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notes I made but never posted from April 24:
This smells like menthol. Not necessarily a bad smell, but it reminds me of being sick and using vaporub. It tastes, well, minty. Even though it’s just mint, it doesn’t feel as overwhelming as the mintiness of the Wissotzsky mint tea that I found so unpleasant.

notes from today:
This is really nice when you actually are sick. The peppermint is relieving some of the sinus pressure and tastes very nice. There’s a touch of sweetness on the back end that leaves a pleasant aftertaste as well. This is a tea to keep on hand for colds, allergies, and possibly headaches (if I remember to buy it…).

Ugh. This is just bad bad bad. It smells and tastes overwhelmingly of fake strawberry flavor. The lemongrass doesn’t come through at all and what small green tea flavor peeks out is of poor quality. I barely choked this down. I would have poured it out but didn’t want to waste the caffeine.

I still can’t smell very well, so staying away from the high quality teas until I can really appreciate them again. This herbal is pretty fun in the meantime. The hibiscus and apple flavor blend together really well. The cinnamon really comes out mid-sip and gets stronger as you go. The aftertaste is a little sweet and distinctly cinnamon spicy. I love cinnamon. I can see how people would find it overwhelming here, though. For me, it’s just the right amount.

My allergies are making it nearly impossible to smell anything, so I’ll avoid rating anything until I feel human again. Still, I got a swap from My Friend Rashad today (thanks!) and the smell of this is strong enough and wonderful enough that I couldn’t resist. This tea is absolutely lovely. There’s cream and pineapple goodness going on here. I really adore Della Terra’s cream flavoring in pretty much any blend. The pineapple element tastes very natural – sweet and tangy. Unlike most of DT’s fruit & cream teas, this one has a black tea base. I’m having trouble figuring out the reason for the deviation. My current best guess is that the black tea is adding a slight astringency that rounds out the pineapple flavor. Overall, this tea is very enjoyable even when my sense of taste is dulled. It can even handle a second steep without much change in flavor. I’m looking forward to trying this when I can fully appreciate it (and maybe then I’ll be able to solve the mystery of the unusual choice of base).

I really like this as a lemon tea. The lemon is definitely present and very natural tasting, but it’s not as overwhelming as the lemon in Tea Forte’s Lemon Sorbetti. This is a very nice balance of a decent green tea base with a delicate but assertive lemon flavor.

I never thought about it when I used to regularly leave teabags in the mug while drinking my tea, but some teas seem to benefit substantially from lengthy steeps. This is one of those teas. At 3-5 minutes, it’s very meh. Flavor is weak and unimpressive. Luckily, I got distracted at work and didn’t come back to the cup until 15-20 minutes later. Oh. my. goodness. The flavors really come out to play. It’s a lovely balance of honey and sage and I find it extremely enjoyable. I wasn’t paying attention to aroma or color, but I’ll definitely be having it again and will try to notice those things.

I think many of the Wissotzky green teas fall into the category of teas that benefit from lengthy steepings. Not sure why.

Like a lot of people who have posted notes about this tea, I’m having this at work because loose leaf isn’t really an option and I need a little pick-me-up. I quite like it. No, it doesn’t have a complex flavor profile or a lot of depth, but it’s a nice basic vegetal green tea. I oversteep a bit so the bitterness adds a little oomph. This is serviceable.

I’ve got this in the loose leaf version. The dry leaves of this smell just like homemade lemonade! Unfortunately, it doesn’t smell quite as nice brewed. It just smells like lemongrass and bitter lemon. Nice lemony yellow color though.

This tea tastes fine, but I feel like I was overcharged. I could get the same flavor by squeezing half a lemon into a cup of generic bagged green tea. This tea isn’t bitter, or astringent, or fake-tasting. Someone who likes Arnold Palmers would enjoy this. Adding some stevia did bring out more of a sorbet flavor, but if I’m looking for a lemony dessert tea I think lemon chiffon is still my go-to.

Giving this another shot. The dry leaves smell so nice – clove and cinnamon, with just a touch of cocoa. I let it brew for a good 10 minutes this time. Lovely amber color. Same smell as the dry leaves. This tastes a little sweeter than I remember. The clove is still too strong though.

Maybe next time I’ll remember to use apple cider!

Honestly, I thought this was chamomile when I asked for this sample. So I didn’t quite know what to expect once I realized it wasn’t. The dry pieces smell like sweet, toasted rice. There’s something else, too, that I can’t quite describe. I assume it’s the persimmon identified in the Teavivre description, since I’ve never actually had persimmon.

This tisane brews up a nice, lemony yellow. And the taste is fantastic! Nothing at all like chamomile, for sure. Closer to sencha. Toasted rice, sweetness, a touch of corn… and again that something else that I can’t articulate. I think the lesson here is that I need to hit my local Chinese market and try some persimmon!

This is a nice sleepy-time tea.