Jessie

Not bad, but not as good as my recent Tealish winning streak. I’ve come to expect really natrual fruit flavours from their blends, but I think that is harder to accomplish with melon flavours. Also, I’m more finicky about fruity black blends. Tasty, but not exciting.

Ooh, yes. No additions is definitely the way to go with this one. The milk watered it down terribly. Today it is much fuller-tasting. The base is nice and light, and it tastes exotic and homey at the same time. The pistachio and almond come through loud and clear, and the spice notes mingle around the nutty ones perfectly. Nice!

I was so thrilled to receive my first tea of the month package from Verdant yesterday! I had a long day and night of studying and these teas kept me company. I am terrible at keeping count of how many infusions I’ve got out of the tea. I just keep going as long as I’m enjoying it. I think this must have been in the range of 15-20.

I’m quite inexperienced with puerhs and they are overwhelming and frightening still. But, I managed to enjoy this one rather than just thinking “yep, that’s puerh” at least part of the time (especially in later infusions). I brewed this in my gaiwan and, I think, used too much leaf. It was a touch bitter through the first several infusions. I also think I will take up the suggestion of two rinses next time.

Otherwise, this was quite smooth and had a touch of sweetness. I definitely found it nutty, maybe a little woody, and smokey but not in the way smoked teas are. More in relation to whatever woodiness I mentioned. Very complex, and full of flavours I don’t think I’m able to grasp yet!

I’m enjoying another cup of this at the moment. But, Steepster, I have the actual worst tea news ever: my Breville carafe broke about an hour ago. I had the shakes from a quick drop in blood sugar and somehow managed to drop it. I don’t really understand how, but it was absolutely heart-wrenching! Even worse, while you can buy the base and assorted other parts for the tea maker, it looks like, for some reason, you cannot buy just the carafe as a replacement part.

Please wish me luck in coping without it/plotting a replacement strategy that seems impossible this time of year!

Yum! Ripe, juicy peach and sweetly delicate white tea. On my first sip I thought that this would make a great Bellini; I get a kind of sparkly taste from it that reminds me of the champagne. That must be the tangerine. This is really nice and very well-balanced.

This is a really uplifting cup of tea. I actually got worried about this after ordering it by reading several “sour” descriptions of yuzu, never having encountered yuzu before. But it really works here. This tastes pretty much like Den’s sencha with matcha, though lighter on the matcha. Then there’s an added, citrusy tang at the end of the sip. I would describe it as more sour than sweet, but not in a mouth-puckering way. It just makes a very fresh-tasting tea. Very nice. Though it still doesn’t stand up to the pineapple sencha for me!

What a fascinating blend! This seems to be one of their signature blends so I thought I’d give it a try. I’m glad I finally did. I’ve never had anything like it. Sweet, spicy, and nutty. This smells like winter in that it really does smell like baked goods, and the kind of things I want to bake at Christmas. It makes me think of biscotti, in the aroma especially.

I poured milk into this without thinking because I had decided I wanted milk in my “breakfast” tea today, even though I planned to try this without first. It tasted really nice but a bit watered down so I am definitely going to save rating it for the next time I have it. I think it’ll do better without any additions.

I went on a mini-spree at Tealish with their 25% off code plus a gift certificate I had from months ago. I am loving how much tea I got for what ended up costing me $25!

I have decided: I really like Tealish. They’ve been appealing to me more and more than DT lately because the tea seems to be higher quality and it’s nice supporting a local business. I guess DT is a local business, but they are rather different at this point.

Anyway, this rooibos. I almost bought MORE Fairy Dust but I have a good 50 g left so I thought I would try the other new green rooibos blend they released. I’m glad I did! It’s chock full of various fruit chunks and flower blossoms. When I opened the bag it smelled overwhelmingly of raspberries. Fresh, juicy raspberries. This continued as it steeped. And the taste follows suit. This is the most legit raspberry I’ve tasted in a tea. I actually think I avoided this one at first because I haven’t enjoyed any of the other raspberry-flavoured blends I’ve tried before. This tastes like raspberries, not just raspberry flavour. There’s a nice background hint of tropical papaya, too. Again, this one delivers exactly what it promise. It’s a great fruity green rooibos.

