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Backlog from this morning!

So since I had skipped tea a lot these past few days, I decided I needed to dive back in with a tea that I really liked to remind me why I love tea. (That’s what happens to me when I stop drinking tea for a while—instead of craving it like crazy, for some reason, I feel uninterested and don’t want to make any.)

And since I already added a detailed note for this tea, I am going to just go crazy: OH MY GOODNESS I LOVE THIS TEA SO MUCH!! IT IS SO SO YUMMY AND WONDERFUL AND I TRIED MILK IN IT THIS TIME AND OH MY GOODNESS!!

Now back to the nice, formal stuff: The malty flavor came out a bit this time, along with a citrusy taste and a nice sweet. (The strawberries and lemon, again.) Milk made this tea very smooth and creamy, and it was very nice. I really do love this tea!! (Upped the rating a bit…)

Last Teavivre tea before I go back and re-try the Pureh! Thanks Angel, and I am sorry it took me so long!!

Smell: Dry, it had a grassy/veggie/earthy smell, if that all makes sense. Steeping it was a bit more smoky/vegetal, all good, of course.

Taste: It was very earthy and smoky, and then a nice, sweet aftertaste popped in, though it wasn’t too sweet, which is good. I also decided to add a small bit of honey, and it went very well with this tea. It has been a long time since I’ve had green tea, though, to be honest, so I don’t have anything else to add right now as I have to build my green tea vocabulary and tasting notes back up to remember what is good/bad about it. But do know that I highly enjoyed this tea!!

I AM BACKLOGGING LIKE CRAZY!! This is from…..Yesterday? Sunday? I don’t know. To be honest, I have had several tea-less days, partially because I slept in and wasn’t craving a morning tea, partially because I haven’t had time, and because I was making fruit smoothies recently and enjoyed those!

Anywho, on to this tea. I am, to say again, going back through my bagged teas. And also, I had to re-discover green tea before I tried the green tea I recieved from Teavivre.

This tea was pleasant, with a vegetal taste and a nice, slightly honey-floral type taste going on. This review will be short, however, because I think I steeped it in the same cup that I drank my Pureh in, and that was a bad experience/taste with Pureh, and I think the smell and taste seeped in a bit. So I’m actually going to re-try this tea in a fresh, clean cup. But it was good!

I haven’t been logging or drinking steadily for days. Backlog from…Tuesday morning? (I GRADUATED!) Or was it yesterday? I forgot. Oh well.

I had forgotten how good this was! It’s very flavorful, with just the right amount of rose without being too much, AND there is a cinnamony/spicy chai background to it. It’s really yummy. I was debating trying it with milk, but didn’t know if the rose would curdle it or not? Either way, great tea.

Backlog from Friday morning. Yes, I have a lot of backlogging to do!

This tea is alright. I love Tazo, however, this tea is very, very, very bold. And I don’t like too many bold teas. Also, since this is my most recent cup, the bags are older now and kind of beat up. So they aren’t the best quality anymore.

Smell: Black tea, bold

Taste: A very rich, bold tea with a small hint of cinnamon. Not bad, but not great. I put some sweet coffee creamer in, and it made it taste like vanilla soymilk, and it was actually really yummy. So this is one of those iffy teas that can sometimes be brilliant and other times be not so great.

I must apologize, Wissotzy Earl Grey. I have re-considered you, and have found with some patience, you aren’t that bad. Upping the rating and changing the note. The other note will remain, to warn of what can happen if you don’t get EG right, but I may drop the rating.

This Earl Grey is very time and temperature sensitive, that hasn’t changed. However, now that I know so much more about properly making tea, everything has changed.

Also, as a side note: I am going back over many of my bagged teas, partially because recently, my tea strainer has been buried beneath lots of dishes and I am too lazy to get it (yes, I know, shame) and I also just want to enjoy all my teas, not just my loose leaf.

Now for the new review:

Smell: It’s not strong in the bag, though steeping it’s there. It’s not fragarent, per say, but more bold and black-tea smelling than bergamot.

Taste: If steeped too long (four or five minutes) this tea becomes very bitter. But I steeped at 3 minutes this time, and found the taste to be a bit strong, but not horrible, and with sugar and cream, everything balanced out very well. It’s not a powerful bergamot taste, but the classic Earl Grey flavor is there, just more bold and black than usual. The cream makes it softer, and I put in enough sugar to give the mouthfeel a slightly (almost) grainy charateristic. (The sugar probably didn’t fully dissolve, but it was alright.)

Over all, this still wasn’t a superb awesome EG, but it wasn’t as bad as before, and I happen to like it enough to finish off the whole box, and I MAY order more in the future. (Especially if I keep experimenting. More notes will tell.)

Oh, yeah, FYI: I used boiling water for this, BUT I know that it could have been better with maybe 180 degrees, give or take. Boiling water, if poured directly over the bag, steeps it almost instantly. But it was still good!

Ok! Thanks, Azzrian.

I have been contemplating drinking this for several, several days. And I have now gotten down to it!

This was alright. I could taste a lot of Papaya, I think was one of the fruits in the list. And that was it, really. Not bad, even tasted a bit peachy but it wasn’t my favorite. So nothing really big to report here.

Backlog from last night. Think I added a note for this a while ago. Either way, i still really love it. It’s very cinnamony and spicy and yummy and I have PERFECTED the cream-to-tea ratio!

And……..that’s it. :-) Lovely tea.

Lots and LOTS of thanks to Angel at Teavivre!

I have a one word (okay, two) overall description of this tea: Blood. Orange.

Fortunately for me, I love blood orange. Love it. :-)

Smell: This tea has a pleasant mix of fruits, and I could smell the sweet apple, kind of tart currants, and the orange. The hibiscus (roselle) was in it again, and again I was pleased rather than disappointed. Steeping I could really smell the orange. That made me happy. :-)

Taste: Blood orange, definitely, and it’s reminding me how much I love that taste. It’s tart, but not overly tart, and has a nice citrus twang to it. The apple provides a mellow sweetness, and the hibiscus adds to the tart but doesn’t overpower. And again, there is orange and when you tell me I am going to be tasting orange I expect it to be there, so this tea REALLY delivers for me.

I don’t have anymore to add, really, except that I put a spoonful or so of some sugar in, to add to the sweetness, and I think this tea, just like the Blueberry Fruit tea, will be great cold as well. :-) A perfect summertime tea!

Update: I just wanted to confirm that this tastes amazing cold.

Thanks again, Angel!

This is a backlog from Saturday afternoon and……..I really, really, really hope I steeped this wrong. Truly. I don’t even want to put a note out yet, but feel it can pass as my cry for help. Because………..I couldn’t even stand to drink this. It definitely had that fishy smell and it tasted like that. It was just….not good.

I’m not rating or reviewing this until I know I have it right. So this is my call for help. HOW DO YOU MAKE THIS RIGHT?? Please. I’m begging. All of the other Teavivre teas have been awesome so far, and I don’t want to mess this up.