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This tea made for a very impressive presentation! The bloom was larger and more showy than other blooming teas I’ve tried, with a green leafy base that opened up to be about 3 inches in diameter and yellow and white flowers stretching up about 2 inches high. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as impressed with the flavor. The jasmine was so strong that it felt almost like drinking perfume and the aftertaste was quite bitter (probably because we steeped it for almost 10 minutes in boiling water to get the full bloom to open up.) This gets high marks for decorative value, but it’s not something I’d choose to drink again.

For a bagged tea from the grocery store, this was surprisingly good! The green tea base was smooth and just slightly grassy, but not at all astringent. I didn’t really pick up on the pomegranate or raspberry, but the strawberry came through very clearly and it was a surprisingly sweet, natural flavor. This isn’t something I would buy, but I would definitely drink it again if it was offered to me.

A friend got me this tea for Christmas. I was intrigued by the combination of pineapple and black tea…most of the “tropical” type blends I’ve tried before have had a green base. Surprisingly, this works quite well! The black base is nice and smooth and just adds a bit of depth to the creamy coconut and juicy pineapple flavor. I still prefer Lupicia’s Paradise Green, but this is a nice substitute.

I got this as a bonus sample with my Happy Bag. It’s not something I would have naturally gravitated towards, as I tend to prefer sweet or fruity teas rather than the more savory ones. But I like it! It has a very comforting, nourishing toasted rice flavor with just a hint of the green base coming through in the aftertaste. It also has a bit of natural sweetness, which I enjoy. If this is a taste of what’s to come, I think I’m going to be very pleased with this particular purchase!

This is another swap sample that got buried and was just re-discovered this week. I find this to be a very unique tea concept…I don’t think I’ve ever had a tea with both apple and peach flavorings in it and I’ve also never had a black/rooibos blend. It smelled really sweet and fruity while it was steeping and I started to get excited. Unfortunately, the flavor just doesn’t live up. If they had left out the rooibos, I think this could have been great. It has really nice apple and peach flavor with just a touch of warm cinnamon. But the wash of woody rooibos in the aftertaste is completely ruining the experience for me.

I’ve heard such great things about Della Terra here on Steepster that I’ve really been wanting to try out some of their teas. So I was excited to find this one when I was sorting through my sample box. I must have received it in a swap (not sure from who) and forgotten about it. I’m a bit sad I never tried this in the fall, because it strikes me as the perfect autumn tea. But it’s still quite enjoyable in the dead of winter! It has a very natural baked apple flavor with a bit of sweetness from the molasses and just a hint of spiciness to give it depth. A great introduction to this company!

I got this sample in my December RoT catalog and am finally getting around to trying it. I was excited to see that this was a green rooibos, since most of the other chocolate peppermint teas I’ve tried have been red rooibos and can tend to have a woody aftertaste. This one has a nice smooth peppermint flavor as I’m sipping it, but the strong stevia aftertaste completely ruins the experience for me. I wish companies wouldn’t pre-sweeten their teas!

Why do tea companies insist on creating these black/green tea blends? I have yet to try one that actually tastes good and this is no exception. I steeped it at a lower temperature than the packaging suggested and kept the steep time short, but I still found Prince of Wales to b e quite bitter and astringent. It also has a bit of smokiness to it…I’m guessing that’s from the gunpowder green? All in all, a strange and rather unpleasant blend.

This was my very last sample from the giant Great British Tea Store sampler pack I ordered this fall. It has taken me months to get through them all, but I’m glad I purchased it. I enjoyed at least half of the samples I tried and all the ones I didn’t like have helped me to more clearly define my preferences when it comes to tea. And there were a few truly outstanding blends that I tried along the way…particularly their wonderful Irish Breakfast. I definitely see myself ordering from this company again…just not this particular tea!

I’m struggling to figure out what, exactly, this tea tastes like. Roasted vegetables, maybe? The beginning of the sip tastes like it could be a green tea, but there’s a toasted flavor that lingers in the aftertaste. It’s smooth and silky as you’re drinking it, but a bit of astringency is leaving my mouth feeling dry after finishing my cup. Drinking this was an interesting experience, but not something I’d reach for again.

I got a free sample of this with my Republic of Tea catalog yesterday and drank it with breakfast this morning. I found it to be an unremarkable smooth black tea with a generic red berry flavor…pleasant enough, but certainly nothing special. I would drink this again if it was offered to me, but it’s not something I intend to purchase (although that cute Downton Abbey tin is certainly tempting!)