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From the Sips by autumn box.

Last one from the autumn box! This smelled very sweet and candylike dry, reminiscent of Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Spice. I do find it much mellower steeped up though – the cinnamon is still the main flavor, and it is a bit candylike, but it’s not overly sweet and it doesn’t hit you over the head. I’m wishing for more apple (which always seems to be the case with similar teas), I only get a hint of it in the background. But I will say, the base is quite nice and flavorful, very smooth and equal parts malty/bready and earthy, with a finish that almost makes me think of a second flush Darjeeling.

So really it’s more of a cinnamon black tea, but both the cinnamon and the black tea are nice and well-balanced, so can’t complain ha ha. :)

Sipdown! (5 | 366)

Kept hoping my opinion of this one would improve, but sadly it did not.

Still tastes like a slightly bland eggnog tea to me, since the nutmeg and clove are the spices that I notice most. I wish I tasted more of the tea, the puerh especially since that’s what makes it a bit different from other eggnog black teas. But mostly I just taste flavoring, and it comes off as a bit artificial to my palate.

Anyway, still wishing for pumpkin roll cake batter! :P

From the Sips by autumn box.

This smelled so good in the package – sweet, creamy, pumpkin pie goodness. However… for some reason hibiscus is the third ingredient, and I don’t understand why it’s here at all. I can taste that creamy pumpkin flavor, but then the hibiscus turns it into a tart fruit tisane. It makes about 0% sense to me that they included it in a tea called “pumpkin pie”…

Anyway, it’s not awful or anything. It’s sort of like a tart and mildly spiced mulled wine sort of fruit tisane, but then it has a nice pumpkin pie aftertaste. Odd, but fine lol. I think this would’ve been a lovely creamy pumpkin spice blend without that hibiscus.

Sipdown! (4 | 365)

Another one down! This was fine, but I didn’t find it to be anything special. Actually it reminds me of Adagio’s Honeybush Pumpkin Spice – both mostly taste of cinnamon and spice flavoring, and very little of actual spices.

Not bad, but more cinnamon candy than pumpkin spice, and certainly not worth the price (in my opinion).

Sipdown! (3 | 364)

A pleasant enough tea, but not a favorite. Mostly I find it tastes like a mint and lemongrass herbal tisane. And I enjoy tisanes, but this has CTC black tea in it, which is a bit of a negative for something I would usually drink at night ha ha.

Maybe it would be better on the stovetop, but I never got around to trying it that way since I drink chai plain about 95% of the time.

From the brunch box.

Another nice grapefruit tisane from Sips by. This has a very realistic sweet-tart-bitter grapefruit flavor to it, along with a bit of an artificial chewable Vitamin C tablet sort of citrus note. It’s quite sweet, I guess it must be from all the candied fruit.

I do think I prefer the Elderflower Grapefruit Nectar from Tiny Bee to this one, just because this is very sweet. But both have nice grapefruit flavor, with just a touch of bitterness.

From the autumn box.

Wow, this is spice overload. It’s a combination of sweet cinnamon flavoring and quite a lot of anise, along with an odd earthy/rooty note from the chicory. None of those are things I dislike per se, it’s just a bit much all together. Plus there are half a dozen other spices mixed in as well.

Too sweet, and too much going on for me. Then again I did use quite a lot of leaf, as I always do. I wish I could taste the oolong or the gunpowder green tea.

Sipdown! (2 | 363)

Saved the best for last ha ha. This is definitely my favorite blend from Mulberry Creek. Woodsy but light, with such a nice combination of bright berry notes, crisp and earthy cedar, and woody honeybush.

Just really well-balanced and perfect for autumn or fall. I see a larger bag in my future… :P

Sipdown! (44 | 359)

Lovely white tea – I found it very creamy and it had a nice thick texture, almost like a green oolong. Flavor-wise, nothing really stood out to me, just the usual suspects of hay, oats, and dry autumn leaves. A subtle sweetness and maybe a hint of pollen. The description mentions wildflower and I could see that, definitely not getting “apply pie” though ha ha.

Really enjoyed sipping this one in the afternoon, very cozy and satisfying while having a mellow, relaxing flavor. :)

Sipdown! (43 | 358)

First one to be finished off! Since this has rolled oolong and dried fruit chunks, it’s quite a heavy tea and the 1-ounce bag only made about 3 large mugs for me.

I think this is my least favorite of the collection, partially because of the monkfruit sweetness and partially because it’s just somewhat vague-tasting. Mildly spiced with a generic sweetness and not much else.

Ah well, it’s a sipdown at least! :P