Let's Steep

This is not too Jasmine-y, which was fine with me. During the week I usually drink my loose-leaf from a Libre Tea glass, so everything gets over-steeped at some point in my day. That said, it was not too bitter.

This is the last of my Let’s Steep teas for now. Hopefully not for long, but I am realizing I have to be a bit more diligent about my no buy. After my Marshall’s tea insanity today, and my intention to do one last Butiki order to be stocked up on what I want to be able to taste before they close their doors, I have more tea than I expected. 90 “full” size teas (1oz or more) and 80 samples (less than 1oz) worth, to be exact. I wish steepster would allow for logging of amounts of teas. I feel like poundage would give an even better estimation. I have 16oz of one tea. 8oz of another. Mostly 1-2oz though.

Anyway, with all that, and my goal to make all of my tea comfortably fit in my cupboards the way I want (small samples box, iced teas on top shelf and hot on the bottom), with only boxes of sipdown samples living outside of it in easy reach, I need to control myself a bit better.

This tea is very, very good. I was expecting it to be sour, and it really wasn’t. It wasn’t as flavor packed as some of the others, but I thought it worked better that way here. Orange can be so overpowering, but here it just made the white base very juicy tasting. I drank it hot, but it would be amazing iced.

This one wasn’t so much my cup of tea. It was strong, and there was definite chocolate and mint flavors, but the puerh was just a hair barnyard-y. I think this would have worked better with black tea as the base. However, I don’t love chocolate in teas for the most part. I am sure others who do would enjoy this.

This stuff is remarkable. Like the other blends from this company, this one is heavily flavored, but in a good way. The vanilla is strong, as is the bergamot, and I added a little lavender infused honey to the mix and even with a hefty dose of almond milk this was incredibly fragrant.

I am supposed to be working on reducing the overall amount of tea I have. I don’t think I am succeeding…but I don’t really care, haha. This company just opened their Christkindlmarkt location in Bethlehem for the season, and I will most definitely be getting more of this.

This is delicious. I love the pairing of fruit with mint. A fairly recent love of mine is making mint lemonade, and lavender mint lemonade, in the summer. This tea gives similar exotic flavor. I am sure I’d love it iced, but am enjoying it hot on this really cold day. I finally caved and turned on my heat, and am currently waiting for it to kick up for the first time this year while I cuddle under a blanket and imagine myself someplace tropical…

The teas by this company, at least the flavored ones, are strongly flavored. It doesn’t taste artificial, I rather like that I know what I am drinking. It will be interesting to taste some of the non flavored teas. This one is as it says. Tasty, but I think I would prefer it iced.

I agree with the description when it says this is lightly spiced. People who prefer a subtle spice, not red hots like me, will love this. I actually like this a lot despite the lack of candy cinnamon flavor because it is light but not weak in flavor. Definitely tastes like Christmas. At least Christmas from an agnostic former-Jew’s perspective.

This one was exciting for me, because I haven’t had much opportunity to taste prickly pear things, except a jelly candy type thing I got out west that I loved. This, sadly, was not my favorite. It tasted great…just not like anything beyond a slightly tropical berry flavor thanks to the hibiscus and rose hips. Sour, fruity, great iced. But not great for what it advertises as being.

I have really high hopes for all teas that have a spicy, cinnamon component. This one was good, but didn’t quite hold up. I admit that when it comes to cinnamon, I have no use for subtlety. I love the teas that taste like red hots. This one was a totally different flavor. Apple was definitely the primary flavor and it was tasty. The cinnamon was more of a hint. I do think it needs just a tiny bit more cinnamon to truly be “apple pie” esque, but it was pretty good.

Upon discovering this stand at Baconfest, I forced myself only to grab the samples of things that seemed a bit more unusual. And definitely things that I haven’t tasted. This one caught my eye because I love gunpowder tea – I think the texture is so cool to look at both dry and unfurling, and even to touch. I have never had a flavored version.

This is really tasty – it definitely does have citrussy, fruity flavor, but you can also taste the green tea. It is dry enough that I actually do think a splash of liquor would be pretty good in this. Not an idea I think of often when it comes to tea. Bonus, it resteeps pretty well.

I found this company when I was at Baconfest this weekend in Easton. I had no idea they existed, and even though a buck for a sample is rather steep, I got a couple freebies for buying 10 to try. There were a lot of interesting flavors to try, and this one leaves me very hopeful, and feeling like I will be needing to stop by the shop in Quakertown before too long.

This one is super dessert-y. I taste strong vanilla and mint, with just a hint of fruit that is obviously raspberry. It isn’t chocolately but it almost has that vibe. I can barely taste the green tea, but in this I find that pretty interesting. It has a lightness that goes well with the mint. I really like it and am seriously looking forward to the other blends.