Gingko Biloba (Maidenhair Tree)

Another surprise sample from MissB: thank you! Dry this smells intensely of apricot or other stone fruit with some spicy herbal notes underneath. While it steeps there’s something…off about it. I’ve never had most of the things in here on their own, so I couldn’t say what it is, but the smell is off-putting.

Luckily the taste is more like the smell of the dry mix than the brewed tea. It’s a little fruity and a little herbal, and actually pretty robust for an herbal blend. I’ll have no trouble using this sample up.

SSTTB: Pick #15

Last night’s bed time tea. I’ve almost finished trying the ones I’m interested in from The Box and will most definitely be ready to send it back out again by the weekend (if OMGsrsly is ready to receive it).

This one smells very interesting; definitely floral but also a lot like ripe fruit. It also has Lapacho in it; I’ve tried one Lapacho tea from the box and was kinda let down by it so I wasn’t sure if this would be the same sorta thing but I liked having the ability to try another Lapacho blend so soon after the first for comparison so i couldn’t pass up the chance to try this even though I felt it might have been like the Orange Cream Lapacho in that it smelled good but didn’t deliver.

Taste wise, there’s sort of a lot going on with this one. It’s super fragrant and smells really heavenly, and taste wise it’s definitely very floral. Like, it’s super closely treads that line between enough floral to be calming/relaxing and perfume/chemical/potpourri levels of floral. But it didn’t pass my “comfort level”. It could totally pass other people’s very easily, though.

In addition to the robust floral flavours there was also a strong presence of juicy, ripe fruits. Nothing too super specific but maybe leaning a little bit more towards stone fruits? There was no noticeable ginger, despite that being a listed ingredient. As always, I’m perfectly ok with an absence of ginger. There was also a natural “earthy” like flavour that was probably the Lapacho. It seemed very fresh and airy.

Overall I thought this one was very calming and soothing, and a really nice last cup for the evening. Taste wise it tread a very fine line but for me it really worked in the moment and I quite enjoyed the floral sweetness of it. I might take a few more cups worth out of the box; there’s a ton of it in there.

Thank you MissB for a sample of this tea!

Ahh this tea smells very different compared to all the other rooibos teas I have. Not quite a woodsy rooibos scent, and definitely not a dessert cupcake and caramel scent. Just.. different? I can’t quite put my finger on it though. It has a sharp cherry medicine smell to it, but like the good kind! Like Robitussin… but I actually like Robitussin so this tea might actually taste really good for me haha.
Steeping, it’s starting to develop a stronger, unpleasant smell to it
Dark amber in colour
Tastes… I can’t describe it? Slight cherry medicine, but not as strong. Slight notes of ginger and spice.
I don’t know what to make of this tea! I neither love it nor hate it. Thank you MissB for successfully finding a tea that confuses my tastebuds; this is a first! Hahah well I’m enjoying this tea at the moment. Sorta mindlessly drinking it as I watch the series premiere of The Night Shift which aired yesterday! Eoin Macken and Jill Flint though. I love them so much.

I received this in a swap from bluebelle. Thank you!

This was an interesting one. Unfortunately, it totally hit me wrong. This just wasn’t my thing. Thank you for allowing me to try this one.