The Cup of Life - Lu Ann

First Sip Thought: “Not what I was expecting!”

Smell: I don’t know what I was thinking when I first opened the package, but I just didn’t think it’d have a great scent – or at least strong enough to smell in other rooms. To my surprise, even with the pale greenish-yellow liquid after steeping, the herbal infusion still gave off a strong lemon aroma throughout the room. Not my favourite smell, but I do believe it made my kitchen smell freshly clean! (I’ve read some other reviews stating it reminds them of Lemon Pledge)

Taste: As an herbal infusion, this is a blend I had a hard time try to review based on the taste. Mainly because I would say this is definitely one you should not just read reviews to make up your decision on trying it or not. It’s very different from other reviews I have done. I was surprised that there was absolutely no bitter taste – it was actually quite smooth. I wish I have tried a lemongrass before to compare but so far Teatulia’s is on my list of more to purchase!

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First Sip Thought: “Creamy deliciousness!”

Smell: At first, the scent is very subtle but sweet aroma. The initial smell I receive from it is a bold vanilla along side with slight hints of sweet berries. I can’t say I really could tell there was white chocolate in the blend until I took a few sips, however I still found other flavours took over. Once the warm water hits the dried leaves, you will begin to adore the flavours taking up your home’s air.

Taste: An easy, soft, sweet vanilla taste that adds to the creamy factor of this blend. It has a lingering flavour to last for quite a bit. My favourite part about this blend is that the roobios is highly noticeable in the sips but not overpowering. I tried this blend twice – first without milk or sugar, and the next taste I decided to see how it may differ with the additions. With a pinch of sugar and splash of milk I found the flavours to be more evident. I would love to recreate this blend in a delicious smoothie, or latte – something good with a milky base. Being caffeine free, and a dessert tea I would recommend a cup before bed instead of hitting some sweets! Great substitute.

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Smell: I found the scent very bold when I first opened the sealed package. While it was steeping, it was probably the same level of boldness too. I enjoyed it quite a bit as I had this bed later in the evening and didn’t want to sleep anytime soon. It’s definitely so far a great pick me up blend to brew!

Taste: I’m usually not a huge fan of earl grey blends but this one has me rethinking that now. To me, the smell is quite deceiving because I feel like the flavours I got from just one sip were completely different. That’s not a bad thing either. I say this because it didn’t taste too strong or overwhelming like the scent may have. The main flavour I can get out of it is most likely the orange flowers. It adds a great, subtle sweet hint to the blend which makes it quite honestly, outstanding! My favourite part about it is how the flavours just keep on lingering on the tip of your tongue. The bergamot and zesty orange notes are an excellent combination for this medium high level caffeine blend.

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This truly is an amazing blend. I believe this tea is now called Banana Coconut. Instead of doing a typical tea review expressing my obsession with this blend I decided to get my thinking hat on and use this blend to create a Banana Bread recipe infused with tea.

Here is the recipe you can check out & try yourself: http://theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca/2013/03/banana-bread-infused-with-banana-dulce.html

Please let me know if you try it & how it turned out for you. Also, if you made any adjustments be sure to fill me in!! :)

Packaging: “blooming, expanding, connecting” my favourite line on the package. It’s part of their logo and I think it does a great job at explaining exactly why they are here. Tea was delivered in a resealable stand up pouch labelled with the information about the tea (description, ingredients, steep time)

First Sip Thought: “Where’d the vanilla go?”

Smell: The dried leaves have an exquisite natural vanilla scent to them. I would say I enjoy the scent of the leaves before they are steeped better than afterwards. It’s not a horrible smell, but after filling the space with a sweet aroma it’s definitely a change to have something smell complete opposite.

Taste: I call this blend a tease because it smells like it will have a really sweet taste from the overpowering smell of vanilla but it does not. I feel like the natural vanilla scent kind of disappeared, and I could no longer smell or even taste it. However, you can definitely taste a smooth, rich blend of the lemon myrtle and marigolds. I have never tried this combination in any form before and was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it. I thought I would be disappointed after realizing it didn’t taste how it first smelled but it ended up being a great blend to sit and enjoy while getting my creative mind running on high speed.

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First off, from reading others’ reviews just now… I really have a craving to try this blend iced now!!

Ingredients: Organic White Peony Loose-Leaf Tea, Organic Strawberries, Marigolds, Ginger Root, Natural Flavors, Guava White Tea

Smell: A very mild scent, not too strong at all. It is a blend that you would have to come up close to the cup while it steeped to get a nice smell of it. It is a refreshing smell, sort of like a small citrus forest.

Taste: Subtle flavouring for sure, but it is nice like that. I prepared this blend with no sugar (thankfully) because it has a very sweet base to it. If sugar was added, I think it would make a great iced tea mix for those cool summer days. However, I don’t really taste as much as the strawberry flavour I would usually like. I tasted the ginger more than the strawberries (my boyfriend tastes less ginger and more strawberries though, lol). Overall, I think this is a great light tea, with medium caffeine intake and if you usually enjoy guava there is no reason why you should not try this excellent blend.

