Rebecca Lynn

Mmm. My boyfriend gave me an Adagio gift card for Christmas, and I knew this was one of the teas I wanted to try. I adore Peeta, and the tea sounded amazing as well! I’ve had Adagio’s chocolate chai and enjoyed it, and I like how the vanilla green and almond kind of cut the spices. A nice tea to sip on Christmas <3

This was a gift from my mother from the local tea/natural makeup/overpriced jewelry store. We really enjoy going there together and the owners know by now that we’re there for tea, not like, essential oils or something. Anyway, I haven’t been able to find any info about it other than the fact that it has dried cherry and pineapple bits in it. It doesn’t smell fruity at all though! It smells like amazing, delicious buttercream, almost like Della Terra’s 8 Candles but creamier and a bit less sugary. It’s amazing. I could smell this awesome buttery scent through the wrapping paper. Mm. My mom knows me well <3

I’m with Sil on this one. I am incredibly grateful to Zen Tea for sending out such generous samples, but there is something about this tea that is just not jiving with me. I’m not sure why, as I normally enjoy dessert-y flavors. But right from the get go the smell was incredibly off putting to me, almost to the point of making me a little sick. I hoped it would brew into something I liked, but that wasn’t the case. I can’t drink it. Sorry :c If anyone would like the rest of my sample, I’d be happy to mail it to you.

Okay, so I tried this again, and I seriously felt like I was biting into a stick of butter coated in sugar. Too much!!

Thanks again to Zen Tea for the generous sample! I have always adored the scent of almond extract. My mom always puts it in the batter when she makes french toast, and I recall just putting my face over the bowl and deeply inhaling as a child. Intoxicating scent. This tea smells exactly like that. I had an eyes roll back in my head moment. I definitely get cherry notes, sort of like a cherry vanilla scent. There’s a weird flower in my cup, which at first I thought was a stray tea leaf, but apparently is a mallow flower ( I have no idea what those are). Anyway, the tea? SO. GOOD. Ermahgerd. It tastes like a little almond cake, and actually somehow has the same feeling in my mouth as marzipan. It’s amazing! I drank this cup so fast. I seriously feel like I just ate a piece of marzipan. Swoon. Best almond tea I’ve ever had.

So this came with my sample of S’mores I won on the facebook contest, and I just got around to trying it. It’s really pretty, not sure if the colors are as vibrant as the picture, but still, attractive. I totally get strawberry mango in the dry leaves. With a bit of sugar, those fruity flavors really developed. Yet, I only finished half of my cup. The more I drank, the more I noticed something weird underneath, something rich, unidentifiable to me, and…somewhat unpleasant. I think this is just what pu’erh is. I feel bad not liking it. Maybe I need to try more. And suggestions on a mild pu’erh for a beginner?

Drinking the last bit of this cold brewed! I’m super thirsty for some reason…it was French night in the dining hall and while the food was delicious, it was rather salty. So this tea was incredibly refreshing and the nutty, baked good scent shines though as much as it does when hot. I’m gonna miss you, Brioche!

Once upon a time Celestial Seasonings made a chai tea called Chocolate Caramel Enchantment. I loved it as an occasionally super sweet dessert-y drink in high school. Somehow it captured the teeth sticking together quality of caramel, which is really cool to me. This tea has been discontinued for a few years now…I haven’t really found anything quite like it.

So I had high hopes for this Milk Chocolate Caramel tea. Would it capture that same mouth feel that Chocolate Caramel Enchantment had for me?

…not really. I wanted to like this one so much. I made a cup last week and didn’t really notice…anything at all while drinking it, but I thought maybe I brewed it wrong. I tried again today with really boiling water. The tea brewed up was dark and almost thick, and hardly smelled like caramel at all. It was more like a strong breakfast tea. Maybe tasted vaguely of burnt sugar, but nothing more. I added a splash of milk and it still looked more like coffee than tea. As it cooled a bit, I noticed a smell that was a lot like sweet potatoes, which was strange, but not unpleasant.

There’s nothing wrong with this tea. But I don’t think I’d order it in the future.

Okay, so I won this on a Della Terra facebook giveaway (they’re so generous, it’s fantastic!). Immediately upon opening the bag I was blown away. How did they so perfectly capture the scent of a s’more? I’m getting really strong graham and marshmallow, which is fantastic. It reminds me of something from my childhood, and I can’t quite remember what…some sort of candy bar maybe? I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea that is more spot on with the flavor they claim to be replicating. I’m upset with myself for waiting so long to try this. Della Terra, you rock my world.

