Across A Crowded Room

Let me preface this by saying that these days when I post on Steepster it is almost always a backlog. Rather than going through spurts of posting a lost and periods of not feeling like writing about tea, I’ve taken to writing all my posts in a Libre Office file and copy/paste them from there, adding a personal note of general update if and when necessary. I’m trying to space them out more or less equally so as to keep up a relatively constant level of activity on the site. Therefore, by the time you actually read this, the box is well on its way through the remainder of the list.

This is the first tea I’m trying out of the EU travelling teabox, the first teabox I’ve even considered participating in since… well, yeah, some of you remember the very first teabox we had on Steepster which was fun to organise but there were some other PITA things about it that rather burned me out on travelling teaboxes in general. I did this one because it was local (ish. Bear with me and my inaccurate use of the word ‘local’ here. You know what I mean), a small chain and not me organising. Furthermore it has emphasis on things that for the most part I can actually buy myself, so I’m treating it as away of introducing myself to things that I didn’t know were available to me.

I’ve taken a fair selection out of it so far for keeps and am going to see if I can try a few of the
others before sending on. This is one that I’m just trying.

It has those little candy hearts in the leaf and it smells rather sweet. I’m wondering if what I’m actually going to get is a cup of pre-sweetened tea which is not a happy prospect for someone who doesn’t like sweetened tea at all. It also smells vaguely citrus-y and a little creamy, and it reminds me a great deal of oranges.

This definitely has some citrus in it, because it tastes a bit like orange. No, not orange, really, more like orange blossoms. It also tastes a fair bit of milk, strangely, which leads me to wonder what those little hearts were actually made of. It’s not as sugar-y sweet as I had feared at all.

I can’t really pick much up about the base of it. It’s all hidden in a cloud of milky fatness.

This will stay quite firmly a ‘try’ and not a ‘take’. I find it a little boring and uninspiring.

Another find on eBay and yet another small company to try out. This was advertised as a valentines tea but it looked nice and I thought “What the hell” and bought it anyway. We all need love on more than one day a year.

It arrived this morning and will be the first tea I shall try. The tea is as shown in the picture and has a very sweet scent…strawberry? It’s nice but synthetic smelling. It has the little sweets in so I wouldn’t expect anything less for this blend.

Once steeped this tea is dark brown in colour with a sweet and strong mixture of fruit and earthiness. Not as sweet as it’s raw scent but still pleasant.

Flavour is thick and the black tea is rather strong but avoids becoming bitter or harsh. Still slightly sweet with fruity and floral tones. I still think it’s strawberry. It’s very delicate though and my husband is having a hard time finding any real flavours other than sweet black tea.

Overall I think it’s nice, worth the cheap price and a nice novelty…plus it’s something I could drink every day with ease.

Unrelated Side Note – I made some lip balms this morning using Boysenberry Matcha and natural vegan ingredients as gifts to send. So if anyone does any large tea trades with me then be aware that you may find one amongst your teas. Working on more scents too :)

This turned out thick and malty and… thick. Hmm. Not digging it this time around.

This tea is quite delicious. I’ve been pining over the loss of 52Teas Raspberry Cream and this tea is just what this reminds me of, with a hint of strawberry rather than raspberry. There’s is no fakeness of overwhelming flavour – just a lovely black base with a subtle fruit taste in the background that makes for a great cup of tea. I’m just checking out Mystic Brew’s eBay store now to see if this is available.

Thanks jessiwrites!