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Another special THANKS to Steepster Bonnie for sending me this sample! The title of this tea had my name written all over it. Chocolate Orange Pu’erh! Well, that’s not really my name…though…Stoo C. O. Pu’erh…hhmm…it does have a bit of class!

Anyhow, this tea sounded like it had all of the ingredients that I love, in tea, or anything! Chocolate and orange are a great combination. I was extremely psyched to brew this baby.

I steeped it at 212 degrees for six minutes. The instructions said 98 degrees celsius (208.4 degrees fahrenheit) but my one-touch tea maker isn’t quite that versatile. No matter, what’s 3.6 degrees between friends?

The aroma that emerged from the steeping brew was interesting. I could detect the somewhat fishy aroma of the pu’erh mixed in with a sweet orange attribute.

The color of the steeped blend was light brown with orange hues. This is what I would expect if I put orange juice and pu’erh tea in a blender.

At first taste, the pu’erh flavor comes roaring through like a freight train. Then, the orange caboose begins to bring up the rear. As I guzzled more and more, I could discern the orange/pu’erh hybrid qualities of the flavor. The taste is smooth, sweet, and fruity, with the pu’erh presence complementing it perfectly. Bitterness is completely absent.

This is a fantastic tea. I’ve already enjoyed pu’erh with coconut. I now know that orange also is a great mate for it. I am looking forward to trying more pu’erh combinations in the future!

These two flavors are actually a great match. Besides tea, this would be a great selection in a box of chocolates. Are there any mad scientist chocolatiers out there? :-)

I was excited to try this new tea from Teavivre. Teavivre’s products are consistently great in taste and value. The little unbrewed leaf balls, which I assume are hand-rolled, are also a fun concept.

I followed the recommendations on the package and brewed it for two minutes. There was no suggested tea amount listed so I filled my official tea spoon as I normally do with loose leaf. This came out to about four balls per eight-ounce cup. When the steeping process had completed, a brew with a rich amber color appeared.

At first sip, I could detect a little sweetness and the familiar woodsy taste that accompanies most of Teavivre’s black teas. In the beginning I was a little disappointed with the flavor power. However, the taste seemed to amplify and become more pronounced with each sip. By my sixth swig, I was really enjoying the blend and thinking that THIS is what I’ve come to love and expect from Teavivre.

I can’t say that I noticed a chocolate taste as some reviewers noted. To me, the sweetness was more like honey. Of course, you can’t go wrong with either flavor.

This tea is a great new addition to the Teavivre collection. It most likely will be on my order list the next time my Teavivre supply diminishes…soon!

A very HUGE THANKS to fellow Steepster, Bonnie, for sending this sample to me! I LOVE ice cream! If I could keep my weight and cholesterol down, I would a la mode everything, maybe even Brussels sprouts. So, I knew that ice cream flavored tea would be no stretch for me.

When I opened the little package, a wonderful sweet and nutty pistachio aroma emerged. I couldn’t wait to plop the sample into the tea maker!

I steeped this tea at 180 degrees for 2 1/2 minutes as recommended. A pale green brew was the result. I didn’t notice any distinctive pistachio smell but that could be because it’s allergy season.

The flavor of this blend is amazing! It is sweet and nutty. The pistachio taste lingered on my tongue after each sip. The flavor is smooth and totally absent of bitterness. There is also more than a hint of vanilla in the taste and a slight milky quality.

Although I prefer black tea over green tea, primarily due to the shock therapy that black teas give me in the morning, I could easily make this tea an afternoon habit!

I have an insatiable sweet tooth. In fact, I probably have a mouth full of sweet teeth. If you put sugar on asparagus, I’m interested and there! I was very excited when I read about Kusmi’s Caramel Tea. This blend sounded like it would combine two of my favorite indulgences, sweets and tea.

I brewed this tea for four minutes at 195 degrees. A broth with an amber color emerged.

I expected (or was hoping for) an aroma that would be similar to a caramel apple on a stick. This was not the case, though. The faint smell was more like pipe tobacco. It was sweet but unlike my recollection of caramel.

When the first sip hit my tastebuds, I found myself asking, “Where’s the caramel?” There was a pleasing tea taste but I didn’t experience the presence of the advertised confection. However, with each sip, more sweetness and a slight caramel taste began to emerge and linger. Maybe I don’t detect a major caramel attendance because I’ve bombarded my senses with candy, cookies, cakes, pies, and ice cream for my entire life. If you partake of the sweeter things in life with more self-control than I, perhaps you will find a stronger and more luscious caramel occupation.

Either way, this is a nice pleasant tea with no bitter aftertaste. I’m not sure that I will drink this tea in the morning. Its attempt to be a “dessert tea” may make it more suitable for the afternoon.

Some of the best teas that I’ve tried, I’ve stumbled upon accidentally. Hampstead’s Darjeeling is another nice surprise that I just happened to notice on the shelf at our local Earth Fare market.

I steeped this tea at 212 degrees for three minutes. A reddish orange brew was the result.

There was no aroma to speak of so I didn’t have my hopes up for an explosion of flavor. However, at first sip, I was instantly struck by the mild but very pleasant and sweet taste of this blend.

Although the flavor is a tad lighter than I prefer my black teas to have in the morning, this blend left a delightful sweet and almost fruity taste on my tongue. Bitterness was nowhere to be found. It was also a perfect partner to chase down a couple of Scottish oatcakes.

I’ve only tried one other Darjeeling tea and that was in bagged form. It wasn’t bad but it didn’t pack enough punch for me to seek out other variations of the same theme. Now that I’ve tasted one of the finer loose leaf blends, I’m looking forward to the next Darjeeling discovery!