First Sip Thought: I started to sing Mellow Yellow in my head. (tea brews into a beautiful yellow colour)

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Packaging: The tea was shipped to me in a wonderfully designed box for each individual blends I received. Inside each box was a bag full of tea leaves, much like the image above. It’s not resealable, but we did have air tight tins handy so it wasn’t a problem for us.

Smell: Before I say anything about what I think of the tea I would like to say that my cat seems to love the smell. I spilt a little on the floor and she wouldn’t stop smelling it. When I smelt it I didn’t blame her it smells DELIGHTFUL! It does seem like I have lit a candle because the fragrance has filled the room and it is quite lovely. Definitely a great blend to fill the air with a safe, fire-less “candle” ;)

First Sip Thought: “Wow….CINN-A-MON!”

Taste: To carry on with the previous category, you can taste the orange and rooibos quite well but I would say the most predominant taste is the cinnamon itself. Which to my boyfriend, is excellent because he knows what rooibos taste like and if he’s looking for a rooibos fusion he doesn’t want the predominant flavor to be rooibos. If he wanst that flavor he will just steep a plain rooibos. I would actually describe this tea as phenomenal. It is quite good and I highly recommend it. I do prefer tea that you do not have to add milk or sugar and this tea is quite good by itself (obviously with hot water). I am struggling to explain the unique taste of this tea but it certainly is unlike any other so I have nothing really to compare it too so I would just suggest that you try it yourself to find out. I think this blend would also be amazing to try iced! I’ll be sure to stock up on this blend when the weather warms up. When you try it out, make it fun and get creative with the endless possibilities.

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I steeped this tea in my single serving cup that has a built in infuser. I put about 1.5 tsp of the leaves into it and let it steep for 5 minutes so I can get the maximum of flavours.

Packaging: The tea arrived in a tall and skinny air tight container. Great to keep the tea fresh for a longer period of time. I actually prefer this style tin over others because it doesn’t take up too much room in when storing it away. From what I saw, it doesn’t have the size on the label, but after looking it up online I believe it is 2.5 oz. It’s a standard label with a very appealing look to it. Standard steeping instructions are on the back as well.

Smell: Strong but not overpowering for both – before steep and after. The scent fills the air the moment you open the air tight container. I can distinguish the sweet vanilla aroma from the the beans, as well as the hint of coconuts. Definitely filled my kitchen with an awakening scent.

Taste: I would say this blend had a great smooth and calming flavour. Again, the vanilla bean hints are a perfect touch. It wasn’t too bold, which I was surprised about because I expected it to be for sure. It’s hard to not dislike this creamy blend. The flavours all taste real, and not artificial. I also especially enjoyed that the tea leaves weren’t too small. A great size that was able to not sneak through my infuser. For those that enjoy vanilla blends, this will hit the spot nicely. I had this tea in the late afternoon with a bit of milk and sugar as a dessert tea but I would definitely recommend this for a perfect wake up brew in the morning (minus the milk + sugar).

First Sip Thought: “I must make this into a latte next time!”

I can’t not give this tea a perfect score…I’m in love!!

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Not a blend I would try again. Personally, I think it needs a new name. I was shocked to know it’s really not a nutty blend. The look, and the feel resemble what their name states. However, the flavours I get from it is more cinnamon and apple. Also, the smell reminds me of a cinnamon cookie of some sort.

I agree with some of the other tasting notes for this blend: it does remind me of just a glass of very, very weak apple cider, even though it turns into a beautiful red liquid when steeped. I would most likely pick their Toasted Walnut over this blend any day.

I feel in love with this blend right when I opened the container. The smell become it is steeped is invigorating! It’s a beautiful tangerine colour once steeped to perfection. I could definitely taste the papaya within the first few sips. Sweet, and fruity delightful taste.

The only thing I wish I would have done is had made it into an iced tea instead of drinking it hot. I can only imagine how amazing it would be iced!

One of the teas available in the 24 days of tea box. I wasn’t exactly excited to give this a try, but I did anyways. Just like the description says “some like it hot…” and well, I don’t :P

It definitely did remind me of those hot lips candy though, and I’m happy I got to try it. It had a calm, smooth taste to start with, but once I swallowed the blend I couldn’t believe how hot it actually was for me. It was basically taking two handfuls of those cinnamon hearts in your mouth all at once. I couldn’t finish what was in my cup unfortunately :(

If you’re into spicy, hot food or anything of that nature, you’ll definitely enjoy this tea blend though!

Just received this in the mail as I ordered some for my BF’s Christmas gift. Review will follow after Christmas since I can’t open it until then :( So excited to try it though!!

Day 5 of 24 days of tea (and my BIRTHDAY, woot!) Unfortunately, I forgot about the tea steeping and ruined the blend. Way too bitter, dang. I think I’ll make a purchase of this later to try again though since it got some great reviews.

No notes yet.

A fun, tasteful blend! I was pleased to taste all ingredients a great amount. Usually, in my experience, some chocolate teas are too heavy on the chocolate taste and end up not being how it sounds in the description. I love the sweet hints of fresh raspberries – it’s literally an explosion of amazing flavours. Highly impressed with this blend.

