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This smells really fruity when I open the bag. Like artificial fruit, just like breakfast cereal. I expected it to be sickly sweet, but it’s actually a fairly nice fruity flavor. It has an underlying citrus flavor that brightens each sip. I can’t pick out any of the other flavors individually because they all merge into a fruit loops flavor. This looses a little magic as it cools, so drinking it hot is best IMO, but I do wonder how this would be cold steeped. This tea is fun and I kinda like it!

I kinda like this one! It’s a green rooibos, so very little dry mouth feeling or woody taste. I think they really nailed the flavor of almonds on a croissant. Not so much the croissant part, but that particular flavor of almond, which is almost extract tasting. It doesn’t have too much depth to it, more middle and high notes in the flavors, but it’s tasty anyways. It reminds me of a David’s tea I had long ago that was on an unusual woodchip like base and had a very strong almond taste. I’m enjoying this cup and would happily drink another, but isn’t something I’d buy and stock.

In the bag this smelled like fresh orange juice. It had that intense juicy scent to it. Once steeped the chocolate scent comes out. It’s a lovely rich scent balanced with the higher notes of the orange and reminds me of Butiki’s Three Friends. A few sips in and I think this might by my favorite Almost tea so far. The orange and chocolate are really well balanced with the puerh base hiding in the background while providing depth. I don’t think scones so much as I think Terry’s chocolate oranges. It gets a little sharper as it cools, but it is still really good. I’d almost consider buying this tea. If the price was lower and they sold it loose leaf I think I’d be in.

I’m so confused. The package says green tea as do the leaves in the bag, but green tea isn’t listed as an ingredient and honeybush is. Proofread fail? The instructions for this tea say to steep at just under boiling for 3 minutes, which is a lot for a green. I did two minutes at 175 and probably should have only done one minute. The sip is flat with a hint of alkaline and the start of the finish is the same. Once that initial taste wears off I’m left with a nice caramel brown sugar like taste that was nowhere in the sip. Sometimes flatness will wear off a few sips in for some teas, but I’m not having that luck with this one. There is also something that leaves my throat feeling almost irritated. It feels a little weird. I’m dumping this cup.

Huh. I had a cup of Lupicia’s Natsukoi earlier today and this reminds me a bit of that. It has a lemony taste to it with hints of lemongrass. The sip is a little sharp at the start before it mellows out. The finish is nice with lemon lingering. There is an almost gelatin like taste to it which I’m guessing is supposed to add a jello type jelly flavor. It is a totally acceptable inoffensive tea that I can sip in the evening, but isn’t exciting enough to run out and buy.

I don’t usually gravitate towards lemon tea, but the scent of this one in the store blew me away a little and I grabbed a bag. Since opening the bag a few days ago I have reached for this tea several times. It has such a rich lemon scent that translates into a strong lemon flavor. It lacks the sour that fresh lemon has and is more of a lemon peel taste and that makes me think more along the lines of candy than fresh lemon. The lemon provides the high notes and the tea comes out as deeper base notes making for a well rounded sip that lingers long into the finish. I bet this tea would be great iced as well, but for now I’m enjoying it hot!

This was the one black tea in this month’s Almost subscription. It does have a very light black sesame taste, but I have to search for it a little. I let this cup cool, then reheated it and I’m getting a flat alkaline taste. It was better when it was freshly made, but it still wasn’t amazing. In the finish I can imagine a little of the bao bread flavor. I think this is a really interesting idea for a tea, but the execution needs more work. The flavors need to be more rich and present.

Having conflicting feelings about this one! I’m usually not a huge fan of chamomile. It’s an ingredient that is often times companies don’t think to do much with blending wise. I do have a soft spot for Celestial Seasonings Vanilla Honey Chamomile, probably because the vanilla honey addition makes it more interesting. But onto this tea!
This smelled very boozy when I opened the bag. The first few sips started with various flavors and ended with chamomile, but as I sip on the cup seems to develop and the chamomile chills out. I don’t know that I’d exactly pin this as custard egg tart. It’s almost more of a crème brulee, which is close, but has more caramel flavors behind it. There is something else the flavors make me think of and I can’t put my finger on it. It’s going to bug me! LOL!

This arrived in the mail today! Looks like they gave up on photographing their teas in a different shape for each month. I thought that was a clever way to group the teas. They have three rooibos teas this month and one chamomile which means only two teas that are actual tea. Seems like an odd choice to me, but I am really glad this is a green rooibos tea. I’m actually pretty impressed with this blend. It has a really nice mango flavor to it with a touch of cream. Very dessert like. The flavor seems very clean and true with no weird lingering artificial bite. I happily drank my first cup of this then resteeped for another good cup. I like!

This is the last of the three sakura teas I got in Japan! I was intrigued by this one because it was described as having sugared cherry blossoms. I did notice a tiny amount of some sort of sugary lumps in there, but it’s minimal. The sencha is bright and crisp in this, but not puckering. The sakura is a little more subtle than one of the other two sakura teas, but it’s really nice. It has the lightest bit of that grassy pucker in parts of the sip and my mouth is left feeling dry after sips. I had a cup of this yesterday and was enjoying the three steepings more than I am now. Not sure if I steeped it different or if I’m just having an off day.
I will say… the packaging on this is gorgeous. The bag has sakura leaves printed on it and has strands of fiber running through the paper.