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Feeling a little woozy this afternoon, possibly from too much caffeine. Perhaps a full pot of that English breakfast is not the best way for me to start the day. So I figure now is as good a time as any to try an herbal.

Aroma while steeping is apple-y and somewhat grassy, with a floral note. I don’t really know how to describe the taste, though… there’s the definite sweet aftertaste from the licorice root, but everything else seems to be blending together. I’m not too impressed by it, but it is helping to ground me a bit (contrary to the name, hurr hurr). Next time I’ll go for a longer steep.

Aroma from the bag: citrusy, floral, very sweet

First steep
Scent while steeping: mostly charcoal-y
Color: medium yellow-brown
Flavor: charcoal-y with some sweetness & floral notes

I used 1 1/2 tsp loose tea and probably too much water (I was shooting for 8 oz in the tea maker but it wound up almost overfilling my mug), so no rating just yet.

ETA: 2nd and 3rd steeps were much more smooth and mellow with nice fruity-floral overtones and a mild complementary smokiness. I’ll wait until next time to rate, but it’s a good’un!

Another pot for breakfast! I can see why people like this (it was voted one of Whittard’s top 3 teas by customers) because it’s not bad with milk & sugar. Only 79 more grams to go…

Well, it seems my Celestial Seasonings days might be numbered. I quite liked this one when I first started drinking it a few years ago, but now that I’ve taken up reviewing teas and am becoming a bit more discerning…

When I moved overseas in 2011 I brought the remainder of my open box with me to have as a spicy, comforting drink before bed. I took to brewing it strong (2 teabags to a cup, sometimes left to steep for 20 minutes or more – bad habit, I know) with a good dose of milk and sugar. I ran out by the end of the year and wasn’t able to acquire another box until I visited my parents this Christmas.

So tonight I decided to fix up a cup like I used to: 2 bags, but only for 4 minutes this time. Took a sip before I added anything… okay, but I wouldn’t want to drink a whole cup like this. Ended up adding a teaspoon of sugar, a squeeze of agave, and several tablespoons of soymilk to get it to my liking. Even with all the additions it made my mouth and throat tingle, which I suspect was the black pepper. I’ll play around with it some more and see if I can coax some other flavors out.

Nice enough for a bagged blend from Trader Joe’s. I don’t know what [insert feminine nobility title] Grey is supposed to taste like, but this one just seems like a weaker, less astringent, slightly lemony version of the Earl. It has very little bitterness (with a squirt of agave, anyway) and it’s something I’d happily drink if it were on hand, but I’m not crazy about it.

Definitely better with soymilk & half a teaspoon of sugar per cup. Better, but still not that great. And I have more than half of the 125g bag to get through – anyone want to help out?

With all the brown sugar and caramelized baked apple references in the flavor description, I figured this would be a great choice for a sweet-tooth like myself. Much to my dismay, I found it disappointingly unremarkable.

The scent from the tin is faintly mineral; while steeping it barely smells any different from a steaming cup of plain hot water, though some sweet notes are perceptible after a few minutes. The taste… it unfortunately doesn’t taste of much. There’s a pleasant bitter edge and a deep brown color to remind me that I did in fact put leaves in the cup, but not much else. I added sugar 1/4 tsp at a time to see if it helped bring out the flavor (it didn’t really). Toward the end of the cup I poured in a tiny dash of soymilk to see if that would help, but it only seemed to cover up whatever little flavor was there. The aftertaste is quite nice, but I really wish there were more to this tea than that.

I’ll give this tea another go, since I’m probably still not up to snuff on my tasting or loose tea making abilities. I have about 48 grams of this stuff left, so if anyone wants to try it, let me know.

Had another pot today prepared similarly to last time, except I decanted all the liquor into cups rather than leaving the remainder stewing with the leaves. Got some harshness again (though not as bad as yesterday) which was ameliorated by adding sweetener. Drank both steepings black – will try the first with soymilk next time.

A lovely little supermarket/HFS boxed Earl Grey. Tasty and refreshing with or without milk. I generally use one bag per mug if I want black and two if I’m adding milk (and if I do the latter, resteeping the two bags makes a perfectly good cup without milk!)

Made a pot of this for breakfast with my porridge (oatmeal with raisins, chopped apple, and walnuts, if you wanted to know). I’m still a bit awkward getting my tea ready at the same time as my food even when using my usual bagged tea, but today I guess I felt up to the task of trying loose.

I’m probably not following protocol for tasting, so I won’t get too into specifics, but for all brews I found it a bit harsh yet low on flavor, if that makes any sense. Brewed more lightly it was bland, but drinkable after it cooled a bit. The stronger brew was almost shockingly bitter/astringent – it was improved with soymilk & sugar, but still pretty meh. Tried a second steep, which was much of the same, though a bit milder.

Now about half an hour after finishing, I can still taste a sort of tarry buildup on the back of my throat, as if I’d been smoking. I don’t think I’ll be buying this again.