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1-2… is this on?

Ok, so it looks like Steepster is working again. I left (again) because I was so dang frustrated that it wasn’t working. But it seems to be functioning again, so I’m here for the moment.

Now, I already reviewed this tea once (Thanks Shae) but I’m doing do again because I learned a valuable lesson for this tea.

Don’t add sweetener.

I was thinking that “oh, I love this tea, but what about a touch of sweetness?” Nope, doesn’t work. All it does is kill all the nuance and subtlety of the flavor and make it taste like a store bought earl grey. And if I wanted store bought earl grey I wouldn’t have reached for Bergamot White Peony. I mean, it isn’t gross, mind you, but it isn’t good either. Sweetener doesn’t make everything better, although I will admit that, as I get down further into the cup, the flavor is improving.

I’m gonna go have a resteep and hope it’s better.

Song of the Moment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfv7_iRHXv8

Ok, here’s hoping this works. I’ve taken to putting my tea reviews in word docs until I can post them. I’m hoping for the best with this steepster migration, but we’ll see.

Anyway, this is another one of the teas I got in Shae’s lovely care package. I will admit, I wasn’t sure if this was herbal or black when I made it, but they both require boiling water and I averaged the time at 4 minutes.

This tea is scrumptious. I’m gonna be honest, I can’t describe the flavor compared to any other real world food. But you very clearly get the spice, the citrus, and the berry here. And, surprise surprise, I’m not using sweetener in this! I usually add at least one splenda to any 52teas blend, but here, I took a sip without and it’s too delicious to add anything. The berry flavor gives just enough sweetness on it’s own to be yummy, while the warmth of the spice (which is offering a little bit of that mouth tingle I love so much) and the citrus on top just make for a wonderfully layered cuppa. Like I said, I can’t think of any actual foods that this resembles, flavor wise, but as it is, it’s delish and I can’t wait to have more.

Well, I got more of this and I’m sitting here having another mug of this. It’s as good as I remember.

The richness of the cream flavor with the floral of the bergamot, all blended together with just the right amount of black tea. This is still the best bagged Earl Grey I’ve found. Just so so good and with a touch of splenda it’s the perfect nighttime quick cuppa.

Another one from the box from Shae! Thanks so much!

Anyway, I just woke up. It’s 5:45 AM here and I fell asleep last night around 7 pm. I’m pretty groggy so I figured I’d have a cup of tea. I reached into the box, this is what my hand fell on. So this is what got made! (Such a scientific process lol!)

I did my best to measure out 3 grams, but I’m using 12 oz of water which is why this is likely a bit weak. I did try it before adding my usual Splenda and it’s pretty bitter without sweetener. So I’m reviewing this with these factors in mind.

This is a smooth tea. There are no harsh edges present (again, with the Splenda) and it goes down easy. The bergamot is present, but not overpowering and is well balanced with the black tea. I’m sitting here trying to pull additional flavors or notes from this and can’t. It’s just what it says on the tin. Earl Grey Cream. It’s creamy, it’s black tea, it’s bergamot. It does exactly what it says it will and nothing more nothing less.

That said, for an EGC, this is pretty good. Hella smooth and well rounded and as promised. And sometimes, that’s what you’re looking for. Not every tea session needs to be a globe-trotting adventure. Sometimes you just want to sit down with a nice, simple cuppa and not have to worry about overloading your taste buds with an entire bouquet of flavors.

This tea is for those days.
Recommended.

So steepster still isn’t working. I’m about to form a prayer circle on tumblr for our little site’s well being.)

Well, here’s another of these, and probably my last. (Unless I do the Half and Half but that stuff was so nasty the first time I may not drink the two I have left)

Anyway, this is a really juicy peach flavor. I mean it. Super juicy peach. I love the peach in this. It’s sweet and ripe and slightly musky (but not overly so) and just mm mmm mmm. However, like the others, it’s not tea. It reminds me more of the flavor of a real peach smoothie (but just plain thin liquid). This supposedly also has lemon in it, but I don’t taste it over the peach.

Overall, this is one I would buy again. Not as tea, I don’t know how many times and ways I can say this isn’t tea, but as a refreshing peach cocktail that’s just the right mix of stonefruit musk and sweet juicy and is so dang tasty.

Bergamot White Peony

I woke up this evening to a wonderful surprise – TEA MAIL!
A wonderful box of tea from the awesome Shae

This is the first one I’m trying and the liquor of this is beautiful. It’s a bright gold color, as if tinted with dandelions.

The smell is like honey with bergamot. I know there is no actual honey in this but there is bergamot, so I can’t wait to try it.

Taste is… Oh my word that is heavenly. The bergamot is just perfect in this, being neither too strong nor too weak. It’s just right. The white tea flavor is delicious in this, being rich and complementing the floral notes of the bergamot. There’s a tiny bit of astringency here, but nothing overpowering.

I must say, I am very out of practice. It’s been too long since I had quality tea, so I am having trouble picking this apart. I will say it’s got a wonderful flavor and I am glad I have a whole pouch of this thanks to Shae, and I look forward to many more sessions of this going forward.

(BTW, I’m typing this into a word doc because Steepster isn’t working. Hope this gets fixed soon!)

Another quickie review because Steepster is being stubborn

Whereas I have stated all these Steaz Iced Teas taste like fruit cocktail, this one is different… primarily because I have never even heard of Lemon Ginger cocktail! I still taste no real tea, but this is definitely lemon ginger. The lemon is refreshing but not overpowering or tart and the ginger? You don’t taste it as much as you feel it. There’s that strong ginger tingle that comes with this. You can taste it a bit, but the tingly feeling is that really gives the ginger away. The flavor isn’t too too weak, but it also isn’t lemon pledge sickening strong either. It’s just a nice mellow lemon with ginger.

As I stated (like the others), it isn’t tea. None of them are. But this one is the closest with the flavor being something that would actually be included in a tea. Out of all of them that I’ve had, this is the one I might actually re-buy. I bet it would work wonders on an upset stomach. Very refreshing and tasty.

Still not tea though.

This one’s just a quickie review.

Much like the others of these I have reviewed, there is little to no actual tea flavor present. They all seem to taste like plain fruit drinks. Well, this one doesn’t just taste like a plain fruit drink, it tastes like a watered-down plain fruit drink. I can taste the pomegranate and blueberry, but the flavor is rather weak. The best way I can describe it is if someone took a pom/blue cocktail drink, poured it over ice, and let it sit for 20 minutes before drinking. That’s exactly what it tastes like. Once more the best quality of this is that it’s cold and wet, isn’t plain water, and helps cool me down (my apartment is very hot in the summer). It’s refreshing, but then so is a glass of ice water.

Not good. Can’t recommend this one at all.

Well, I’m currently cleaning. And I’m thirsty. So I’m having another can.

This time, it’s the sugar-free Raspberry. It’s ice-cold and hopefully refreshing.

It doesn’t smell like anything really in the can so we’ll head straight to taste. Taste is… well it’s not tea. That’s not even close to tea. Isn’t this supposed to be a green tea drink? This has the approximate flavor of Raspberry Royale if you put a bunch of stevia in it and then removed any hint of actual tea. It’s just sweetened raspberry something.

I see that this technically contains 1% Juice. I didn’t even know there was a possibility to add 1% juice but there’s no juice flavor. It’s just bleh. But, in this case, it’s cold and wet and serves a purpose. The stevia is strong and the flavor very fake but it’s making me less thirsty so I suppose that’s a plus. I can’t say I recommend it though. It’s really not good.