SereneTeaz

A delightful, safe tea. Citrus and a bit of spice seem to make up most of the taste. Easy to drink quick…but not bland.

I have to say I really enjoy genmaichas generally and this is not a disappointment . :-D Very lovely rice and popped rice along with the green tea. Yummy-licious! It’s such a nice smooth tea. It makes a nice change from the teas I have been drinking lately.

I steeped it a bit longer than recommended because it seemed weak when I took a sample sip.

I received this tea from Carol Who in a Christmas card – or this is most likely the tea that I received. It has a lovely smell that permeates the bag, though for some reason everything smells like licorice today. It could be because of the cold I’m getting. Steeping the tea makes it smell like a ginger cookie. It smells so sweet. I like that ginger has this natural sweetness to it, with just a bit of spice. I’m new to spiced teas. I haven’t really tried boiling spiced teas with milk yet, but I think I’ll get around to it. It might be good in warmed apple juice. I should figure out how to do that – maybe I could boil/simmer the tea in apple juice. I wish there was more ginger. I like that the ginger and citrus work well together. At least, that is what I’m tasting right now. Next time I’ll try it with milk to see how that adds or detracts from the flavor.

I went to SereneTeaz yesterday for Small Business Saturday. I got some of this based on the scent. Love coffee, love creaminess, love chocolate , what could go wrong. Nothing! This is wonderful! I added a bit of stevia. Flavors meld well and give all the good things about a nice latte without the calories. Obviously its not going to be as creamy as a real latte, but it comes close.
It is a lot like JavaMate by Teavana without the mate. I tend to go overboard on mates (I REALLY LOVE THEM) so cutting back the caffeine a bit is good for me. It’s also cheaper than the Teavana version.

I’ve tried it a couple times. I keep thinking from the spices it going to be like a chai but then there is the lavender. The lavender overwhelms the other flavors. I actually had to toss it out. You may have guessed lavender is on my list of evil flavors.

“I want to be the very best like no one ever was! To drink them is my real quest to review them is my cause!”…Could you imagine pokeballs filled with every single tea on this planet?? Oh my goodness. :D….so I got two packages yesterday one from the amazing Ost and one from the lovely Carol Who.. so I proceeded to google over my new tea samples and dance about my apartment gleefully singing this song. Anyways…on to the tea!

Even though summer has just recently ended, life makes it appear as a long lost memory. This tea is magical, though. It scours your brain and pulls the taste and smell memories from the far reaches of your hippocampus and amygdala and evokes the memories of summertime once again. The pineapple in this tea is sweet and prevalent. But as you finish out the sip you get the oh so delicious taste of coconut. The coconut in this tea starts out tasting fresh and juicy but as the sip finishes out, the coconut flavor is a bit artificial. This is definitely a summertime tea and I would love to try it iced sometime.

Thank you so much, Carol Who!^.^

I went out to get a few more teas to add to the Santea Claus TTB. Now, of course, I have to try them. Darn… what a terrible thing to have to do:D

While I taste the pecans and almonds, I’m not really tasting the pie part of it. It is still very enjoyable. I taste a bit of caramel which brings the pecan pie together. The rooibos doesn’t bother me like it bothers some others and I don’t think it is overwhelming. Since it’s a nice summer-y day it’s hard to picture but I think this will be really be good as the fall and holiday season approaches!

Herbal Traveling Tea Box

This is tasty. It’s chocolate-y and hazelnutty, but not overwhelmingly hazelnut. I can do it in small doses (and with chocolate, ohh Ferrero Rocher… Mmmm) but I wouldn’t eat a handful on their own. Anyway, I’m glad I tried this one but I’m not sure it’s one I would go out of my way to find or keep in my cupboard.

I did add a touch of sweetener for those wondering to really bring out the chocolate.

Herbal Traveling Tea Box

Today was hiking Sunday! :D Today we went on a long, gorgeous hike that had nine separate waterfalls… man, do I love Washington. Hiking through the extravagantly green old growth forest and listening to the rivers rush is most certainly serene. I picked this tea to start out my last bit of the Herbal Traveling Tea Box marathon because I knew that it would continue that serene feeling… and it does!^.^

This tea is really quite light with a taste of fennel and cardamon. It is odd for me to have the flavor of fennel in a tea instead of a soup, but this tea does it nicely. The aftertaste has a little bit of a cooling effect for me. I don’t know why it does this but it is sure fun! :D A delicious light tea for those serene days—or maybe those days where you need serenity. :]

