tea-sipper select Send Message

I’m thrilled to try this one! thanks so much for sending a sample over, CharlotteZero! This is basically exactly as I wished it was… I used two teaspoons rather than 1 1/2 teaspoons. The dry leaves are different looking from any tea I’ve seen before… it looks like a golden Yunnan but the leaves are really short and really twisty. Both steeps had the same delicious flavor: I LOVE chocolate & marshmallow together (like the ice cream… or s’mores). The leaves themselves have a dark chocolate quality themselves. The chocolate chips help, but I think it’s mostly the leaves, especially if you use two teaspoons. There is a hint of marshmallow sweetness. I was hoping the orange would take a backseat, and it does… with just enough orange to add something unique to the blend. This one is really very good! Always a delightful tea time with Butiki!
Steep #1 // just boiled // 3 min
Steep #2 // just boiled // 4 min

MissB sent a sample of this one over! thanks so much! I could always try anything from Teajo. Raspberry chocolate is one of my favorite combinations! This blend is true to its name. Definitely equal parts juicy raspberry and a lingering wispy milk chocolate. I noticed a tiny piece of raspberry in the dry blend itself. The black tea base goes perfectly with the flavors… I think it’s the same base as the other teas I’ve tried (Earl Grey, Peach). Very tasty!

From yesterday: Well, I had a headache so it was time to try some of the mint tea CharlotteZero sent over! thank you so much for that lovely package of teas! I really appreciate it. I had to open the teabag and dump it into my infuser to make sure this was just mint and not mint with another tea. I was planning on blending it with a black tea anyway! It does look like just mint..but to be honest, it kind of smells like catnip! I let my cat do a smell test.. first some mint then some catnip… he seemed less interested in the mint than the catnip. haha. But the flavor seemed like it couldn’t just be all mint… it wasn’t strong enough! I blended it with Ovation’s assam. It was delicious, but sadly didn’t make my headache disappear. Sometimes even mint can’t help them. I must keep track of which teas always make the headache disappear… right now, I think it’s only Zen’s Chocolate Mint Rooibos which is odd.

The Tournament of Books starts in a week and I have three books in my possession to read in time for it! (themorningnews.org) Time to get reading!

Additional notes: REBLEND. WELL, it looks like I’ll be one of the first to write a tasting note for the reblend of this one. I had a sample of this one before, it was even old. Somehow, this new batch tastes even older than that tea. The old blend was so nice! Definite cheesecake and nice bergamot on a decent black tea. The new batch… everything is different. The new black tea base!! Ack, I hate it. The flavor is nothing I can see anyone remotely liking. I can tell by the fragrance it just isn’t the same. There really isn’t a cheesecake flavor, though there is a smoothness to it. And the bergamot definitely doesn’t seem the same.. or even like actual bergamot. Very disappointed in this one. I don’t know how it could be THIS different from the blend I’ve tried before. I’d lower the rating on this batch to a 73. Maybe this is another that needs to simmer in the pouch a while… I’ll try it again in a few weeks.

Thanks so much for this one, MissB! Herbal Infusions is this new intriguing tea company that I probably shouldn’t know about. haha. I just wish they would list the ingredients in their teas. The leaves here are different – there are two types of green tea I think. The fragrance seems like marzipan but it isn’t in the flavor at all. It’s a nice buttery green but it seems like the other green tea could be a tiny bit more vegetal with a refreshing cherry flavor. The cherry subtle but any more and it might take on a fakey flavor. I was craving cherry today. (I think I have teas for many craves I have… which is great because I don’t usually have it in the actual flavor.)

Fusion sample! I love these sorts of cinnamon and apple blends. Especially with the no caffeine rooibos for the night time. I imagine the honeybush would be even more delicious though! This is another exactly as I thought it would taste. Big apple chunks with sweet apple and cinnamon flavor. Evenly balanced. It tastes like apple pie! Not sure if I love this one or Della Terra’s blend more. The second steep somehow tasted even better — hotter temp/longer time maybe?

52Teas reblended three of the blends I wanted reblended the most… so I had to place my first order! This was the only one I wasn’t sure if I loved because I hadn’t had it before. But caramelwalnutchocolate. Immediately upon opening the pouch though, there is that chemical chocolate scent. I’ve had a pouch of chocolate tea from 52Teas that did this before, but it seemed like it had less of that as time went on. This is a new blend, maybe it just needs time to meld. I will definitely try it again in a few weeks. For now, it’s a bit disappointing. I even has a chunk of walnut in the infuser I couldn’t really taste. Just some of the chocolate, maybe a hint of nuttiness and a sweet taste that if you think real long could be caramel. But like I said, I’ll try it again in a few weeks!

hmm… I’m sipping cold now and it does taste better/ actually like a turtle! I can always wait until it’s cold if I don’t LOVE it hot.. the black tea doesn’t get astringent anyway.

I had a sample of this one from Verdant and Dexter3657 sent some over! Thanks so much! I added a ton of dry leaves to the infuser, but there is still enough for 2-3 servings in one pouch! The leaves look like tiny bean pods. The fragrance is a lovely sweet jasmine.

Steep #1 // 40 minutes after boiling // 45 second steep
I love the idea that this one is called a Yunnan but it’s a white tea… it would be awesome if this tea tasted like white chocolate! The flavor is very light so it was a good idea to make it better with jasmine. The jasmine is the best and very sweet tasting. It is delicious but I don’t love the white tea fuzzies bugging my throat. It’s manageable when the tea is tasty, but it’s probably the reason white tea isn’t my favorite.

Steep #2 // 50 minutes after boiling (accidently too long) // 1 min 30 sec steep
Another lovely cup though the jasmine might be diminished slightly. It’s hard to describe any flavors from the white tea itself though. A very nice white tea (of course) from Verdant!

This one is from KittyLovesTea — thanks so much! The blend has so many flowers! Very pretty blend. It is nice tasting as well. After a three minute steep after waiting for a half hour for the water to cool, this green tea is actually very unique somehow. The flavor is a very subtle almond… but maybe it’s my tastebuds changing, since another tea tasted like almonds that probably shouldn’t have. Or maybe one of the flowers here tastes like almond. Not really roses I can taste. This one is mild tasting but nice. The lightness balances out the extreme of the pu-erh I was drinking before that.

CharlotteZero sent me a few teas I really wanted to try along with the mint for my headaches! thank you so much! I really appreciate it! It’s the fault of your nice tasting note that I wanted to try this one, but you shouldn’t have sent it all if you liked it so much! Luckily, I love it. :D Two delicious steeps. I’m guessing the name “black lagoon” comes from the almost entirely black color of the first cup. With the second steep you can actually see the bottom. No worries about finding the creature from the black lagoon in the second steep! How is it I have never see that movie? Anyway, the flavor is like assam – bread, rye, chewy. Just enough briskness but no astringency and some sweetness. Very nice!