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This came from a Twinings herbal sampler box that somebody left on the counter next to the water dispenser. It’s newer but called Bedtime Blend. Did Twinings switcheroo the names again?

I don’t know that I could tell the difference between this and Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime.

Smells like red jello and vitamins, tastes sweet-tart. This one’s too sharp for me. The pomegranate flavor is pretty spot on, though. I like Twinings Holiday Berry better. It has more of a darker red fruits flavor. I also seem to be in the minority for not liking this tea.

Tastes like strawberry jello liquid with a little something extra. Not too sour. Strong aroma. I’m not particularly fond of these kind of hibiscus-based strawberry jello liquid teas but for those that like this “red fruit” flavor profile, I do recommend. Hehe.

Dreadfully watery and flat.

I was editing my review for this tea to add a few tasting notes. While I had the pop-up window open, I accidentally swiped right or left on my touchpad and that deleted any history of my review. Except I can see that a “review”# still exists in the admin site but the accompanying “note”# is gone. I wonder what is the difference between a “review” and a “note” in Steepster’s programming.

So to anybody who swears they’ve reviewed a tea but “Steepster ate the note”, this might be how it happened.

Boo >:<

Looks like the ingredients for this have changed since I last had it. It now contains ginger rhizome, ginger rhizome essential oil granules, moringa leaf, turmeric rhizome, caraway fruit, cinnamon bark, ginger extract. That’s a big difference compared to the old formula with ginger rhizome, blackberry leaf, stevia leaf and lemon myrtle leaf.

I like it better now but I like turmeric. That’s about all I taste — ginger and turmeric, none of the other stuff. It’s spicy and rooty but not overwhelmingly so. Thin. Came in handy this past week at work when I felt like hot garbage.

Pagoda Tree flower buds. Very interesting! The brew smells savory like marinated then grilled skirt steak and a dash of cocoa with soft cinnamon? The tea is a golden color, sweet and thick and creamy with some background complementary astringency. Very floral perfumey and nectarous — they are flower buds after all. Nutty like sesame-honey candies. Then a flash of that cola flavor. It feels very warm going in but then this most excellent cooling feeling emerges and lingers long with the perfume and natural nutty sweetness.

I never prepare Verdant’s teas according to their parameters because they’re so generic but this time I did. 5g to 8oz, 175F for 20s. This turned out very well in a glass mug with glass infuser. Steeping the second cup now for 30s.

Farewell, Long Lan Xu. Going well with a lunch of red lentil soup :D

A nice Nepali black, though I’m having difficulty bringing out its full potential. A lower temperature than normal for black teas – 185F – seems to do it well.

Sweet and nutty nose of chocolate-covered peanuts. It’s darker in tone than the Annapurna Black Beauty. Astringent but smooth. Not particularly sweet; rather, it’s malty-nutty-earthy and tangy with rounded flavors and a touch of cream. I like this as a post-breakfast tea to cut grease but it’s not so bold that I could enjoy it with a meal.

Thanks for sharing, Martin!

In other news, it’s hella storming and a section of our front fence was destroyed early this morning by a fallen power pole in the corner of our yard. It missed my neighbor’s truck parked on the street by about 6 inches. Lucky guy!

Also, I’ve pretty much adopted one of the semi-feral backyard cats since Sophia passed last year. She’s a small grey and white firecracker of sweetness. President of the Itty Bitty Kitty Committee. Responds to “Dora”. She’s a ratter and a bugger and also sadly a birder — Kiki said she brought in a hummingbird the other day. But I love her so.

I wish I could’ve gotten this Nepali black tea to work for me since Martin esteems it highly.

It’s a very high-pitched aroma tea for me with lots of red berry and citrus; deeper notes of malt, leather and cocoa. The taste is less sharp but still tangy-citrusy and malty, also salty and peanutty. Overall, rather tonal. I love that it makes my mouth water but a soapy aftertaste kind of kills it for me.

Thanks, Martin! On to the next Nepali black :)