Herbal Infusions

One of the last of my teas to try from MissB! Thanks so much again for all of them.

When I smelled this one as it was brewing and immediately afterward, I really did not think eggnog. I’ve been sipping at it a bit as it cools to drinkable temperature, and I have to say it is definitely filling the creamy niche. There is something familiar about the flavor here but I can’t quite place it. Not really eggnog, but maybe the added spices. A creamy, spiced thing going on here. Not getting any “spiked” about this, but that’s ok. As it cools, bitterness from the black tea is becoming more prevalent unfortunately. Still, the rest of the flavors are pretty tasty; if only it had a better-quality tea base! :)

Backlog:

Yum, yum, yum! I love cacao shells. They produce such a delicious chocolate-y tea/tisane. I think that they do a better job at chocolate-i-gasmness than cacao nibs or chocolate chips or even chocolate flavoring.

I think that Herbal Infusions should choose another name for this particular cacao tisane, though. The cinnamon and vanilla notes in this give it more of a Mexican hot chocolate type of flavor to me and I think that perhaps Cinnamon Hot Cocoa might be a better name for this.

Incredibly yummy. I love this!

Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2013/12/04/vanilla-cacao-tea-herbal-infusions/

I gulped down the vanilla cacao blend from Herbal Infusions so I decided it was time to order more! The strawberry smells so sweet and bright and doesn’t leave much room for the cacao to shine. After water has been added, the strawberry and cacao balance out. It reminds me a lot of strawberry candies covered in chocolate.

Sipping… the sweet strawberry comes first and is slowly hugged by the cacao. There is the nicest creamy chocolate note that finishes the sip. While it’s tasty, there is a part of me that feels like strawberry doesn’t belong with cacao. It could be that the strawberry is a little on the artificial side and the cacao naturally brings forward a chocolate flavor. I don’t think that I like this one as much as the vanilla cacao. It actually tastes worse as the the cup cools. Eh.. not so delicious anymore.

Another sample thanks to MissB! I do like the flavor pretty well on this one… it’s lightly sweet, a touch creamy, a bit cinnamon-spicy. However, there is something in the blend that is making the back of my throat itch just after I swallow. It is fairly unpleasant. Don’t know what it could be, but I’m sorry I won’t be able to finish the cup.

This tea sadly appears to be losing a bit of flavor, it is a year or 2 old so it’s not surprising, but it is one of my favorite Earl Greys. There still is some marshmallow flavor which I am happy about, as I gave a friend a spoonful of dry tea to try just a couple weeks ago. Still warming and cozy and sweet as well. I am feeling mildly under the weather due to my sinuses being in crazy mode from swimming (I think there is still some water in them lol) and with pressure changes from the weather here. Ugh I hope it passes, that full sinus feeling is never good, and also makes my head kind of spin.

Yes, this is a winter tea. Yes, I am drinking it Aug. 4. It is freezing as usual in my office and rainy outside, and I am super tired as it is the Tues after the long weekend. So cozy, warming caffeine was a requirement to make it through this morning. This one still has a ton of flavor and is sweet, comforting and cozy. I wish I was at home in bed lol. Tasty tea helps the day go by! See previous notes on this tea :)

Yum yum yum…having a decadent cup of this on this fine Tuesday evening. I can’t wait until it’s the weekend already LOL long week already…le sigh. Ah well, that’s why I have good tea to keep me going, and good company (the bf’s mom and brother are up for a few days). This tea is marshmallowy creamy goodness with a lovely bergamot note in there too. I need to have this more often. And now I am in a black tea mood since it’s chilly outside and supposed to snow. Blargh. Must get some sleep tonight though..haha. See previous notes on this tea!

