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I must be growing up! I tried this one again today, and I really liked it. I was bothered the first two times by the fact that I smelled honey so strongly but didn’t taste honey. Maybe I am using less and less sugar, maybe I am appreciating the tea more, but I drank this today with no sugar at all and found it quite good. I had just had two cups of pu-erh, also without sugar, so maybe that helped. Before, I drank it on the heels of flavored, sweetened tea. The bottom line – my friend said it was one of her favorites EVER that I have given her (she takes everything with no sugar!) and I really enjoyed it.

This is from the Fine Tea list at Southern Season. It is a loose leaf pu-erh. The taste is what you expect a pu-erh to be…earthy and horse-y. This smells just like the air when I take my daughter to horse camp! Don’t get me wrong – I LIKE pu-erh, but that is what it smells like to me! Horses and freshly plowed earth. The taste is purely earthy, no horse-y flavor…I guess, since I can’t say exactly what horse-y would TASTE like.

This one is lighter in color, body, and flavor than the Pu-erh mini tuo cha that I bought from the same source. This would be a good way to ease into pu-erh if you are afraid! Personally, I think I like the stronger one better. I take it without sugar or milk. It really does make me feel better if I have indulged in a meal that is too fatty to digest comfortably. It soothes the tummy. I have read that it is because this tea helps block fat absorption in the intestines and it may contain pro-biotics. Perhaps pu-erh tea was drunk by the Tibetans because their altitude makes veggie growing difficult and they eat a lot of meat? I know they add yak butter and salt to replace calories and sodium lost in the high, cold mountains near Everest as they climb in their heavy clothing. Maybe I should find a local source for yak butter (or just find an unattended yak at a petting zoo – LOL!) to try it the authentic way! You can steep it longer if you wish, I drank it from a gaiwan and it did not get bitter as the leaves stayed in the cup.

Made this one out of curiosity because I wanted to see the pretty color. I sipped it and tasted…lavender, just like bubble bath, just like Watkins Dry Oil, just like a sachet. It wasn’t as deep a color as I had expected but I had read that lemon would deepen the blue. It didn’t. It turned it a beautiful pink. Beautiful. We took pictures of it. I sipped it. I will hide under the bed prepared to bite ankles if anyone brews this tea and adds lemon to it in this house again. EVER.

Needed a lift this morning. Got it from Queen Catherine. Very light smokiness and good tea flavor. Thank you, Catherine! Having now finished my yoga it is time to move on to a nice green….

Gotta love this one!

I want to begin this tasting note by apologizing to the entire tea drinking world. Apparently I am the only person ANYWHERE who doesn’t care for this tea! I have never liked red hots, the candy one sees ubiquitously around Valentine’s Day, and that is all I taste when I drink this. I respect all of you who love it, I just can’t bring myself to do so. And get this….I have somehow ended up with three tins of it! One was bought as a gift for a friend whom I haven’t seen to deliver it (I already know it is her favorite so I am not giving away something I don’t like just to be rid of it!), one I bought for myself to try, the other came in the tea chest and I wanted the chest and the other three teas but not this one! I do like to make tea and grind my own cinnamon in it, but that is MUCH milder. A friend says that the organic cinnamon tea from A Southern Season is milder than this one and, in her opinion, therefore better than this one. We’ll see. I may give it a try.

Haven’t had this one in a long time. I asked my random tea generator (my twelve year old daughter) what I should drink today and she said, “Uva Highlands!” So here we are.

This is a rotovaned tea, so I figured it could only withstand a short steeping. I pulled the leaves out at three minutes and I think that was just right for me. It is described by Harney and Sons as a bright, brisk tea, and I would have to say that is accurate. This is a pick me up tea, not like a bold and well-muscled breakfast tea, but it is NOT a sit-and-sip-and-meditate soothing cup…to me. It is an eye-opener. My tongue is tingling. I thought I wasn’t getting the wintergreen aspect, but it really came on as a long-lasting aftertaste. A fun cup for this morning, but not a favorite. I like teas that wrestle me out of bed and into my day, or that pat me on the hand and say, “There, there” when I need it.

I am not too familiar with herbal tisanes, but I liked African Autumn which is also rooibos based and a friend gave me this one to try, so I thought “why not?” I like it! There is a unique taste in there that I have only experienced once before, and that was in Throat Coat or Throat Tamer, not sure which. I think it must be the licorice root. Very tasty.

I just had this one for the first time from….my BRAND NEW GAIWAN that my son gave to me for Mother’s Day! Thank you, sweetie! This is a great green tea. I added no sugar or sweetener of any kind. I would resteep the leaves, but it is so late and I need to get some sleep tonight!

My husband dislikes flowery teas and won’t drink many herbals, but he likes this tea. He was having trouble sleeping due to stress at work, but this tea helps him sleep like a baby! He doesn’t feel groggy and it doesn’t put him out, but when he falls asleep he said he sleeps deeply and awakens feeling rested.