Missy

This is another sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks for the chance at a new tea.

This is the best of Caraway so far. I thought the pomegranate was well done and not overly tart like some fruity teas. The white seems to be very subtle as I can’t tell you much about it. It may just be beyond my palate at this time. I know there is white tea in here but I am not picking up the flavors I expect from a white tea. In any case, I enjoyed this cup of tea. Thanks again Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie. :d

This is a sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks again for the generous envelope of goodies.

This is a very light in flavor and color. I’ve not had acai berry on it’s own but it reminds me of several other berries. The white tea seems to be very subtle, so it didn’t live up to my expectations. I think this would be pretty good as an iced tea for the berry flavor. Thanks again Annie.

This is a sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks for sharing! Miss Anny was rather nice and sent me a surprise package of tea. Very considerate lady.

So this tea is not my cuppa. I like that word cuppa. I’ve been waiting to use it for a while now. The tea has a strong seaweed flavor which is some thing I don’t enjoy right now. At first I thought a vague citrus was teasing me but I do get tangerine in the aftertaste. The biggest problem is this was really bitter.

I don’t feel I used too much leaf. In fact, it looked like less leaf than I generally pile into my Ingenuitea. I brewed at a lower temperature and for less time than the instructions called for so perhaps that contributed to the bitterness. In any case, this isn’t a tea I would keep around, but I’m glad I got to try it. Thanks again Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie.

Thanks Azzrian for the generous sample. This is one I specifically asked for. Azz being Azz sent me a well-filled box of teas to go with this. She is one awesome person. :D

I’ve know about lapacho for a while now. I peruse wiki when I’m restless and find random things to learn. A very dangerous hobby, since it leads to many hours of research generally.

This is a strange duck, but I like it. Orange and vanilla are an excellent combination in my head and both are present here. The lapacho is earthy and deep. It does have a slight bitterness. Like if you let your pill set too long on your tongue before you swallow it. The bitterness goes away really quickly, so it’s not bothersome.

I’m glad I got to try it, thanks again Azzrian. :D

This is another generous sample from Azzrian. Thanks again!

So I’m not terribly fond of this one. It is sweet and I can see the white chocolate association if I really look for it. It does have a creamy flavor to it. I think my biggest problem is with the rooibos. I understand the medicinal label for rooibos as this might fit that descriptor. Normally rooibos tastes like a vanilla bean after you have used the vanilla goodness out of it. It also tastes like redwood trees smell, just the trees themselves. This just doesn’t live up to that. Perhaps some thing went wrong with this batch. I know this isn’t what I expected. Miss Azzrian did send me a good sized sample so I’ll ice it and see what happens then. Thanks for the chance to try a new tea Azzrian. :D

This is a sample from Ashmanra. Thanks for the chance to try another moroccan mint!

This is a good example of a moroccan mint. It sweet from the mints. The base is exactly what I expected. I think this one may be heavier on the spearmint than I’m used to. I feel like this is a smoother version. Thanks again Ashmanra.

This is a sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie. Thanks for the generous sample!

This reminds me of a moroccan mint except they used a white tea instead of a gunpowder. Maybe not all moroccan mints use gunpowder but that’s been the base for it on those that I’ve tried. The mint is very subtle here though. This is probably a good thing since white teas are a bit coy. The white tea has met all my expectations as far as taste. Pretty well done tea for using a more subtle ingredient with two powerhouses. I dearly love mint but it’s rather pushy most of the time.

Thanks for the chance to try it Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie.

This was a sample from Sandy. Thanks!

So tonight we discovered some thing new when I got the cup of yellow death. I brewed this up in the Ingenuitea and never realized I may need to swirl the tea around before I split it into our cups. Dylan got the cup of lemony goodness and I got pledge death. I kept saying, “it tastes, like pledge, Sandy likes this?!” He would say, “no it doesn’t this is lemon candy.” No I beg to differ! Dylan then tasted my cup and we stumbled upon the reason for the make fair cup. So, I took the two cups and dumped them into each back and forth. Now I have a slightly stronger cup of lemon candy goodness. I’ve been making our samples this way for a while. It makes me wonder if this has been the reason for all of the discrepancies.

I read the description when I put this on the wishlist and thought OH EM GEE! I can get the base that my Colonille uses. It’s one of my favorite teas because it’s very smooth and I love vanilla. I was expecting some thing different so this probably isn’t a very fair review.

I’m not sure I’d ever label this one as clean. I get why Dylan said attic tea because it has a taste that reminds of dust or old things. Other than that, it is smooth. I have this metallic after taste in my mouth that reminds me of sticking my tongue on a 9 volt batteries when I was little. It’s just a little strange.

We love chai so we had to give this one a go. I think this is a pretty good chai, but more complex than I can do justice to.

Chocolate and cardamom are the most prominent flavors for me. Ginger and vanilla play a subtle back up role. There is a caramel like sweetness that adds to the chocolate. It’s definitely malty and smooth with a full body. You know it feels wetter than normal. ha, how silly, perhaps juicy is a better descriptor.

