tattooed_tea

Received this from kittylovestea, she was very generous with the tea.

Dry this smells very banana like & creamy. Can you even smell creamy? Like banana & yogurt.
Steeped it smells banana like, but more like banana runts than real bananas. The taste is that of a handfull of runts, minus the sweetness. But also hints of bubble gum.
Ok so I totally don’t get breakfast smoothie, but this is good. It paired greatly with my hockey in game in which we won…. woooo!

Quick note before my phone dies.
Received this from T.C.

This smells like alcohol big time! Like sickening so, even once steeped.
Hot I am getting mostly almond, I ended up letting it cool too much & it was bitter, but had quite a bit of chocolate.

I may have to let this air a bit to kill the alcohol scent.

ETA: I retried this today. Just over 2 perfect teaspoons, at 2.5 mins.
Much better this time, the leaves still smell like alcohol, but the steeped cup doesnr. It’s almondy, with a strong black base. I’m gonna try this again with 3 teaspoons at the same steep time & see if the other flavours come out more.

I got this when I went in to get 4 to go cups, one for me, mom & my girls. I ended up buying 50g of each Wonderberry Truffle & Spiced Mandarin Oolong (Damn lack of will power). I wanted some Jinja Citrus Twist (which was discontinued :( _cries), so my friend who worked there recommended this, & gave me a good 25g or so of it for FREE!

I decided to brew up a whole pot of this on Saturday. It smells very fruity, & brews up to a light redish-pink colour. And it tastes fantastic.
Very fruity, with some melon flavours, followed by the cooling effect of the eucalyptus. I love the lingering coolness/tingle. Almost like gum, but WAY better!!
This would be so wonderful iced, so now I gotta go buy some of this too!

it’s been over 6 months since I had this tea. I don’t normally write more than one note about the same tea, however my opinion of this one has changed.

This was almondy, slightly chocolatey a little bit bakey. This was quite good and either my tastes have changed or this tea having sat for 6 months has improved the taste.

I got this one off of a friend who hosted a Steeped Tea party, it’s one I didn’t order. & one I regret :(

This is really good, creamy, toffee, caramel. So delicious, with the nice refreshing white base. Totally in love with this one. YUM!

Received this one from kittylovestea.

I’m not exactly sure what gooey butter cake is suppose to taste like. But it sounds & looks good.

I’m only getting a nice lemon taste from this with a nice black base. No butter, no cakey goodness. I do have more to give it another go. But right now just a plain old tea that you would turn into iced tea.

ETA: I had this again yesterday. I went & oversteeped it… ok next weekend I am investing in a real tea timer!!
So I was still getting only lemon & some astringency because of the over steep. Once it cooled I did get some of that delicious bakey flavour. I do have enough for one more cup, so I will try it again!

ETA 2: Finished this off this morning, some strange smell coming from the pouch. No astringency this time, but not much flavour. Still lemoney, maybe a hint of cake this time around. Definitely DID NOT over steep this time, no astringency to be found.

oh my bloody he’ll. Steepster at my note.

anywho, I’ve had this forever and am now trying it in hopes of cleaning up my stash.
I don’t hate this like everyone else, I don’t love it, but quite enjoy it. it reminds me of those pop bottle gummies.

I put the rest in the fridge to try it cold.
as my cup cooled to room temp, it wasn’t quite as good as it is hot.
Also there is a kind of strange taste at the end of the sip. maybe the stevia?

Received this one from babble

This has a slight medicinal smell.
This brewed up a dark red, it’s got a nice cherry flavour, with just to say a bit of a medicinal taste. I’m getting the green tea base at the end.

I’m also getting a slight tobacco aftertaste?

Another I received from Artp

I looove looove looove blueberries & anything acai flavour has tasted like blueberries.
I guess I over steeped this because it was a bit bitter, it did have a nice light blueberry flavour & I was getting some white tea flavour. I’ll have to try this again & steep it properly.

I’m not generally a fan of mate, when I requested this in a swap from Artp I didnt realize it was a mate. but this morning I need my boost of energy, I’ve got a photoshoot this afternoon which I am so nervous about.

the dry leaves smells so fruity & juicy, something I would enjoy in smoothie form. as it steeps you can smell the mate, but as it sits beside me it smells like a cup of orange juice.

taste wise I mostly get the earthy mate, followed by some delicious juicy fruits.
however that mate comes out too much in the front for me.

Vanilla Beans sent me 4 generous samples of some DT blends 3 I’ve never owned/had only once & one I love. I’m determined to drink/at least try any new teas I get.

So I had this one today.
Well it’s lightly berry like, but just generic berry. I am definetly not getting any maple syrup.

Overall just not liking this one. I’ll finish my mug but that’s it. It’s rather bland.

