615 Tasting Notes
The dry leaf is like a party! There’s big sprinkles, and white chocolate chips spattered all over in this. So festive!
The base here is bolder than I expected, and the cup brews up a pretty rich mahoghany color. It fits the cake theme well, though as it’s an almost yeasty and is at least slightly evocative of baked goods. The vanilla flavor is good, but there’s not too much of it. Tea is by far the dominating flavor (which I actually like in flavored cups) It’s also quite sweet without sweeteners (almost certainly thanks to the sprinkles).
I could almost see making this an early morning cup, as it’s quite robust tea and the sprinkles are cheery.
Thank you for the sample Shelley_Lorraine!
Preparation
This one was from TastyBrew (thank you!)!
I can honestly say this is the first ATR tea I haven’t liked, at least in some capacity. It’s definitely a very coconutty tea (like the base tea is essentially non-existant), but the coconut oils leave a soapy taste that makes me think I’m drinking suntan lotion. I’d try adding milk and/or sugar, but I fear that would end up like the DT Carrot Cake episode.
I even like coconut, and this just didn’t work for me.
Preparation
Ew, I’m glad I didn’t order this
I’m glad I had the chance to try it before it slipped into my cart. I don’t know what I’d do with 2oz. Ew.
I’ve heard that coconut teas can turn soapy and awful after too much time (which is way shorter than their supposed drink-by times). Perhaps it was just a little too old?
Could be! Unfortunately I have no idea how old the tea was, but thanks for the information — that’s really good to know :)
So, greenteafairy was kind enough to put a couple bags of this in our swap. So thank you!
A lot of peach teas have a very artificial, candy/gummy-like taste. The peach here is very subtle and sweet. The base reminds me a lot of Adagio’s flavored black base, but not as sensitive.
As the tea cools to room temperature is definitely does start morphing into artificial peach flavor though. Still, on the whole, it’s better than quite a few other peach teas I’ve tasted.
Preparation
6 tsp Risheehat Golden Musk Second Flush (Thunderbolt Teas)
6 tsp Blueberry Syrup (California Tea House)
2 quarts water
So, right now there’s a pitcher of this in the fridge. Fiance insisted he was getting sick of iced Darjeeling, so I doctored it up a bit.
It’s a decent blueberry flavor (a little tart maybe) but it pairs well enough with the sweet, earthiness and delicate florals of the Darjeeling. It’s not something I’d choose for myself as I think plain Darjeeling is perfect thankyouverymuch, but it’s nice to have someone to share my tea with.
Rating: 78/100
This is a sample from Shmiracles (thanks!)
My first thought was, ’I’m actually really surprised how thoroughly the nonpareils dissolved while steeping’.
But once steeped, this produces a cakey, sugary, vanillay smelling cup. That sparkles. Honestly, I was pretty much looking forward to the sparkles the most.
I’m not really getting hugely spicy, or even citrus from this cup. The flavors are vanilla, sugar and cinnamon, and an eensy bit of clove — in that order. It’s a well-balanced tea, though, and no one flavor is overpowering. The base also comes through and is decent in its own right.
I’m a little excited that something so gimmicky (it’s a tea galaxy, I swear!) turned out to be a pretty tasty tea too.
Preparation
I’m not a huge tisane person, but I actually really, really enjoyed this. It’s sweet and a little creamy from the lemon myrtle. And the best part is I absolutely don’t get any hibiscus flavor seeping through (Yay!) There’s a very slight green/lemony aftertaste. Like lemondrops.
The flavors here are blended really well and work together to create one flavor, instead of a bunch of little flavors vying for attention (so in that way, it’s very difficult to pick out the individual components). What it makes is so lemony and sweet though! It’s like eating lemon pudding or lemon bars. Gaaaaah. Yum.
Thank you BrewTEAllySweet!
Preparation
With the teabox done, I can get back to burning through samples, so yay to that!
I got samples of this one from both momo and Shelley_Lorraine (Thanks, both of you!)
While I can recognize this is a really well constructed tea, and it’s balanced insanely well, it doesn’t blow me away quite as much as it seems to have for other people. I hate feeling like a contrarian, but I think the reviews had me expecting liquid ambrosia, and it didn’t quite live up.
This is a really nice lightly flavored floral strawberry tea, though. I get way more in the way of vanilla and unpinpointable floral than I do strawberry through. I let the tea cool some as well, to see if I could coax out some more strawberry, but it really just ramped up the vanilla even more.
I’m glad I have a little more to play with and figure out if was that cup or I’m just not feeling this one like I thought I would.
Preparation
Tea #47 from Another Traveling Tea Box
This is the last tea in the box I’m trying! (Fanfares all around!)
This is a really bulky, kind of sticky blend. There’s a definite strong citrus flavor, with a sweet fruity (berry? apple? both?) backdrop, and subtle elements of sage and lavender. It starts quite bitter when hot, but as it cools, I liked this tea more and more. I’m not sure if this is something I’d order myself, but it’s strange with a depth of flavor I appreciate.
Preparation
Tea #46 from Another Traveling Tea Box
This one really nails gummy peachy-o flavor right on the head. Unfortunately, I’m not super huge on gummy peaches, or artificial peach flavor in general. There is no rooibos flavor here, so that’s a plus though.
Preparation
Tea #45 from Another Traveling Tea Box
Floral with lingering notes of apricot, with a clean finish. There is a little more astringency than I was expecting, and definitely leaves a dry mouth feeling.
If I were going to make this again, I might even lower my temperature further to the 180-185 range.
