Lynxiegrl

Yay! I got my David’s Tea gift today!!! Was not expecting it til sometime next week! Anyways, given the fact that I didn’t get home til close to 9, I decided that it would be best to start out with an herbal. With any luck I will be getting up at a reasonable time tomorrow and will be having a black tea to help wake me up.

1st smell: Dry, interesting, but not especially notable. same wet.
1st taste: Odd. Not bad, but odd. As I am looking at the reviews, I am realizing that I didn’t get really any of the notes others picked up. Well ok got the apple, (kind of reminded me of hot apple cider.) Of course, I have never had Goji berries, so that is probably part of why I had no idea what to expect. Overall though I liked the cup, though I am thinking that I probably would not buy this tea on it’s own. And to me, based on the tastes, this is more of a Fall tea.

1st smell: A very faint hint of peach
1st taste: Same. I know, white tea is not terribly distinctive, but I’ve had white teas that were much more distinctive then this. It isn’t bad, it’s just boring. I am thinking I will mix it with Peach Tranquility for more peachy flavor, or maybe with Berry Basil Blast just to make it interesting. I didn’t care much for BBB either, but maybe combining them will make it more drinkable til they both get finished. Truthfully, I am kind of surprised that this tea made it out to the floor, it being so…bland. Considering Teavana’s tendency to over flavor their teas.

I have never ever tried any Mate type teas before…
1st smell steeped. Truthfully the smell was a bit off putting. It smelled really grassy. And not even a sweet grassy smell.
1st taste: Not bad really. It almost tastes like it has mint in it….might be the lemongrass. I know that might sound weird, but lemongrass has some of the fresh, reviving taste to it that mint does to me, so that is probably why I am associating the two. Note: Because I have never had a Mate tea before, I decided to go lower then the recommended temp (Teavana’s recommended temp is 208.) I went with the ‘French Press’ setting on my kettle, 200. I think next time I will try it at Boiling, see how it handles. I suspect I might like it better.

1st smell: Lovely. sweet.
1st taste: This is my 1st H & S tea, to my knowledge anyways. I like it. Not sure if I will like it enough to want to buy a full sized tin for it, but certainly to get another sample case of it from my favorite tea shop. (Little round ‘box’ comes with about six large pyramid bags. ) I did 1 resteeping….The flavor was very noticeably less, although I still enjoyed drinking it I felt that a resteep after that would be pointless. But there was so much of it that I thought it could handle a resteep.

1st smell: Odd. Berry-ish. an undertone of something not quite appealing. Maybe it was the basil? though I do like basil, just not expecting it with a fruity tea.
1st taste: Same mostly.

The only thing distinctive about this tea is that it’s marginally better then the Watermelon Mint Chiller.

1st smell: barely anything
1st taste: same
Now this is the 1st time I’m having this, and it maybe that I did something wrong in the prep. But got to say….I am not in anyway impressed with this tea. It would probably taste alright as an ice tea….I’ll let it cool down and then see how it tastes. But at any rate, since my Dad has been showing mild interest in fruity teas, I think I will give him this. Truthfully I expected a more dominant taste from the fruit. I can definitely taste the mint, and I am glad it doesn’t over power…of course considering the fruit is barely there, over powering mint wouldn’t be that big of an issue, would it?

The Shanghai Orchid was one of the teas I got at Teavana’s the day after Christmas. I mixed it with Peach Tranquility, (Which I got a lot more of.)
1st smell: Light and Flowery.
1st Taste: Not bad. If you like flowery teas, then see if you can get this one. If not, well if by chance you do get it, be best to drink it fast in a smallish cup. Once it cools, the flowery taste gets stronger. This would not make a good iced tea. Not a terrible one though. Just rather boring.

It has been a long while since I’ve been WOW!ed by a tea:) I had gotten a semi ridiculous amount of tea today, due to the After Christmas Heavenly sale at Teavana’s. Ok on to it:)

1st smell: light, and sweet but not terribly distinctive.
1st taste: As was the sample in the store…I thought it was awfully dry tasting, and I am not generally a dry taste fan. (Dry as in doesn’t quench the thirst, or would sooth a sore throat.) But I kept coming back to it, and figured, what the hay..? I’ll buy some and see how much I like it by the time I finish the bag.

