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Mmm..I knew this one would lend itself well to a latte.
3 tsp. leaf to 16 oz liquid.
Custardy and sweet, but still definitely a tea. Quite a good tea, at that.

Made as a latte using 2 heaping tsp. leaves to 16 oz. liquid.

I feel like I finally understand what it means when people say that a black tea “stands up” to the addition of milk and sugar. The flavor of the pancakes have been brought out more, but the flavor of the black tea is still at the forefront so I just have a stronger brew. I am totally fine with this – strong flavors are what I like!

Definitely a good choice for breakfast this Sunday morning!

Another of my samples from Rachel!

I used 2 tsp. of leaves to 1 cup of water, per thepuriTea’s steeping parameters. The dry leaves smelled very clean and fresh – like unadulterated tea. I didn’t get any other scents, fruity or milky or otherwise, but that’s fine with me – I’ve been drinking a lot of flavored tea lately and it was nice to remember what tea is like in its pure form.

The steeped liquor is a light yellow color, really reminds me of a sencha, actually. And it tastes like a sencha with a thicker mouthfeel. I like both of these things separately, and never imagined how nice they would be when combined. Almost like the best of both worlds for me, since I love thicker teas, but also the flavor of greens.

Mmm. It’s almost a good thing they are out of stock, because otherwise I would be spending more money I don’t have on this!

This was another sample I ordered from Rachel.

Made this hot, had a few sips, and iced the rest.
This is a very juicy tea, and the aroma of the leaves, both before and after steeping, is really pleasant and light. It is most definitely peachy – but it also has some floral notes from the rose petals that are blended in. Normally I really don’t like floral teas – I find that they remind me of drinking perfume. This is a very happy exception.

The few hot sips that I had were extremely juicy and flavorful, and since I used my whole sample on them, I decided just to take my chances and throw it into the fridge. I knew that from the reviews here and my own tasting (and the fact it got up to 90 today), I would love this iced.

It is so perfect for summer iced tea that I promptly went on Lupicia’s website and am in the midst of placing an order. Summers are long and hot here, people, and this tea is going to be one of the ways I make due.

Made as a latte because I need some energy to keep on studying.
Tastes really good this way – definitely resembles actual coffee with the milk and sugar.
Only two more big tests left.
I can do this.

Sigh, summer. The only bad thing about you is the fact that I am unable to enjoy hot tea except at night. I love iced tea – it’s how I got my start on tea in the first place – but some teas are just better hot. This would be one of them.

I actually craved this tea after I had it the first time (the first time I’ve ever really craved a tea, I must be honest here) but I’ve been out of the house the past few nights and wasn’t able to manage it. I fixed that tonight. :)

It is just as good as the first time – a little bit weaker maybe, but I think the banana chunk (that thing was huge!) might be responsible for crowding out some of the tea in my 1 teaspoon. I steeped it a little longer to fix it and that worked without getting bitter, luckily. It still has that lovely thick and bready mouthfeel with some added honey. So very smooth and so unmistakably banana bread.

Upping the rating – this tea is perfection for me..

Thanks to Rachel for providing me with this very generous sample!

First, a backlog – I tried this cold brewed yesterday. It was my first time ever doing that, but it’s also the first time I’ve had a white tea in a while that the cold brew would ostensibly work for. So I tried it using a 750 ml insulated water bottle that had a mesh strainer in it (perfect how that worked out).

8 hours later and the tea was ice cold and tasted faintly of honey and vanilla in the sip. A little watery, which I then figured out had to be because you measure white teas by weight and not teaspoons or tablespoons, so the fault was entirely mine. But it was still good. Still really good. And I sensed it’s potential. :)

Today I used those leaves and then the rest of my sample to make about 16 oz of tea in my Breville using the parameters below. The liquor was a little dark for white teas, a medium yellowish color. It smelled very honeyish, which was very pleasant and new, as I didn’t get much of a scent the first time around with the cold brew.

This time the mouthfeel was just what I imagined it to be from the name – thick (not cloying or unpleasantly so) with both honey and vanilla laced delicately above the white tea flavor. It is not bitter at all, even with such a long steep time.

As it cools (and the last of it has gotten quite cold because I am SO SLOW when I drink tea) THIS is what I imagined the iced tea would taste like, and I can see where a lot of people were over the moon for it.

Sigh. I’m so glad I got to try it- and sad I missed buying it when it was still available…if anyone ever gets wind of that supposed liquidation sale I will be in the throng of people snapping this up.

1 tsp. to 8 oz water.
This was right on for scent out of the package – the bananas were overwhelming (I can see where people thought they smelled like runts) but it also smelled nutty, which is a combination I often associate with banana bread. The liqour is a light yellowish brown at this steep time. The steeped tea smells…bready. Wow!

The first sip tastes just like banana bread out of the oven! My mom used to make it all the time when I was little and her recipe tasted just like this! I did add 1 tsp. of honey (I would do this to banana bread if it was warm, too, so I tried this for accuracy as well as to sweeten) and now I am in love.

Amazing…going to see how a second steep goes…

ETA- the second steep, when done for around 10-12 minutes, still manages to give off a banana flavor, though fainter than the first go round. Man, this is good. I never manage to drink tea this fast!

I got a sample of this (and a few other teas) from Rachel (RachanaC) from her teatra.de site. Thank you so much Rachel – they got here so quickly and I’ll be going through them in the next few days, I’m sure. :)

This smelled almost coffee-like when I pulled it out – and since I’m doing some studying for end of the semester finals I figured I could use this to keep me awake for the night! The smell actually seems reminiscent of the Javavana Mate from Teavana. That is strange to me, because the ingredients are quite different. I see some coconut and chocolate shavings (yum!) in the dry leaf.

I used 3 tsp. of leaf to 500 ml. water in my Breville, per steeping instructions. Once steeped the aroma turns more to the chocolate side of things – a dark chocolate smell to be specific. After the cup has cooled a little, I taste the black base and get the coconut and chocolate more on the swallow/aftertaste. I think there’s a faint hint of coconut but it’s not too strong considering the huge shavings that were in the sample. The black tea is strong but not bitter, which is always a plus for me.

This is a pleasant tea. There isn’t anything that stands out about it, so I probably won’t be buying more when there are so many other teas out there to try, but it is nice to sip on while trying to cram a semester’s worth of information (back) into my brain…

With some added maple syrup these flavors really do pop, although before I added any I took a sip and was pleased to taste the pancakes right before the black tea took over. I ordered an extra pouch of this since it was being reblended and I’m super glad I’ve nailed the parameters for myself – I’m going to enjoy many breakfasts with this one!