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Aww, it looks like MissB didn’t try this one (it was the lavender, wasn’t it?)! So now it’s up to me to review a tea that I… don’t really have any application for. Oh well, it smells good!

There is definitely a LOAD of lavender in this tea. Sniffing it, I can also smell the raspberry leaf, but wow it’s almost soap. And it takes a lot of lavender to make things smell soapy for me.

Steeped, it smells like herbal soap tea. Umm… I’m kinda scared.

It’s been sitting there for about 15 minutes while I putter around and consider drinking it.

Well, it’s not terrible. It’s a bit sweet from the “anise seeds” (aka fennel) and the lavender. The raspberry leaf is tasty enough. I can’t tell there’s fenugreek in it. But I would still much rather be drinking something else.

I think that if it’s a tea you need, this would be a much tastier option than some others, but as a tea I don’t need… I’m gonna pass.

… lemon meringue?! What? (Thank you, Dinosara! :) )

This smells nutty. With caramel and vanilla. (This was made in a well-cleaned strainer!)

Lemon meringue?!?! I guess there’s a hint of lemony custard at the end of a good sniff. But. IDK.

Oh poop. I’ve totally oversteeped it. SO bitter, wow. I can taste the lemon, though! It’s a bit pithy. More like candied lemon peel rather than straight up lemon curd. This is really interesting. I’ll have to steep again to see if I can pull flavour without so much bitter.

I’d probably do 2 minutes at 195F if I had more dry leaf. Or 3 minutes at 185F.

Based on it not working at my “usual” parameters, I’d have to say that I probably wouldn’t get more, but it’s really really neat.

(3 tsp (I spilled a bunch on the counter, boo.) in 16 oz. More leaf than usual, but why not.)

I still love this tea. The caramel. The blueberry. I don’t even care that the flavourings aren’t top notch quality, and that the white tea can go super bitter if you’re not careful.

CARAMEL. BLUEBERRY. LOVE.

So sad it’s all gone now.

I finally found the lid to my tin and transferred this tea. It takes up a WHOLE Mariage Freres tin. O.o That is a lot of tea, Mom. Geez.

So I’ve decided that at some point, maybe the end of the week when I’m finished with the eggnog (ha!) and am not having coffee every morning, I should focus on one tea per week. This should be the first. Partially to sipdown some of my larger quantities (Mostly from Mom…) and partially to get to know my teas better. (Interestingly, when I think about doing this with some of my flavoured teas, shy away from the idea. What does that say about those flavoured teas? That I don’t like them? Or that I’m scared I’ll get sick of them?)

So this tea. It’s a little harsher than my favourite that Mom gets me. She usually gets me a Hattiali, which tends to have more golden tips and be smoother. This one has more of a bite. A little bitter (which actually I like) and a little more astringent (which makes my teeth feel funny). Lots of malt. Takes coconut milk creamer well, which is good, because milky things tend to mellow out the astringency. I’d say this is a smooth tea, with less malt than what I was expecting, and a finishing bite.

And now that my cup is done, I’m going to go have something else. :)

I totally forgot I had this. That’s legit, right? I got it about 1.5 years ago and haven’t tried it yet…

1 tbsp for 1 (tea) cup.

20s: I’m going to call this a rinse. It smells like cooking meat. Savoury. Umami. Not in a good way.
http://instagram.com/p/x-J8l0x5AY/ (Is that enough bling for one cup?)

15s: It’s been about 15 minutes and finally the water heater is up to temperature. Time to get serious about tasting this. The smell makes me think of okra. Or roasted asparagus. Or the Labrador tea I had last night. Spicy and green. Still with a lot of savoury behind it, which I’m not expecting because the tea looks so light. It tastes green and spicy and thick. Still indescribably light.

15s: I’m really not sure how I feel about this tea. There is a lingering bitterness.

20s: Lots of lingering bitterness. Still savoury.

30s: Now there is an initial sweetness with a lingering bitterness. Still asparagus. And I need to stop. My tummy is becoming rather upset with me.

YUM. First real tea of the day at 1pm, when I’ve been up since 9am. What.

As always this is a delicious mostly-EG tea. Like always I have added some creamer to it and it is nice and creamy, with the vanilla EG flavours. And.. now that I’m learning about teas, it feels like there’s some keemun in the cup. Or at least that flavour that pairs so well with maple syrup. Hmm… maybe I should try this with maple syrup next time.

Today I cannot. I tried it the gongfu method recommended on the website (2tsp, 100ml, 15, 30, 15, 15) and I can’t.

It tastes like sour dirt to me today.

I’ll need to try again yet another day…

This is really, really light, sweet, and somewhat resinous. Very fresh feeling, although I wouldn’t say there’s menthol. It’s also sticky and kinda sorta (at this steep level) is making my teeth feel weird. That’s probably the tannins. It’s also rather thick.

(5 minutes at 95C, decided it was too light so I popped the basket back in for another 5 minutes.)

Thank you so much, Kittenna, for the sample!

I am weak, I added coconut milk creamer. And the tea is still screaming hot as I’ve steeped it in my camping mug. (Because why not.)

But! It smells amazing. It tastes delicious, if a little burny. Definitely vanilla-cocoabutter-malty-raisin. Haha. Sounds weird, probably. But I love the base on this tea as it’s so smooth and sweet. The white chocolate tastes good on top of it, but I’m mostly getting base. That might be my fault for adding creamer.

Definitely something I’d try again, if I could… but I’m happy to have had this taste.

I just used the sample baggie for 12 oz. So… whatever that was!

This one got a little oversteeped while I was mucking around with the white tea, but that’s OK. It’s sweet apple and candied fruits (a little pineapple!), and the basil-licorice taste of the tulsi. I’m definitely happy with how it’s turned out.

No honey tonight, just this tea. I figured that since I oversteeped it, more sugar would come out of the candied whatever it is I can see in the tin. And I was right! Yay!