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I had such very high hopes. I wanted something sweet and light for a bedtime tea and this seemed like a good candidate. The dry leaves are very pretty and smell like actual peaches. Quite misleading, since the actual taste of the tea is very artificial. Maybe I overbrewed, because I also found the fake peach flavor overwhelming. I can’t say much for the white tea base because I couldn’t really make it out. I tried diluting it with ice and even adding a splash of seltzer, but nothing could salvage this tea for me.

This might be improved with a shorter steep and a squeeze of lemon to add some natural sweetness while cutting the artificial taste.

Many thanks to TastyBrew for the sample.

This is actually a very dessert-y tea. Sweet, silky, lightly buttery. Definitely picking up a strong, but not excessive, vanilla element. Minty aftertaste. I didn’t know an unflavored oolong could taste like this! Very nice.

Thanks to Stacy at Butiki Teas for the sample.

This sample courtesy of Laurent at Nina’s Paris.

I grabbed this out of my cabinet without knowing what it was and simultaneously realized that it’s a genmaicha AND decided to prepare it as a black tea. Not sure what I was(n’t) thinking. So boiling water, 4 minutes.

This stands up just fine to boiling water. It smells lovely, all toasted rice and sweetness. It tastes basically like every other genmaicha I’ve had, except with a touch of sweet that I couldn’t quite place until I read that the ingredients include caramel. That’s definitely what I’m tasting here. Not picking up on the vanilla at all. The black tea is contributing maybe a touch of astringency, though I’m not sure whether that’s actually there or the ingredients list is influencing me.

Overall, this is quite tasty. Still, probably not something that I would actively seek out if other quality green tea is available. I can’t quite say why, except that genmaichas taste pleasant enough but just aren’t my favorite type of tea. Nice, but not a staple.

I had this at Alice’s Tea Cup the other day and loved it enough to bring some home. It’s just a lovely combination of mint and citrus. The tanginess of the bergamot really complements the mint. Not sure what kind of mint this is – peppermint maybe? Whatever it is, it lingers nicely on the tongue. A touch of honey really brings the flavors together.

I’ve had this as a bedtime tea a few times now, but always forget to log it because, well, it’s bedtime.

As always with Butiki, these are high quality ingredients. There’s just nowhere to hide when a tisane consists solely of lavender and chamomile – the ingredients either stand on their own or they don’t. Thankfully, there’s nothing hiding here. The lavender and chamomile are perfectly balanced and perfectly in sync. If you like those ingredients, this is the tea for you. If you don’t, mosey on along.

This has become my go-to bag tea at work when I need an energy boost. Hot, it tastes very woodsy. As it cools slightly, the taste becomes entirely seaweed. Later, the seaweed taste mellows into a nice vegetal flavor. This tea is great for work because it stands up well to oversteeping, has a pleasurable flavor profile without being distracting, and seems to be particularly energizing.

This was an impulse buy at the corner bodega for $3. I haven’t had a ton of experience with cheap bagged green teas, but I dare say this is one of the better ones. Definitely blows Bigelow out of the water.

notes I made but never posted from April 24:
This smells like menthol. Not necessarily a bad smell, but it reminds me of being sick and using vaporub. It tastes, well, minty. Even though it’s just mint, it doesn’t feel as overwhelming as the mintiness of the Wissotzsky mint tea that I found so unpleasant.

notes from today:
This is really nice when you actually are sick. The peppermint is relieving some of the sinus pressure and tastes very nice. There’s a touch of sweetness on the back end that leaves a pleasant aftertaste as well. This is a tea to keep on hand for colds, allergies, and possibly headaches (if I remember to buy it…).

Ugh. This is just bad bad bad. It smells and tastes overwhelmingly of fake strawberry flavor. The lemongrass doesn’t come through at all and what small green tea flavor peeks out is of poor quality. I barely choked this down. I would have poured it out but didn’t want to waste the caffeine.

I still can’t smell very well, so staying away from the high quality teas until I can really appreciate them again. This herbal is pretty fun in the meantime. The hibiscus and apple flavor blend together really well. The cinnamon really comes out mid-sip and gets stronger as you go. The aftertaste is a little sweet and distinctly cinnamon spicy. I love cinnamon. I can see how people would find it overwhelming here, though. For me, it’s just the right amount.

My allergies are making it nearly impossible to smell anything, so I’ll avoid rating anything until I feel human again. Still, I got a swap from My Friend Rashad today (thanks!) and the smell of this is strong enough and wonderful enough that I couldn’t resist. This tea is absolutely lovely. There’s cream and pineapple goodness going on here. I really adore Della Terra’s cream flavoring in pretty much any blend. The pineapple element tastes very natural – sweet and tangy. Unlike most of DT’s fruit & cream teas, this one has a black tea base. I’m having trouble figuring out the reason for the deviation. My current best guess is that the black tea is adding a slight astringency that rounds out the pineapple flavor. Overall, this tea is very enjoyable even when my sense of taste is dulled. It can even handle a second steep without much change in flavor. I’m looking forward to trying this when I can fully appreciate it (and maybe then I’ll be able to solve the mystery of the unusual choice of base).