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After yesterday’s awfulness and Orange Dulce experiment, I knew I wanted something reliable and delicious. Enter Mid-Summer Night’s Dream. I’ve been up all night, and now I have to rush to the library to return an overdue book (which charges $0.02 per minute it’s overdue…eff you Lamont, you stingy bastards). Anyway, I need some caffeine, stat, and MSND always delivers. Plus, it tastes amazing.

I’m not a huge fan of tropical flavored things, but this tea is delightful. Actually, I’m not sure tropical is the right word to describe how this tea tastes. It certainly has bits of tropical fruits in in, but the blend overall doesn’t really taste “tropical”, I guess. It just tastes…dreamy.

I can see cubes of dried fruit (most likely pineapple) and what I think must be dried strawberry mixed in with the green and black leaves. It says to brew at 195 degrees for 3 minutes, so I set the Zarafina to green tea and strong. The resulting liquor is amber with a hint of red.

What I love about this tea is how well the strawberry, papaya, and pineapple notes blend together into something unique. No single flavor is predominant, but if you concentrate especially hard you can pick out each of the flavors. I could sit here all day, inhaling the sweet (but not too sweet), tangy (er, not sure that’s the right word…this isn’t sour or tart, it’s just “exotic”), swirly scent of this tea. Mmm, strawberries…no, wait, pineapple….no, wait, papaya….no, wait, strawberries again.

Although the dry leaf looks like it has more black than green tea in the mix, the liquor tastes mostly like green tea, with a little something extra added. I love that the tea flavor isn’t drowned out by the fruit. I’m not a fan of teas that taste just like their flavoring (once again, boo to Orange Dulce).

One thing I dislike about this tea is that it can be finicky. That’s the trouble with black-green blends—it’s very easy to oversteep the greens. Oversteeping means bitterness, but that can thankfully be fixed with a little sweetener. This would be great with honey, but unfortunately I don’t have any sitting around at the moment, so Splenda will have to do.

Now, off to return that damn book. And to pick up some raw honey to stir into the next infusion.

2nd infusion: no sweetener added. Liquor is just about as dark as the first cup, and smells less sweet—good, because I’m still recovering from that last cup.Waiting, waiting waiting for it to cool down…

Ah! Here’s that orange dreamsicle. It does smell like one. For some reason, I can almost smell something hot chocolately…maybe it’s just the sweetness from the jasmine.

Taste is lacking. Or maybe I’m just used to the over-sweet, too-strong, gag-worthy last cup I made. Adding a dash of Splenda…better. The tea still has that thick mouthfeel. It’s very smooth, although I’m not sure I like it. Literally no astringency or bitterness, which is impressive for a black tea, I suppose. I’m still reminded of a tin of Earl Grey Le Creme by Portsmouth that I lost somewhere, except I’m pretty sure I prefer that over this.

Headache city, right now. I don’t mind perfumy teas, normally. But right now my apartment is a mess, my cat is hiding under my futon which I’m scared might break at any moment, and this tea is just making my head feel worse. I probably shouldn’t have chosen this tea for the moment…I have an aversion to vanilla (but not cream, strangely) so I have no idea why I picked this out.

I can taste jasmine, followed by vanilla, followed by orange. I added too much Splenda, and it is just too, too sweet.

This tea almost reminds me of a very perfumy Earl Grey with cream, but without any of the characteristic lightness. The liquor is heavy, almost syrupy. It’s hard to swallow. On the plus side, it’s quite smooth. I can’t detect any bitterness or sharpness.

I’m not getting orange creamsicle from this, but that’s okay. I’m sure this would taste good under other circumstances, but at the moment it’s just not working for me. I will have to review this again when I’m in a better mood. Hence, no rating.

I’m back in Boston after a red-eye flight across the country…got back to my apartment around 7 AM, ate, and then passed out until now. Seems like as good a time as ever to bust out this tea. For me, English Breakfast tea + milk + sugar reminds me of being home on a sick day in 4th grade, cuddled up in a cozy blanket and calling my mom at work every hour and being babied by my usually stern grandmother. Warm fuzzies all around.

I finally opened that loose-leaf tin I’ve had sitting around on the shelf. The leaves are much, much smaller than I expected…disappointingly so.

First cup with 1 teaspoon of leaves— the liquor is a beautiful orange-red. It’s a little sweeter and less bitter than the bagged variety. Adding Spenda—sweet, delicious, and less bitter. I could easily drink cup after cup of this. Adding milk—weaker than I remember the bags being (with milk and sweetener).

Take 2: Double strength. With Splenda – more astringent than bitter. Needs milk. Uh oh, forgot to heat milk before adding tea to cup. Oh well. Still good, but cold.

To be honest, I was afraid of this tea at first. I had a bad experience with Hot Cinnamon Spice (too sweet) and was afraid this would be HCS 2.0. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

This tea is good, but not amazing. There are strong notes of clove, cinnamon, and orange, like the Hot Cinnamon Spice, but their arrangement is different. Clove is the dominant spice in the mix, which gives it a chai-like flavor profile. Even so, you wouldn’t mistake this tea for chai. The sweet orange rounds out the flavor, eliminating the spicy “kick” that chai often has.

