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A tasty and non-stomach-upsetting yet still rewarding alternative to a hazelnut latte from Second Cup! I was craving a sweetened drink and had made myself some cold lattes in the past week from some old matcha powder packets I had been gifted, so this just hit the spot. Sweet enough without being sickly, and I could definitely taste the green tea, although noticed a bit of grittiness at the end. But yum yum yum.

Mmmmm, definitely a favourite. Right up there on par with Banana Oolong. In my opinion, the creamy, mildly sweet nuttiness is perfectly matched with the mild green base. Have no idea what temperature I steeped it at today, but I let the kettle cool for a few minutes prior to steeping. A cooler temperature and short steep time are important as otherwise it can become rather bitter and gross.

Only had time for one steeping today, but we’ll see if the tea ball can handle another one tomorrow, as I’m now out of this tea and need to go buy at least a 100g tin!

Future more detailed notes to come; this is being written a few hours post-sipping and I am terrible at remembering such things accurately!

Mmmm, made a cup for breakfast this morning and put it post-steeping into the Timolino… perfect. Absolutely delicious. Could have used a bit more steeping once cooled to bring out the fruits’ sweetness, but it was quite good just the same. :D

Yum. The tea that first got me into liking steeped bananas! Bought this one on request from my sister (although she didn’t end up trying it before I left after Christmas).

This is one of the teas where I actually don’t really care for the smell of the dry leaf. Although nutty, I find it rather bland and unappetizing. Luckily the tea tastes better than it smells (although the smell becomes more richly nutty when steeped)! Generally I find it to be nutty and smooth with a nice hint of banana – it doesn’t have much banana flavour right now though, as the sample bag I bought appears to now have run out (1 banana chunk in this cup, boo). But it’s still good! I prefer Banana Oolong though, so am ok with this tea not becoming a part of the permanent collection.

This is technically my second time trying Fantasy Island… the first time my boyfriend used his Timolino mug (the morning I flew back home after Christmas), he tried some of the sample I gave him, but didn’t think to take the leaves out of the basket, so it was waaaay oversteeped and awful. He sugar-and-milk-ed it up though, and drank it anyways.

So, for round 2, this can only be a better experience! To start, the dry leaf definitely has a great coconutty scent to it, as does the steeping tea. Yum. However, even with a short steeping time, I’m finding this tea waaaay too strong in a black tea sense, without enough fruit taste. The tea ball sitting beside me smells much more fruity and tasty. Maybe I just don’t like black teas… or maybe I put too much tea in.

Anyways, will try another steep of this as soon as I’m done, with hopes of additional fruitiness and coconut making themselves present!

ETA: Second steep thankfully isn’t as strong, but I’m still not really getting any fruitiness. It’s ok to drink, but nothing I’d seek out in the future. Oh well, paring down the list of teas I want to purchase again isn’t really a bad thing…

My roommate received this one as a sample from an online order, and she was shocked when I told her how expensive it was!! Anyhow, this tea is wonderful. Classic delicious green that’s very smooth and vegetal (in my opinion, anyways). I’d definitely buy it for myself if not for the considerable amount of Japanese green/oolong teas lurking in my cupboard from other tea stores! Yum.

ETA: Subsequent steepings (2) weren’t as great as I hoped. Maybe we didn’t steep the leaves long enough (~2.5 and 5+ minutes), but I just wasn’t getting enough out of it the second/third times. As such, have decreased the rating since this is such an expensive tea and I was expecting better. We’ll see how future cups go!

Again, I must have done something wrong. This tea tastes pretty much like straight black tea – I can’t detect ANY strawberry/rose/tasty flavours. Not sure if I missed getting some of the strawberry pieces and whatnot, but looking in my bag, I see very few chocolate chips and strawberry chunks.

Have put the teaball back in for a minute or too as I located some melty chocolate chips when I opened it up, but couldn’t see any fruit.

Not rating until I give it another shot.

Not bad, but nothing too special. Granted, it’s a couple years old, so who knows if it’s lost something between now and then, but I wouldn’t buy it for myself. Just tastes like tea, with a bit of a different flavour which is presumably from the flowers. I also wasn’t a fan of the numerous pieces that floated to the top as I had to scoop them out – hazard of steeping it in a large glass mug with no filter? Going to re-steep in a while so I don’t feel guilty about throwing it out!

The dry leaf smells exactly like cinnamon hearts, as does the steeped tea, but the flavour just doesn’t live up. At first taste, the tea is sweet, and I’m noticing a bit of lingering heat at the end, but in between I find the tea tastes rather like slightly cinnamony cardboard, which is somewhat unpleasant. Perhaps this is just how cinnamon acts in tea, but I don’t particularly like it. I put the teaball back in after it had cooled (which drew the sweetness out, I think), and will perhaps try steeping longer next time. Until then, I am disappointed :(

When the girl at my local DavidsTea store asked if I wanted to try the tea of the day, ‘Rooibos de Provence’, I was disappointed because I had been hoping that I’d get to try one of the teas off my long list of “to-try” teas… and this was definitely not one of them. Lavender is not my favourite fragrance, so this tea did not sound appealing at all, but what the heck, right? It’s a free sample.

Wow, was I ever wrong to just dismiss this tea! The berry flavours paired with the floral aftertaste are absolutely amazing; delicate and subtle and calming. I don’t think I’ve ever tried a straight rooibos, so am not sure exactly how much it is contributing, but it’s definitely delicious. And lavender? Completely different in tea than it is in soap. Looks like I have a new favourite ingredient! (So who knows of a creamy, nutty coconut/banana/lavender tea?)

ETA: Second steep (~4min, 93 degrees C) is pretty much a weaker version of the first, with considerably less floral aftertaste. Perhaps a tad less sweet, and I don’t like it quite as much, but it’s still pretty good :D