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I’m having this at work as I stopped at the little food shop on my way in for a snack and wanted some tea made for me, but was feeling a strong aversion to ordering bagged tea. So I went with a bagged herbal, thinking that was a nice idea. This smelled great as I carried it in, and isn’t bad, but the cinnamon tastes a little soapy or like fragrance oil. I can’t get that thought out of my head on each sip!

This one surprised me. It smelled absolutely delicious, as everyone’s noted. Ripe, fresh blueberries. But I was a little apprehensive after the other reviews and after seeing how dark this turned out. It also smelled really potently sour. It was tart and sour, and on my first few sips I thought it tasted like a grape-flavoured Kool Aid sort of thing, but I grew to like it.

What a gorgeous tea! Intoxicating-smelling and delicious, this is definitely the nicest Tieguanyin I’ve got my hands on so far. This is my tea happy place, for sure. It’s fascinating to evolve with it through the infusions, and the experience makes me feel so privileged and content. This is floral, green, sweet, and creamy in ways that change slightly between infusions but that remain perfectly balanced. Delicate and yet satisfyingly robust!

I just couldn’t get my sample tuocha to work for me. I rinsed the leaves and then played with infusion times for three infusions but it was either very light and dull or bitter. The jasmine was nice and I think this might have potential, so I’m glad I have more to try with. I think I need to try working on my pu-erh appreciation, though. This felt odd and briney when it hit my mouth for the first time. My interest is peaked again, though, and I have a few different pu-erhs to try out.

I am so pleased with Verdant Tea. Great service, selection, packaging, and free shipping to Canada, plus I received this in five business days. Packages coming from the UK can manage that but I don’t know if any from the US have even come close. They tend to be more in the three-to-four week range!

Anyway, the description for this isn’t joking when it says “perfectly smooth and honey-like”. It’s probably the smoothest black tea I’ve ever experienced, and it’s incredibly sweet with enough body that I don’t find it offputting. The dry leaf smelled toasty, sweet, and green but more in a woodsy way than grassy. The flavour keeps all these elements but is mellower than I expected and has a nice cocoa-y element. I was thinking roasted marshmallow, so it’s funny to see TeaEqualsBliss noticed the same thing. There is so much to like here. Delicious.

I wanted to get this note in before I forgot everything but I’ve only had the chance for my first infusion in a gaiwan. I’m off for some more. I’ve been surprised at how nice blacks are this way, and this one is a shining example!

I didn’t get around to trying the very generous samples from China Cha Dao for a while after receiving them for a variety of reasons, including being overwhelmed with tea and going to the cottage a lot to enjoy the amazing fall weather and eat a lot of pumpkin baked goods. I’m feeling back in form now and started with this one.

It’s a really nice surprise. I was intimidated as I am not always fond of dark Oolongs. I’m not sure why, but the roastiness often doesn’t sit right with my stomach and my taste buds. This one smelled very dark and roasty dry. Sweet and honeyed, but dark. I thought of tar, actually. I boldly proceeded, though. Also, the leaves are gorgeous. So long and twisted.

I’ve enjoyed four infusions and counting of this in my gaiwan at around 180 degrees but for no measured steeping time. I think it’s increased slightly each infusion. It turns out to be light compared to what I was expecting. Sweet and toasty, I’m thinking roasted barley. Really nice.

Hooray, another well-executed fruit-flavoured Oolong! I may be coming around to them. The plum blends really well with the light, clean Oolong and tastes sweet but fresh. Unfortunately I forgot about this after one steep so I will have to give it a better go soon and see how it holds up.

I should really give white teas a more extensive run. I don’t own many. I’m using up the last of this and playing with parameters on each steep. I’m really enjoying how much the flavour can vary based on temperature. This has been delicate and sweet, floral, and then a bit grassy and woodsy on different infusions.

This is the first flavoured Oolong I’ve tried that I feel successfully marries what I love about Oolongs with the added flavours. Better yet, this is a nice light Oolong, which I’m partial to. Most of the flavoured ones I have tend to be darker.

The green freshness of the base blends so well with the fruity freshness of the grapefruit, which manages not to be overpowering. I can taste the base loud and clear and an intriguing wave of grapefruit follows, like I’ve squeezed a little fresh grapefruit into the cup. Very subtle yet memorable, the way I like ’em. It makes me think I could drink this one regularly. It also re-steeps remarkably well for a flavoured tea; after a first steep, I transferred the leaves to my gaiwan and got another two or three infusions out of it before going to bed. I drank this hot but did chill a small cup of the first infusion. It was nice and, interestingly, it tasted more roasty Oolongy cold than it did hot.

This stuff is good. Really good. I told myself when stepping into Herbal Infusions that I wouldn’t buy anything aside from maybe a tea to go. When I smelled this one, there was no resisting. It just smells like straight-up chocolate. And, sweetened chocolate at that. For some reason I get milk chocolate from it. Even once infused for a good 8 minutes, it smells like commercial hot chocolate mix in the best possible way. It tastes deliciously chocolatey but even through the sweetness maintains that great earthiness I’ve come to love in cocoa products.

I have big plans for this one. Lattes, added cocoa powder, blending with green rooibos. It’s going to be good.