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There’s popcorn in my tea leaves. Popcorn! (As I oh-so-eloquently wrote in an email to teaplz).

I love this stuff. Second day in a row I’ve made a large mug of it, and just stuck some in the fridge for cold consumption later. The smell and taste is overwhelmingly roasted nuts, which is delicious. The corn is more subtle, but gives it that little extra kick at the end. I fear my little sampler tin won’t be enough for me.

And there’s popcorn!

For someone who’s been drinking an obscene amount of light-ish teas lately (you bet I’ve been getting the most out of my sugar caramel oolong sample), this was a big smack in the face when I opened up my sampler packet. Holy cow, is that stuff smoky. I’m sitting in my bedroom with my cup, and the atmosphere smells like campfire and singed cedar wood. Surprisingly enough… it’s not so bad.

It smells and tastes like liquid smoke; my eyes are actually tearing a bit as my cup is depleted. But I love the smell of a smoky campfire. (Side note: Ever have toast over a campfire? AMAZING.) As the tea cools it’s less potent, but I kind of fear to go back into the kitchen. My mother may wonder what I’ve been cooking, thanks to the smoky after-smell.

Not something I’ll be running out to buy, but wouldn’t pass it up if offered.

My teapot was all ready to receive my hot water, my teaspoon of tea inside… when I knocked it over and spilled tea all over the floor (luckily, the teapot was saved). As I listened to the tiny leaves get sucked into the vacuum I thought to myself, “this better be worth it.”

And of course it is. The instructions explicitly say not to steep over 3 minutes or it will become bitter (and we know how I loathe bitter black tea), so I went with two minutes. This is pretty good with my breakfast. I still don’t love plain black tea, but my “understeeped” variety is good for me. There’s a little woodsy aftertaste as it cools down, which is always a bonus for me.

This is amazing. Just everything about it. The fragrance, the taste, even the sugary sweetness of the leaves themselves.

I was hesitant to steep up anything this morning, seeing it’s steadily inching toward 80 degrees outside, so I was pleased when this was my random sample of the day (no, really. My GM sampler is too high on the shelf for me to see what I pull out). I love the caramely sugar taste. And I let it sit a little while in the teapot before consuming, so I’m not sweating bullets at the moment (like usual. I take “hot tea” literally).

I kind of love it. Can’t expand much upon that.

Thanks to these damp tea leaves, I now understand the proper meaning of “vegetal.” I won’t confirm whether this is positive or negative…

Anyway. This tea is pretty tasty. Lately I’ve been trying to branch out from greens, because it was all I drank when I learned of proper tea, but it’s my fallback. So when I requested a free sample from Chicago Tea Garden, I went with the green. I can’t resist it.

Good choice, though. This steeps up practically clear and has a light taste. I tend to oversteep my greens, but it’s no big deal with this one. Despite the ridiculous amount of green tea I have in my cupboard, I would buy this one, too. It has a complex fragrance, like a hint or roasted nuts or something beneath the tea. It’s quite fun.

It seems I’m the first to review this one… how nerve-wracking.

Another from my Kusmi sampler. I love these little tins!

It’s a gunpowder tea! Since I’m easily amused, these are my favorite. Even in my small sampler the leaves smell quite strong, though I can’t place the scent—a little musky, a little cirtusy. Though not unpleasant.

The cirtus really comes out in the tea itself, and while it cools a little it tastes more fruity. The description says it’s better as an “afternoon” tea, which I obviously ignored (9:30 a.m. at the moment), but it would be a rather good choice for the midday break, when I’m mentally prepared to shut down. Though next time, I’ll consider shortening the steep time. The more I drink, the sweeter it tastes, and I don’t love fruity tea that much.

Rather than go through work emails after vacation, I’m sitting here with a new cup of tea and browsing steepster. It’s about all my brain can handle right now.

While I was in Canada, I stumbled upon this great little tea shop and simply had to pick up a sampler pack. These tiny tins are adorable. I think I prepared it right, since the directions are in metric units; regardless, this is a tasty cup of tea.

The leaves have a sort of musty rose scent, not at all what I expected. I’ve only had rose tea in black, not green, so I was a little surprised when I opened the tin. The tea steeps up really light, too; I almost thought I hadn’t used enough leaves (have to guess what 3g is in teaspoons) or I didn’t do it long enough. But I certainly did. It’s definitely a green tea, but has almost a subtle smokey taste to it. As it cools it’s slightly sweeter, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it sweet. It’s just not… intense.

For someone who’s still downing the same mint green tea she bought from Teavana eons ago (why did I buy so much?), this is a nice change of pace. Still my trusty green, but the rose really adds a unique flavor to it.

Scene: 9:30 p.m., and I’ve just walked a half-hour in the rain with a broken umbrella. My dress shoes are waterlogged. At that point, any tea is a good idea.

Mint seems to be my default; when I’m tired or cranky it’s a good option. And this was okay for the 10:00 p.m. train ride home, but not something I’d pick up every day. It’s that fake minty taste (someone likened it to toothpaste), not reminiscent of real mint, but I can deal with it as a late-night option.

The moment I saw this on Steepster Select I had to grab it. White tea? Peaches? Instant win.

The leaves smell really sweet. Like, sickeningly sweet. There’s no mistaking this peachy goodness for anything else. Luckily, that sweetness settles down a bit when it’s transformed into actual tea. The peach isn’t overwhelming; there’s just enough flavor that it doesn’t mask the actual taste of tea. This is good stuff. I think it would be pretty fantastic iced as well.

Somehow my tasting note for this disappeared. (I had some issues re-reviewing it, and who knows what I did). I obviously can’t remember now everything I said, but I assure you it was amazing. In fact, it’s probably my favorite tea in my cupboard at the moment. It’s night and light, and has a subtle flavor.

Trust me, my old review was awesome.