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Smells good.

I get a non-specific fruity flavor and mild bergamot. I think I need to try this again when I’m paying more attention. I had this at work and kept having to concentrate to keep my mind on my task as hand and forgetting to notice what I was drinking.

It wasn’t bad – I did finish the cup. ;)

Spices – clove, cinnamon… not sure, maybe something else.

No citrus for me. And an odd, off-putting something lurking in the background. Not bitter or harsh but not much going on for me besides the spices. Maybe some vanilla but not very noticeable to me.

Not horrible, and I finished the cup, but this is nothing I need to keep. So I have plenty for swapping if you think it might be more to your liking. :) This is the muslin bagged version, not loose leaf.

The first sip is pretty heavy bergamot but then the orange comes in at the end and mellows it. Smells amazing. I don’t get the bitterness other reviews mention so maybe I lucked out on steeping time or something. There is a mild bit of astringency/dryness to it, but that’s all I notice in this cup.

The flavors diminish somewhat as the cup cools, but I’d like to try this one iced.

Oooo… this is a good one.

I couldn’t resist the last Rue La La sale on Kusmi certificates and I’m glad I didn’t. I have wanted to try several for quite awhile and now I can! It was an embarrassing wealth of tea that was on my table this afternoon. :)

This was the first one I have tried. It’s super malty and very dark and earthy. A hint of bitter as it cools – I may have oversteeped a tad since it seemed very light in color at 3 minutes.

If this holds up well to a second steep, it will definitely need to be kept in the stash.

I had several cups of this one hot afternoon before dinner. I wanted something but hot Chai Bora wasn’t sounding good.

This was very refreshing. Not as strong a mint as I’ve had in other brands but altogether acceptable. Enough so that I did grab a box of it at the airport.

Yay for having tea waiting when I get home from vacation!

This tastes very much like a darjeeling to me. Bright, clean, snappy, mild hint of fruit. I had been anticipating a bit more heft, but that’s not a bad thing. No bitterness or astringency in this cup. I will need to try it several times more to see if I can suss out the other flavors.

This was what they told me I had on the plane from Amsterdam to Kenya. May or may not have been. It was on Kenya Air so I’d say it was likely. I did not see the bag though – it was served already brewed.

It was good. A strong, basic supermarket level of black tea. I had a shot of Amarula after dinner, though and I had a bit left when they brought the tea. Adding the splash of Amarula to this tea made it very, very good. It smoothed it out and made it creamy while bringing a hint of fruit flavor to the cup. I’m definitely going to experiment with Amarula in some basic black teas.

And here are some pictures from the trip.
http://s1165.photobucket.com/user/dagony/library/Vacation%20June-July%202013?sort=4&page=1
Not the best. These were all from my phone so I’d have some to use quickly for blog posts. The real pictures from the semi-pro will take awhile to clean up for viewing. He’s a perfectionist like that. :)

Had this one in Amsterdam.

It was much better than I had anticipated. The bergamot was very strong and the tea was very strong.

I had the bagged version of this at Houston Hobby Airport today on the last leg of the journey home. There were 2 bags in my 20 ounce cup. I generally would leave the bags in when I get them from coffee places like this, but after about 5 minutes I could tell that it would get way too strong so I pulled them out.

This was good. I liked it quite a bit. Well enough in fact to go to the hassle of taking it on the plane. Mostly I just throw away whatever I haven’t finished by the time the plane boards so I don’t have to juggle it while putting luggage away and getting settled.

This was the only Tanzanian tea I tried while gone. I had it most mornings. It is a basic bagged black tea. It meets my expectations for a supermarket tea. I generally just left the bag in the cup until I was pretty much finished and it didn’t get bitter.

It was decent and I wouldn’t turn down a cup if offered. Probably wouldn’t keep it in stock though.