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Lowering my rating on this one. I like it, but the more I drink it, the less I like it. There is some weird flavor in the background that I am associating with melted crayons (I got this after a 5 min and also after a 10 min steep). Also, tonight I steeped it 10 minutes and I am getting lots and lots of cinnamon. Cinnamon crayons. Maybe waxy is a better description. I liked it better at 5 min.

So the description of this tea on steepster says milk chocolate chips, but the bag and picture listing the ingredients do not. I haven’t found any milk chocolate chips in it either. I wonder if it changed at some point or if that was a misprint somewhere. I was surprised to see that in the description when I logged in to review this.

I got this as one of my 3 ValenTeas samples. I think it was good. I’m not going to rate it yet because I cannot taste much at the moment (cold… boo). I wasn’t going to drink any good teas until I could taste again, but for some reason I keep grabbing the teas with chocolate; perhaps that is all I can taste. I drank this and DavidsTea Read My Lips today.

I’ve been giving this little teabag package the evil eye for about an hour. I don’t feel good and the thought of anything in my regular collection made my stomach turn a little. Well, the sore throat finally won and I made this tea. It’s not bad at all. I was so worried because there are a couple of kinds of tea in that cold sampler box that are horrid (but work). This one is actually ok, so don’t be afraid. It’s licorice-y (which I don’t like so much but not overpowering) and gingery. And weirdly makes my throat feel better.

Update – dropping my rating as I don’t like it as much as it cools and there is a weird pile of cruft at the bottom of the mug. I don’t dig cruft,

Mmm, this one is good too. I’m having good tea luck today. I was worried that I wouldn’t like this one. I get cinnamon, then strawberry, then cinnamon, and then the aftertaste leaves me with a feeling of a brown sugar oatmeal crumble topping. I don’t get ‘crust’, but I think the crumble topping is even better. I sweetened it with a little agave nectar. This is my first ValenTea sample. I might have to buy more of this.

Oh man, this is good. If you like coconut, I hope you ordered it. I don’t know how it tastes like cheesecake too but it does. The level of coconut is perfect in this tea and then it has something in the background which mellows it a bit (the cheesecake flavoring). Man, I’m really digging it.

Update – both my cats keep trying to drink this tea!

Kristen sent me a sample of this in a swap. This tea is much better than I expected. It smells a little like banana laffy taffy, but it tastes like banana bread. I’m getting the walnut flavor in the finish. It’s pretty good. I sweetened with agave nectar and gave it a tiny bit of silk soy creamer.

Update – lowering my rating as I could not drink a whole cup of this. It’s not totally the tea’s fault. I just think banana in tea is not my thing.

This is another sample that Kristen sent me in a swap (thanks!). I like it; not as much as the buttered rum, but it’s good. It’s very minty and the chocolate is more of a background flavor. The unsteeped tea is beautiful with the red lips candy and tons of dark chocolate chips. I wish it had more chocolate flavor but I still like it enough that I might order this one too. DavidsTea flavored black teas seem to have a nice quality base. I don’t detect any astringency or bitterness in this tea after a 5 minute steep.

Dude! This is great. I like this better than real Hot Buttered Rum, which I recently had over Christmas. With real buttered rum, the rum is very sharp and I don’t like that part of it. This tea has a rum like flavor but without the sharp bite of the rum. It’s tasty and mellow. The coconut gives it a fuller flavor but is mostly a background flavor. It even has a buttery-ness to it (and somehow a thickness that I associate with having butter in it). I steeped this 5 min, based on how long everyone else who’d reviewed this steeped it, and there was no bitterness or astringency in the black tea base. Lovely, lovely snowy afternoon treat.

I was a little worried about whether I would like this one, but I do and I will definitely be ordering some of this (I’ve asked to make a large DavidsTea order as my birthday present in April). I wish DavidsTea would open a distribution center in the US or get some cheaper shipping method!

Thanks to Kristen for sending some of this in a swap. This is one of many DavidsTeas that I have been dying to try.

Kristen sent me a sample of this one (thanks!). I think this tea is identical to Special Teas Lemon Chiffon. I haven’t been able to detect any difference yet. So, for anyone who was upset about the loss of the Lemon Chiffon, this might be an alternate source (unless Special Teas was the supplier). I’ll be interested to see if Kristen thinks the Lemon Chiffon I sent to her is the same.

Last cup of this sample. It’s nice but not going to particularly miss it.