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Wow, by the smell (and taste) of this, Fusion Tea Room has squeezed a fresh orange right into this bag of rooibos! This tea is outstanding! For me to give such compliments to an orange rooibos is saying something. I am hard to please when it comes to orange flavored rooibos.

Orange rooiobs was the first loose leaf tea (tisane) that I had, and what made me fall in love with tea and out of love with coffee. The brand I had then was a local brand (bagged) that has since gone out of production. I have a certain memory of the wonderfulness of that tea, however I am not sure if it really was as good as I remember it, or if the novelty of the whole tea world inflated the quality of the memory.

Regardless, ever since I have been looking for an orange rooibos that can live up to that.
This does! It’s sweet and just a little tiny bit tart, and so orangey. It’s a very natural orange flavor.

I ordered many samples from Fusion, and I must say I am very impressed with their teas!

I’m not a big fan of fruity teas, except citrus flavors, so I was expecting to not like this too much. Maybe because of such a lack of expectations that this tea totally took me by surprise.

WOW, it’s wonderful! It’s juicy, and yogurty, and a tiny bit tart. It has a very rich taste.
I like this very very much!

This is the oddest tea.
I brewed it hot – it was quite unimpressive. Good enough green flavor, didn’t get much cherry. Maybe it shows how unremarkable it was, that I didn’t finish the cup, leaving it over half full and promptly forgot about it for a few hours.

I came back to the remaining tea a few hours later and decided to give it a sip.
BAM! What a transformation! It was sweet and very cherry, on a buttery green background. YUM!

I was in awe at how much the tea changed from hot to cold, so I made another cup, just to be sure. Again, hot it was mediocre, but once cooled, outstanding.

I only had a sample, and enough for those 2 cups (I will try to resteep, maybe get another), and I’m not debating whether it warrants a purchase or not, I’m not accustomed to purchasing teas just for iced.

A little light for an assam, but still a very nice tea

I think that Frank of 52teas has a gift with rooibos, just as he does with honeybush. I think rooibos might be more difficult in that it is less naturally sweet, and so needs more careful pairing.

This blend is outstanding. In fact, it is soooooo good that I made myself a second pot, just as soon as I finished the first (which didn’t take long either). But hey, it has no caffeine, so I indulged myself

I love rooibos. It is a very comforting tea for me. Sadly many blends completely overwhelm the rooibos taste, so that they end up tasting more herbal than rooibos. It’s hard for me to find good rooibos blends, and so lately I have been having more whites and blacks.

That is why this tea is amazing. The cinnamon and vanilla are subtle, but clearly tasted. The rooibos is not overly prominent, but it too is still there. A good balance, where each flavor is there, but not overwhelmed by the other flavors.

Contrary to it’s name, this tea brings up images of sunny days, warm winds and a blue ocean – and the tiny cinnamon pastries sold at the bakery by sea.

The last rooibos blend I had by 52 teas (Sheri’s blend), was gone within a week, because I was having pot after pot, day after day. Now I seriously think I will need to be ordering more of that, and more of this tea too, before it runs out. I have fallen in love with rooibos again. Happy day!

EDIT: Oooh, I finally stopped gulping it down so quickly and let a cup cool a bit, and there’s the honey too!

Second tea tasted for my morning tea bag replacement challenge.
I have been drinking this daily for two weeks (till the little pouch I purchased was finished).
This is a good, solid ceylon. Very good with milk, which I can do without all the rest of the day, but absolutely NEED in the morning.

If I had written this yesterday, I would have said that this is a serious contender for my new morning black. However after the assam I had this morning, I’m not sure that is true anymore. I like ceylons, but I LOVE assams.

So having come to that conclusion, maybe I can now narrow my options down to assams and assam blends.

Wait, on second thought, the tasting process is so much fun, and there are so many good teas, that I might actually expand my options….just….because.

I’m not sure what to make of this tea. I’ve read notes that said Guayusa was “earthy”, but after trying – and loving – pu-erh, this is not “earthy” to me. So maybe foresty? Leafy?

It’s not bad at all, yet I am still trying to get used to this very unique taste. I think this would be very good flavored. I’m thinking chocolate (like the ChocoMate).

I will say though, that it certainly packs a punch, caffeine-wise.

I love oolongs. However I have not, till now, ventured into the realm of the flavored oolongs. So this is a first for me.

What a robust flavor! The hazelnut and vanilla compliment the oolong wonderfully and do not overwhelm the gentle oolong taste.

This was so good that I finished it in seconds, and went off to find out if I could infuse this a couple more times, as i do with other oolongs. This wonderful tea held up nicely for a total of 3 infusions; the last of which I got more of the oolong and less of the flavoring, but it was still there.

This is one of my new favorite teas!

A few months ago my mother had this tea at my house. She really liked it so I gave her what was left of the pouch (about a quarter full). Yesterday I found it in her cupboard, untouched. So obviously I drank some.

My first thought, after taking the first sip was: Gosh I have missed this tea. I had forgotten how utterly delicious it is. The smell of vanilla and the dominant coconut flavor is intoxicating. I must get more of this soon.

Ok, I’m on a quest for my perfect morning tea. I have replaced all my tea consumption from bags to loose leaf, EXCEPT for my morning tea. I have teabags (black) from a local company that I have been drinking in the morning. It’s not amazing, but it’s decent. For some reason, till now I have not wanted to change that.

Maybe, as I try and taste more types of teas, I am have slowly become a tea snob, because suddenly that morning teabag seems inadequate.

Thus I have embarked on the journey to find loose leaf replacements. For my first stop, I turned to my local (and only) tea shop and purchased a variety of blacks. They don’t sell samples which is a pity as i would have purchased even more. However I am saving on international shipping, so it is, maybe, still worthwhile. Now I have several 50g pouches of black tea to try. I am going to try each for a week.

This is the first tea I have tried. It’s an assam/yunnan blend, which I have never had before. I like yunnan and it’s sweet honey flavor. This shop has a Yunnan Imperial tea that is outstanding. It it one of my favorites. However, this blend is heavy on the yunnan and lighter on the assam, resulting in a tea that is deliciously sweet, but not suitable for morning, when I need a stronger eye-opening tea. It’s like a lighter, slightly maltier yunnan.

This tea is good, but not strong enough for the morning, but I might keep some hand for afternoons.