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KallieBoo! Thank you for this one too!

There’s definitely a nice earthy puerh base here, with an indescribable sweetness. If I didn’t know it was supposed to be ‘fruity’ I’m not sure I would have necessarily picked up on it. There’s a subtle blossom flavor, and definitely a sweet flavor. I couldn’t tell you what fruits are here, but they do compliment the base instead of overpowering or dectracting from it.

I enjoyed this cup as well!

I received this one from both TastyBrew and momo, which is awesome, because I really liked this!

This tastes like adult hot chocolate, with strong malty notes and a rich cocoa flavor. The mate is roasty and really amplifies the malt aspect. I don’t find the chocolate flavor as offensive as I typically do, but it’s got that tiny bit of artificial twinge.

I really want to try this sweetened with milk. But even without, it’s a solid and yummy cup.

Thanks guys!

I received this one, with thanks, from KallieBoo!

The flavors here harmonize well and this makes a rather nice cup. The base is a very mild black base, with mild bergamot and delicate floral notes at the tail of the sip.

Thanks again!

Like TastyBrew, I passed this over when doing my free samples because the descriptor ‘smoky’ typically scares me away. But I’m really really glad they included this, because it’s really lovely.

The dry leaf smells kind of cocoa, sweet wood, and plums. It didn’t smell quite like, but was really evocative of an aged Merlot.

I brewed this up western style, with just under 2 teaspoons at 205, for 4 minutes for my 9 oz cup.

The steeped aroma changes into something warmer and sweeter, still a little plummy smelling, but also has a lovely earthiness to it and cocoa. I could sit here and smell this all day. Yum. The taste was naturally sweet, with a wonderful toasted nuttiness and slightly fruity notes that hung somewhere between peach and plum. There’s also a definite cocoa hint in here too that tails the end of the sip. I’m not getting anything I’d call smokey, but definitely roasty toasty and warming.

This is an awesome introduction to Yezi Tea and I can’t wait to try the rest of my samples. I’m pretty sure there’s definitely going to be an order from this.

Thank you again to Angel and Teavivre for providing this sample!

The dry leaves are mossy green and rolled quite thin, like new blades of grass. The leaf smells like fresh hay, sweet and slightly savory.

Once steeped, the aroma is very green and very much steamed veggies. And the taste works right with that!

Honestly, this was one of those teas where Fiance got an instant message of me gushing about a tea.

The flavors are a balance of spinach, nori, and asparagus. It’s natural sweet, but still buttery, full and vegetal. The aftertaste lingers and holds onto that buttery veggie flavor with just a subtle hint of a roasted flavor. I think it tastes a lot like over-roasted asparagus with that full-bodied sweet and slightly nutty note.

There is some astringency in this tea, and while I don’t find it offputting (or even bothersome), I could imagine that some people might.

I got two really solid steepings out of this (the third fell flat), but the first was by far the best.

This is well worth a try for green tea lovers!

I got this sample thanks to momo!

Steeped, it looks like cup of grape juice. It’s a nice reddy-purple color. Taste-wise this tastes almost exactly like the Slow Swing without the green tea base. For me, the tartness and nondescript fruitiness completely miss the mark.

(So pretty much all of this http://steepster.com/teas/serendipitea/39498-slow-swing applies here)

I’ve just had really poor luck with fruit blends lately.

I picked this up during Teavana’s last 75% off sale, and I hate admitting I liked it as much as I did.

Honestly, if I were rating this tea on smell alone, it’d be a pretty solid 95! It smells like sweet caramel almond cookies and a little slice of heaven.

As far as taste goes, it’s a lovely dessert or relaxation tea and still places highly for me. The almond flavor is pastry/bakery almond, not marizipan. And there’s a definite underlying sweetness from the various candied agents. (Seriously, there are huge chunks of candied violet in here). The rose flavor, that I was expecting more of, was delicate and well-placed. It added depth without stealing any attention away from the main flavors. With a tiny splash of milk and honey, this is insanely good.

I kept reading about Handmade Tea in all the traveling tea box posts, so in my curiosity, I treated myself to a subscription! So this is my first Handmade Tea! Yay!

This is a really savory blend, with plenty of interest offered by the combination of seeds. I really like that the tea here is the primary interest and everything else just adds depth. The fennel adds a bit of sweetness and the cumin a sort of woodsy flavor. That said, with fennel and anise, I definitely expected a licorice punch! Instead the herbs are in harmony so that no one flavor overpowers the other, making something hearty and deeply satisfying. The combination of teas used for the base also aid in this, adding a slight smokiness and helping the cumin hold up.

The overall cup is warming and definitely suited towards the coming weather. I agree with Debbie that peppercorns would have been a fantastic addition, making a slight spiciness and adding just the last bit of oomph I think this cup needs.

I’ve been meaning to do reviews of these for a while, but somewhere between school, work, and getting sick, life beat me down hard this last week or so.

Received this, with many thanks, from the folks of JusTea in conjection with their campaign going on (which you can find at at http://www.justea.com/)

This is a very bright/fresh flavored black tea. It’s like a wake up party in my mouth! It’s also quite robust, with some wondeful balance between stone-fruit sweetness, malt and and fresh woodsy flavors. There’s a slight bit of astringency, but nothing I would call distracting or even unexpected.

The second steep (5 minutes) is similar to the first, though slightly sweeter and perhaps a little softer around the edges.

This is a really solid morning tea, or something to just kick back into and recooperate with later in the day.

I used more leaf than I normal would (2 tsp for 8 oz), as S&V teas sometimes seem to come out watery to me. And then I got worried, because the liquor seemed to go auburn almost immediately and only get darker from there. I still stuck it out for three minutes, though.

What I got came out smelling cinnamony with hints of cocoa and bread (and definitely tea).

Flavor wise it tastes like a cinnamon black with hints of unsweetened cocoa in the back. The extra leaf definitely gave it a stronger flavor with a kind of thick mouthfeel, it, however, also made a really astringent cup. I feel like I need a glass of milk to add moisture back to my tongue. The flavors here are also kind of muddled and I don’t get any sort of baked goods taste or anything that even makes me think brownies.

I won’t review until I try a couple different brewing parameters, but this one didn’t do much for me.