This tea is very fun. It looks just like the photo, with big red strawberry chunks and chocolate chips. It also smells totally awesome, kind of like candy but not so cloyingly sweet. I think maybe it smells sweetly bake-y, so I guess I’m getting the “donuts” part.

It’s very tasty and holds up to my hopes, but it’s not out of the ordinary. Chocolate, strawberry, malty black tea. You can’t go wrong with such a combination, really. This made a nice first cup of the day at 5 pm (the horror!).

Refreshing, subtle, and tasty! A lovely sweet apple taste, but I think I’ll try this at a lower temperature than suggested next time to see if I can get the sencha to come out to play a little more. It is very warming and calming. More fitting for fall/winter, but it doesn’t quite live up to the pineapple sencha. I want to live in my bag of pineapple sencha.

I love this tea, and I love Den’s.

This is like sweet, roasted nuts. It is making my head and stomach feel better. It’s so comforting. And, completely obscenely well-priced.

I’m sure like many others, this isn’t something I would choose outside of being sick. But, it is actually relatively tasty (when you can’t taste/smell, especially), and it does provide some measure of relief. It’s strong enough to fight through all the nastiness of a cold to offer you some taste. My sinuses are feeling horribly inflamed and my eyes are watering, so I’m off to make some more! With some fresh ginger and a dash of cayenne. Pulling out all the stops, folks. I have two more papers and three exams to get through before I’m allowed to be sick!

And, I usually strongly dislike juniper. It really bothers me in Detox. But here I either don’t notice the juniper berries or am okay with them.

Thanks to Magic Carpet Tea for offering a great deal so I could try this. Oolong is my fave. Dates are a weakness. This sounded perfect!

Unfortunately, I learned that there was date sugar in this blend as well. And, upon receiving it, I could see it looked like quite a lot of date sugar. One, I’ve never put sweetener in my tea so am not used to it and thus don’t like sweetened tea for the most part. Two, I have type 1 diabetes. When I have to make calculations for everything else I put past my lips, I definitely don’t want to worry about how much insulin I need when it comes to tea. Tea is my refuge. I’d might as well go eat a piece of bread or a bowl of rice! One of my pet peeves is beverages that include sweetener and aren’t up-front about this. I find it a lot in flavoured matchas.

Another grievance is that this came really, really crushed. I can’t really even identify tea leaves at first glance since it is all crushed together and dusty. It also made it hard to strain. I’m not sure to what extent this is how the tea is blended because the package (an envelope) came pressed alarmingly, uniformly, completely flat. I’m wondering if it got sent as letter mail, which really isn’t acceptable for tea.

It is moderately enjoyable. There was an earthy date flavour that I expected from the combination, but it was a lot more muted than I expected. Especially with all the date sugar! I’m sure I’ll drink the rest of this but it won’t be a re-buy, unfortunately. I think it’s not the kind of experience I was expecting from an oolong blend.

So, this isn’t something I’d just reach for but it’s pretty inoffensive for an herbal remedy tea. I appreciate DT keeping the cold teas somewhat more interesting than most. I was in store today and should have grabbed some Cold 911, because the boyfriend woke up sick today and now tonight, in the middle of a paper due tomorrow, I’m feeling it! Oh no. I’m glad I have this on hand. With some added chunks of fresh ginger and steeped for eight minutes, it’s a pretty noxious brew but in a way that feels healthy and not unpleasant. It helps me feel a little less fuzzy and out-of-focus. Mostly mint and lemongrass flavours.

I’ve got to get myself off Steepster when I have impending schoolwork doom. I tell myself I’m not allowed on Facebook but just wind up checking Steepster non-stop!

I was really pleased to see a nice, light Oolong in this blend. It smelled kind of perfumey, but pleasant. I really like my Earl Greys but don’t find myself reaching for them often at home, for some reason. But, I will always try a new Earl Grey blend.

