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I was in the mood for something super rich & decadent, so I made this up like a lazy man’s chai: while waiting for the electric kettle to finish heating the water, I filled-up a mug about a quarter of the way with milk and popped it into the microwave. Filled the rest of the mug with the water and then infused with a finum basket in the water-milk mixture.

And it hit the spot! Very hot chocolate-like (though I’m sure the creaminess from the milk helped with that) with a nice little, tiny kick of pepper. (And it was just a little kick. It was there, but I certainly wouldn’t call the tea spicy-hot.) But the touch of heat worked well with the chocolate.

Not sure what it would taste like without milk, but with it, it’s a very delightful, decadent treat!

Hmm… I don’t really know what to say about this one. It tastes like a decent, middle of the road masala chai. Nothing really special – I was hoping to be able to pick out vanilla, but, alas, I cannot. (Although it may just be that my palate isn’t sophisticated enough to get that much subtlety, but still, I didn’t taste it AT ALL.) The ginger is identifiable, but only because I was looking for it. To me, it’s just a sort of muddled spiciness, without any one element really standing out from the rest.

HOWEVER, those little candied fennel bits are delicious! As in, I can’t stop myself from picking them out of the bag and snacking all through the day. Of course, this means that there aren’t too many that make it into my cup, but… honestly, I’m okay with that.

Shockingly, I didn’t totally hate the hibiscus in this one. It’s tart, as always, but everything else in there helped to balance it out enough so it wasn’t entirely overwhelming. Had the first steep hot, and then cold-brewed the leaves overnight for a second infusion.

Hot: it was pretty good. Sour like a grapefruit, with lots of other citrus flavors in there too. Cold-brewed: not so much. That made it taste more hibiscus-tart than citrus-tart. Had to dump half the cold cup.

Sipdown. I think my terrible mood is tempering my ability to taste tea today. I know that I really like this one – past tastings have been great, but I didn’t get much of anything at all from this cup. I blame myself and not the tea.

Sigh… maybe today would be a good day to drink through all the stuff I’m usually kind of indifferent to…

Thanks to Allie for this one; it’s one I’ve wanted to try for a quite a while now, so I’m glad to finally have the chance!

It’s interesting – very light tasting, and the green tea is really more of a background note than a main part of the flavor. Looking at the dry leaf, I wondered if all of the apple pieces would make it similar to Forever Nuts, but it was actually very different. It wasn’t salty like I would’ve thought from a popcorn tea, but it was still a very good “snack-time” cuppa.

Only had a little bit of this left so I mixed it with a bit of Blueberry Black from the Spice & Tea Exchange to make a full cup… and then I added blueberry sugar! (Also picked up from TSTE.) It was a delicious sweet blueberry mixture.

That said, I’m sad to be out of Blueberry Jam now – as I like it a little bit better than the TSTE version.

Received a sample of this with my Bluebird order.

The dry smell is pleasant; very fruity & sweet. It steeps to a red, sangria-colored tisane with a somewhat floral aroma that smells (to me) like a strawberry pie filling. I can see hibiscus listed as the first ingredient (uh-oh), but since it smells so good, I’m hoping it won’t be an issue.

First sip… Yep, there’s the hibiscus. Maybe I’m sensitive to the flavor of hibiscus, but it’s really the only thing I can taste in this. Tart hibiscus with a slightly sweet aftertaste from the fruit. Disappointing, because all the other ingredients seem like something that I might like.

Oh well, I guess it’s just not the tisane for me.

Yay, another sipdown! I think that every time I drink this one, I raise my rating. It seems like each cup is better than the last… The coconut makes it so creamy, and it gets even better as it cools.

The creamy, smooth coconut combined with the zip of lemongrass and ginger is just perfect.

Not enough time for a real note, but I was dying to try this one after I broke into the Premium Taiwanese Assam (the base for this tea) earlier this morning.

See my earlier notes Premium Taiwanese Assam and add actual caramel flavors. I thought the base tasted a teensy-bit like caramel syrup on it’s own, but now with the added Caramel & Vanilla, it’s super awesome.

Okay, I need to try to make this a quick note b/c I need to get back to work.

Watching this infuse is a real treat: the leaves open up beautifully! Steeped color is a gorgeous red-brown.

And it’s very, very tasty. No bitterness or unpleasant astringency at all. Incredibly smooth, malty, and… almost caramel-y? I know this is unflavored, but I’m getting an aftertaste that almost reminds me of a caramel-flavored black. YUM! I’m definitely getting sweet potato in there too.

This is my new go-to when I’m craving an unflavored tea. It’s really incredible.