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If you like cardamom, you will like this tea much more than I did.

I’m not a fan of Cardamom, not at all. I’m also picky with lemon teas, so I was certain that I was going to dislike this tea. But it’s not bad. It’s not one that I’d reorder but I’m glad I had the chance to try it in my 12 days of tea sampler.

I’m clumsy. I just dumped half of my freshly brewed cup onto my lap. It didn’t feel good. On the bright side, it smells lovely…mmm…Concord grape and boiled me. Thank goodness for re-steepable leaves. This tea is too good to waste, not that any tea should be wasted, but this one is super-deelish! The grape and the tea are nicely balanced against each other. It’s light and fresh and perfect for spring/summer when I’m craving the fruity teas. When it gets warmer outside I’m trying this iced! C’mon sunshine!!!

I had this again at my friend’s house. It does the trick, but I wouldn’t buy it for myself. Sure, it’s convenient, but it tastes…blah. It leans a tad on the bitter side, even with a cooler water temperature and a shorter steeping time. Beyond convenience it’s really not for me.

Am I the only one that can’t say the word “s’mores” without thinking: “Please sir, Can I have s’more”?

I love how dry genmaicha looks so fun with the popped rice, kind of like Lilliputian popcorn. It also makes me think of the Muppets Swedish Chef doing his rendition of the popcorn song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvDvTnTGjgQ “de poppity corn!” Alright, enough random snapshots through my mind’s eye…onto the review:

When I ordered this tea I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for me. A couple of years back, I got a ginormous bag of genmaicha for Christmas. I enjoyed it at first but I eventually drank it so often that I grew tired of the taste. In the end I was handing out samples of the dry tea to friends and family just to be able to get through it all, and on more than one occasion I used it as one of my ingredients in a homemade face scrub. Yes, I was literally bathing in the stuff! It was like a bottomless chasm stuffed full of genmaicha – you’d think that would be wonderful, but I’m all about the variety when it comes to tea.

I finally made my way to the bottom of the bag before we moved last summer, at which point I said “it’ll be a cold day in hell before I buy another bag of genmaicha”. But then Frank had to go and make this tea. Roasted Cacao nibs and Marshmallow root?! Sign me up!!! The genmaicha base is evident, but the additional ingredients give this tea just enough depth and character for me not to get the genmaicha nightmares again.

What can I say?…I’m drinking my words, and loving it.

A nice light and floral white tea. Not an everyday tea for me, but a nice option for when I’m in the mood for something elegant. A lovely tea for multiple steeps.

I usually want strength in flavors when it comes to tea, but I’m not a huge lover of a strong lemon taste, so I had to change my approach in making this tea. The last time I had this tea, I thought it was good, but a tad too lemony for my liking. I tried to remedy this by making it a little differently this time: I under heated the water and used a much shorter steeping time. It worked, and the logical bonus- I got even more steeps out of the leaves than the first time I made it. I just finished off the sample of this tea from my 12 days of tea and I’m glad it gave me a chance to try it a couple of different ways.

Mmmmm…This has more pineapple taste than I remember. It’s not overwhelmingly pineapple, but I don’t have to search for the flavor either. It’s a nice light tea and I got two good steeps out of the leaves. I’m glad this one was available in the 2 for $5 pouches; otherwise I probably would have forgotten how good it is. Just like the first time I made this, I had to fight the urge to eat the candied pineapple pieces in the dry mix – the kid in me is pouting.

It’s really starting to feel like Spring. The sun is shining, I can hear the birds chirping, and the crocuses are already popping up. As much as I enjoy the coziness of Fall and Winter, I always look forward to shaking off the cold weather chills and welcoming back the bright and sunny days.

Quite fittingly, this tea reminds me of gardening. When I was a child, my Dad used to have a vegetable garden in our backyard. Once the weather would warm up he’d be out there, pulling weeds and preparing the soil. The garden had a small rock pathway, which at times would be taken over by mint. If you’re not familiar with growing mint, it grows like a weed and can easily take over a garden. Despite this fact, I used to enjoy stomping across that garden path as a child to tell my Dad about the latest adventure I went on with my neighbor’s cat; all the while taking in the fragrant scent of mint rising up from under my feet. This tea brings back such lovely memories of those times. In fact, I think next spring/summer, once the renos are done and my hubby and I are in our new home, I will consider growing mint myself (in containers) to make tea like this. But until then, this tea will suit me just fine.

I’m enjoying this last little bit of my sample from the 12 days of tea. I’m not usually a lover of lime flavored drinks or food, but this tea is well on the way to becoming one of few the exceptions. Now that the tea has had some more time to blend, the lime taste and green tea seem to go together even more smoothly than the first time I tried it? It tastes lovely as a hot tea, and I imagine it would also be refreshing when iced.

Since lime is not a flavor I love, I don’t see myself buying a full pouch of this, but if 52teas ever offers sample sizes, I’d definitely give it another go.

The cinnamon and pepper have a nice warming effect over the green tea base, those same ingredients also provide a nice aftertaste. It’s an alright tea, I’m glad I tried it, but I’m not in love with it. If I saw it on sale I might pick up a pouch, otherwise I wouldn’t go out of my way to get this one again. meh