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Another botanical blend and more pretty artwork from Wild Coast Brew. This one is a black tea with elderberry, nettle, echinacea, and a bunch of other stuff.

I like it, but feel like Assam was the wrong choice for the base. To me, the strong and brisk flavor sort of bullies the other ingredients. I can taste the herbaceous nettle and just a touch of elderberry and oregano, but would love to taste more. The black tea is apparently a mix of Assam and Keemun, and I kind of wish they had left the Assam out… Smoother Chinese black teas go better with these sort of earthy herbal ingredients, in my opinion.

Anyway, we’ll see if my opinion changes as I sip through it!

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This one was just not a good candidate for cold-steeping, in my opinion. It came out bland and watery, just slightly sweet and a bit peachy.

I added some hibiscus to the second go-around, and it’s definitely better with the tartness giving some dimension. But still a bit on the bland side (other than the hibiscus) so not something I would order again. I only tend to cold steep fruit tisanes, so maybe it’s tasty hot, I dunno! :P

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Finishing the little jar. This last cup had a lot of lemon slices, so it almost tastes like an Arnold Palmer ha ha. Not bad, just very lemony. I actually don’t love iced tea with lemon, so it’s not my thing. Still wondering where the pomegranate was in this blend…?

I thought this one might be a bit boring, since it’s essentially just a spin on a Moroccan mint tea. But I’m actually finding it really nice – it’s quite light in body since the green tea isn’t gunpowder, and the spearmint is not as overwhelming as I thought it might be. I also get a soft herbaceous/grassy note from the nettle and a touch of vegetal from the Chinese green tea. I think there is a slight earthiness from the ginger, but it’s very subtle.

Soft, light, and a bit soothing. I could see this being a nice evening tea, and since there is more nettle than green tea, I assume the caffeine is rather low. Maybe I’ll try it with a smidge of honey later tonight.

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Cold steeped. This was sort of a wildcard selection from Tealyra, it sounded so unusual and I do tend to like sea buckthorn (at least, in my limited experience). It actually ended up being possibly my favorite of the several fruit tisanes I chose.

The color is alarmingly yellow ha ha, and the flavor is tangy and tart, but not overly sour. The sea buckthorn is actually the main element to me – unsurprising, given the amount of peels present in the mix. I’m not sure how to describe the flavor of sea buckthorn really, other than to say it’s sweet and tart and almost like an intersection of citrus and some kind of tropical fruit? Needless to say, it pairs perfectly with the citrus here and is lovely as an iced tea.

Will definitely reorder this one next time!

This is stone cold now (oops).

Pleasantly smoky without being overly so, just enough to give that savory, chewy meatiness. I taste a little vanilla, but I wish there was a lot more – the smoke could certainly stand up to it. The bergamot is also subtle, just adding a hint of a citrusy top note.

Nice, but I guess I was hoping for more of the added flavors. Will have to give it a try with milk one of these days.

So bee pollen and I don’t always get along, and there was such a strong wet dog aroma while this was steeping that I was sure I wouldn’t be able to drink it at all…

Thankfully, I don’t get wet dog in the taste ha ha. Mostly it’s a rather generic black base (Ceylon I assume, as it tastes like Lipton) with a touch of honey flavor. I don’t get maple, which is disappointing.

So even though it ended up being drinkable, still nothing special IMO. So far, haven’t been vibing with Winterwoods’s flavored blacks so hopefully some of the herbals and such are more my speed.

Finally trying another of my loose leaf selections from Murchie’s. I keep getting distracted by the cute teabag boxes sitting in front ha ha…

This is quite lovely though. Very citrusy and bright on a somewhat smoother base than usual – maybe the Darjeeling and Nepal black teas are helping curb the Ceylon a bit. I will say, it lacks that distinct piney note that I associate with yuzu, and because of that it’s reminding me more of a mix of grapefruit, orange, lemon, and bergamot. But I almost prefer that really, as sometimes I find yuzu to be a touch overbearing when it’s very prominent.

Lovely extra-citrusy Earl, and it’s making me miss Troika from Kusmi. :P

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Cold brewed. This one is quite nice actually, it has a good amount of tartness to it, even though there isn’t any hibiscus. I assume it’s from the apples. I don’t know that I would go “aha, this tastes like guava!”, but knowing that’s the intention, I can see it. It almost tastes a bit like passion fruit as well. The strawberry is nice and doesn’t taste like candy, which I guess makes sense given there’s no strawberry flavoring, so it must be coming from the dried slices.

Really nice and refreshing, and doesn’t need any sweetener. Will definitely consider ordering more, though there are still a lot more Tealyra fruit blends that I want to try. :D

I don’t know why I feel compelled to keep trying candy cane teas, I always seem to find them disappointing.

This has all kinds of nice-sounding ingredients, like candy cane pieces, mini marshmallows, cacao shells, and white chocolate and vanilla flavorings. But in the end, I still mostly just taste rooibos and peppermint. And I don’t particularly love red rooibos, so…

I guess I just really like the idea of a peppermint bark type of tea, but all the ones I’ve tried have either had weird additions (cinnamon, why?!) or just lack the extra creamy/vanilla element. I guess the closest I have is B&B’s Peppermint Cream. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll continue trying new ones, as I can’t seem to help myself. XP