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Tried this again today. I wanted to make some iced tea and thought the sweetness of this might work nicely. I used a large pitcher, two tea bags, and water that I’m hoping was around 150 degrees (my kingdom for an affordable kettle with temperature settings). Lost track of how long I steeped it, but it was a while.

I lost patience waiting for it to cool and poured myself a warm cup. It tastes much better this time. The green tea takes prominence. The Coconut/pineapple flavor is still too strong, but the tea is actually tolerable now. Hope it’ll taste even better iced…

Many thanks to Shelley_Lorraine for thoughtfully including a surprise sample of this. I was so excited to try it! Alas, it does not stand up against the other bedtime teas I have been trying. The problem might be as simple as “too much hibiscus”.

The dry leaves smell very strongly like a haystack… hayfield? I don’t know, I’m a city girl, but the point is it smells like a farm. My partner literally recoiled when I made him smell this.

I brewed according to directions. This brews up a lovely, vivid red color, like strawberry wine. It smells much better brewed than dry. No more hay smell. Except now it smells too sweet, almost medicinal. The flavor is just all hibiscus. The hibiscus overwhelms everything except for a slight aftertaste of valerian. This tea is just not doing it for me right now. It might be worth trying again with a substantially shorter brew time, or blended with a rooibos base. Frankly, since there are so very many other teas to try, I don’t think it’s likely that I will be giving this one another shot.

I first steeped this for 3.5 minutes in boiling water. It smells just like hot apple cider – yum! It kind of tastes like it too, only not as sweet. At 3.5 minutes, the taste was heavy on the cinnamon and cloves but very one-note. So I put my rubber duck tea infuser back in to see if the taste would improve upon further brewing. I got distracted reading Steepster, so I accidentally steeped it for another 4 minutes, longer than I had intended. It is much, much better now. The tea tastes fuller, if that makes sense. The rooibos really came out more and balanced out the spice.

Overall, this tea is ok. It’s enjoyable, but not stunning. I agree with Sil and yappychappy that the spice is overwhelming. I will finish what I have, but doubt that I’ll be buying more. I admit having extremely high expectations coming in. My first (and very recent) experience with Della Terra was the Lemon Chiffon, which set a crazy high bar. So I may be judging the Honey & Spice too harshly because it doesn’t meet that bar. Rating adjusted slightly upwards accordingly – a company shouldn’t be punished for making really good tea!

I’m thinking this tea might actually be great to brew with some apple juice/cider… has anyone tried to do that?

Took me a few days longer than I’d hoped to try this tea again. The first time I had a cup before bed, I slept very badly (though not so much more so than usual that I would blame it on the tea). Last night, I tried two cups. Still tasty, if nothing else! Well balanced and soothing. I slept fairly well, but now I can’t say that my sleep was so much better than usual that I could chalk it up to the tea. So the score is 1-1, and I will keep trying!

So first let me say that I don’t have the supplies to brew this tea properly using the traditional guidelines. I did my best to approximate, using a heaping teaspoon in 8 oz of approximately 180 degree water, steeped for 90 seconds.

This smells FANTASTIC. Like toasted rice or savory popcorn. The color is a light greenish-yellow. Based on the color and short brew time, I was worried that it would taste weak. Not at all! It tastes like hay and toasted rice (in a good way, I promise). Spinachy. I’m not picking up on any sweetness or astringency. Just nice and savory and a great complement to dessert. Or after dessert. Or on a cold rainy day when you’ve come home late during a thunderstorm and your suit is soaked and you need something warm to relax.

This is the first of the green tea sampler that Den’s Tea sent me. I really hope the rest are as good as this one. If they are, I expect I’ll be making purchases from them soon.

Blegh. Just blegh. I remember liking this tea. Clearly I have memory problems, because this is really truly terrible. I like other Wissotzky teas; I like their green tea; I like their regular mint tea. But this? No. No no no no no. It just tastes like drinking straight spearmint. Maybe it would be ok mixed with a nice green, but then I would have to be willing to risk ruining a good tea. I actively feel guilty now for sending this along to someone else (at least it was a giveaway and not a swap!). I don’t understand why I ever thought I liked it…

Luckily, my brother inexplicably likes this and I was able to pawn the rest of it off on him.

Tried this again, brewing it for 5 minutes straight this time. Smells great! Just like a ginger snap. Tastes lovely, too, though still not like a cookie. I tried it with 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla agave. Still tasty, still doesn’t taste like a cookie. Just tastes like ginger and vanilla. I still have enough of the sample to make another two cups (not counting resteeps), so I’ll try it with proper sugar next time.

Thanks to JoonSusanna for sending this along. I love ginger snap cookies, so I was really excited about this tea. Ultimately, I think it’s pretty good, but doesn’t quite taste like ginger snaps.

The dry leaf smells like a very gingery cookie. Brewed, it still smells like a gingery cookie (in a good way!). The package says to steep for 2-4 minutes. I initially steeped for 2.5, but it came out kind of weak. It tasted like a good rooibos. I couldn’t make out any ginger though. So I steeped for another 2 minutes and it was better. Didn’t taste as thin and the ginger flavor came out more. Another minute of steeping and it was much, much better. The rooibos and ginger work together nicely. Still doesn’t taste like a cookie, but very nice. So 5-6 minutes is a good steeping time. I will say that this tea has a nice gingery aftertaste, exactly like a ginger snap.

This resteeps pretty well. I got distracted and ended up leaving the leaves in for 8 minutes. It actually worked out nicely! Super tasty. I will definitely be drinking this again. Will try it with sweetener next time, as suggested.

I love cucumbers. I love cucumber water. I have learned that I do not love cucumber tea. This tastes exactly like white tea with cucumber. Followed package directions and everything. Just not enjoying it. It might be good during the summer, brewed for a shorter period of time, iced, and with sugar… and possibly with fewer leaves than the 2 heaping teaspoons suggested on the package.

I agree with literally every other reviewer that the dry leaves smell like pickles. I quite like pickles, so it didn’t put me off. And ok the brewed tea smells briny too. And now that I think about it the tea also tastes vaguely briny… reading the other reviews has actually made me like this tea even less! At least it’s pretty – a nice pale yellow. Great thanks to TastyBrew for sending me the sample, but I don’t think I’ll be drinking this again any time soon.

I don’t sleep well, so I am perennially on the hunt for a good bedtime tea. This tea was mentioned somewhere on the discussion boards and the name (and positive review) piqued my interest. I ordered on Saturday and it got here Monday – with free shipping! Plus it was reasonably priced, so the company has made a really positive first impression.

Now for the tea itself. Dry and brewed, it has a fairly mild smell of chamomile, spearmint, and grass. It brews up a light yellow color that reminds me of sunflowers. The taste is like chamomile with a hint of lemon, and spearmint on the back end. I want to say that I can taste the valerian, but I’m not familiar enough with that flavor to say for sure.

This is easily one of the best chamomile teas that I have ever had; I would only put Harney and Sons chamomile on the same level. I don’t know yet whether this will actually help me sleep, so I’ll update tomorrow.

boiling water, 1 tsp for 8 oz, steeped 7 mins, per package instructions