iHeartTeas

Very refreshing! My cup was just right. A perfect mix between lemonade and rooibos. Not my most preferred flavour though, so while I am thrilled to have tried it I won’t be buying more than that for now. It’d be worth picking up another sample down the road one day. I think it’d be perfect for serving iced to guests on a patio, if I ever had one… on a hot summer day!

Sorry to be spamming y’all today

Thanks, Nicole_Martin for this tea!

This is an interesting tea. The spices are not in your face and the subtleness works well with the bready, black base and the vanilla. It’s a good tea to start the day with- warms me up on this chilly morning!

A piece of chocolate marble cake and a pot of creamy pumpkin spice tea, what could be better?

It smells like spicy pumpkin very autumnal and delicious. Not overly thick either, of medium strength.

Flavour is spicy and sweet with vanilla and pumpkin. A drop of soy milk brings out stronger creaminess. The pumpkin blends in after a few mouthfuls and becomes less noticeable.

I would like a little more spice, perhaps a touch more cinnamon amidst the vanilla. It would make a nice late.

I have tried 3 pumpkin tea’s, and I think this one out of the three is my favourite. There is a creaminess to this tea that is playing a role keeping the spices in this light. The other two pumpkin tea’s I’ve tried had too much spice. I’m surprised that I like the lighter spiced tea, since I usually prefer bold flavours, but this nicely spiced and delicious.

I received this as a sample from Scribbles Thank you so much!!!

I’m questing for my perfect pumpkin tea. This isn’t it. Barely any pumpkin flavor, barely any spices. This is more creamy black than anything else. No steeping instructions on their web site. I steeped as I would any flavored black. 1 tsp 98C 4 min.
Crossing it off my list. Thanks scribbles for letting me try it. The quest continues…..

I received a sample of this from scribbles. Thank you very much!!!
I’ve been questing for my perfect chai. I am actually looking for just a plain black chai, but I am certainly not going to pass this up when scribbles so generously sent it to me.
I’m having a really good tea night. This is a really nice chai. It’s pretty spicy but those spices are nicely balanced. I do get some apple in amongst the spice but it’s in the back, the spices are almost drowning it out. I don’t think this is apple pie. It’s not heavy cinnamon like I was expecting. Don’t get me wrong, this really works for me – but I’m looking for chai. If you are looking for apple pie, this might not be your best choice.
This is the first iHeartTea I’ve had the opportunity to try, and I like it. Good Job. Looking forward to try others.
Thanks again scribbles really appreciate it.

I cooked curry for dinner and got a craving for a cup of Darjeeling to compliment the meal. I do love a cup of Darjeeling :)

The sample I have is quite finely broken down into small pieces which is a shame but hopefully it will still taste ok.

OMG on an unrelated topic my husband just said he’s getting a mullet because of a bet at work…I’m not looking forward to M’ovember either because he grows a handle bar moustache. Both together will be terrifying. He can make it now for saying that.

This tea is sweet and floral with a dry Autumnal musk after taste. There is also a grape like flavour similar to wine. Also elements of fresh wood, malt and leather.

A nice Darjeeling but I’m not sure about the sweetness. It could be because the leaves were finely chopped and has changed the normal flavour.

Almost sipdown! Aghhhhh.
That said, what a lovely cuppa!! The coconut is milder now that I’ve had it for awhile, making it perfectly malty and just what I wanted, albeit very standard. and for some reason it makes me wanna watch Beetlejuice again. Even though the clip I am thinking of talks about bananas, not strawberries! or coconuts for that matter, except the one line where they sample the famous “put the lime in the coconut” bit. Man I love that movie. and I am not a huge Burton fan in general.
Also, at what point am I considered to be actually spamming the wall? not that it matters, this is my(second) last one!

Now I’m not a huge fan of coconut in my tea. Or rather, I am, but I’m super picky about it.
I find that black tea and coconut don’t go well together, for me, more often than not.
So my rating reflects that, don’t let it fool you! Everything blends well here, it’s done quite well, I must say.
Anyhow. There is a really subtle, tasty strawberry hiding out in the back here. Coconut definitely takes center stage, and I’m not exactly sure where the vanilla fits in but I can taste that as well.
I added a tiny bit of sugar, and that just brought out the coco some more, though I had hoped it would draw out the berry. Oh well.
Oh and yes, there is a slight bitter aftertaste. Did I oversteep it? Odd.
Overall, I’ll drink it again, happily. Preferably iced I think. Maybe it’ll be different when cold!

