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So, I might have realized today that with my samples factored in, I have very nearly 350 different teas floating around. (342, to be precise). So. Um. Yikes.

That said, I decided to dip into my samples from Shmiracles today! All her stuff came pacakaged in little resealable bags with neatly printed labels so I feel like a total scrub with my exchanges :p

The first on I pulled out was this one. The Jane Austen Mafia. Which is a fantastic name for a band. And a tea.

So, in honor of Jane Austen, I’m going to write my review with as many titles as I can. I’m going to count each piece from the Juvenilia volumes as a different title!

Dear Reader,

If it helps, you can view this review as a little bit of fun and quirkiness coming through in the form of A Letter from a Young Lady who happens to be passionate about tea.

I may not be able to create A beautiful description of this tea, but I can say that the scent of the dry leaf (blackberries, vanilla, and cream) appeased all of the Sense and Sensibility I have in the area of comforting aromas. It certainly didn’t take much Persuasion to get me to dive in and brew my cup.

While I found that the blackberry was the strongest of the aromas present in the leaf, I think the cream flavor came through the most. But where did my blackberry flavor go? I was determined to solve The Mystery here! The solution became clear when I added a tiny bit of Truvia and popped the juicy fruit flavors.

The mix of teas here work really well together and I’m enjoying this as an after work cuppa. This would make a fantastic latte. I’m still not certain I’m the biggest fan of Adagio’s black base, but that might be A Tale for another time.

With Love and Freindship sic

moraiwe

(I had way too much fun writing this review)

5 tsp Vanilla Rooibos (Adagio)
6 tsp White Melon Yogurt (California Tea House)
2 quarts water

I’be been trying really hard to get creative with the teas I have in large quantities that I feel like I’ll never get through because I either a) burned myself out of them or b) think they’re overwhelmingly meh.

So, I made a pitcher of this cold steeped.

Aaaaaand. It’s really rooibos-y. Not terrible cedar chip levels of rooibos, but still definitely earthy and a little woody. It pretty much drowns out any subtleties from the white tea. I absolutely still pick up the fruity flavors and the vanilla complements them well, though! It makes a really smooth, almost-desserty fruit cup. It’s a little like eating melted melon ice cream out of an unsealed wood bowl, so you pick up just a little bit of woody earthy flavor with every bit.

I think I’d rather find something else to mix with each of them though.

Rating: 56/100

Man. I know it’s supposed to be pineapple, papaya, and strawberry but this really really tastes like apricot with a mild dose of papaya to me. I smell strawberry too, which makes it weirder. This brewed up more green tea-esque, even as a green/black blend, at the temperature I used, with really faint veggie notes coming through and a lovely golden liquor. The black tea doesn’t add much for flavor, but does lend itself to smoothing the whole cup out. The fruit flavors here are really vibrant and the star of this cup, though.

It reminds me a lot of Della Terra’s Sunshine, though smoother and maybe a little less artificial. If I didn’t have so much tea right now, this would be an awesome addition to a summer iced tea repetoire.

I’ve been babysitting (doggysitting?) my mom’s three greyhounds today (and last night) while she helps my sister move down in Iowa. So I figured while I’m here (mostly) confined to the house, I could pound through samples and sipdowns!

So this one is from my last Butiki order, and my wish list there just keeps growing. This one got added to that.

The guayasa base tastes like fresh lawn clippings. In a good way. It’s refreshing and light. And the tangerine might smell like citrus peel, but the taste is just right and perfectly balanced between loud and subdued taste. The creaminess isn’t really pronounced until the tea starts cooling and then it’s absolutely like a creamsicle. A little touch of honey only furthers the illusion of drippy melted popsicle bliss.

My trigger finger is getting so antsy on the Butiki site. GAH.

My wards: http://instagram.com/p/Z6SQrtinHk/

This is a really, really smooth cup!

On the sip, I only get that really smooth base with no astringency and some lemony citrus flavor. The bergamont here is really minimal, and not bergamonty which I really like. The vanilla and caramel come as an aftertaste that lingers on the tongue long after the sip.

