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Woo-hoo! Tried this one on my late morning break. And we have a winner! I bet this one smells awesome. I can almost taste different flavors. There is some spice to it, but something almost creamy too. Definitely my fave so far of my samples that I ordered before Christmas.

I’m out of her peppermint tea. I really like DAVID’s Peppermint Amore, but as I said, I’m out of peppermint tea. I was at the store today and this was the only peppermint I saw there. Not too surprising. The grocery store here in West Fargo North Dakota USA doesn’t carry a wide variety of tea, and we have no tea store.

Anyway, I like to keep peppermint tea on hand, so I picked this one up. (Hush! I know, I’m on a tea diet and trying to get down to only twenty teas in my drawer, but peppermint tea is a requirement) A bagged tea isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s actually quite convenient. This tea isn’t bad at all. When I first opened the wrapper around the bag I got a tiny hint of menthol. You know, that cool sensation of mint or eucalyptus. I get it again, just a hint, when I drink it. After this box is gone, it may find its way back into the tea stash.

I’ve had only one other coconut tea and I didn’t really care for that one, but I want to like coconut tea. I know a lot of people don’t like coconut at all. I love coconut. My mom used to make a coconut macaroon cookie that I would inhale every Christmas season. Oh, man, my mouth waters thinking about those cookies! I was thinking about those cookies while I was making an order at The American Tea Room, I added a sample to my order.

Maybe it’s not fair to compare this tea to those cookies. This one just didn’t really work for me. The leaf is interesting. Quite a lot of small pieces of coconut in the dark tea leaves. It brews into a warm dark amber color in the cup. I can’t smell it, or taste it, but at the end of the sip is an odd after taste, I don’t know what it is, but I don’t enjoy it. So, glad to try this one, but I’m glad I didn’t buy more.

This was my evening tea. Quite good, but as it cooled, it tasted almost overly sweet to me. A fake sweet. But I seem to remember that I enjoyed it iced. Hm. Not sure about this one.

Ack!! I forgot to write my note about this tea!

My brother came up from Minneapolis to stay with me Christmas Eve. We spent the afternoon strolling around downtown Fargo and visiting various little shops . It was a wonderful time, and it was fairly warm until the last half hour. Once the sun went behind clouds it turned darned cold. When we got home I brewed a pot of this tea to warm us up. I come from a large family, and my brother Ross is the only other tea drinker. So you get not only my impressions of this tea, but my brother’s as well.

Ross isn’t a very adventurous tea drinker. He goes for traditional blacks, mostly bagged, with Earl Gray being a fave of his. I have him some Yorkshire Gold one year for Christmas and he liked that. He looked rather doubtful about this tea, as he doesn’t generally care of spice teas, but he politely tried it. And loved it. I couldn’t really taste it of course, but I could feel the spice. After he drank half his cup he got up and pulled the sample bag out of the drawer to look at the tea. He said, with amusing amazement, “There are actual spices in here! I can SEE the spices.” Then he spent the next two cups inhaling deeply and letting the tea rest in his mouth so he could get all the flavor. He told me he could taste vanilla, and caramel, and of course the spices.

So Eggnog Chai was a hit and enjoyment was had by all. :)

This morning was one of those mornings when I just could NOT seem to keep my eyes open. I started with coffee. Two cups didn’t do the trick. I pulled this one out of the drawer and made a large, strong pot. It didn’t do the trick either, actually, but it was tasty. This remains one of my very favorite breakfast teas. It’s smooth but robust. When I get my tea drawer pared down to my 20 teas, this will probably be one that I’ll want to keep on hand.

That was the last of this. I normally don’t drink black tea in the evening to avoid caffeine, but then I realized that in the summer I often drink coke in the evening. And I sort of wanted this tea tonight, so there you go. Hopefully I’ll sleep soundly tonight. Tomorrow it’s back to work after 4 lovely days off.

It’s a fine tea. The leaf is quite long and light in color. The tea is also a bit light in color, with a very smooth mild taste. I’m sorry to see this one go.

I’m not placing an order anytime soon. My New Years Resolution is to get my tea cabinet down to less than 20 teas. I know. I can almost hear you all laugh. But I have about 70 teas now (yes, again I can hear you all laugh) that I need to drink up. Because really, how many teas does a single gal need on hand at a time? I figure 3 or 4 good breakfast teas, 3 or 4 mild afternoon teas, 5 or 6 dessert teas, 3 or 4 caffeine-free teas for evening, and a peppermint tea and a ginger tea for health purposes. It sounds very reasonable, doesn’t it? What are my chances do you think?

I have a small gift tin of this tea, and my brother gave me a large tea cup for Christmas. The color of the cup on the outside is something between mauve and coral. Not orange, not pink. The inside is a greenish/grayish teal. There is a Bible verse written along the inner lip in the same mauve/coral, and there are line drawings of chrysanthemums in the dusty teal color on the outside, with a bit of poetry dedicated to Sisters. Really, a thoughtful gift from my favorite brother. I have three and of course I love them all, but Ross is the one who best “gets” me. And he is also a tea drinker.

On to the tea. Anything that says Blood Orange will get my interest. Add cranberry and it sounds like a perfect winter holiday tea to me. Like a lot of black teas it brews up a rich dark amber color. I took my first sip while it was still very hot and it tasted bitter to me. There may very well be a lovely aroma to this tea that would add to the enjoyment of drinking it, but with no sense of smell I can’t tell that. I added a few small rock sugar crystals and as the tea cooled it was much better to me. At the end of the sip I thought I could taste just a hint of the blood orange. By the time I finished the cup I was quite enjoying it. I won’t go rushing out to buy more of this, but I’ll enjoy the 20 grams I have.

I had this last night after a busy day of physical labor. What is nicer than sitting in your chair on a cold evening with a cat in your lap, a heating pad behind your back, and a cup of chai? I very much like this chai. It’s not overpowering in the spice department, just a bit sweet, and mellow. Really, a great cup for a quiet evening of cat petting. :)

I received a lovely little sample of this tea with my order from ATR. I gather it’s their Choco Latte tea with peppermint added, for a Holiday Edition. I’m not a big fan of rooibos, but this is quite nice. It brews up a beautiful clear amber color. Without a sense of smell the peppermint is very subtle, but it’s there. I don’t get the “woody” taste with this as I often do with other rooibos, and that’s a huge plus for me. I won’t rush out to buy more of this, but it’s nice and I’d be glad to drink it again.