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I added this sample on a whim to my Teafrog order, mostly because of how highly they recommend it. Boy, am I glad I did! I’m not even a big fan of orange flavored things, but this is really delicious. It’s not tart-citrusy, but like a very sweet orange and cream flavor. The bright red color (yes, it is very…. vibrant) is deceptive, because the flavor is quite mellow. But strong! I got two good steeps out of this, which I consider impressive for a flavored rooibos. The second was weaker, and more orangey than creamy, but still good.

The high rating I’m giving here reflects the high-quality natural flavoring as much as my personal enjoyment – I was very impressed at that second drinkable steep – though I do plan to buy a tin now.

I would recommend this to anyone who doesn’t outright hate rooibos – the rooibos is still there, but not the primary flavor (much less so than in, say, Teafrog’s Fireside). A small warning, though: if you get a sample of this, the flavor is strong enough to escape the sample bag and contaminate other samples a bit during shipping, so… don’t get any other samples that would be ruined by a hint of orange ;)

This is nice enough, but maybe needs to be drunk plain to really shine. Using the full 3.6g sample for 12oz of tea, it tastes a little weak with milk and sugar. I’ll use less water on the next steep and try it plain, because I’m really not getting anything special from this one as is.

Liking this a lot iced today. I used 1 tsp tea in the little 4oz oolong pot from Samovar, and poured the first two steeps over ice to make about 12oz iced tea. It’s very sweet, tasting of jasmine, vanilla, and a little bit caramel to me. I know flavored oolongs are a bit overkill, but this one really works for me!

I use slightly cooled water for this, since there’s some green tea in the blend.

I actually just used this as the base for a custom breakfast blend this morning, but it was so good I wanted to be able to log it! (and didn’t feel like making a custom listing).

I’ve been using this as the base for a lot of things lately, because I have a big bag of it and because it’s a smooth, unprepossessing Assam, mild enough to drink plain but strong enough to give that “black tea” flavor to blends. So, today:

2 parts ML Organic Breakfast (Assam)
1 part LeafSpa Organic Irish breakfast (pure Ceylon!)
1 part Adagio Keemun Encore (…Keemun)

And it’s really, REALLY good. This is the English Breakfast tea that’s been missing from my collection. I’ve been drinking it with a dash of sugar and a good dollop of milk, and I can taste everything I put into the blend. I find Keemun Encore a bit much on it’s own, almost Lapsang smoky, but here it’s just providing that hint of smoky sweet I like in my EBs, and the Ceylon (I have no idea why they market it as an Irish Breakfast, though it is good/strong enough to drink on it’s own) contributes some high notes, and… I’ll stop gushing now. I just wanted to make a note for myself and got a little carried away!

Pale green color, intensely floral aroma. Texture in the mouth is light, but also buttery and rich; I’m having trouble tasting more than that past the floral aroma, at the moment. I’ll try to update as it cools.

leaves rinsed briefly with boiling water, 1tsp, 4oz, steep times: :45, 1:15, 1:15, 5+

I don’t know about candied pineapple, but this is a sweet and mild green tea. I’m getting hints of smoke, but I might have just been storing this too close to the GM Gunpowder. I’m drinking steeps 1 and 2 simultaneously, and while the color is nigh identical, the first steep has a stronger, sweeter flavor. I’ll update with number 3 in a bit.

As of now, this is nice and I wouldn’t turn down a cup, but I’m not planning to buy more; this is a bit weak for my taste.

2.2g, 6oz