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I thought this would be a good morning tea to try. And it was a good wake up, but not for the reason I was hoping. This tea was horribly bitter with an almost burnt taste that lingered. Even after putting a half a packet of sugar in this it wasn’t tolerable. I couldn’t get past that taste to find any of the other notes that were supposed to be in this tea. I ended up pouring the whole cup out and dumping the leaves. Maybe I should’ve tried this with milk to cut the harshness but I can’t imagine that milk would’ve made it any better really.
Maybe it’s just me but this tea is definitely not for me.

Can’t remember who I got this from. So apologies & big thanks to whoever it was. Lol!

This tea….Uhhh….It’s very strange to smell it and smell cookies. Like, woah and a strange look kinda strange. I had to poke through the bag to make sure there wasn’t any of those little cookie dough balls like they have in some ice creams. XD When I measured it out, I got a giant whole half of a walnut which I picked out and tossed back in the bag. I have an oral allergy to walnuts, and though I’m not sure what they’d do to me mixed in a tea, I didn’t want to take any chances with a piece that big. (As a note after drinking this my allergy didn’t act up in the slightest that I could tell so I’m guessing whatever unknown walnut pieces that were in here were safe enough.)

Steeped this and then eyed it in apprehension sitting there in my mug. I dunno why but I was feeling very strange about trying it. I mean, liquid cookies? Really? Honestly I like mine solid, dunked in milk thank you very much. But it was there and I wasn’t about to pour it out ‘cause I was being stupid. So I took a sniff – same cookie smell – and a sip.
Another woah moment. Freakin’ chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in a glass! How the heck did they pull this off? And there’s no greasy residue like I got when I tried DavidsTea chocolate cake (Ugh by the way). It’s just….This is…It’s…I’m totally flabbergasted by this tea. Lol!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled to have tried this. It was certainly a new experience for me. But as much as I liked it, I’ll probly stick this in the swap bin anyway. I just can’t get over having chocolate chip cookie dough in my tea mug. For me, cookies belong solid off a baking sheet, piled high on a plate on the counter, not liquid flavor in a tea mug. Lol! But I’ll still rate this fairly high since it deserves that at least, just for sheer impressiveness, even if I’m not keeping this for myself.
I might keep a cup’s worth to make for my Mom, if for no other reason than to see the look on her face when she tries it. Bound to be entertaining. XD

…..Now I want to bake cookies. >>;

I’m not really sure what to make of this. Mostly because I’m not really sure how to describe it. Lol.
I keep sipping at it to see if I can figure it out, but my mind draws blank. I guess it’s got a strong malty-ness to it, if I’m figuring what that even means out right. Maybe a bit of woodiness. A strong something taste. Lol.
Strong astringency, especially as it cools.

Bah. I give up! /throws hands in air/ What I do know is that, while it was nice to try, it’s just not for me. I’m just more into fruity/sweet teas in general. Into the swap bin it goes. Lol.

This was a tea in a mystery box I swapped with Shelley_Lorraine. Such an awesome idea and many thanks for it to her.

Opening this I was hit with a strong strawberries & cream esque scent. Kinda like a strawberry milkshake maybe? Been forever since I’ve had one of those so I could be off. Anyway, big strawberry cream smell.
Used a tad cooler water than boiling since I seem to have better luck with black teas when I use just under boiling. Still steeped for 3 min.
….Then I proceeded to forget about it for about 15-20 min. So by the time I remembered it, it had cooled enough to drink comfortably. Oops. Lol.

I’m not really sure what to think about this while drinking it. Unfortunately I think I over-hyped it in my mind after smelling it. It’s actually kinda weak-ish tasting, though it was kinda sweet on its own and has a nice light strawberry taste. Adding sugar sweetened it, but the flavor overall didn’t change too much.

I’m thrilled to be able to try it, and I’ll probably end up finishing the rest of what I got, but I’m not sure I’d order this myself to be honest. I might try cold brewing it to see if I get more of a fruit flavor out of it. It certainly can’t hurt, right?

Rarrgh! The stupid internet ate the review I wrote. /grumbles/ Ah well.
I’ve had a taste for this tea for the past few days, and it’s just as I remember it. Though not as bitter or astringent as I remember, possibly because I used a cooler water temperature this time. Seems to have tempered it a bit, which is nice.
A good vanilla taste with a richness from the chocolate (I think), but mostly it’s vanilla. I don’t get any mango here which is good since I’ve found I’m allergic to any teas heavy in mango. So I just pick out the big chunks in this and I’m good.
Also the rooibos isn’t strong and I don’t get any of the minty taste I’ve come to associate with any rooibos teas I’ve drank recently. Possibly because it isn’t the main tea here and is mixed with a stronger black tea. Whatever is it, it’s just a nice addition and not overpowering.

