Missy

This is seriously one awesome tea. I’ve been looking for a rooibos chai just like this for a while. Frank had to go and make exactly what I wanted. He must be psychic.

I’ve had a few times before I reviewed it just to make sure this isn’t a tea crush. I still love it just as much as when I first tried it. It’s spiced perfectly. The cardamom is strong with out over powering the cinnamon and clove. Love, love love this one!

This is one of the teas we got in that evil grab bag promotion. I think Frank is out to get us! It is such a conundrum to see all those interesting teas and know there is a good chance that one bag is it.

For me, maple and brown sugar are present in equal portions. The oatmeal comes in right after and seems to add some texture to the tea. It’s quite interesting. This comes from some one who refuses to eat cooked oatmeal. It just looks gross. Dry/raw I can eat it by the handful. The tea feels bold or robust, like some thing I would drink if I wanted a wake up tea. I feel like I’m having dressed up oatmeal with a cup of tea. I’m glad we got a grab bag this was an interesting experience.

This was provided by Angel and Teavivre for review. Thank you! I am grateful I got the chance to try it.

This is such a beautiful tea. Rich and robust with malt and light grain notes. Sweet potato and a light fruity flavor finish this cup. I’m totally keeping this one around.

This is a sample from Sandy by way of Azzrian. Thanks guys!

I don’t have many fruity teas but this is one really good strawberry tea. I taste strawberries and cream and/or custard. The flavoring is done well with out being too heavy and fake feeling. I think the base plays nice, seems to be a brisk but not sharp or bitter. A very nice cup.

This is another sample from Sandy. Thanks!

I love the level of chocolate in here. The raspberry seems to come in right behind it and feels quite natural. I’d swear there is some sort of nut in here as well. The nutty flavor is faint enough I am having a hard time identifying it. I’m also getting a cream flavor as well. This is spot on for a raspberry truffle. The base is smooth and well behaved.

This is a sample from Sandy. Thanks!

So this is no bueno. Berry flavors are up front and aggressive. It’s very much like what I’d expect a berry perfume to be. Maybe just a little too much artificial stuff going on here. The base seems to be particularly finicky as my normal flavored tea brewing parameters turned out a bitter tea. Most of the time those parameters work well on flavored teas. I don’t think I’ll revisit this one any time soon.

Thanks for the shot at Sandy.

We got this one to compare with the jasmine pearls which I love. It makes me giggle now. I used to have a serious hate on floral teas and for the most part still do. They need to be subtle for me to appreciate.

This is again super strong in the jasmine fu. It doesn’t seem soapy or perfume-y, just LOTS of jasmine. It’s heavy and sweet but has a funny sharpness as an after taste. I wouldn’t describe the sharpness as bitterness. I think the jasmine tea for me will remain the jasmine pearls. This one is a bit too strong in the jasmine force, young padawan.

This sample was sent to me for review. Thank you Angle and Teavivre.

The white teas I’ve tried so far see to consist of a dry vegetal note that reminds me of hay, cucumber and pepper. This doesn’t really have the cucumber flavor and very little of pepper. It may be the jasmine as it’s pretty powerful in here. Underneath the jasmine there is a sweeter apple note.

I think the jasmine fu is too strong with this one for it to earn a spot in my cupboard. However, I’m glad I got the chance to try it.

This is one I specifically requested from Azzrian. I’m glad I got to try it.

It’s silky smooth in texture and taste. While I find it light in body, I feel like I’m getting a good vanilla flavor. The base seems to be a bit malty but a little thin? I feel like some thing is missing. This could be totally mental because I know it’s decaf, but I feel like the “tea bite” is missing. There is some component that I expect to experience which isn’t here. Other than that, I think it’s pretty well done. The vanilla doesn’t feel artificial or overdone.

I’m not sure decaf is some thing I need to keep around. I do enjoy rooibos a fair amount and it’s not caffeinated.

This is another sample from Azzrian. Thanks again my friend.

This is robust, bold and strong. It has a nice malty finish. This is very enjoyable for a convenient brew. I didn’t find it bitter or particularly astringent which just makes this better. It’s really good iced too. :D

This is another sample from Azzrian, thank you!

I’ve tried this before but I felt it was a bit thin on flavor. This time I doubled the amount of leaf and added a minute to the steep time. I think that worked for the thin feeling.

The package says this contains ceylon and green tea, but they are so far in the background I can not identify them. I feel like I’m getting a tea after taste though. The spices play a stronger role here, however. I’m getting cardamom, cinnamon and clove as the most prominent. Ginger, nutmeg and pepper seem to follow them. The name implies vanilla but I’ve not found it here really. This leans more towards sweet and that may be the vanilla. I have to say I’m pretty impressed since Tupperware had a hand in this one. That’s just not a company I associate with tea. Thanks again Azzrian.

