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The Tea Book was at one of the tea festivals I went to in the last few years… I don’t remember which. I picked up this bag from them at their booth.

This is a pretty solid English breakfast. I steeped it for 3 minutes with boiling water and drank it straight. The malt flavor is pretty strong, and it’s a little astringent. There’s a slight sweet note, and a little molasses flavor right at the end of the sip.

For some reason, I was craving this tea again today. I originally reviewed it two years ago.

Still a solid herbal. I really like how the minty tulsi works with the peach flavoring. Pairs well with fried rice and reading a news blog.

Sara sent me a sampler of this along with an Art of Tea order we split. Since she hates banana, this was not a surprise.

Mmm, I taste the banana, cinnamon, and apple, with a hint of chestnut at the end of the sip. Like biting into banana bread! Now I’m craving actual banana bread.

I think this is the last of my wedding party favors.

I poured boiling water over the bag and let the teabag stay. Wow, the blueberry smell from the brewed cup is amazing.

I mainly taste blueberry, with some sour candy notes that are probably from the hibiscus. I suppose some people might be put off by the sour candy, but I love it. It’s amazing that this tastes so much like candy while having no sugar or sweetener. I may have to buy more of this!

This is another wedding party favor. I poured boiling water over the teabag and left it in.

It was pretty good hot, but I liked it better once it cooled off, and I added ice.

This is a real fruit punch of an herbal. The hibiscus stands out nicely and balances well with the raspberry. Sweet and sour. If you don’t like hibiscus, this probably isn’t your cup of tisane. Oh, I wonder how well it would do, steeped in a lemonade. Mmm.

It tastes kind of like hanging out at a nude beach when there’s no pandemic going on, very relaxing.

Note to self: Don’t eat a spicy snack like, for example, Spicy Vegan Buffalo Ranch sweet potato puffs, just before your first sip of a new tea. The flavor notes end up all over the place.

This is another wedding favor tea bag. Unlike the Twinings, this is a very subtle earl grey. I can actually taste the tea! It’s balanced nicely with the bergamot oil. Actually I taste the tea just slightly more than the bergamot. I like it a lot! I definitely want to explore more Harney & Sons teas. I think the other one I’ve had was a cinnamon tea at a festival.

I found a box I still hadn’t unloaded from moving in a year and a half ago, and I found some tea bags I got as wedding favors, from a wedding two and a half years ago. It included this, a Harney & Sons earl grey bag, and some Celestial Seasonings: Raspberry Zinger and True Blueberry, in 3-teabag plastic pouches.

The main flavor here is the bergamot, but I don’t find it overpowering. The citrus note from the bergamot lingers on my tongue. I don’t know how old the tea is, at least three years old, but it’s held up well. And it outlasted that marriage.

Summer tea in winter, lol. I’m the type who likes ice cream in winter, hot tea in summer… no regard for seasons. At least I’m drinking this hot.

It smells like barley when brewed but in kind of an odd way, not very appetizing to me. Kind of a pile-of-wet-leaves smell.

Drinking it though, it tastes like the woods and camping and Japan and toasty goodness.

Edit: Getting just a slight coffee flavor now that it’s cooling down a bit! Interesting. Not bad.

Oh my, Smith, you’ve done it again.

This houjicha-chai tastes like gingerbread! And wood a bit, cause it’s houjicha. I can pick out notes of clove, chocolate, cinnamon, and gingerbread.

I find it resteeps pretty well. I plan to try it with almond milk too, hot and iced. I got a 2.75 oz tin, although I plan to send some to Sara soon. She’s the one who linked me to it.

Oh. I have some gingerbread. Dips gingerbread into the tea Gingerbreadception! Holiday overdose! Also tasty.

Day 24 of Sara’s Old Tea came with a big sachet of Hoji Matcha Chai!

No longer available from Tea Chai Te, this can still probably be purchased if you make a phone order, as they still have everything needed to make it.

I brewed it and added a bit of almond milk, just enough to cool it down to my preferred temperature.

The chai flavors blend together so well, that I had to take several sips to try to tease out what’s in there. I taste clove, ginger, and licorice, with a bit of woody flavor from the houjicha near the end of the sip. It tastes like… sitting and talking with Sara with a pot of tea at Tea Chai Te in Portland, the one on NW 23rd Avenue, a block from Salt & Straw ice cream.

I finished my glass before finishing the review.