My second cup of tea today;) Trying to convince myself to start cleaning, because we (My Dad and StepMom) are hosting Christmas Day Dinner and I foolishly volunteered to clean, so I am deliberately having plenty of caffeine. Anyways….(In case it doesn’t say…I’m the one who added this tea. The shop in question is Tranquilitea, in Plymouth Michigan. It is my favorite shop and all the staff that I’ve met are terrific, and their prices are reasonable. Sorry but I cannot supply the link to the shop website, but it is easily googled.

1st Smell: Light and flowery.
1st taste: Coconut. LOL I am not sure why I am getting the impression of coconuts, as that is not among the ingredients. But that is ok, I like coconuts. It also tastes flowery. Not in a overly heavy flower taste, but like the smell, light, unassuming. Definitely going to get this again.

Wooo! I do not know if this tea is actually from Perennial Tea Room, as where I got it, the shop owner prefers to not reveal the origin of the teas.

1st Smell: Mmmm. Lovely. Bergamot with the sweet light smell of roses.
1st taste: Just as lovely as the smell. I love the smell and taste of roses in tea. I think the next time I make this, (Which probably should be in a pot.) will be with a splash of vanilla syrup, as I’ve gotten used to EG cream, and miss that, to slightly blunt the intensity of the Bergamot.)

2nd tea testing today! lol. I got this along with the Twinings Pumpkin Chai.

1st smell: Peach! Some tanginess which I assume is the ginger.
1st taste: Again peach. I had to add plenty of sugar, and even then this tea is quite dry. It isn’t bad and a fair tea to have on hand. I think I might make a few pitchers of ice tea with this, so I will use up more….I am afraid I won’t drink enough of it before it gets stale. I wish ROT had smaller canisters of like 25, I know they do of some flavors, and I wish it were possible to buy them in the stores, or at least the stores that I frequent.

Got a box of this at my local fruit market, they have a fair tea section…(Which includes Republic of Tea! Woot!

LOL. Anyways….

1st smell: spicy, warmth
1st taste: same. This is a tea that I would definitely have after an hour or so of shoveling snow. I love pumpkin pie, and so the spices remind me alot of that, though have to admit that I am missing the heavy pumpkin taste. But not a problem really. Be nice to try this as a latte

Got this at Kroger….I am really pleased that my local store is finally developing a better tea selection.

1st smell: Since it was from a tea bag, not much of a smell, and did come thru…was not inspiring.
1st taste: Apples. That is really all I can taste. Not complaining though, Was afraid that it would have cinnamon in it and for some reason apples and cinnamon together sometimes tastes weird to me.

I would definitely get this tea again, as well as be inclined to check out the other flavors. The package says to brew it at 158, I used the lowest setting of 160 on my variable temp kettle.

A while back I saw this tea on a discussion, and was curious. While I do prefer flavored teas, particular tisanes (Yes I know, they are technically not ‘tea.’) I want to broaden my horizons more. And plus wanted to find a morning tea that has plenty of caffeine.
1st smell: Strongly astringent
1st taste: I knew by the smell that I would not be able to taste it without a bunch of sweetener. I decided to use honey as my sweetener. I put in 3 very full spoonfulls of honey into the cup, stirred it and took a sip.

Bleh! No matter how much honey I put in, it did not improve the taste. I did look up the reviews for the tea before making it, (Which generally I don’t do.) and saw many people mention that steeping it for more then 2 or 3 minutes would be a mistake. So I steeped for 1 minute and 25 seconds. Still very astringent.
If I can convince myself to try another cup…(Debatable…depends on how masochistic I am feeling I guess.)I will try for 30 seconds. I still might see if I can give it away or swap it. I would rather it go to someone who enjoys it.

I had this last night. Despite the fact that it says caffeine free, it does have chocolate in it, and I think that plus the sugar is what kept me up pretty late last night….though being a terrible night owl it could of been anything.
1st smell: Sweet and strawberryish.
1st taste: Pretty sweet. Not overkill though.

