Bethany

Ahhh busy morning.. this tea will forever be delicious. See previous notes.

This was the end of sample tin – I think that’s the second or third sample tin of this that I’ve gone through, so I probably need to suck it up and buy the 4oz.

Yummy cocoa goodness for a Sunday morning.

My beloved Mangosteen Green with Matcha was on clearance at the grocery store, which scares me. I really hope they’re not discontinuing it. And they were all out of it!

So I had been meaning to try this tea for awhile (which was also on clearance) and bought it in place of Mangosteen. It brews up that thin red color that only comes from grocery store herbal teas (especially those with rosehips and hibiscus). It’s okay. Not nearly as good as the Mangosteen, but I’ll drink it from time to time.

Again, craving this one when I put together my little teabags for this morning. Not too sweet or bitter.

But! More exciting! I just made my first Den’s Tea order! As I’ve said, I’m reallyyyy trying to get myself to like green teas more, so I figured I’d start with Japanese greens first. I got:
2 oz of Pineapple Sencha
2 oz of Genmaicha Extra Green
Matcha Kaze
and the green tea sampler set, since I really wanted to try their Sencha Fuka-midori

So hopefully there’ll be some delicious new tasting notes soon.

Good, comforting morning tea.

Juicy and not bitter at all. This really does surprise me.

Does anyone know if Caribou sells Harney & Sons teas, repackaged? I noticed that two of their teas for sale – not at the counter, just in tins – were exactly the same names as Harney teas (Pomegranate Oolong and Hot Cinnamon Spice).

Yummy almondy mate goodness.

I didn’t read the description of this until after I drank it. And now I see why I thought it was just mediocre:

Rosehips AND hibiscus.

Is there a more terrifying combination in all of the land? I think not.

This was too tart and tasted like every other tropical white/green tea out there. After trying several of Teavana’s teas now, I realize that they have a big issue with subtle flavors. Maybe it’s because their teas are geared toward newbies; I don’t know. But I have yet to try a Teavana tea that isn’t screaming FRUITY (or chocolate, mostly) FLAVORRR.

And that spells the end of Backwoods. So long, Backwoods. I will miss you dearly. I hope TeaNoir reopens soon.

Strawberries + chocolate + tea = yes please.

In bed with a big cuppa this. See previous tasting note for full review.

Thought I finished my sample of this awhile ago, but I found a bag in my desk. This seriously does smell like Froot Loops, and if you don’t know the smell of Froot Loops well enough to identify it as such, I feel bad for you. You must’ve had a sad childhood.

Anyway, the taste is a LOT lighter. This tastes more like a basic green with a teensy weensy touch of citrus. But it’s good.

In other, related news, I’m really trying to drink more green tea. The only green tea I genuinely love is genmaicha. I don’t like veggies, so I think that’s why I dislike most green teas. Any recommendations?

It is SO RARE that I have a black tea after noon. I wonder what will happen now that I’ve crossed to this dark side – by the by, the only reason this is the case is because I accidentally had my afternoon oolong this morning thinking it was a black tea. Smart cookie, I am.

Some confusion this morning as I put together my little bags of tea for work: I picked TeaNoir’s Backwoods up as one of my morning blacks, then thought about it for a second and decided to take another tea instead. Then I remember pulling this tea out and thinking “well, I’ll take a TeaNoir oolong for the afternoon instead.”

I must’ve still been thinking Backwoods because that’s what my bag was labeled. And I pulled it out of my desk drawer all excited for maple syrupy goodness. Alas, it was not to be. I took one sip and realized my mistake.

Ultraviolet is a pretty decent tea. My main complaint with it is that it’s nearly identical in flavor to one of my favorites, Mighty Leaf’s Orchid Oolong, except that OO has coconut added, while this does not. The coconut gives OO that wonderful little edge. So this tea fails in that respect.

I do like this more and more every time I drink it; it still has a rather synthetic taste to me, but it’s addictive. I mainly taste date, though, with very little coconut and no vanilla.

Last of my sample. I need to bring some genmaicha back in my life. I love the stuff, but don’t drink nearly enough. Think I’ll be replacing this with Den Tea’s Genmaicha Extra Green, though.

This is good, but not as good as that one.

Very good, but again, I’m conflicted on Zhi’s chais because they’re so weak to me.

I probably steeped this too long (close to 2 minutes), so it’s a lot more vegetal than I expected. That’s not a bad thing; this has a very smooth mouthfeel and even with the more floral tastes coming out, I smiled after my first sip. I am tasting some creaminess, as well, though. I like this.

Sadly the end of my sample of this. I realize now that though I usually loathe hibiscus, this is one blend that it works exceptionally well in. I guess my real issue with hibiscus is that it’s thrown into teas and make them unintentionally sour. This is meant to be sour, anyway, so it works.

And continuing the sweet trend.. macaroon in a cup..

For the first time in a long time, had a chance to make tea before work. Wanted something sweet. Yum.

The last bags of my first box – only one box to go until I’m out of this until next Christmas. I was sad to find that apparently I did miss out on one of the holiday teas, Nutcracker Sweet. I could’ve sworn I bought it, but it’s not in my cupboard. Maybe it will reappear in a strange place.

Hm.. so the last time I had this I had just come home from a workout and it dehydrated me quickly. This time I’m beginning to see why, as this is drying out my tongue something fierce. Lots of tannins. I like the cocoa and cardamom flavor, but it’s too harsh overall.