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Grabbed this in an order I’d made as a sample tea, hoping it would offer up as delicious as sampling as it sounded.

First, the smell. It’s DIVINE. Like hot maple syrup; I’m assuming this is part of the flavoring added, because there’s no way it could come just from the maple sugar. Regardless, I could sip this all day.

I made this as a heavy cream latte, knowing it had more than enough sweetener in it for me to drink it as is. I took a quick sip before adding the cream – and wasn’t a fan.

I should note – I LOVE chai. I’ll drink it all day, every day if I can. Cinnamon-heavy is never an issue for me; I note this because I saw Roswell and Kitenna both mentioned it, but I didn’t think it was overkill.

What I didn’t like – initially and after adding cream – was the aftertaste.

Okay, I don’t like apple pieces in my tea, so I’m sure that’s part of it.

But the ‘natural’ and artificial flavorings were off. It left a sour, bitter taste in my mouth, and the only reason I finished it was due to the smell.

I really wish DT would label their flavorings with more detail. Until then, though, this is a hard no for me.

I’m unsure why I didn’t rate this tea when I drank it. Likely because it was given to me in exchange for a review, and, I found I’m allergic to it.

So…. on that note, can’t really review this tea, other than to say it gave me hives within a few minutes of drinking it.

From what I can remember, it reminded me of unsweetened aloe drinks.

Which is too bad, because I liked the idea behind the tea – cactus leaf to lose weight, and an old folk remedy.

This Swedish Christmas tea is the bomb!

My current housesit in Manchester’s homeowner instructed me to ‘drink all the tea’ so she can make room in her cupboard. Yay! As soon as I heard ‘Swedish Christmas tea’, I knew that would be my first sip.

I wasn’t sure what was in this, but I trusted from the smell of the loose leaf all would be well. I wasn’t wrong!

I’ve had a lot of Christmas -themed teas, and I think this is my favorite of the bunch. It’s a light black tea with chai spices and then the addition of orange peel, which seems to be the mainstay of Christmas teas everywhere. It’s smooth, light, yet very flavorful. Okay, okay, I love chai teas, so this is no surprise. But not all chai teas work. This one does.

I think I’ll be drinking this a lot over the next two weeks….

I love me a flavored white tea… when done right.

The first time I had this, I remember thinking it didn’t taste enough like anything in the name of the tea. So this time, I brewed it two different ways, to see what I could get out of it.

Pot #1: 190F water, steeped for two minutes.

Pot #2: 170F water, steeped for four minutes.

Pot #2 won by a long shot!

Pot #1 tasted a bit flat, I couldn’t tell texture, flavor, anything really. Pot #2 though, yowza, that’s some toffee in my tea. Hot toddy? Well, not so much, but I’m sure I could have changed that if I were drinking these days.

I’d definitely grab more of this in the future (if I didn’t have so much tea to drink already), and steep it longer, at a lower temperature.

Oh, and it held up to heavy cream + stevia. Now THAT was divine.

Big thanks to Brooke + Bradford for gifting me this tea in exchange for an honest review!

Last year, Brooke and Bradford sent me several glass vials full of tea for me to try. (Look at my Instagram for the pictures: http://instagram.com/teatravelninja).

While I didn’t get a photo of this specific tea, I’d say it was my favorite. Sadly, it’s no longer for sale, and/or has a different name (I can’t tell which). New name? Deep & Steep Winter Chai.

I love white teas. Truly love them, especially if they have some body to them. Either as a light-as-a-feather pineapple/coconut blend, or a dark and smokey white tea. Well, or the white teas that seem like black teas…

Okay, okay, so I like white tea. :)

This white has body. It’s light, and yet, full and luscious. The cardamom comes through smoothly, and the spices are an added punch. Not too much of one, though. It’s subtle.

Honestly, I love my chai’s bold and spicy, but this one? It’s more for a mellow, winter day. Yep, perfect for Montreux, Switzerland, where I am today.

Phooey, this is the last of this tea.

