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I am glad I am sitting at home with a hot cup of tea. I had a very productive day that was as tiring as it was productive. I am happy to be unwinding and digesting everything that happened. Today I received my order from 52teas that made me smile quite a bit. Then a bit after that I received an e-mail from a friend of mine who has a 1 year old son asking me to be his godmother at his baptism! I was honored and very happy to be asked. While not very religious and not particularly fond of kinds, I do really love this kid. So, I had multiple reasons to continue smiling throughout my busy day.  

Now I am unwinding with a cup of this tea, which dry smells like what I would imagine clouds would smell like if they were made out of coconut. You can smell the cream and the coconut perfectly. I actually had to sigh when I first sniffed it. It has large coconut bits in it that make it beautiful to look at. 

Once steeped, the dark brew still smells distinctively of coconut and cream, though a little bit more subdued than the dry tea. Unsweetened it was a little bit too astringent for my taste, but it was still delightfully creamy. Sweetened the coconut flavor really stood out and the astringency was covered up nicely. I made a second cup and added my homemade latte mix to it. Yum… it was like a creamy coconut milkshake! It reminded me of a coconut cream cake y Mom made me as a little girl. Wow… A guilty pleasure tea. Perfect to relax after a tiring but great day. : ) 

This is hard to review… I generally don’t love honeybush, there is something floral almost soapy in the aftertaste that makes me generally avoid them. On the other hand, I am obsessed with vanilla… So given that this is actually really cheap for Teavana (and in general…) I figured it was worth a try. It has sat in my cabinet for a while, I think I even sent some off in a swap at some point… But today is the first time I actually taste it.

I have had a long day, and I have an even longer day ahead of me. Tomorrow I have to give classes (I volunteered to do it for 4 weeks…) to a class of 5th graders from low income families at 7 am and then go to work, somehow live through the day (with tough meetings, of course…) and then get home at around 9pm… I am not looking forward to it… Caffeine usually has no effect on me, but to be on the safe side I took it as an opportunity to try this herbal tea…

Dry, it smells delicious. Very vanilla and very creamy. The honeybush floral notes are in tail end of the scent, but not too strong… All in all a pleasure to sniff at. The redish bits of honeybush have a few brown pieces mixed in, I assume that is the natural vanilla pieces that it supposedly has.

I brewed it in a dark mug, so I couldn’t really sea the color of the brew. It still smelled very good. The vanilla and cream were predominant with the honeybush in the background.

Tastewise, plain there was too much honeybush going on for my liking… Sooo…. I made it a late! And it was delicious. It tasted just like vanilla Nesquick I used to drink (or rather still do once in a while as a guilty pleasure…) when I was a kid. The honebush was still there, but it was played down and almost covered up by the vanilla and cream.

I am happily sipping the rest of my tea while I dread waking up super early tomorrow… Well… It’s for a good cause! : )

I took a walk with my Doggy (Sencha) to ease the soreness from Ice Skating training out of my muscles. It was super sunny and when we got back we were both ready for a cold drink. Sencha doesn’t like tea (regardless of her name…), so she got water. I love tea, so I made myself some of this iced. This was a Christmas present from an aunt who very kindly figured out that tea may be the best gift for me. : )

The dry tea looks like “tea confetti”. It is full of colors and shapes and smells like a fruity punch in the face… with a mint afterthought.

Steeped it is a neat dark purple with a tint of red to it. It smells like a berry fruit drink that has a bit of mint in it. Perhaps a berry mojito? Interesting…

With a tad bit of sugar it was decently tasty. Berry was the main player with a little apple. The aftertaste was mint and strangely (because it isn’t an ingredient in this tea) a got a bit of anise. That ruined it for me. I hate anise… I will finish this happily and I will do my best to enjoy it. I just won’t be buying it again.

Yumminess… I had forgotten just how tasty this tea is. I need to figure out how I can keep myself from going through my tin of this too quickly… Increasing the rating…

Yesterday I went ice skating to actually train (not just coach) for the first time in about a year. I found out two important things: One that I can still skate and pull of my jumps and spins and two that not skating for a year and then putting on your skates will result in many painful blisters. Also, I woke up this morning with my entire body aching. I either have to do this more often or never again… hahaha… To ease my aching muscles, this tea came to the rescue.

I love the sprinkles in this tea. The colors make me smile. The buttery vanilla scent (both in the dry leaves and even more so in the steeped tea) is incredibly seducing and I seem to always give in. With a little bit of sweetener, this tea never fails me. It is instant smiles in a cup.

