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Well, I had a selection from Blodeuyn’s swap, now there must be a contender from scribbles’s! Just kidding, ladies. :P But for serious, this came from scribbles. I’ve had a Tan Yang from TeaVivre, so I was curious to see how this one compares to it. The leaves are small, thin, and slightly curly. They’re dark chocolate brown all over with just a few smatterings of gold. Dry scent is very musty hay and grain with a touch of honey sweetness. I steeped a heaping teaspoon of leaf for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once brewed, it smells like dark toasted wheat bread with molasses and fruit preserves. As it cooled, I started to smell a very slightly floral note. Yum, this tea is so rich and creamy! It’s very grainy (oats?) and pastry-like with a strong nutty influence. It’s definitely a richer nut, maybe macadamia? I dunno, but it’s tasty! There’s also sweetness with a touch of floral, like wildflower honey. And perhaps the teensiest touch of golden raisin? Lastly, a very mild herb/spice note, something similar to cinnamon or anise, but it’s hard to say since it’s so light. Delicious, creamy goodness!

My first tea of the day comes from Blodeuyn’s epic black tea sample swap. Another Taiwanese tea to make my mouth happy! The leaves of this one are quite thick and shorter than others, but still jet black in color. I saw several long stems mixed in with the leaves. Dry scent is very grainy with sweet cocoa and stonefruit scents. I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons of leaf for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Hm, unusual aroma for a Taiwanese tea (at least in my experience). It’s quite bready with sweet honey and just a touch of dried fruit. Wow, this definitely tastes different than all of the other Taiwanese blacks I’ve tried! It’s very bready and smooth, and so creamy. It literally tastes (and feels) like there has been cream added to it. It’s definitely a crusty bread with honey butter spread over it. No jam, surprisingly. I usually find a lot of fruitiness in these teas but it’s absent here. There’s a moment in the middle of the sip where this fleetingly tastes like a plain generic black tea, but it’s quickly swept away by an interesting green bean flavor. I think I’m getting just a touch of apricot in the aftertaste, there you are! This is definitely an interesting tea, and since I have enough for another cup, I’ll definitely try it following their directions next time! :)

As the evening wears on, I tend to want black teas less and less and I start to turn to green and white options more. This one was a sample sent to me by KiwiDelight along with the other flavored senchas from Den’s. The leaf itself is quite pretty with a few purple flower buds mixed in. Dry scent is candy sweet and grapey. I steeped a teaspoon for 1 minute at 175 degrees (my usual sencha treatment).

Hm, I definitely don’t like this one as much as the pineapple. And that’s mostly because the flavoring here is definitely not genuine grape, it’s more like a grape candy and it reminds me of wine and champagne flavored teas. I was hoping for a more authentic grape flavor, as the pineapple seemed very true-to-life to me. Ah well, can’t win them all! :)

This is a Butiki tea that I’ve been curious about since I love almond-flavored things so much. NayLynn was nice enough to send me a sample in our swap, thank you! The tea itself is quite beautiful – dark leaves with plenty of sliced almonds and pretty pink flower petals. Dry scent is cinnamon and creamy and sweet. I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons for 4 minutes at 200 degrees.

Like a lot of other Butiki teas, this one doesn’t have quite enough flavor for me. It’s pleasant enough, the base tea is mellow and unobtrusive and thankfully not astringent. I can taste cinnamon more than almond, but there is something pastry-like about it. I would say it’s more of a cinnamon pastry with some almonds over the top. Pretty good, but not a purchase for me. :)

Another tea that I was absentmindedly drinking while playing Diablo. This sample came from NayLynn. I haven’t had a lot of experience with Republic of Tea, but I do enjoy the blueberry black teabags I have from them. These bags smell sweet and vanilla-y with a lot of almond extract aroma. I used two bags for 12 ounces of water and steeped for 4 minutes at 200 degrees.

Meh, this one is just okay. It came out slightly astringent, which is always a frustration for me with some flavored teas. The tea itself is medium-bodied and doesn’t taste like much. The flavoring is somewhat light, I taste the vanilla (which is a custard-type vanilla) near the beginning of the sip and then the almond extract at the end. Just meh.

This lovely sample came from NayLynn. Now I’m not normally a glitter person, but I had to try what miss Marzipan calls “sparkle pony tea”. The leaves are small and generic looking, and there’s silver sanding sugar and gold candy pearls mixed in along with pieces of citrus peel. Dry scent is vaguely vanilla, caramel, and desserty. I steeped a heaping teaspoon of leaf for 4 minutes at 200 degrees.

