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I’ve been wanting to try The Tea Girl for a while, but she doesn’t ship outside of Canada. Miss Courtney was so sweet to send me a tea care package with a dozen Tea Girl samples, plus a few samples from her own stash and some fun candies. Tea friends are the best friends! :3

This one is a tasty maple tea. I wouldn’t call it specifically French toast, more of a slightly buttery maple black tea with a teeny hint of cinnamon. The base is an Indonesian black tea, and to me it tastes similar to Ceylon – fairly acidic with a metallic edge and a brisk finish. Not normally my favorite kind of black tea, but I actually kind of like it here, as I feel like the sharpness of it tones down the decadent maple and keeps it from being too cloying. Not one I would order for myself, as I just don’t reach for desserty teas, but I enjoyed the sample!

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Last one from the December subscription. It’s fine, as turmeric infusions go. Mostly turmeric with a slight kick from the ginger and black pepper. I don’t taste a lot of the other spices over the earthy ones, perhaps a bit of anise and cinnamon. A bit too turmeric-heavy for me, and I wish I could taste the lemongrass.

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From the December subscription box. Not a fan of this one, and I’m sure that’s partially because Winter Cabin is my favorite tea from OBTC, and I’m grumpy that they mixed it with something instead of including it unadulterated, like they did the previous year (and the previous box with the fall seasonal tea, Pumpkin Pie Chai). Harrumph.

But I also feel like peppermint mocha and pecan pie just don’t go together, mostly because of the mint. Buttery pecan with mint just doesn’t make sense to me, and it doesn’t make sense to my tongue either. It’s not awful, just weird and discordant. The beginning of the sip is all buttery pecan, which goes well with the chocolate and coffee flavors, but then the end is all mint and it’s just weird.

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One of my tea goals for this year was to start cold steeping again, and so far it’s been going well! I have a little stash of teas I bought specifically for this purpose, and this was one of them.

Harney’s fruit teas are all quite enjoyable cold steeped (aside from the Goji Berry one, which I was not a fan of), and I’d be hard-pressed to choose a favorite. Anyway, this is one of the more hibiscus-y ones, but I can still drink it without sweetener, and it’s enjoyable tangy with prominent strawberry notes. Not sure whether I’ll repurchase it or not, we’ll see how I feel after I finish the rest of my cold steep stash!

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I’ve really been enjoying hojicha lately, it’s perfect for the cold weather we’re having.

Despite being a dark roast, this still has a somewhat mellow flavor, not overpowering in its roastiness at all. The toasty flavor is deep but smooth, with a gentle charcoal note, crisp autumn leaves, soft wood, and a subtle smokiness.

I didn’t feel like an iced matcha this morning, and I don’t really like hot matcha lattes, so I thought I would pull out a Teeccino sample instead! This one was already open so I finished it off.

I’m not a dark roast coffee person, so this probably isn’t a flavor I would choose to stock, but it made for a tasty cuppa with some sugar and oat milk. The vanilla isn’t super strong, but I do notice it alongside the creamy milk. Usually I would expect something that is specifically French vanilla to be much heavier on the rich and custardy vanilla notes, which this isn’t. It does have a nice deep toasty flavor to it, similar to a darker roast coffee. Enjoying having a cozy cuppa during this cold spell we’re having here in Austin.

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This one was definitely past its prime, though I never wrote a previous note so I’m not sure how I would’ve rated it to begin with. The flavoring is just too light now, and I think partially Kusmi’s terrible tin redesign is to blame. Really annoying how the lids basically don’t seal now and just sit on top, letting air get into your tea. Harrumph.

All that to say, there’s barely any peach and apricot left here after 3 years, so I ended up tossing the last bit of tea that was left. It was mostly just a not-so-flavorful green and white base that was a bit too earthy and dull for my tastes, even to begin with, and a hint of stonefruit. I remember really enjoying some of their white teas back in the day, maybe I’ll have to order some sachets to try at some point.

Had to get a sample of this to try, because I love cranberries and cranberry-flavored things.

Sadly, this tastes more like a cherry lozenge than it does like cranberry anything. Extremely medicinal cherry candy flavor with a very powdery undertone and a light hibiscus tartness. Nope, nope, nope!

I found this by chance on Harney’s website when I was looking at the Schitt’s Creek collection, and I couldn’t not get it ha ha. I love Japanese food in general, and red bean is such a classic dessert flavor that happens to be one of my favorites.

I am honestly shocked by how much this tastes like red bean paste. Obviously it’s not as sweet as the real thing (thankfully), but they totally captured the sweet and rich, yet earthy and beany flavor that anko has. The tea itself is a bit thin, but perhaps next time I’ll try three sachets for my 16-ounce cup. I see this as more of a one-time fun tea to try for me, mostly because it’s only available in sachets, but it’s really delightful!

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One of the selections from the December subscription. This is fine, but even overleafed it seems quite bland to me. Super mild hibiscus and a strawberry-esque fruitiness, plus a hint of clove. Not unpleasant, but seems lacking in flavor to me. At least it doesn’t taste like the dry leaf smelled, which was straight up bubble gum LOL! It’s so odd to me how S&V seems to stumble a bit on their holiday blends, when they have so many other teas that are so good…