While I’ll be ok finishing off the canister…I am not sure I will get this one again. It wasn’t terrible….but not really inspiring either. I think I agree with another person that posted a review for this tea. They said that they think it would taste better with a black tea base then a rooibos. I have liked most of the rooibos teas I have had, but I don’t know…..who knows maybe it would taste just as uninspiring with a black tea base. I think I am going to try writing to ROT and see what they think. Some companies appreciate that kind of thing…others don’t.

This was my favorite bagged tea from years ago. I used to love going up to Borders, collecting a bunch of books then sitting down for a couple of hours to flip thru them to see if I want to buy them. (This is also when I was making more $$.) Anyways, this flavor is what I got most of the time there. But for whatever reason I stopped drinking it and the canister of tea ended up getting really stale in the cupboard….and I forgot what brand of tea it was, til I happened to look up “Blackberry Sage” and there it was on the ROT website. I recognized the logo and everything. And then! I found that my local favorite fruit market carries this brand. Yippeeee!!!! jumps up and down Ok…down to the review:

1st smell: Mmm. Never been a huge fan of eating blackberries because of the food stains. I have always been big so self conscious to being judged about pigging out. But, this smelled just as sweet as I remembered.
1st taste: I added some of my german rock sugar…and some apriva. rolls eyes I really shouldn’t need to add so much sweetener.

IMHO this is much better then the bagged version. There is no having to contend with the slight papery taste to the tea. And the black tea base is perfect for this. As for the sage. lol…not being very acquainted with sage so I am not sure how much of that plays a part.

I got this tea yesterday, (Yeah even though I promised myself I would not buy anymore tea before Christmas, but I caved when I had to get more German Rock Sugar. Pfft. Enablers.)

I got these both seperately because I wanted to try it seperately 1st. Which didn’t work out that way. I ended up combining them.
1st smell of both: the Maharaja, it smelled very spicy and cinnamony. I do like cinnamon, but in small doses. And what chai’s I have had, I like to extents. 1st smell of the Tulsi Dosha…like the 1st, but softer, warmer. like vanilla. I brewed it to the directions of the Oolong, or rather as close as I could get, at 190, (bag suggested 195.) and plus I saw others mentioned the lower temperature, the creaminess comes thru more.

1st taste: Cinnamon vanilla. those were the 2 immediate impressions I got. I also found it to be familiar tasting. It took me a little bit to figure out what it tasted like. Zingiber Ginger Coconut. At 1st, I admit I was alittle bit annoyed, I mean I love Zingiber, but I don’t need another tea that tastes like it. But as I continued sipping my cup, it appealed to me. Not sure if I would get this again, and I think I might try to do an actual taste comparison with the Zingiber.

I had actually gotten this a while back, but realised I didn’t log it. (or might of just logged it with The Jasmine Sutra.)
But I think it’s only fair to do a tea review for itself.
1st smell: Fresh clean smell. Almost too much of a floral smell, I can certainly see why that puts many people off.
1st taste: Surprisingly, the smell almost put me off from the taste. So I worked on ignoring the scent, while drinking this tea. Now, I could not drink this everyday, (Though really have not found any tea I could drink everyday.) But I’d like to have this on hand for when I need to calm down near to bedtime. I don’t remember what temp and time I did this at, but probably as close to recommendations as I could get.

With the Jasmine Sutra: Simply delicious. I can pretty much only have green teas in the early evening unless I will be staying up late.

Last tea sample in the 5 I was sent from Fusion Teas. sad face

1st smell: Deep, orangery and interesting.
1st taste: I think I might of steeped it to long, next time I’ll try it at 5 minutes instead of 10. I think the longer steep brings out the hibiscus, and bah, can’t say I am a fan of that.

This is a sample thanks to the gang at Fusion Teas.

