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So, I’ve finally realized that I don’t like this. And I think it is partially to blame for why I (and many others, I’m sure) think they don’t like green tea. It leaves my mouth feeling dry and I grimace a bit when I take a sip. I know that a few months ago, I found this to be very pear like and quite tasty but right now I just want it to go away. Will be putting the remains of the tin in the staff room.

(Serious) backlog. I bought some of this last weekend, I think, on a whim. i am a pretty big fan of Davids Tea’s Lime Bang, and I was concerned this would be the same. Luckily, I was wrong. There is a disctinct creaminess to the tea, apparently frmo the yogurt pieces. The flavour was surprisingly accurate to lime gelato, though it could maybe have almost done with a hint more lime. This is one that I think I will re-buy, and am glad to have it. Will do a more detailed note another time…maybe at the time I drink it, for example. :)

Had a pot of this last night with the beau and a friend (at the beau’s insistance, surprisingly). Wasn’t as wowed by it as I hoped to be (I think I somehow anticipated the blackberry flavour to taste like the blackberries that grow by my Dad’s) but it was definitely a unique tea experience, for my cupboard at least. Will do proper tasting note next time I try it!

This evening, we’re sampling the beautiful golden snail, thanks again to SimplyJenW. The beau prepared this one, so it has double the leaf I would have used for our cups…accordingly, I anticipate a pretty serious cup of tea. The leaves don’t seem to have fully unfurled in the first infusion…I know black teas aren’t really meant to be re-steeped, but I do it pretty regularly and I find that Harney teas stand up to it really well. I’m fairly certain this will be another one that can take a couple goes.

The liquor is a deep brown with reddish tinge and has a wonderful chocolate aroma, much like the bakers chocolate my Mum uses for some of my favourite chocolate dipped cookies. Now I really want some of those cookies, I bet they’d be AMAZING with this tea…

First sips are strong chocolate flavour, rich dark bakers chocolate. At the same time though, it’s definitely tea. I really like it…odd since I always thought I hated the flavour of chocolate in tea. This is a good mix of a good black tea and my grandmother’s beloved cocoa. I don’t get a sweet chocolate taste at all, but at the same time there is a lingering sweetness in my mouth. This only confirms and continues my general adoration for black teas…Especially bold ones.

Question for you steepsterites: How does this compare to Upton Tea’s Golden Monkey? The beau and I are really interested in putting that one in our imminent order, but I don’t really know what to anticipate, and since it is one of the pricier ones in my very large order, I’m a little hesitant. I understand that Upton’s Golden Monkey isn’t really meant to be so cocoa as this, and that’s great by me, but I have it in my head that the Golden creatures must be at least a little similar.. : )

I can finally smell and taste again, yay! That means it’s time to delve into the treats that SimplyJenW sent me recently. I decided to start with Boston, based solely on it’s delicious dry smell. I get a distinct rich fruity smell, not much of a tea base underneath, but that’s fine. The liquor once steeped is a rich brown with a red/amber tinge…One of the colours I’d expect from a black tea.

The steeped smell is very rich and creamy, very thick smelling (if that’s even possible). No ‘tea’ smell, but an almost vanilla scent in there, reminiscent of vanilla comoro. I get a fruity smell, but nothing identifiably cranberry.

First sips yield a creamy fruity tea, with a hint of amaretto style almond aftertaste and a very slight tinge of bitterness. I gave this around 2 minutes 45 seconds, to avoid over-steeping. As the tea cools, the richness I initially experienced thinned out a bit, but the berry flavour became more dominant. I don’t know that I could identify it as cranberry, but it’s pretty hard to capture a flavour that specifically. This reminds me of another cranberry black tea I have from Joy’s Teaspoon called Crannyberry…though it’s been a while, so that might not be a true recollection.

All in all, this is really nice. Definitely an enjoyable cuppa, it seems a wonderfully absent-minded sort of tea. The black tea flavour continues to come out more strongly as the cup cools, and I’m enjoying that right now. I’m still in a straight black tea rut and really feeling that, but this is a great fruity alternative. Losing that slight hint of almond, but the fruit and tea flavours are more than enough for me!

