Shae Send Message

I will be so sad when my stash of this is gone. I woke up this morning and knew I wanted a cup. It’s still just as good as it’s always been.

A long-ago gift from Nichole/CuppaGeek. This was a single serving, maybe a teaspoon or just shy of a teaspoon. I used six ounces of water and steeped on the longer side of things to make up for it, but the flavor still came out tasting a bit weak. It’s obvious that this is an oolong by taste and aroma, but I’m not picking out any distinct notes/flavors. I’m positive this is due to my inexperience with oolong however, and not to the quality of the tea itself. Moving on.

I only had a teaspoon of this left and I seem to remember thinking it was very weak last time so I mixed it today with a bag of Bird & Blend’s Snowball. These look exactly the same, so I’m not sure what the difference is. Maybe the smokiness in Fireside Snuggles isn’t in Snowball? I didn’t experience any smoky flavors in this cup, so to me they seem pretty much identical. The chocolate was stronger today, a creamy milk chocolate, with the two combined. Dropping my rating from a 70 because this one doesn’t really stand on its own for me and it’s much too similar to Snowball which is also not a favorite.

Mixed a few different teas together to use up the last of some of my older blends that didn’t have enough in the bag for a decent cup. I tried to match up a few of the ingredients so it would be somewhat cohesive – carrots and a few different berries mostly – and chose only green and white teas so one didn’t overwhelm the other.

Queen of Babylon – Teavana
Green Delight – Tealated
Blackberry Zomba Green Tea – 52Teas
The White Rabbit’s Tea – 52Teas

Most of these fell under the category of “okay” to me – not favorites but enjoyable. I figured throwing them all in one big pitcher and sliding it into the fridge would either be a disaster or a happy surprise. Turns out it depends on who you ask. My husband did not like it, but I think it’s wonderful! Definitely better together than apart, in my opinion. It’s light and refreshing, but flavorful, and has a lovely floral note. I don’t see anything floral in the ingredients so maybe it’s in one of the flavorings? It’s too bad I won’t be able to replicate it, since these teas are all discontinued or unavailable. I would drink this mix often if I could.

A very relaxing tea for nighttime. Either that, or my day caught up with me all at once when I started drinking it. I’m all of a sudden very sleepy.

I really enjoy the sweet spices in this chai. It’s not at all spicy hot, so that’s a plus when it comes to a bedtime tea. I taste cinnamon the most, thankfully not the red hot kind, but I’m missing some of the other flavors. No cardamom or clove, both of which I love. I especially like a clove-heavy chai. This is an older sample so maybe it was stronger in the beginning. I would definitely enjoy it again as a sample, maybe even purchase a small amount to have a caffeine-free chai on hand.

I don’t drink much oolong, but I’m always surprised at how much I enjoy its roasted qualities when I do have it. I picked up a few oolongs from QNTM Leaf to try because, let’s be honest, they are beautiful. Also, if I have to choose between an oolong and a green or white tea, I’m going to pick the more robustly flavored oolong. Admittedly, I probably should have tried one of each but I suppose I can do that on my next order.

This blend looks like a good 50:50 mix of shredded coconut and rolled tea leaves. The coconut flavor is mild, but present, and I’m mostly getting that roasted quality I mentioned before. This was a very drinkable oolong, in my opinion, and I mean that in the best possible way – coming from someone who doesn’t drink oolong tea all that often, this was one I really enjoyed and would gladly come back to.

Finishing off the last of my Foggy Coconut. It’s probably a good thing too. I’m not sure how much longer the coconut would have lasted. For now though, it’s still really good. Marshmallow and bergamot.