For a couple of years I’ve loved Perfect Peach from Bigelow, and ever since I started drinking loose teas…I’ve been looking to replace it. This tea comes very close. I found the temp suggestion to be a bit odd, and alittle frustrating….it suggests 203, well I don’t have that one, but I do have a 200 for French Press, so that is what I used. I am really wishing I had bought online the kind of kettle where you can set whatever temp you desire, instead of set buttons.
1st Smell: The sweet heavy smell of peaches really come thru.
1st taste: Same. I love the smell of peaches, and have yet to meet a peach tea that I don’t like. LOL. So even though it didn’t quite match the taste of Perfect Peach, this tea I definitely want to get again! And who knows, maybe after adjusting temp time/steep time I might find that it does match.

I got this as a sample from the cool gang at Fusion Teas. check them out if you havn’t already.

I am not sure why I picked this one…I don’t even like Champagne all that much, and Raspberries can be hit or miss.
1st smell: light, sweet.
1st Taste: Same with a dry bite at the end….I say bite because I wasn’t expecting it. This tea is not a dessert tea, but it is one I would consider having with dessert, sweet enough to be a good pair, but not overpowering.

Would I get it again? I am not opposed to the idea, but not sure how often I would drink it. As much as I would dearly love to have thousands of teas to choose from every day, I really need to think in terms of how often would I drink it. Devised a rule for my tea cupboard: If I buy a bag of tea at least 3-4 times, and maintain in liking it, then I will continue buying it and it gets it’s own tin/box. I only got so much room:(

This is thanks to the Fusion Teas Gang.smiles

1st smell: Truthfully when I smelled it…I didn’t care for it, it didn’t smell bad, it is just…….I didn’t expect it to smell like cereal. None the less I went thru with preparing it. The package said 170 temp, but instead of going lower, I decided to use the green tea button at 175. (The next lowest temp was 160. I felt that would be too low, but thinking next time I will try that one.)
1st taste: With my sugar taste buds being impaired, I added a handful of rock sugar to the cup before pouring, and ended up adding some apriva as well.. Anyways…1st taste: As you might of guessed, with my 1st smell thinking it smelled like cereal, as was my 1st taste. lol. But as I’ve sat down with my cup, I begun to have a growing appreciation for it. For the most part I do like herbal and fruit Tisanes, and fruity white and green teas, but lately alot of my fruit teas have been kind of tasting the same, though varied in strength. That tells me I need to change it up a notch, so hoping that I can find some greens and whites that aren’t fruity, or at least not overwhelmingly.

This is a sample thanks to the gang at Fusion Teas.

I had wanted to review the last tea that I had from the Teavivre tonight (Apple Awakening.) But I was too curious about this one that I had to try it out.
This is an interesting tea. Lately I’ve had a completely unintentional theme of coming across teas/tisanes that are quiet, but still enjoyable, despite my preference for more crazy/complex teas/tisanes.
1st smell: MMmmm smells great! I smell both the lemon and rose at once, though not to perfume-y. For those who don’t care for perfume-y teas, I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about.
The tea is an Oolong base, which I still don’t know much about…but that’s ok. The package suggested 180, unfortunately that is not an option on my kettle, so I went with 175, thinking a lower temp would go better. Maybe I should try the Oolong setting next time, to see how that goes? (190) Whatcha all think?
1st taste: Like I said, quiet. The perfume smell goes down a fair amount.
2nd steeping: So far….not quite standing up to a 2nd steeping. It is still drinkable, but noticeably weaker. But I think I still got about 2-3 cups left in the package, so we’ll see.
The question is, would I buy this tea? Yes I would.

Lately I have not been rating my teas, at 1st it was because I got out of the habit, but truthfully, I am not comfortable with the rating system. Though if you asked me why, I would be unable to articulate why I don’t like it. But I don’t believe in judging others for making different decisions, so those who do like it, Go for it! Grins

This sample is yet again thanks to the Teavivre gang:)

This tea is not one I am inclined to have again after I am done with the sample. It’s drinkable, but only just. Frankly I got plenty of fruit teas that I enjoy alot more then this, and can get them locally. I’m thinking I should of stuck to black, greens, oolongs, and whites in my taste test, as I’ve been wanting to expand my horizons beyond the herbal, fruit and rooibos teas that have pretty much taken over my cupboard. That being said however, I am looking forward to trying the last tea of the bunch, the Apple Awakening.