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This tea. Extra strong. With a bit of Bailey’s. YUM.

Today I’m just drinking it straight up. I have to admit this one gets points just for being so cute. Those sprinkles and little chocolate chips are so adorable they make me want to buy the tea just to look at it. It tastes pretty darn good too. I’m not in the mood for flavoured tea every day, but when I am I frequently go for this one. Until recently I thought I was firmly against mint teas, but I think I’ve found one major exception.

It’s sweet. Very sweet. I personally think that the chocolatey sweetness balances the mint nicely in a way that tones it down, but if you’re already a mint lover that might not be something you enjoy. I can absolutely see why some people love this one and others hate it. I personally am a big fan of the chocolate and sprinkles, even though it might not be a combination I’ll go for on a daily basis. It’s a great tea for every now and then.

You always find fun surprises when cleaning out the tea cupboard.

I came back to this one today after a very long break, so it’s definitely a little on the old side. To be honest, I kind of forgot that it existed even though it was one of the first teas I ever fell in love with. It’s funny how a tea you haven’t had in a while can bring back memories. One sip of this and I was back in nursing school, taking a break in the hospital cafeteria, and trying to consume as much caffeine as I could in the time I had.

After some time away, I think I may have been expecting this one to taste more like the Spiced Mandarin Oolong that I love so much. There is definitely some overlap in the taste profiles. In comparison, I find this one kind of weak and watery (even with a 5-minute brewing time), with less spice than I would like. It was good enough to finish, but not nearly as exciting as it once was to me.

This one isn’t bad, but I’ve had better mango teas, better mate teas, and better pu-erh teas overall.

4th steep:

Interesting. The buttery note from the first steep isn’t there anymore, which is a little disappointing, but the strong and slightly bitter grassiness I noticed in the second steep isn’t either. It’s much more mellow now, and quite enjoyable. I think that with these leaves the first steep will always be best, but the 4th wasn’t bad. Given the price of this tea it’s nice that I can drink it all day without using up too much of it.

I find this tea very hard to describe. I can’t compare it to any green or an oolong tea I’ve had, and I’m having an incredibly difficult time coming up with words to explain the flavour. This tea is utterly puzzling to me, but definitely worth a try if you ever get the opportunity.

I bought about 30g this just before Christmas so that I could have a few cups before I decided whether or not to commit. When I first tried it I absolutely loved this tea, but I’m feeling more ambivalent today.

I love the mixture of dark chocolate and raspberry flavours. This blend is definitely a brilliant idea. What I’m not so sure I’m fond of is the very strong aftertaste of the yerba mate in combination with the super sweet chocolate. I love mate straight up or even blended with fruity teas, but this seems almost like the wrong kind of sweet for me. At least today. Maybe I’m just bitter because it didn’t give me the caffeine kick I so badly need right now.

I don’t know. It’s nice but I’ll have to drink more before deciding whether this is one I’ll stock up on.

Second steep: same leaves, same temperature, same amount of time.

The taste is definitely grassier this time around, and reminds me more of a lighter green tea. The smooth, buttery finish is still there, but the taste overall is more crisp than on the first steep. This is the first tea in which I’ve experienced such a notable difference between the first and second steep. I’ll probably give it a third steep just out of curiosity. I wonder if the taste will soften at all.

Another pick from my Tea of the Month subscription. This is possibly the most outrageously expensive tea of the whole bunch. As much as I’d love to hate it for that reason, I adore this tea.

Golden Dragon is actually golden when brewed. I wish I could post a picture to capture the colour. It’s beautiful. It’s also one of the smoothest, richest, most satisfying teas I’ve ever had. Lots of buttery flavour without too much sweetness and not a hint of the bitter aftertaste I’ve learned to associate with some Chinese teas. Looking up the price made my eyes bulge out of my head, but I have to admit I’ll be quite sad when I run out of this. I don’t know whether to savour it on special occasions, or to drink it quickly before I risk letting it go stale and lose its taste.

I can’t tell you how relaxed I feel sipping this one, even when the book in front of me is a biochemistry textbook rather than a favourite novel.

I’m pretty neutral about this one, actually. Granted, I forgot that I had it so it has been sitting in my cupboard for quite some time.

I remember being incredibly excited about this one when I bought it in the spring. I love fruity green teas, and this one most certainly fits that description. I’d say it tastes more like fruit than green tea, actually. It’s wonderful iced, I’ll give it that. Maybe my lack of enthusiasm now has to do with the fact that it’s January, and what I really crave is a rich, hot tea to make me feel cozy. It’s funny how drastically my tea preferences change with the seasons.

I like this because it’s refreshing, fruity (lots of sweet kiwi and citrus as well), and great to make into iced tea or even tea pop. I could do with a bit less sweetness, but it’s great for blending with straight green or white teas. But for some reason it just isn’t what I want today. Meh.

Eww. Gross. Yuck.

I’m not a fan of actual eggnog, but I thought I’d give this a try after hearing how bonkers some of my friends are for it.

I got all excited when I saw the pieces of white chocolate in the dry mix, but I didn’t taste anything resembling chocolate or spices in the cup. To me it just tasted like a sickeningly oversweetened rooibos with an odd aftertaste.

Maybe a fan of real egg nog would like this one, but I will not be back. Wow, that was unpleasant.

So, for my last birthday my mom got me the very generous gift of a Tea of the Month subscription from Teavana. As a result, I now have a cupboard full of interesting teas, most of which I’m learning are way more expensive than what I would consider reasonable. They’ve got me hooked on the Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls, though, and this one is a contender as well.

Despite the mixed reviews, I love this tea. It’s refreshing without being too grassy, smooth without being too buttery, and has neither the earthy bitterness nor the overwhelming sweetness that Teavana teas sometimes do. It’s just good. I don’t currently know much about oolong teas, but from what I’ve tasted I could drink this all day. Reading other reviews has made me want to try it iced as well.

Dammit, Teavana. Stop making me fall in love with teas before I know how ridiculously expensive they are.

Sipdown again! I got this one as a birthday present in the fall, so it needed to be finished. This one is sweet. Crazy sweet. Oh, wow.

I taste some cinnamon, a bit of apple, and a LOT of artificial-tasting sweetness that I can’t quite pin down a source for. There is no spice to this spiced apple whatsoever. I enjoy this one when mixed with other teas, particularly straight rooibos to dilute the sweetness, but I wouldn’t drink it on its own very often. It’s just okay.