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What? How?

See, this is why I like to try even blends that don’t appeal to me at all. When it comes to tea, I love being proven wrong. I don’t like passionfruit, so I wasn’t looking forward to this one at all. But it smells and tastes delicious! I can’t speak to the authenticity of its flavour, because I don’t remember the last time I had passionfruit. (Hmm, maybe I should give it another chance, too.) Anyway, this one’s really lovely.

Oh, dear. Spearmint, peppermint, and vanilla. Three of the few (more) things I don’t usually like in my tea. I tried so hard to give away this bag, but the blend didn’t sound appealing to anyone else, either. I wasn’t willing to throw it away, and sometimes blends can surprise me, so I gave it a chance.

The one thing I can say about this company is that, so far, their blends have been honest. This one says spearmint, peppermint, and vanilla, and that’s exactly what it smells like, that’s exactly what it tastes like. Unfortunately for me, that means it tastes like a candycane that’s been swirled around in pipe smoke.

Clearly this is a me thing and not the fault of the tea, so it wouldn’t be fair for me to rate it.

I just had their blackberry blend, and I feel like this wasn’t a great choice to put immediately after it in the advent calendar—they’re too similar. I can’t help but compare the two, despite the fact that blackberry and blackcurrant have nothing to do with each other.

I’d think better of this blend if I hadn’t just had the blackberry one. This one is nice, but the flavour is far too subtle for me. If I had more of it, I’d try it sweetened with Ribena!

[Edit] I’d only had a few sips, so instead of just sort of enjoying the rest of the cup, I added some Ribena. It made a huge difference. Quite lovely, now. =)

Got this in an advent calendar. I was mildly engrumbled about having to look up what kind of tea it is so I’d know how to prepare it. Anyway. It’s lovely! It’s a straightforward blend of black tea and blackberry, and it smells and tastes like it should. Doesn’t taste synthetic, and best of all doesn’t have any chemical weirdness like a lot of berry-flavoured things.

Thumper’s dad said, if y’can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nuthin’ at all.

Okay but if I don’t I’m going to forget why I don’t like this blend, sorry. All berry, no root beer, which in itself isn’t enough for me to dislike it. But oh gosh, the nose on this one. I’ve had better-smelling cough syrup—so chemically! The taste is oookaaaay, just not for me. [internal score: 35ish]

That said, others seem to have had better luck with this one, so maybe I just took too long to dig this one out of my stash? Certainly possible.

Nice name, but in reality utterly unremarkable. Even just walking down the supermarket aisle, there are much better options. [internal score: maybe 62ish.]

creamer: none
sweetener: none

It’s a nice, hearty, black tea.

I’m really persnickety about coconut flavour. I was a bit sceptical upon reading the packet label, but one whiff raised my expectations. I was pleasantly surprised by the balanced aromas of coconut, bergamot, and black tea. And! The steep didn’t disappoint! The flavour is equally balanced and so, so good! Deserving of all the exclamation points! Very forgiving steep, good at any temperature. I have maybe three servings left. I’ll be very sad to see the packet empty, but to my credit I didn’t expect to last more than a day. Two! It’ll have lasted two days! Maybe 1.5.

creamer: none
sweetener: sugar

Wh… Wha… What sorcery is this‽ One, I didn’t know root beer and black tea would be such an amazing combination. Two, I didn’t know until I tasted this that I needed tea in my life that smells and tastes exactly like root beer. How‽ Just amazing, honestly.

If I’d had more, I would’ve tried it iced. And if I’d had more more, I would’ve tried it iced, carbonated, and sweetened with actual root beer. That would’ve been a fun experiment.

creamer: none
sweetener: sugar

P.S. I wanted to enter “heaven” in the “what flavours and scents do you notice?” field, but it wasn’t an option.

I love banana and wanted to like this a lot more than I did. Decent black-tea base, but the banana flavour didn’t taste real ‘n’ proper to me. And it got bitter really quickly. Full disclosure, though: I haven’t the slightest idea how long this packet has been sitting in my stash; it’s entirely possible that it’s past its best-by date.

creamer: none
sweetener: sugar
caution: Drink quickly, prone to bitterness.