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So I’ve got three green tea-mint blends on hand right now and I’ve decided to do a head to head comparison: Berber by Tay Tea, Moroccan Mint by Teavana, and North African Mint by David’s Tea. One of the few green teas I’d like to keep around would be one with mint, so I’m trying to pick which one. Both Berber and Moroccan mint are just spearmint with gunpowder green tea, while the North African Mint has cardamom, peppermint, ginger, Japanese-style Hojicha green tea, licorice root, fennel, clove, and black pepper. So, it’s not really a valid comparison, but this study doesn’t have to pass peer review so it’s happening :-P.

This tea is decent (and I’ve reviewed it before, so check out my other review for more details), but I’d prefer one with just mint and gunpowder. Fennel and licorice are not my friends, but this tea is still not bad to me.

Teavana’s Moroccan Mint wins! I’m as surprised as you probably are.

The link to the Berber review: http://steepster.com/teas/tay-tea/11700-berber?post=252649
The link to the Moroccan Mint review: http://steepster.com/teas/teavana/2028-moroccan-mint?post=252648

OMG this tea smells like CHOCOLATE! The taste too is roasty, toasty, smoooooth chocolate. Um. I can haz moar? There is no bitterness and no astringency. Just a little piece of tea bliss :-). The cool thing about this tea is there a wave of chocolate flavor that rolls over my tongue after the sip and it’s more intense than the flavor during the sip, at least for me. I still love Ailaoshan black a little bit more, but this tea is excellent! I used a full tablespoon rather than a half, which turned out to be a good decision.

Also, I had a weird dream that there was a communal Steepster refrigerator. MzPriss opened it up and opened up one of the fruit/veggie drawers and it was full of mushrooms and dirt. She looked at me and said “Oh look, Brenden teleported us some mushrooms!” I have no idea what MzPriss actually looks like, but this person in the dream was her somehow. What is wrong with me?

This tea is so pretttttyyyyy! Is this the one that MzPriss called “wee snaily yums”? If not, I think this could also merit that term :-). To me, the smell is very bready and it greatly increased my anticipation of the first sip. My nose did not lead my astray; the taste is also very bready, with a big dose of honey dolloped on top. So good! The finish is really clear and fresh tasting- a characteristic I’m noticing with Whispering Pines teas and that I really appreciate. It looks like this one will be a repurchase as well. Brenden, we are all just putty in your hands.

The leaves of this tea are long, dark, and twisty and when I see leaves like that I can’t help but think spider legs. And it’s all TheTeaFairy’s fault. Luckily, I’m a spider sympathizer, so it doesn’t bother me :-). Like, maybe spiders are just misunderstood. There’s even a meme about it (warning: contains spider pictures)
http://www.funnyjunk.com/funny_pictures/4501376/Misunderstood+Spider/

Anyway, this tea lives up to the level of excellence I’ve come to expect from Whispering Pines. It starts out a little earthy, which then gives way to a fresh floral quality. My favorite part though, is the end of the sip which just tastes unbelievably refreshing and pure, like I just drank out of a crystal clear stream. Is this what pine tastes like? If so, more of that please! Also, thanks to boychik for recommending that I use a full tbsp of leaf. It turned out great that way!

I tried this for my first tea of the day and as the name suggests, it’s a good fit for breakfast. It comes to me via Miss B :-). It is a full bodied tea and the first smoky tea I’ve actually liked. The smoke is extremely subtle, so it doesn’t make me feel like I’m drinking a camp fire. I would say more than anything that it just lends a rough, husky quality to the taste, if that makes any sense at all. As the tea cooled, the orange and the sweetness of the tea really came out more. All in all, it was a pleasant cup. Not too complicated and bold enough to wake me up, but it’s not something that I would need to keep around.

I got this tea yesterday from the coffee stand in the building next to where I work. Normally, that coffee place is pretty good and I like the way they make vanilla bean tea lattes mmmm…. But as it’s summer and my stomach was not in top form, I decided to go with this mint tea and ask for it iced. The barista informed me that I could not have it iced because it was a hot tea. I informed her that if she brewed it hot with less water than usual and then poured it over ice, it would become an iced tea. She told me I would have to wait for it to brew. I was unsurprised by this news and assured her I was fine with that. She very doubtfully followed my instructions, but did not brew it nearly long enough, I think. All I got from this tea was spearmint. I really couldn’t detect the green base at all, which is a shame because this is my favorite way to have green tea. So, I won’t rate this because of the dubious preparation.

