sundaysipping Send Message

Okay, I don’t know what it is with this one … maybe I just got a lot of cream pieces in the first cup? I’m getting more strawberry than anything else and have to chug the cup of tea to get any creaminess. I can’t tell if I’m being dense or if this tea’s just not as good as I originally thought. Disappointing.

My fiance picked this one out while we were at Teavana — another tea for his iced tea stash. I cold brewed some for a few hours in the French press and tried it with some sugar. It’s not bad, but it reminds me of Pez candy. Hopefully, he gets more of a lemonade taste than I did.

Tried this again over the weekend as a tea latte. I took the remaining leaf, steeped it double strength and then added it to about 7oz of whisked milk/agave.

MUCH better. Lightly sweet and I can almost get a taste of caramel. It still needs chocolate, though, so I also totally understand why some reviews said this is great with hot cocoa mix added.

I won’t be restocking this because it needed work to taste even remotely palatable, but it’s not bad if you’re willing to doctor it up.

Brought this to work with me as I wasn’t feeling well and this tea always makes me feel better. It’s a pretty simple flavor that’s soothing if your throat is sore. Too bad I can’t just order 2 oz of this loose ….

I bought some of this for a friend of mine that is obsessed with all things caramel. The name and reviews, however, sounded so good that I also picked up a sampler pouch of this the last time I was at a DAVIDsTEA. Steeped, this tea smells like rich chocolate. The taste, however, is simply astringent with an edge of bitterness, maybe there’s some floral tones mixed in. Hoping to salvage my cup, I added flavored creamer that did exactly nothing to make this tea more palatable. >.<

I have just over a cup’s worth left and I think I’m going to try making it as a latte with lots of agave. Maybe that will help …

This is one of the teas I got in the Sweet Indulgence sampler pack almost a year ago. The little tin has been bouncing around my tea cupboard for months, waiting to be polished off and I finally took pity on it last night.

I loved this the first time I had it. I had very little experience with black teas that weren’t bitter or astringent, so I found this one deliciously sweet. It’s still sweet, and tastes candied. I’m not sure I would describe it as “cranberry pear” but it’s definitely candied fruit of some kind.

Doubtful I’ll restock this one, but another cup wouldn’t be bad. Also: yay for clearing a tea out of the cupboard; more room for new ones now!

I’ve finally cleared enough space in my tea cupboard for my fiance to lift my tea buying ban. Woo-hoo! So, when we went shopping this weekend, I insisted on going to Teavana to pick up some of this tea. I had tried it a few weeks back and was in love with how wonderfully fruity it is; I had to snag some for my stash! Ironically, this is one tea I wouldn’t have minded if they over-poured, but for once I got the 2oz I requested from the salesgirl. Go figure, right?

This tea is close to a 50/50 mix of green tea and fruit chunks. I steeped my leaves twice last night and got consistently good cups both times. I would have gone for a third steeping (which I almost never do because most of the teas I have lose all flavor after the second steep) but didn’t have time to before I fell asleep.

This tea is lightly fruity with the grapefruit ading a punch of bitter at the end of the sip. It’s very smooth and the flavors balance one another nicely. It doesn’t need any sugar, or, at least, I didn’t feel the need to add any.

I might have to sneak back to the store and get more of this when my fiance isn’t looking.

Okay. I figured it out. And I am an idiot.

I had this twice over the weekend (both times while playing Tales of Symphonia with the fiance) and both times it was horrible. I thought I’d used 1tbs/180F/3min as my parameters the first time and couldn’t figure out why I was getting vomit flavored tea when I tried them again. Stupid stupid stupid. I should’ve checked my initial note on this: 1tsp/180F/2min. GAH!

I got a tiny bit of this the last time I was at DAVIDsTEA. I have a terrible habit of ordering teas online thinking I’ll love them, and then not enjoying more than three cups worth of them. So, every time I get to a DAVIDs store … I go a little nuts on samples. This way, I can try the teas I’ve been eyeing without getting too much of one I won’t drink. Guava Cadabra was one such sample.

I used up the entirety of the 0.25oz pouch to make up a big mug of this. I had it hot first, and did a cold brew on the leftover leaves. The first steep was a really dark purple and it tasted like … FRUIT! Non-descript fruit with the guava kind of drying out the sip. Very enjoyable. I’m looking forward to trying my cold brew of this later today.

I am not the biggest fan of Teavana. My experiences with them have ranged from “wow, this salesgirl is super helpful!” to “wow, these salespeople are so rude I’m never coming back here!” I don’t like how expensive they are, I don’t like how pushy and nasty some of the salespeople have been, and, initially, I was really disappointed by their teas.

Their Heavenly Sale, however, was a sort of perfect storm for me. I love sales. I love getting things at a tiny fraction of their actual cost. Especially when it’s something like this tea, which I’ve been eyeballing since joining Steepster, but have hesitated on buying due to the cost.

As a reward for finishing off the dreaded Pineapple Oolong, I opened my bag of this tea. It has more tea leaves than Raspberry Pineapple Luau did, but the tea leaves are still outnumbered by the chunks of fruit and other mystery bits. The dry leaves smell like one of those strawberry CreamSavers candies; mouthwateringly sweet.

I didn’t really believe the steep time of 2 minutes on the package; I was forseeing barely-colored water and a bland fruity-but-not-fruity taste, but used it anyway. I ended up with dark pink tea with no real scent to it. Initially, it tastes like sourish strawberries, biting in a way I didn’t expect. But about halfway through the sip, it turns smooth, and if you sip continuously, that smooth feeling completely takes over leaving the strawberries to sweeten up the background.

This tea is magically, unbelievably good. YES! So happy I ordered this!