Omg omg omg….ok. This is SO GOOD RIGHT NOW. Like wow. At first I was like hmm strong bergamot..but then it was all like BAM MARSHMALLOW. And fluffy. And creamy. And toned down just enough by the bergamot and black tea. Very good base for this tea too, not overpowering or too weak. I am just enjoying this to the max on this Monday afternoon at work. Not even sure how long I steeped it for lol, probably around 2 minutes. Yes, I really like this, not even filtered water used! Rating now added, although if I come to my senses and this one isn’t as epic, it might go down haha.

I got this tea from VariaTEA for my fiancee, who loves cookie teas. After trying a cup myself this morning, I don’t think that this will disappoint him. The smell reminds me of chocolate chip cookies, and there’s a little brown sugar noticeable. The flavor is more of a rich sugar cookie flavor with a light spiciness to it. The flavor seems to change with every sip, but every sip is equally delicious! I’m glad we have a whole pack of this tea to enjoy, although once the fiancee gets a hold of it it won’t last long! Thanks, VariaTEA!

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves with small red and yellow leaf sprinkles.
-Dry leaves smell sweetly of chocolate chip cookies. Tea liquor aroma is malty with hints of rich brown sugar and cookie.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark orange brown color.
-Strong black tea flavor with a brown sugar finish. Sugary cookie and lightly spicy aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. A unique cup. Sweet brown sugar and cookie flavor with a hint of spiciness.

I got this in a huge “just because she is generous, super nice and amazing” package from Dexter3657 ! I love love love hazelnut coffee. It’s the only kind I will drink when I do drink it! And when I do I milk that baby down to mostly milk and sugar ha ha. This was sooooo good! Even better than I anticipated after reading Dexters tasting note last month! Those who follow me know I love chocolate teas, coconut teas and hazelnut teas! This is all of those! Ahhhhh I was so excited to have this for breakfast this morning with my frenchtoast I made with cinnamon roll bread and one egg fried to perfection! Ha ha!
http://m.flickr.com/lightbox?id=12243721556
Thanks Dex!

I feel bad not being as into the cacao stuff from HI as everybody else here seems to be. I’m surprised I’m saying this, but I wonder if the reason I vastly prefer ATR’s Choco-Late is the addition of rooibos. I think it must give the tisane body somehow, which when combined with the cacao husks evokes the thick creaminess of hot cocoa. The flavor in the cacaos I’ve tried from HI isn’t bad at all, similar to Choco-Late, but the strength of that smell and flavor and most of all the body of the cup is just so relatively lacking. I have a little more in my sample packets and should try overleafing like mad to see if that helps.

This was a mixed-up Monday steeping, which means that I didn’t put enough water into my timolino and the steeping basket wasn’t fully submerged so I ended up with barely flavoured warm water.

Ah, crap.
Sipdown too! (146)

I’m drinking this because I’m home and have access to my kettle! I bought the kettle to try and entice myself into drinking more white/green teas because I’m too lazy to heat water and measure it with a meat thermometer like I used to. (Also, weird)

So, I take a sip and yes.. blueberries! Also, something odd. Huh. OH, it’s the tea. The Pai Mu Tan! I had to wiki it and realized that that is also Bai Mudan and also what we call White Peony (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bai_Mu_Dan_tea).

And now you know!

The white base is really nice. It caught my attention because I haven’t had a lot of white teas, and this is stronger than I expected, while still being delicate. The blueberry flavouring gives it a nice fruitiness, but doesn’t take away from the … hmm.. not grassiness… vegetal nature of the white tea?

Verdict: It’s good.

Also, the ingredients, as listed on my pouch are: Pai Mu Tan. Natural Blueberry Flavouring. That’s nice and short.

You guys are 100% right – the longer you let this steep, the more decadent it becomes.

At first I steeped it for 6 minutes – the colour was an extremely light tint of brown, with very little cacao flavouring. It was there, but it was extremely underwhelming and left a weird chalky feeling in the back of my throat. Then I decided to put the steeper back in and let it sit for another 10 minutes…and it turned HEAVENLY. Deliciously rich and cacaoy with zero chalk. It was like drinking hot chocolate without additives.

