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Successful mug of this tonight. I used maybe 1/4 tsp of “stuff” in significantly cooled water (I was just sipping hot water, then decided to make it into tea!) and made sure it just included 1 vanilla piece, and 1 almond piece. Steeped 3 minutes, added honey and soy creamer, and yes. It is good.

It’s really too bad this one requires so much fiddling to get right, because once you get it right, it’s incredibly tasty.

I think I’ve had this tea every single morning for the past week, so this is definitely one of my go-to morning teas. I don’t like mornings so much, and I find the peach flavour soothing, while the ginger calms my tummy. Adding in the usual soy creamer and honey makes it even more delicious.

Oh, this is interesting. After reading one of the discussion threads on low astringency black teas, I’ve decided to start using non-boiling water and shorter steeping times to see if I like any of my black teas without milk and honey. I also wanted to see how many re-steeps I can get out of this tea.

Steep 1: 2 minutes, 5g leaf, 8 oz water. It’s actually surprisingly drinkable without anything added! Not my favourite as there’s still some astringency, but definitely drinkable. Quite a rich flavour, with a bit of sharpness. Now I’ve had half my mug, I’m going to go get some milk…

Steep 2: Interrupted by a trip to Ikea! Will update later. Ok! Now that I’m back from Ikea (I bought jam, Swedish Fish, and a gluten free frozen cake! The cheapest Ikea trip ever!), I decided to have another cup. Again, I steeped for 2 minutes with water that was off the boil for a few minutes. This steep is even better – smoother, less astringent, and really quite delicious. I don’t know what the flavours are, but I like it! I might want to do a first steep for just 1:30 instead of 2:00 the next time I try this. I only have about 1/4 of my cup left, and I haven’t even noticed that I’m drinking plain black tea. Success!

Oh Steepster, I cannot read my notices and it’s annoying me.

I made this one today at work, after I caved and bought a coffee. The tea I made this morning was good, but didn’t hit the spot like I had hoped.

Sweet strawberry flavour. Steeps forever just fine since there’s no hibiscus. I need to bring more of this to work, I think, because it’s one of those teas I can make with no fuss to stay hydrated.

I’m trying to use up some of the teas in my cupboard, and this is one of the matcha mixes on my list. I decided to make it as a latte, and add some pumpkin spice to it!

The matcha isn’t bad at all, although it’s too sweet for my liking now. I use 1 tbsp of the mix in a 16oz mug, which is a pretty good ratio for me. To this I added two “smidgen” measuring spoons of pumpkin pie spice, and used half water half almond milk for the liquid.

All in all, not a bad drink! The matcha is a bit green tasting, which gives a bit of an unusual flavour, but it works quite well with the spices.

This tea is weird, and I’m not sure I like it. I’m drinking it like I normally drink my first cup, with a little honey and soy creamer.

It smells good both dry and steeped – sugary, buttery rum. But I don’t think I actually like drinking it. I think I’d prefer to just have a real buttered rum, and skip the flavoured tea altogether.

I picked up 20g of this yesterday to play with, so I have enough to try it plain, and as a latte. I don’t think I’ll be purchasing this one again. I’ll spend my money on some butter, to make some real buttered rum to keep me company while I’m studying.

Edit: You know, I think maybe the coconut is what’s ruining it for me. I might have to try a coconut-free buttered rum tea to compare.

Went into David’s on a whim, looking for a cream tea of some sort. Since all they have is cream earl grey, and that really isn’t a favourite, this one and buttered rum were suggested as alternatives. I got a cup to go, brewed 5-6 minutes or so in my travel mug.

Yep, it tastes like a milk oolong. And surprisingly, the western style brewing hasn’t made it bitter or astringent. I do feel I’m missing a lot of the flavour drinking it in my travel mug, though, since so much of what I like about oolongs is the scent.

While I do like this tea, and it’s not upsetting my tummy like some other oolongs I’ve tried, this isn’t really what I was looking for. I opted to not purchase this until I’ve sipped down some of the other oolong teas in my cupboard, and purchased 20g of buttered rum to experiment with. :)

Now that I’ve brewed this differently, it’s pretty amazing. It’s recommended to use boiling water and steep for 3 minutes, but I found the blackcurrant flavour to be pretty weak last night when I did that.

This morning I steeped with cooler water, and for 4 minutes. And, perfection! It tastes like those British blackcurrant-and-licorice candies, without the licorice. Since I prefer most of my black teas with milk and honey, this one is pretty much no exception. The honey brings out a sweet candy flavour, and the milk makes it even more delicious. The black tea base is pretty unassuming, and hasn’t bittered or gone astringent at all.

I hope this fares well in a mug! I’ll test that later today while annoying my mom – she loves the candy, but can’t stand flavoured tea! I can hardly wait to see what her reaction is.

I’m pleasantly surprised by this tea! I asked, and was warned that it can turn quite bitter if it’s not watched, so I was careful with it. I’m not 100% sure of the water temperature, but I waited about 5-7 minutes then poured the water into my unheated mug, and pushed the tea basket down into the water.

I’ve decided to copy Kittenna by loading up my Contigo travel mugs with different teas, and decided to test this one out in this manner tonight just for kicks.

It is pretty darn awesome. The only tea basket I have that fits these narrower mugs isn’t as fine as I’d like, and there were a lot of floaties in the tea that made me worried. It wasn’t super strawberry flavoured hot, but as it’s cooled down a bit (about 1.5 hours in my mug!) the strawberry has come out. It’s backed nicely by the slightly grassy green tea flavour, and there’s definitely something else in there that’s sweetened. Candied pineapple or papaya? Something that starts with a P…

This is going to be an AWESOME mug tea for me to haul around from campus to campus and sip. Yay!

(Steep 2: Still good! Less strawberry, more green tea. I steeped for 3 minutes with IDEK what temperature the water was, as I used kettle leftovers from something else!)