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Had a cup of this in store today while perusing the selection of unflavoured black teas. I found it to be a delicious sweet tea, but with no sweetener added. It had a natural sweetness akin to a touch of honey. My cup was perhaps slightly oversteeped to my tastes, but I didn’t find an over-bearing bitter texture. I am more of a 2 or 3 minute steep for my black tea kinda girl, but Mie Mie recommends 5 minutes for blacks. I picked up a tin to bring home, as well as a tin of the Keemun Panda to try out. This was an exciting find!

Aha! Give it only 2 or 3 minutes to steep, and you’re set. I’ve also switched to using my T-Sacs for this tea, as it is very fine and I don’t like when particles escape my strainer and keep steeping. The shorter steep time combined with the more efficient steep method have made a very yummy cuppa chai. I also tossed in a bit of milk to make it more like the warm comforting chai I wanted. Under these parameters, my rating goes back up. It’s a good chai, but it’s finnicky.

This one, my friend, can be classed as a disappointment. The beau and I were interested in it for a long time, but always seemed to get something else instead. Last weekend I took the plunge and got some…For some reason, I remember having a chat with a sales clerk nearly a year ago, and they said it was similar to detox. Well, I love DT’s detox, so I was excited.

Unfortunately, that was a lie! This tea is very mild and meek, with only an orange peel flavour being discernible for me. It reminds me of Kyoto Cosmo, but with less powerful flavours. There is also another David’s Tea I’ve had that reminds me of Kyoto Cosmo, but I can’t remember which anymore. Anyway, David’s Tea, step up your game!

Second steep lacked the nice floral sweetness and green tea flavour I felt I experienced in the first, but it did reveal that mint! Not strong…mild enough for even the beau to enjoy, but I liked it. Doesn’t seem nearly as good (quality-wise) as the Sawadeee blooming teas I have enjoyed, but these were a steal and definitely an enjoyable time. I don’t know if I will do a third steep as the bloom opened entirely on number one and isn’t really flavouring up as I might have hoped. We’ll see!

You know what? I really like this tea. It’s sweet, it’s yummy, it’s tea. Goes a little bitter sometimes, but I find it really sweet otherwise. Nothing leaps out at me though…

I’ve been thinking very seriously about my changing tea tastes recently and realized that I am ready to enjoy plain black teas. I have none, so now I need to buy tea (oh, what a chore!) to test them out. I think I don’t have the energy to go through the hassle of shipping, so I’ll be sticking local on this quest…likely to hurt my chances, but more convenient. David’s Tea has a couple I will try, and I am hoping that Sawadee or The Tea Brewery will have some good ones. I have no idea what I’m looking for, but it should be a good adventure. Maybe I will even become brave enough to try Lapsang!

This is a solid blooming tea. The first steep did not reveal much if anything by way of mint flavour, but there was a deliciously sweet floral flavour throughout. My blooming experiences are limited, but I’ve enjoyed them all so far, leading me to think I like floral teas, and just maybe like straight green and black tea. Hoping the second steep reveals the mint flavour!

Thought I’d give this a go in store today on the merit of it’s awesome dry smell. The sales clerk assured me that the coconut was not there in taste, so I bought a cup. I did not finish the cup. Got 1/3 of the way in…Couldn’t take it, even with sugar. It was just a cinnamon and hibiscus assault on my mouth. I rarely dislike a tea that strongly, but this was just a horrible mistake. One thing I do not appreciate about buying a cup in store is that you’re sort of left on your own with steep time. Mine steeped while I paid for it, etc…I like the handy little timer that you get at other stores, such as (my local!) Sawadee. Anyway, if you’re fond of cinnamon and hibiscus you might like this tea. I was overpowered.

I received a sample of this with my one and only Harney order a few months back. It had been sitting in my drawer at work waiting for me to pay attention and today I decided to. I love mint, I love lemon, but I am very concerned about the two of them together. The dry smell is all mint, and honestly, the bag looks like it just has mint in it. What form is the lemon supposed to be taking? Am I confused?

The liquor is once again all mint in smell – Smells very much like any other mint teabag. When I’m desperate for a quick mint, I tend to turn to my $2 box of 24 from Superstore since I find that most mint teas are created equal, at least when it comes to bagged. The liquor is a swampy looking greenish brown. It is in a blue cup, to be fair, but it’s ugly looking. : )

First sips are…unimpressive. I get an initially mild mint taste, more like flavoured water than tea. I find the strength grows as it sits on my tongue, but that’s not a quality of the tea. As I go on, I get more of a lemonish hit at first, which turns to mint but it always has a watered down feel. A thinness of flavour, if that makes sense. For what this costs on the Harney website, I’m quite disappointed. This seems like something I could find in a grocery store under a no-name brand for much less. And maybe with stronger flavour. It’s not bad, per se, but there’s nothing impressive about it. Not an exciting cuppa for the Royal Wedding day. Though i did have some delicious Detox for breakfast…

What lemon flavour I do get is a bit bitter, as well. Not sour, but more like the taste of a lemon rind (if you’ve had the misfortune to taste one). This is not my friend.

This is one of the teas I was unsure about when i ordered…green and I have issues sometimes. It makes me queasy occasionally (no clue why) and it always seems like too much work. Ironically, when I’m at work it’s one of the easiest, since the water is nowhere near boiling and I can just take it from the spout.

Anyway. I tried to give this a good shake because I could see lots of mint at the bottom and lots of tea at the top. I got a good mix in the end, and I see some sticks in there, but some pretty large leaves as well. I can smell the mint and vanilla mix more than anything in the dry and steeped tea. It makes a mouthwash sort of smell, but luckily not a mouthwash taste.

I find it brisk and refreshing, leaving my mouth cool but not too sharp. I don’t get any green tea taste, it must be hiding under the bold mint and the creamy vanilla. It’s definitely nice, since I love mint, but I don’t love this tea necessarily. Yet. Silly green tea. I’m having a weird week with teas. I’m sick so I think that is affecting all my perceptions, even though I can still taste properly, my general unwell feelings affect my judgment.

EDIT: (Over)Steep #2 brings out more hints of green tea flavour, but this is still predominantly mint. THe flavour has thinned out a bit, but is still a comforting cuppa minty goodness. I am getting a hint of the mouthwash flavour I associate with 52Teas Mintastic…I think it is the spearmint they use, maybe.

Sadly, this one did not blow me away. I made some of this for my breakfast tea…It tasted better than it smelled dry (I wasn’t getting any apricot smell…I didn’t really smell much at all, really. It wasn’t like rooibos or apricot or cinnamon, but weird). Steeped, I got some of that apricot flavour, but didn’t find it to be very strong. I didn’t get any cinnamon, so it was just a decent and drinkable but mildly disappointing cup of apricot-ish rooibos.