Herbal Traveling Tea Box — Backlog

Okay, guys, I don’t like chocolate. Not in the least bit. So I saw this tea sitting in the TTB.. I didn’t see any chunks of chocolate and my curiosity kept getting to me.. Finally, I thought, “when is the next time that I will have the opportunity to try this tea?” So I caved. I’m glad that I did:]
This tea is pretty darn good. I’m sure chocolate lovers would love this tea even more. It doesn’t taste too strongly of rooibos, too:] Just a tasty cup of tea:]

Herbal Traveling Tea Box

My first sip in on this tea, I was not a fan. But the more that I drink it, the more amazing that it becomes. It tastes very heavily of lavender which is an odd flavor for me to encounter in a tea.. but just like when it is in sachets, it is very calming. This is perfect. Tons of people are coming over to my house today as my cousins from Texas are here… so we are throwing a party. I don’t like parties >.< There are too many people in a room at one time. No me gusta. Makes me just want to hide upstairs and lock my doors and never come out:P tehehe…oh, well.

I went to the opening night of a musical that my friend wrote tonight; it was about a zombie-human love story. So funny! Then we went out for some beers. Now I’m home and NEED TEA. Or tisane. You know what I mean lol. This tea smells DIVINE (translation: like chocolate). At first sip, there is a weird artificial taste that also kind of tastes like nothing. It’s hard to describe. The chocolate only comes out to play after the sip is done. BRB, adding splenda to try to coax the chocolate out sooner. OK, yes that totally turns this around. Now it’s super milk chocolately goodness with no wood chip rooibos taste! Thank you carol who for this and all the other caffeine-free options you sent! That’s an area of my cupboard that I really need to expand.

This tasted very lemony, orange and zesty to me. Was worth a try and some others may really enjoy it. The bag smelled very nice and the leaves looked like confetti potpourri.

Backlog. Another sample from Carol!

This is the first green tea that I have tried. I am not sure if I made it right. How do you know what temperature your water is? To me this one tasted like grass mixed with a little bitterness does that mean I brewed it too hot? It did have a little side flavor that smelled good, so I would be willing to try it agin, if it was just brewed to hot.

Thanks carol who for the sample!

This tea wasn’t bad, but the two different times I drank it, it tastes completely different. The first was nice, but not memorable. The second I had to toss. It was overwhelmingly bitter. I think since I have such a small sample size of it, different amounts of the ingredients are in each cup, which makes a huge difference.

Bummer this is my 100th tasting note!

Thanks to carol who for this one! I meant to try it before but it somehow got lost in my pile of samples. I do like the cherry flavor in this blend but I’m not really sure about the combination of black tea and rooibos. I’m kind of wishing for one or the other. The vanilla flavor is peeking out as well and was helped along by a dash of vanilla soymilk. Overall this is pretty good and I’m glad I got the chance to try it.

T&C TTB#19: I kind of like this one. Not sure I’d keep it around and I don’t notice any rose, lavender or jasmine but it was a pleasant cup. The spices are somewhat mild. I wonder if I’d like it with a touch more sugar. I used about 2 teaspoons for a 16 ounce cup and I steeped with about 4 ounces of half and half as well as water.

T&C TTB#1: So, I couldn’t resist. I found myself with a couple of hours where I could drink tea! I started with this one. I thought I’d try these teas without looking to see what was expected of them first. :)

When I opened the package I thought I smelled red rooibos, despite the package saying black. And yes, I was right. It smells cherry, despite having that medicinal smell from the rooibos. But in the end, to me, it tastes like cherry medicine. Nope, red rooibos blends are not for me! But it was nice to have the opportunity to try some again to see if my tastes have changed! :)

Carol Who was so kind to send some of this in a swap. I don’t think I’ve had a cherry tea before, so I was really interested in how this would taste.
The smell of the leaf had a bit of the tangy medicinal thing going on, but in an interesting way.
Tasting it, I felt that the flavour was a bit on the artificial syrup side, with the rooibos only enforcing it…. as I sipped, though, that all mellowed out, and I began to really like this cup of tea. It was comforting and so different from anything in my tea drawer.
I resteeped it, and while the cup wasn’t as strong, which was completely expected, it was still a really pleasant cup.
Thanks so much for such a different cup of tea, Carol Who :)

T&C TTB

Elegant. This tea has light floral and fruity flavors plus a nice rose oil aroma. The green tea base is like a whisper in the background.

My daughter took a sip and said that the name and flavor of the tea made her think of a Doctor Who episode – “Angels Take Manhattan.”

Thank you for sharing this in the TTB CarolWho !

T&C TTB
A Rooibos tea with a strong flowery, almost perfume-like, flavor at first sip. Adding a sweetener makes the delicate perfume taste linger longer and it makes me feel like I’m drinking Eau de toilette.

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.