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Teabox B! My Red Leaf order arrived today! I couldn’t help it. I needed some filter tea bags anyway because my mesh infuser that I used for the non-expanding rooibos blends just weren’t cutting it… I was getting tiny woodchips messing with my throat. This was the first tea I wanted to try with the new filter bags. They work very well! No tiny woodchips! The nice long flap goes over the side of the cup so it doesn’t sink. Exactly what I wanted!

This tea is a nice rooibos blend. Oranges, peppercorns, chili, coconut, cinnamon. VERY awesome ingredients combo but surprisingly not that spicy. I get the oranges and a bit of coconut. I’ll be saving some of this from the teabox but there will be some left. I’ll be happy drinking a billion more rooibos teas with these filter bags!

Not my kind of chai at all, because of the anise, which is far too prominent a flavour to be ignored. Possibly the chicory root doesn’t help, but I can’t get past the anise to determine that. I’d think this was probably a pretty good chai, if you like the flavours.

Didn’t get a chance to drink it with milk as recommended, will want to try it again. bit weak. brew strong.

Drank this last night. I really didn’t taste much flavor at all. I’m not sure what I did wrong, but next time I will try spicing it up with some of my peppermint, to see where that goes.

I made this one with my latest obsession: Vanilla Bean Infused Honey: http://www.republicoftea.com/vanilla-bean-honey-for-tea-12-oz/p/V00506/

The honey makes what is a very good already tea ridiculously fantastic. The caramel and the honey and the vanilla bean – ah! A splash of milk, too. Just wonderful. So satisfying and real tea-ish. Real dessert tea-ish nonetheless!

I could probably drive myself into the poor house at the rate I would like to consume this vanilla bean honey. Thankfully, I noticed that it’s pretty easy to make:

http://creatingnaturally.com/vanilla-infused-honey/

I made 6 jars of it today — I’ll let you know how it tastes in about a week or two :) I also made one jar with honey, vanilla bean, and a teaspoon of Penzeys cinnamon. I REALLY can’t wait to try that one!

My coworker gave me her pouch of this — she didn’t like it! I am absolutely crazy for it, though. The caramel does such wonderful things with the rooibos base — it adds sweetness, heft, and such a delicious flavor. Authentic caramel and no fake-y drinking a Yankee candle business! A very tea-like caffeine free evening cuppa with a little milk and sugar.

Yet another one of my coworkers is a now a tea drinker! Horray! For her birthday, our department gave her a gift certificate to Premium Steap. Yesterday, she came back from her lunch break with a bag full of wonderment! When she offered me a sample of this tea, I took her up on it. What a terrible greedy gift giver I am!

Anyway – this is DELICIOUS. There are wee squares of caramel in it, need I say more? The rooibos provides richness and backbone, and the caramel is sweet but burnt and really, really good. I prepared it like a regular tea, with a smidge of sugar and a splash of milk, and I thought it tasted very tea like. Certainly better than most of the decafs I’ve had.

This goes on the to-buy list FOR SURE.

I have one tragic bit of news. When I was perusing the Premium Steap site to enter this tisane, I noticed that Emperor’s Red is no longer listed for sale! When I go to the shop I will try and find out the story. I have other teas that I think are very much in the Emperor’s family, but still…

It’s not often, here anyway, that the first semi-conscious thought that follows “I have got to change the stupid radio station on the alarm clock! I can’t stand those guys.” is “Oooh. Need Darjeeling.”

But it was this morning, and this was the DJ of choice. Even with an aged and none-too-carefully stored swappy bag, this is still rich and grape-juicy.

Margaret’s Hope. Isn’t that a nice name? Shades of a young wife standing on her widow’s walk with sea spray blowing in her face waiting for her true love to sail back home…

…which has little do to with this really fine, fruity and grapey Darjeeling. I have maybe just enough (courtesy of the lovely jacquelinem) to try a small pot’s worth chilled, which I’m thinking would be elegantly refreshing.

Overdid on leaf, time, and temp (all three, I’m afraid) and even so, it’s a good and juicy Darjeeling. Just had a touch of bitterness at the end. With a little more attentiveness, this will be grapey and excellent.