Warm, it doesn’t taste like much. There’s a faint hint of something, but I found it challenging to get it to come out. With stevia, it shines ever so slightly.

But with cream? OMG. Yes. YES. YES!!

It’s divine.

I like the darker color of this tea, and when I steeped it overnight, and then gave some to my partner to drink, he said, “I thought I was drinking alcohol for a second”.

He doesn’t drink alcohol.

I’d definitely buy more of this tea, and especially so if it comes in one of the little test tube / glass vials again. Okay, so that’s not a ton of tea, but… I love the presentation.

Damn, this tea is OOOOOLLLLLLLD. Like, I’ve had it for five years old? Jeepers.

Went back home to visit the family, and they’d stashed this somewhere. I’ve sent them tea from my travels and swaps for years… and I thought they drank it. Ah well. More for me.

Hilariously, I drank two pots of this before I realized there was strawberry flavoring in it…. (I’m allergic to strawberries, and yes, there’s still some in the flavor).

I had wondered if I’d ‘gotten over’ my allergy, as I’ve worked hard to deal with it naturally. But then, the age of this tea and … well who knows.

All I know is that I like this tea this time around. Like, a LOT a lot.

It needs sweetener, and it’s divine with some cream. Like a chai-y goodness of weirdness. It really is weird, I’m assuming from the age and the additives and whatnot, but I like it. Red hot cinnamon hearts? Cold, not so much. It neeeeeds cream.

So, I guess this is a sipdown of a long-forgotten tea I’d removed years ago from my cupboard.

A rating of 69 seems fitting.

Tricky review, this one.

First off, it’s a white chai. I’m a new convert to white chai’s, where my partner decided all he drinks is white tea. So, I had to figure out a way to combine my love of chai with something he’d drink.

This fits the bill…. sort of.

I mean, there’s ALSO black tea in here, and then…. big crescendo… there’s also COFFEE.

GASP.

C’mon tea lovers. It’s a macchiato.

Still, I’m all… what?! Tea AND coffee. Sacriledge!

Next up in the melange of weirdness? It has an odd assortment of ingredients. Apple was the strangest for me (I’m not sure how it fits, other than perhaps as a natural sweetener), although the rosehips also made me go… hmmm.

Now I really want to try it.

Yep, yep, yep.

First cup was straight tea, nothing added, no sweetener.

All I can say is… this tea surprised me.

It DOES taste like a macchiato. It’s definitely cardamom-heavy (bring it, I love cardamom), and I can also taste the coffee. The black tea gives it a bit of depth, and then the apple sweetens things up so I really don’t need sweetener. Although, I’m definitely adding some the next steep. Just to be sure. ;)

First cup, second steep was surprisingly similar, with some added Krisda (stevia + erythritol mix). I still craved the creaminess of a macchiato.

Darn that’s hard to spell correctly. Macchiato.

Second cup, I added heavy cream + Krisda.

OMG. This is goooooood. Like I could drink this all day and still gulp it down in one sip, gooooood.

I think, perhaps, for me…. this reminds me of a coffee my former inlaws used to make every morning. They’d grab their locally-roasted beans, grind them up with some cardamom, and then brew their coffee.

This tea, drink, whatever you want to call it at this point (it’s a bit of everything, isn’t it?) reminds me of that feeling, that moment, that….. ah….

It’s a hit for me, and a surprising one. I didn’t think I’d like this so much that I’d want to buy more.

I mean, I drink TEA people, not coffee…

1 DAVIDs Perfect Spoon in 12 oz of water and 8 oz of heavy cream, brewed three minutes, at boiling water temperature. I

f I could, I would do this at a much lower temperature, but all I have access to at this coworking space is instant boiling water. Ah, first world problems.

Tried this as a tea latte today, to see if I could coax out something more yummy. I also opened the cardamom pods to give it more flavor.

Good call on the pods, but it’s still just cardamom tea, and a very weak one at that. I oversteeped my second steep, too, and still, just blah.

I obviously need stronger, more full bodied teas to do my tea lattes with (I use the highest fat content cream I can find, as my body loves ketosis). Ah well. I tried.