Wow, so pretty! The tea itself is a dark golden color (at least, it is in this cup) and there are tiny glittery particles suspended throughout. Lovely! This tea seems quite mildly flavored (NayLynn did say that she thought it was an older sample) and I like it that way. It’s a very light-bodied black tea base with some vanilla and caramel notes and just a touch of spice and lemon. Pretty tasty! :)

This sample came from scribbles! I’m very happy to try these Verdant blacks teas, especially since they tend to go out of stock so easily. The leaves of this one are very long and thin, and somewhat curly. They’re almost all black, with just a few spots of gold. At first smell, this tea seems Fujian to me. It has that savory toasted grain and dill seed aroma, but it also has a sweet apricot preserve scent which is interesting. Smells like Fujian and Yunnan had a baby! :P I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons of leaf for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once it’s brewed, this tea definitely smells Fujian to me. The aroma is thick with roasted grain and is quite savory with that dill scent. The taste is much the same. There’s a thickness to the flavor and texture, and it’s chiefly deep roasted grains and rye bread. There’s also that sprinkling of dill over the top. Interestingly enough, I get a light and pure sweet flavor that reminds me of honeysuckle nectar – clear, sweet, and very lightly floral. Yum! :)

First black tea of the day! This sample came from Blodeuyn. I’m really happy that I’m getting the chance to try so many Taiwanese black teas lately, and they’re definitely unique in that they have flavors I haven’t found elsewhere. This tea is one of the creepy tree branch varieties with the jet black, gnarled leaves. Dry scent is very sweet with dark brown sugar and caramel notes. I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons of leaf for 3 minutes at 200 degrees.

Once brewed, the aroma retains those dark brown sugar/molasses and caramel scents, and there’s also a bit of raisin or prune fruitiness. Oh wow! This tea has the strongest dark sugar/molasses/caramelized sugar flavor I’ve ever tasted. It’s rich and sweet and amazing! There’s also a bit of sweet potato and it brings to mind the candied sweet potatoes that my grandmother makes for Thanksgiving – you know, the ones with the marshmallows on top. Definitely a delicious combination! I will say that this tea feels a bit thin, and I think it’s because it’s all bottom notes. I suppose the sweet potato counts as middle, but it feels like it needs more flavor in the middle to top region. Still delicious though! :)

This tea is from September’s Steepster Select box. I was excited to find it there because it seems like a unique region and because I’ve never had a shincha before. The leaves are a dark and rich green with some yellow tones, and they look as if they’ve been rolled up long-ways (as in, rolled along the long edge into long tubes, if that makes sense). Dry scent is sweet and vegetal with some slight grassiness and a nice nutty smell. The directions recommended a 3 minute steep at boiling, which kind of made my eyes bug out of my head. Not knowing whether shincha required vastly different parameters, I asked in Steepster chat, and they thought it sounded insane too. So I did a 1 minute steep and 175 degrees instead.

Once brewed, the tea smells very sweet and creamy with a nice spinach aroma. Oh yum! The vegetal flavor starts out somewhat mild, but somewhere mid-sip it becomes suddenly intense and amazing! There’s a mixture of steamed spinach and butternut squash, and it’s very creamy and sweet. There’s the slightest amount of pleasant mineral flavor, like clean water from a stream, along with a light seaweed taste. The aftertaste is deep, sweet, and vegetal, and it lingers nicely. Super delicious!

We were discussing the remodel of the 52teas website in Steepster chat, and I was considering buying some of their Genmacashew to try. Sadly it’s out of stock, but it inspired me to try this genmaicha blend. Miss NayLynn sent me this sample in our swap, along with two other banana teas. It looks similar to their other genmaicha teas – flat steamed dark green leaves mixed with mochi rice and a piece or two of popcorn. This one appears to have shaved coconut in it as well. Dry scent is a very sweet combination of banana pudding and banana taffy. I steeped about 1.5 teaspoons of leaf for 3 minutes at 175.

Once brewed, the tea smells mostly of toasty genmaicha with a little bit of creamy banana mixed in. I noticed as it cooled, it started to smell more of banana taffy. This actually has a nice amount of banana pudding flavor to it, which surprised me since the other 52teas genmaichas I’ve tried have been disappointing in the flavor department. The toasted rice is nice and toasty, and the green tea is overpowered by the banana flavor, which is nice since I haven’t enjoyed their particular green tea before. There is a wee bit of bitterness here, so maybe I oversteeped this a bit. Overall, much better than the marshmallow treat versions I’ve tried!