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Count me in as a member of the “Whaaat?! This isn’t a chocolate chip cookie!” club. IMO, raisins don’t belong in baked goods. They dry out and make me sad.

But when raisin critics are already raving about this, surely this deserves a chance.

The first thing I smell when I open the pouch is cinnamon hearts and a pinch of brown sugar. The rest of the ingredients are barely there. Derr, of course you can’t expect to smell the oatmeal, but I was hoping for a better balance between the vanilla and cinnamon. In my 1 oz bag, I counted around seven raisins.

The taste is on par with the aroma. Cinnamon hearts sweetened with golden brown sugar. I didn’t get a raisin in my teaspoon this time, so I guess it’s missing an element. Overall, this captures the qualities of a raisin cookie: warm, golden, and lightly spiced, but without the dry, leathery raisins!

Try this out if you like cinnamon-y baked goods (not cinnamon buns though, this is completely different), especially Snickerdoodles.

And on a semi-unrelated note, try Peanut Butter Co.’s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl peanut butter if you like this.

At last, DT’s rendition of a coconut oolong. I appreciate how the dry leaf smells like actual coconut. Not artificial at all, and I can tell already that it’s going to be creamy. Coconut milk oolong, anyone?

The first steep was slightly floral with milky undertones. When I first tried this yesterday, I was a little unsure about it. The coconut seemed out of place for some reason. The second steep was better, creamier, and the coconut, warmer.

The second round this afternoon is much better. Again, the first steep is a little floral, a little milky, and the coconut is like true coconut shavings, slightly sweetened. The second steep is super heavenly. Coconut milky and buttery.

I’m loving that paradoxically dainty and rich oolong aroma paired with coconut.

My friend drove us down to a nearby DavidsTea after class, and after I picked up a couple of their new ones, we headed down to Silk Road. I picked out a couple, and when I introduced him to the Lapsang Souchong, he sprang for a mini tin of that, plus some Japanese Sour Cherry. Yay!

This was actually my first Silk Road purchase. Loving all things vanilla, I wanted to try this first. My friend commented on the overwhelmingly sweet aroma wafting from the huge canister. And he’s right, I wasn’t expecting that. But it’s sweet in a good way.

Ever smell something one moment and revisit the scent not too long after, only for it to smell completely different? That’s what’s going on now. The dry leaf in my tin smells nothing like it did in the store, where it was an obvious vanilla bean. Now it smells like stewed tomatoes. That’s right. Stewed. Tomatoes.

Once steeped, the stewed tomatoes confusion disappears and it’s back to vanilla bean.

The vanilla is lovely, really. Velvety, almost like vanilla whipped cream. The base is a little too brisk for my liking. Detracts from the smoothness of the vanilla. It makes me want 52teas French Vanilla Assam. I’ve hereby decided that Assam is a better choice than Ceylon when we’re dealing with vanilla.

But if that’s what you are looking for, a Ceylon-based vanilla, this one is very well blended and it’s worth trying.

Finished off the rest of my 10g this morning. Wow, I loved sipping on this in class! I think it tasted even better than the couple cups before. The bergamot was brighter somehow.

I just may need to buy more someday.

Ha! I like how as I was brewing up the last of this, out of nowhere, “Leggy Blonde” by Flight of the Conchords started playing in my head. I mean, this tea is good, but not good enough to justify triggering Flight of the Conchords song and dance.

http://youtu.be/FCub8r1T5Rs

I won’t get more but it was still a fun ride while it lasted.

My first order just arrived! I decided to go with this because I was oh so curious about this cake note everyone keeps talking about.

The dry leaf smells like… DT’s Red Velvet Cake. If you haven’t smelled that before, it is basically extra sweet, warm sugary cake with a a vat of frosting dumped on it. But almost to the point that it just smells like a sugary toothache. So, not a good thing after all.

This also tastes very similar. There is no pineapple to be had, unfortunately. I can at least taste the base in this blend more, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake lacks the oily film that DT’s has. It has a tiny bit of a film on top, but not nearly as much, most likely because there aren’t any sprinkles or white chocolate chips in here.

The aroma of the steeped tea is very tantalizing, though. The gooey sweetness has filled my entire bedroom. As a matter of fact, a while ago, I was trying to read an academic article for a paper while this was cooling, and I couldn’t for the life of me concentrate because it smelled so freakishly good. I had to drop what I was doing, come on Steepster, and talk about this.

PS: While I was brewing this up, my roommate asked me how/why the kitchen smelled like pancakes.

Dry, the scent is sweet and nutty, a little creamy. Why haven’t I tried this sooner?

Totally forgot this one had coconut in it. Great pairing with everything else in here. As this was steeping, the aroma was warm and golden. It reminded me of Banana Nut Bread minus the banana, which works for me.

Taste-wise, the flavour combination is a success. It’s not trail mix-y at all, but you get the warm toastiness of the coconut and Brazil nuts, and a hint of natural sweetness from the golden raisins. The base ties everything together perfectly too.

Most definitely not a “I need five thousand pounds of this, stat” kind of tea, but it hits the spot if you’re looking for a nutty, not overwhelmingly sweet black tea.

Cold brew sip down. Not only does this smell like a Nutri Grain bar, but it now tastes like one using this method. It’s better this way than hot, in my opinion, but it’s still a little too sugary for my liking.

After all this time, I picked this up, as I’m on the search for that perfect EGC.

Previous reports of the bergamot being ultra potent led me to believe I wouldn’t care for this, but this is quite smooth in comparison to some others that I’ve tried. A gentle waft of cream is coming from the dry leaf, and thus far, I’d say the flavours are balanced.

The first steep is a little on the brisk side, but I’d say that this has a very desirable amount of bergamot in here. Not as creamy nor vanilla-y as I had hoped, but no bitterness, at least. The cream is present in every sip but it doesn’t hang around for as long as I would like.

The second steep still bursts with flavour, the liquor almost as amber-y as the first steep, and the creaminess is a little more pronounced now.

Not my favourite EGC, but if I’m ever EGC-less and need a fast fix, I’d most definitely skip down to the nearby DT and grab more of this.

Mmm, this is quite possibly my favourite cold brew. Like liquid green marshmallows but better. I should try to make actual jello with this. At a tea festival I recently attended, a chef showed us how to make green tea jello with plain gelatin and honey (and he threw raspberries in his too. Heaven). So much healthier for you than the prepackaged stuff.