I know there is saffron in here but as I’m unfamiliar with it, I don’t understand exactly what it is adding here. Look now we have another ingredient to brew on it’s own for personal understanding. It can be the yellow cup of death. :D

The leaves are cute little twists. They remind me of little ringlets. My mother used to “finger” curl my hair when I was little, so I’ve seen pictures of me with ringlets all over my head. Perhaps I should call her up and ask her if she would like finger curl my hair now. ;)

So on to the tea, I thought this was very smooth and quite enjoyable. I had four solid gringo steepings. For the most part, I thought each steeping was a little sweeter, more refined but retaining the same flavors of dark chocolate, caramel, grain and malt. This also has a very interesting mouth feel to it. It’s heavy and full, much like real whipped cream.

This is an excellent tea and I’m glad we ventured out to buy from Verdant.

This is a pretty good tisane. The rosehips add tart to balance the sweeter fruit out. I definitely get apple and pineapple but the rest is hard for me to discern. It’s kind of like a fruit punch. This would probably be totally awesome iced.

This is another sample that came in an order.

I think this is pretty much pear and vanilla, with the pear being the strongest flavor. It’s pretty juicy as far as flavoring goes. I do get a tart aftertaste.

This is a sample from Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie, thanks!

I definitely get the cardamom, coriander and holy basil. I think the mint is more subtle than the above. The green reminds me of veggies. I’m not sure I’m that fond of this combination. It just doesn’t sweep me off of my feet. I would say I think it is a quality tea. Thanks for sending me a sample Anny Oxidant & the Tea Bullie!

This was a sample from one of the DAVIDsTEA orders we had. I thought I’d try it out despite Dylan’s dislike of mango. The last mango tea we had tasted more like pear, so it didn’t quite hit the mango hate button.

This does hit the mango hate button. It is very mango, mango, mango. Wait, let me say it again, MANGO! I like the chili follow up but I feel like I want more pepper less mango. The chili hits me in the throat and I want it to go, “Pow! I’m here!” on my tongue. I know there is green tea in here some where but I couldn’t say a thing about it.

This is my other oolong for today. I still think so far I really like the big red robe out of all the darker oolongs I’ve tried so far.

This has a dry, roasted quality with fruity notes. I’m having a hard time guessing which fruit but I’d say white grapes. Sweet with out the tang and such of berries or citrus. This is really quite a good cup.

This was another sample I specifically requested from miss Azzrian. Thanks again for the swap.

I like the darker notes of roasted oolong here. I think dark oolongs are my favorite, so far. So I tend to think of tea as vegetal when it’s not flavored because I feel like I get a bit of “plant” taste. I feel like it’s happened right after a heavy rain. You know the way the yard smells after it’s just poured down and the sun pops out. Every thing is clean and perky, that is what I get with this.

We got this in the grab back too. I’m sure I reviewed before because we had a tea off with this against the market spice when Azzrian sent us a sample. This one won out for a little more complex, deeper flavor. I’ll take the time to thank Azzrian again, thanks!

This is smooth and a bit malty. If I didn’t know better I’d say I’d accidentally dropped butterscotch chips into the market spice stuff. I like the base better on this one as well. It just seems a little more bold, not quite as hidden behind the flavoring.

I was particularly interested in this because I’m a total chocolate hound. I’m quite picky about my chocolate and generally only like dark chocolate. Frank does chocolate that suits me well.

I really like the new base. It feels smoother and bit more refined, maybe silky is a better descriptor. I love, love, love the level of chocolate in here. It’s not fake like say tootsie roll chocolate either. This is one awesome tea, now if it could only make it to the permanent collection. ;)

This is a tea we got from the grab bag. I was pretty impressed with the what was chosen for us. There wasn’t one that I was disinterested in.

This is pancakes with a bit of butter and maple syrup. I was really surprised at how close it actually is. I think I could have a granola bar in the morning for breakfast and fool myself with this. Any who I’m pleased with this one. :D

This was provided for review by Angel and Teavivre. Thanks guys!

This is smooth and sweet. I think the jasmine is done well enough it doesn’t hit my “I hate floral” button. I feel like I’m missing out on that apple-y taste the premium jasmine pearls have. I think they might be a bit more subtle on the jasmine as well. If you like jasmine, I think one will definitely fix that craving nicely.

This is another sample provided by Angel and Teavivre for my review. Thanks.

So this is much like the other green I tried today. Butter and spinach-y notes with maybe a nutty quality. I didn’t think it had the floral quality that the Organic Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea had. I think of the two, I would purchase the Organic Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea. It seems to be more complex. This one might be good for a comfortable cup of tea.

This is another sample sent to me by Angel and Teavire for review.

I’m not sure I enjoy green tea as much as blacks or oolongs, but this is pretty good. If I was a green tea lover, this is one I’d keep stocked up on. It’s creamy and smooth in texture. The strongest flavor I get is butter and some thing much like spinach. A floral sweetness shows up next. It’s not perfume-y or soapy. It reminds me of smelling fresh flowers growing in the neighbor’s yard. I guess it’s not powerfully floral. It really has a quite a sweet after taste. Not a bad cup at all. :D

I really wanted to try this one after the lapsang I had tried from Upton. For a while, I thought that I liked smokey flavors in tea but not a tea based on the smoke. This is really good and has corrected my opinion.

When I take a sip, I think dainty and light. The smoke seems to be middle of road. It’s not super strong, but there will be no mistaking it either. This really seems to be on the sweeter side as well. I think it makes a good balance for the smoke. I can see keeping a small bit of this around for some thing different to drink. This was quite enjoyable.