Dryad Tea

A smoky tea that made me think of late evenings in October with a horror novel.

Nice but probably would not buy.

Thanks to SuperStarling! for this sample

This tea smells AMAZING. Both the dry and wet leaves. Like, warm apple pie/cider amazing.

Unfortunately, the taste didn’t translate as well to the tongue. I wish it would have. When I drank it though, there was a stark difference and disappointment. It was a bit flat and watery. The more I drank it, the more some of the cinnamon apple flavor came out but nothing near that smell.

I am a strong flavor person. Mustard, hot sauce, ginger, horseradish. These are all things that appeal to me. I think that if a tea is flavored and doesn’t have a massively strong flavor to go with the scent, my tongue doesn’t pick up on it as well as other peoples tongues might. I’m not even a smoker but perhaps my taste buds are just… dulled?

This is a super-great tea, but I’m starting to realize I don’t care for blueberry much.

This is NOT a reflection on the tea, which is accurate and tasty. It’s very rich and doesn’t taste weird or fake at all.

I just thought I liked blueberries more than it turns out I do. I’m more of a raspberry/strawberry/blackberry kind of person. AND THAT IS OKAY. Unsettling (I THOUGHT I KNEW MYSELF) but okay.

This tea describes itself as “perfectly steampunk.” If the retrofuture — with its cogs and wheels and steam and girls in goggles and top hats — tastes like this, I’m in.

This tea is exactly what its ingredients taste like, and it was fun to watch the little pieces of orange float to the top. A lovely brew.

Please excuse me. I have to go ride my giant mechanized spider. Will Smith and I are having a tiff.

A tasty, nutty chai. The flavor’s not especially powerful, unlike the more in-your-face flavors of Dyad’s other work, but it’s still a great Monday morning power-through staple. Grit teeth. Chug tea. Design powerful things. Dominate the universe. I mean, uh, stay in line and obey all the rules.

A lovely blueberry-lemon tea!

I am imagining little sprites making this for themselves with wild ingredients from their meadow — and sipping it out of tiny teacups made from hollowed-out acorns.

Very cute and whimsical.

A WEEPY WEEPY SIPDOWN IS UPON US ALL.

Behold: the ugly cry. Boogers. Dribble. Slick red face.

I am going to eventually have to purchase a vat of this. Ice wine (one of the main flavors in this) is one of my favorite flavors ever.

I once tried a sip of a $45 bottle of wine (hah! who has money like that?) that was “Fire And Ice Wine.” It was an ice wine with a little bit of pepper mixed in, for a spicy aftertaste. Sweet. Then spicy.

http://www.sevenmountainswinecellars.com/index.php/sweet-wines/product/32-vidal-fire-and-ice

“Hatter” is like that, except it’s not $45. It’s one of my favorite teas ever, and I can’t wait to get more.

I was not compensated for this robustly enthusiastic review. Which is a pity.

2 out of 2 for Dryad Teas today. This one tastes just like ice wine. (Which is, apparently, an ingredient). If you don’t know what ice wine is, you should look it up. It involves ripe frozen grapes to make a sweet wine. It costs more than my life.

Between ice wine being an ingredient and raisins also in there, you can really get that grape feeling without it feeling fake or plastic. There’s also a spiciness that I like. It feels like a rich glass of wine after a tiring day.

Yum! It’s apple pie! Just as tasty and American as Steve Rogers!

United States: Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, From Sea to Shining Sea.

Our Glorious Nation: Back-to-Back World War Champs.

Uhhh… I’m out of patriotism. It’s not my forté at all.

This is a very good tea.

Hibiscus teas are a favorite of mine, but they’re tricky. They give beautiful color, but the flavor is delicate and can easily be lost. This tea blends hibiscus with huckleberry black tea and cloves, and when mixed with just a touch of sweetener, the hibiscus absolutely blooms!

The smell is delightful out of the cup – fruity and floral with just a touch of spice from the cloves. It’s my preferred “thinking tea” when wrestling with a difficult problem.

I love this tea. I have to ration it because it doesn’t always appear to be in stock.

It’s a lighter, fruity tea with natural sweetness from the freeze-dried strawberries and ice wine-infused tea leaves. The sweetness melds beautifully with a rich cinnamon spice flavor for a wonderful brew on a cold winter’s night. I like a stronger brew, so I will use slightly hotter water to allow the tea to steep longer.

This tea reminds me of salonpas— the Asian medicine muscle-relaxant patches. If you didn’t grow up on Chinese and Japanese medicines, like I did, maybe it doesn’t seem medicinal at all. But to me, the combination of the slightly minty with the herbal rooibos and the apple-pear is rounding it out that way for me. Not bad enough I dumped it out, but I don’t actually like it either. I kept forgetting to review it, so I kept drinking a sample and thinking the same thing and then forgetting which tea it was that made me think this.

I’ve been terrible about actually reviewing my teas, so this is the second or third time I’ve made a cup from this sampler. The hibiscus colors the tea a pretty vibrant pink, which is at least interesting for aesthetics, especially if you appreciate pink, though it’s not my favorite.

Tastewise, the moment the liquid touches my tongue there’s a hint of sweetness, that’s quickly followed by sour as the lemon and lime become the dominant notes. It’s not unpleasant, as long as you appreciate the sour citrus flavor, but it is prominent. The green tea gives it a slightly earthy base that ties the flavors together. I remember I was surprised (because I wasn’t paying much attention to what the flavor makeup was when I made the cup), but enjoyed it quite a lot the first time. And this cup is not bad, but I think not quite what I was in the mood for, so it’s getting a lukewarm rating today.

I had this again some weeks ago, between my last taste note, and really liked it. And then because I’ve been mostly just trying aimlessly to finish some of the samplers, I didn’t remember which one it was and ended up misplacing it among my rooibos samples, so I didn’t find it again until tonight.

Still has the floral/fruity scent, and overall it feels very light for a black tea, which I think is why I’m growing to like it more. Not bitter, not sweet, not sour, but complex all the same. I’m considering getting a full tin at this point because I find I really enjoy it as a tea to wind down the day with.

Smelling it actually reminds me more of rose, pretty perfumey, which is not my favorite. Though to be honest I’m not sure I’ve ever encountered an elderberry on its own, so perhaps it’s just how elderberry smells. The taste reminds me a bit of cranberries, slightly tart and a little bit sour. Tea flavor is pretty mellow, and the whole thing is pretty woodsy. Overall I’m enjoying it, but I don’t think it would be an everyday tea for me.

Supposedly this is an Earl Grey, and though I can see hints of that, I wouldn’t have said it was unless I’d seen the packaging. It’s very mellow with a slightly sweet smell (the mallow flowers possibly), though the taste is mostly black tea and a hint of jasmine and other florals for me. I don’t really taste the apple, though I could smell them in the loose tea before I brewed it. It’s not immediately jumping out as a favorite, but I could see it being a tea I come back to. We’ll see if it grows on me as I finish off the sampler.

As it says, it’s very light for a black tea. Can taste the earl grey notes, not as much of the jasmine. Would be a pretty good everyday tea, I think. I like earl greys, but I find (at least the way I drink them) they end up so strong and intense that I only really like having them on occasion. Might get myself more of this one to put at work. I’ll see how I feel after finishing the sample, though.

As a side note I realized recently the mugs I have are actually 15oz mugs, so I guess I have not actually been using 8oz when I make tea, heh.