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My husband picked this sample out. Too bad I’m catching a cold and couldn’t really taste it. Seemed like an average orange/cinnamon rooibos, but my tastebuds are off.

So we’ve never tried this cold brewed, and I thought that I’d give that a go. I’ve actually never done a black tea cold brewed (just tisanes) so I had no idea how long to brew it for. I stuck it in the fridge and every so often we’d taste it.

It went from “not strong enough” to “OMG, something is WRONG with this!” in between two tastings. I think the lemon got stronger than the english breakfast and threw the balance off. If I was going to do it again, I would go lighter on the lemon, but I don’t think I’m going to do it again.

I’ve had a smoky russian tea before, and didn’t like it, but after hearing about trying it with jam, I was curious. When we stopped in Capital Teas we did get a chance to talk to a lady originally from Russia and she recommended that we try raspberry and black currant in the tea.

So. I’ve been nervous about trying it, since I’ve tried it before and didn’t like it, but this morning I blithely told my husband to pick whatever he wanted. That’s what he picked.

Well, he seems to like it (but he put a LOT of jam in his cup – about 6 to 8 oz of tea and 2 heaping spoons of jam).

I took one sip and gagged. It’s a unique flavor. The jam mellows the smoke, but the smoke is still there and I don’t like the smoke and fruit flavors at the same time. It’s just too weird for me.

Anyway, I tried it!

I received my Leafspa order yesterday, so brought this one and the passionfruit into the office.

Prepared hot and unsweetened, I’m getting that bitter unpleasant “flavoring” flavor that I dislike. I should have payed closer attention to the ingredients. Adding splenda smooths it out and gives it a more fruit flavor. It’s a mild fruit, but I can’t for sure identify it as “pear” or “apple” or anything. I’ll take it back home and try this as an iced tea.

Yummy.

I’m working my way through some samples and swaps, so dumped this into my cup before reading the ingredients. BRILLIANT IDEA! One of the ingredients is valerian root. I have too much to do before bed (like, a whole day worth of stuff!) so hopefully it won’t make me sleepy.

Also, in general I don’t like chamomile or rose petals.

There’s a bunch of little tiny rooibos looking things that got through my filter and into my cup when I brewed it (but there’s no rooibos; I’m not sure what it is, but there are several ingredients here that I’m not familiar with). I use a SUPER FINE filter, so I’m surprised that stuff got through. A ceramic filter would be a disaster with this tea.

The aroma is like chamomile, but when I breathe deep while sipping, I get a bit of wet sock. Ewww.

The first taste to hit my tongue is the dreaded chamomile, but the aftertaste is a sweet, sourish floral. If the entire tea tasted like the aftertaste, I think I’d like it, but the chamomile and wet sock odor is making it difficult to enjoy.

I may not finish this cup. We’ll see.

The first few sips just tasted like a regular black tea, but the longer I let it linger in my mouth the more the unique flavors of it come out. It’s a little malty, but not unpleasantly so (I don’t like malt!). It’s just a hint of malt.

This is a unique experiment for me (I usually either drink breakfast blacks or flavored) and it’s interesting. I don’t like it enough to buy it (it was a free sample), but I’m glad I tried it.

I’m developing a migraine and chugging coffee didn’t have any affect. There’s no caffiene in this, but it’s calming and comforting (and easy to make) so I feel better (mentally anyway!).

Not rating it yet, because I’m not sure.

I was very excited about this one. It’s tied in cute little bows, so adorable! and it smells fantastically jasmine-y. The shop lady said it’s her favorite jasmine… along with H&S. Which, I’m not fond of.

I didn’t measure the amount of tea, take the water temperature, or time the brewing, and now I wish I had. It’s bitter. I’m on the second steep and it’s still bitter. It has a bitter aftertaste.

It still (even on the second steep) has a delightful jasmine smell, just a bitter taste. And the taste reminds me more of an oolong than a green, so I’m not sure what the base is (I have no ingredients list, either on the packaging or on the website).

The leaves, now that they’ve uncurled, remind me of a mu tan white, but the flavor isn’t that at all (thank goodness, because I really don’t like that). I don’t know what the base is at all.

I’m going to have to try this again under more controlled conditions and see if it’ll come out better. Right now it’s definitely not worth the expense.

(backlogging)

Nathaniel and I went to St. Michael’s, MD for a wine festival this past weekend, and we stayed at a cute B&B, Five Gables Inn. They had hot water and RoT teas available during the day, and after walking around town all day I decided to grab a cup and soak in the huge bathtub.

The pomegranate flavor completely overwhelmed the green tea flavor. The worst part was that the flavoring had a false note, so it wasn’t even a pleasant cup of fruity (not-green) tea.