Overall, I was a little disappointed by how weak the tea was. When I think holiday spice tea, I expect strong and bold flavor. This tea was light, but not in a good way. I feel like Hot Cinnamon Spice would have been nicer if it were less sweet and lighter; this tea would have been better if it were more bold. I might try a longer steep time and see if that remedies the problem. I don’t think this would stand up to milk either. I wanted to be warmed and woken up, but this put me to sleep. This might work as chai for people that don’t like chai, if that makes any sense.

No notes yet.

This is still too sweet for me and tastes too much like gum. Where is the black tea? I can’t even taste it.

Left a bitter taste on my tongue so that all sips afterward (even with milk and sugar) tasted strange. Very astringent and not as good as Twinings. Can’t even imagine drinking this unadulerated.

This tea is amazing. The cream flavor is well matched with the Ceylon. Although this tea is not sweet, it has an impression of sweetness (uh…) and it is so comforting with milk and sugar. I’m impressed by how it’s not overpowered by the milk and sweetener, and how well the tea and cream flavor comes through. I think I’m going to have to steal this from my Mom!

This is an excellent white tea. The blueberry flavor is light—fruity, but not sickeningly sweet.

The mango flavor was really prominent in the tea. This tea was about as bitter as most teas are, but I’m very sensitive to bitterness, so I didn’t finish this cup. (AKA, I think most people would like this tea, and I just prepared it badly.) I think 30 seconds less brew time might work better next time.

Mixed this 50-50 with Cream black tea from Adagio. Tasted like strawberries and cream, or maybe peaches and cream—but definitely delicious!

Mixed this 50-50 with Decaf Strawberry black from Adagio. Tasted like strawberries and cream, or maybe peaches and cream—but definitely delicious!

Yum! This is strong (well, just right) if you brew it for 7 minutes, so if you want a lighter taste I would go for 5 minutes. It is tart, and I couldn’t detect any sweetness (although it was quite hot at the time so that could have affected my ability to taste it). I added a packet of Splenda and it was like kool aid for grown ups! I think it’s much better cooled, and will try it sans sweetener and chilled next time.

Just bought the bagged version of this (on accident), but steeped it in my Zarafina. The first few sips taste like a stick of Big Red gum dissolved in hot water…yuck. It is, however, quite sweet without sweetener (woo!). The tea flavor comes out a little more as it cools, but it’s still very, very faint. I put the teabag back into cup, and it became a bit stronger…but it still tastes like very sweet gum. It’s almost too sweet (never thought I’d say that…I’m a “I like my sugar with coffee and cream” kind of gal). I’m not digging this. Next time maybe I’ll throw in some black tea with it.

[Zarafina – Black x Loose x Strong, no sweetener]

This is pretty tasty, but not quite what I was looking for. The chamomile and mint are relaxing and smooth, and the hibiscus adds a tangy note. I personally am not keen for the sourness right before bed. I will be looking for a better loose blend without the sour notes.

This tea is goes amazingly well with milk and sweetener. It’s cozy, warm, and comforting, and perfect for coaxing yourself out of bed when on those grey days when you just don’t want to get up. I prefer to steep two bags in my Zarafina tea maker with 8 oz (1 cup) of water, and then pour over heated milk and sugar in a large mug. The addition of milk will save the tea from bitterness in case you over-steep (not likely if you invest in an automated tea maker, though!). Much better than the Bigelow equivalent. The loose form is better than the bagged tea.

This tea is good for what it is – cheap, bagged black tea with added caffeine (mate, I believe). It created to provide energy and not necessarily to be delicious; however, it is drinkable (unlike the India Spice Chai I’ve tried from CS, which is supposed to be tasty—bleargh). I prefer this to coffee when I have to stay awake for an all-nighter. However, this isn’t the kind of tea you make just to relax and enjoy. This tea requires sugar and is good with or without milk. I wouldn’t mistake this for chai, but the flavor profile is similar. Unfortunately, it has been discontinued by Celestial Seasonings.

The worst chai I have ever tasted. Prior to trying this tea, I was under the impression that chai was pretty hard to mess up. Let me preface this by saying that I am not a “chai snob”; I grew up on homemade masala chai tea and enjoy the loose-leaf varieties, but I’ve also been impressed with the not-so-expensive bagged offerings from Tazo and Stash Teas. So, I was under the impression that maybe chai was just this miracle brew that was just impossible to screw up. Yeah, I was wrong. I’ve tried this chai with and without milk, with and without sugar, light steep time to long steep time, different temperatures of water. Every single time it comes out tasting like bitter cardboard marinated in cinnamon. I don’t know how else to describe it. Avoid at all costs and try Tazo or Stash if you’re looking for bagged chai.

I was very impressed by this tisane. The blend is a very fine powder, and I was afraid that it might be too strong, but it turned out just right. It does indeed brew a strong, flavorful cup for an herbal tea. I was pleasantly surprised by the combination of cinnamon and plum, especially since I’m not a huge fan of cinnamon on its own. The cinnamon flavor tastes more like freshly ground cinnamon and less like spicy red cinnamon candy. It’s perfect for winter as a hot tea (as most spice blends are), but I can imagine it working really well iced in the summer. Good with or without sweetener.