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OMGsrsly also sent along this one (#0!), and I thank you, but this is a big NOPE for me. I don’t even like sage that much to begin with, and one sip gave me an intense “bleh!” reaction. Could not take any more. Super bitter and super sagey. I even steeped it cooler and shorter than I normally would have because I looked at reviews here before and people said it could go bitter. I don’t even want to know what it would taste like at boiling and 3 minutes.

Another tea (#1) from OMGsrsly! Thanks! At first I thought this had been slightly contaminated by the Blackberry Sage that she also included, but I think I was just smelling the lavender. I was worried this would be too “herby” for me, but the lavender definitely calmed down a bit in the brewed tea.

This is a tea I need to drink fast, when it is still hot. Then it was quite nice, with red berry and bergamot notes, and no bitterness to speak of. But as it cooled the lavender came out and it became a lot more bitter and astringent. Alternately I do need to try it with less leaf, as suggested by the company and OMGsrsly. :)

OMGsrsly kindly sent me samples of a few teas back when she sent me the Divine Temptation, and I just never got around to trying them. I never even properly added them to my cupboard (I did later). Well, here they are now! Thanks OMGsrsly!

This one (#2) is really quite tasty. Very mapley. Maybe not so much taffy? But I don’t know how you would really distinguish “taffy” flavor. I don’t really get much in the way of distinct spices, which is kind of funny, since I definitely see the cinnamon stick pieces in my infuser. Anyway, glad this one got sent my way! It was quite yummy.

I had to skip a tea (herbal, at home), and hopefully I will remember to drink it tonight. But that moves me onto this one (#3) next. Soooo deliciously nougaty. I don’t have much more to say about it except thanks again to OMGsrsly for being my tea mule and getting me more of this delicious tea.

Yummmmmm. How do they do it? How does this tea (#5) taste so much like buttery caramel goodness? They are magicians over at DF, as far as I’m concerned. Never thought I would need two different caramel teas in my cupboard at all times, or that they would be from the same company, but there you go. I also would have thought that I would want to stick to fruits or florals for a green oolong base, but this one also dissuaded me of that notion.

The last time I drank this tea (#6), I said I wanted to try it at a higher temp to see how it performed. And I actually read the note before steeping it, so I remembered to do it! The answer is: not very different? It’s still hugely chocolatey and creamy and sweet, and the base tea is still a little thin. I think I would have been happier if this had been on their usual black tea base instead of a roasted oolong. Still, it is quite tasty.

This one (#7) comes from the last ever Fauchon sale on the now-defunct Vente-Priveé. The last time I had this it was a little too robust for me and I ended up adding milk (I usually keep it at home), so today I lowered my steep temp since I am at work. It worked out pretty well. This is definitely burnt-sugar caramel, almost more like creme bruleé. I am happier with some of the other caramel teas in my cupboard, but I like this one well enough.

As I mentioned in the other note, this was one of several teas Equusfell and I had today at our gongfu session. I’m not going to write notes for the others just now, to keep interruptions to my cupboard sip-through to a minimum, but since this is the only time I will likely have this one a note is in an order.

Anyway, this is totally like drinking gingersnaps. Definitely baked ginger cookie flavor going on here. It became a bit more floral as the steeps went on, but overall I definitely got a gentle, not spicy, ginger flavor, with even a hint of cinnamon. Very tasty; it would be interesting to try it as a western brew too.

Taking a quick break from my cupboard sip-through notes to write one for this tea, which I shared with Equusfell during our marathon gongfu party this afternoon. She came over and we had Verdant’s Early Spring TGY (2014), Tea Ave’s Ginger Lily and Magnolia Oolongs, and this one. Now I am a little sloshy in the belly.

Anyway, this was an interesting tea. I kind of “packed the pot” (well, the gaiwan) and used an entire sample pack in a medium-large gaiwan, and it was pretty intense. We agreed that the overarching flavor was that of artichokes. When it started it was fairly green and fresh, with a bit of sweetness. As steeps progressed it became more fruity, although not in an indentifiable way, and woody. It was kind of a spicy wood, like cedar but not quite. It also got more bitter and astringent as the steeps went on, which was somewhat unexpected. I am going to blame that on the somewhat excessive amount of leaves used. But then again it would not be considered excessive by some (based on various gongfu instructions). I was having a hard time placing the fruity/spicy notes at the time, but now I think it was quite reminicent of some of the black leafhopper teas I’ve had in the past. The taste of injured leaves, LOL. Anyway, an interesting tea to try and very different from all the others!

Such a funny name for a tea. This one (#8) is the one THE-O-DOR tea on my list that I was actually able to get at a shop in Brussels; they hadn’t gotten a restock in a long time. I drank it once after I got back but made it too hot and it was bitter, and I never wrote a note for it. So this will actually be my first note!

The flavoring on this is lemon meringue pie. It is definitely reminicent in aroma of DF’s Noël à Venise, although the caramel notes in that one have been replaced here by a definite creamy meringue note. Brewed at these parameters I am not getting the bitterness (maybe a tiny hint), and instead it is lemony with a decidedly creamy meringue note. Overall, pretty tasty, although a little finnicky (and more bitterness is coming out as it cools, which is not really pleasant). I would still go for Noël à Venise over it any day.