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I can’t really rate this as I don’t know what plain guayusa tastes like nor how that translates to a flavored blend of it. This was a sample from RachanaC and I enjoyed it.
It’s light and refreshing, the dark color was not distracting and let me wake from just the tea’s taste and caffeine. Quite a nice smooth start to the dark, unearthly eartly morning I sampled it on. Ironically the the second cup I had for dessert yesterday didn’t keep me awake and I think it would hold up to milk if you like that. Like I said, I can’t judge it well but this is a pleasant flavored tea. Now who would make plain guayusa? Hmm…

Jasmine, roses, lavender, mint; a garden grows in my teapot and the four infusions of tonight’s tuocha protect it from the cold.

After such luxurious tea yesterday I went back to basics: BBC news and sencha. I made a second cup and threw in some lavender and spearmint for economical variety and I still crave lavender. Not bad, the crispness of the spearmint laced them together since this isn’t a very buttery sencha that loves lavender.

Another herbacious gem from JacquelineM’s SweeTeas! I’ve been low on Jasmine for a while and none of it worth singing about, but this one! This is worth a whole comcept album!
The base is lightly sweet but nutty, not too grassy to cause disharmony. The jasmine is soft and real (Is there anything more repusive than brash or fake jasmine?) and I think I spent as much time sniffing it as drinking it. The smell, taste, and color are all plesant. A&D’s Jasmine is an instant hit in the top five jasmine teas for me.

Edit: And this is what makes it Damn Fine. Four steepings and it still tastes like jasmine! The jasmine fades slower than the tea base without starting harshly! And the fourth was over night! I almost want to dance.
Ah! Here we go! I’ve always thought Venus Hum looks and sounds like this tea. Tastes like it too!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clgTSuDSqWU

This my first tea from the extravegent SweeTea package from the graceful and grand JacquelineM! I was having the worst Valentine’s Day when I got her package just in time for tea! We had rose-lavender chiffon cake with cherries which would’ve gone well with all the teas she sent so I immediatly reached for the most relaxing and comforting smelling tea.

This is great sakura green! Definately not the most complex sencha but the buttery, mellow base works perfectly with the gentle, misty sakura flavor. The scent envelopes one while drinking, shutting out stress for a few moments. It was a quick cure for the frazzled lethargy that settled on me yesterday. Wonderful, simple and clean, just as sakura sencha ought to be. Its beautiful floral taste shone even more against the thawed false spring that was leaving towards the end of the day. Thanks again!

I had this as the first cup of iced tea of the false spring yesterday. Whoo! This is delicious enough hot but the cacao and fruity wine flavors meld so much more smoothly cold. Still my favorite Keemun for years.

Thanks to Ellen for the sample. This is a uniquely fun oolong. Between the description from Zhi and watching the leaves slowly unfurl in my glass teapot, this tea is as much an epic as a drink. The flavors are surprisingly happy and fruity, peach and white grape dominate the first two steeps, then it thins and lets a buttery, lemony caramel become the primary taste. I could feel myself perk up with the first sip and unwind with the leaves and smokey caramel. Exactly what I needed on a day of perpetual gloom.
The complex and distinct flavors and shape make this a real work of art. I have to look up what else it’s artist has crafted.

This tea makes me laugh. Before I brew it from the irony that the master black blender’s birthday blend is a decaf bagged fruity blend with low-grade Indian tea. It’s quite busy and floral, and certainly looks and tastes crimson. After I brew it I laugh because this is what Teavana’s Garden Aria was trying to be. I can see how someone could get a taste of cough syrup from brewing it naormallly. I had the happy accident of too low a temperture of water and the wrong setting on Steepit. It drowned out the decaf black base and let the flowers catch up with the fruit. It made a sunny berry mix that was decidely artificial in a popcicle and pie kind of way.
So I guess it is sppropriate for a birthday blend. It was fun and better iced and I might buy a tin but I don’t think Id buy a second. A once a year treat.

Thanks to Kristin for the chance to try this.

The first infusion is fine at 6:30 and lets the next two infusions expand somewhat, keeping it nice, full, and honeyed. The flavors are similar and still drop consideraby after the first but they are so complex and satisfying! Fourth is a fight between caramel and konbu stock. Konbu wins by a dash of hijiki.

Fifth infusion: Stopping here because I need a dash of caffeine and I doubt rabbits like chipotle quinoa. Still some honey lazing about my gaiwan but even with lower temperatures this is broth by infusion four.

The seventh infusion of this lovely lunar liquid was the perfect way to end the daylight time. The whole day I’ve felt sick and aggrivated by the dreary sleet and moaning wind.

The last broth like cup was perfect for my dessert, a dried fig cut open and wrapped around the fortune cookie, which I’m surprised so one has mentioned out right yet but joshuabones quoted already; The kind and clever folks at A&D included a fortune cookie with their Rabbits that reads “Seek happiness. Be kind. Drink Tea.” I’m tempted to up the rating for inluding the evening’s meditation and dessert with my order. So delicious!