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I bought this because I thought the combination of mango and vanilla would be fantastic. The mint seemed a little weird to me, but, hey, maybe it would work?

Dry, this one has big chunks of what I assume to be dried mangoes and it smells fluffy. The closest I can get to the smell of the dry leaf is super cheap “fruit” flavored candy — maybe something involving marshmallow fluff? It probably sounds weird, but it’s a fairly pleasant smell.

I steeped this up as my work tea, and I kind of wish I’d gone with The Cheesecake Factory instead. I got what I thought might be fruit in the first part of the first sip, and then it transitioned to astringency. Not unpleasant and there’s a lingering aftertaste of mint which I really enjoyed.

Maybe the second steep isn’t as good as the first? I’m a little weird in that I usually take two tumblers of the same tea with me to work — the Timolino has the first steep and the Canteen has the second steep. The Canteen loses heat faster so its contents are always consumed first. I still have the Timolino left (and that steep was sweetened with a bit of rock sugar), so I’m hoping I like that one better. As it stands, I’m not in love with this one and not super happy that I have three ounces to go through.

I got this as a sample from the lovely Courtney ages ago and I’m just getting around to it now. Sorry, Courtney!

Steeped, this has a lovely orange color that’s really reminding me of fall. I don’t get caramel or vanilla in the initial sip, but this tea has an excellent sweet/creamy aftertaste that just lingers. Mmmmmm.

I decided today would be a good day to go through all the tea I have lying around my house, add it to my Steepster cupboard, and see how much stuff I actually have. On the bright side, I have a lot of samples to go through. On the down side, I may have enough tea on hand for my fiance to put another tea buying ban into effect.

This is one of the samples I dug up. I remember not liking it the first time — too much spice and no chocolate — and thinking it’d be better as a tea latte, so that’s kind of what I did.

I steeped 1.5tsp in hot (lactose-free) milk for six minutes. It’s very sweet and very rich and almost too much for me. I think the milk definitely balances out the spiciness of this one, relegating it to the end of the sip where it’s warming and not overpowering.

So much better!

I polished off the last of this last night. I don’t get kiwi from this one so much as I get lightly fruity green tea. It’s a terrible travel tea, but at home it’s a fantastic after dinner treat. Nice and mellow and light.

Sipdown!

I had a lot of this today. It’s one of those teas that I neither love nor hate, and this was an easy sipdown. It’s good. Sometimes it’s fruitier than others. Sometimes it has this weird not-quite-creamy-but-trying-to-be-creamy taste to it. And it’s not a bad tea to end the night on.

Yesterday’s steep of this was so disgustingly floral, I almost dumped it. If I wanted to drink perfume, I’d do so. Or … maybe it’s my fault for getting too many of the little rose buds in my infuser?

I digress.

I made an effort to mix up the little bit I have left so that my infuser wouldn’t be filled with flowers again. And it seems to have worked out — the first steep was fruity and quite nice! I was pleasantly surprised. The second steep, however, cooled a little too long and all I got was an oil mouthfeel. What a pity, too, seeing as the first cup of this was soooo tasty.

This smells spot on for cheesecake, maybe one with a little chocolate. I bought this against the advice of my fiance, who thought this would go the way of other chocolate teas that I’ve found lacking in, well, chocolate.

I wasn’t in the mood for Coffee Pu’erh today, so I made this as my work tea with a bit of dolce de leche creamer added in. The first steep reminds me of cocoa powderl; it’s not bad but also not a favorite. Maybe I should have let it cool more? The second steep is my favorite – it’s very creamy (just like a real cheesecake!) and I get a lot of graham cracker crust taste. Fantastic!

I had a little bit of this (2tsp) left over from making my fiance iced tea last night. Since I didn’t see any star anise in it, I decided I’d try this hot and see if I liked it over the chilled version.

Without the star anise, this is very juicy pineapple, and the pina colada smell holds true in the taste. I actually like it a lot. Probably not enough to order this for myself, but definitely enough to finish off the leftovers again.

I love this tea. It’s not great as a traveling tea, but at home it’s fantastic. A lightly fruity and incredibly smooth green. Yum! Best part is that the dry leaf smells similarly fruity and the scent fills the whole kitchen whenever I make this one!

Okay, I don’t get this one. Maybe it’s the fact that I gave half the bag to a friend when I first opened it … but I have no idea why I thought this was rich and chocolatey when I first tried it. It’s not bad — very earthy smelling and hay-like in taste. I think my prior association is just ruining this one.

I tried it today with some dolce de leche creamer, hoping to bring out the dessert notes. I got hay with a creamy end sip. Not bad … but really not what I expected.