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This one smells very interesting. It’s a blend of rooibos, raw pumpkin (almost like it’s been recently scraped out) and spices. The combination doesn’t sound that bad, but it sure does create a rather stinky scent.

Sipping… well, not as bad as I thought it would be. The rooibos and the spices come together quite well. It reminds me a bit of a spice cookie. I detect a little bit of something fruity, but it’s mostly a mystery fruit, nothing specific. There isn’t any pumpkin in sight, but the cup is still tasty. I also like the creamy bit that comes at the end of the sip. It seems to come from the rooibos, almost as if it were a vanilla rooibos base.

I think that pumpkin pie must be a very difficult flavor to create in tea form. I haven’t found a tea blend that has been able to accurately bring that creamy, buttery pumpkin PIE flavor to a cup. The blends have either been too heavy on the spice, strange and without anything resembling pumpkin pie. I’ll continue the hunt, but I’ve lost some faith in finding that perfect pumpkin pie tea.

I bought a tin of this tea the other day as it was 50% off. I get sucked into sales so easily! This is a tasty rooibos blend — at least I remember it being one when I had it this past fall. The scent of the dry leaf is very much like an apple Jolly Rancher candy with a bit of rooibos in the background. As strange as that combination sounds, it actually works.

After water has been added, the rooibos and caramel dominate the scent and the apple fades a bit. Sipping… everything is present here: the apple (slightly artificial), the rooibos and something creamy (I’m assuming this is the caramel). The apple is most like a Granny Smith to me as it’s more tart than sweet. The rooibos is definitely prominent, so if you aren’t a fan of rooibos, I would suggest you stay away from this blend. The caramel isn’t explicitly caramel, but is a generalized creamy note that pairs itself with the rooibos base. I’m increasing the rating for this one because it’s tasty and unique!

I was really pleased to see that this was included in the twelve teas of Christmas sampler. I love everything related to sugar plums, so a tea is just perfect! The scent of the dry leaf doesn’t offer all that much – white tea, a hint of something fruity. After it’s steeped, it loses almost all of its fruity character and smells strongly of the white tea base.

Sipping…I taste a bit of fruit first .. not sure if I would call this plum? Next come some spices which I actually couldn’t identify at first. For some reason, I was thinking that this would be only sugared fruit, but there are some mysterious spices here. My tongue can’t tell what they are (cinnamon?), but they add a nice dimension to the fruit. I taste the buttery white tea last which brings a rather nice finish to the cup. Everything is wrapped in a lingering sweetness which contributes to the sugar part of the sugar plum. Overall, this is a creative cup of tea. The issue I have is that there is some unpleasant flavor that I taste with each sip. It’s a bit like a film that lingers in your mouth after chewing stale cinnamon gum for hours. I think I would like this tea more without that note because it really does spoil the cup, unfortunately.

This tea smells of coffee, kukicha and toasted rice. I feel like I’ve smelled this before in other green tea blends, so I’m almost expecting this to taste familiar. Sipping… this is a very smooth and sweet green tea. It actually reminds me of marshmallow treat genmaicha, only less toasty. I don’t really taste caramel or burnt sugar, but a soothing and sweet green tea. Nothing is overwhelming or unbalanced. The flavors of this blend are in harmony, but they’re not that special. I wish that there were more caramel, but it is a quietly soothing cup for this evening.

I’m not a big Teavana tea drinker and I much prefer shopping online instead of in store. That being said, I saw that there was a sale going on and took a peek at some of the available teas. Usually after dinner, I crave fruity and tart teas. I have quite a few herbal blends (mostly rooibos and sweet or creamy desserty ones), but not ones that are fruit-based. The scent of this tea right out of this bag was of mostly alcohol. It was a very strong, almost alarming smell, but the fruits came through a bit more and covered it up a little.

After the tea has steeped, I wouldn’t say that I smell a whole lot of fig or rose, but mostly strawberry! It is a cakey kind of strawberry — almost like a strawberry shortcake? It reminds me of something from my childhood that I just can’t put my finger on.. but it’s pleasant and sweet, a bit nursery-like.

