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This was a free sample in my order with American Tea Room. I picked up a bag of Brioche with that order and absolutely fell in love so I was eager to compare. If I don’t compare this tea with Brioche, I like it. It’s very similar to Teavana’s Caramel Almond Amaretti in ingredients, but the flavor is smoother.

If I compare this to Brioche, Brioche wins hands down each time. This blend misses the flaky pastry taste of the original, which is a huge reason why I fell in love with it.

I like this. It’s very light, and more flowery than I expected. The citrus is a nice touch and is what I notice most. The peppercorns and almonds add a little nutty and almost (but not quite) spiciness to the tea. I don’t really see this as a winter tea though, despite the name and the very Christmas-y look of the tea.

The flavors do taste a bit artificial though. I would have rated this higher except for that.

This is delicious. The tea has a slight smokey flavor. The dates, figs, seseme, and almonds blend together subtly, and while I can sometimes pick out an individual flavor, the blended flavor is what underlies this tea.

This tea is a bit dry, but not unpleasantly. It seems to fit the smokiness.

This tea is lovely, and very evocative of an Arabian Nights-esque setting. Drinking this, the picture that forms in my mind is a smoky room, somewhere in the Middle East. Smoke from decanters floats in the air.

Thanks to Della Terra Teas for sending me the sample! I won this in a contest over on their Facebook page, and was quite excited to try it. I adore creme brulee and love orange flavoring in deserts.

I oversteeped this as I was pulled into a quick meeting just as I put the tea on to brew. But that didn’t seem to affect it negatively – no bitterness.

I think I need to be more careful in scooping – got a number of orange rinds but no caramel. So it tasted less like creme brulee and more like orange tea. Not complaining, but I wanted the caramel flavor.

With a bit of sugar added, it’s a nice and light orange oolong. I may try cold steeping this as another person recommended.

This smells like cherry liqueur, which I found a bit unpleasant. I added some sugar because the initial taste was a but underwhelming.

The first sip with sugar… OH WOW. I literally just said, “Oh wow” in an awed voice. Please feel free to laugh at me. The sugar brought out all the flavors to play and this is absolutely delicious. It’s like the filling of a cherry cordial, but toned down so it’s not so nauseatingly sweet.

So much love for this tea.

I may have to try mixing this with some almond rooibos I have that was a bit bland. I’m thinking the two will go very well together.

I had looked forward to sitting down with a cup of this tea on Friday. I got the email notification that my package from American Tea Room had been delivered by FedEx. Only, when I got home, the package that was propped up at my door was not mine.

I deduced that the FedEx driver got a smidge confused. I live in building 11510. The package I received was for 11512, the same condo unit number as mine. Obviously, the driver carried them out of the truck at the same time and delivered 11512 to my door. So, Saturday morning I walked the package over to 11512 and gave it to my neighbor – who had refused the package the FedEx driver attempted to deliver because it wasn’t for her.

I gotta say, when I called FedEx customer support, they bent over backwards to fix everything. I got a case number and an agent assigned to my case, who called me today to make sure I had actually gotten the package. The package upon which which someone had hilariously taped a print out of the Google street view of my address, to help the driver ID the correct building.

Anyway, I finally got my tea and I immediately tore into the Brioche. It was the sole reason I placed the order in the first place. I’ll work my way through the other teas but this was the one I wanted. I’m a giant almond nut (ha ha).

The dried tea smelled amazing. I visited Paris once and my hostel was next door to a little bakery. This tea smelled almost like that bakery (almost because there really is something about fresh-baked bread you cannot replicate).

This tea is amazing. No cream or sugar needed. I can picture the flaky French pastry I’m drinking in tea form. Absolutely divine. I can taste the bread. I don’t know how they did it!

This may become my new favorite tea. It was well worth the wait.

Sample teabag sipdown. This came with the catalog RoT kindly sent to my house. Hooray free tea. It’s not bad. I wish the flavor was a bit stronger – I’m mainly getting faintly spiced black tea. No pumpkin to speak of. Hmm… Oh, there is a tiny smidge of pumpkin there at the very very end and I have to pay attention.

I think what I really want is the tea version of a pumpkin spiced latte and I don’t think it exists, having tried several pumpkin spice teas. I may just break down and have some coffee and try not to taste it under the pumpkin.

My coworker brought in this tea for me to try. She bought it from a woman at the farmers market whose husband brings back this brand of tea from Sri Lanka. It is a pretty decent black tea. According to the website, the black tea is Ceylon.

This is a nice low-cost tea that’s pretty delicious on a chilly fall day. I’m going to ask my coworker what other teas this woman sells because I may be giving her some money to be my tea mule.

Sample from chrimabro – thanks!

The chamomile in this is strong – very very strong. I can’t really taste any other flavors because of it. I can maybe taste a smidge of banana or coconut sometimes but the chamomile is what comes out the strongest. I’m a bit disappointed since I’m not a large chamomile fan. It definitely tastes better with sugar – but I just put in the sugar and didn’t mix it (I didn’t have a spoon. I am feeling lazy.) so all the sugar is at the bottom and the tea is now sickeningly sweet.

I’ll have to resteep this tea with sugar from the very beginning. Hopefully it will improve. But so far, I’m not inclined to buy this.

This definitely smells like minty chocolate. The taste of the tea is reminiscent of mint hot chocolate, but with a tea base. I like this. I will probably add some sugar the next time I brew this because despite the cow sprinkles, I think it could have used it.