Thanks again, SimplyJenW! I can’t wait to try the rest of my lovelies!

I was looking through my basket of samples this morning for something to inspire me when I happened across this. The beau and I developed head colds over the weekend, so an immunity tea seemed ideal, though a bit late. Unfortunately, that means this tea won’t get a proper review because I can’t smell things and accordingly can’t really taste them. I only had enough to make a pot for the beau and I so there is none left over for another try later on. I remember being really enticed by the ingredient list (probably because of the apple…I’m a nut for apple in tea, if it’s done well). I tried smelling the dry leaves but couldn’t get anything at all. Sorry, sports fans!

As for taste, keeping in mind that I have a cold, I can pick up vague hints of fruitiness. Maybe apple? Nothing I could define. There is a slight taste of licorice, but I don’t mind it for once. I also get a bit of the green rooibos flavour that I’ve never been able to describe but can finally identify…Not going to give it a rating as I can’t taste it, but hoping it does something good for my head. If nothing else, it soothed my throat!

This is a mixed-up tea for me. While visiting family over the weekend I only brought a few teas with me. This was one of them. My grandmother, aunt, beau and I sat down to enjoy a pot of it (I got my grandmother to drink “fancy” loose leaf tea!!!) and we all had very different reactions. I found it to taste like an orange creamsicle, the kind with vanilla ice cream inside and orange popsicle outside. I found it had a slight tinge of mintiness, but no-one else picked up on that. It smelled fantastic, and made an interesting yellow liquor. I assume that the gooseberries contributed a lot to the flavour, but I don’t know what a gooseberry tastes like. My grandmother found it to be very floral..

I re-steeped the leaves later on for myself, but I found it had a very muted flavour which I couldn’t really identify (though I did develop a cold.) I really enjoyed the creamsicle sort of flavour I got the the first time around, but it is starting to seem very similar to the Spring Collection’s Pink Flamingo, which also reminds me of Joy’s Teaspoon’s Wellness. All this is fine and good but my final thought is that it’s not a re-buy…it’s too similar to other teas I have and just doesn’t stand out in the crowd. I’m finding that more and more with David’s Tea’s selections lately…Maybe after a year of drinking mainly DT I am getting tired of it???

I’m not much of a green tea fan, but this is one of the first I tried at David’s Tea about a year ago now and I still enjoy it. I get no green tea flavour or smell from it at all, as it is wildly potent with orange more than anything else for me. The cranberry is very muted…so much so that I never taste it, but that’s okay. As an orange flavoured green, I really do enjoy it. One of the teas that became a “gateway” tea before I knew anything at all…and a sign that my tastes might never become refined, : )

Finally getting around to this sample…Not a fault of Butiki Teas, just a lack of time on my own, and far too many options!! Steeped a pot of this while waiting for homemade pizza dough to rise, was enticed by the sweet creamy smell. Had a rich smell, for a honeybush. Steeped, the liquor is a deep reddish brown and the vanilla aroma is wafting through the apartment. It continues to be a rich vanilla smell, more reminiscent of a vanilla cake than of artificial vanilla, if that makes sense.

First sips are as rich as they smell…wonderfully delicious, shockingly thick mouth-feel for a honeybush as I find it to be thinner, much like rooibos. I am really impressed with this tea. I know that everyone has a vanilla tea, but this one really stands out for me. I think I like the natural smoothness and sweetness of the honeybush base to complement the vanilla. This is a success, for me! : )

Well, I’m still terrible at distinguishing aspects of black teas, but this is just mostly mild for me right now. It has a very nice smoothness, and a mild black tea flavour. I prefer this to the Davids Tea English Breakfast I had yesterday, but for it’s price point ($8/50g) this just does not cut the mustard. I’m not picking out any special notes…I think my breakfast of buttered toast is overpowering the tea.

This is the sort of black tea that requires no additions (though I don’t add anything to my tea anyway) and that I think even bagged tea drinkers could have no objection to, other than cost. I’m not getting any bitterness or astringency, but I always steep my blacks a bit on the lighter side. Nice to have tried, but I want something more distinctive and affordable to have on hand regularly. Why are Davids’ unflavoured black teas so pricey? Gah.