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Summer 2025 Herbal TTB!

The TTB is here! \o/ There are so many Basilur infusions in here, which is exciting. I am always so intrigued by Basilur, I think it may just be their branding and packaging, since it’s not like I’ve had any stand-out teas from them. So excited to try a lot of their fruit infusions! I assume I have Martin to thank for their inclusion. ;) Most of those will be cold steeps for me, and I started a couple to try tomorrow, but I figured in the meantime I would try the rooibos blends.

I’m not a huge red rooibos fan, but was intrigued by the flavors they offer, so I figured I would just try a single bag of each one. I wasn’t expecting much (the dry bag had almost no scent whatsoever), but this is actually quite nice. I get the earthy ginger up front, then sweet orange pops in mid-sip, and the end is the warmth from the ginger again, which lingers in my throat. The rooibos base is mellow and not overly woody or medicinal. I could see this making for a nice sick or digestion tea since the ginger is fairly prominent, but it’s a little more interesting than the usual lemon or honey accompaniments.

Sipdown! (9 | 150)

An unexpected hit from the literary sampler. I don’t generally think much about lemon and ginger teas, because there are so many of them and I guess I’m bored of the idea. And at first, I wasn’t so impressed by this either, it was a nice lemony green tea but nothing special. And yet, I kept reaching for it, and now I’m sad that the little pouch is empty. I guess that means I like it ha ha! It’s mostly just lemon, a mix of lemon drop with the freshness of lemongrass. I guess I can taste a little of the earthy ginger root, but wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t known it was there. The green base is unobtrusive but gives a slightly earthy foundation.

I suppose I’ll have to put this one on the list for a reorder… :P

I made a very small cup of this, fully expecting to hate it because of the strong and medicinal cherry aroma. However, the cherry is barely noticeable in the steeped cup. Mostly it tastes like a light lapsang with just a hint of cherry and hibiscus.

It’s fine, but still going in the rehoming box!

I’ve been good about not buying tea this month (since I haven’t been drinking much anyway), but couldn’t resist grabbing a few holiday teas from Murchie’s that I didn’t try last year. I got the Birch Blend, which was a tasting lab blend but was brought back (yay!), Gingerbread, and this tea.

This sounded intriguing to me, it has vanilla and spices (as mentioned), but it also has roasted carob and sarsaparilla. It does smell a bit like a root beer float in the bag, and in the steeped cup. Sipping it, I really like the blend of spices, and they keep it from straight up tasting like root beer. The vanilla is subtle but noticeable. However, the base is just so tannic and astringent that it’s making me pucker a little bit. Not sure if this is a different Ceylon than some of their other blends, as I don’t remember it being quite so brisk before. Might have to give it another go with a shorter steep, and if that doesn’t help I’ll try it with oat milk.

Sipdown! (8 | 149)

Finished off the small packet of this from the literary sampler.

It’s a nice enough minty black tea. I think if I were a lavender lover and had purchased this based on the tin, which features lavender prominently, I would be disappointed. I honestly can’t really taste the lavender at all here, maybe a tiny hint, but only because I know it’s there. Mostly, it’s a very mellow peppermint black tea with the smoothness of vanilla, but not a ton of actual vanilla flavor (to my tastebuds).

Nice, but not something I would need to order. I’m not a lavender fan, but I think they need to increase the proportion of lavender here to make it taste more unique.

I was really excited to try this one, with its orange, pineapple, and spice flavors.

I don’t understand why they had to go and ruin it by adding hibiscus. It has a weird flat, metallic tartness and tastes thin. I’m hoping maybe I just got a lot of hibiscus in my scoop, because none of the other reviewers mention it at all…

Sipdown! (1 | 142)

Sipped this down earlier in the month but never wrote a note. I picked up an ounce in my last order to try. It was fine, a mellow EG but I couldn’t really detect any orange. Pleasant enough but nothing special IMO.

Fall subscription tea.

This combo sounded weird to me, but it’s actually quite pleasant to sip. I mostly get the chamomile, cinnamon, honeybush/rooibos, and a touch of mint. I think the rose and lavender were the parts that seemed odd to me, so since I don’t taste those, it’s perfectly soft and cozy without being too spiced. Would be lovely for a before-bed cuppa.

Hi friends! Sorry I haven’t been writing any notes the past couple of weeks, I’ve been dealing with a minor wrist injury and obviously typing is not an ideal activity for recovery ha ha. I’m still here and reading! Just not writing much.

Anyway, I placed an order from S&V, mostly because there were some teas I wanted for my DIY swap advent. So I picked up some holiday teas and green rooibos blends I liked from last year’s advent, and a few other bits and bobs, including this. This is actually the same tea as their Charles Dickens literary blend, but available in smaller sizes (for some reason literary and National Parks teas are only available in 4 ounces). I remembered really enjoying it in the advent, so got a 1 ounce bag to try.

It’s delightful. Perfect balance of flavorful yet smooth black tea with an interesting mineral note from the rolled oolong, and just the right amount of blackcurrant. Just such a nice combination for an everyday tea. I’ll definitely be putting the full-size tin of Charles Dickens on my list for next time!

This is one of S&V’s new fall releases. I ordered their fall sampler, which included a pouch of this tea, Apple Pie Chai, Pumpkin Spice, and the also-new Witch’s Brew.

As I might expect, I am not a big fan of this. It’s not bad per se, just too buttery and cloying for me. I find that I don’t tend to love overtly desserty blends anymore, at least not those with notes of butter or cake. Weird since I do love desserts ha ha, including the maple sandwich cookies that this tea reminds me of.

Into the rehoming box it goes!