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Well, prepared this with my favourite mad scientist approach as a stovetop chai. Threw in some milk, then some water, 1 tsp or so of this and a pinch of highland chai mix to kick it up a notch (I was concerned this wouldn’t stand up to the stovetop treatment).

The smell is unusual – almost pumpkin-like, probably more of a ginger smell than anything but my brain associates it with pumpkin pie. I don’t really like pumpkin. Time to overcome weird smell aversions! I know I like this tea, we’ll see how I feel about it with the heated milk, etc.

First sips: Too milky. Darn. I don’t really like milk at all, haven’t ever (apparently). I thought I had used little enough that it would bother me, but the milk UGH is still there. This might get poured out just because I don’t have it in me to drink anything milk-like right now. I’ve had a delicious chai latte at the market – maybe the key is to have steamed milk? (as opposed to just heating it on the stove with the water). I won’t be adjusting the rating for this tea because it’s not the tea’s fault that I drowned it in milk. : (

When I first smelled this in store, I thought it smelled like Joy’s Teaspoon’s Wellness. It also looks like it, since they share a number of ingredients. Nonetheless, the beau bought a tin of this yesterday, and we’re giving it a go. It still smells like Wellness, but with additional grapefruit smell. I really like the smell, and if it tastes anything at all like Wellness, I will probably love the taste. As soon as I poured the water, this turned bright pink. Definitely hibiscus and beetroot!

This tea from the Spring collection is actually far lighter than I expected. 100 g filled the tin almost to the brim, so that sort of makes up for the suggestion that 2 tsp of tea are required for 1 mug of water. As usual, I’ve thrown that out the window and used 2 tsp of tea for 20 oz(ish) of water. Since this has no proper tea in it, I’ll just leave it steeping longer to really flavour up.

The steeped smell is slightly grapefruit, even more slightly hibiscus (can I say more slightly??) The colour is deep pink to purple. I don’t really know how long I steeped it..I should really try playing by the rules someday.

First sips are tart and sweet, if that’s possible. I don’t get as much grapefruit not, but definite citrus. There is an extremely pleasant aftertaste. I get the impression this isn’t fully flavoured thanks to my screwy steep times, btu I like it and that’s what counts. Definitely reminiscent of Wellness (as expected). Between the two I would pick Wellness for strength and flavour, great price and re-steepability. But, this is lovely and will be enjoyed until it’s gone. I might try steeping properly sometime and see if I get that hardcore grapefruit flavour that others do.

This was a new buy today (one of 6, gah!). We accidentally over-steeped it so for now it’s just okay, but I think it has great potential. Definitely lemon (of the tart kind! More like lemon rinds..) but there is tea underneath it.

Had a cup of this at Sawadee today. I am slowly becoming less enamoured with rooibos, but was in the mood for a caramel tea after a very cold walk in my birkenstocks. Darn you winter!!

This was a nice cuppa – Definitely rooibos, definitely caramel. Not much else to say!

Spent the second half of my lunch-hour enjoying a mug of this and the newest Dan Brown novel. I know, I’m behind the times in my “literature” but I really enjoy him and my mother gave me this for Christmas. The tea was delicious (juicy, solid black currant flavour, as always) and a lovely pairing to my book and day. A nice upper on this grey sleepy day.

I’m now enjoying a second mug of this delicious treat – I find I can always get two solid cups out of one teabag, and sometimes three. I’m running low on my stock at work, I might have to bring some in from home soon..

What’s that I spy? A cup of wellness on my desk? oh my! After yesterday mornings disaster with Ruby Red I opted to prepare my own tea (though the beau also refused to, so that sort of forced the issue. Luckily, this came out exactly as intended. Today, it is very sweet with a sort of vanilla cream flavour mingled in with the fruity and berry flavours. The lemongrass is always there in the background, playing with the other flavours, as well.

Delicious!

Yummy yum. I got the usual ginger and juniper, with a hint of lemongrass. A favourite ’round here, though we have so many teas that apparently we go a month without drinking it quite easily. Filled the pot this morning and sipped a few cups before work.

Had a delicious pot of this with some friends this evening after a foray in the sun outside. Fantastic!

Re-steep. I like this tea, I really do. I don’t find myself turning to it very often, but I think that is the unassuming nature of this tea. It is solid and dependable, and will be there for you when things are strange, but it doesn’t demand your attention all the time. It’s relaxing, it’s mild, it’s lovely and comforting. I’m enjoying it.

This steep actually has the faintest of smells that suggests it is over-steeped, but none of that comes through in the taste. I love that it retains that vanilla flavour over the black tea base in multiple steepings…I could go to a third, but I think I’d lose all the vanilla at that point. It’s not the richest of teas, I find, but a splash of cream would be lovely in here, if I had some.

Tea attempt #2:

First cup of water had to be dumped because someone somehow got coffee grinds IN the hot water spout. Second cup came out clean. Progress. Obviously, i decided to go with Vanilla Comoro, hoping to get the sickly sweet taste of basically boiled fruit out of my mouth.

Once it’s coooled, I’m happy. Yes, vanilla Comoro is sweet but nothing like my travel mug disaster. The vanilla is nice but not too forward and I can actually taste the tea. I’ve saved the bag for another steep (this is one of the last two pre-bagged vanilla comoro I got from Meghann M). This is nice. Thank you, tea gods.