I don’t know if these are flavors that remind me of Paris, (ATR’s Brioche absolutely gets that honor) but it’s a really satisfying blend of flavors.

Thanks whatshesaid for sending me some of this one!

So, seeing as today is one of my unbirthdays, I thought I’d try this tea!

This reminds me of drinking peaches in unsweetened ginger syrup. Which I happen to like. I did a short(ish) steep because Adagio has made me wary of oversteeping when trying new flavored black teas. The base here was still a little bitter, but very light on the astringency. The flavoring is naturally sweet from the apricot/peach flavor, but there’s very much ginger spice that comes through as well. It would still benefit from additional sweetener and possibly some milk or cream to add some creaminess and interest. The aftertaste totally is peachy gummy rings. Though I don’t get that during the sip.

It’s a fair flavored black tea. And I’d bet it would be really good cold steeped to kill some of the bitterness in the base. I also really like apricot flavors iced. Yum.

I also was hoping for my own personal Cheshire Cat to hop out of the cup and was sorely let down there. Thanks Rie for letting me try for some Disney magic here.

So yesterday my car stalled on the interstate on the way to work (at 5:30 in the morning) and we had to have it towed. And it’s in the shop now. I guess I’m lucky a careless driver didn’t nail me. But that pretty much set the tone for my day.

So I’m back today and hoping things are a little less…terrible.

I actually think this one smells a wee bit better than it tastes. It smells rummy and caramelly and sweet with just a suggestion of vanilla.

The taste here reminds me of the Red Velvet Cake tea with the butterscotch and maple notes. There’s a little bit of an emulated liquor taste here too that definitely gives it a rum feeling. The aftertaste is all butter and richness. This is absolutely a grey morning tea!

I like this one just a wee bit more than the Red Velvet Cake because this one is actually supposed to taste like it did!

Thank you for swapping with me jessiwrites! I can’t wait to try the rest :)

Shelley_Lorraine was nice enough to throw this in one of our trades. :) Many thank yous to her for the chance to taste this!

This one is actually pretty tasty, and I’d almost count it as breaking my string of not-so-hot DAVIDsTEA samples. I say almost because it doesn’t taste a thing like red velvet cake to me. It’s more creamy maple and butterscotch with a slight chocolate touch that hits at the end of each sip. The black tea is mellow and gets a little lost with everything else.

The aftertaste is lingering and reminds me of those cheap butterscotch candies in the yellow wrappers. Or like the caramel they sell at the supermarket in the squeeze bottles for ice cream. (Not a bad thing).

Actually, this tea reminds me a lot of a caramel sundae. So, no red velvet here, just delicious ice cream sundaes. It wasn’t what I expected, but I’ll take it.

6 tsp Jasmine Pearls (Adagio)
4 tsp Silver Needle (Adagio)
2 quarts water

So, last night when I was making up my pitcher of jasmine for milk tea, I realized I didn’t have enough of my Jasmine Pearls for the amount of water I wanted to use. Oops.

So, I just went super boring (but practical!) here and mixed it 60:40 with some Silver Needle and made a pretty normal Jasmine Silver Needle. Problem solved!

I might have to do it this way again, because it added a really nice vegetal note and made the whole thing less perfumey. Also, once I added the sugar syrup, milk and boba there was a sweet honeysuckle note from the Silver Needle too. I cold steeped overnight as opposed to normal steeping and serving over ice, and Fiance said it was the best milk tea I’d ever made. So yay!

Rating: 84/100

So, admittedly the only times I’ve ever had elderberry anything was in liquor. (Sambuca and St. Germain) so my experience here is hugely limited.

But that doesn’t matter, because this tea is pretty stunning anyway!

The dry leaf smells really tart and citrusy, and once steeped it retains that citrus but there’s also a little bit of sweet berry depth.

This tea tastes like it would be amazing iced. And I will absolutely be getting on that. But it’s also pretty good hot. There’s a tart nectarine flavor initially then a sweetly tart berry flavor hits that reminds me a little bit of blackberries and lemon zest. It’s really refreshing and a perfect summer tea! Yumyum.