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Oh, hello lover.

He’s rich and golden, gently sweet with just a hint of astringency/bitter. Crisp, malty, honey, bakey, beautiful. Perfect to cuddle up with on a cold December morning.

Thank you, JacquelineM, for sending me this tea. He’s wonderful, and I must have more of him in my life. This first pot is already gone, and I have such a horrible sad right now.

ETA: Second steep at 6 minutes. Less honey taste, much more robust. Edging on the bitter side without getting there and all the better for it. Excuse me, we’re going to cuddle now.

Now this is good. A true, lemony dessert tea. Have you ever had lemon bars? The gooey kind? This is a liquid version. It’s like I can even taste the powdered sugar that’s sprinkled on top! The lemon is strong, in your face, and that perfect balance of sweet/sour. There’s a pastry/vanilla/crumbly taste underneath the lemon…divine!! And for those people who aren’t fans of rooibos: well, I can’t find it at all in the taste. Maybe, if I try hard, there’s a green rooibos in the background. But that’s with me really trying to find it.

Disclaimer: if you have a low sour/tart tolerance, you’ll probably want to avoid this one. Or not brew it for 10 minutes like I did. My tart threshold is higher than the average, and this is definitely higher on the tart scale. Which I really like.

ETA: A second steep at 15 minutes is nearly identical to the first!

LiberTEAS has done it again! She sent me a tea that I wanted to try before I even read a tasting note on it. She’s that good!

TeaEqualsBliss logged this a few days ago, and the combination of cinnamon and hibiscus sounded so wrong it could be right. And, for me, this is full of win. It’s like a hibiscus cider in both smell and taste. Yes, the hibiscus is strong here (I steeped for 8 rather than my usual 10), but the cinnamon and licorice kind of calm the tart down. Reminds me somewhat of wassail (or, rather, the wassail they served at my college’s Madrigal dinner).

Again, for me, this is full of win. LiberTEAS, thank you so, so much!!!

This tea and I, we’re having some conflicts here. Those first couple of pots were ah-may-zing, but as I get closer toward the end of the box, I can’t reproduce the taste, even at the same parameters.

So I’ve done something that I have never, ever done before. Ever. In the whole of my tea-drinking existence: I steeped it for only a minute. A minute. It’s such a short, teeny amount of time. How can tea goodness be released in only a mere minute and not just taste like flavored water (now, I know it’s done, but I just haven’t been able to fathom it yet)? But this kept tasting cooked at 3 minutes, regardless of temperature, and this morning’s to-go pot of 2 minutes at 175 didn’t come out tasting all that grand either (the only reason that was finished was that I was caught in traffic and cold). So, I’m trying it at a minute.

The cooked taste is less, but still there. Better than what I had earlier, but still, it’s not what those first couple of pots were and I’ve no clue why.

This is much better at 195 than at boiling! Still smells like Dr. Pepper (ick), but at this temp the cherry is much more of a real, tart cherry flavor than the syrupy cherry that I got out of it before. I’m tasting a lot more cherry than tea.

Next time I’ll try it at 175 to see what happens!

Finishing the last of my sample of this from Meghann. Bit astringent, but definitely pumpkin. I’m not really getting the “pie” bit still. Black tea base is delish.

Bumping my rating up on this, as I’m really liking it this morning.

Finishing up the pb/choc blend that I attempted with this as a base (since my pb blend from Frank isn’t happening for a bit pout). 3 heaping teaspoons of it to 16 oz water. Smells like a reese cup, I did get that much right. Taste…not so much. Even with extra leaf, it’s just not what I was trying for. I’m thinking the chocolate extract that I have is old, or I picked too strong of a tea for the base.

(Numerical rating is for the LL Ceylon before I went messing around with it. Numerical rating for this wanna-be peanut butter cup blend is much, much lower.)

I think I need to tweak my steeping parameters on this one. There’s just something…not right about it. It’s got this toasted, dusty taste to it…and at first, I thought maybe I’d just gotten a bad batch, but the bags that LiberTEAS had tucked into my surprise box were the same (had those at work but didn’t log). Could this tea be picking up the cardboard taste? Any steeping suggestions?

And this is another with 2 entries!! Funny how I keep finding those. vanilla_bookworm sent me a few bags of this. I had it last holiday season and couldn’t remember if I wanted to get more or not…thanks for letting me have a few bags to decide!!

It steeped for way over 10 minutes. Probably close to 20. I had an applicant come in to explain to me why she was the best candidate for my open position…which we’re interviewing for tomorrow, and she didn’t get an interview (she only found that out today). Oy vey. Time for tea!

So I remember this now. It’s bland. Weak. It’s like a boring blind date one of my guy friends tried to set me up on: with someone who was described as “punctual and available most nights and weekends.” Translation: not much to look at, has no personality, and can pretty much just stare at you. This tea is that guy. No deep flavor, no personality…just kinda warm and there. I mean, if it were paying for dinner, sure, I’d like it a lot more. And after the meeting with that lady, it really ought to be much more comforting than it is.

I think I’ll pass on another tin. Want Apple Cider tea? Go get Bigelow’s.