potatowedges

This is…strange. Maybe it’s because I have a cold, but the choice of flavors that are mixed in this seem odd to me. This is just my personal taste, but I feel like mango, chamomile, buttery-ness, and mint shouldn’t be mixed together. I drank it all, though, because any kind of tea helps when you’re sick. Not sure if I’ll have the rest of the sample pack.

So…good…this is the coziest, yummiest thing in the world.

This tastes just like an herbal version of Harney & Sons’ Hot Cinnamon Spice (which they actually do make). Tasty, spicy, cinnamon-y, and a bit of citrus, with no pesky caffeine to get in the way. I didn’t realize this had citrus in it until it had shipped here and I smelled it—I was looking for something without citrus, and I was a little concerned I wouldn’t like it because I didn’t like the smell of the leaves. However, it’s quite yummy! Not what I’d call a chai, but maybe that’s because I haven’t tried it chai-style yet. I need to give it the chance. This is good!

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Oh. My. Sweet. Freaking. Awesome. This is fantastic, and you need to get some now. (DAVIDsTEA just made shipping to the US cheaper, so all the more reason to do so.) The wee maple leaf candies are a visua treat as you open up the bag and survey the terrain of deliciousness. The sweet, cozy aroma of maple and toasted marshmallow swirled around me as soon as I had torn the heat seal on the bag…then POW. Yum. It was very, very difficult to wait until this cooled off to drink, but it’s good practice to delay gratification. And the taste: smooth, nice earthy rooibos, and then a big soft mapley-toasted marshmallowy finish that caresses your whole mouth and throat. It quite literally makes me want to sing. My favorite teas have finishes that last for long stretches between sips, like Teavana’s Honeybush Vanilla and Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls. And you know what? This is my new favorite tea. Man, if this isn’t the tastiest rooibos I’ve ever had…and I love rooibos.

My first time trying jasmine pearls…I smelled them at the shop and was in love. I used 20 pearls in about 12 oz(ish) of 165 degree water, and it was fun to watch them sink to the bottom of my basket and unfurl. It’s still cooling off now, but I’ve had a few sips, and it’s light, yummy, and pleasantly, sweetly floral…oh sweet merciful yum. This is my new favorite tea.

really, really good blended with re-steeped Azteca Fire. Yum.

Had 2 cups this morning, steeped 10 min, which got me through finishing my paper with (I think) much more ease. I love having this as a hot cocoa substitute…it fits the bill! If you’re resteeping this, add a teaspoon more of fresh tea, and it’ll come out tasting about the same!

Made some of this that I got from a friend (thanks Rebecca!) this morning and was excited to try it for the first time. Smells great—very Thai-ish. It was about 3/4 tea, 1/4 soymilk, and I took a sip. Tasty! I felt like I couldn’t taste the spice enough, though…finished the cup (which was delicious) during my art class and then came back and read the description. Oops—2 teaspoons per 6 oz? I was doing about half that (if that). Next time I’ll portion it out more carefully. Very good, and probably much better when correctly prepared!

Blended 1.5 tsp of this with 1 tsp of Azteca Fire and brewed for 10 minutes with boiling water. Perfect, absolutely perfect. Oh, and the smell pre-steeping is a lot like flowery Fig Newtons, according to my roommate. I’m running low—oh dear.

I’m still acquiring the taste for matcha, and so today I made some cold with soymilk and no added sweetener (but the soymilk is “original” and sweetened slightly). Pretty darn awesome! I love the even, concentrated energy I get from this drink. I’ll transition gradually to drinking it with only water, but I’m in no hurry. I mixed the powder and the milk the day before to give it time to dissolve the little globules of matcha, which worked pretty well. Once it’s fully dissolved, it doesn’t settle out—a big plus! It’s been hot, so I’m drinking this cold, which is quite refreshing. I’ll add more notes as I try it with less soymilk as a buffer.

Ooh, this is good. I’m not much of a green tea drinker but I got a sample pack from TeaSource to try and remedy that. This has a lovely, lightly grassy aroma (I’m still getting used to that) and a fabulous smooth taste when mixed with a little drizzle of agave. I just steeped it the second time (same temp, about 30 sec longer) without adding sweetener and it’s fantastic…smooth and not astringent at all. I really like how the second infusion of lots of my favorite teas is even better than the first! My favorite green tea so far (Triple Leaf Green showed me just how good it could be, and this is even better)—I think this will be a staple. Yay for green!