Dry tea smells of cloves, cardamon, and cream and a little bit like graham crackers. Brewed scent reminds me of starbucks pumpkin scones which I adore, so this is promissing. initial taste of ginger and cloves and something almost floral. the spicing is very pleasant, enough to create a pleasant, warm and comforting flavour but not to create heat. Undertone of vanilla underlying the spice, mixed with a faint sweetness from the pumpkin. The base is pleasant, edging towards a slightly bitter and earthy taste that I enjoy in hot drinks. Aftertaste leads to cooling sensation in my mouth. This is perhaps from the cardamon. A pleasant and soothing cup.

Thanks Kittenna! All of a sudden samples from you that I’ve been holding on to for forever have made their way to the forefront. Probably a good thing.

I’m not getting much flavor from this in the way of raspberry or apricot. Sencha though? Definitely. And there is a subtle fruity sweetness to it but it’s kind of hard to tell what it might be.

I let it cool off and I can taste raspberry for sure now. I think I will save the rest of my sample to cold steep.

Also I am so excited for hockey I am already plotting places I want to go in Raleigh. I can’t believe how long North Carolina is, it’s only 65 miles further to go to Tampa and driving back from Tampa felt like AGES. Short list: Tin Roof Teas, tea buying moratoriums stop when you’re somewhere new right?

But I know my boyfriend wants to go to Tampa because they have tesla coils in the arena. Wah wah wahhhh there aren’t even schedules yet what am I doing.

Ok, today I figured I had to try the super original, non-Adagio made version! I’m having it the same exact way, iced with milk. First major plus side difference: I used boiling water and nothing is bitter or astringent.

This is much sweeter, I think, and the caramel flavor is much better. I think it’s smoother and lighter also, so it doesn’t remind me too much of the obscene white chocolate dessert sauce. It still does remind me of white chocolate though, it’s just a bit more subtle about it.

This time I think I get a lot more caramel, obviously, and I really like it. This is one of the better tasting caramel flavored black teas I’ve had. I have enough for another cup left and I’ll try it hot!

Thanks, Kittenna!

This is actually for the Adagio version, though I do also have some of the one Rachel made for iHeartTeas itself. But I’ve had this one longer so obviously I am drinking it first.

I just made the most ridiculous dessert and included this tea in it. I was given chocolate cabernet pasta for Christmas and remembered I had a bar of white chocolate…so I made a sauce of it, half a cup of this tea brewed strong, and coconut milk. It was still missing something though…in went some blueberry jam and some gelato that really needed to leave the freezer. Topped everything with strawberry slices. I probably just took five years off my life but it’s worth it.

Now I am also drinking the rest of this tea that I made because actually I can’t eat that much of the pasta. (Gee I wonder why). I let it cool while I cooked, and then I added milk and ice to it.

I think this is like the first time an Adagio blend has tasted this good on the first cup. Probably the weirdest thing is that this tastes exactly like the pasta minus the berries. I was hoping for a white chocolate sauce but when I added the pasta, it turned my pretty blue sauce into a chocolate milk color, and it definitely gives it a chocolate cream taste. So, if you do not have ridiculous chocolate pasta on hand, this tea does not have the calories and tastes pretty darn close.

It’s definitely really good iced. I’ll give it a shot as a hot tea too, but I can’t believe how chocolate tasting it is with none of the astringency and grossness I usually get from Adagio flavored teas. Yay!

Food coma bye.

I’m using a number randomizer to pick teas to drink out of the ones I haven’t tried yet. Of course it picked one I just got but I’m not going to argue with it, I will drink. Strawberry lemonade naturally makes sense cold, and I had just enough ice cubes to make myself a glass. I steeped 2 tsp in 4 oz of water until it was as red as a strawberry.

