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This is also a gift from Martin!

For bagged black tea, this is pretty amazing. It’s smooth, not very astringent, and has citrus and honey notes, and a hint of malt. I’ll bet it would be got as a latte too, but definitely not needed! Thanks, Martin!

Another treat from Martin! This one came in a standard tea bag.

Mmm, this is a nice herbal, hot or cold! I taste a lot of orange and orange zest. It’s naturally a little sweet, and there’s some sour in there too. I left the bag in while it was hot, enjoyed it, forgot about it for a while, then added a little ice. At the end of the sip, there’s a good repeat of orange, orange zest, sweet, and sour. Thanks, Martin!

I got this today in a package from the Czech Republic. Thanks, Martin!

Mmm, the brewed cup smells malty. It tastes a little sweet with honey notes, and it’s quite malty. It’s not very astringent at all, and it’s very smooth. Delicious!

I can feel the care! Another sampler from the mail-order Portland Tea Festival this year. The orange peel and lemon peel stand out, and I think I taste a hint of mango at the end of the sip. Good for enjoying at the end of a long day while catching up on anime. Nice blend!

This is my first sample from the Portland Tea Festival by mail, which Sara told me about. I paid for a box with a shopping bag, two tiny tea cups (the kind you’d use for samples at a live tea festival), and lots of samples.

Mmm, this is nice! It’s very berry, but I can only pick out the blueberry flavor as distinctive. I pick up hints of honey and floral notes at the end of the sip. This would be excellent to sip in a rose garden in Portland.

I found another bag while cleaning up my desk and thought… matcha toasted rice… so, like genmaicha but with matcha instead of sencha? No, it uses sencha. So… poorly-labeled genmaicha, lol.

This has a very roasted toasty flavor, with hints of popcorn. The sencha flavor is either a bit weak, overpowered by the toasted rice, or both. I’d prefer a more balanced flavor, but if you like your genmaicha heavy on the toasted rice flavor, you’d probably like this one.

I was cleaning up my cluttered desk and found this sample bag. Also it’s evening, and I have work in the morning (yay!), and this might help me get sleepy.

Since it’s herbal, I left the bag in. Mmm, this is nice. I can easily pick out the lemon and floral flavors. The rose flavor is very subtle, at the end of the sip. It tastes like taking a nap in a lovely garden. A++, would sip again!

I was sorting my teas and came across this packet with… maybe a serving left in it. Sara and I went to The American House in 2017 during a vacation in San Diego, and I must have picked it up then. I’ll bet they source it from somewhere else, but I have no idea where.

The bancha and puffed rice have a nice toasty flavor. I know what looks like popcorn is puffed rice, but I’m getting a hint of popcorn flavor here. I love the balance of flavors in this.

Oh wow, I’ve had this however long and never opened it.

The brewed tea smells of plum and maple syrup, mmm.

It tastes of plum and maple syrup and sitting by the fireplace with friends. I love it!

Sara told me that the tea shop we usually go to in Boise on Memorial Day weekend, Snake River Tea, has closed and is only doing online orders. I ordered this tea because I remembered drinking it there. Looks like I never got around to reviewing it.

There’s something almost sparkly-tasting about it. So I can see calling it a “champagne” flavor. But it’s more like grape soda… which isn’t bad. I like grape soda pop. Ooh, I’ll bet this would be good with one of those carbonating devices.

There’s also a nice raspberry note. I could see drinking this out of a champagne glass. Or having another pot at a tea shop that’s now gone. Bittersweet memory tea. I hope they manage to reopen in another location.