Jaime Send Message

LiberTEAS sent me this to try…I think because I love hibiscus, and that’s the first ingredient. I’m beginning to think that a love of hibiscus is unusual around here…especially when brewed at 10 minutes!

I don’t really taste the hibiscus here at all. It’s a true, honest-to-goodness raspberry taste that I get. Like I just took a whole handful of ripe red raspberries (with about 4 not-so-ripe tart ones) and shoved them in my mouth and their juice exploded. They definitely got the flavor right with this one.

LiberTEAS, you have definitely figured out my tea tastes. Thank you so much!!

My cup is empty. :-(

Backlog a bit; had this as my morning drive cuppa. I’ve been playing with the temps on this one. Note: not so good at 185. 195 is much better.

This smells just like another tea that I’ve had…for the life of me, I can’t think of which tea that was. I’m not sure it bodes well for this tea…

I taste the spices…sadly, the one I’m picking up on most is the licorice. Not noticing any cinnamon or ginger, but I am getting the cardamom (note: licorice and cardamom are two of my least favorite spices). The tea is there as well (and surprisingly strong for a 3 minute steep and the amount of spices added), but the orange really isn’t coming out for me. Maybe in the aftertaste…but even then, I’m having to hunt for it.

It’s just okay for me. If you like licorice, then it’s something you might want to try.

So I didn’t get a snow day today. I have mixed feelings about this…happy I won’t have to make up the day, sad because I have to leave the warmth of my house, and dreading the drive in. This tea is helping to make things better, though.

This is perhaps the most chocolatey tea I’ve had. It’s got a very rich, milk chocolate flavor that very nearly drowns out the black tea base it’s so rich. Mouthfeel is almost like hot chocolate rather than tea. I can definitely see why this is the PMS blend! If you need a chocolate fix, this tea certainly fits the bill. I’ll have to try this as a latte…maybe with chocolate milk!

It’s not really motivating me to get ready for work, though. But since it’s 17 degrees F with a windchill of 6 (-8 and -14 for those who think in celsius), there’s not much that will motivate and make me want to leave my house.

I’m cold. A friend suggested that I try cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and Indian spices to improve circulation. I’ve translated this advice as “drink more chai”. I picked up this sample from Octavia, and now’s a good time for it.

It smells like apple cider. In fact, it tastes very similar to apple cider. So much so that I went looking for apple on its ingredient list (not there). Very good and warming. Not quite as chai-spicy as some teas I’ve had, but the amount of cinnamon makes up for it. I think this would be fantastic to use in place of mulling spices to make ciders or mulled wine. In fact, that’s very likely what I’ll do with the rest of the sample!

Ah, I love this stuff!! I threw in a few more peanut butter chips to make it even more peanut buttery. I’m getting low on it…I’ll have to order more with my next order (hopefully there’s still some left).

I was inspired to have this after my lunch: grilled peanut butter and jelly.

I don’t know how LiberTEAS did it. I’ve been wanting to try this tea since before I was on Steepster. I went to Dallas this past summer for our national conference, and did a search for local tea cafes…theirs came up. Sadly, I didn’t get to go, but now!! Now I get to try this tea! Thank you so, so much, LiberTEAS. You’re the awesome!

Brewed at my standard new-to-me white tea parameters: 185 for 2 minutes. Scent is pure strawberry. Taste is a lovely, natural, vine-ripened, still warm from the sun strawberry that is a perfect compliment to the Bai Mu Dan base. The strawberry is both strong and subtle: it’s clear and crisp but doesn’t overpower the white tea at all. Whilst it’s delicious hot, I bet this could be really good iced. Would also be a really good base for a syrup for a dessert topping…hmm…has anyone made tea-infused sugar syrups?

JacquelineM sent me a little tin of this to try…thank you so much!!

It’s almost too pretty to brew. This is full of rose petals! Has a lovely rose and earl grey scent, with just a hint of jasmine.

In the brewed cup, though, that hint of jasmine becomes a whole heap o’ jasmine. There’s still some rose, and bergamot at the end of the sip, but there’s a whole heck of a lot of jasmine going on. And I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. See, me and jasmine…sometimes we just can’t be in the same room, and other days we’re best friends. Kind of like tweenage girls.

As it cools, there’s less up-front jasmine and more rose; bergamot is still playing the final fiddle. I’m thinking this is an Earl that’s just not for me. I’ll try it out again at a lower steep and see what happens.

vanilla_bookworm sent me some of this. It’s the World Market holiday exclusive from last holiday season. They haven’t brought it back for this season, so I am really excited to try it!

Scent is peppermint black tea with a touch of chocolate. Taste is a bit weak with a 3 minute steep, but there’s a definite mint taste, as well as chocolate and black tea. I definitely need to brew this at 5 minutes; the flavors are going to be much more intense with an additional 2 minute steep. I’ll hold off on rating for now.

Rolled out of bed on this lazy Sunday morning and looked out the window. It’s snowing. Again. So far, it has snowed every day in December here. I don’t like it, not one bit. It’s a bad omen for the rest of the winter.

Even if it is a bad omen, it does make for a great day to stay in and drink tea (yup, total repeat of yesterday). frenchvanilla sent me some bags of this to try. I’ve been eyeing the box of this every time I’ve been in the tea aisle lately, but haven’t caved yet (miracles never cease…wait, no, I bought other teas instead). Thanks for giving me the chance to try it out!!

It’s stout, strong, rich, and smooth. Just slightly astringent, but all the better for it. This is a breakfast tea that could actually stand up to a big, southern-style breakfast. Too bad I’m not having one this morning, but still, this should be the go-to tea at places like Bob Evans and Cracker Barrel to serve with the big breakfast platters.