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PEPPERCORNS. Hello peppercorns! Yes, I like you too, would you mind settling down for a bit so I can see what else is in there? No? Ah.

When I work at it, I can tell there’s ginger in there. I can smell the anise and the licorice, but I can only taste them in the aftertaste – or, interestingly, once my mug has gone cold. In the full flush heat of the initial sip, I cannot. Fortunately, they are subtle enough to sneak past the peppercorns – did I mention peppercorns? – to add body to the tea without me noticing it. But when this tea is hot, mostly what I notice is red and black are having a nice big argument in my mug over which one of them is Queen of Most Pepperiness. :-)

I don’t mind – I wouldn’t have bought this tea if I did not like pepper, and also, the tea is not heat-spicy, it has the flavor of pepper with no burn to it. I bought this as a sample to split with a friend, and I will probably buy a small container of it to keep on the “every so often” shelf. In the future, I might cut it with a little extra ceylon to give it some low notes – the pepper is hot and high enough that I’m missing the umame of my normal tea flavors. Or maybe I’ll just keep it as is, and only have it on days when I want a hot thin tea.

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Edited to add: Oof. OK, this tea is quite tasty, but those peppercorns are a lot fiercer than they let on – this is a tea to drink in small pots, not my usual 24 ounce monsters. Because otherwise, you’re putting a lot of pepper oils into your stomach all at once, and the result can be moderately painful. (Oops. :)

First attempt: tried it straight, brewing 14g for five minutes in the same 24 ounce pot I usually brew my black tea in. It smells fabulous and…doesn’t have much of a taste. That’s frustrating. I would like to try brewing it stronger, possibly with some decaf tea leaves mixed in for body, but right now, this hasn’t made much of an impression on me – which is a shame because it should be full of the flavors I love. I’ll try again.

I love coconut. This tea, while perfectly adequate, is insufficiently coconutty for my preferences. (Alas. My quest for the perfect – available! – coconut tea continues.) There is definitely some coconut in there; I could taste it. But it wasn’t sufficiently full-mouth-feel for me.

Like most Upton Teas, I had no problems with this one, and like most Upton Teas, it was sufficiently indistinguishable from other teas that I probably won’t buy it again. Nothing wrong with it, just not right for me. The quest continues.

I got a sample of this tea along with many others, and forgot how much I enjoy it. The cinnamon flavor is pronounced but not overpowering, and while the fig isn’t strongly figgy (possibly that’s because I associate “fig” with “crunching seeds between my teeth” instead of “drinking a pleasant tea”) it does a fine job of being a fruit undertone that lends a depth to the flavor of the cinnamon that can otherwise be lacking. (I’m looking at you, overpowered chais.)

I would probably buy this again and keep it on the shelf of “occasional” teas, if it were still available. Oh well.

The pineapple is very pronounced in this one, and there are heavy overtones of citrusy-flavor in here – I expect that’s the passion-fruit. I find I’m not enjoying this one particularly, though I’m sure that someone who likes the more tropical fruits would likely do so. The acidic mouth-feel of it is not to my taste, and while it didn’t curdle with my usual splash of milk in it, I suspect this is a tea that would do better with a little bit of lemon and perhaps a touch of honey. Since I got it as a free sample along with a bunch of my usual favorites from T&A, I’m not going to test this hypothesis, however.

No recommendation on this one – if you like tropical, you’ll probably like it? But if you don’t, you probably won’t.

I adore this tea. I am so sad I cannot get it anymore. It is the most coconutty of chais I’ve ever drunk, and I really, really like coconut. When my last tea bag is gone, I will lament.

This is my go-to Decaf Assam, and it keeps going out of stock which is thoroughly infuriating. It’s nicely malty, and I keep around for when I want my basic standard cup of tea that won’t distract me from what I’m doing, and won’t leave a cloying taste in my mouth. Takes milk nicely.

I love rose tea, I love almond tea, I thought the two together would be excellent – and they were fine, but didn’t manage to transport me to the flights of happiness I was expecting. Perhaps I was expecting too much of this tea? :-) I did not regret buying a tin of this at all, and it was thoroughly enjoyable while I had it, but I don’t feel the need to purchase more.

(I drink T&A’s Starry Night for my coconut/almond tea addiction, and I mix my own rose tea at this point, so yes, I was probably expecting too much of this tea.)

Meh.

I like coffee, do not get me wrong, but when I want to drink tea, I want tea, not coffee. I found the coffee beans in this tea completely overpowered all the other flavors in there. I kept trying it, hoping milk or different brewing times would change it, but I couldn’t ever find the other notes that were supposed to be in there, except possibly the occasional hint of cocoa. The tea was completely lost. I will not be buying this one again.

I really liked the banana-coconut combination, but I’m a sucker for coconut teas. I quite enjoyed this one while I had it, but it did not win a place on the “keep in constant availability” shelf. I would happily drink it again if served it however.