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Oh yum! Oh yum! Oh yum!

I love S’mores. They are one of my all time favorite guilty pleasures, but one that I don’t enjoy very often as I rarely have the three ingredients in the house at the same time to make them. But, this tea tastes so much like them that I need not find myself with a craving left unsatisfied again!

I can taste the chocolate and the marshmallow – these flavors are very distinct – but the graham is a little less so. I find that if I slurp, though, and allow the tea to sort of vibrate along my palate, the graham comes through.

The black tea comes through too, although it is rather mild. As yummy as this is, it could be even better with just a little bit of Lapsang Souchong in the blend to bring out the campfire-y notes that all my best memories of S’mores have. I think that for what I have left of this tea, I might add a few leaves of Lapsang Souchong to it to see if I’m right.

Otherwise, this is really very good.

ETA: I almost forgot the reason why I went hunting through my stash to find this tea! I thought it would be the appropriate tea to drink as the SororiTea Sisters kick off their second giveaway this season! You could win a 12 Days of Christmas Sampler from Della Terra Teas: http://sororiteasisters.com/2012/11/23/the-season-of-giveaways-take-2/

I love a good Houjicha and this one is definitely good. Sweet and toasty and soothing too. The toasty notes give this a very autumnal feel. Nutty, sweet and delicious. There is very little astringency to this. I don’t really notice much of a smoky note, but more of a roasty-toasty kind of taste to it. The smokiness seems to arrive toward the end of the sip, and linger into the aftertaste.

Overall, a very enjoyable cup of tea – I love the teas from the Obubu Plantation and I’m glad to learn that Tealet has started to offer them.

I am just now getting around to opening this bottle and drinking it, even though it’s been sitting in my fridge for a couple of months as it was part of my very first goodies box: http://hungryinportland.com/2012/10/02/my-goodies-box-is-finally-here/

It’s tasty enough, but it is quite sweet, and the sweetness seems to overpower much of the tartness you’d expect from the cranberry and pomegranate, in fact, it becomes so overpowering that it is hard to tell that this is actually a cranberry pomegranate flavored tisane. I taste mostly rooibos and the cane sugar sweetening, although the flavors of the cranberry and pomegranate do come out in the aftertaste.

Pleasant, refreshing, but sweeter than I like my beverages to be, so this probably is not something I’d buy for myself, but I was happy to have the opportunity to taste it.

This is pleasant. I like the combination of Guayusa with lemon, I think that the lemon really brightens the cup, and the flavor of the Guayusa seems to take very well to it.

This is bright and refreshing, Very sunny tasting on this cold, wet, grey afternoon! And it is certainly helping me shake the doldrums!

Today, this is much better. I used a little extra leaf and it really made a big difference. This is really delicious, a lovely take on the classic Earl Grey.

The citrus notes of the bergamot are really emphasized with the addition of lemongrass and orange peel. Almost to the point of the uniqueness of the bergamot fruit is sort of overwhelmed by the orange and lemongrass … I notice less of the distinct flavor notes of the bergamot: the sharpness, the slight floral note … and am instead treated to a citrus punch of sorts. It’s delicious, but, I feel like this blend may have taken its intention a tad too far.

The black tea base even seems almost a little overwhelmed by the fruit notes, which is actually contrary to the description, but, it is true in the case of this tasting. I love a good Golden Yunnan, and they are typically quite robust but, the strength of the fruit notes seem quite powerful here. As I continue to sip, I notice more distinct tea notes, I notice a sweet, honey-esque tone that verges on a caramel-ish taste, and I notice the rich flavor of the Yunnan with hints of pepper that bring the cup to life.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still enjoying this. There is a lot of complexity to the cup, and its one that is worth examining. I taste the black tea – and these notes are especially noticeable after your palate has become accustomed to the strong citrus notes. The vibrant peppery note of the Yunnan, and the hint of honey really add a pleasing dimension to the cup.

I also taste the bergamot, it’s just that I taste these other notes even more, and they seem to throw the balance off just a bit, robbing the tea of it’s Earl Greyness. A very good tea, but not a Great Earl Grey, and because of this, I find it difficult to rate. If I were to rate it on the basis of an Earl Grey tea, I’m afraid the rating would be rather low, but, if I’m to rate it on the basis of enjoyment – casting aside the name of the tea and forgetting that this is a twist on the classic, beloved Earl Grey, then the number would be much higher. Since I generally base my ratings on my enjoyment at the time of the cup, I will go with that, and rate it with how much I’m enjoying the cup rather than the fact that it’s quite a departure from Earl Grey.

This stuff is seriously amazing! SERIOUSLY amazing. If you’ve ever had a traditional cup of Mexican Hot Chocolate than you’ve had something similar to this, because this tastes so much like the hot chocolate that my Latina friends would serve in their homes when I was younger. Sweet with chocolate – rich and creamy, but also with enough spice to keep it from being the cloyingly rich, sickeningly sweet cup of hot chocolate that comes from one of those individually wrapped, foil-lined pouches from the grocery store.

There is so much to the flavor here – I taste every element! I taste a hint of rose, I taste a very subtle note of chamomile, The chocolate is rich and has it’s own unique dimensions with the roasted and the raw chocolate notes. I taste the ginger and cinnamon and chipotle, and I even taste just a hint of star anise (for those of you who don’t like anise, you needn’t worry, it is so very subtle that I doubt it’s presence would disrupt your enjoyment) … every element works so harmoniously with the other ingredients, and the result is something better than the individual parts could produce.

Amazing. AHHH-mazZZING!

OMG – this is SO good. Thank you Azzrian for sending me some of it! I love this … this is actually one that I’ll be adding to my stash at some point because I’m really loving it.

Sweet and nutty – the two elements play with one another so well, both are sweet and creamy, and they seem to accent each other in such a beautiful way. Dinosaura likened this to liquid marzipan, and I agree… it is so good, like a dessert! Loving this!

Thank you TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea!

I haven’t always enjoyed smoky teas, but I’m slowly coming around to the point where I can enjoy them. This one is pretty nice, smoky, rich, caramel-y, with a nice fruity tone that lies just beneath the smoky surface. Really pleasant.

Thank you to TeaEqualsBliss for sending me a bit of this tea. It is a perfect holiday time tea … it reminds me so of the yummy chocolate oranges that you can find this time of year. So yummy!

It is rich and chocolate-y, with just a touch of orange … not too much, just enough to brighten the cup in a really lovely way. Sweet, rich and creamy. Very nice!

I’ve had this for quite some time now … I bought it way back when! It is a case of having a lot of tea to taste and not enough time to taste it all when I’d like to!

I think that I may have gone a little light on the leaf, because the flavor is a bit lighter than I’d like it to be … it is still quite enjoyable, just not as strong as I want it. I will hold off on rating it and writing my full-length review of it until I’ve had more time to spend with this tea.