Truly a delectable treat and something I’ll be ordering in the future.
Thank you so much Courtney for sharing this with me!

OK call me crazy – it’s ok, I don’t mind….
This is Neapolitan ice cream. When it’s melted and all the flavors are mixed in the bottom of your bowl – that’s what this is. It’s more Neapolitan than the big name one that’s out there. This is good – it’s really good. Chocolate, strawberry, creamy – awesome. Maybe a hint thin on the mouth feel, but I can over look that.
Thank you so much VariaTEA for sending this sample my way.

Ohh my goodness is this ever good. Haha, the dry smell in the bag was very minty chocolate, reminding me of an After Eight..chocolates that I really enjoy. I steeped for 5 and a half minutes again, and was a bit worried, as the initial smell of the water on the leaves was kind of weird, a strange vegetal mint scent..not very nice. But after steeping, it smells like milky, buttery chocolate with mint, very happy it straightened out!

As for the flavor, yeah, this one is just so buttery milk chocolate tasting. And I love mint, so the mint is wonderful in here! Not quite an After Eight, as it’s more herbal tasting, but the peppermint is good and the cacao shines in this blend. I almost like this one a bit more than the original..haha I will have to compare them! Not tonight though, can’t have that much cacao in one day!

This tea is great! I’ve been quite disappointed by most of the teas I’ve tried that try to incorporate coffee, but this is a hit. Had it for afternoon tea today with the husband after a kind of stressful, crappy day. It’s delicious, with coffee playing a solid role without entirely eclipsing the tea, and the chocolate and nuts add a lot of flavor without making it an oily mess. So far, this is probably my favorite thing I’ve tried from HI. Would restock again in a heartbeat for the cooler months.

Oooh now I see Dexter3657 says it’s delicious iced! I can definitely see the promise there.

Wooo! My Herbal Infusions order came! Hehe, I managed to get a bag of that wonderful marshmallow EG, I had it in a travel mug for my course tonight and it was SO GOOD. But I will save that first note for when I can truly do the tea justice in a cup at home. So I got home and made a cup of this, I also ordered the mint cacao and they threw in a sample of the vanilla! So excited to try them all!

So this tea, tisane, whatever you would call cacao shells..man oh man, smells like decadent hot chocolate in the bag. I steeped this for 5 and a half minutes with boiling water, and it smells like hot chocolate!! Off to a good start!

As for the flavor, yes, this is quite good. Very true chocolate, a tiny bit watery, but it is a tea lol so that is forgiveable. If my lactose intolerance wasn’t acting up so bad lately, I would probably have added some milk, but we will take a break from that for a while lol. This is pretty darn tasty sans additives anyways. So far, a delicious start to Herbal Infusions teas, and always exciting trying teas from new companies!!

Afternoon tea of the day. Nice, subtler and less eerily dead on and strong than Della Terra’s S’mores, but also avoids the off-putting built-up plasticky element in DT’s. I don’t think I’d restock but it was no problem drinking it down today.

I totally had this because Amariel did. :)

I added a tiny bit of sugar and a splash of almond milk.

Sadly, I’d rather have hot chocolate. The texture just isn’t there. Maybe steeping it directly in almond milk? But that seems like so much work right now.

Smells divine, didn’t live up to the promise.

(10 min at boiling)

So I tried this tonight. I don’t love it nearly as much as that ridiculous mint/lavender/cacao blend I got from MissB. Next time I think I’ll steep it on the stove in some almond milk. It was just too thin.
1 tbsp in 12 oz boiling for about 20 minutes.

I wonder how this would cold steep…

Thank you Cavocorax for sharing but the more I drink this, the more medicinal it tastes :(

Thank you for sending this Cavocorax but I just don’t think I like it all that much. It reminds me of Tea Forte’s Cherry Marzipan with a slightly less vegetal base. I guess it is just not for me.