PeppermintPlant

OK, so. I saw this label, and knew that no matter what kind of tea it was for, I had to own it. It has an ADORABLE KITTEN on a bed of MARSHMALLOWS. With a slice of lemon for the sun. You guys. YOU GUYS.

So anyway, I was going to order it no matter what, but I did actually read the description and thought it sounded pretty good. I mean, I wasn’t really sure about the marshmallow with the lemon, but I have been dying to find a yummy, lemony green tea lately, so I was more than willing to give it a go.

And then it arrived — after my order of Butterbeer. And let me tell you, Steepster, I have finished an entire pouch of Butterbeer already. And I only gave a very small amount to my tea drinking pal because it was incredible and I didn’t want to share. So I haven’t really been drinking anything else at home, and I don’t do loose tea at work after my first attempt because of the mess factor.

So I didn’t try this tea until just now. Things to know:

1. It smells like dessert. I guess it’s the marshmallow pile adding even more yum to the lemon sunshine, but oh gosh does this smell great. And I can’t really separate the scent of the tea, but I can tell it’s there. I want to just, I don’t know, eat the leaves or something.

2. It tastes like dessert. It seriously lives up to the smell. The handful of lemony greens I’ve tried so far have been pretty unimpressive, so I was a bit nervous going into this, but it’s just the right lemon to tea ratio, and the marshmallow adds a sweet note that mellows the lemon’s sharpness a little and ties everything together beautifully.

3. I’m terrified to try more 52teas blends because WHAT IF THEY ARE ALL THIS DELICIOUS??? What if I have to start ordering all my tea in wholesale amounts!? I could drown and/or be buried in delicious tea — AND I’M OK WITH THAT.

But seriously, this blend is so amazing and I give it all of the thumbs up.

I’m really not sure how to feel about this tea. I got a sample on a whim, because I was curious to find out if I like coconut. I hate the texture of actual coconut, and I’ve never really had coconut-flavored anything. But I do like tea, ginger and lemongrass, so I figured there was a decent chance I would like Bangkok.

Scent-wise, I don’t care for the dry leaves. There’s just enough vanilla to be able to smell it, and I loathe the smell of vanilla. Once the water hits the leaves, though, the scent of everything mellows and I mostly smell the lemongrass, coconut and the tea, so it’s not bad.

I can taste lemongrass, grassy green tea notes, and a sort of rich, almost heavy sweetness I am assuming is the coconut. The vanilla is not very strong; it mostly seems to mellow the other flavors. I’m not tasting any ginger, but I have yet to drink a tea from Harney and Sons where you can actually detect the ginger, so that’s not surprising.

It’s a pretty interesting tea. I’m not really sure that I personally like the flavors. The vanilla is sort of ruining it for me, but again, I hate vanilla. However, it’s a complex tea and it would definitely go really well with some pad thai, so I’m going to rate it well anyway. And as much as I’m unsure about the flavor, I have to admit I’m more than willing to give it another go.

I have seen people giving rave reviews to 52teas.com all over Steepster, so I knew that the tea would be good, but I’ve been holding off because I have so much tea. But then Butterbeer.

I don’t think I can possibly explain how much of a Harry Potter fan I am. I started reading right before the Goblet of Fire came out and was addicted every since. I went to midnight release parties, I read every book with my two best friends and then we talked and laughed and cried over them together. I’ve written fanfiction (yes, I am admitting that). I got in on the Pottermore beta just to find out my house (Ravenclaw represent!). I don’t think I will ever outgrow these books, and I don’t even care.

So when I checked 52teas.com and found out that Butterbeer was an option, of course I had to order some.

This is how good it is. I got the package today, brewed it, took one sip and then immediately went and ordered another pouch. Now I’m sitting here sipping a second cup and munching on a pumpkin cookie (because Harry Potter!) and debating ordering a third pouch just in case I can’t live without it. Why didn’t I order two more?

Anyway, I guess I should actually get around to talking about the tea. It smells amazing, like a root beer float with some licorice aromas. And in fact, I can taste the root beery flavors when I drink it — along with very nice black tea, a hint of licorice and a smooth butteriness and that might not even be a word but it fits perfectly — and it FANTASTIC. Seriously, if every one of the teas from 52teas is even half this good, I can see why they are so popular.

I’m seriously considering never drinking any other tea ever again. No, really.

Found a bunch of tins of this for cheap at Home Goods, of all places. I have to admit, I only got this for the tin (same with its Wild Blueberry sister, as proven when I had to give all of it away because it has barley in it and I’m gluten-free). It appears to be discontinued — or at least, aside from the tin sitting on my desk at work, I cannot find proof it exists anywhere, including the company website.

That’s disappointing, because it’s really good. Like another tea I drank recently, it smells like orange soda when you open the tin. The scent is really, really strong — like burn your nose if you get too close strong — but still good.

