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I received this as a sample in my Mandala order. Thank you!

Wow. Big Red Robe and I haven’t had a great track history so I had stashed this away and not thought much about it until the other day when I was cleaning up my samples box. Why did I wait so long to try this. Yum. Deep roast flavor, on the verge of chocolate, and malt. The end of the sip offers hints of fruit. This is actually the first Red Robe that I have brewed gongfu style and I think I might have to try the others that I own this way. I am on infusion #7 and it is still going strong. This is such a nice tea for the winter. I will have to add this to my wish list. Thank you for letting me try this one.

HHTTB #15/18

This was in my travel tea bag this weekend. I didn’t have the best tea making conditions, but I enjoyed this with some milk and sugar. Not much to say about this one. A standard Ceylon.

This is another tea from my stop at Lollicup. I have been craving chai like a crazy person. You know its fall and about the only time I really like it. Except now since I am trying to cut out some caffeine, particularly at night all the chai I do have is off limits. So I grabbed an ounce of this to try. I was a little hesitant on this one because the cinnamon smell was so strong. The tea does have a strong cinnamon flavor, but the other spices and vanilla in the tea seem to help it out enough that I actually really enjoyed this one. The spice in this chai offered a bit of heat at the end of the sip, while the vanilla almost made it so that I do not need to add any sugar. Might have to stock up on this for the winter. As a side note, I am discovering that an ounce of rooibos does not go nearly as far as an ounce of black tea.

This is a sample from NayLynn. Thank you for sharing.

I enjoyed this tea as my afternoon cup. This has a very distinct melon taste. How do they do that? The honey dew rooibos and now this? Crazy! For me though, the strong melon flavor was nice but did not blend well with the base tea. It was like I was drinking cool aid mixed with tea. I would take a sip, get the sweet melon flavor and then a oolong flavor. When I drink flavored oolongs I really want the flavor to accents the tea I will have no problems finishing off this sample, but I do not think this is one I need to purchase in the free shipping sale.

This is a tea from my secret pumpkin Cheri. Thank you.

I think Cheri needs to be my tea shopper. She picked out some amazing teas for me. Sometimes I get in kids where I want to try everything new and I just don’t order things that I really love. It was so neat to get an entire package of teas that look absolutely wonderful. This is my 2nd tea from the box. I am falling head over heals for Oriental Beauty Oolongs. For one this tea resteeps so well. I am sitting here writing this note while I am waiting on western style resteep #5. The first two infusions offered creamy, honey with enough hints to remind you this was an oolong, but the smoothness and depth of black tea. The third and fourth infusions offered the baked bread flavor with dribbles of honey and caramel. This last steep I am tasting bread, and a tad bit of astringency that rounds out the flavor. What a wonderful experience this morning!

I have Butiki’s Oriental Beauty in my cupboard still and I hope to compare the two. I have also added TeaVivre’s Oriental Beauty to my wish list to remind me to pick this up the next time I stop by TeaVivire and it is in stock.

There is a store across the street called Lollicup. They mostly are known for their boba (sp?) tea, but they also offer loose leaf. It isn’t kept well, but it is cheap. They get their tea mostly from Adagio and Tea Guys and a lot of the teas are only .25 cents more than what I would pay online, so I don’t feel too bad stopping in. I wasn’t quite prepared for a fall of mostly caffeine free. I am running dangerously low on options. I ran across a few rooibos and honeybush options at Lollicup when doing our mid week banana run today.

This is okay. I didn’t mind it as a latte. There is some spice and there is a weird taste at the beginning that at first I wanted to call tobacco, but after sipping a bit it was probably nut? I do not get pumpkin out of the blend, but I know that is a really hard flavor to get right. This is okay. I think I will drink up the rest of the ounce I bought, but I would not buy this again.

I received this tea in the Anniversary sale from TeaVivre. Thank you!

All 4 Dian Hong teas have been on my wish list. I have currently only tried the Golden tip. I know it is most folks favorite, but for me the flavors were more fruity and almost tart instead of sweet. I am finding that I like black teas that have deeper notes like cocoa, wood, smoke (well kinda). This tea for me seemed to be a good combination of both worlds. It had a darker flavor with hints of cocoa, but the finish of the sip was very fruity. I enjoyed this western style and was able to re-steep this 4 times. I actually enjoyed the 2nd steep the most. The flavors were tilted more towards the darker side and less on the fruity side. Thank you TeaVivre for the opportunity to try this tea. I hope that we get to meet again some day.

Whenever I review samples that were given to me I like to try and sit down and really take the effort to enjoy and think about the taste. This fall it has been hard to find the right opportunity for this. Tonight I FINALLY get to sit down with this tea which comes as a sample from Angel at TeaVivre. Thank you!

About two weeks ago I purchased my first ounce of aged white tea. I had never heard of such a thing until both of these teas ended up in my cupboard. This type of tea is amazing and this sample makes me immediately log onto the TeaVivre sight and plot how to get my next fix. The tea for me offered a fairly complex session. My first two infusions seemed to be a combination of apple, peach and cinnamon. Three and four taste similar to my description of hot southern ice tea with lemon, sweet with a fruity finish. 5 and 6 added some depth to the taste with a tad bit of astringency.

This is a really good tea. I wish I could have sipping on it but I got a bit distracted with chores around the house.

I received this in QueenOfTarts Stash sale a few months ago. Thank you!

I added a ton of leaf for this brew. It is defiantly cacao, slightly bitter, but it is a very weak mouthful. I am not a fan. I think I would rather just make a cup of hot chocolate.

I received this in the sample pack a while back. I have been making rooibos/honeybush lattes for the past week or so. In the package the smell was scary. I don’t know how else to describe it. I wavered between an 8oz cup to try and a full on 16oz mug. I ended up going for the mug. The interesting smells I was getting from the package did not carry over to the flavor of the tea. It is tasty. Sweet, definately coconut. I am not sure I am getting much creamy/cheese cake flavor, but I still really enjoy this one. I have one more mug’s worth to enjoy tomorrow. I should really just stick to 52teas rooibos/honeybush. I get much more enjoyment out of these than the black.