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Got this at Kroger….I am really pleased that my local store is finally developing a better tea selection.

1st smell: Since it was from a tea bag, not much of a smell, and did come thru…was not inspiring.
1st taste: Apples. That is really all I can taste. Not complaining though, Was afraid that it would have cinnamon in it and for some reason apples and cinnamon together sometimes tastes weird to me.

I would definitely get this tea again, as well as be inclined to check out the other flavors. The package says to brew it at 158, I used the lowest setting of 160 on my variable temp kettle.

A while back I saw this tea on a discussion, and was curious. While I do prefer flavored teas, particular tisanes (Yes I know, they are technically not ‘tea.’) I want to broaden my horizons more. And plus wanted to find a morning tea that has plenty of caffeine.
1st smell: Strongly astringent
1st taste: I knew by the smell that I would not be able to taste it without a bunch of sweetener. I decided to use honey as my sweetener. I put in 3 very full spoonfulls of honey into the cup, stirred it and took a sip.

Bleh! No matter how much honey I put in, it did not improve the taste. I did look up the reviews for the tea before making it, (Which generally I don’t do.) and saw many people mention that steeping it for more then 2 or 3 minutes would be a mistake. So I steeped for 1 minute and 25 seconds. Still very astringent.
If I can convince myself to try another cup…(Debatable…depends on how masochistic I am feeling I guess.)I will try for 30 seconds. I still might see if I can give it away or swap it. I would rather it go to someone who enjoys it.

I had this last night. Despite the fact that it says caffeine free, it does have chocolate in it, and I think that plus the sugar is what kept me up pretty late last night….though being a terrible night owl it could of been anything.
1st smell: Sweet and strawberryish.
1st taste: Pretty sweet. Not overkill though.

While I’ll be ok finishing off the canister…I am not sure I will get this one again. It wasn’t terrible….but not really inspiring either. I think I agree with another person that posted a review for this tea. They said that they think it would taste better with a black tea base then a rooibos. I have liked most of the rooibos teas I have had, but I don’t know…..who knows maybe it would taste just as uninspiring with a black tea base. I think I am going to try writing to ROT and see what they think. Some companies appreciate that kind of thing…others don’t.

This was my favorite bagged tea from years ago. I used to love going up to Borders, collecting a bunch of books then sitting down for a couple of hours to flip thru them to see if I want to buy them. (This is also when I was making more $$.) Anyways, this flavor is what I got most of the time there. But for whatever reason I stopped drinking it and the canister of tea ended up getting really stale in the cupboard….and I forgot what brand of tea it was, til I happened to look up “Blackberry Sage” and there it was on the ROT website. I recognized the logo and everything. And then! I found that my local favorite fruit market carries this brand. Yippeeee!!!! jumps up and down Ok…down to the review:

1st smell: Mmm. Never been a huge fan of eating blackberries because of the food stains. I have always been big so self conscious to being judged about pigging out. But, this smelled just as sweet as I remembered.
1st taste: I added some of my german rock sugar…and some apriva. rolls eyes I really shouldn’t need to add so much sweetener.

IMHO this is much better then the bagged version. There is no having to contend with the slight papery taste to the tea. And the black tea base is perfect for this. As for the sage. lol…not being very acquainted with sage so I am not sure how much of that plays a part.

I got this tea yesterday, (Yeah even though I promised myself I would not buy anymore tea before Christmas, but I caved when I had to get more German Rock Sugar. Pfft. Enablers.)

I got these both seperately because I wanted to try it seperately 1st. Which didn’t work out that way. I ended up combining them.
1st smell of both: the Maharaja, it smelled very spicy and cinnamony. I do like cinnamon, but in small doses. And what chai’s I have had, I like to extents. 1st smell of the Tulsi Dosha…like the 1st, but softer, warmer. like vanilla. I brewed it to the directions of the Oolong, or rather as close as I could get, at 190, (bag suggested 195.) and plus I saw others mentioned the lower temperature, the creaminess comes thru more.

