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I received a bag of this tea in a care package from a friend. I’m guessing it must have been a special edition autumn tea, because I don’t recall ever seeing it in store. When I opened the tea bag, the scent was an appealing blend of pumpkin and cinnamon. But the tea itself tasted like licorice and cinnamon with a slight kick of black pepper in the aftertaste. Not a fan!

Another fantastic Chinese black tea from TeaSource! This one is very similar to Golden Snail from Whispering Pines: tightly curled black leaves with tons of golden tips that give off a rich, malty scent. It has a dense, chewy flavor with notes of baked bread and honey. It can be re-steeped multiple times before it starts losing it’s flavor. I don’t love it quite as much as their Golden Mao Feng, but it’s definitely a lovely option and very affordable!

I’m going to be honest here and admit that I’m quite picky about green tea and have only found a few over the years that I really liked. But I had high hopes for this one, because I really enjoyed the Laoshan Black. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. This certainly isn’t a bad tea…the leaves are tightly curled and unbroken and hold up to re-steeping and the tea is nice and smooth with no bitterness and little astringency. But the flavor just wasn’t my favorite. It has such a strong green bean taste, I felt like I was drinking the cooking water from a pot of beans! Definitely not something I’d repurchase, but I’m still glad I had the chance to try it.

Tried this one at work today. When I opened the tea bag, I was hit by a wave of peachy sweet scent, but the flavor turned out to be much lighter. I get mainly honey notes with the peach coming through mainly in the aftertaste. The white tea base is very smooth. Overall, this was surprisingly good for a generic-brand bagged tea!

This tea is absolutely divine! I already knew I loved TeaSource’s Black Mao Feng, so I decided to sample this one when I was in Minneapolis over the weekend. Oh my goodness! The leaves are super long and twisty with TONS of golden tips and the aroma is delicious: malty sweet goodness. Steeped, the liquor is a warm golden brown and the flavor is out of this world: notes of malt and sweet potato with a lingering honey sweetness and just the slightest hint of astringency that keeps you taking another sip…and another…and another. It’s also super smooth, with an almost velvety feel on the tongue. I didn’t have a chance to re-steep, but I’m quite confident from the quality of the leaves that this would hold up to multiple steeps. I can’t buy more tea right now, but next time I place an order this one will be at the top of my list!

Although I enjoy the spice blend Stash uses in this tea (the right balance of cinnamon, cardamom, and clover with none overwhelming the others), I thought the black tea base was too weak to support so much spice. I might try brewing this along with a bag of English Breakfast to amp up the base.

This may be the best bagged Earl Grey tea I’ve ever tried! The bergamot flavor is bold without being overpowering and the black tea base is robust and super smooth. I almost always take Earl Grey with milk, but this one was lovely with nothing added: plenty of flavor, but no bitterness or astringency. I may have to pick some of this up when I finish off my Republic of Tea Earl Greyer, because I like this one even better and it’s about half the price!

We installed a new water softener over the weekend, which is really affecting the taste of our water and, in turn, my tea. This makes me sad, because I have all these amazing teas to sample and I feel like I’m missing out on their full potential because the water is making them taste flat. Hopefully we can figure out a way to correct this. But in the meantime, this tea: The dry leaf is lovely! Curly, twisty leaves with lots of golden tips and little decorative silver sprinkles and tiny gingerbread men mixed in. The scent is rich and bready with a definite ginger spice note. I tasted notes of bread and malt from the base, along with a sweet ginger spice, but the flavor came across a bit flat and bland. I’m almost certain that’s the fault of the water and not the tea though, so keeping my rating fairly high based on the quality of the tea and the delicious scent. I used up my whole sample on a 16oz mug, so hopefully I can re-purchase this tea to try it again in the future!

Tried this one at work today and I was pleasantly surprised! Although I usually prefer my chai with milk, this one was enjoyable with no additives. The black base is smooth and mild, so I mainly taste the chai spices and vanilla with just a bit of caramel sweetness.

I’ve been trying to expand my collection of herbal teas recently, so I ordered several rooibos blends from A Quarter to Tea this week. This particular tea is nice, but it didn’t blow me away. It has a soft, creamy vanilla flavor with a hint of coconut. (I’m not really picking up on any maple.) The rooibos base isn’t harsh or medicinal, but I wish the flavoring could be a bit stronger.