This is pretty evenly balanced between green, floral Oolong and fresh citrus. This tastes more on the orange/tangerine than typical bergamot side, to me. And they don’t mention bergamot in the description, which makes me wonder if it’s perhaps not bergamot flavouring. The jasmine flowers are a really interesting addition, playing up the tea’s floral characteristics and make for a nice silky feeling on the tongue.

Like it, will happily drink it, don’t know if it’ll be a re-buy.

As others have noted, the honey-sweetness and roastiness are less prevalent in this than in the other China Cha Dao Oolong samples. However, I’ve really enjoyed five infusions of it. It’s certainly more subtle, and perhaps less complex. But, I like how it evolved for me. I was really surprised by the strong floral notes I got from the third steep onwards. It started out quite nutty, and the floral emerged to work alongside the nuttiness.

I’m so thoroughly enjoying my second round with this tea. It’s really uplifting, and I’m really getting the candy qualities in my first three infusions.

Very nice. I think the orange and chocolate both come through really nicely in this (and it smells incredible!). Very smooth, creamy, and rich. What I didn’t really taste was pu’erh! Not much characteristic pu’erh taste, though it tastes like a robust and smooth Chinese black. It made an excellent nighttime tea.

Such beautifully fluffy leaves! After what seems like quite the trying journey, being prodded and slit open by Canadian Border Services, some generous samples from Teavivre reached me today.

I wasn’t going to log this one yet, having grabbed it running out the door to work to brew what I’ve seen termed “grandpa-style” in my infuser flask. But, I was really happy with how well it held up! I boiled the water before leaving and it cooled (in a double-walled glass flask with a neoprene sleeve) for almost two hours, so it was kind of just tepid by the time I used it. The leaves floated happily in the flask for probably half an hour while I drank. It was very flavourful but never got bitter or burnt-tasting. It was delicately-green tasting, juicy, and invigorating but soothing as I find Bai Mu Dans to be. This is a lovely example. Really sweetly earthy in a way that makes me think of spring.

I had this to-go with the straight tea promo (though I’d argue against it being a straight tea, really!). I don’t think you can go too far wrong with genmaicha, which is why I chose it. It hit the spot, but didn’t taste quite fresh enough. I think I’m spoiled with the Den’s genmaichas which have a really great contrast between sweet sencha and toasty rice. Still, nice, soothing, and smooth.

Yep, yuck. This does smell pretty foul, but I want to like it. I quite like figs! And, I loved Forbidden Fruit. I smell the rotten fruit/garbage that DaisyChubb mentioned, but also a faint hint of the figginess from Forbidden Fruit, so I resolved to fight through that and give it a chance. Unfortunately, I taste the root beer, rum, garbage, and sweet plastic that others have noted. None of these are things I like to drink. I don’t know. I am telling myself I’ll give this another try, but I could only get through a couple tentative sips. The smell is really potent.

I like it! Definitely banana-nut bread, but for someone who doesn’t like banana flavours it works. I’m also getting a delicious, rich caramel thing going on. I had to leave and didn’t return to this until hours later so I drank most of it cold (which was actually fine), so I’ll have to make more soon.

Alright, pretty good. It took me most of the mug to get my head around the flavour, but I think I’m there now. It’s a bit odd as it really DOES taste like fruit punch. It has the same essence as one of those cans of frozen fruit punch (the male called it a fruit punch “twang”, and I think I know what he means?). But with spices. Sweet, fruity, and cinnamony but not too heavily spiced. Also, the male seems to quite like it so it gets points for that. He will drink anything but doesn’t typically actively like teas.

And, as DaisyChubb points out, no rooibos unpleasantness!

This one still has so much promise, but it’s unchanged from last year for me. Really tasty, with the chocolate coming through and the chilies rounding it out really nicely. And it still smells absolutely phenomenal. But, still a little weak even with quite a lot of leaf. I have to agree with Michelle Butler Hallett in thinking an Indian black base would have solved this. I think that would have balanced this out so much better. I’m torn. So tasty, so weak! This re-visit has stimulated my interest enough to get me to play around with it a little more, at least.