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Finished this sample off today with my daughter, who really loved the juiciness of this brew. I found it cloying today, and and the almond wasn’t sitting right. I’m feeling a bit off though (slightly sore throat, bad sleep due to the youngest waking up at 2am last night asking to drink a LITER of chocolate almond milk).

I’m glad we finished this off. Unless my daughter begs for it, I’ll grab something else in the future.

Drank this for the first time earlier today, in the hopes of kicking a slightly tickly throat. Was hoping for the gingery goodness of Super Ginger, and maybe that’s what I should have steeped instead, because this felt weak to me.

Can definitely smell the ginger and lemongrass as you open the pouch. Steeped, it’s mostly a green tea/ginger blend on the palate, while cold the lemongrass smell and taste shine through more than anything. It’s nice and light, although I think in the future I’ll mix this with Super Ginger to get the gingery mouthfeel I love.

I LOVE ginger, and especially ginger tea. I used to get this weird powdered granular stuff in small crinkly gold packages from a local Chinese grocer, and because I speak only English and French, I could only decipher that it was ginger with honey tea. The stuff was STRONG, sweet, and perfect… even though I always wondered if it was truly tea. Ever since I had to swear off sugar, I’ve been looking for another ginger tea to take it’s place. Thus, Super Ginger.

Tummy is upset tonight, probably from the oolong earlier. Therefore my requirements were low, yet specific: taste strongly of ginger, and get rid of my tummyache. This definitely did both, and quickly.

Smells strongly of ginger in the tin, although a bit more faintly when steeped. I made sure to give it extra time, as well as exactly the right measurement (1.25 tsp) because I wanted to make sure this had enough bite. Yes, it definitely does, and should I have downed more of it, my nose would be running. (It’s 2:35am, and my youngest just woke up… so bedtime for me). Looking forward to this cooled cup in the AM, and I hope it tingles my tongue just as much as it is, now.

I just had an interesting time with some oolong the other day, so I’m a bit surprised this is the first tea I wanted to try out of my new DAVID’s Tea shipment (other than a sample). What can I say? I love the ingredient list (orange? ginger? YUM), and thought it was most what I felt like.

It smells divine right out of the bag, and even more so after it’s been steeped – like a freshly zested orange next to some grated ginger. First sip was weak, to say the least, and it’s taken about a cup for me to really get the flavors feeling fuller as it cools. The oolong is exceptionally faint, almost completely overshadowed by the orange flavor. The orange lingers too, and it zings a bit on my tongue even minutes after I’ve had a sip. The ginger adds heat and little else, and it builds as I drink it.

Unfortunately, my stomach is bugging me again, even though the caption on the bag specifically says it should soothe my stomach. Sigh. Me and oolongs.. I love ‘em, and yet, it’s a one-sided thang. I’ll eat something, and hopefully the queasiness disappears.

I bought this a few days ago, and already I want to roll my eyes at all of the tea filters I have now. Really? Who makes tea that way? ;)

Obviously, I’ve spoiled myself with this machine. It’s beautiful, works perfectly, and is easy to clean. My only (small) beefs are that rooibos still goes everywhere when steeping (yet the pour spout does an excellent job of keeping the crud in the pot), and that I can only keep things heated for about 30 minutes or so. Maybe it’s an hour (I read that somewhere, blanking out where) however it seems more like 30 minutes to me.

Other than that, it’s sheer perfection. My 5-year-old and I enjoy watching it rise and fall on basket mode, our private meditative bonding moment.

Wait a minute. As this cools, I can definitely taste the fig. Oh, it’s quite lovely, even decadent. I wish I had more to play around a bit. Hopefully it’ll show up for sale around the same time the DAVID’s store opens down the street next month, and I can grab a small amount to see what’s really what.

I may be the first to try out this tea; my DAVID’s Tea order came today, and with it three samples from the Winter Collection. So excited!

Then, I saw the sample size, and thought… what do I do with this? It’s so small. Can I even get a cup out of it? I decided to see what came out of the package (literally, 5 chunks of what looked like grey fuzzy coal), and then steep it twice the recommended amount to get at least a hint of the flavors.

Smells like water, looks like a light amber. Steeped twice for 7 minutes each, just trying my best to milk out everything I could, flavor-wise.

The flavor is so vague and faint, it’s hard to tell what this is. Some spice, maybe? A hint of apple. I added some Truvia to see if the flavors come out to play a bit more. I get apple now, most definitely, and plum oddly. Fig is a bit of a stretch (even though I’m pretty sure those chunks I saw were figs).

Dammit. I need more than 5g to tell if this is something I want to purchase. Right now? It’s just faintly flavored water. Note for next time: less water, smaller cup, extra long steeping for these mini-samples.

Strong fruity smell upon opening the bag. Grabbed this on one of my Teavana excursions a few weeks back. I love the ingredient list, and thought this would be a nice sip to enjoy.

Is there a ton of mint in it? No. I’m used to a strong mint flavor with my mojito’s, so this is a bit surprising as I drink it to think, “minty freshness with a pop of berry”, like I was expecting. I can taste the mint – right at the front of the sip – yet I still want more. More!

Very fruity, and that’s likely enhanced even more so by the Truvia I added. Darker though, and a touch drying (in a good way). Is there green tea in here? Have yet to taste it at all. Think I might add some extra mint tea to this blend the next time I drink it.

Number 4 of 4 freebies from Teavana when I bought the Breville tea maker. I’m scared to try this one, as I’ve strongly disliked two of the three, and one was just okay. Upon opening, a strongly artificial plum smell wafted up at me, or perhaps that’s what plum mixed with almonds smells like. All I know is, it made me cringe a bit, especially after my nausea-including afternoon with the oolong.

Steeped, it smells more of almond than anything, and there were a few of what looked like liquefied pieces of almonds floating in the brew when the Breville was done. Strange.

Didn’t even bother with it straight (like I said, I was leery to say the least!) and added Truvia before sipping. The fruits really punch here, and I’m a bit surprised at the juicy taste. The almond complements it nicely, although it’s strong and dries out the palate a bit.

Do I like this? It’s good, if I want tea that tastes like juice. I’ll likely blend it in the future with something else. I think I’ll ice some tomorrow and give it to the kids; I have a feeling they’ll go bonkers for it.

Now I remember why this sat in my cupboard for so long, even as much as I love it. Within 20 minutes of my finishing the first cup (which is so big it’s more like two cups), I felt so nauseous, I almost got sick all over my kitchen. Then it came to me in a flash: oolongs (usually) give me a horrible stomachache, especially on an empty stomach. A quick bite to eat helped, however as soon as I started drinking the tea again, the nausea returned in full force.

Dammit. I love this stuff, however it’ll just go to waste in my cupboard now. Quite a bit left – anyone want me to send it to them?