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Drinking this to recover from the jasmine tea. While I do enjoy the flavor, the real draw of North African Mint is its cure-all powers.

Initially leery of this tea because it smells like the perfume counter at Macy’s – overly floral, overly sweet, overly everything. Fortunately, the flavor isn’t nearly as overpowering, though there is something a bit artificial about it. I think David’s is still my favorite of the jasmine greens I’ve tried.

Trying this hot on the heels of the last oolong (China se chung) to see how they compare. (They’re both from the Upton oolong sampler . ) The flavors have a lot in common – they are both darker and seem more oxidized than the oolongs I’ve had before – but this one smells and tastes a bit sweeter. It has a bit of a honey tang, and overall tastes a little more complex than the se chung (wish I knew a better way to describe it). Overall, a robust but non-astringent oolong.

This tea tastes exactly like the house tea I’ve had in several Chinese restaurants (I don’t go to many, but those I have eaten at all seem to serve a similar tea). While it’s not extraordinary, I am very happy to have some because now I don’t have to go to the restaurant to drink it (not a huge Chinese food fan; my favorite part has always been the tea and the almond cookies).

Trying this out for the first time, I’m getting none of the notes suggested in the description (melon, orchid) except for the ‘buttery smooth’ part. It is extremely buttery and smooth — reminds me actually of steaming buttered spinach — and to my surprise, I really like it. It’s so nice to find a non-astringent green tea, and the vegetable notes are relaxing. The leaves look beautiful brewed up, but due to their size were very hard to measure, so basically I used whatever amount I could balance on top of the teaspoon.

The vanilla is light but makes a smooth blend with the black base. While not extraordinary, this is a pleasant mellow tea.

Dry, this tea smells exactly like alfalfa hay. Fortunately the taste is better than that, though for the life of me I can’t remember why I thought I had to have an extremely plain white tea. I guess I got overwhelmed by the massive Upton catalog. Oh well, there’s nothing actually wrong with this tea and maybe it will mix well with the flavored greens. I think I overleafed it this time; it was very stemmy and hard to measure, and I kept adding a pinch more because it looked so skimpy, but yeah, won’t be doing that again, it makes the tea too astringent. Also, not getting any of the walnut notes the description promised.

Delicious! I could smell this tea even before I’d unwrapped the packaging. Despite the strong aroma, the flavor is delicate and I did need a bit of sugar to bring it out. Almond and a hint of snickerdoodle, and the green tea does come through in a mellow way. Now I’m wondering if I have snickerdoodle ingredients in the house, because this would be a great tea to pair with cookies.

p.s. It’s sad, because the flavor is quite good, but it became apparent after I finished the cup that this tea inspires headaches. I don’t know what they put in it that I react to so badly, because normally I can tell from the scent alone whether something is going to disagree with me, and this one smells perfectly wonderful. But so it goes.

So happy to receive my first order from Upton today! I got a lot of samples to try, but decided to start out with this one. It’s been frequently recommended on Steepster for those who prefer to keep their bergamot mild, and I am firmly in that category. However, I found EVERYTHING in this cup to be mild – the base tea, the bergamot, even the vanilla that many said was such a strong flavor in this blend. I have to echo Sil and TeaEqualsBliss and say that it tastes more than anything like a mild lemon creme.

That said, I am not convinced I prepared the tea correctly. The recommended measurement was in grams (2.25 grams, precisely) and as I don’t have a scale sensitive enough to weigh that and am still fairly new to loose leaf, I just took a guess and used 1.5 tsp. I will experiment with it some more and if anyone has brewing recommendations, I am all ears.

Trying to ration this as I can see the bottom of the bag (all the teas, in fact, are a looking a bit low) and I am waiting on an Upton’s order. Keeping my fingers crossed that it will arrive on Tuesday as promised.