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I was very excited to see that my Teavivre order came today, I’ve been out of loose tea and impatiently waiting for my order for what feels like forever. I couldn’t ask for a better tea right now, I feel like I’m drinking the essence of spring. It’s green, floral and minerally and manages to be very refreshing hot. This was just what I needed right now. I’ve had an extremely rough couple of months and right now this is making me feel much better. I was a little disappointed to find that there was only one sample included in my order and it was just white peony, but I’ll live.

Strangely, I’ve been craving bergamot a lot lately and I also wanted to try something new, so I picked up a box of this. It was much better than I thought it would be, very satisfying for a bagged tea. Unsweetened, it’s a more fun and mild take on plain old earl grey. The citrus and bergamot really complement each other well and neither flavor is too strong, and I like that I’m actually getting some tea flavor as well. And I definitely have to agree with Uniquity, when you add a little sweetener this definitely tastes a lot like froot loops cereal. This stuff was a pleasant surprise.

Tonight I brewed this milder than before and I’m now picking up on some sweetness that wasn’t there before. I’ll have to see how many re-steepings I can get out of it and see how the flavor changes.

Invader Zim was kind enough to send me the rest of his sample packet of this. Octavia’s teas are all VERY expensive so I was curious to see whether or not they are worth the price tag. Judging by this tea alone, I would say that that doesn’t seem to be the case. This was a pretty plain tea, I found it to be slightly smokey in the way that a mild gunpowder tea would be, and I have to agree with Zim on the tobacco flavor. There was also a bit of general earthiness. This one was just okay, but that’s not acceptable when a company’s teas are SICKENINGLY expensive. Go check out their website if you want to see what I’m talking about. But price tag aside, this tea still gave me my green tea fix for the moment and I’m grateful to Invader Zim for sending it to me, thanks again.

Still great. Light, very crisp, refreshing, fruity and sweet. It’s invigorating in it’s freshness. This is the perfect tea for getting into the spring mood. I don’t know why anyone buys plain red/green rooibos from anywhere other than Davidson’s. It’s organic, I got a full pound for around twelve dollars, and it’s delicious. Now I will sit and wait for the mail in hopes that my Fusion Tea Room samples come today…

The last of my samples provided by Tommy. This one goes down real smooth and doesn’t have much else to it other than earthiness, but I’m enjoying that earthiness a lot. I’m really enjoying pu-erh right now, I think I’ll actually buy some soon.

Tonight I steeped this for a shorter time than last time and I realized it’s not as bad as I thought, it is a tiny bit better than other grocery store blacks but still, not by much. It’s still boring and flat and leaves me wanting more. But the good news is that I got an early allowance tonight and placed an order with Teavivre for 3.5 ounces each of their bailin gongfu black and tie guan yin, I’m very excited. I wish Teavivre had an earl grey tea, for some reason I’m REALLY craving bergamot lately which is strange for me. I’m almost tempted to go buy a box of Twinings earl grey (that’s how much I’m craving bergamot). But that’s enough rambling for now…

I thought I was out of tea but then I remembered that I had a couple samples left from Tommy, this being one of them. Now having a little experience with ripe pu-erh, I was very curious about trying a raw pu-erh. This one was very simple, clean, and approachable. It was very mellow with little to no odor, and a pleasant flavor that is hard for me to describe. I guess I would say it was a little earthy (but in a light and pleasant way), with a slight alkaline flavor. It felt very organic and was different than any other tea I’ve experienced. Although I’m not quite convinced that a pu-erh is my “cup of tea”, I like this quite a bit, thanks Tommy.

Hmm, tried this without cream or sugar today and I’m gonna have to bump the rating down. The creaminess that I talked about with it before now tastes exactly like Crisco. I don’t know if you’ve ever tasted Crisco on it’s own, but it is very unpleasant…and it’s certainly not something I want to be drinking. And along with that, now that I drank it without additives I can taste just how lacking the black tea flavor is. Meh :/

I’ve never said this before, but it’s a sipdown. As in I’m completely out of loose tea, and to make things worse I won’t get my monthly allowance until the the first of next month. This is a sad night. But still, this simple tea’s toasty embrace is comforting at the moment (as it usually is). I haven’t been in the mood for it lately but it still delivers.