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This one delivers—when I am in the mood for a punchy black base with orange notes carried on intense vanilla. It reminds me of some of the Cream of Earl Grey teas out there, but, to my taste, way better than most of the competition.

I really enjoy this one when I have a taste for it. I don’t often crave this tea, but when I do, there’s just nothing like it. This will always have a place in my tea cupboard, even if it is only a few teabag packets. MLT packages the individual tea bags nicely, and the scent and flavours last forever.

I think this was one of my very first favourites when I lurched into tea fever less than a year ago.

Like most of DT white tea blends, the white tea is nominal, the barest flavouring agent. The rest is whole mulberries, fat coconut slices, and vanilla-like flavour. Gentle. Sweet. Delicious.

I don’t bother straining this tea. I just scoop the leaf directly into my tea glass and eat the mulberries later.

The problem, of course, with this tea is that it is heavy and expensive. So, it is a costly addiction.

It’s a good one to pick up with frequent steeper points if you have tired of other options.

Having been disappointed with my tea selection yesterday when craving a strong kick in the pants kind of tea, I made up for it today with this one. Such fab malty goodness with the occasional sweet note. Even more chocolatey notes are coming up now that I gave the leaf more of a shake in the bag. Even a bit of fig, although it doesn’t appear to contain any.

Inspired by the suggestion of a strong kick in the pants kind of tea, I reached for this one as Mighty Leaf black blends tend to have a robust black supporting the rest of the event. Well, not so much this one, as it happens.

The dry leaf appears to be mostly fruit and spice and not much tea: much different from the image here. It smells heavenly though.

My first few cups of this were straight up black and unsweetened. Strong cinnamon with a hint of star anise with generic fruit in the background.

I popped around the shops to try the second batch sweetened with honey with milk. More or less the same flavours with more complexity this time as I had gone a bit heavier on the leaf the second time. Nice.

I get the impression that flavours will vary depending on the leaf you have in the tea scoop. The fruit and spice pieces are rather large.

Very much a chai type blend. Perfect for a cold winter day.

I am adding the Mighty Leaf description and ingredient list of the Holiday Blend 2015 that I am drinking. Very much different from the tea described here on Steepster.

Holiday is a festive blend of Chinese black tea with cranberry, orange, papaya, apple, peach and spices. At once sweet and hearty, this tea is the ideal accompaniment to a joyous gathering of family and friends.

4 oz. loose tea in bag

Ingredients

Black Teas, Cranberry Fruit, Orange Peel, Apple Fruit, Papaya Fruit, Peach Fruit, Almond, Cinnamon, Rosehips, Rose Petals, Cornflower and natural flavoring of Cinnamon Orange Spice

It is so incredibly cold out there today. Even when the sun is shining.

I’ve been home for a couple of hours now, and my thighs are still defrosting from the deep chill. On the way home, I picked up a teeny tiny thing of milk so that I could coddle myself with teatime. Normally, I drink my tea black and unsweetened, and I rate teas based on their black and unsweetened flavours.

The milk and honey is a big treat. It works so well with flannel pyjamas and the prospect of clean flannel sheets to crawl into when I become drowsy.

That said, milk and honey, even when the tea is strong, sort of make all dessert teas taste kind of the same, give or take a spice or two.

When I tried this tea black and unsweetened, I was quite disappointed. I had been looking forward to a richness that this particular tea lacks. It does have a bit of sweetness and a bit of nuttiness and a bit of caramel, sort of. But it is mostly like an echo of these flavours.

With milk and honey, delicious. But I would like more from it when it stands by itself.

This tea is fine. A mild flavoured rooibos that reminds me vaguely of DT Birthday Cake with the slightest bit of maple and coconut.

I am not quite sure whether the maple is really there or whether it was absorbed from other teas in transit. This is from the batch of teas that spent a lot of time packaged up together.

I like it, and I will drink it. But I won’t need to order it again. Especially with the sad state of cross-border shopping from this side of the border.

It’s a rare moment for me to have milk at home. And then, for me to add that milk to my tea. And then, for me to add a heaping spoon of local honey to my tea as well.

Anyway, I did all that and I can tell you that it is a beautiful thing which was created in my tea cup.

It is almost unfair to drink a chai black and unsweetened. This cup may just be the beginning of a new destiny for my remaining chai blends.

I just hiked my rating of this tea up to 90 from 80 because this spice medley and tea base is exactly what I want from a chai spice mix. Beautiful balance.

This tea reminds me a bit of Citrus Camomile by Mighty Leaf, although this one does not contain camomile.

This is the second bamboo leaf tea that I’ve tried. Wonderful. I get the impression that bamboo imparts a flavour similar to camomile although I can’t be certain as I haven’t tried bamboo tea straight up.

Apparently bamboo tea contains dietary fibre which aids the digestive and cleansing systems of the body. In addition, bamboo is thought to be beneficial to bone, hair, and skin health. Can’t hurt.

Such a pleasant evening tea.

Strawberry week continues. I woke up thinking strawberry black tea. What could I do?

Frisky strawberry top note, which varies from spot on strawberry to slightly false. The slightest touch of something green-tasting grounding it a bit, and then the black tea base.

I am not getting the creaminess. Not really.

The tea base is fine. Not particularly remarkable but fitting to the layered flavours. With flavoured black teas, especially with ones with fairly delicate flavours such as strawberry, I aspire to steeping closer to two minutes, which often turns into three. To my mind, that gives up the best flavour that the tea has to offer. More than that and it’s not a happy story.

The first time I tried this tea, I really enjoyed it. More so than today although I am enjoying this cup and will enjoy the second steep as well.

My point here is that I don’t think it is wise to drink different strawberry teas day after day. It becomes difficult to focus on the particular tea and evaluate it for what it is. Perhaps one’s tastebuds become jaded. Perhaps it is just time to move on and change things up a bit to appreciate what you have in your cup.

Second steeping. I think I may even enjoy this one more. The flavours have interacted more. The strawberry seems a bit more pronounced, with the imitation hint disappearing completely. It even seems a bit more creamy. Yay.

This was one of my very favourites and maybe still is if I do not drink strawberry tea every single day like I have been doing.

If it were just based on today’s experience, having had four cups of this—two steepings times two, I would lower the rating a bit. I may have under leafed the first two cups. However, the second batch had strawberries and an appropriate amount of dry leaf. A note of cinnamon crept into my cups that I hadn’t noticed before. Or am I dreaming this up?

The tea just seemed less divine than it did before. The scent of my teacup is just as intoxicating as before. The taste is still good. It just, I don’t know, tastes less creamy than I remember it being. Less vanilla. Less strawberry than I remember.

What is up with that?