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After a too-weak second steep attempt with Kashmiri Chai (I did 5 mins, but next time, I’ll do it longer, and hopefully that’ll work better), I thought I’d try this one! :)

The leaves just smell sooo yummy. Mmmm caramel. Still smells like caramel when brewed, but there’s definitely still some black tea scent in there.

And the taste? Smooth, black tea with a hint of caramel. It’s got a light sweetness to it that doesn’t overpower the tea. It’s yummy! I can’t complain. :)

I did knock the steeping time down to 3 mins from Adagio’s suggested 5 mins. That steeping time definitely seems to work, at least for me.

Hooray! This finally came in the mail yesterday! (I say “finally,” but it really didn’t take long to get here at all, haha. I’ve just been craving this tea since I had the sample that it seemed like a long time. :P) I even get to try out my new steeper mug to brew it! Yaaay!

It’s just as delicious as the last time! :D I could’ve done with less sugar this time, though. :P

The second of my Kusmi splurge. :)

The first time I smelled this, I definitely got a sense of the citrus, and vanilla, and spices (the clove comes out strongly). But then I had a revelation: This tea smells like Coca-Cola! So now all I smell is Coke. :P

Brewed, it smells more like black tea with clove. Mmmm.

It kind of tastes like Coke, too, but spicier (not overly spicy, though). It’s smooth and warm. Mmm. It has a little bit of sweetness to it too, but it’s not anything overpowering. It’s not overly anything, and the flavors just work really well together. I like! :)

Since my St. Petersburg turned out a bit strong this morning with a steep time of 3 mins, I thought I’d try this at 2 to see how that would be, and it works! Yay!

I was really excited to try this one! Kusmi’s blends all sound really unique and yummy. :) (I really wanted to get their Russians or Essentials samplers, but both are out of stock, and I’m impatient, so I bought this and Prince Vladimir, since these are the ones I wanted to try the most. :P)

The leaves smell reeeeally yummy. :) I definitely smell the bergamot, but the caramel also comes through really well. The vanilla and fruit are there too, but to a lesser degree.

Brewed, I smell black tea with a hint of caramel. Mmm.

Drinking it, I definitely taste the fruit. It’s nice! It’s not too overpowering. And I definitely taste the caramel, too. It brings some creaminess to the tea. It’s really smooth, anyway, but it just makes it even yummier. :) It did get a liiittle bit strong this time, though, so I’ll have to experiment for next time. :P But it’s great for this morning! :)

Bought this with my Tencha-Kuki Houjicha. I felt like I almost had to, haha. In the spirit of spring! We may not have many cherry blossom trees in New Jersey, but somehow my spring experience is incomplete without sakura something. I always found it amusing, though, how Japan has so many sakura-flavored things in the spring. I’ve had sakura-flavored Kit Kats… probably sakura-flavored Pocky, too.

Anyway, back to the tea! The leaves smell really, really nice! A liiiiittle bit like candy, but really it’s more like a light sweetness. This is definitely not what one would consider “cherry flavor,” but then again, “sakura” doesn’t mean “cherry” in the fruit sense. It means “cherry blossom” or “cherry tree.” (“Sakuranbou” is the fruit.) Definitely still smells like sencha underneath, though!

The package says to use a higher temp for a more fruity flavor, and a lower temp for more of a sencha flavor, and I used a bit of a low temp, thus resulting in mostly a sencha flavor. There’s a tiiiny bit of sweetness on the end, though. It’s yummy, but I’m looking forward to trying it with a higher temp, too. :) I want to try to recreate the scent of the leaves.

I should mention, too, that as the tea cools, a bit more of the flavoring comes forward in the aftertaste. It’s like floraly sweet.

Made this at work today, with our non-boiling water from the cooler/heater/whatever-it’s-called. It’s not quite as good this way. Not as flavorful. But still enjoyable. :)

Perhaps I should invest in an electric kettle…

I was really excited to try this tea. It sounded really good! So I made sure to order some when I made my real, non-sampler order from Den’s. :)

This tea smells delightfully sweet-roasty-earthy. Not too much of any of those things. It just smells downright good!

It has a light, sweet, honey-like taste. I’m definitely a fan! :D

I was definitely in the mood for a black tea this morning, so I thought I’d give this one a go!

Like others have said before, it really does taste like cookies! But it also still tastes like black tea. :P I really like it!!

It does have a little bit of bitterness to it, and I think next time I’ll try steeping for less time. But it’s not too much, and it adds a bit of an interesting kick.

It’s the perfect tea for this morning! :)

Wanted something light this morning, so I chose this one!

The leaves smell fresh with a little hint of melon.

The tea itself smells sweeter, sugarier, and more melony.

The taste is really yummy! I mean, you’ve gotta like honeydew and cantaloupe, I think. But yum! It’s not too heavy on the melon, which I appreciate.

Hits the spot! :)

I wasn’t expecting to like this one, and I’m not a huge fan of jasmine. (What’s with me drinking teas with flavors I’m not crazy about today? :P) My only experience with it so far had been in Teavana’s Body + Mind, where it completely overpowered any other flavor the tea might contain. But I wanted to give it another shot, and the combination with vanilla intrigued me.

The leaves smelled predictably like a combo of vanilla and jasmine, with vanilla on the front end and jasmine lingering afterwards. An interesting scent.

The tea itself smells much like the leaves did, but I feel like there’s a bit more combination of the scents, whereas the scents were coming off the leaves separately.

The taste? Mmmmmm. Lightly jasmine with sweet vanilla. I’m pleasantly surprised! :) The black tea in this does come into play a bit, too, but it really fits very well with the vanilla and jasmine. I like this!