Sipping… huh, I thought that this would have more defined flavors, but it really just seems like a mess of dried fruit leaning toward the strawberryesque. I do taste the more generalized sweet and tart characters than anything specific, but it’s okay with me. The finish is sweet and faintly reminds me of powdered sugar. There isn’t enough of it to push it into the dessert realm.. it’s really just a whisper.

I don’t know if I would purchase this again, but I will finish what I have. I think this will be a decent choice to have in my collection.

I received this a while ago, but haven’t written a tasting note until now. Lupicia does peach flavor so well and I love rooibos so I thought that this would be a nice blend. It smells strongly of an almost-medicinal rooibos and an almost-artificial peach flavor. The peach, while on the verge of being fake, has some depth to it — it smells tart, sweet and juicy all at once. A delight!

Sipping… Hmm.. this is not so nice. It has a very artificial quality to it — both in the rooibos base and in the peach flavor. I’m not getting much beyond the rooibos and the peach, which is unfortunate because this tea is peach melba (!) not just peach rooibos. It’s a smooth cup and leaves a little bit of a creamy aftertaste, but it’s otherwise not all that pleasant. Thanks to Azzrian for sharing this tea with me!

[Backlogging] – I thought that I wrote a tasting note for this tea, but I guess not! This tea was really a bit of a miss for me. It sounded incredible! Banana bread is one of my most favorite things to bake and eat! When I made this cup, I was disappointed to be tasting mostly a dry walnut, a bit of fake banana and some astringent black tea. I really wish that I could bring out more of that buttery bread flavor, but I just can’t do it. I dislike missing out on the buttery flavors that others are tasting… not sure how I can get that flavor to develop in my cup. So sad that this blend was a miss for me. So sad!

This blend looks like it has a little bit of everything: pieces of fruit, flowers, lemongrass, petals, various herbs. Once water has been added, it smells… ew… not good. I smell lemongrass, lawn, dirt, leaves and flower petals. I’m really not sure if I want to take a sip now since it reminds me of playing outside and returning home with smelly, grubby hands.

Sipping… this isn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I mostly taste citrus, lemongrass and something earthy. I wasn’t expecting the citrus as I didn’t smell any originally, but I’m pleased that it’s one of the main flavors. I’m not completely fond of the herbal flavor that lingers in the background and I especially don’t like the smelly finish that reminds me of those pungent leaves and grasses of my childhood.

I might choke down the rest of the cup since I want something hot, but otherwise, it’s really not for me.

The dry leaf smells sweet, rich and like an apple – ? When I say apple, I mean the tart skin and a little bit of the fruit itself. Strange…. I haven’t gotten that sort of scent from this particular kind of tea, but it still smells tasty. Once the tea has steeped, I do detect more of an earthy, starchy and almost musky quality.

Sipping… I was expecting something a little bit more milky and sweet. It is sweet, but also almost smoky. It’s dark, syrupy and earthy. I taste raisins, prunes, hay, sweet potato and leather. This is quite an interesting tea! It has such an intriguing depth that makes you want to keep sipping. Even though this tea has some notes that I wouldn’t typically enjoy, it makes my tastebuds curious and I love it when a tea has the ability to do that. I’m not sure if I would add this to my future order, but I do offer my thanks to Teavivre for this sample.

This is very interesting. Right out of the bag it smells like eggnog and caramel. I’m surprised how accurate the smell seems to be. As it sits on my bedside table, I get the nicest sweet scent that tempts me to take a sip. It primarily tastes like a caramel rooibos – sweet, woody, but a little darker than other blends. I enjoy caramel rooibos teas, but given that this is supposed to be something different, I am a little disappointed. Before I know it, the rum comes at the end of the sip, reminding me of those butter rum Lifesavers. It lacks the buttery sweetness that would take it over the top, but I’m content with the syrupy caramel & rum combination. This is a decent tea, but I don’t think I will buy more.