Arby Send Message

The humble grocery store peppermint can pleasantly surprise you if you give it a chance. I’ve been drinking this quite a bit because there are old teas at work up for grabs and I love peppermint. I don’t know how old it is but I like the freshness and the potency. Lots of menthol and a touch of sweetness. It isn’t super remarkable, but it is better than many peppermints I have tried.

Proper review coming soon. I made this with barista oat creamer and I want to try it with just plain soy milk first before I speak to how creamy the base brew actually is.

It’s good, though. Very tasty.

My order finally arrived and that’s when I realized I still have some sample pouches from my last order I never tried.

This is a nice Easter morning tea. It’s got some chai notes but it isn’t super spicy. The rooibos is really nice (if you like the flavour of rooibos) with some woody notes. There is a caramel flavour, although I wouldn’t call it distinctly toffee but more very slight molasses. The dry leaf smells a lot like molasses. I get cinnamon but would have liked some ginger and clove. I’m drinking this with a dash of vanilla soy milk so that helps make it creamier and add some vanilla. I would have liked a bit of vanilla in the chai itself.

I do miss having these sachets available in my stash. I liked the packaging quite a bit and they were waterproof, unlike many others. Plus, the sachets looked fancy.

This is the last (unless another one is hidden away somewhere) I have and it is no longer being made so I guess this is a sad goodbye.

This chamomile is reliable. Lightly citrusy with the typical fresh chamomile flavour. It held up well over time without getting a dull or flat in flavour.

I’ve been drinking this a few times per month because it makes a nice latte on days when I’m having caffeine. I enjoyed it this morning with some unsweetened soy milk and a touch of sugar. The sugar actually doesn’t come through at all, but the black base is very strong and tannic if you forget your teabag for 45 minutes like I did.

I normally only get rose and rich tannins. Today because of the longer steep, I’m getting some lychee fruity notes. Since lychee is already floral, it blends into the rose really nicely. The bitterness from the tea needs milk and sugar to counter it. On shorter steeps, it feels a bit one-dimensional having just rose and tannin without any under tones or after tastes. It might make a nice summer iced tea if sweetened and served very cold. I might save my remaining tea for that.

If you like rose black tea this blend will be for you. If you like your black tea strong, you will have to brew it extra strong and then add milk/creamer because you don’t get the intricate tea notes until you brew it longer but by then I find it too bitter to have plain.

Another sipdown of a very old tea. This has lost some of its potency and flavour, but it’s still an ok cup. I mostly get stale peppermint and some vegetal herbal flavour.

Another teabag from my old misc. collection of samples.

The teabag smells great! I’m coldbrewing 1 teabag, 4 minutes, in 350 mL cold water.

It smells very aromatic, which is nice to see from a very old teabag. The liquid is vibrant red-purple. I’m getting a lot of various berry notes. I can pick out blueberry, strawberry, and general mixed berry flavour. I think there’s another red fruit in there but it is not distinctly raspberry or any other berry I can make out. I get the hibiscus flavour a bit because of the longer brew. I find this tea sour, as most hibiscus teas are. It would make a great addition to a pitcher of lemonade or ice water with sugar in the summer.