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Another sample, and a fun one. I definitely get a caramel scent from the cup, enough so that I was a bit afraid to actually drink it! It seemed like it would be overwhelmingly sweet and cloying.

Thankfully, the ginger is so strong it doesn’t really reach that point for me. It’s mostly ginger, with some other vague “fall spice” vibe going on, and a hint of sweetness & caramel. I don’t know that I get black tea from this at all – it surprised me this wasn’t a totally herbal blend. Tasty, though not necessarily one I need in the cupboard.

I’ve been nurturing this cup for far too long because I don’t want it to end. This has all the bold spice I want in a chai on a smooth black base, and the rich smoky aftertaste makes me feel like I’m drinking the scent of a campfire – it even lingers like that campfire smell. Something about this brand and their smoky teas just keep winning me over.

Dove back into my giant Dryad sample box today and pulled one out at random. This tea is wild and I’m enjoying it.

I’m a skeptic when you give me cucumber and mint. I love a good mojito, but it’s one of those flavors that often isn’t good at all. Add melon and make it a hot tea and I just don’t know.

The scent is definitely throwing me back to early 2000s girls locker room, when every other person seemed to have a lotion or body spray in cucumber melon. I’m surprised that the cucumber shines in the flavor, followed with a subtle mint and slightly grassy finish. The aftertaste is where I notice a bit of green melon.

I am very curious about this as a cold brew and will be adding it to my list for a purchase.

This seemed like a great morning cup – some mint to wake up with some sweetness to round the edges. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy the sweetness at all. It seems pretty hard to overpower peppermint, but it does. You get peppermint up front followed by an artificial sweetness that lingers; I tossed about half a cup and called this sample done. A sipsby fail for me.

Another sample from my advent calendar order, but this one was a miss for me. I wanted to love it – it’s pretty, and one of my favorite teas right now is a raspberry, and it smells like blue raspberry candy! But all I got in the taste was a grassy green tea. I’m not the most discerning, and I’m willing to believe there’s other stuff going on in the aftertaste, but it’s just so much grass up front. Not going for this one again.

I’m going to need more of this tea eventually, but I’ve really got to use more first.

The scent is wintry; cinnamon and orange stand out. The flavor is more fruit forward, a cherry/cranberry blend with some orange, and the cinnamon and hibiscus more at the back. I always expect hibiscus to mostly dominate a tea, but this one didn’t (or at least, it works well enough with the cranberry that I don’t notice it as much until the end).

I’ve got a decent set of Brutaliteas blends to work through, plus I managed to snag an advent this year; I’m going to try to hold off on ordering anything more from them until I’ve got a clear list of favorites!

How much judging do y’all do for drinking old tea? Because this is definitely on the old side, purchased very early in my DAVIDsTEA exploration days. I had a sealed pouch left and decided it was time to use it or get rid of it.

I went with iced first, because “lemon smash” and “fabulously zesty” both made me more inclined toward iced; it’s definitely why I bought it initially. The sage really popped out though, giving it a heavy medicinal flavor, and my partner & I both decided it was probably going to be better hot.

It is better hot, but weirdly, the sage is much more of a background flavor this time; I get a bright lemon note instead that would totally make me feel more inclined toward iced tea – if I hadn’t already tried and disliked it. A bit of the sage-infused honey I’ve been working on helps it a lot, but I don’t think I’ll miss this one overall.

Look, I love clove, and I love a heavy spice in general, so this is a win for me on all counts. I mostly notice clove followed by cinnamon in this tea, but not in a way that totally erases the black tea flavor itself. Sipsby nailed it for me with this one.

This tea is so weird to me. Weird in a mostly good way, I think, but I struggle a little bit with it too – I just can’t make up my mind whether I like this tea or not, overall.

The scent is a cloying candy flavor, almost tart. Sipping it is sweet, but in a pleasant way, unlike many of the artificial flavors I get from this company. I don’t like rooibos much and definitely get the woody aftertaste – another point in the cons column. I can’t imagine adding anything sweeter to mask the rooibos, so it’s just sort of there at the finish.

Not a very satisfying review because I remain completely torn on this tea!

A fine mint tea from my October sipsby box. The mint mostly overpowers any other flavor, honestly; it just feels like a peppermint that’s a bit more subdued than pure peppermint. Thankfully, I like peppermint, so I was happy to drink it.