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Oh Monday. Why art thou Monday? Why do you have the pleasure of being the first day of the week? Why cannot another day trade with you once in awhile?

So this tea, ah alas, I fell to the Teavana sales lady on this tea. I was there for the 50% off sale and I wanted to try a green tea. But, lo-an-behold the lady tells me “8 oz minimum on sale teas”. Wha? I was just there cough 24 hours before an no such min, but she says the manager insists.

Well ok, 8oz, sure ok, well I grab a 50% off 5-8oz canister and we start filling. She ONLY gets ALMOST 3 oz into it. We try a bigger container. So now I have a HUGE tub of this tea in my home, and there was still 2 oz she sent me home with in a bag. Sigh

The TEA:
Luckily, I like this tea. Its been an education though. First time I burned it and it tasted very grassy. The 2nd steeping was even more grassy, exactly like high school football turf. How do I know what football turf tastes like? Hmmm, well…. grade school kids do odd things.

Anyways, 2nd try was oh so much better. This tea definitely likes cooler temperatures. I’m not sure if I’m using enough, since I only get the palest of color, but it is so pleasant.

I learned something else with this tea. It does NOT like being left in a non-air tight bag. Doesn’t taste much like anything, until you brew it too long and then its like cheap bagged tea.

So on this Monday of Mondays, I moved some leaves from my well endowed mega tub into a smaller workable container and brewed some fresh. Ahh so light, refreshing, slightly sweet with something else. I think that is the Umami? Its a concept I’m still struggling to understand when I drink tea (and other foods). But ahhh, it hits the spot.

I liked this better than Precious White Peach from Teavana. However, since I can only seem to get one steeping out of it, I can’t consider this a good value purchase.

Dry:

Smells great of fresh peaches and fruit. Since it is an herbal, there are no tea leaves and its very heavy and dense, so you use up tea quickly.

Steeped:

1.5 or 2 tsp per 8 oz. Add a bit of rock sugar and you have yourself a very sweet nectar of peach syrup. It’s almost overbearing in sweetness, but does blend well with many other of Teavana’s tea’s to add a bit of peachiness.

Alas my search for a good, natural tasting peach tea continues.

They came! They came! My world has changed forever. I am in lust over these new teas from The Tea Merchant.

I actually had my first cuppa of this divine tea last night, but I was too in the experience to note as I drank.

Dry: Amazing vanilla scent reaches out of the bag to steal you away. Beautiful dark green oolong. Twisted and not balled. Hints of the marigold petals peak out from the oolong.

Steep:
~1.5 tsp per 8oz. Color is a rich gold liquor. I added 1/2 tsp of rock sugar to the first cuppa. Creamy, smooth medium body, strong natural vanilla overtones on the first steep. Oolong is pleasant and lighter than others I’ve tried. Citrus is faint in the background. 2nd and third steeps had less vanilla and more oolong, but very very fine indeed. The cream and richness of this really surprised me. Definitely my new favorite oolong. The description describes it as intoxicating, and I have to agree.

I had a new cuppa of this today. I had it unsweetened on the 2nd steeping and I am noticing the citrus more now, nice and not too tart. I also forgot it in the steep and it went for closer to 5 minutes. I blended this with Six Summits oolong from Teavana, and it blended nicely, highlighting floral notes I didn’t notice well before. I look forward to trying this with other teas, though it is just heavenly on its own.

The 2nd steep of this was also fantastic. Slightly lighter in color, and more of the black tea came through. Can still detect the vanilla. Balanced and no bitterness to be found. Lovely!

What a way to wake up, breakfast in bed and new teas from The Tea Merchant!

First adventure into non-Teavana teas. Does not disappoint! I haven’t really liked earl grey teas, but now I think that is because of the quality I had.

Dry: Fresh vanilla and bergamot invites the senses. Leaves look terrific and I can see little blue pieces of flowers.

Steep:
1 tsp to 8oz. Dark amber color. Strong and robust for me. Rich vanilla and bergamot. I mixed with some rock sugar and cream, and so divine! Will have to try pure next time. Great morning tea. Can’t wait to try the other teas I bought from The Tea Merchant during the 40% off sale. This might just encourage me to try more black teas as usually I’m more into oolong and herbals.

I picked this up at the 75% off Teavana sale. At this price I thought this was a steal for a “pure” flavored oolong (not diluted with fruit) so I had to try.

I noticed a lot of these reviews are older. There have been 3 versions of this tea, first without berries, than with, and then without again. This version is just oolong with raspberry artificial flavoring. If you don’t mind the artificial flavor, I recommend this tea.

Dry: Smells fresh of tea and raspberry. Pure dark green oolong, no fruit.

Hot there isn’t much of the raspberry flavor, just a hint at times. I’m new to oolongs, so I can’t compare, but I’ve steeped this several times at the recommended time/temp and have yet to have it come out bitter. I get 3 steepings from this, so a lot of value, and each steeping has its own complexity. The leaves are dark green and very pretty as they unfurl.

I’ve blended this with the Wild Orange Wulong Tea and will probably be one of my go-to oolong blends. Bright and refreshing without being too tart. I do slightly sweeten this with a half tsp of rock sugar. Yum.

Another impulse buy because of the Heavenly Tea sale. Hard to resist 75% off to try a bunch of teas.

Dry: First smell was the slightly artificial strawberry, then the floral notes. Faint hint of champagne. Not much oolong in my bag.

Steeped:
Pale rose/orange colored. Much stronger on the champagne flavor, though I’m noticing the rose as well, with a hint of the berry. I didn’t really like this tea in the store when they served it iced with Peach Tranquility, but maybe its because I like my tea only slightly sweetened. I couldn’t taste the oolong.

I probably won’t drink this straight, but I look forward to blending it. I wonder how it would go with the Six Summits to add more of the oolong flavor back in.