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My first Teayama tea! This one isn’t even on their website anymore, which is a bit puzzling. It’s billed as a calming herbal, which seemed appropriate since it’s past midnight and I’m craving a cup of tea before bed. The scent is very “herbal” and quite complex – I can detect the licorice root, orange peel, and peppermint, as well as something I don’t recognize that might be the tulsi. It tastes like it smells (in a good way), not too strong, and no bitterness. There’s that coating sensation in the back of the throat and a slight sweetness from the licorice root. I’m not the best judge, but I would say it does have a bit of a calming effect (either that or I’m just really tired and ready for bed – also a possibility!). If you like herbal blends and licorice root, I recommend this one.

I ordered samples from Teavivre so I could try this one head-to-head against their unflavoured Jin Xuan. :) I steeped 1tsp (3g) in a 10oz mug with steeping basket – boiling water but I find it cools quite quickly when poured into a mug, so they probably actually steeped at about 90C.

This one definitely has a sweeter, milkier scent to the dry leaf, and the leaves when wet are less vegetal than the unflavoured one. You can still taste the grassy, vegetal base, but there’s an additional sweetness and depth of flavour that wasn’t present in the other one. Interestingly, I don’t find this to be particularly milky, even with the flavouring. It’s definitely less strongly milk-flavoured than other “milk oolongs” I’ve tried, even ones that claimed to be unflavoured. As with the other one, I’m finding this light and pleasant, but also thinking that gong fu might give me a more interesting tasting experience.

I ordered samples from Teavivre so I could try this one head-to-head against their flavoured Jin Xuan. :) I steeped 1tsp (3g) in a 10oz mug with steeping basket – boiling water but I find it cools quite quickly when poured into a mug, so they probably actually steeped at about 90C.

This one smells more green and vegetal, in both the dry and wet leaves. The taste is sweet and grassy, and I would describe it as more buttery than creamy. The flavour is quite light and refreshing the way I’ve steeped it… I think next time I’ll probably try a longer steep and see if the flavour deepens a bit. It’s nice but it’s not blowing my mind or anything. I’m looking forward to trying it gong fu style.

Mmm, another very nice flavoured tea from Tippy’s. :) I don’t have much to add to what other people have already said. The raspberry flavour is strong and natural-tasting. The cocoa flavour is milder – I can’t tell if the base teas have chocolatey notes, or if it’s just a good chocolate flavouring (or both). The combination is definitely reminiscent of a raspberry-flavoured dark chocolate bar. The base teas are solid and smooth, with a boldness that contributes to the dark-chocolate character of the overall experience. Second steep was less rich, but still very nice.

Resteeped yesterday’s leaves, and I wasn’t as impressed as with the first steeping. Not sure if that’s because it was a 2nd steep, or because I left the leaves out overnight. Looking forward to experimenting more with this. :)

OH! Oh. This is the tea I’ve been needing all day. It has been a bit of a crappy, stressful day, and I grumped my way through it and now I’m home. I’ve had dinner (hunger definitely exacerbates the grumps!) and I’m sitting with a cup of this tea, just starting to feel like maybe life is ok after all. :)

So I opened the package, smelled the tea, and said “Oh my GOD” (out loud, to myself… I’m just cool like that). This smells amazing! If you’ve had a good vanilla black tea (made with real vanilla beans!) you know what I’m talking about here. There is a strong chocolatey-ness to this tea as it steeps, which translates nicely to the flavour of the tea as well. The base tea is smooth and rich, with chocolate notes that are enhanced by the creamy vanilla. Mmmmm. Lovely.

Now, I was probably predisposed to like this because Anlina wrote such glowing reviews of it, but having said that… this is really delicious. The sweet, floral, creaminess of the oolong really balances well with the smokiness of the lapsang. It’s easy and very pleasant to drink. Yum. :)

I’m drinking Early Bird tea in an attempt to wake up this morning, and I haven’t gone back to bed, so… so far, so good! This is a nice bold, smoky, refreshing cup of tea. I found the smokiness to be fairly prominent intially, mellowing out as it cooled. I could definitely get some floral notes early on, which I presume are from the darjeeling, and then it became mostly malty with that “pleasantly sour” taste.

I’m finally getting to try my Tippy’s Tea samples! After they spent 2 weeks in sub-zero temperatures in my mailbox while I was on vacation. :( Sorry, tea! They’re packaged well, so I’m hoping that means they will still be ok.

This one is interesting because the dry tea has such a strong, spicy scent (cinnamon! cloves!) that it’s a bit surprising when the brewed tea has just a subtle spiciness. I like it though. You can still taste the tea part of the tea. :) I think I’m tasting the assam more than the keemun, but either way it’s a decent malty base that blends well with the spices. It definitely tastes Christmas-y. :)

I added a bit of sugar to the 2nd half of my cup, and it’s good sweetened too. Weirdly, that seems to be bringing out a citrusy flavour for me – orange, maybe? I don’t have any drinkable milk in the house (what with just getting back from vacation) but I think next time I’m going to brew this strong and add milk and a bit more sugar, try it that way.

My first gyokuro! This is a very savoury, vegetal green tea. The steeped leaves are bright green and smell like cooked spinach. I think I can taste notes of corn, green beans, cooked greens… there’s some bitterness developing as I reach the bottom of the cup.