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I went to bed early last night, so I cold brewed my daily tea in kind of a rush. In fact, I had zero idea what the ingredients were in this (aside from that it was a green tea) when I made it. But when I tried it this afternoon (after an overly long 16 hour steep, I took a nap and forgot about it!) the flavors popped right away. I love when you can guess exactly what’s in a tea without having to know it—I can be pretty good with floral and fruity tastes, but honestly some citruses I find impossible to place.

The lemon is most prominent, bright and perhaps a bit more sour than in other blends I’ve had, like it was steeped with an actual lemon slice. The passion fruit is a soft, exotic taste that really tones down and also compliments the lemon, and the chrysanthemum adds a lovely floral edge that I don’t think is overpowering at all. Citrusy, fruity, floral is a common combo, but I think this is a really unique take on it and so tasty!

I don’t have a whole lot of experience with tulsi, it’s one of the many things I’d like to try a whole bunch of but I don’t exactly have money to throw around on 20 different tulsi blends! Or the cupboard space. I think this actually might be my first tulsi, but I’m not sure, I feel like I’ve had it in another blend before. Probably just because the flavors are familiar! Honestly, part of me was expecting it to taste like Thai basil, which would actually be pretty cool. I wonder if there are any blends that use it as an ingredient?

The other herbs are what come through most for me, it’s very minty to the point where when I sniff it, I’d swear it was a pure peppermint blend. But when you drink it there’s a nice bright hint of lemon, warmth from the cinnamon, and a little kick from the pepper and ginger. I’m not sure if the spices are complimenting or masking the tusli, but lemon/citrus isn’t actually an ingredient so I suppose that’s where it is peeking through. This reminds me a bit of Sleepytime, very calming and soothing. I’d probably be amazing for sick, lazy days!

This is one of those blends that I wasn’t so sure about, mainly since caramel and green tea just don’t go together in my head. They seem like opposites, caramel is rich and desserty and green is light and refreshing. But this has some really rave reviews, and samples are so cheap. Impossible to resist!

In the little sample bag this smells deliciously good, like fresh candy corn and autumn. As good as it smells I was worried that the green would be lost, but steeped it’s quite the opposite. The green is bright, with grassy and fruity notes, and the caramel comes in at the end. It’s between a heavy and light flavor—it’s quite caramel-y and reminds me of GMT’s burnt sugar oolong, since while it’s rich it’s not heavy. In fact, I could see drinking this quite frequently as a morning or afternoon tea!

Whenever I get a new tea I make whoever is with me sniff it. “Go on, stick your nose in!” I guess I’m trying to convert them with peer pressure. Soon I’m going to be out dealing tea on the street corner! Anyway, when my mom sniffed this one (since she was the person nearest to me when I opened the tin) she made this horrible face. I knew it was a winner then—she HATES guava, and the smell of it is quite strong here and distinctly “guava!” I, on the other hand, love guava. Pretty much any weirdly shaped or colored fruit and I get along really well, even durian. Man, someone should make a durian tea. Or a dragonfruit tea… there’s a prickly pear blend that caught my eye recently, maybe that will be next up on the list of odd fruit teas to try.

I didn’t get a sample of this the first time I ordered from them, since I didn’t know if guava, strawberry and ginger was something I really wanted to try. But I got a coupon for a free ounce, so why not? I love that even the small amounts of tea there are in cute little tins, they’re such an adorable size! And man, does this smell good, like a tropical paradise in a tin. I cold brewed it (shocking, I know!) for the usual 12 hours and the smell after was so good, I went through the whole cup in about 15 minutes when I usually try to get them to last a few hours. Ah well!

The guava is what I taste first and it’s very, well, guava-y. It’s got that signature “thickness” that I expect in guava, along with a punch of sweetness. The strawberry plays well with it, the more common taste balancing the uniqueness of guava perfectly. The berry notes are gentle here, but brought to the forefront a bit by the ginger. Man, the ginger! It’s so perfect! A little tiny pinch of spice and bite at the end keeps this from being a run of the mill fruity blend, and it manages to make everything else pop. I don’t know if I’d go “oh, that’s ginger!” if I didn’t know it was in there, but it works some kind of magic. I love the white base as well, it balances everything else out and acts as a great canvas for this unique flavor combo. I’m quite glad I have a tin of this instead of just a sample, but I think I’ll be running through it quickly!

Bao Zhongs are my favorite types of oolongs. I got hooked on them when I received a sampler from The Tea Smith as a gift, and it was one of the included types. Of course their teas are almost impossible to get stateside, so I’ve been trying many other Bao Zhongs (or Pouchong, as it’s also called). I think they’re my favorite type of teas hands down, so of course I had to try one from Persimmon Tree! I’ve been really pleased with their blends I’ve tried so far, but I haven’t dipped in to the unflavored offerings yet.