The scent of the blend actually turned me away from it a bit. Found it was too heavy on cinnamon, and that’s not my favourite. After steeping it and giving it a sip I was surprised at how much the cinnamon overpowered the smell but not the flavour (thankfully). It was a great blend to have during a raining, cool almost winter day. Not sure if I would purchase a full size anytime soon though.

Okay, so I just tried this blend from 24 days of tea. I was very impressed. It def. has me excited for the other blends to come before Christmas. It was very intriguing and I loved that it was low in caffeine as well. Sometimes I find it hard to find a flavour tea I really enjoy that’s low or caffeine free. I’m not a fan of coconut but I didn’t seem to mind it in this blend. The fusion worked out great and the aroma was incredible. I feel like it makes a great after meal beverage. Bring out the real alcohol during dinner and once people are tipsy, start passing out this blend. No one will know the difference after a few ;)

I guess you can call me a tea drunk after this taste. I’m in love!

UPDATE: here is the link to the recipe I used for what is mentioned below: http://theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca/2012/11/french-vanilla-cupcakes-infused-with.html Let me know if you create it yourself :)

I can’t remember the last time I had a great Earl Grey blend. I’m pretty picky when it comes to this type of tea. Might sound weird, but there has been too many times I’ve tried an earl grey blend from others and it gave me a horrible after taste. There was this one blend (can’t remember the brand) that actually tasted like fruit loops…great cereal, but not for a tea! Anyways…

I absolutely loved this one though. I think it has the perfect amount of vanilla, all the while staying true to it’s real, strong flavour. I know some notes for this tea already state they didn’t like that the vanilla wasn’t too noticeable, but on my package it stated “hint of vanilla” so I wasn’t expecting much and what I did get, I was extremely happy with and so were my taste buds.

While drinking it, I could immediately think of endless recipes to infused this blend in. I am currently making french vanilla cupcakes with it. I hope they turn out great. I’ll be sure to share the recipe on my blog afterwards (www.theteacupoflife.blogspot.ca) I plan to also try Teaspoon and Petal’s earl grey hot chocolate with this one as well.

Ohhhhh the endless creative moments coming to my mind right now just from one cuppa!

This blend was okay. I was excited to give it a try because once I opened the package it smelted divine. However, I felt it had an odd scent to it while and after it being steeped – almost like it was burnt. (Note: I only steeped in for 3mins and at the given water temp.)

It’s not my favourite cuppa but don’t let that steer you away from it. I don’t like the flavour of any coffee at all, so I think that might be my reasoning for it. For a bold tea, I didn’t exactly think it was “bold” enough. I think it would definitely be a great starting blend for a coffee lover who wants to get into tea.

I’m glad I had a chance to at least give this blend a try. I think I know what I’ll give my coffee lover friends for Christmas now! ;)

I requested two samples from Kate at Art of Tea, and within a week I received a package in the mail containing the two I requested and eight more. It was such a lovely surprise! I can not get over the great customer service Art of Tea has.

Before I even began to steep or try this blend I had no idea that this was an award winning tea of theirs. It is the winner of Buyer’s Choice (Best Blended Tea) – World Tea Expo.

Right from the start of opening the sealed packaged the luscious scent started to fill the room. I immediately pictured coming home to a fresh bouquet of flowers on the kitchen table. Once I began to steep the blend for about 3 minutes, the aroma got stronger and much more refreshing. The leaves are also pretty to watch while they brew (bonus!).

As for the taste, I’m usually hesitant when I hear about any type of flowers in a tea because I’m not too crazy for floral teas. However, I was surprised at how well the rose petals and the mint flavours all came together. There was never too much of either taste in the sips. It was a smooth balance blend with a delicious combination.

It was a delightful blend, and I highly suggest those with a hectic lifestyle from time to time give it a try. It was a great tea to refresh the mind during a late night. I even steeped my mom a cup, and she wanted seconds! It’s definitely a blend I will be making a purchase for more.

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I’m obsessed with Ice cream cake, so you can only imagine how intrigued I was when I found out David’s Tea had this blend. However, this was another one of David’s Tea blends that I was disappointed in. Again, probably because of the hype my friends made it out to be “the best thing since slice bread.” I wasn’t fond of the smell of the tea, it actually gave me a headache. As for the taste, I didn’t really feel it actually tasted like Ice Cream Cake and to be honest I thought it was a bit too sweet for my liking as well. It’s not a blend I would try again.

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Perfect mint flavour. I actually love steeping a bag of this tea into hot chocolate for a great mix!

As JonTea mentioned, for a bagged tea this is delicious! I love having a cup of it right before bed. The name for the tea is very suiting.

An excellent product. This is my first of such a thing. Bought it back when Teaopia wasn’t Teavana. It works great, and is a perfect addition to my loose leaves collection. Easier to use when steeping tea for more than one cup. Also, pretty to watch the leaves float around and brew. I have never tried to wash it in the dishwasher, but so far it’s decent to wash by hand. Not sure if it comes apart completely to wash one by one pieces (been too nervous to even try that!)