Ermahgerd, thanks Meowkattack for this lovely sample. It’s delightful. And I’ve been wanting to tell you guys that I thought so, but Steepster was down this morning! Anyway, Coconut and almond are like my favorite flavors together. Maybe. This local shop has a blend called Sparkle Black that is a wonderful coconut almond tea. Smells amazingly sweet. Decided to brew this one up to bring with me to my morning class…it was a good call. The dark chocolate…so much more prominent than I expected. It’s like candy. I just sat there holding my cup and inhaling and everyone probably thought I was a freak, haha. I would definitely buy this in the future.

Yum, thanks Meowkattack! I am not a giant fan of red velvet (I wrote a whole post on my blog on that subject, haha) but I do like dessert teas, and I’ve been wanting to try this one for a while. Mm, sprinkles and chocolate chips! I didn’t try and eat a chip, though I was tempted. Kind of a murky, cloudy brew…the sprinkles bloat and dissolve in a fascinating and disgusting manner. Appetizing! Haha, okay, tasty! Really, really sweet. I wasn’t expecting so much maple flavor (it’s not something I ever associated with red velvet), but it’s still really delicious. Does it taste like cake? Not really. But I’ve stopped expecting tea to taste like cake, even if it is labeled so.

No notes yet.

I can’t find a good enough picture of this that’s worth posting…so you’ll have to trust me when I say it’s really pretty and colorful. Full of reds, blues and greens!

I love visiting home and shopping with my mom. We bought some delicious tea. Both of us love coconut, and the smell of this was super enticing. The salesperson said her son mixed this with Irish Breakfast tea and iced it, which sounds like a really interesting combo. I’ll have to try it in the future. Anyway, this tea tastes as good as it smells (which is always a nice surprise) and brews up really sweet and creamy. Recommended for all coconut lovers!

I was fully prepared to not be that impressed with this. Every tea company has a caramel cream rooibos. And I made a cup of this once before, and I think I only half finished it. But I wanted something to sip in the evening, and it wasn’t offensive, so I brewed up a cup. Dry scent was pleasant, but nothing that special. I decided to try and eat one of the caramel bits and it was kind of gross and fake tasting. So, anyway, to stop being negative, this turned awesome when brewed. For like, 10 minutes. Do it long, it won’t hurt. Also, I feel like my water hasn’t been hot enough in general, cause I don’t remember all the caramelly pieces melting like they did this time. It brewed up really dark and amazing smelling. So much richer than the dry leaf. Add a little sugar and…man, that’s good stuff. Like I’m actually eating caramel. Get on this, people!

Having this one again after not drinking it for a while. Still awesome. Still smells like a bakery in the morning, breakfast pastries pulled straight from the oven. I really enjoy this with a decent amount of sugar in it. So many flavors going on in my mouth, I can’t really figure out what’s going on but I don’t care! And the love the pretty red thingies mixed in with the leaves.

This one was pretty alright for me, nothing really extraordinary. But I do love watching oolongs unfurl! It didn’t have as much of a rich, creaminess that I tend to associate with oolongs, and I didn’t get ANY hint of vanilla, but it did taste and smell very nuttytoastyroasty to me. I didn’t put any sugar in. I went outside in the cold and read Norse creation myths while drinking this. Kept me warm!

Finally made this into a latte….first sip, I scowled and shook my head at myself (I seriously did, sitting alone in my room, haha) for not doing it sooner. So wonderful.