Sadly, while I am smiling and content, my body still feels like I fell out of the window of a five story building… Argh… Why do I love ice skating so much that I am willing to put up with this!?!?! Silly me… : ) At least I get birthday Cake Tea!

Ohh… Paris… The one time I was there, I fell in love with all of the art and architecture. No matter where you look, everything seems to be beautiful. The best dessert I have tasted in my life was a creme brulee that I had in a small restaurant there. Paris is an amazing experience.

I had been reading some people’s post about this tea and it sounded like something that would be tasty to me. Since I was able to have my Mom bring it to me from the US, I got to receive it earlier than I imagined I would have! I am so happy! Every time I get a new tea it feels like Christmas did when I was a little girl. It has a bit of magic to it. Logically, it makes no sense to me, and explaining the experience to non-tea people is really hard. But I do know that new tea will make me smile and even more so if it is good new tea! Everyone should have a special something to make them happy. I am glad that my special something is tea! : )

OK… Back to the review….

The leaves in the tin are very dark, almost black. The scent is invigorating. It is a mix between a Cream Earl Grey and a Caramel Chew (I love those candies…). The black tea base shines through strong in the scent. Overall delicious.

Once brewed the dark liquor smells just like the dry tea but smoother. I get a little more vanilla, which is extra points in my point of view. I love vanilla everything. Unsweetened it is smooth and creamy with the bergamot being the major after taste. The black tea base holds up really well and mingles with all of the flavors in each sip. Sweetened I get more vanilla and caramel taste mixed in well with the bergamot. In a way, I feel it is a very good Creme Earl Grey. But I really can’t complain. It is very tasty.

I admit that I had to have two cups, the first one didn’t last me long enough… Yummy…

I have had this once before, but somehow never got around to reviewing this. I received this in a swap, with Lisbet I believe. Thanks!

It was an interesting experience. I am not very fond of smokey teas, and the scent of is tea is in your face smokey. That worried me, but as I brewed it the scent transformed from outright smokey to spicey.

First try plain was an explosion of smokey. Sweetened the smokey played down a bit, but was still a bit strong for me. Finally I added milk and… Success! I got sweet spicey roasted marshmellow goodness. I never really found the cocolate note, but I enjoyed it anyway.

All in all, it is too smokey to be something that I can see myself wanting very often. I am super happy I got to try it though. It was a fun experience.

It has been a long day at the office. No particular reason, just very very long and I am ready to go home. To accompany me on this long slow Monday there has been this Oolong in my cup. Also, throughout the day I have been greeted by chocolate chip cookies, edamame, sushi , and graham crackers. I am sure they are all having a great party in my stomach right now… Wish I could join them.

This tea is very good, but it isn’t quite great. Please do note that this is only my opinion. I tend to judge my oolongs by the sweet aftertaste that lingers after each sip. That tends to be my favorite part of drinking an Oolong.

The dry leaves of the tea are marvelous. They are large and emerald green. The scent is mouth watering, bit of mineral and a bit of sweet, the perfect mix for an oolong in my opinion. For some reason (and don’t get me wrong, I love Oolongs!) the smell of Oolongs has started to remind me vaguely of the smell of balloons and surgical gloves. Strangely, this isn´t a bad thing… Odd…

The first steep of was golden and delicious looking, also delicious tasting. The flavor consisted of a strong mineral component and a bit of pear and edamame. The aftertaste was a bit more sour than I would have liked and the sweet was a little more subtle than I usually want in an oolong. Still, delicious.

The second steep was a bit milder. The mineral played down and the pear stood out. The sweet aftertaste I enjoy so much was much more evident. It rolled across my tongue with every sip. By far my favorite of the three steeps.

The third steep was a bit too vegetable like for my mood in the late afternoon. Sadly, the sweet aftertaste was more of a faint memory than actually there in this cup. It was not bad at all, but it wasn´t quite what I wanted at that particular point of time. I feel like it could have benefited from a slightly longer steeping time (I only steeped it for 2 minutes).

Overall, I enjoyed it. I like having it handy at the office to accompany on “one of those Mondays”. Yum… Definitely worth a try.

It took me forever to get around to trying this sample. It was kindly sent to me by generous Angrboda. Thanks so much! 

Today I had a long and exhausting day of work. We are opening a new retail store For our company, and dealing with all of the publicity and making sure everything is in order is wearing me out. I am both very nervous and excited about it. It is the first store that is opened by mostly my efforts and responsibilities so I want it to go really well. To calm my nerves and be able to enjoy what is left of the night before I go to bed, I made myself a nice big cup of this!  

