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This tea has been on my wishlist for ages and I finally got to try it today, thanks to beelicious. AMAZING! I’ve had a lot of delicious dessert teas that I thoroughly enjoyed, but this one takes things to a whole new level. I literally felt like I was drinking a melted eclair as I worked my way through this cup of deliciousness. Is so incredibly sweet and rich and creamy…and that’s without any sweetener! I need to order a great big tin of this, because I can tell right now that my sample isn’t going to last the week!

Two delicious strawberry teas in one day! I am a very happy girl right now. This is exactly what I was hoping it would be: strawberry shortcake in a cup! The vanilla and strawberry flavors both come through clearly and are natural and sweet without being cloying. The black base is smooth and balanced with no bitterness or astringency, just a tiny bit of a tart aftertaste that actually enhances the strawberry flavor. Thank you so much to beelicious for the sample!

This tea has been on my wishlist for a while now, and beelicious was kind enough to send along a sample in our recent swap. It was just as good as I was hoping it would be! The scent is so decadent: just like real chocolate-covered strawberries! And the flavor is rich and fruity and perfectly bittersweet. No funky taste from the puerh base at all. I think I’m going to have to purchase this one when my sample runs out!

Thank you so much to Kyla for the sample of this one! Honestly, I’m not super into eggnog. But I must admit, this tea is quite delicious: creamy and sweet, with just a touch of spice. I’ll have no problem sipping this one down!

I haven’t tried very much from Harney and Sons yet, so I was excited to see lots of H&S samples in the package I received from Kyla today. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that Butiki’s Pumpkin Creme Brulee has forever ruined me for every other pumpkin tea. This one wasn’t bad, really. There was actually some pumpkin mixed in with all the spices! But it was a sharp flavor like raw pumpkin, not the sweet, creamy cooked-pumpkin taste I was hoping for. It was also a little heavy on the cinnamon for my tastes. But on the plus side, the cinnamon completely drowned out that nasty rooibos aftertaste that I dread!

I somehow missed the fact that there was oolong in this tea blend, so the silky smooth mouth feel caught me off-guard. The flavor here seems more like a bittersweet cocoa than chocolate to me (maybe the chocolate would come through more with a bit of sweetener?) and there’s a strong malty taste from the base and just a little bit of toastiness in the aftertaste. This isn’t exactly what I was expecting, but it’s quite tasty!

A big thank you to beelicious for the sample!

Thank you so much to beelicious for the generous sample of this tea!

I’ve been curious to try something from Whispering Pines ever since I joined Steepster and started reading all of the rave reviews. I even visited the website a few times, but I could never quite bring myself to order. I’m the kind of person who clips coupons and buys most of my wardrobe at thrift stores, after all…could this tea really be amazing enough to justify the high price tag?

Apparently, yes! Setting aside how adorable the dry leaf is, this is quite possibly the best straight black tea I’ve ever tasted. It is incredibly rich and full-bodied with a dense, malty flavor that’s delicious all by itself but I’m sure would also be amazing with milk. It has just a hint of sweetness to it and no bitterness or astringency at all that I noticed. And, on top of all that, it re-steeps beautifully with almost no reduction in flavor. I brewed this Western-style and got SEVEN delicious infusions before I was ready to move on (and I probably could have done more if I wasn’t anxious to try a different tea.)

Next time Whispering Pines has a sale, I think I’m going to have to break down and place an order…

This was one of the teas in my Lupicia Happy Bag that I was excited to try as soon as I smelled it…the scent is sweet and fruity and just a tiny bit tart, like some kind of delicious cherry candy. Unfortunately, the tartness is taking over my cup. There’s a pleasant, natural cherry flavor as I sip, but the aftertaste puckers up my mouth. I may need to try this one with a bit of sweetener.

Banana is a hard flavor to get right in tea, but Stacy pulls it off well. This tea has a very natural and lightly sweet banana flavor that develops mid-sip and then fades as it is overtaken by a lingering smoky aftertaste. I like it, but I wish I could taste the maple flavoring, which isn’t coming through for me at all. Though I don’t usually sweeten my tea, I may just have to experiment with adding a bit of maple syrup to this one!

I had a free reward on my Starbucks card and decided to redeem it for a free ounce of Yellow Dragon. I’ve been curious about this one for a while, since it’s the most expensive tea that Teavana offers and also because I’ve never had a yellow tea before. Honestly, I’m not quite sure what defines a yellow tea, but this one reminded me of a mild green tea. The flavor was mainly honey, with a bit of floral and just a touch of malt in the aftertaste. Quite delicious! I will have no problem finishing what I have and I would be curious to try other yellow teas. Anyone have recommendations?