First impression: WAY tart. I added some agave to it, and it was still somewhat tart but bearable. Then I watered it down just a little bit more, and now it’s like drinking a juicy strawberry. I cannot believe how much it tastes like a strawberry. It has a lemon aftertaste too, staying true to its name, but I am loving the strawberry flavor.

I’m so glad that the hibiscus was brought under control for my taste buds that easily. I wish the same could be said for other teas! Not getting much rooibos flavor at all, so it seems kind of like it would take away from the flavors if it was here.

Thanks, Kittenna!

As of late I have been on a cold brewing kick and I feel like a kid in a candy store. It is as if I am tasting all of my teas all over again. It is so much fun primarily because of all the different flavor profiles I am getting from a tea I have had hot. It is just so exciting having the first sip and falling in love with it all over again. Especially this one that I never imagined would be so good cold brewed. I made this blend for winter and it just shocks me how refreshing it actually is. The peppermint candy is most noticeable and it just sparkles. The cinnamon is there holding it together and giving it a bit of mellow feel. The vanilla shows at the end giving you a slightly smooth creamy finish, but just a hint. I will be making this again. I won’t rate it since I made this signature blend but if I did I would give it a 90.

Very pumpkin-y amoma to this tea. There is delicious cream taste mixing with the pumpkin and light spices are delicious together. This is a great fall cuppa. Another sipdown complete…love the new term for finishing a sample!

I really enjoyed this tea. It smelled like a vanilla pumpkin pie I made for Thanksgiving one year. It tastes creamy and spicy and a bit like pumpkin. The only problem was for some reason the bottom of the cup was extremely astringent, just like the last 2 sips. Very weird. Maybe I over-steeped it but the rest of the cup was perfect. I did accidentally for get to set the timer so my timing was more of a guess but there was no it steeped more than 5 and a half minutes. hmmm. Well I have more so I can try again another time because minus that I throughly enjoy this tea.

I finally opened one of my tea’s from iheart teas. I keep looking at all the tea’s I have stashed in my cupboards, and keep thinking, I should probably slurp those up before opening a new bag. I couldn’t resist.

There is a slight astringency to this tea. I may have infused a tad longer than I should have. But the light notes of caramel and vanilla still come through. This is not overly sweet like other caramel tea’s I have tried. Next brew I will add some type of sweetener to see if I can pull out more of the vanilla and caramel.

It’s Christmas in June! Aw yeah. I am in love. Queue the bells. Thank you Rachel, for playing matchmaker! (yes I am mixing holidays here lol)
Of course, at first sip, when this was hot, I hated it.
Wayyyy to heavy on the vanilla, as that was practically all I could taste. Now, I don’t mind vanilla in some cases, and I haven’t quite put my finger what it is that makes me cringe but this seemed to be hitting that mark. I could swear there was some coconut in there too.
Then I added some milk, and let it cool down some and… oh man, soooooo good! A little more mint would have been nice, but I’m not complaining too much as it was still very tasty. It reminded me of a yuletide latte, with just a little somethin extra thrown in if ya know what I mean ;)
Brainwave! This would be ahhhmazing with some peppermint schnapps. It isn’t something I carry in the house, but I’d go out and grab some just to try it, I am that convinced it’d be incredible. Mmmmmm.
Also, this is kinda similar to the pumpkin latte version you make Rachel. I definitely prefer the pumpkin one, though I’d really have to try them side by side to see how wide that disparity is.
Oh and the other thing that this reminded me of, towards the end of my cup… well, it’s more of a mouthfeel, accumulated by the many consecutive sips I suppose, but, melted mint icecream. Mint chocolate chip is my fave! Chocolate, well I love the crunchy texture and there is no way that can be achieved in a tea so I guess you could say this is the tea equivalent heh.
I think there is cinnamon in here as well, and I do get a shadow of it, but it’s not very strong so if you don’t like cinnamon, I wouldn’t worry much about it.
Anyhow, I don’t think I’ll try it as a true latte, since this was pretty great with just a splash of milk and I loved it just fine like that. However, I am hoping I check this note before making another cup, down the road, because I’d love to try it with that Schnapps! and also almond milk as well.
Happy Friday everyone!!