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This strange blend has been my go to cup for the last week or two. The house is undergoing some major renos, and I’m pretty sure this, along with a few other teas, are what has kept me sane.

It’s somewhat dry, medicinal, and grassy, which I find pleasantly unpleasant. It also tastes of sunscreen beach days and toasty pineapples, which is simply pleasant.

The word “detox” generally has me roll my eyes, and I’m not sure the flavour profile would please the majority of people, but Blue Detox still made my repurchase list!

Marzipan with vegetal green tea. My main hangup is the actual tea doesn’t have a lot of heft in the face of that marzipan flavour. My mind keeps wanting to add salt to turn the dessert nuts into savoury ones (but it would possibly also turn the veggies into seaweed)!

Oh, well. There’s still a lot to enjoy about this one. It won’t be hard to drink the rest of the sampler tin up! Will play around with the temperature next time.

My aunt brought me back three Kusmi teas from Paris, and she said this is her favourite one. I was pretty skeptical, because my one prior encounter with Kusmi wasn’t that awesome and “detox” is in the name, but I should’ve had a little more faith.

I’m currently addicted to this tea. I haven’t even tried the other two gift teas; I just keep making pots and pots. It’s the tropical pineapple tea I never knew I wanted.

The choice of bases (unknown green tea (37%), mate (17%), rooibos), creates an incredibly earthy backdrop. The mint accentuates the pineapple flavouring and the mate in a lovely way- I’ve always been a big fan of sweet, fresh mate blends though.

This also contains sunflower petals, nettle leaves, guarana seed, and rosehip seeds; I’m less familiar with most of those ingredients but they seem to have worked out well here.

I’m only worried that it’s possible to drink too much nettle tea (no clue how much is actually in here)!

Picked this up at Taipei 101 (their crazy tall skyscraper), when I was going through an oolong withdrawal.

The flavour profile is crisp, floral and sweet. Minimal butter. It’s a gentle tea but I can still taste flavours which, if steeped longer, contribute to the strong flavours found in bottled oolong beverages. There’s the potential of bitterness in those floral caffeine laced notes.

I prefer my green oolong milky or, if it’s buttery, to be incredibly buttery, but with only two green oolong varieties in my cupboard this is gold.

Citrus and spice rooibos meh. For whatever reason this didn’t work for me, and I’m too apathetic to write much about it.

I think it was the lemongrass; it was just a little too much of something. Not bad otherwise.

(Down to 33)

Goodbye, White Wolf. I’ll see you on the other side of 2017!

I hate how “bottom of the bag tea” tends to be crushed or not quite enough for a proper serving. It makes the last cup literally bittersweet! #teastruggles

I wasn’t expecting much from this one because rooibos, but it somehow became a family favourite. My sister and mother both asked where this tea came from and when I could pick up more, which never happens; usually everyone’s on my case about too much tea!

Cardamom and ginger are the main spices (they actually give off a bit of real fire!), with a slightly sweet appeal. Needless to say, it tastes good in milk.

So that’s a winner, Bluebird Tea Co!

Oh, Fortnum & Mason, you confuse me sometimes. This is listed as a black tea, and while it does posses qualities that I would ascribe to a light black base the actual tea name says pouchong. I swear that’s a tea that straddles the line between green tea and oolong; it’s one of the reasons I bought this in London.

But then the description on the back of my tin says “large-leaf Maofeng Keemun”, which is a floral black tea. I’m going to assume that’s what it is, as all physical tea evidence points in that direction (dark leaves, red broth, chocolatey floral base with slight astringency).

I can’t say I’m too disappointed in this not being an actual pouchong , which may have been a little light to handle the lovely rose notes. The keemun is actually quite pleasant and smooth.

Smells delicious, tastes alright.

Like most Silk Road teas, I find this one benefits from a shorter steep at a lesser temperature than what I would normally go with for a black tea.

It did not like me adding milk. Apple flavoured things in general don’t seem to like milk.

Oh, man. Finding this buried in the very back of my cupboard was the tea drinker’s equivalent of striking gold. Practically untouched, this incredibly smooth and creamy puerh has remained hidden from me for over three years. That fourth short steep is glorious (thank you, tea gods).

And now it’s all gone.

At least my faith in delicious tea is restored (booo, rancid coconut rooibos infested cupboard).