1st taste: Cinnamon vanilla. those were the 2 immediate impressions I got. I also found it to be familiar tasting. It took me a little bit to figure out what it tasted like. Zingiber Ginger Coconut. At 1st, I admit I was alittle bit annoyed, I mean I love Zingiber, but I don’t need another tea that tastes like it. But as I continued sipping my cup, it appealed to me. Not sure if I would get this again, and I think I might try to do an actual taste comparison with the Zingiber.

I had actually gotten this a while back, but realised I didn’t log it. (or might of just logged it with The Jasmine Sutra.)
But I think it’s only fair to do a tea review for itself.
1st smell: Fresh clean smell. Almost too much of a floral smell, I can certainly see why that puts many people off.
1st taste: Surprisingly, the smell almost put me off from the taste. So I worked on ignoring the scent, while drinking this tea. Now, I could not drink this everyday, (Though really have not found any tea I could drink everyday.) But I’d like to have this on hand for when I need to calm down near to bedtime. I don’t remember what temp and time I did this at, but probably as close to recommendations as I could get.

With the Jasmine Sutra: Simply delicious. I can pretty much only have green teas in the early evening unless I will be staying up late.

Last tea sample in the 5 I was sent from Fusion Teas. sad face

1st smell: Deep, orangery and interesting.
1st taste: I think I might of steeped it to long, next time I’ll try it at 5 minutes instead of 10. I think the longer steep brings out the hibiscus, and bah, can’t say I am a fan of that.

This is a sample thanks to the gang at Fusion Teas.

For a couple of years I’ve loved Perfect Peach from Bigelow, and ever since I started drinking loose teas…I’ve been looking to replace it. This tea comes very close. I found the temp suggestion to be a bit odd, and alittle frustrating….it suggests 203, well I don’t have that one, but I do have a 200 for French Press, so that is what I used. I am really wishing I had bought online the kind of kettle where you can set whatever temp you desire, instead of set buttons.
1st Smell: The sweet heavy smell of peaches really come thru.
1st taste: Same. I love the smell of peaches, and have yet to meet a peach tea that I don’t like. LOL. So even though it didn’t quite match the taste of Perfect Peach, this tea I definitely want to get again! And who knows, maybe after adjusting temp time/steep time I might find that it does match.

I got this as a sample from the cool gang at Fusion Teas. check them out if you havn’t already.

I am not sure why I picked this one…I don’t even like Champagne all that much, and Raspberries can be hit or miss.
1st smell: light, sweet.
1st Taste: Same with a dry bite at the end….I say bite because I wasn’t expecting it. This tea is not a dessert tea, but it is one I would consider having with dessert, sweet enough to be a good pair, but not overpowering.

Would I get it again? I am not opposed to the idea, but not sure how often I would drink it. As much as I would dearly love to have thousands of teas to choose from every day, I really need to think in terms of how often would I drink it. Devised a rule for my tea cupboard: If I buy a bag of tea at least 3-4 times, and maintain in liking it, then I will continue buying it and it gets it’s own tin/box. I only got so much room:(

This is thanks to the Fusion Teas Gang.smiles

1st smell: Truthfully when I smelled it…I didn’t care for it, it didn’t smell bad, it is just…….I didn’t expect it to smell like cereal. None the less I went thru with preparing it. The package said 170 temp, but instead of going lower, I decided to use the green tea button at 175. (The next lowest temp was 160. I felt that would be too low, but thinking next time I will try that one.)
1st taste: With my sugar taste buds being impaired, I added a handful of rock sugar to the cup before pouring, and ended up adding some apriva as well.. Anyways…1st taste: As you might of guessed, with my 1st smell thinking it smelled like cereal, as was my 1st taste. lol. But as I’ve sat down with my cup, I begun to have a growing appreciation for it. For the most part I do like herbal and fruit Tisanes, and fruity white and green teas, but lately alot of my fruit teas have been kind of tasting the same, though varied in strength. That tells me I need to change it up a notch, so hoping that I can find some greens and whites that aren’t fruity, or at least not overwhelmingly.