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I didn’t have the highest hopes for this one. I mostly bought it for my partner. She likes citrusy, fruity teas, and when I smelled this one, I knew it was for her. When I got home I noticed it had raspberry and citrus in it, and I had just traded away a tea with the same ingredients which was too tart for me, even with sweetener. Oh, great, I thought.

Well, this was a pleasant surprise! As I sip the tea, I taste the raspberry; at the end I get a tiny bite from the citrus, but not too tart. I should admit that I always sweeten my teas. There is a complexity to this blend. It doesn’t taste like raspberry Koolaid. It would be delicious iced. Recommended!

Well, I can taste the maple in this blend, but there is also a malty undertone to it that wasn’t to my taste. I finished the cup, because it was just fine, but I have so many teas I love that this one will probably be swapped or gifted to someone else to enjoy.

When I was at Fava Tea, one of the ladies there told me that this French Breakfast was her favorite blend. I have English, Irish, and Scottish Breakfast at home, so I figured I’d give this one a sniff. Wow! It smelled amazing! I was surprised at the ingredients because I wouldn’t have guessed them at all. I was almost thinking hazelnut. Give me a break, I have a cold. :-)

Once I steeped it, the vanilla scent and flavor is definitely there, but not overpowering, and it is natural. The cherry and pineapple are there as well, but you really have to think about it to get their flavor—they aren’t taking over the black tea at all. The overall effect is quite smooth and pleasing. Recommended for a crisp fall morning.

This tasting note is a combo tasting note from the last three days. My girlfriend and I have been sick. I introduced her to Graveyard Mist and now that’s all that she asks for. Darn it, now I have to share and my stash is going down, down, down…

I am a tea drinker. I drink tea. Not herbals, not rooibos…well, I make exceptions for things like guayasa and mate that have caffeine or caffeine-like substances! Anyway, both my girlfriend and I are sick and have sore throats, and I popped into my new favorite tea shop, Fava Tea, to find something medicinal. This is what was recommended to me.

When I got home and opened the bag, I was dubious. This stuff looks like the substrate from a gerbil cage. The smell reminds me vaguely of Indian food, is it cardamom? I steeped it in boiling water for the recommended 5 minutes and threw in two packets of Splenda. Hmmmm, this stuff isn’t half bad! I like it with the sweetener. It has a nice flavor and coats the throat without feeling too thick. It did work for my sore throat. Licorice haters need not worry; I didn’t get that taste at all. Highly recommended for your winter cold needs!

So I’ve been absent from Steepster for awhile. I have an autoimmune disorder and when I get sick, I get sicky sick. It’s just a reality of life every now and then that I have to disappear. But I’ll always come back! I’m sorry I can’t do a backlog, it’s been too long.

Therefore, I’ll start with this morning’s tea. Bailin Gongfu. I sure was hesitant to try it when I smelled it. It smelled like hay. Then when I brewed it, it smelled like wet hay. What the heck, I thought, my senses might not be all there yet. So I tasted it. Wow! I loved it. My taste in unflavored blacks runs to English Breakfast, which technically is blended, and that’s about it. So this was a revelation. The more I drank, the more I enjoyed it. I’m sorry I couldn’t pinpoint the flavor I was getting with this tea, but it was different. My girlfriend thought it was OK until she sweetened it, and then she liked it a lot more. I had sweetened mine as a matter of course. I was glad it didn’t taste like wet hay though. :-)

It’s great to be back!

Hmmm. This is a nice medium-strength black tea with the exact taste of root beer mixed right in. It was a bit strange to me at first; hot root beer? But as I kept drinking, it started to grow on me. I bet this would be so good as an iced tea latte for a root beer float type of preparation.

I had to buy this because long, long ago I bought Sweet Cranberry Black from Teavana (before I stopped shopping there) and it was one of my go-to teas. This tea from Fava Teas is beyond comparison.

I don’t get the taste of dried cranberries. Not at all. The taste I get is fresh, fruity cranberries with a flavorful black tea. Whenever I drink a tea from Fava I tend to use the word “fresh” at least once but that seems to be the first thing I think when I take a sip. Highly recommended, and I bet it would be wonderful iced.

Ohhh, this is good. The citrus, ginger, and mint are perfectly blended so that none of the flavors overwhelm the other. The citrus flavor grabs you in the beginning of the sip, the fresh ginger comes out in the middle, and there is a lovely mint aftertaste. Ginger and mint are both recommended for upset stomach. Since I had a yucky tummy today, I chose this tea for the evening and I’m glad I did. A fresh, tasty tea.

I’m adding this tasting note long after I actually tasted this. Actually, I traded it away already. I also don’t remember how I steeped this; I’m sure I followed the directions on the label, if there were any.

This tea just wasn’t for me. It was OK, I didn’t want to spit it out or anything, but for some reason I already have like 4 or 5 different mate’s with chocolate in them and this one doesn’t come close to being as good as any one of those. Sorry! It went to a new home and I’m sure it will be appreciated.