Today I’m going to try some samples Azzrian sent me. Thanks! She was very considerate in her choices. Now I get to try another pu-erh. :D

Caramel and toffee are right up front. They are balanced by a salty flavor. The contrast is balanced really well and is quite pleasant. Underneath, I taste leather and horses. This tastes like my grandpa’s tack barn used to smell. Since that was one of my favorite places to be as a child, this brings back many happy memories. I learned to catch critters and snakes in there. I learned how to ride and befriend a horse there. I just had some quality time with my grandpa. I think pu-erh and I shall be friends. Thanks again Azzrian.

This had the same dark chocolate, malty notes I expect. It did surprise me with the addition of a grainy flavor. I thought it was softer than the others. It ends well with a fruity flavor but very little smoke. In fact, I thought this one was the least smokey of them all.

While I believe all of these teas to be of equal quality, grade 2 is the one I shall keep. I like the robust qualities it shows. Thanks to Angel and Teavivre for the chance to try this one out. :D

This is smooth and rich with malt and chocolate notes. I find it falls a little shorter on the fruit notes than the grade 1. I also thought it had less smoke. ohmygurd where is the smoke!? The smoke I was looking for is pretty tame with this one. A great tea but I really want more in the smoke department, so grade 2 is still top dawg!

Today we have another tea faceoff. The contestants shall all be Keemun. Lovely stuff so far.

This is much like the grade 2 we tried previously but smoother and more refined. I think there is a fruity sweetness to it that the grade 2 doesn’t really have. The smoke that follows the rich, malt seems to be about the same in each. I do think that Grade 2 has my attention for now. It just feels a little more robust. This is for a more classy lady than I. ;)

I’m drinking this one with my lunch. Rich buttery notes lead into a nutty flavor. I really like how smooth this is. Goes perfectly with my granola bar. I know not that complex of a lunch but I wasn’t really hungry and it was time to get some thing into the bod.

I like the roasted flavor on this one. It’s not as aggressive as some of the others I’ve tried but really seems to make for a sweeter tea. I feel like I’ve got brown sugar in my cup. There is a nice dry vegetal note which blends nicely with the brown sugar sweetness. A very smooth, well behaved cup.

Today is a nice day to try out some oolongs. It’s overcast and cool. I love this weather. It was pretty warm here yesterday. I’d say the warmest day so far this summer. I’m glad to see it cool off again.

This is a very comfortable feeling tea, so relaxing. I feel like my body is unwinding. That’s interesting. I’ve not come across a tea that will cause stress to leak out of my muscles but that’s how I’d label this. Maybe I’m just in this sort of mood, but I’m going to blame the tea this time.

It reminds me of dry grass, clover and hot rocks. If you made your own sauna in the back yard this is close to what you’d smell I think. I’m also reminded of the hot springs we used to find all over Nevada. They have a hot mineral smell too.

I tried this one again today. Sandy passed it to us.

I still think there is some thing off with this particular batch. I get a lot of maple syrup and rooibos. There is a strange burnt taste. Burnt is probably the only thing I can really liken it to. It reminds me of brush fires.

It’s very sweet and would be totally awesome if the bad flavor would just disappear.

This is another time when I distrust my taste buds. The rooibos and berries are coming through but not as strong as I expected them. I mostly taste bubblegum. It’s a nice flavor just not what I expected. If I hadn’t seen the package first, I’d say this is cran-blackberry gum rooibos. In any case, this is pretty good iced too. More bum flavor. :D

This is a lot like once upon a tea, except that one is good and this one is skipper of the failboat. I’m really surprised because I think of SerendipiTea as really good at these types of flavors.

For the most part this was just sour, creamy rooibos, which does not make for a pleasant cup. After my cup had cooled down quite a bit I did pick up hints of vanilla and chocolate but they weren’t strong enough to redeem the sourness. Maybe the yogurt bits weren’t quite right.

This is very good. It really gives the impression that I’m drinking pina coloda. Smooth and creamy with a heavier mouth feel to it just like the drink. I think the pineapple and coconut are done really well since they feel pretty natural. Iced, this is the perfect drink for a hot summer day. This one shall get some cupboard space. :D

Yum, yum, Yum! I think will satisfy cravings for chocolate in the morning and wake my sleepy head up. Lovely chocolate, malt and that awesome roasted flavor are just perfect together. I get a hint of banana as well. Any one else taste that?

This was the 4th tea in the comparison today. I enjoyed it but it isn’t quite what I was looking for. It would be a pretty nice morning cup if you wanted some thing rich, smooth and sweet. Very well behaved and full bodied but I thought it didn’t have quite the character that the other 3 did. So while I enjoyed it, it won’t be a keeper for me.