Received this in a swap from Vanilla Beans
I’ve been wanting to try this for a while, alas I have no nearby store. But when I get to one, watch the f out!!!

I didn’t realize this was a white blend (or rather I forgot) until I read the reviwes. I used boiling water & it steeped much longer than I usually would. I was in a rush to get to work & it steeped all the way there.

Anyways… babbling
This is super yummy. Chocolate but not overly so, I’m thinking the other flavour I am getting is the coconut, but I’m not sure. Eitherway everything works really well together. I loved how the chamomile flowers perked back up after steeping. Very pretty.

another sample from my online order.

Given that pomegranate & blueberry are 2 of my fav fruits and I love white tea, one would think I would love this one. alas I do not love it.

This tastes generically fruity, but artificially so. I do get some earthy vegetal, hay like quality from the white base. but overall nothing I would have again.

Sare was kind enough to share a bit of this with me.

I think I could have used a little less water for this it was a bit diluted. I think with the proper leaf/water ratio this would be really good. I am getting the chocolate flavour as well as walnut, they mix together nicely, but not so much in a brownie like way.

ETA: 200th tasting note

this was a sample that I got with my cyber Monday order, which actually weren’t in my order.

I’m still new to oolongs, especially unflavoured ones. let’s be real I’m new to unflavoured tea of all kinds. I took tiny sip to start & my immediate thought was, this is so yummy. my next sip it had cooled a bit because I was drinking another tea first, was ick, but then so good.

this is a really rich & buttery tea, and slightly floral. similar to cashews, something I could only have a little of at a time. I only steeped for about 3 minutes. not the suggested 5. definitely think I have to buy some of this one.

ETA: my 200th tasting note

Back log from Friday.

I over steeped this a bit.

Although I got a great apple taste, there was a bunch of astringency, and not really any pie taste.

Must try again!

Seems every Teavana review i read is about how pushy they were or how terrible their tea is. I’m not sure if my experience is better a- because my store use to be a Teaopia or b- I’m always in there when the manger, who happens to be a friend of mine is working. I’ve only ever had one employee get on my nerves and it really wasn’t that bad.

So onto my review. I’ve tried this in store once or twice because they usually have it as a sample. I was convinced I loved it & needed to buy it, but I couldn’t justify the $22/50g that they wanted. So thanks to Sara, I got to try this one before spending a fortune on it.

I swear in store in was better. Not quite as floral like & more buttery & earthy. Maybe for once I will do a second steep on my leaves.
This was good, however a little too floral for me. I had a hard time drinking my full mug, so this is something I would have to brew up for smaller cups.
I really don’t think I would spend the money on this one, but really am grateful to have tried it.
However we’ll see how steep 2 goes.

ETA: did my second steep on the leaves yesterday morning. basically tasted like I put orchids in a juicer & drank it. not one I will resteep

You know cherry flavouring can be medicinal? Yea well not here.
This is like you opened a can of cherry pie filling. Om nom nom!
I swear as it steeps you get a crust scent.

ahhhh yes no sign of rooibos. And only cherry pie filling with the hint of crust at the end of the taste.

Smells of creamy coconut, but also some underlying kind of unpleasant smell.

Steeped it’s much of the same smell.
I’m not getting any coconut taste, however this is very creamy & lightly sweet. You get the white tea base following all the creamyness. Mmmmmm

Smell….. so much limey goodness. Not fresh lime though, like key lime pie scent.

Steeped the tastes isn’t as strong as the smell. It’s creamy lime goodness. As the smell it’s like key lime pie. I’m not getting any coconut taste, but this is really tasty. My fav of the ones I’ve had so far.

This was a really nice tasting black tea, but unfortunetly I detect no tastes of Maple or cinnamon, maybe some vanilla which is why it’s smooth.

Another sample that I don’t know where it came from. Bad tattoed, bad. Apologies!

Why oh why did I wait so long to try this? It is so good. By the time I drank it it had reached room temp & now it is pretty cold.
At room temp this was very good, fruity, juicy. & melon like. So yummy. Even colder now it’s better. Definitely one that would be fabulous iced this summer by the pool ( maybe with a touchof vodka…. shhhh)

Also a great alternative to juice for the kids.

ETA: My daughter downed the rest of the mug. Guess it is a good one!

Another from alphakitty

It looks like Forever Nuts, it smells like it, it even turns pink like it. Sure enough it tastes just like yummy, delicious Forever Nuts.

so good!!

Again not sure who I got this one from.

This steeped up rather dark for a white tea.
It has a light honey dew taste and a strong earthy taste, which pretty well takes over.
There was some bitterness which may have been a result of a slight over steeping. Darn finicky white tea.