Caramel Matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html
First matcha!!! Ermahgerd guys, I was so excited to get this, but also kind of afraid? I didn’t want to waste a single bit of it. I’ve known about matcha for a while, and always been intrigued, but also intimidated by it. The closest thing I’ve probably had until now (excluding, y’know, normal green tea) was probably a green tea frappuccino. I have a bag of something called “cooking grade” matcha from Aiya Matcha in my room, which I use for (duh) cooking. I’ve never tried to drink it because I guess I assumed it wasn’t good enough for drinking.
Anyway, somehow there was an explosion of matcha talk on Steepster (probably due to Azzrian) and I became super intrigued. Flavored matcha? Yes please. Getting a promo coupon was the final step that pushed me to order. Yay!
So, here I was, with a 30 g bag of basic grade, distinctive caramel matcha. I was afraid to open the bag. But I did.
“Ohhhhhhh,” I moaned. The most beautiful smell in the world. So I set about preparing my beverage. I used ¼ tsp in a glass bowl, and poured 2-3 ounces of water on top of it. Okay, side note, and I’d love for you to help me out here. I have a Kamjove for boiling water, and while it appeared that my water was boiling in the kettle, when I poured it into a measuring cup and stuck a candy thermometer in it, it wouldn’t even reach 180F! Why? So I suspect that my water wasn’t hot enough, but I forged ahead anyway.
I got some bubbles when I whisked (I just had this rubbery whisk with me) but not an enormous amount of froth like I was hoping. Tips? The intoxicating smell also faded a bit when prepared. But it was delicious! Not bitter or weird at all. The matcha sugar at the bottom of the bowl was especially delicious, haha.
Not sated, I proceeded to make a cold matcha, putting some tea and sugar in a bottle with about 8ish ounces of water and shakeshakeshaking it. It was awesome! I think I liked it more than hot.

So there is my tale. I still feel like I have much to learn, but already, I want more matcha. If anyone has ANY sort of tips, I’d love to hear them!

This tea was good, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I didn’t know that gooey butter cake was commonly lemon flavored (should have done my research! I’ve only had the vanilla-y kind). I was expecting something more like a combination between pancake breakfast and butterbeer, but it tasted more like a creamy lemon to me, similar to the lemon solstice I recently had. I need to try it a couple more times.

My school ran a butterbeer shake special a while back that was just a butterscotch shake with cayenne pepper in it for some reason. This is much better than that. But why did it take me so long to realize this smelled like rootbeer? Haha, I’m silly. I don’t really drink root beer unless it is accompanied by vanilla ice cream. I have a friend who is a root beer connoisseur and has tried like, 200 kinds. Anyway, I adore cream soda, and now I recognize that this tea reminds me of a cream soda/rootbeer hybrid! It’s very exciting how spot on it is…dunno how Frank does it. I wonder what it would be like iced…

I am perplexed by this tea! It sure smells like other Irishy/Englishy breakfast teas I’ve had, but it doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen before. Well, I take that back. It looks like coffee. Coffee grounds. Super weird, but exciting! Used a big-ish teaspoon and boiling water…immediately when the water hit the tea, it darkened up considerably. Like, to a color that I would perceive as done in other teas (I sometimes judge my tea’s doneness by it’s color, which is okay sometimes…but definitely not others. I have a problem overbrewing more delicate teas). Oof, this is a dark, STRONG tea. Definitely will keep me awake for a day of studying! I’m too much of a wuss to drink it without sugar. Hmm, upon poking at the used up leaves, they almost seem to mush together. Like coffee grounds. Mysterious.

I’m sick, so forgive me if my notes aren’t exactly spot on. I have this really bizarre issue. I hate grapes. Hate them. I can’t recall the last time I ate one, and I don’t even like looking at them. But grape is probably my favorite artificial fruit flavor, haha. So whatever. The dry leaf smells exactly like that grape candy flavor I so adore. I was sort of hoping that it would brew up purple, but nope, just a pretty gold. Also, I love watching the leaves unfurl. Anyway, brewed up, most of that super sweet grape smell was lost to me…it had transformed into something else, which initially reminded me of spaghetti sauce (don’t ask me why…) but eventually I realized it was a flowery smell. Sorta reminded me of this plumeria lotion they sold at a store I worked at in high school. I’m not getting much of a strong flavor at all in this first brew…I put sugar in it and it’s tasty, but I’m not getting any specific flavor notes. I’ll report back after a couple more infusions.

Thanks to my good pal potatowedges for this one! Smells very much like toasty lemon meringue pie to me when it’s dry. I got a whiff of licorice, but I thought I was crazy. Guess not! I think it gets less toasty and more creamy/lemony when it’s brewed. It’s very delicious and mild. I bet it would be awesome iced. I’ll try it out!

Mmmm, thanks for the sample, Stacy! I was eager to try another herbaly caffeine tea that wasn’t yerba mate, which I don’t like at all. I just finished drinking my cup and I’m not feeling much caffeine yet, but I love the taste, which honestly reminded me a lot of Tazo’s chamomile blend, Calm. Low key minty herbal flavor. I’d totally drink this again. But right now….I’m going back to bed before my next class, haha. A potential side effect of guayusa is lucid dreaming. Hm! Maybe I’ll have one.