The scent is very orange charged. I didn’t find any strawberry or scone in the dry tea scent, still it was very pleasant. The scent reminded me a lot of some fruity orange Tic-Tacs that we have in Ecuador. 

Once brewed, the liquor was a dark burgundy color and gave of a sweet orange scent that smelled like orange cake fresh out of the oven. Unsweetened it was smooth and orangey with just a bite of astringency. Sweetened it tasted like orange cake, with enough orange flavor, but non of the tartness. I never really got the strawberry, but the baked good part of it was somewhere in the background.

Overall it was very enjoyable. It reminded me a lot of 52teas rainbow sherbet tea, which I love, so this is a good thing! Too bad I only have a sample (though it is quite generous) of this! I will miss it when it is gone!

Once upon a time, Ninavampi didn’t know much about tea. She wondered around trying things that sounded tasty, mostly super sweetened to help her get through studying. This tea in particular was a tasty favorite. NInavampi prepared it dark and sweetened and sipped away at it through the night in a dorm room with her roommate and today, best friend. Time has passed and Ninavampi got a job and refined her tastes in tea. Sadly, for a long while she forgot about this tea. Now, on a tea-intense weekend, Valentines has been revisited by NInavampi. Ninavampi still thinks that it is delicious.

Ok… Enough with the third person narration… hahaha… Sorry!

Seriously, sweetened, this tea is delicious. It may taste a wee bit artificial, and in my opinion not entirely like chocolate covered strawberries, but it is really tasty. Dry, it smells sweet and a lot like a strawberry Tootsie Roll pop.

Once it is brewed, a bit of the chocolate smell peaks out. I don’t get much strawberry. Sweetened there is a vague strawberry-chocolate flavor that is much like trying to remember a dream. The more you think about it, the less you can place it. Even though I don’t feel like Adagio’s description of it is 100% accurate, there is something overall pleasant in this tea. It has the ability to smoothly coat your mouth and leave you wanting more. I had to brew two cups of this today before I had satisfied my sweet tooth.

This is really worth a try. I don’t think it is a tea for everyone, but for those of us who like to indulge in something sweetened once in a while, this is a scrumptious treat.

Valentines tea, Ninavampi, and her dog Sencha had a wonderfully relaxing Sunday afternoon. : )

First, and most importantly, I apologize for my brief absence. I have had to deal with doggy issues, solving problems at work, dealing with family issues, but now, finally, everything has worked out for the best and I am able to sit down and have my first cup of tea while I finally relax. It is amazing how tension builds up and once everything over, you just suddenly feel like you are a balloon full of stale air that desperately needed to be popped. I am so happy to be back!

I love Ooolongs, and Milk Oolongs have always had a soft spot in my taste-buds. Just thinking about them my mouth waters… So, after all the hype that Teavivre has had on Steepster, I had to try their Milk Oolong. I placed and order, that took forever to get to me (all customs fault, Teavivre service was wonderful. Sometimes shipping to Ecuador is a hassle…). It finally arrived, and being in the middle of all the problems I was having, I didn’t really feel up to trying new teas. So, finally, the storm has passed and I will indulge.

The leaves are nicely rolled and a very enticing green. The scent was fresh, creamy and a tad bit mineral. Not quite as sweet scented as other milk oolongs I have tried, but very creamy and inviting.

I steeped it for 2mins and ended up with a delicate golden liquor. The scent was intensified and the creaminess started prancing about tempting me o gulp the entire glass down. Yuuuummm…

First sip, unsweetened, delicious. All of the creamy smoothness that a milk oolong promises. The first sensation in the sip is creaminess with a tad of creamy sweet flavor, followed by brief mineral savoriness and an ending of sweet aftertaste, all oolong goodness.

The second brew was just as good, but different. The creamy sensation/flavor became stronger and the mineral flavor was played down a bit. The sweet aftertaste was still there and making me smile.

Third brew I lost a bit of the creamy and found a bit of the mineral, but, still delicious.

I never sweetened it, but somehow, Oolongs never seem to need sweetening. The delicate sweet aftertaste gets lost under sugar, honey, Splenda, or any sweetener I have ever tried. So, I don’t think I will be writing about this one sweetened any time soon… It is sooo good plain.

Once again, it feels great to be back in the tea world with fellow Steepters! : ) Also, this tea is really worth a try! : )