Flavor-wise, it’s pretty tasty despite having hibiscus (I think; like I said, the tin’s at work, but there’s something that tastes an awful lot like hibiscus in it). It’s nice and sweet, but sort of tangy and citrusy at the same time. Somehow it makes you feel like it’s waking you up a little even though there’s no caffeine. It’s great in my cup toward the end of the night shift.

Well, this is interesting. I’m tasting a sort of smooth but unexciting black tea, and some light sweetness from the flower petals, and maaaaybe the barest hint of citrus fruit that’s so light I could just be fooling myself. But somehow it is working for me. Really, really working.

The weirdest part? It sort of smells, to me at least, like freshly polished wood. (Not like Lemon Pledge polished, but like that oil you use? I don’t know. It smells woodsy but not in a dusty, dry way.) It’s not strong, and it’s actually pretty nice, too.

Not really an exciting tea, and doesn’t really live up to the listed ingredients, but it is a nice one, and well worth the $3 I paid for a decent amount. (They didn’t have the amount printed on the bag, but I gave right around half to a friend and have maybe 1.5 ounces left.)

Got this in the tagalong sample. First off, this smells like orange soda tastes. It’s sort of wonderful. It doesn’t seem overpowering to me at all, but orange is one of my favorite scents.

The tea itself is a nice, smooth green, nothing special but a solid base for the flavoring. The orange is lovely, though I’d have liked it to be a little more tangy. It’s sort of sweet.

I don’t really have much else to say. It’s a nice tea, but even after all five sachets I’m undecided on whether I want to order more or not.

I’m actually sort of angry at Teavivre right now. Why does every single one of their teas have to be so amazing? Why can’t some of them just be mediocre? Then maybe I wouldn’t want to just give them my credit card and be like, “Send me one of everything!”

I ordered some of the premium dragon well to split with my fellow tea snob BFF, because, like everything from Teavivre, it was amazing. And with that order came four samples of this tea, which is also amazing. Maybe even more amazing. And I only get two of them, and I just restocked my tea cupboard and need to drink some of that before I can justify another order.

And now I can’t even be properly annoyed because this tea is so, so good. The flavor is strong enough to cover up the fact that I was too lazy to filter my water, but it still tastes light HOW DO THEY EVEN DO THAT??? It’s really sweet, almost floral, but somehow I am getting some really yummy oceany flavors and even though I can’t taste any mint, it leaves that same fresh feeling in the back of my throat. Such a complex, incredible flavor.

This tea is MAGIC somehow, there’s no other explanation. I AM CAPSLOCKING OVER IT.

Also the leaves are really pretty, all curly and green and white and I know this is a ridiculous thing to focus on but if I try to analyze how great this tastes anymore my head might explode.

Okay, obviously I can rhapsodize about this one forever, but I’m going to wrap it up, give this tea 100 points because that’s as far as the slider will go so I can’t give it 110, and go make another cup.

I meant to log this back when I started the box, but failed. Oh well.

It’s mostly pretty grassy, with a bit of butter. Steeps to a very pretty yellowy color. Oversteeping gives it a sharp note somehow, but I’m not sure how to describe it. Not bad, but not good enough that I am going to go buy another box, and I’m not really regretting having finished it. Still, I drank 15 cups of it, so it’s not like I really disliked it.

So anyway, I was in the vicinity of Peet’s on Saturday and, since I’ve been diligently drinking all my tea, stepped in to get some more (I am pretty sure I have gone beyond “refilling my cupboard” to “hey, I could open my own tea shop” and have instituted a buying ban on myself, but we won’t talk about that). I’ve been wanting to add something smoky and wonderful to my cupboard. Since this one smells almost acrid it is so smoky, I figured it was a good investment, especially for the price.

It’s pretty yum. I had no idea tea could taste dry like wine, but this one manages it. You know how when you go camping, you cook everything over the fire because you can and it all tastes like smoke and somehow that is fantastic? That is how this tea tastes. It’s actually pretty awesome.

Okay, so. I love cherries, a lot, and I’ve been wanting to try this tea forever. But there are no samples, and every time I place an order, I talk myself out of it because what if I hate it, right? Then I’m stuck with 19 sachets and I hate wasting tea, so I would have to drink it anyway if I couldn’t find someone who wanted it.

Until I made my last order, and I was running way low on work tea (i.e., tea in sachets or bags from anywhere) and went for it.

I thought for sure I had made a mistake when I opened the tin and got a face full of cherry cough syrup scent, so I decided to try one before I even bothered taking it to work.

I am so glad I did. It isn’t the very best tea I’ve had, but it’s still pretty darned good. The green tea is solid and very smooth, and there are definitely cherry notes. What I’m getting is CHERRY, mmm green tea, oh there’s the cherry again! It’s pretty nice, it doesn’t taste artificial (which was my worry when I smelled it). It’s not perfect, but for the price I’d definitely buy it again.

