Fiddling Send Message

Tea #7 from Traveling Tea Box C

For some reason, I found this to be a little harsher than the lavender earl grey, which leads me to believe I may have very slightly overleafed my cup. Regardless, this was quite an enjoyable cup of tea. The citrus and raspberry components came through quite well and stayed around for the second steep. I would have preferred just a tad more raspberry flavor to better balance out the flavors.

Tea #6 from Traveling Tea Box C

I’m still slowly converting my hand-written notes to tasting notes.

Kiwi and lime flavors were quite prominent, but I didn’t taste any ginger at all. While it didn’t live up to what the name promised, I still found this to be an enjoyable tisane. I liked it enough to take a few bags out to enjoy later. I think I’ll try it out iced next time.

Tea #5 from Traveling Tea Box C

It looks like I’m the first one here on Steepster to log this tea. I tried finding more information about it online, but didn’t find much other than a few German blogs, one of which priced this baby for 2.50 Euro for 250g…. that’s less than $7/lb. Blew my mind.

This was easily my favorite tea in the box. It tastes of scrumptious, (not overly) burnt sugar. The rooibos base is so, so deliciously rich. The liquor was the deepest red I’ve ever seen come from rooibos.

I usually don’t resteep rooibos, but given how flavorful the first round was, I decided to give it another go for about ten minutes. The results were nearly as fantastic as the first steep. The gooey caramel quality was still present, and the rooibos was still incredibly flavorful.

Now all I need is a German friend who can ship a steady supply of this to my door…

Tea #4 from Traveling Tea Box C

So, the first ingredient listed is Saigon tea. I don’t have any clue what that is, but it’s definitely not camellia sinensis.

I am not hibiscus shy, but this tisane is a whole lot of flavorless, stale hibiscus. The plum and spice promised in its name were nowhere to be found. I dumped the cup after a few sips, which is something I rarely do.

Tea #3 from Traveling Tea Box C

This was the only tea I completely removed from the box. I felt a bit guilty for taking it out, but there was only enough for one serving.

I love rooibos, but I generally haven’t enjoyed Teavana blends— especially their green rooibos. This was surprisingly good, so naturally Teavana has discontinued it. Jerks.

Despite the citrusy name, I didn’t find that the citrus components of the flavor to be the strongest. The sip started with tart apple and finished with a bit of kiwi. There was a flavor I couldn’t pin down, but after consulting the ingredients list I decided it must be the mint. It does a great job of balancing all of the flavors without punching you in the face.

Tea #2 from Traveling Tea Box C

I can be a bit picky about lavender. At times I find it can be overwhelming and it leaves a weird stinging sensation in the back of my throat. Other times it is a subtle addition which turns pedestrian flavors into the extraordinary. This tea falls into the latter category.

The base is quite robust, and I love that it contains some Ceylon. The citrus component of the flavor tastes more like orange than bergamot, which may be a plus for bergamot-shy drinkers. The real star, however, is the lavender. Without it, this would be a perfectly decent Earl Grey, but nothing great. The lavender flavor is subtly strong— while there’s absolutely no denying it’s presence, it works more in the background to smooth out the other flavors.

Tea #1 from Traveling Tea Box C

There is a TON of rose in this blend, which made me think the flavor might be a bit overpowering. While quite prominent, the rose does not overshadow the wonderfully smooth vanilla. Overall, a deliciously rich rooibos.

Earlier this summer I found myself in a brick and mortar David’s, which was a ridiculously awesome shopping experience. I ordered this as a Tea Pop as I was getting ready to check out. After looking over the receipt later, I found out they didn’t charge me for it!

Fast forward a few months, and I stumbled across this tea while looking for something I haven’t tried yet. From memory, I could have sworn it was an herbal. I didn’t really notice much green tea at all in the bag, so maybe that’s why my memory failed me. The smell reminds me of key lime pie (making it a bit similar to Lime Chiffon in that regard).

The suggested steeping temperature is 200F, which seems way too high for green tea. I went with 180F, which is my standard temperature for greens. The result was sooooo tasty. I absolutely adore this tea. If there were a graham component to the flavor, I would swear it was key lime pie in a cup. I honestly didn’t taste much of the green base, so it loses a few points for that.

Well done, David’s.

Huuuuuuge thanks to Sil who sent this my way! I’ve been drinking this practically nonstop for the last two days. A glorious 3.5L later, it’s about damn time I get around to writing up this tasting note.

To sum this tea up: sweet, juicy pineapple and buttery oolong with a flavor that will outlast your ability to keep drinking.

I thoroughly enjoyed four steeps of this tea (adding 1 min each time). The first tasted of sweet pineapple juice with a somewhat light oolong flavor in the background. With successive steeps the pineapple calmed down a bit but was always detectible in the flavor. The oolong really came to life in the second or third steep as its flavor came to the forefront. This is an excellent tea that I could see becoming a staple in my cupboard.

Third sencha of the day, I must be on a roll!

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this tea. It was smooth with no bitterness at all. The flavor was very buttery with a grassy finish. I think I prefer this to the H&S sachet I had earlier today which was much more spinachy.