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Sipdown! This tea really helped me get through Passover without turning into a total cranky-pants. The trick to it is to double up on the teabags. The result is cinnamony, tart, and slightly juicy. I will probably pick it up again next year.

Nasty migraine today. I wanted to drink something good, but simple. I went with some flowering jasmine tea that I picked up in Taiwan a year ago. I think it’s green. It has the virtues of looking pretty, tasting lovely, and not getting bitter with a long steep. The floral note really hit the spot. It’s a very natural jasmine flavor (I would be shocked if there’s any added flavoring besides the flower itself). The base is nice and grassy. Solid, but not complex. Perfect for when I don’t have the time or energy for a tea that demands engagement. I put the third steep in the fridge for some nummy iced tea tomorrow.

I had a coupon for a free tea so I decided to reward myself with this one on Sunday. It tastes just like a chewy caramel candy! Well, not exactly. The flavor is noms, but it’s also watery. It kind of just falls out at the end of the sip. I thought that the lady had just underleafed it, but looking at the other reviews I am wondering whether more leaf would really have solved the problem. This particular rooibos base just might not be hearty enough to support the flavor. I would be open to playing around with this one at home to see if I can fix it.

This is pretty mediocre. Not bad per se, but the jasmine tastes artificial and the base isn’t much to write home about. Thankfully I only had the one bag because it was a company sample.

Thanks to Angel at Teavivre for the sample! I enjoyed this gongfu-style today while watching Wolf of Wall Street and Gideon’s Army. I was a little distracted, but I definitely noticed a dark honey flavor and a bit more astringency than I personally like. It must have lasted a good ten steeps or so. I used the entire sample packet in my little teapot/gaiwan hybrid and played around with temp and length of steep. The caffeine here is just the right amount for me; I felt quite good all afternoon but never jittery and I expect I’ll be able to sleep tonight. I think this would make for a good work tea – it’s tasty but not distractingly so.

Huh. I finished this off a few days ago but didn’t bother to write a review because I got it confused with Revolution’s Tropical Green Tea. It was nice and fruity. Nothing astounding, though.

Happy Passover/Easter/regular Sunday, as appropriate!

I’m not a huge fan of chemically decaffeinated teas. The process doesn’t strike me as particularly healthy. Still, this smelled so good at the Coffee & Tea Festival that I couldn’t resist the impulse buy. I have been enjoying it with a splash of rice milk for a creamy evening dessert drink. It complements chocolate and cookies nicely. It might be making my stomach hurt tonight, though…

Thanks to KiwiDelight for sending me some of this! I decided to have it gong fu style with boiling water. The dry leaf has a nice, promising cocoa smell. The first infusion was 15 seconds. It brewed up a lovely amber color. The flavor was thick bittersweet chocolate. The second infusion was 30 seconds. It came out darker than the previous steep. Again, lots of lovely cocoa notes. My dad showed up at that point and I stopped taking detailed notes, but I think I got about 7 total steeps out of this one. Later steeps were more malt than cocoa, but still quite lovely. Sipdown!

Incidentally, I thought this was a black tea. Turns out it’s a ripe pu’er. I haven’t had the best experiences with pu teas, but this one is making me think I’ve just been drinking the wrong ones. Hmm.

I spent a solid half hour wandering around the mall trying to find this place: http://tbaar.com. Yay for decent bubble tea! It’s not the greatest but definitely one of the better options around right now. I got the honey jasmine green tea with boba. I asked for half-sweet but I would prefer even less sweetness. Still, the flavoring is good, the bubbles are right, and the base tea is inoffensive.

Not bad! This is a very delicate tea but I got four decent steeps out of it at work today (although I’m now hoping no one noticed and thought it was weird that I steeped the same teabag four times). The jasmine flavor is definitely present but not over-the-top. There’s a slight sweetness that I really enjoyed as well. I’m glad that I have another bag of this left!