And it’s definitely tasty with the last of the fresh cherries I got over the weekend!

I’m not going to score this one, because I knew going in that I was unlikely to enjoy it. I just hate chocolate teas. They all just taste really chalky to me, and I’m not sure why I keep trying them and expecting something else.

I figured I’d give Florence a try because if I ever liked a chocolate tea, it would be a Harney & Sons blend, especially one with hazelnut in it. Also, because I love the idea of teas that capture the essence of places, because I am a nerd.

And I really, really wanted to like Florence — especially once I smelled it, oh my gosh does it smell wonderful — but it’s just not happening, and after two days of trying to force it, I am throwing in the towel. I am done with chocolate teas. I give up.

That said, if you do like chocolate or hazelnut teas (and don’t actively loathe one ingredient), I could see this tea being really amazing. So I’m not going to spoil that for someone else by giving a low rating.

Maybe I’ve had a sachet of this at work every day since my order arrived, and maybe I only have one left for tonight. And maybe I ordered a whole tin of Tower of London five minutes ago instead of waiting until payday on Wednesday because I have a problem with impulse control.

And maybe I’m bumping up my score because there is only one other tea (Paris) I have gone through so quickly and re-purchased with such reckless abandon, and I gave it 100, too.

Maybe.

Either way, between this yummy tea and the Caribe I threw in because why not? work is going to be delicious for the next month or so. No maybe about that one.

Had this a couple of days ago, but I was having loading problems, so I wasn’t able to log it. So I’ve had several cups since, and I’m actually rather glad, because I learned something: This blend is super, super forgiving if you accidentally oversteep it for, say, 12 minutes. Oops. Most of them I’ve gone a little over 5 minutes, though.

I started the British Blend sampler from the end because I am contrary, and this proved a bad idea because I’ve just been drinking this one and have yet to touch the rest. But it’s really good! It’s good, smooth cup with this really nice hint of smokiness to it. If it was decaf, I could drink it all day. It could stand to be a little stronger, but I guess then I couldn’t steep it for 12 minutes and have it come out still drinkable, so that’s alright.

Another note: When I ordered the sampler, I thought the price was a tiny bit steep, but wanted to try Upton so I bought it anyway. Then, when it arrived, I realized that each of the samples is more than an ounce of tea, closing in on 1.5 oz. That’s a lot of tea for a sample! So it gets a thumbs up for that.

My only complaint is that I like to smell my tea and none of the Upton blends in the sampler, this included, has much of an aroma dry or steeping. It’s not completely absent — that would be weird — but it does take some of the fun out of opening the tin, to not get deliciousness wafting right up to your nose.

I don’t know why I keep doing this; I’m meant to be cutting back on black tea and switching to green because of the caffeine content.

But I got a tagalong of this along with a bunch of other samples from Harney & Sons, and oh my gosh. Of course I’ve already fallen in love with it. (My next order is going to be so expensive.)

I took the sachets to work, so I had this yesterday evening, but I took some scribbles on a Post-It: “Plum and berries, sweet — delicious, buy more.” I definitely remember the fruitiness, especially the plum, and it was absolutely perfect. I’m guessing the sweetness came from the honey flavoring, but I wouldn’t have guessed because it blended so well with the fruit. And all of it melded perfectly with the very nice tea.

Definitely going on my list of favorites, but I seem to be a Harney & Sons fangirl, so I guess that’s not in the least surprising.

I wanted to like this one — peach and raspberry! — but it’s not great. The hibiscus is too strong for the other flavors. They clash pretty terribly. Plus this one just tastes super artificial to me.

This has grown on me. Bumping up the score a bit.

Wasn’t sure what to expect from this. I was a little surprised at the scent — I was expecting something citrusy with a hint of mint, but it smells like Moroccan mint.

Hot, that’s what it tastes like. The mint is very strong, and you can taste the green tea (barely) under it, but the rum and lime are not coming through very much at all. It’s pretty light, but still tasty. But I’m not sure it stacks up against other minty greens — it’s good, but not amazing or standout.

So I did the freezer trick — stuck the remainder in a cup in the freezer, to try it “iced” once it was cold. I can taste the rum now (and it’s not awesome), but not the mint or the lime. I’ll chalk some of that up to not having a high enough tea to water ratio for the iced version, but I’m still not impressed. And I’m not sure I want it stronger, to be honest.

Verdict: Hot, it’s a nice cup but nothing special. Cold, ick.

I got this as a wrapped sachet with my first Harney & Sons order last year, and never bothered opening it. For some reason, it just didn’t sound appealing. However, I’m trying to clear out my samples drawer to make room for more, and figured I’d give this a try.

Holy strawberry yum.

