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I’m shocked no one has reviewed this yet!

My husband got me some for my birthday, and I tried it this morning. It DOES taste just like Starbucks! I know because on my actual birthday I went to Starbucks for my free drink (if you register any gift card online you get a free drink on your birthday!) and so I just had the real deal recently.

It’s my birthday!!!

I’ve had a nice relaxing morning so far. Woke up and made a cup of Laoshan Black (yum) and made a Dutch Baby with fresh lemon juice and powdered sugar on top (also YUM). Then my husband gave me some of my gifts…all were tea so far LOL!

He got me the Starbuck’s matchaccino copy from RedLeaf, and a HUGE box from Butiki including-

The Black Lotus
Blackberry Lime Guayusa
Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black
2009 Banchang tree Puerh (having that one now, SO GOOD!)
Kenyan Silver Needle

Stacy also threw in some excellent samples! Birthday cake (totes apropos) the NEW Chocolate Espresso with Strawberry Cream frosting (OMG can’t wait) and the phase one butterscotch chai trial, and a new Taiwanese Black! Thanks Stacy!!!

Tonight I’m going to a neat local event the call Zoo Brew. They close the local Zoo for the evening and people pay to get in and there are a TON of booths with food and beer samples of all sorts. My husband is actually in the local homebrew club so he will be there with 5 gallons of his donated beer (an Amber Ale) serving samples to the masses. The homebrew club booth is always the MOST popular…these guys are fantastic brewers but they can’t SELL their beer without the proper licensing, but they CAN donate it to events like this! People go nuts for their unique and tasty beers :) Anyway should be a great time if it doesn’t get rained out!

Yum, I knew this would be fab. Thanks boychik!

Can’t really go wrong with a bold Yunnan black, or anything Damn Fine teas has to offer. So good. Seriously, think you want to order something from them? Just go for it.

Well, this is really different. Thanks for sharing boychik :)

I steeped this Western style for about 2 minutes. It DOES have some really strange tongue numbing effects. I’m not getting any bitterness, but it does have a strange under-ripe veggie flavor. The liquor SMELLS really sweet though. There are some complex notes I’m having trouble identifying. I am enjoying this. And the dry leaf is really twisty and fuzzy and pretty. I’ve gotten so many beautiful teas lately, I think I want to do some artsy tea photography this weekend. Doesn’t that sound fun? :)

Thanks to Angel at TeaVivre for a new batch of samples for review. Always my pleasure :)

This is a wonderful nutty green! Sweet creamy corn and fresh peas. Slight floral/fruity overtones. Light bodied but enough flavor to satisfy. Very nice :)

I’ve been drinking this one all day! Thanks Terri

This has a nice bold tangy, tongue tingling flavor! A little stone fruit notes in the middle steeps. Quite nice! There is some very light smoke aroma, but almost no smokey taste is detectable. The chaqi is really great on this one. I’ve been zipping along all day! Go sheng! heh

My afternoon tea was half Mandala Special Dark with a bagged Traditional Medicinals organic ginger thrown it. Quite a nice combo! Helped with my belly after too much Indian food as well ;)

Good idea Boychik

I had Indian buffet for lunch and ordered a chai with it. Not the best tea ever but it went really nicely with the meal. SO FULL NOW! Buffets are dangerous!