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I grabbed one of everything in my aunt’s herbal tea drawer to take home except for the fancy stuff.

The dry bag strangely smells just like… sticking you head in a pillowcase full of Halloween candy. That’s the only way I can describe it adequately. It’s pleasant. Brewed up, it smells strongly of lemon myrtle mixed with some sweet, chocolatey chicory in the background. The taste is making me think of eating a Tootsie Roll followed up with a roll of lemon PEZ. I don’t know what role moringa plays in all of this. Overall, this tisane is citrus bright and a little earthy sweet. Very clean. Nom.

And yet another one from the teaswap with Togo. Thanks!

I started taking tasting notes and quickly figured out by smell and taste that this is probably the same tea as What-Cha’s Indonesia Harendong #12 ‘Jin Xuan’ Dark Roasted Oolong, which I adore and have reviewed.

I’m not sure if this is a different harvest or if leafing it a gram more than the What-Cha tea revealed some differences between the two. With this one, I did pick up on a cinnamon aroma in the dry leaf (think cinnamon sugar wheat toast) and some raisin. I also noticed some astringency which I don’t recall getting in What-Cha’s tea. This one had more defined cream-caramel and red/purple fruit flavors and a really strong returning rock sugar sweetness but less minerality.

I’d say the two teas are equally pleasing and I don’t think I’d rate this one different if I had gone into this blind because the overall theme of the tea is the same: roast/char, toast/grain, wood, berries, stone fruit, cream, light caramel, grass, mineral.

Don’t have a lot to say. Gunpowder green base tea. Peppermint and peppered green bean aroma, tastes strongly of cooked green beans and spearmint. Salty-tart, a faint smokiness that blends very well, light non-penetrating bitterness, some astringency. Warming in the ears, cooling in the chest with minty burps. Second steep is too astringent. Might play with timing for the rest of my sample.

Of note, I bought this bulk. This is ‘Moroccan Mint Green.’ Choice Organic Teas also makes a bagged version called ‘Green Moroccan Mint’ which has the same ingredients as this tea plus lemongrass.

(Western, 3g, 8oz, 190F, 3/4m)

Here’s another one from Togo :)

Gone western. 5g, 8oz, 212F, 3 steeps at 5/5/8m.

Dry leaf is roughly processed and voluminous with a mix of whole and broken leaf, stems and a few silvery buds. Range in color from various greens to browns with a lot of reddish-purple oxidation.

Wet leaf after the first steep smelled like orange, raspberry, herbaceous with a touch of florals. The liquor had an odd aroma of squash blossom and chlorine. The taste was undefined with an herbaceous quality and floral undertones. It was sour after the sip and medium- to full-bodied. It had a kind of tingly superficial astringency.

In the second steep, the tea came to life (yay!) with an aroma of orange blossom, almond, dry warm wood and unplaced herbs. The tastes fell in line with what I was expecting of this tea: almond, walnut, orange marmalade, apricot and orange blossom with a persistent mango-apricot aftertaste. The liquor thinned a bit and some bitterness came in with a little stronger astringency.

The third steep was surprisingly similar though with a little less depth, some added warming black pepper, the bitterness moving to the back and turning into sweetness, lots of salivation and a stronger astringency. Two steeps was plenty.

I’d play around with the temperature and steep times to see if that could bring out the desired aromas and flavors in the first brew. I’m also curious about the changes in the tea as it oxidizes more. For the price that Togo said he paid, I think this is a great tea for daily drinking.

This tea isn’t for the faint of heart when it comes to lavender. The contents smell very fresh with the lavender dominating.

I’ve prepared this a multitude of ways.

Following the recommended parameters of 2 bags to a mug, boiling water, steeped for 10-15 minutes, It’s weirdly thick and stewy. I don’t like cooked flowers. Even with 1 bag and brewed for a shorter amount of time (between 2 and 5 minutes), I couldn’t really enjoy it. I did find it tastier when brewed in glass over ceramic for whatever reason.

By far the best preparation has been cold-brewed with 2 bags to a liter of water overnight in the fridge. The taste is just right, cool, clean and light with neither flavor dominating. There is also a little bit of bitterness and sweetness which makes the brew less one-dimensional than when hot. I’m not sure I can taste the lemon balm besides as part of a lightly citric aftertaste that is partnered with some sweetness and lavender. I could see myself sipping this while sitting on a porch on a sticky summer night with the crickets and tree frogs chirping away.

I had gone over 48 hours without real tea or caffeine and thus feel the need to log this again. This afternoon I was in the mood for something light and bright. Ceylon seemed like a good pick. In my other review of this tea, I said I’d like to keep this around for the warm months, which are usually September and October here, but fortunately or unfortunately we didn’t have much of an Indian Summer so this tea sat around.

The tea has retained its flavor and aroma integrity over the past 3 months of being stored in its original pouch. It has a strength to it that needs to be drawn out and I highly suggest not tossing the leaves after the first or astringent second steep because it still has plenty to give with a third. Its light/med-bodied and brisk quality makes it easy to drink quickly. Warming in throat and chest. I also noticed a moderate, long-lasting sweetness in the throat which is not something I’ve come across in other Ceylon teas (granted I haven’t had many of high quality).

Feels good to be drinking a proper cup again.

Something my aunt picked up on her trip to the motherland.

The bag smells really good, like hair freshly washed with a lightly scented lemon shampoo. Kind of a musty quality but clean. The liquor smells the same but with an added depth probably from the saffron and rooibos. I can also pick up on the peppermint and a faint whiffs of rosemary and sage. It kind of reminds me of a Ricola throat lozenge.

On first sip, it also has the sweet medicinal quality of Ricola but then it turns savory and deep with a brightness from all the lemon-tasting ingredients. Thankfully the lemongrass is not perceptible as a separate ingredient. It’s also quite oily from the herbs and light to medium bodied. Tastes a lot like a light, fresh vegetable broth made with a little fresh rosemary and sage and a few drops of lemon. Leaves a nice clean feeling in the mouth afterward.

I’m really enjoying this and will stuff a few bags into my already overflowing backpack to take home.

Dude, this is gross.

The aroma is a penetrating medicinal smell with a layer of caramel flavor-scent mixed in. It’s doing the opposite of easing my stomach even though I’m not drinking this for the claimed effect. Sickeningly sweet from the licorice? Can taste some fennel underneath and some peppermint cooling but mostly I feel very warm from the black pepper and ginger. Somebody out there might like this but not me.

I know a review won’t matter with 101 of them already and this one will get buried under the people that have multiple entries for this tisane, but I leave a note for everything so here we go.

I forgot how much I enjoy one of the old Celestial Seasonings stand-bys, stands-by, stand-bies. Immortal blends? Whatever you want to call it. Bright peachy sweet-tart, faintly herbal, little syrupy-thick, great hot or iced. The cream is present in the heavenly smell of the dry leaf as kind of a vanilla pudding note but I don’t think I get it in taste. I never not have a feeling of well being while sipping on this. Might take honey well if you like to sweeten your drinks. And you can leave the bag in a mug while you sip without developing any off flavors.

Not terrible but very lacking. It tastes like a watery orange PEZ candy dipped in orange oil with a tiny bit of cinnamon. Where’s the rooibos?