Michelle Szetela

Fair to middling supermarket-acquired tea; good tea bag, but the tea itself looked a bit broken (not whole tea leaves). Held up with milk and sugar, but didn’t have an especially pronounced, strong tea flavor or aroma. Would brew with a longer steep time in the future.

Bland, absolutely no tea taste of any kind, let alone black tea. Adding milk and sugar made the beverage taste of diluted hot milk. Relatively flavorless.

As far as mint teas go: meh. Did have some peppermint aroma and taste that tempered by spearmint, but I couldn’t taste much of the spearmint.

Love this tea! Sweet, strawberry (and slightly chocolate) aroma; excellent bright yet slightly sweet strawberry flavor very well enhanced with milk or half-and-half, and sugar. One of my very favorites.

One of my favorite teas: Really good light strawberry aroma, good strawberry flavor that’s enhanced by the addition of milk (half-and-half even better) and a small bit of sugar (the tea is naturally a bit sweet; too much sugar and the tea will become cloying). Love it!

Pretty good darjeeling (not a type of tea I generally go for); preferred to steep mine a bit longer than the recommended 3-minute brew, but good flavor, holds up well with milk and sugar, no bitter aftertaste.

This has definitely become one of my favorite teas, one that I’ll be ordering again. Beautifully strong, holds up excellently with milk and sugar, doesn’t have a bitter aftertaste that so many black teas have if you don’t add the milk and sugar – just the way I love my tea! Fantastic hearty taste.

A really lovely light, orange-scented rooibos; tasted lightly of oranges, with sweet citrus undertones. Really enjoyable!

Had an okay citrusy, orangey, vanilla aroma, but not much of an orange/vanilla taste. The vanilla was very subtle and made the tea sweet (in that there was no bitter aftertaste), but I couldn’t muster much enthusiasm. Might be okay with milk and sugar, but didn’t try it with these additions.

Another rather mediocre English Breakfast tea; no real depth to the flavor. Adding milk and sugar made it even blander. (And what was with the recommended there-minute steep time?) Perhaps if it had been steeped longer, it would have had more flavor.

Rather mediocre tea; no strong flavor; tasted a bit dusty. Okay orange aroma, but no real depth to the taste. Slightly unpleasantly bitter without milk and sugar.

I liked the taste of this one very marginally more than the Cooling Mint Tulsi; there were complexities there I couldn’t identify, but as with the Cooling Mint Tulsi, it was an interesting blend that I’d never had the likes of before. Herbal, in an herb garden-type of way.

This was one of the more interesting teas (in a good way) I’ve ever had. Listed as a tisane, it smelled more like an aromatic herb (and the plant from which it comes belongs to the same family as basil and rosemary).It smelled really fragrant, like an herb garden. It wasn’t very sweet, but had a nicely rounded subtle sweetness to it, likely the result of whatever mints were added. I couldn’t taste any strong mint, but there did seem (to me) to be some subtle peppermint and spearmint. Very interesting and quite nice!

This was fantastic! And is now one of my favorite Earl Greys. I could smell the lavender before I started brewing my tea, but I could taste the rosemary more when I drank the tea (with milk and sugar). Surprised at how much I enjoyed this; had a lovely rounded taste. I love lavender Earl Greys but the addition of the rosemary worked very well.

A good solid, Earl Grey; wasn’t any more aromatic or than other loose leaf Earl Greys I’ve tried, but a good tea. Recommended steep time was three minutes, but I steeped mine for five (I like my teas a bit stronger). Held up well with milk and sugar.

Has a surprisingly sweet, mellow aftertaste that worked very well as an iced tea. Pleasant and smooth as a hot tea, with shades of peppermint (which left a nice menthol aftertaste) and had the sweetness of spearmint.

I was surprised that I had bought just the spices; as such, I could whichever tea base I wished (I used Upton Tea’s decaffeinated Assam). Since I’d only bought a few ounces, I brewed the concoction too strongly this first go (and I like my tea strong). The spices were good: strong and pungent, and held up wonderfully with milk and sugar. Good aroma, too, and I enjoyed having control over the amount of spiciness I wanted in a particular cup of tea.

I tried the decaf tea bag version, and was a bit unsure as to what to expect, since I’d never even heard of huckleberry tea before (nor have ever tried anything huckleberry-flavored). I thoroughly enjoyed this, though, It’s milder and rounder that the Market Spice Signature Blend, and the aroma is also sweeter and something I would be able to drink more often than the deliciously pungent Market Spice Signature Blend. It smelled delicious!

I drank the decaf loose leaf version, as well as the iced tea version, and I thought this was a truly excellent tea: Very strongly flavored (which I like), excellent cinnamon flavor, and hints of citrusy orange. The cinnamon made the tea both sharp and sweet, and the orange added a bit of sweetness also, such that milk and sugar weren’t necessary – although one could add either milk, sugar, or both, and the tea would hold up well (although I did notice that when adding milk, the orange aroma all but disappeared.)

I tend to like black currant tea – I’ve had it from other tea companies previously – and I liked this one, also. Not especially mind-blowing, but a good currant aroma, not too strong a flavor, but a decent cup of tea.

Was pleasantly surprised by this tea, since I normally have a strong dislike for anything peach-flavored (including peaches). However, the aroma was very nice, and it tasted very slightly sweet, with a nice rounded peach flavor. While I normally prefer my black teas with milk and sugar, this one was better without.

Not a bad tea; not my favorite, but had a nice slightly plummy and cinnamon aroma, better with milk and sugar, which brought out the subtleties of plum and cinnamon.

Comparative to a straight up lemon myrtle tea, this was a bit muted, but still very bright and lemony, both in fragrance and in flavor. Good iced!

Not a bad tea; not my favorite. Apple overtones, which is not my favorite base flavor, but I do like the black tea/green tea blend of teas.