Well, it’s everything I expected it to be: softly floral and fruity, with grassy vegetal notes and a very full body for a light oolong. There are notes of lilac, and it almost reminds me of mimosa, one of my favorite summer smells. It’s springtime walks, summer heat, and dewy grass. It’s also great iced, and cold brewed it has almost a citrusy kick. Possibly my favorite from TPT that I’ve tried so far!

Thanks to Azzrian for this sample! This has been on my list of teas to try for a loooong time, yet somehow I always forgot to order it. In fact, I placed an order at Persimmon right before I was sent this and somehow didn’t put a sample in my cart. Ah, my brain is a funny thing. Anyway, this one has such amazing reviews and I love oolongs so there’s no way I could pass it up!

I think I did something wrong here, so I am going to hold off rating it for now. I cold brewed it for the usual 12 hours, and the vanilla was totally overpowering! There was a nice citrus note in the background and the oolong base was lovely and bright and floral, but I found my palette overwhelmed by vanilla. It was… frosting-y, which is quite weird since pretty much everyone else says there’s just a hint of it. I have enough for a few more tries though!

Coconut and chocolate is the flavor combination of the gods. Chocolate coconut pudding, chocolate coconut cheesecake, coconut cream pie with chocolate crust, and of course coconut & chocolate tea! I can’t believe that I passed up a sample of this on my first order, so I threw it in this time. I got a coupon for a free ounce of White Guava, but I felt guilty getting a free tea with free shipping and not actually, you know, buying anything, so I threw a handful of samples into my cart. Of course I just got ANOTHER coupon so now I want more samples… it’s an endless cycle.

This is a lovely, earthy tea that reminds me of a coffee latte. Then again, most flavored pu-erhs remind me of coffee if they have a “mocha” aspect. Or more accurately, chicory coffee, it’s got that same earthy acidity. Which this tea certainly does! Though it’s not a sweet and thick chocolate taste but the bittersweet richness you expect from cacao nibs. The coconut is warm and toasty, but less pronounced than I expected it to be. I think I like the coconut notes in their White Coconut Cream better but I like how the coconut melds with the flavors better in this blend. In either case, Persimmon Tree definitely knows how to do coconut right!

I can’t believe I didn’t try this the moment I opened my Butiki order. Seriously, it’s so many things I love put together! Chocolate and raspberries and black, oh my. However, after a bad experience with Adagio’s Raspberry it wasn’t a flavor I really wanted to go at again for a while. It’s a shame, but sometimes a bad cup can temporarily “ruin” a whole type of tea for me—like after an icky green, I don’t want any other greens for a week or so.

I was feeling chocolatey the other day though so I decided to finally give this one a go. I love the huge chunks of raspberry and chocolate chips, it’s nice to see right up front the ingredients listed. The chips are teeny tiny though and my cup brewed up surprisingly clear (a pale amber, clearer than I expect from even a regular black), so I was worried there wouldn’t be a big chocolate punch. I was so wrong! This is REALLY chocolatey, not just in taste but in feel as well. It’s kind of heavy rich and and you can almost feel the chocolate coating your tongue.

The raspberry is subtler, coming in at the end of the sip with a hint of berry sweetness. It’s definitely not as strong as I thought it would be, and I was surprised (but pleased) that chocolate seemed to be the dominant flavor. Well… that might be a bit inaccurate, since I think the base black was the dominant flavor. It’s strong and at the very beginning of the sip it’s all you taste. Personally, I like when you can pick up all the nuances of the base tea—if you’re going to do super heavy flavoring, it doesn’t really matter what you use, but with this tea (and all the Butiki blends I’ve tried) the base really shines and compliments the other flavors. Definitely one of the best chocolate teas I’ve tried!

While my experience with Earl Grey Creams isn’t vast, I’ve liked the ones I have tried a lot. Citrus + cream + a strong black base, what can go wrong? Apparently nothing, since this is a very enjoyable cup. It smells like baked goods and frosting, quite similar to Upton’s version (which I am totally in love with). It’s very vanilla-y with a thick, creamy taste and the black base definitely holds up to these flavors.

However, if I didn’t know this was an EG I might not have identified it as one. The bergamot is a little lost under the other flavors, and I would have preferred it to be a little stronger and bolder. It really just came off as a delicious creamy black, almost dessert-y even without any additions. What I do really like is the base, which is brisk and a little malty which pairs nicely with vanilla and cream, keeping it from being an overwhelmingly sweet cup. I also got 3 steeps out of this, and the creamy flavors stayed strong!