Rabs Send Message

What a wonderful wonderful surprise! Another whim purchase and I’m tickled three shades pink with this one. For tea connoisseurs this is probably unbalanced (leaning toward the floral side), but for me it’s perfect. Hot diggity-dang!

I’d never had rolled tea before, so I thought it was so sad how little came in the pouch. I did my typical scoop and then added a little more for measure. Yeah. I’m a noob. After steeping I took a look in my teapot: lo and behold! It looked like I’d raked my yard and thrown the leaves into my teapot. Only these tea leaves were gorgeous! I love this tea and would marry it (if only tea marriages were legalized in the U.S.) ::sigh:: Several superb steeps were achieved. Multiple TGs

I got this on a whim since I’ve always wanted to try a rose tea and so far I’m really enjoying white tea. It arrived today and I popped open the bag (*special note on Stash’s loose leaf tea containers: if you have a kitty and you give him kitty treats out of those crinkly bags, then be aware that this is how their tea comes. My poor schmoo was so utterly baffled as to why he wasn’t getting treats. I shall be getting some different tea containers soon).

Okay. So. The smell was insane. Like “HEY I’m a HUGE bouquet of cheap flowers and I’m gonna punch you in your naughty bits via your sinus cavities!” The smell utterly devestated me. I wanted a giant cup of fou-fou and not a giant cup of anger!

I went ahead and gave it a go since I’ve discovered what a difference a steep makes. Praise Jeebus that it did indeed mellow the heck out of it. The tea taste was much more prominent (not a ton, but it was there), and the smell was better. It was more like my aforementioned “fou-fou” desire. Like the Jasmine I’ve tried it gets bonus points for scent memory in that it reminded me of a childhood friend’s “Barbie Perfume Maker” set and the rose water it contained. (After typing this I looked up the Barbie Perfume Maker and it turns out the scent I recalled is named “Tea Rose Water.” Brilliant!)

And I think the second steep was ideally what I was hoping for. (I did go for a third – white tea and all. Yeah, not so much. Truly barely rose water.) I shall go forth and quest for my ultimate girlie-girl rose tea, but I’d probably order this one again. NE

Unfortunately, I’m on the “hate it” side of things and am very happy that this is a sampler. I won’t give up on it, but wow. After steeping I smelled the cup and thought “dirty fishtank.” I think that this could grow on me more than the chamomile, but wowsa. If I think “earthy” then I can handle it a bit better. My cat even came up and sniffed the cup and then recoiled (admittedly he’ll do that with almost anything he thinks might be a kitty treat and isn’t). M (but on the verge of GA just for the smell)

edit: bumped up my rating a bit – the taste did grow on me, but I still think I won’t reorder this. I’m open to trying another Pu Erh from a different company though.

This is the second tea from Adagio’s premium green tea sampler that I’ve tried. I’m glad that it’s a sampler because I’m utterly ambivilent about it. Neither love nor hate, but I won’t reorder it. It’s just so…tame, and kinda sad. I think that I will have cup now and again just to make my way through the tin – I’ll post another tasting note if any of my feelings change. M

This tea just makes me feel warm-fuzzy-happy (I actually said “nom nom nom” the first time I tried it). Someone else noted a weird tongue-feeling, and I did experience it one of the times I made it, but it’s not enough to make me stop drinking it. I’ll probably try to keep a sample size on hand since it is a nice evening option. NE

I really tried to like this tea, but after a half cup I gave up on it for now. Somewhere I’d read that full-on chamomile was pretty intense and not what you’d probably expect. Even knowing that, I was floored at how much I disliked this. Chamomile lovers please don’t read this next part: I’d describe it as the smell of a musty old church and the taste is like if you licked the carpet at aforementioned church. I won’t utterly give up on this, but it’ll be awhile before I brave it again. GA

My first experience of a smokey tea and I’m loving it! I thought that I was prepared for the smell, but holy jeebus on a pogostick – it truly smells like a campfire. Then I had my first cup and was blown away. My palate isn’t very sophisticated so I can’t go into depth more than to say that taste vs. smell is so unique in a good way for me. Plus I get to pretend I’m a fire-breathing monster fueling up for the day when I drink this. TG

I’d never had honeybush before and I’m really curious to try it as a standalone. This tea’s nice and sweet and mangoey. At first I steeped it about 5 minutes. It was kinda bizarre: it tasted like what I’d imagine a mango-scented lotion would taste like. Well, one evening I was so busy that I didn’t hear the timer go off so it steeped probably close to 10 minutes and it really mellowed the flavor in a pleasant way. This one’s growing on me. NE but with potential for more…

This was the first loose leaf black tea that I tried. It really showed me how different and “deeper” loose tea is vs. bagged. I wish I would have gotten the sample size. Yes, it’s enjoyable, but having read some other notes I discovered that I’m not fond of the malty aspect. And I’m a freak and don’t care for chocolate. So overall I think it’s a wonderful tea, it’s just not teagasmic for me personally. NE

I got this as part of one of Adagio’s Green Samplers. I was probably destined to like this tea since it’s fun to say especially when combined with “vs. Gojira.” Anywho, the smell really concerned me since it seemed like I could’ve gone out to the lawnmower, scraped up some grass, and made some tea from that (and it would’ve been the same thing as the tea). I’m sooo glad that I didn’t let the smell discourage me. It’s really a lovely tea. Yes, there’s a grassy taste, but it’s like a pleasant springtime grass. NE