The Republic Of Tea seems to consistently release great tasting teas, regardless of whether they are loose leaf or processed in bags. Their limited special edition teas are also habitually well thought out and formulated. I was therefore very excited to experience the loose leaf blend that they selected to represent their 20-year anniversary of “leading the tea revolution.”

I brewed this tea at 212 degrees for five minutes as recommended on the package. An aroma similar to grape juice wafted from the pot. The color was orange-gold.

The flavor is full of the grape. It’s not tart or tangy. It is sweet and fruity and in the forefront of the very subtle tea taste. There is a sweet grape aftertaste without any bitterness.

The product is also advertised as being “infused with the essence of champagne.” Maybe if you close your eyes and really use your imagination, you might be able to detect the champagne attribute. I must not be imaginative enough. But, no matter, this is still a very tasty and creative blend.

I first tried this tea in the morning. I think I would have appreciated it more in the mid-afternoon.

I believe that The Republic Of Tea does have a fine selection to represent its milestone 20th anniversary. I’m already looking forward to see what they roll out for the 25th!

I see that the tasting notes for this selection include a mix of tea bag and loose leaf reviews. Let me specify that my tasting note is for the loose leaf version of Earl Greyer tea. I feel that is important to note because I’ve tried both the bagged and loose leaf versions of other Republic of Tea products, and I’ve found the taste to differ significantly.

I steeped ol’ Earl Greyer for five minutes at 212 degrees. This resulted in a brownish orange brew.

When I first opened the can and scooped the chopped leaves into my infuser basket, I thought I was in store for one of the strongest bergamot teas that I’ve encountered to date. The unsteeped citrus aroma was very potent and fragrant.

After brewing, I was surprised and disappointed to experience a less than colossal bergamot presence. The bergamot flavor is there and it’s smooth, but the citrus taste is overpowered by the black tea flavor.

The black tea taste is fine. There is also a little maltiness thrown in. There is no bitterness or astringent aftertaste. I guess I have just come to expect more from Earl Grey teas after some of the supercharged varieties that I’ve tried. (For example, if you desire a mighty Earl Grey tea with intense bergamot flavor that will stay with you throughout your day, I highly recommend Rishi Organic Earl Grey Black Tea: http://www.amazon.com/Rishi-Tea-Organic-Black-3-3-Ounce/dp/B001E5E20O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333545907&sr=8-1.)

If you like the citrus flavor to hang in the background of your Earl Grey tea, this selection will more than fit the bill. But, if you prefer bergamot on steroids, you (like me) may find yourself asking, “Is that all there is?”

As a Southerner, barbecue sauce is in my veins. In these parts, we like just about everything smoked except ice cream. In fact, if you ever pass through my neck of the woods, let me know. I’ll hook you up with the best barbecue restaurant in the universe!

I was, therefore, very intrigued when I read about the Lapsang Souchong tea on The Republic Of Tea web site. A smoky flavored tea sounded very desirable to me.

I steeped this tea at 212 degrees for five minutes. I didn’t detect a smokehouse aroma coming from the tea, but I imagined that four cups of tea wouldn’t produce as strong a smell as 500 pounds of smoked pig.

Without a strong smoky smell, I was wondering if I would be able to detect smokiness in the taste. Well, it was there and at the perfect level! The smoky flavor of this tea is wonderful and quite bold. The black tea flavor is subdued but not to the detriment of the total taste. There is no artificial chemical aftertaste that you sometimes experience with smoky sauces. The flavor of this tea makes you fantasize about the broad tea leaves drying and curing in the smokehouse NEXT TO 500 pounds of pig!

If you don’t like smoky flavors, you probably won’t like this tea. But, if you crave barbecued pulled pork and ribs as much as I do, you will LOVE it!

This is another great tasting tea from The Republic Of Tea. This organization has just been added to my list of favorite and most reliable tea companies.

The stores where I live carry a very limited and standard selection of loose leaf teas (e.g., basic green, jasmine, english breakfast). So, if I want to branch out into more exciting blends, I have to order them on-line or take out a loan at the local Teavana store. The Republic of Tea on-line collection has some of the most imaginative flavors around at reasonable prices. The Coconut Pu-erh tea sounded like it was right up my alley- bold, black, and sweet- all of my favorite attributes.

I steeped this tea at 212 degrees for five minutes. While brewing, the scent that filled the kitchen was like an Almond Joy bar. It made me concentrate to try to will the tea maker to process faster.

Sometimes the teas smell great and sweet but the flavor is flat and expressionless. Not so with this little gem! The flavor is exactly as advertised by the aroma. It is sweet and wonderful, more like a dessert tea than a breakfast stimulator. The usually dominant pu-erh taste follows merrily behind the sweet coconut flavor leader. The color is like dark mahogany.

This tea would be fantastic to sip at all times during the day. For me it had the double benefit of waking me up and satisfying my sweet tooth. It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. I have already added this selection to my “Don’t Run Out!!!” list.

I’m very familiar with The Republic of Tea tea bags, having tried a slew of different varieties last year before I entered the wonderful world of loose tea. I enjoyed all of the ones that I bought. I was anxious to see how the loose leaf versions compared.

I steeped the Blackberry Sage tea for five minutes at 212 degrees. The brewing aroma was incredible. It was very (or should I say, “berry”?) sweet and fruity. I couldn’t wait to see if it tasted as great as it smelled!

The brewed color of this tea is a golden amber. The flavor is fabulous! My first sip reminded me of Knott’s Berry Farm shortbread cookies. The taste is sweet and fruity without bitterness. The tea flavor undertones are subtle and supportive. A very nice aftertaste also lingers on my tongue. I imagine that this blend would also be terrific iced.

This is a very nice black tea. It isn’t the boldest black blend that I’ve tasted, but it really doesn’t need to be. The flavor is full and steady and delicious. That’s all I require for my afternoon black tea fix!