like I’m sipping a spicy Indian dessert. Most chais really do let me down, but I knew I was in for a treat when I opened the package and smelled a delicious waft of what seemed almost graham crackerish (I know, that may sound dubious.)

What are you doing still reading my pithy review? You should be on upton’s website adding this to your cart- at least one of the cheap samples’ worth! (That is, if you like chai at all.)

Just kidding, I like it when you read what I write :)

I have come to absolutely adore this tea. It’s so unique, and while I am often skeptical of what teas are supposed to taste like, this one is seriously spot on. It’s one of the most interesting and well-crafted flavored teas I’ve ever tasted. Good with milk, but I never sweeten it. If I feel like slightly burnt toast, I just deliberately oversteep this one :)

I am definitely not going to rate this one based on the steeping I just had. My tea travel mug decidedly expands in size when it’s hot, so after putting the boiling water in, I couldn’t get the filter lid back off (I had it in because I was leaving the house and the next cup I planned to make was loose-leaf).

So the teabag was trapped (Can you picture this? I feel like I’ve failed). And as i drank this it got progressively more bitter and oversteeped. Still, I enjoyed it so that says something. I didn’t taste much of the honey, but it probably got drowned out. This was my ’don’t fall asleep while taking a test’ blend, and it worked well enough I suppose. The test was still inexplicable and random as usual, but that’s not the tea’s fault.

p.s. Thanks to Meghann for the tea bags!

There’s been a lot of coconut in my tea- life lately. Well, I ruined the low-calorie element of this by having it with a giant peanut butter choco-chip cookie, but it was worth it. The dogs had a different kind of cookie so nobody felt left out.

Anyway, this really does remind me of coconut custard, a dessert I do enjoy :)
It’s sweet and slightly milky. I do think this one would benefit from a bit of oversteeping, because at 5 minutes it tastes a little pale and watery. I can also see trying this in a vanilla-syrup added soy latte (one of my favorite things to do to tea lately- I don’t know why either, but it could be my missing Adagio Teas in Chicago).

A great after-dinner tea. I may mix this with 52 Teas’ Coconut Cheesecake honeybush just to see what happens.

p.s. Thanks to QueenOfTarts for sampling me some of this!

Thanks to Meghann for letting me try this one!
I have been studying Japanese all day. I have to take two tests tomorrow, because I was away at a conference on Friday, and missed one. Actually, it’s one test and a midterm. So cramming away I am. My head hurts, and I am tired of vocab, so this tea, despite having 山本 (yamamoto) in the name, sounded refreshing.
Indeed, this would be brilliant iced. It’s citrusy, in a pale and pleasant way, and definitely tastes of sencha. I think even my ‘flavored tea is a waste of tea’ husband wouldn’t mind a little citrus with his sencha.

No notes yet.

I missed you, Upton.
I fell prey to the temptation of the delicious looking Earl Grey sampler, and I’m glad I did… I’m trying this one without any additives first to see what I think. The ingredients list is just amazing, and this manages not to taste artificial and cloying. It’s definitely an earl grey, but with a definite touch of cacao. I didn’t expect to like this one out of the otherwise appealing sampler options, but I do. I don’t love it, but I’m going to finish off the tin for sure!

This certainly smells strongly! Walking into my kitchen I thought ‘uh-oh, another jello-tasting tea’. Indeed, almost all red fruit in tea turns into hot jello. This, alas, isn’t much different despite its delicious sounding components. I am wondering if it’d be okay if I cut it heavily with some other kind of plain tea. For now, well, I shouldn’t have been swayed by the blackcurrant.