I’d been wondering about this tea for a while now and finally got some this fall. Wow. It took a couple times to get to know how to steep this tea well—about 10 minutes in boiling water does the trick. It’s chocolatey and a bit fruity, has a hint of spice (if you brew it long enough), and is supremely cozy and comforting. I would love to try it with a little splash of soymilk—I tried it with a lot of soymilk and completely lost the flavor of the tea. This is definitely one of my favorite cozy/warm teas. The first 2 ounces I got were gone in a matter of weeks. I’m steeping it right now with some Honeybush Vanilla and it’s very difficult to wait to try it—the aroma is intoxicating. If you like spicy hot chocolate you will love this.

So. Good. I don’t drink black tea too often because I usually really don’t want any caffeine, but this morning I had a paper to write. Soooo…I brewed up a cup of this. It smells AMAZING, like caramely mapley almondy goodness, and it has a very refreshing black tea taste with end-notes of round sweetness. It’s great for sipping while working on a paper! I re-steeped this two more times, the second time with some Honeybush Vanilla and the third time with the same contents. It holds up well to a second steeping—maybe not so well to a third, but the honeybush carried it through, and I wasn’t expecting it to last more than one time anyway. Delicious and doesn’t need milk or sugar to make it so—which is perfect for me! I’ll be sorry to see the 4oz I have dwindle away.

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Yum! So much amazing cinnamon scent…I got myself a tin of this as a Christmas present last year, and it’s unbelievably cozy. I have an association with drinking it during every final for the same (2-year) class…it’s a bit light on the tea taste and seems like mostly cinnamon (or, as they say on the tin, “cinnamons”) and orangey clove. I like to mix in another tea with this (like a rooibos or a green) to give it a little more body. Would probably taste really really amazing with a splash of soymilk…I’ll have to get on that.

It’s…interesting. I don’t like most fruity teas, though, especially citrus ones. I found the lemongrass to be a bit too much for me. I drank this iced, and it was all right.

The flavors in this are well balanced, but…it’s just not to my liking. I was expecting more of a cocoa taste and the fig one is what dominates…it’s done well, but not my thing.

One of my absolute favorites iced. I cold-brew this overnight: 3 T of tea, 2 quarts of water, and about 3 T demerara sugar. I like to think of it as Kool-Aid’s older sibling. Peachy, fruity, sweet, and delicious. The taste of summer.

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Got this when I was first getting into chai. It makes a good cup—I don’t use much soymilk. The spice isn’t as evident as I’d like it to be (except for one—maybe it’s clove—that sticks out oddly), but it’s not objectionable. I normally love the smell of the steeped leaves, but the smell of this bag when I take it out of my cup is kind of funky. Not sure why (I have had this box for a while, though). Pretty tasty, but I don’t think I’ll get it again—I’ll get something with a more even kick.

What got me started drinking tea. Before this, I thought all teas smelled pretty and tasted like hot water (but nice-scented water!). I always went for fruity teas and came away disappointed because I unconsciously expected them to taste like fruit juice. I love this tea—straight mint teas I don’t like the taste of, but the licorice root (as well as the warm spicy notes of basil and fennel) rounds out the light minty taste in an amazing way. I originally bought a jar of this for $24 (Aveda is expensive!), then, when I finished it, I found the ratios of the four ingredients online and mixed it myself with herbs from the co-op. It tasted even better and fresher and only cost $3 to refill the whole jar. Woo! This is a perennial favorite.

Fan-freaking-tastic. I went out on a limb a little when I bought this the first time, but man, was it worth it. The sweet, rounded note at the end has so much sustain (now I’m talking in guitar terms, oh dear) that even in the minutes between sips I still have that marvelous taste. When I first got this, I opened the bag and it smelled like frosting—no lie. I’ve since learned that the fragrance of Teavana’s teas can be super strong at first. This tastes nothing at all like frosting, and is malty, smoooooooth, and satisfying. I’ve recently been experimenting with multiple steeps for this, and it’ll go at least 3 times while still tasting yummy (and, as sophistre said, it does lose all of the very-slight astringency that I feel honeybush has after the first steeping.) I drink this all day. You should too. Also great when blended with Teasource’s Lazy Susan.