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Another neglected sample, this one from Courtney. I’m not generally very into vanilla-flavored black teas, so that’s probably why it’s lingered this long.

It’s nice though. The Assam is flavorful but not too sharp, and the vanilla reminds me of vanilla extract, which is a good thing. It’s sweet but not overly so, with hints of creaminess and florals, and woody undertones. Pleasant, but not my thing!

Another cute little mini biscuit, this time a dian hong and chen pi blend. I’m honestly not a huge fan of this one, it’s not bad but it’s very earthy. I agree with Amanda, it’s giving wet forest floor vibes. Earthy and mineral with damp, decaying fallen leaves. I assume it’s the chen pi giving those notes, as I don’t generally find dian hong to taste overly earthy. Not really noticing any citrus. I like moss and petrichor notes in a fragrance, but I’m not sure I love them in a tea ha ha!

Found my Intergalactic tea minis languishing in a box. I think I drank one or two of them when I received the order, but there are still many to try! Love how this is called Borg and it’s a square mini cake… XD

Also love how loosely it’s compressed, it fell apart almost immediately after I poured the water in. As a Western steeper, this works much better for me since a lot of times the dragonballs never fully unfurl.

Anyway! They don’t say what type of tea this is at all, which is odd. It’s fairly potent with a slight bite to it, so I would guess Qimen maybe? It’s also bready with some creamy hay notes to it, almost like a white tea. But there’s a touch of sharpness dancing around the edges, not quite bitter but getting there. And then I also get some fruitiness – they describe it as grape skins, which I think could be accurate. Maybe black plum skin? The base has unsweetened cocoa powder and wood.

I like it! It’s a bit like a Chinese version of an Assam, with hints of aged white tea. I also got the fancy version, so that will be interesting to compare.

I feel like I always like the idea of these chai blends with almonds or pistachios in them, but it’s a bit silly because it’s not like there are enough pieces here for me to be able to taste it…

Anyway, this is fine. There’s a weird metallic quality, it almost tastes like it’s super weak and steeped in unfiltered water, which it wasn’t. But it’s that tap water sort of metallic taste. I’m assuming it’s coming from the green tea? Otherwise, there are mellow spices led by cardamom and saffron. The cinnamon and clove are very light, and I don’t notice rose at all. The green tea leaves much to be desired for me, it just doesn’t have a lot of flavor, and there’s a cardboardy note to it. It’s also slightly astringent even though I cut the steep at 2 minutes when I saw how dark it was getting.

Meh!

Single serving.

This is described as a strawberry and pineapple green and white tea blend. When I unwrapped the teabag and sniffed it, I immediately thought of apricot jam. I always buy the more fruit/less sugar type of preserves (I think the Bonne Maman one is called “fruit spread”), as I like the concentrated fruit flavor they have. The apricot one in particular is so tangy and delicious, and this smells exactly like it! Or perhaps apricot fruit leather.

It actually tastes quite close as well – concentrated and tangy apricot or perhaps nectarine fruitiness. If I sit and think about it, I suppose I can pick out the strawberry and pineapple as separate notes. But loving the apricot vibes! The base is pleasant, somewhat grassy, but the white tea helps to mellow it out a bit.

Would consider ordering some more of this one perhaps.

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Hmm… I remember really liking this one, and my previous rating of 85 would seem to support that. But now I’m just finding it okay? Pleasant, but nothing great. The banana is fairly authentic, which is nice, but I’m also getting coconut, which I don’t love. Then there’s the brisk Ceylon base… It’s definitely working against the creaminess of the banana.

Anyway, it’s fine but not something I would feel the need to order again. I love banana desserts, but I think having just the banana honeybush from Adagio in my cupboard is enough. Plus, freeze-dried bananas impart a surprising amount of flavor when steeped, so I can always make my own banana tea whenever I feel like one.

Wicked Teas!

Okay, this one is very different from the old formulation. Two of the teas are actually the same I think – chocolate and tiger eye. But the vanilla has been replaced with ginger, which is very potent and takes it in a completely different direction. It used to be more of a candy bar vibe, but now it mostly tastes like straight-up ginger root on a black tea base, with maybe a hint of chocolate. There’s also something slightly soapy about it?

Anyway, not a fan. I do like ginger, but at this point I might as well be drinking plain ginger root.

Another lingering Dryad sample.

This one is… not good. The lemon is extremely cleaner-like, it reminds me of the smell of orange oil or Goo-Gone lol! Not exactly appealing… I don’t notice blueberry, and the base is a painfully generic Chinese sencha with too many rough edges.

Nope!

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The last of the fall subscription teas, huzzah! I am now ready to receive the winter selections next month, heh. I think this next box will be my last – at this point I’ve just tried most of their catalog anyway, and the blended teas are more often flops than winners for me. So might as well just order the teas that I like myself! I am going to do the winter box though, just because it’s my favorite and it feels right to finish out the year before cancelling.

This blend was pleasant enough. The combination sounds weird, but I end up tasting mostly chamomile and mellow cinnamon with a hint of mint. So it almost reminds me of one of those apple cinnamon chamomile infusions that are fairly common. The mint makes it just a touch more interesting. It’s a very soft and cozy blend overall, and was a nice one for the evening or before bed.

Single serving.

This is meant to be a berry waffle flavored tea. I do get a blueberry pancake syrup sort of flavor, or blueberry jam. But otherwise, there’s nothing buttery or cakey that says “waffle” to me. And overall the flavor is very light, and the base is musty, earthy, and not very tasty, so not a great one IMO.