I’ve been wanting to pick this up for the heck of it and when I saw it on clearance at Target I couldn’t resist picking up a box.
It smells caramelly, though I don’t really get the vanilla that much in the dry smell. Steeped you can definitely smell the caramel but again, not so much the vanilla.
Unfortunately I’m not that impressed with the taste, even with some sugar added. It’s a bit bitter and not too impressive on the taste. Lackluster caramel and a hint of vanilla on the back of the taste. Maybe a lower temp or shorter steep will improve this. I certainly have enough to experiment with. Lol.
I’m glad I tried it and I’ll probly finish the rest of the bags. But I won’t be rebuying it. Most likely this is going to be a tea I’ll keep at work for when I want tea and don’t want to deal with any of my actual good teas. At home I have much better caramel & vanilla teas (Butiki’s Caramel Vanilla Assam to be exact. X3) for when I want a tea like that.

Wasn’t sure what I wanted tonight so I just grabbed this out of the bin.

Not bad overall. I get the peach and an unexpected sweetness overall with my first sip. Then the woodsy/piney flavor on the back taste that’s not as unpleasant as I was thinking it might be.
I found adding sugar to this didn’t really do too much, but then again, I only added a very small bit of sugar because I didn’t want to drown it. I might try some honey next time to see what happens.

2nd steeping – 5 min/Same Temp – Don’t get too much peach or sweetness with the second steeping. It seems to me that the pine/wood taste has gotten stronger, so I’m not sure if this is only a one steep wonder or if I just didn’t let it steep for long enough. I would think being an oolong that it would take to multiple steepings alright. But I’m not overly well versed in the oolong tea world so it’s highly likely I’m probly wrong. Lol.

It’s not a bad tea to keep around. But it’s also one that I’m not sure I would actively crave like I do some of the other’s in my stash. This one’s a possible, but not necessarily at the forefront, reorder.

So I got a small sample of this when the maker Aun Juli offered ‘sampler sets’ of her own. And I adore this tea. I’ve actually made it twice but just realized that I never put up a tasting note.
Unsweetened you can definitely taste the blueberry and kinda the vanilla. But with a bit of sweetener the blueberry becomes way more pronounced and the vanilla comes up a bit better. The cream just kinda adds a smoothness to the entire tea.
No astringency or bitterness. I might try this at a lower temp like Andie did, just to see.

I was completely bummed when Adagio pulled this one along with all of the Tolkien related teas due to a copyright violation with the SCZ company. (Who, if anyone’s interested, has nothing to do with the Tolkien estate. They just made those silly Hobbit cartoon movies ages ago.)

Thankfully this blend is available once more. Aun-Juli rereleased this tea under her own brand of teas ‘Fancy Narwhal’s Fancy Tea for Fancy Folks’ with a blueberry inclusion. You can find it here – http://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/blend.html?blend=46837&SID=2dbb8a5f7bd02cff20c7c97ba3dd08e1

I also just found out that Adagio teas is letting her reopen/repost her Tolkien teas with some revision to the names/labels/etc. so they’re not Tolkien specific. (Which makes sense to me since Tolkien didn’t make up terms like Shieldmaiden or Elevenses). So this blend, along with many of her others, is up again in its originality under the same name, just a different fandom heading ‘Tales and Tea Leaves’ – http://www.adagio.com/signature_blend/group.html?group=2721&SID=1eb52eaf15a99636447ab339f63f7203

Backlogged review from a few days ago so this is probly not going to be very informative. I’ll definitely have to add to this review when I drink it again.
I can’t remember if I brewed according to instructions or tried a lower temp because it was an oolong and I didn’t want it to get bitter. I want to say I followed instructions since I always do when I make a tea for the first time, them adjust accordingly.
Not bitter at all whatever I did. (I know, terribly unhelpful. Sorry.)
I do remember that this was a pretty good tea all things considering. And I also remember thinking that this would be a good one to add some vanilla to, either by blending it with another tea or adding the flavoring directly.

I’d possibly reorder this sometime since I don’t have any bad impressions of it. It’s just I don’t have any strong ones either. Lol. ^^;