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I have been lucky enough to receive some yummy matchas from swaps lately. I didn’t understand why people would make spreadsheets for their tea. Well, now I understand! I have no idea who sent me some of these teas. Why did think I would remember? But who ever sent me the next couple teas that I log… well, thank you very much! :D
I made the Cookies and Cream Matcha as a latte with 1 tsp. in 6 oz cold lite soy milk with a couple ice cubes. I added a touch of stevia. Blend and , whoa! What I nice dessert. Very satisfying and refreshing. The cookie and cream flavor is gentle and i would probably like it a little more in my face, but I would recommend it to all dessert drinkers. It really worked as a sweet treat for my dieting. I still have to be careful about the calories in the soy milk, but at least it’s nutritious. I lost another 4.2 pounds in the last two weeks.(total, drum role… 24.6 pounds!!)

I’m liking this tea more and more. It has the full-body I was looking for in the evening. I added a little vanilla cream stevia and whoa… what a cup of tea. I also have some hazelnut stevia that I might try. Sometimes rooibos can be a bit whimpy but with the addition of the mint and chocolate it makes me happy. This is one I’m going to end up keeping in my cupboard – not for every night but this will fill a void in my evening teas. With the addition of the vanilla stevia I’m going to raise my rating a little, from 80-85.

I’m finally starting to drink my Doctor Who teas from Adagio. We had an early Easter because one daughter has to work tomorrow. I put the sample size tins for Doctor Who and Firefly in plastic eggs and hid them around the house. Yes, my daughters are in their 30’s. But they humor me. They had lots of fun searching and of course loved their surprises.
Today my daughters and I had Eleven. Seemed bland at first but we looked at some tasting notes and decided to try milk and stevia. That added a lot to it. Tasting some nice coconut which seems so fitting for Eleven! The coconut brings up a creaminess. Quite a nice cuppa. I don’t think I would buy a large quantity of this tea, but it is good. I think I am just going to have to watch some Matt Smith episodes tonight!

I made a lovely cup by blending Almond Plum Perfection (Teavana) and French Plum (Cameron’s) at a 4:1 ratio. Very tasty. The little extra plum adds quite a bit of taste. A little black but not too much, so I feel I can have this in the afternoon.

I don’t know if this is the same as the Rishi Pu-erh Vanilla Mint as this does have peppermint. The package calls it Pu-erh Vanilla. I haven’t had pu-erh before much less with added flavors so I can’t tell much about the pu-erh flavor. It isn’t in a pressed cake so again I couldn’t judge the quality at all. The only time I smelled a pu-erh , it was rather musty and and unappealing to me. I decided to be bold and brave and try this one. (All of the above are disclaimers to let you know that I know nothing about this tea.)
It came loose leaf in a foil pack inside a box. Smelled good with the additional flavors added. Strongly vanilla in the first sniff. After brewing the liquor was very dark, almost like coffee. Drinking it I definitely sense the vanilla, with a nice light mint after taste. There might be a bit of licorice flavor but it seems well balanced with the mint so it is very unobtrusive. Very enjoyable tea. Energizing, but not like my beloved chocolate yerba mate. I will drink this tea easily and keep it in-stock. BTW, Is this supposed to be kept refrigerated?

This is a lovely looking tea. I have it in a clear jar (Kept in a nice dark cabinet) and it just plain looks lovely. Aroma is flowery and nice gunpowder tea. Touch of lemon, as well as, the floral scent. Taste is well balanced. I always worry about anything that has rose in it because some times they sneak those tart rose hips in there. Luckily, there is no tartness from the rose. It’s a very comforting tea. No bitterness, no odd notes of flavor you can’t identify. I am enjoying it on another cold (Snowy!) Spring day. I mean really… It’s the middle of April! The temp was 21 degrees this morning. It was 75 degrees two days ago!!!! (Hey, can anybody tell me how to make the degree signs I don’t have to write degree all the time?)
I like this tea but I like fruity teas rather than floral, so this is not one of my favorites. I resteeped and it was still very good. One problem I have with the Breville is that I have to make any tea with a two cup minimum. If resteeped, I suddenly have 4 cups of the same tea. I took a quick sip of the resteep and then put the rest in the refrigerator and I’ll see how it tastes. Not a cold brew, just a chilled tea. I’ll try a cold brew another time. They recommended 1-2 tsp. and I went with 2 tsp/cup.

Not much to say… not much taste or aroma. Won’t buy again. I actually e-mailed Republic of Tea to ask for a refund.

As some of you know, I have been a Yerba Mate kick lately. It seems I can hardly get things done with out it. One nice thing is the tea is easily available at stores near me. No driving thirty miles and then being tempted to buy other teas. I made this a bit strong (3 bags in 16 oz.) today, steeped for ten minutes and added a little stevia and hazelnut flavoring. Oh my gosh! I’ve also done a resteep. Goodness gracious I feel like I’m 20 years old again, well, maybe 30? 40? 50? Have I finally found the Fountain of Youth? Should I perhaps bathe in it? With the hazelnut it makes a nice change from the other very good flavors that I enjoyed previously ( and still enjoy). I just thought a change would be fun… And it is!

I’ve been trying to do some nighttime blends to see which I really prefer. Right now I’ve not seen a big difference except for Soothing Caramel Bedtime by Yogi. This tastes of, surprise, surprise… chamomile and mint. I’m beginning to think most chamomile teas are same. This one has a natural sweetness but a bit of sweetener doesn’t hurt either. The mint flavor blends nicely with a touch of vanilla. It helps put the chamomile in its place. (Not up in front overwhelming everything.) Besides being good for bedtime, I think this is good for the tummy or a headache, too. I’m still not sure of my favorite nighttime tea but this is still okay. I think I would go with the Soothing Caramel Bedtime. At least it’s different from the others.

Upon opening, there wasn’t much aroma. I leafed generously since several others said it was weak and somewhat tasteless. Well, that didn’t really help. It is somewhat tasteless. Only drank part of it, I needed a good cup of tea and this wasn’t it. It wasn’t really bad, just not what I needed.