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Well, this one is gone. It made a pretty tasty cold brew, so I drank it up quickly. Not too sad it’s gone though.

I did finish this cold brew up with a bit of Silk Road because I didn’t have enough leaf, and that one did not make it better. I’m going to have to say a big “no” to all tulsi blends in the future, blech.

I have drank teas lately, but I have not felt inspired to write about them. Finished off some WP samples (that I had reviewed before) but they were so unmemorable (possibly not their faults) that I didn’t feel like writing notes that didn’t say anything about them.

I haven’t had this tea in a while and thought I would revisit. Definitely one of my faves. Anything with DF’s caramel flavoring (and the cute little caramel/toffee blocks that come in the tea) is a hit with me. Also I’m going to be visiting Prague this November, although unfortunately too early for the Christmas market. Can’t wait!

My final sample from Cameron B.! Thanks for all of these. This is another discontinued tea from WP, as the name so clearly indicates.

When this was first brewed and still really hot, there was definitely an overcooked spinach off note to it. Not really pleasant. I didn’t think I would be drinking any of it, but I left it to cool dramatically and came back for a tenative sip later and found that the off flavor had faded and instead there was a definitely creamy floral note to it. It still doesn’t have a great flavor blend, but it’s not as bad as initially feared. Not the best golden lily I’ve had but no one is in danger of buying it, so it’s not really an issue.

Finishing up this tea this morning. Still very fruity, unexpectedly so. I think this morning I did get some more malty notes from this, which helped balance out the fruitiness for me. All and all, tasty, but not really my style. Thanks again for the sample, Cameron!

So I drank the rest of this tea yesterday (thanks again Cameron!). I had a bit less leaf than I would use normally, so I brewed it for 4 minutes instead of 3, also hoping to bring out some more of the vanilla and creaminess.

Nope, just brought out a stronger toasted (almost burned) note. Still reasonably tasty (and once again a hint of vanilla came out at the very end of the cup). I will say that I will probably get another sample of this from WP someday to give it another shot.

The last two teas I have to try from Whispering Pines (again, thanks to Cameron B.) are discontinued, and judging by their response whenever someone reviews them, I think WP would rather they just disappeared all together.

I agree with Tea Sipper who said this doesn’t taste like much. I mean, there was some flavor (mostly scent), and it was kind of nondescript, but it was also weak and completely inoffensive. It kind of reminded me of really weak tea bags I’ve had when there were no other options. Or even the base teas that some companies (not WP) use for flavored blends, that have no interest on their own, they are only there to be the vehicle for the flavor. Nevertheless, I drank the whole cup yesterday. Yup, inoffensive.

I am certainly behind on tasting notes. Well, here is me catching up. They will all be fairly brief!

I just sipped this one down, after drinking it regularly as a cold brew. I actually really liked it as a cold brew! Apparently I never logged it as a hot brew, even though I did have it that way once or twice. In the hot brew, it was over lavender-y, without enough bergamot. I tried another incarnation of this ages ago (in the “Alchemy Blends” days), and it was really similar.

Cold brewed, the lavender tamed itself a bit and it was a better balanced green earl grey. Still not my favorite blend but I had no problem drinking it up.

Another sample! I thought it would be nice to try Dammann’s plain vanilla black tea, since I am used to trying all of their various multi-flavor blends.

Let me tell you, I don’t think I have ever smelled a dry tea leaf that smelled more boozy than this one! It pretty much smells like straight up vanilla extract. INTENSE. The booziness goes mostly away in the steeped tea, and then it just smells like a vanilla bomb. It smells like the tub of Madagascar vanilla beans in my cupboard at home. It also smells like a nice black tea; I can smell their characteristic Ceylon/Chinese base shining through as well.

Once again, I find myself drinking a very tasty cup of tea. Strong, rich vanilla, with an aftertaste like you were just eating vanilla candy. What this one is missing is the super creaminess. I know Fleurilège is a vanilla hazelnut tea, but it is almost more vanilla-y to me than this one because of the creaminess. This one comes out a tiny bit flat. Still, I find it very tasty, lots of sweet vanilla, smooth and tasty base. Glad to have a bit of this one to try!

I wrote about this on the mail thread, but I will copy it here because it was really exciting! From a previous order from Dammann I knew that they usually threw in samples of wrapped sachets of their teas, so this time I went through their wrapped sachet offerings and in the order comments I requested a few of them that might be available. Well they did send me some wrapped sachets, but they also sent me two half-ounce packages of loose tea of two of the samples I had requested (Vanille and Pomme d’Amour). Awesome! Now I know that I can request loose samples from them in the future!

When I requested a sample of this tea, I didn’t realize it was CANDY apple, or else I forgot in the intervening time since I ordered. Then I was looking at the label and seeing that one of the “arômes” contained the word “caramel”, and I got really excited. And I read Ysaurella’s note and got more excited. SO glad I requested a sample of this one!

It smells sooo appley and also has a definite sweet buttery toffee-ish type smell. I really wanted to drink this before it got cool enough. Finally! This is quite delicious. INTENSELY appley. I agree that it comes across as almost a baked apple, where the apple flavor is really intensified. Definitely caramelized sugar and a bit of buttery goodness as well. If I had to pick out one thing I could do without on this tea it’s the maraschino cherry. It is a light note and meshes well enough with the apple that I don’t mind, but I can still get hints of it. Still, this is super tasty and I’m very happy to have a sample!

Yup, this tea. Sooooo glad it’s back in my cupboard as well, and that I have a huge tin of it. It’s actually a tea where the dry smell doesn’t really make my mouth water or call to me (basically just kind of nutty), but once it’s brewed, hold the phone. SO amazingly sweet and vanilla-y. Love it!