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The one thing about being a tea junkie … you turn into the dumping ground (ahem! recipient!) of all kinds of teas that co-workers and non-teaists don’t drink. In this case, some little packets of gift basket teas that evidently were part of a Hickory Farms goodie assortment.

This isn’t bad; the vanilla flavor is strong enough to counter the fact that the tea itself is a meh no-name black tea. A little creamer next time will probably make it palatable for office use.

By not overdoing on the dry leaf and keeping steep time on the shortish side, I’m getting both the chocolate and strawberry flavors (which seem to be missing, one or the other, in other reviews). Suddenly I’m craving Russell Stover fruit cream chocolates…

Bigelow has done a good job of capturing the sweet-n-toasted taste of a traditional oolong in a bag. Convenient for work or travel.

It’s taken me several times to find the sweet spot for this one - it’s a “no kidding I mean don’t put boiling water on the leaves” green. But at just a couple minutes with gently heated water, this actually does turn into a nice, sweet Assam lite.

I’m tired of winter already and needed something with a springy lilt to it. This did the trick. I wasn’t careful with water temp; let it get to a boil, so that may have killed off a little bit of the delicacy. Got lots of mango and not much peach. But still a well-done blend for a grocery store brand.

This one’s due for full review at itsallabouttheleaf.com, but a good quality morning tea that will merit full descriptive paragraphs. (Some companies, I think, dump in a blend of meh black tea and call it English Breakfast for window dressing.)

Another treat from laurenpressley. This is capital Y Yummy—the almonds and vanilla give the green tea a really nice sweetness. None of these flavors I particularly associate with “holiday,” but all the better for me. It’s going to be enjoyable long after I get the Christmas tree needles vacuumed up this afternoon.

Tossed in a spoonful of lavender, which tones down the lemon-mint tang, but makes this downright pleasant and aromatherapeutic.

A nice surprise … left the bag in longer than usual while schlepping around getting ready for work, and the resulting brew was dark and fruity tasting—a little currant-y even. Which made me wonder first if I’d actually remembered to wash out my tumbler and I was getting previous-cup residue. Nope.

So the resulting taste treat made up for the “meh” quote on the bag tag this time: Read books. They’re good for us.