Michelle select Send Message

Malty and strong, without being overly astringent. This is my go-to when I want black tea iced. Drinking right now – three tsp/8oz, iced with a bit of whole milk. Super creamy, very rich. Definitely not a high quality tea, not something I’ll drink straight, but it’s good like this!

I swear, I didn’t think I would like this when I first bought it. Because really… Citrus, lavender and sage? But it’s actually really good. The citrus is a bright counterpoint to the more herby lavender and sage. I’m drinking it iced right now with some dehydrated raspberries, oranges and strawberries thrown in, and it’s just to die for.

I have to admit, one of the good things about being home is getting to raid my dad’s tea – my dad, who got tricked by the Teavana employees into buying lots of tea… XD
And, seeing as I can’t justify the price of this tea myself, I’m just drinking his! (he said I could. And he can drink whatever of mine he wants haha)

Smooth and a little flowery on a first steep, and then on a second steep, the butter comes out. It’s not my favorite. I don’t love it. But I will definitely drink it as long as its around!

Backlogging from a couple of days ago. I really don’t like being home. I have nothing to do so I drive around for hours and go to different coffee shops. Sometimes I’ll hit up the Starbucks in my town, drive for a couple hours, finish my drink, and stop at another one three towns over. I’m bored. I’m so, so bored.

But. Saw someone drank this on here, decided to try it.

Ick. Maybe I need to try it again, but I couldn’t handle this. It was like a wash of sweet sugar syrup at first, followed by the matcha – all vegetal and seaweed-like. I could see drinking the matcha on its own, I could see drinking the frappuccino on its own, but together… Just a sickly sweet, syrupy mess.

Backlog from earlier today/yesterday – I’ve drank it a lot lately. I spent this afternoon driving around the countryside, around Concord and Lexington – they’re full of old fields and historical markers blocking off stone-walked pastures. I haven’t beet here in so long – used to go walk around the Old North Bridge all the time as a kid, but I never cared about the history then. (The first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired across the bridge.) I’m not huge on history, but it’s beautiful country – all green and clean-scented, narrow roads and old wooden fences and weathered houses sitting on hills overlooking rolling fields bounded by stone walls.

Sorry.

Why do you read these? I just ramble. On to the tea.

I’ve had this a few time sover the past few days. The first time I tried it, last year or something, I didn’t understand about green teas and oversleeping and all. So obviously I didn’t like it much, but I do now. Not sure exactly on the temp/time details – just steeped the cup at Starbucks until it tasted good, and then pulled out the pyramid bag. Maybe 2 minutes or so?

It’s light and clean and grassy. I think I definitely have a preference floor Chinese greens, because even when they’re vegetal like this, they don’t seem to venture into spinich/seaweed territory, like some of the Japanese ones do. Also, it’s a lot cheaper ($2.30) for a grande versus $4something for a latte… Although I do like lattes, and followed this with a caramel macchiato… It was a marathon writing session.

So now that I’ve talked for about a sentence about the tea, and six paragraphs about other stuff, feel free to unfollow me :)

Received this in sample form from Adagio. Didn’t love it the first time I tried it – that was hot, steeped 9+ minutes because I forgot about it… This, I’ve iced with a bit of sugar and added a splash of seltzer for a little fizz. It’s good. Not something I want to buy – the hibiscus is a bit too overwhelming, and I’ve tried better teas which are similar – the Turkish Apple Vanilla from Fusion Tea Room comes to mind. But you know, it’s good. I’ll drink the tea, but I won’t order more.

Hum. I’m perplexed by this tea. I used to like Rooibos a lot, especially the Teavana blends, but now finding that I really don’t care for it. Still, I don’t know if it was all the fruit in the Teavana blends that made me like it, so I’m trying other blends – I don’t want to write off a whole category just yet. Anyway, I really like coconut, and mint, and I’ve never tried a chocolate tea before. This one is okay.

I smell the chocolate primarily, followed by the coconut. When I taste it, the chocolate rolls over my tongue and then there’s an aftertaste of mint. I don’t taste too much of the coconut, but there’s an oddly “clear” sort of taste as well that I’ve identified as rooibos. I really don’t know how to describe it, only that it’s cool and clean. I don’t think it’s the mint though, since it follows after the mint. I guess m main problem with this tea is that instead of tasting “Rooibos Cocomint,” I literally taste “Cocoa, Mint, Rooibos”

I know I’ve reviewed this before, but I just really really love it. I know a lot f people here think that Teavana is the spawn of the devil, but I just think you need to approach it a certain way and take it for what it is. I had a lovely conversation with a worker there the other day, despite the store being super busy, and sure, he showed me products, but he knew I was only looking and didn’t push too hard.

I love this tea. I really do. It’s warm and sweet and nutty and buttery all in one. I love Dragonwells in general, I’m finding, but I’ve never found one as good as this, especially on the second steep – its like drinking liquid butter (but not in a gross way).

This s the first pot I tried while I was there. I was looking for a lighter, sort of malty black tea to accompany my Dostoevsky, and not having tried any of Tealuxe’s teas before, I took a guess on this one.

It wasn’t bad, per se, but I don’t think it was prepared properly. It was far too astringent for me, and I think that was due either to a longer steep time than necessary or too many leaves in the pot. They provided me with a timer, but I didn’t ask how long it steeped for, and I neglected to taste the tea as it was brewing. I also didn’t see the milk counter until it was too late.

Not to say this is a bad tea, just a bit too astringent for my taste. I may try it again in the future, but I think for now I’m going to explore some of their other offerings!

Starting off, sorry for the huge mass of backlogs coming up. I’m currently without a computer – or, I have a computer, but I have no idea where the charger is, seeing as I can’t find it anywhere in the bags and boxes currently sitting out in the garage. If this is what I bring home from college, I’m a bit frightened for when I ACTUALLY move into a house or something. All the stuff!

So anyway, I’ve been sitting on my copy of The Idiot for awhile now, and I really have to start reading it, because I’m coauthoring a stage adaptation of it, and, well, there’s a lot of work to be done. I wasn’t getting anything done at home, so I took a trip into Harvard Square – been meaning to give Tealuxe a try for awhile now.

Anyway. On to the tea. This was actually the second pot I had, since I was unsatisfied with the first (and because the pots are tiny). I really like how it’s just a little more grassy than some of the other Dragonwells I’ve had, while still retaining the sweetness. I wanted to ask for more water to try a second steep, but I didn’t see a bathroom anywhere…so maybe next time :)