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Although I enjoy the spice blend Stash uses in this tea (the right balance of cinnamon, cardamom, and clover with none overwhelming the others), I thought the black tea base was too weak to support so much spice. I might try brewing this along with a bag of English Breakfast to amp up the base.

This may be the best bagged Earl Grey tea I’ve ever tried! The bergamot flavor is bold without being overpowering and the black tea base is robust and super smooth. I almost always take Earl Grey with milk, but this one was lovely with nothing added: plenty of flavor, but no bitterness or astringency. I may have to pick some of this up when I finish off my Republic of Tea Earl Greyer, because I like this one even better and it’s about half the price!

We installed a new water softener over the weekend, which is really affecting the taste of our water and, in turn, my tea. This makes me sad, because I have all these amazing teas to sample and I feel like I’m missing out on their full potential because the water is making them taste flat. Hopefully we can figure out a way to correct this. But in the meantime, this tea: The dry leaf is lovely! Curly, twisty leaves with lots of golden tips and little decorative silver sprinkles and tiny gingerbread men mixed in. The scent is rich and bready with a definite ginger spice note. I tasted notes of bread and malt from the base, along with a sweet ginger spice, but the flavor came across a bit flat and bland. I’m almost certain that’s the fault of the water and not the tea though, so keeping my rating fairly high based on the quality of the tea and the delicious scent. I used up my whole sample on a 16oz mug, so hopefully I can re-purchase this tea to try it again in the future!

Tried this one at work today and I was pleasantly surprised! Although I usually prefer my chai with milk, this one was enjoyable with no additives. The black base is smooth and mild, so I mainly taste the chai spices and vanilla with just a bit of caramel sweetness.

I’ve been trying to expand my collection of herbal teas recently, so I ordered several rooibos blends from A Quarter to Tea this week. This particular tea is nice, but it didn’t blow me away. It has a soft, creamy vanilla flavor with a hint of coconut. (I’m not really picking up on any maple.) The rooibos base isn’t harsh or medicinal, but I wish the flavoring could be a bit stronger.

I received this as a free sample with my first order from A Quarter to Tea. This isn’t necessarily something I would have ordered for myself, but it’s tasty! The base tea is smooth and light, really letting the flavorings shine through. The bergamot is strong, but not overpowering. The vanilla flavoring is surprisingly natural and brings a nice creaminess and the maple adds sweetness and depth. I found it enjoyable plain and even better with a splash of milk. This order is off to a good start!

This is a new blend that TeaSource came out with before Christmas and I just had to try it when I placed an order during their recent sale. Butiki’s Pistachio Ice Cream is one of my all-time favorite teas and I was eager to see how this one compared. As it turns out, there is no comparison! Despite the name, this tea doesn’t have much of a pistachio scent or flavor. Instead, there are strong almond notes, along with a rich, buttery scent that really does remind me of a shortbread cookie! Although it’s not at all what I expected (Spritz Cookie would have been a better name), this is a delicious dessert tea that I’m happy to have in my cupboard!

Indigo Tea Company has some really lovely blends, but I rarely buy from them because of their 4oz minimum. This was a random 1-cup sample I found kicking around in my tea box…I think it came from skysamarai via a TTB. The last green Earl Grey I tried was unpleasantly grassy and bitter, but this one was really nice! A very smooth, slightly fruity green base layered with a strong but not too sharp bergamot flavor.

Adagio blends have been pretty hit and miss for me in the past, but I do like their caramel flavoring. So when I saw this was supposed to be a caramel blueberry tea, I got excited! The scent was delicious caramel-sweet fruity goodness. The flavor was heavy on the caramel with little hints of fruitiness that didn’t really taste like blueberries to me, but it was still a very pleasant combination. I enjoyed this one!

Working from home today and trying to make a dent in my sample pile before more new tea arrives next week! I believe this one was from Flyawaybirdie’s Christmas card. The leaves are long, dark, and wiry with a light honey aroma. But steeped, this tea has an unexpected scent of green beans! The flavor is also a bit vegetal, reminding me more of a green tea than a black tea (although the color is a deep mahogany brown). The honey flavor comes through mainly in the aftertaste. The tea is super smooth with not even a hint of bitterness or astringency…the silkiness is similar to an oolong. Not really something I’d purchase, but I’m so glad I had the chance to try it and experience a completely black tea from anything else I’ve ever tried!