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I love rooibos. It’s been a favorite of mine since I first tried it years ago while visiting Sweden, and I’m once again looking for interested blend that I can count on for another evening tea (though I’m pretty addicted to my decaf Earl Grey right now). This tea doesn’t have a whole lot of caramel flavor, so it’s not terribly interesting. It doesn’t taste all that different from plain rooibos to me, so this is not one I’d buy. There’s certainly nothing wrong with it, and the nice rooibos flavor comes through, but I’m looking for something a little more special.

Thanks to Lariel for this sample! I really wanted to give this a try, and she let me do so.

Backlog from yesterday. This was such a strange tea! It smelled a bit unnatural when I put it in my cup, but the true sweet, caramel nature of this tea truly bloomed when I added boiling water. Smelled apple-like, which is good, and rather fake, which usually isn’t so good. But, this tea tasted pretty awesome…Just a little bit of sugar and this becomes an awesome dessert tea! I was having a niggling desire for candy when I brewed this, and by the time I started drinking my 12 oz. cup with just a teaspoon of sugar, I didn’t even think about sweets again, the tea was enough. So, this is an amazing alternative to have in the cupboard to tame any sweets cravings one may come across.

Not a fan of the fakeness in the scent and flavor, but the overall tea is good enough to make up for it.

Thanks to T.C. for this sample, the tea was definitely fun to play with.

Well, I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m sure a fan of having wine with breakfast. At least that’s what this lovely wine-infused tea tastes like, and I’m now just a little in love. The tea itself didn’t smell terribly similar to icewine when dry, but as soon as water is poured on the leaves (which become vibrant green and utterly gorgeous), the true scent emerges: light, sweet, slightly fermented. The liquor is slightly red and has a surprisingly full-bodied flavor for a white.

Since I love strong teas in the morning, and this tea satisfies me bright and early, it’s definitely a keeper. Thanks to T.C. for giving me a chance to try this baby!

First cup of this tea. Pretty tasty, and a nice white….But why the hell did I think it was a good idea to try this for the first time when I was waking up? This is totally a mid-morning tea. I need something stronger, pungent, a$$-kicking to wake me up in the morning. Chais and mates are great for doing that…A fruity white doesn’t cut it. Good tea, though. I will review this baby when I’ve got a mid-morning tea-craving to sate.

I love chais. It’s just something I have had to accept about myself. I adore the mixture of comforting milk, the sweetness of boiling it with sugar or honey, and the complex spiciness of the resulting tea. That being said, I like interesting chais, and am not a fan of the repetitive spice chai formula that seems to be done by various companies all over the place. So, when I brewed up a bit of the Masala Chai sample I had been given by Adagio, I hoped it would be different from some of the others I’ve tried. Very much like Good Earth chai that I used to drink as a young teen; also similar (though, obviously, not as sickly sweet) to Oregon Chai.

Yes, this formulation is traditional and a standby, and it certainly holds up, but it’s boring having the same ratio all. the. time.

So, Masala is nice and spicy. I love cloves, and you can definitely taste them in this blend. Cloves and cinnamon are the two big flavors in here, and ginger adds some good heat. Cardemom makes an appearance, but is mostly clouded out by the other strong spices.

I would drink again, but not necessarily buy this from Adagio. There are bagged chais that are cheaper and compare to this.

3 teaspoons tea, 12 oz. water and milk in a 1:1, 1 teaspoon sugar.

Pretty good for a bagged tea. This one has a ton of flavor, and is a good pick-me-up in the evenings on long days (it’s decaf). This stuff was definitely a craving while I was taking my previous class, TOTALLY stressed out the whole time (in my nursing program, we go through one class at a time, obsessively in-depth), I ended up needing this sweet boost some evenings.

Now, this is my daughter’s favorite. When she goes to my tea cupboard and insists “tea, tea!” this is what she wants. I brew this for her for about 6 minutes, but like many tisanes, it doesn’t hurt to be forgotten for a few minutes.

The bags are good for an 8 oz. cup, and a little sugar goes a long way.

First sip-down since I started Steepster. Finished my first container of Nutty Almond Cream, and wished I had some more. This one is so soothing on a stressful afternoon, and the perfect almond mellowness just makes this utterly drinkable. Hoping to find a place that sells refills of this stuff.

Free sample gotten from Adagio. When I opened the packet, the smell of almond was overwhelming. This, for me, is an intensely good thing since I absolutely adore almond flavored anything.
With boiling water poured in, the smell of almond is still present, but the smokiness of the oolong also shines through.
All in all, it’s a nice tea, good strong flavor. I’ll need another tasting to really decide on this one, though. I’m new to oolong!

Dirty water indeed. The white tea, combined with what I can only assume is purple dye from the candied violets, turns this brew into a supremely unappetizing purple-brown color. The tea itself has a faintly detectable white tea flavor, but it’s mostly masked by the lavender. This tea tastes like herbs de provence smells. Not appealing.

Glad, at least, that I got this super cheap.

OK, so I was apparently being overgenerous when I first rated this tea. There are so many other teas with flavored elements that are better than this. It manages to just taste like black tea, with maybe a little chocolate in it. No noticeable sweetness from the marshmallows, and I can’t taste any graham cracker. I don’t see a point in trying this one again.