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Thought I’d drink this over my DT Darjeeling just so I could use it up.

The first few sips made my mouth pucker up and my tongue do that ‘thbt thpt’ sticky-outty thing, sorta like a dog chewing on peanut butter…

Getting past that, I get dank smoky wood. It’s potent! And I used 1 tsp for my mug at 4 min. Added cream, and it is much improved!

Now I’m gonna read in the near dark as the baby fell asleep on my bed and I don’t want to move her or leave her alone long enough for her to roll off. :)

Oh! I think I’ve been underleafing all my teas! When it says 1 tsp per cup, I’m thinking of my giant 14oz mug. Not as a cup in baking! (duh) I’ve also used pretty much the same quantity for a full tea pot. Soooooooo, whoops. Strangely enough, I seem to still get a lot of flavour, but curious how things will taste if I do it right.

This is the first of my free Zen Tea samples and I have to say it’s my new favorite Rooibos.

Dry: it smells quite strongly of raspberries and vanilla. I can see the rooibos, but I can’t smell it.

Steeped: Ok, now I can taste rich rooibos notes nicely blended with the raspberry and vanilla. It’s naturally very sweet, so I didn’t even consider adding anything. I can’t wait to try it a few more times. I think I should have enough for 2-3 more cups!

I have a sore throat and I may be fighting off a bug (which makes sense bc the baby is coughing too) so I tried to start the day off with lemon tea. It was THE WORST. Granted it was just safeway brand bagged tea, but… it’s lemon? How do you get that wrong? I had to dump it.

The rest of the day has been ALL ABOUT pumpkin tea! I promised Lis I would send her some, and when I checked my tin to make sure I had lots left (yep!) I started making some.

The first steep I only put water in the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of the cup, and steeped it extra strong. Then I nuked up some cream and used my little wand thing to froth the heck out of it. Then I poured that on top for a DIY latte! It was pretty good, but… lacking in something? Maybe I’m not doing this right, or maybe I should have added sugar. It was good, but it couldn’t compare to my gingerbread latte from starbucks.

Second steep was 5 minutes for a full cup and a heaping spoon of brown sugar added it. That’s more like it. There’s a lot of depth to this tea, and I couldn’t notice it with all that cream. I’m gonna sit and sip away at this and read Game of Thrones while the baby sleeps. She’s been down for half an hour – I hope I get half an hour more to relax! :)

I have a nicely chilled pitcher of tea from a few weeks back that I finally decided to finish tonight. The problem is I made it so long ago that I couldn’t remember what it is! All I know is: almonds.

Steepster: ILU! Tealogs are essential now.

And yes, this tea is also great cold. I may prefer it warm though – further experiments are required.

This is such a unique tisane (see! I’m learning stuff) that I think my high rating is justified.

I wanted a nice cup after coming in from a walk in the rain and so I chose this guy! I wanted caffeine-free to make up for the delicious gingerbread latte I grabbed at Starbucks. SO GOOD.

But this isn’t about that. :P We don’t talk about coffee here. (It was REALLY good you guys!)

Oh +1 to me for not picking up Tazo Joy tea while I was at Starbucks. I was VERY TEMPTED. And also I had no real idea what the tea tasted like – I just liked the pretty red tin. #sucker So yeah – good job not throwing money away!

I haven’t had this rooibos at all and I was completely surprised at all the cinnamon. It brought back terrible memories – wait – is this Mamma Mia? Did I get the wrong tea? :O

Happily this tastes nothing like that other one. It has that pleasant earthy rooibos taste and the cinnamon complements it nicely. It’s not TOO cinnamon-y. On a fireball scale of 1-100, I’d say it’s maybe 40. I can taste it, but it’s not crazy. I guess there are rosehips in there too but I have no idea what they tasted like.

My friend sgoertz gave me this sample as it was her favorite rooibos. I can see why!

So for whatever reason I’m still feeling anxious/jittery/whatever. Time to address the obvious culprit: caffeine. Besides, I like this tea! I can’t have evolved into that big of a tea snob,could I?

Sadly, maybe a teeny bit. It smells great, and it tastes good, but for whatever reason I can’t drink it black like I can my loose leaf teas. But adding milk/cream isn’t that big of a deal!

Steeped it for 4 minutes this time and the cinnamon is less overwhelming. I still don’t care for this tea though…

Once I figure out how I would ship tea to people (baggies in a padded envelope?), I’ll likely put this on my trade list. There has to be someone who will like it, right? But for now I just have a lot of other teas to enjoy and life is too short!

I bought this as a 2/$5 dealie without reading all the reviews first. :| Maybe that was a bad idea?

I opened it up and it smelled pretty good. The cinnamon smelled good but it was the main thing I could smell.

I accidentally steeped it for the max recommended time: 7 minutes. When I came back to it I could tell that the hibiscus had overpowered it! I know hibiscus has a bad rep here, and to be honest I don’t really mind it (in some teas), but it’s completely overpowered this blend. Bleh. I’m getting an extremely tart mixture of cinnamon and flowers – not exactly the relaxing OMG-the baby-is-finally-sleeping-it’s-almost-time-for-bed beverage I was hoping for. I forced myself through a few sips, but now it’s going down the drain.

I’ll hold off on rating it until I try to brew it again at 4 minutes! If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll ice it?

Stopped by DT while I was out and about, and in an effort to curtail mindless tea shopping, I picked up one of these to-go (instead of buying new tea). Now I will sample ALL the teas and won’t buy any unless I know its good…

Cuz that’s what responsible adult types do, amirite?

I did buy two of the 2/$5 sampler sizes too bc they’re cheaper that way, and even though it breaks my abovementioned rule, seems like a great way to try tea. (About the same price as taking a cup home for each tea).

So… Vanilla Oolong. It’s good. I don’t even think she put anything in it but the vanilla adds enough sweetness to the mix. I still don’t really know what oolong tastes like on its own, but I am getting a delicate floral taste mixed with a light tea. It’s a cup full of whimsy.

Haha. I shouldn’t use metaphors.

I resteeped it and it was just as good. This would probably be a good one to get, eventually. I am enjoying every sip. It coats my mouth very nicely, but it’s not as good warm/cool so I don’t want to brew it if I think I’ll get distracted (I.e, the baby is awake).

Maybe my stomach is jittery due to all the caffeine I’ve been drinking?

I’m off for a walk, so I’ve loaded my Timolino with this Rooibos to see if that makes a difference. I love the sweet earthy smell of this blend. It’s surprisingly good. I figure it will nicely counter the brisk fall air.