Disclaimer: This is more of a personal note and less of tea note.
So, I have a new night time tea obsession. I made a whole pot of this because using my teapot is actually really fun. My favorite part is the pouring and also that I can have 3.5 cups of tea without having to get up. I also chose this tea because I can get it at Target, so I don’t feel the need to hoard it. This is both good and, I suspect, very dangerous.
I wanted a nice mellow tea to go with a dessert I just made and want to try out. I sliced some bananas, froze the slices, made tiny peanut butter sandwiches with the banana slices, covered them in melted dark chocolate and then froze them again. OH. EM. GEE. So delicious. And so easy! This tea went so well with them.
I was also watching a documentary about Alaska. Ice worms are crazy!
I talked to my grandma for her birthday and she loved the teacup candles I made for her :-). This is the grandma who was married to my grandpa, whose birthday it was yesterday. They were born one day apart in the same year. He was from Mississippi and she was from Newfoundland. They met in Nova Scotia and on that day he told her he would not leave Canada without marrying her. She thought he was an arrogant ass. LOL. Three weeks later, they got married and they were together 63 years, until my Grandpa’s passing. I love that story, it’s so romantic! She told me tonight that she still talks to his picture every day, which made me simultaneously both happy and super sad.

This samples comes to me via Miss B. Thank you!
I am really enjoying this tea! I don’t know what I was expecting, but it was not this. This is much better. The star of the show is the mint, which I find to be a little sweet and gentle; pretty much perfect in that it’s not too in your face. The tulsi and maté pairing is unusual, but I like it a lot. It’s roasty and a tiny bit vegetal. It hangs out until the end of the sip and then really rounds out the experience. Why on earth is this discontinued?? It’s magical. It would greatly increase my tea joy if I could purchase some. Just going to put that out there…..

Thanks to Laurent and Dorian @ Nina’s Paris USA for this sample! I have to admit that I didn’t pay much attention to the dry leaves because I was in morning autopilot other than to notice that there were fruity chunks included. However, when I poured the water on, I turned away to continue slicing a banana, the aroma caught up to me, and I then literally whipped my head back around to take a huge whiff. That is how heavenly this tea smells! Oh, and the taste does not disappoint either! I think I may be apple insensitive because I often don’t taste the apple flavor in tea and this is no exception. I really don’t care at all though, because this is lovely peachy-apricoty goodness with the vanilla to soften and enhance the fruit flavors. As with the other teas I’ve tried from this company, you still get a nice dose of the base tea so you know you are drinking tea and not fruit juice. The flavors are beautifully and subtly present. This is another win for Nina’s Paris! So good!!

Ok, so this review is going to be a bit of an emotional over share, so if you aren’t into that type of thing, skip to below the line and I will just talk about the teapot. I think it will help me feel better to write it, so indulge me if you will.

It’s cold, grey and rainy here, tea friends. And that pretty much matches my mood. It’s my Grandpa’s birthday today- the 2nd since he’s been gone, so it’s been a rough day for me. My Grandpa was amazing, at least to me. I lived down the street from him for most of my life and he taught me how to swim, ride a bike, and fish. He spent time with me and played with me, even letting me chase him up a tree when we played cowboys and indians or have a “dolphin ride” in the pool. He was patient, kind, and willing to take the time to teach me whatever I happened to be curious about. Even though my dad lived in the same city, my Grandpa was more of a father to me. He was always supportive and crazy proud of me. He called me his little darling and I loved him so much. “Here comes the sun” came on my Pandora station as I was getting ready this morning, which always reminds me of him (because of the little darling part) and I lost it then. I’ve been thinking about him all day and holding it together at work, so I thought a pot of tea might be comforting when I got home and using my new teapot for the first time might cheer me up a bit.
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So, this teapot is great. I think it’s super cute (duh, otherwise why would I have bought it?) and I got it during the 40% off sale. It’s well worth the money and it’s my first teapot. The infusion basket is pretty much the same as a the one that comes with the perfect mug, except about half again as long and it has a handle (folds down so you can put the lid on) for easy removal. The teapot itself is rather sturdy and the spout really does seem to be entirely drip-free. The lid was a little hard to take off and put back on at first, but it’s gotten easier after repeating it a few times. I love the silicon grips on the cups because they do provide a cool gripping surface while also looking like cupcake wrappers. For the inaugural run, I chose Capital Tea’s Strawberry Oolong and it brewed up perfectly in this pot. Plus having tea from a pot just seems more fun to me. I’m totally happy with my purchase.