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When I sat in church yesterday and noticed my eye twitching uncontrollably (this is a new thing for me), it occurred to me that I should probably switch to decaf for a little while. (I was paying attention to the service, honest.)

So this morning I broke out my herbal tea sampler. Now, I enjoy lemon. I’ve been known to eat them right off the rind. But I don’t necessarily want that bitterness in my tea. This may be salvaged by a bit of sugar, lemonade-style, but I’m certainly not adding sugar to my tea at 9:00 in the morning (or, well, ever).

I rather like this smell of this one, but the drinkability leaves something to be desired. (Hey, Firefox, why isn’t “drinkability” a word?) It’s tart on the way down and leaves a fuzzy taste on my tongue. Man, I need some good decaf options.

edit: I’m decreasing this rating because I couldn’t finish the cup. How disappointing.

As with most of my tea reviews… this is the first of this kind. Welcome to my teapot, pu-erh!

I, of course, let this sit a little too long before drinking. I usually like my tea right out of the kettle, and I got a little sidetracked. (Once you start organizing something, you just can’t stop.) But despite that, I’m not complaining about this cup. I stuck my nose in the leaves beforehand and it was a pleasant, dark, woodsy kind of smell. Apparently [judging by other reviews here, yes I cheat] it has a mossy, fungus-like quality. Like this scares me. I eat mushrooms raw.

The tea itself has that same earthy quality to it. I’m not quite bold enough to go over a 2-minute steep right now, but this seems about right for me. It doesn’t smell like much in the cup, but has that sharp, almost spicy taste going down. Again with that “spicy but not really” adjective. What else did I use that for? Oolong? Perhaps.

Days off work = plenty of time for tea. YAY.

I’m kind of torn on how to judge this one. As a tea, it’s pretty fantastic, but I’m not sure it’s to my taste. When they say jasmine, they mean jasmine. It’s seriously all I smell/taste. I went with a shorter steeping time (the packet says 2 to 4 minutes) because I didn’t want to be overwhelmed. Good call on that – I don’t know if I’d be able to handle if it were any stronger. The sample was pretty packed full so perhaps I’ll try it iced later on. (This is my new thing, apparently… anything that can be iced, shall.)

This is my first attempt at oolong… and I feel I should try again in the future.

I think overall it’s too dark for me, and I seem to be tending toward lighter teas (in both color and flavor). It tasted like black tea with a spicy aftertaste. Is spicy the word? Maybe it’s the woodsy, cedar-like taste. I can’t knock it too hard, though. By the end I was looking forward to that aftertaste. Gave it a little kick.

After a four-hour car trip with my mother, I put on a kettle of water. “Why are you making tea now?” she asked, at 11:00 at night.

Why not?

I went with this; it’s a good wind-down tea. It’s calming and spearminty. I don’t recall a whole lot more about it, since it was 11:00 at night and all, but it was a good selection for a late-night fix right before bed.

It was a nostalgia thing that made me pick this one up. When I worked in an indie movie theatre, I often went for it during my breaks. I thought maybe I just didn’t know enough about tea back then, since it didn’t taste particularly special. Thus I tried it again.

Nope. Same thing. I keep on thinking it will be amazing, because the tin itself definitely smells like, well, vanilla almond. And I like anything with one (or both) of those scents. And the smell tempts me when the mug is sitting on my desk, untouched. But I just don’t taste it in the tea. There’s something in the aftertaste… but if I can’t figure out what it is, well… not a good sign.

Rose tea, iced version: Better than hot. You know every so often you order unsweetened iced tea, and even though it’s gross and bitter you still drink it without sugar? This isn’t the case. The rose acts like a natural sweetener of sorts, so I didn’t have to sacrifice taste for health. I’m excited that I didn’t use the entire sample the first time around. The rest will be used for more iced tea.

I’m kind of disappointed. After hearing/reading rave reviews of proper chai, and going out to actually buy milk (this rarely happens in my house), I expected to be amazed.

I loved the smell. It has that smell of a country farmer’s market. I want to go pumpkin picking now, or something. And it certainly filled the kitchen with its spicy, woodsy fragrance (surely mother won’t be complaining).

I used the “authentic” recipe that teaplz forced upon me [ever so lovingly]. Know what this reminds me of? Why I don’t add anything to my tea.

The first few sips were enjoyable. It’s really rich, probably due to the water/milk ratio (1:1). But toward the end I had to force it down. I’m just not used to thick teas, and it reminded me more of “milk with a tea aftertaste.” How disappointing. Maybe chai isn’t for me after all.

I have a soft spot for roses. Sure, they’re the stereotypical favorite flower of the female species, but there’s a good reason for that. Because nothing quite beats the look and smell of a rose. That being said, it’s no surprise that I was a little giddy when opening this sample. It smells pretty! There are actual roses in there! It almost feels wrong to drink it.

I skimmed over other reviews here and some complain that it’s more rose than tea. This is fine by me. I can sacrifice the black tea taste for a little bit of femininity, something that makes me feel like I should be sitting in my parlour in Victorian England donning a hoop skirt. (Okay fine. I’m more feminine than I admit to.) This tea actually tastes pretty. It’s kind of sweet, and not too heavy. Of course, the fact I didn’t steep it quite as long as suggested helps in that, too.

In short: I like it. I probably won’t go out and buy it on its own, but I certainly wouldn’t pass it up if offered.

When you’re lazy and cranky, bagged tea is an excellent choice. And this one isn’t too bad. I picked up a Celestial Seasonings herbal tea sampler at the grocery (good default bagged tea company) and I went with this one rather than their normal chamomile.

The bag (leaves, I guess?) smell sweet itself, almost like candy. It’s fun. I can sense it a little in the tea itself, and I do taste a hint of honey. Apparently there’s vanilla in there, too? Sure, I’ll take it. Hey, it’s soothing and goes down easy. I have no complaints.