I oopsed and attributed this to the wrong company yesterday, will try to retire the wrong note. Previous comments still stand, though; to me, this isn’t nearly as dry and grape-y as many better Darjeelings, but I like the light-and-smooth consistency that doesn’t pucker my tongue.

I’m holding off on rating till I don’t have a sore throat.
Sweet and mildly astringent.

You know what? This might be one of those teas that makes a liar out of me. I like my spicy teas spicy – and that goes especially for chai – no messing around, plenty of ginger and cinnamon – pepper, cloves, I like ‘em. And then I got this one, and it’s so smooth and sweet from the vanilla and cardamom (both favourite flavours, but not without the other spices for chai), and the Assam works so well as a base, with its typical astringency tempered by the vanilla and cardamom, that it’s just a lovely cup of sweetly flavoured tea.

From the here’s hoping tea box

I love both lavender and jasmine. I selected this tea from the teabox because I am always on the lookout for Jasmine or lavender flavors and have never seen them together.

This is a great tea. I am also getting a citrus flavor which is an interesting addition.

The tea is an orangy-tan in the cup. The dry leaves smell GREAT. I love it if this scent came in an air freshener! I am really enjoying this tea and added it to my shopping list!

Just finished this off. I enjoyed this, especially with milk. The coconut added a creamy aspect. However, it was a bit weak for my tastes. I would really like to find a strong coconut chai!

The last time I had this, I accidentally drowned out the flavor with some almond milk. This time I used normal milk and went for a ten minute steep. I really enjoyed this one. It’s a less intense chai, with the coconut adding more creaminess than actual flavor. If you’re wanting a very strong coconut flavor, this probably isn’t the best for you, but otherwise it’s really good.

Another from my TTB.
Yesterday while shopping my mom and I found some unsweetened coconut vanilla almond milk. It just sounded so interesting that we had to get it and try it.

I thought it might be interesting to try it in a coconut flavored tea. I put it in this tea. Without sugar, it tastes like peanuts. With sugar, the milk flavor masks the taste of the tea, so I’m not even able to remark on the flavors of the tea! I can taste the almond flavor now, with some vanilla sweetness. This doesn’t add to the tea flavor like I was hoping, but instead seems to completely dominate the flavor. I’ll try the tea itself another time, perhaps with normal milk so I can actually give it a proper review!

ETA: One thing I found interesting was the steep time. The person who contributed this tea wrote a recommended time of 10 minutes, which just seems like waaaaay to much for this tea. I decided to give it a try anyway, but since I couldn’t taste the tea, it didn’t really matter.

I cold brewed this one last night. I’m not a huge green tea person, but I love this sencha. I love it best cold because it’s an amazing thirst quencher. There is a smooth buttery note from the green tea, and a floral note that is strong but not overwhelming. Yum. I’m going to have to pick up some more of this one. I think it is going to be one of my go-to iced teas again this summer.

I probably shouldn’t be drinking caffeinated drinks right now, but this one was calling to me. I’m going to have to try some other Senchas because this one is quickly becoming one of my favorite green teas. It’s so light and clean yet full of flavor. Oh yeah, I like.

Bumping my rating up on this one.

Tea of the night. I just realized this is my third green tea today which is almost unheard of for me. I’ve enjoyed each one, so maybe I’m finally starting to warm up to green teas.

This tea smells sweetly floral. The tea has a brothy feel, but the taste is a bit cleaner with light hints of cherry and rose. The rose comes to the foreground as the tea cools, and almost all of the cherry is lost. That’s kind of a bummer because it’s a good cherry flavor. Nothing artificial or gummy tasting. I’m picking up some grassier notes from the tea which is really nice with the floral flavor. Wow. Good stuff.

All in all a lovely cup. I know I enjoyed cold brewing it during the summer, but this is much better hot than I remember. I’m glad I revisited it.

Cold brewed this again. It’s really nice. Wonderfully smooth and clean. The rose flavor is very light this time, but I like that it gives the sencha a chance to shine. It’s perfect for a hot day like today.

This tea is lovely cold brewed. The base tea is crisp and light which blends well with the rose flavor. There is a hint of cherry, but it’s subtle. Overall, it’s a wonderfully delicate tea. I can see this being a hit at a summer tea or garden party.

Upping the rating a bit.