It smells so juicy and amazing, right off the bat — sort of like strawberry kiwi Snapple tastes, if that makes sense. And steeping it doesn’t mellow the aroma a bit, but actually makes it stronger and fresher and juicier.

The strawberry is definitely there in the flavor, as is the guava. The tea isn’t very strong, but it’s still pretty evident, mellowing the fruit flavors a little and keeping this blend from being cloying. (In fact, this green/black blend probably would have been better with the H&S mango tea, instead of the black they used.) I don’t taste the coconut, but I hate coconut so I’m fine with that.

This is so delicious, seriously. I am definitely including a tin in my next order.

Another yummy tea from TeaVivre! Dragon Pearl Jasmine teas (really, jasmine greens in general) are among my favorites. I’ve yet to drink one I didn’t like. And I’ve yet to try a TeaVivre tea I didn’t like, so I was pretty much guaranteed to love this one.

First off, this is delicious. Mine came out a gorgeous golden-green color, smells beautiful, and has a lovely, light flavor with floral overtones. I don’t find the jasmine as strong in this cup as I have in other DPJs, and as a jasmine fan, that was a little disappointing. It’s definitely still there — and it adds a wonderful sweetness to every sip — but it’s not as strong as I would like.

That said, I tend to like very strong teas, and there are a ton of really strongly flavored DPJs out there, so I think this one fills a niche that needs to be filled: A lightly flavored, more balanced and very yummy cup. Those who like a little less jasmine and a little more tea will love it.

After the first cup, I got a bit distracted and the second was lukewarm. It was still tasty! And I bet it would be good iced, too.

(Sample provided free by TeaVivre.)

Finishing it off. This is still pretty peachy and delicious. I just wish there was a little more ginger to it.

A shop down the street was unloading its stock of Harney and Sons tea, so I bought up the rest, which was mostly their Dragon Pearl Jasmine. There were a couple tins of this, though, and the owner threw them in.

I wasn’t a fan when I first tried this. However, the smell is actually not medicinal and awful from the tin like it was out of the little plastic sampler pack, so I’m thinking maybe that was a bad combination rather than the tea itself (I have noticed that plastic-wrapped teas tend to smell/taste off to me). It’s actually become one of the few teas I open the tin just to take a whiff of now and then.

And I was right in my first assessment; this is absolutely DELICIOUS iced. It is so juicy that it is a good choice when you’re craving that 300-calorie bottle of Snapple. Still not a huge fan of it hot, though.

I got this back in the fall, and then went to drinking nothing but teas with ginger or cinnamon in them for the last six months, so the tin has been sitting untouched in my cupboard. Oops.

I haven’t really tried any new tea during that time, either, so I figured I should start remedying that. This rosy blend was at the top of the list. Opening the tin, it smelled a bit like potpourri, overwhelmingly rosy. Any more and it would have been overpowering, but somehow the scent manages to stay on just this side of the stomach-turning line, and it’s actually pretty pleasant after a few seconds.

The aroma is fantastic once the hot water is added, mellowing beautifully but not coming even close to disappearing. The flavor of the tea is a little lacking, but the rosiness makes up for it nicely. It’s not anything exciting, but it’s definitely a pleasant cup and I’ll have no problem finishing up the tin. Not sure it’s one that will become a permanent fixture in my cupboard, though.

So, I should start this note off with the confession that I’ve never had pu-erh tea before. It’s not that I didn’t want to try it, it’s just that it seemed a little intimidating. But I got this as a sample, and took to YouTube to learn how to prepare it (yes, I am a nerd) and gave it a shot.

The smell is interesting and almost like wet earth. I’m picking up a bit of fish, too, but the good smell of fresh fish, not awful like a fish market. For some reason, I’m reminded of Monterey; kind of the woodsy, oceany atmosphere together, I guess? I’m not sure. I was really surprised by how dark the tea got, almost black.

I do think this was a great first pu-erh, because I am really enjoying it! I wasn’t sure what to expect. It starts out like a standard black tea (or at least, how I think good black tea should taste!), but gets very complex after that. I can see why people describe pu-erh as earthy, because it’s definitely that, but there are some spicy, subtle, almost chocolatey hints. It’s pretty nice. I don’t know how it would stack up to other pu-erh teas, but I like it.

(Sample provided free by TeaVivre for review.)

Got a bit of this from my BFF. I opened it up, and squinted a little because it was not a good citrusy scent. It smells a little like … lime rinds? That unpleasantly, acidic citrus, not even like an orange or lemon peel. Which is weird, because there’s no lime in it.

Anyway, steeped it as the package instructed. It’s not bad. The smell mellows out once the water hits the leaves, so it just has a faint citrusy aroma. It’s not bad. The flavor is also not bad, and very light, but it’s not memorable, either. I doubt I would go out of my way to buy this tea, though I wouldn’t turn it down if it was offered. Too bad, it sounded like it would be amazing.