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It’s been a busy weekend of gardening, yard work and cleaning haha and finally we got our first couple thunderstorms today! And rain :D finally don’t have to water the flowerbeds, garden and lawn today lol. Anyways, May showers called for some rainy day tea..this one (April showers, but close enough lol).

I read the ingredients list and was a bit apprehensive about how many ingredients were listed. Also, I keep thinking I’m going to have a terrible allergic reaction to the birch and dandelion in the teas, as both of these make me sneeze horribly in the spring AKA right now haha all the pollen :( but as they use the root of the dandelion and birch bark, I seem to be ok so far with teas including these ingredients lol. I will also be trying chicory later with the other blend club tea this month, Cask Strength. Anyways, rambly aside over, onto the tea!

Dry, this smelled, well…intense. A bit overpowering. My nose didn’t know what was up lol. Cinnamon and cacao and wood..definitely wood. I also looked at the leaves and thought hmm! Roasted oolong or black tea?? Decided to steep and see if I could figure it out.

I steeped for 2 minutes with boiling water, as it also has Yabao in it which usually needs boiling water. The steeped smell is woody like crazy. I was unsure if it was all Yabao or something else…so I quickly searched Zheng Zhan Xiao Zhong on Verdant and found out it’s a smoked black tea!! Ahhh a type of Lapsang??? I have had bad experiences with the one Lapsang I tried (DavidsTea, highly do not recommend lol) so I approached this with a lot of caution. And I also was pleased my nose could pick out the pine notes from the scent :)

So as for the flavor..my first expression was actually kind of baffled. What is this…then my brain was like “damp campfire in the woods after a rain” and I spoke it aloud to my boyfriend and he’s like “Be sure to put that in your review!” So there it is. This definitely evokes a rainy feeling..and to be honest, it’s not an overpowering smoke, it’s more like that hint of smoke on the cool breeze after a rain and the ashes of the fire are close to being out but still slightly smoldering. Not at all unpleasant! It also has a certain sweetness in there too, later in the sip and in the aftertaste..maybe the vanilla? Most definitely that. It keeps it interesting!

Overall, a very earthy, interesting blend. I didn’t think I’d enjoy it all all from the dry scent, and was still unsure after steeping. But it’s not too bad actually. Probably not a favorite, but I do like the camping memories it brings about. And very true to the name, it’s a rainy day blend! Happy to have had the chance to try this tea, another exciting one from the blend of the month!

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Bio

Hello all, I am an electrical engineer (read:NERD :D), who is a bit obsessed with tea! I discovered loose tea in 2011, DAVIDsTEA in 2012 and it took off from there. I really started drinking/enjoying tea because it was excellent to take to class in the morning and because I can’t handle coffee! (unless it’s a really good cappuccino or latte, or decent decaf haha)

I enjoy a variety of teas – current favorites being ripe and raw pu’erhs, chinese black teas and herbal/green rooibos blends. I also enjoy white, green, and oolong teas, although I tend to drink them more in the warmer months. I have also tried matcha and guayusa, but I don’t drink them too often as I am a bit sensitive to caffeine. As a result I don’t drink black teas as often as I used to, but in moderation I can still enjoy a wide variety of teas.

Oh, and I have a severe peanut allergy and try to avoid most other nuts, just to be safe. Limits my tea choices a bit, but that’s ok. However I have tried almonds and found out I can eat them, so I have been trying a few teas with them in them.

mrs.stenhouse12’s rating system
(as of 04/19/13)

95+: Absolute favorite, will try to always have it in stock, and when I don’t I pine over it!
90-94: Awesome teas, will probably purchase again a few times
80-89: Very good tea, may restock at some point
70-79: happy to have tried and will gladly finish, but not restock
60-69: not horrible, but not the best, will finish if I have some though
50-59: not a favorite, probably will have a tough time finishing the bag
-50: yuck. I don’t want to have it ever again.

Location

Canada

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