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My package of teas from my trade with Lori came yesterday and I was determined to try this one. The smell in the package was a creamy lemon, like a lemon tart, and the steeped liquor was the same as well as being the color of lemon meringue. The taste was definitely lemon and cream with a faint note of something fruity in the background…perhaps from the rooibos.

This tea is so naturally sweet I could probably get used to drinking it without sugar which, for me, is saying quite a lot. I probably wouldn’t drink this often but it would be a great occasional afternoon tea on a rainy day in the summer.

I had a nice, peaceful, bit of time before me so I decided to try the other sample of tea I had designed from Design A Tea. This one was definitely a success.

The liquor was a bright honey-gold with a bit of a peach tone to it. The first sip was strongly plum, then peach. The second I tasted the oolong as well. A little further along and there was a hint of pear also. The flavor lingered pleasantly at the back of my mouth after each sip. About halfway through the pot I found myself thinking “Is this tea…or nectar?” It was so good and I am very happy that I had been given the time to appreciate it properly.

When I order again from this company this blend is DEFINITELY on the list!

I decided to give this one another try today. I measured out two heaping teaspoons, double what I had used before, and as I was doing so I realized that only about a third of the mix was tea leaves. The other two thirds were chocolate nibs and rose petals respectively. Perhaps that was the cause of the weak taste last time.

After steeping the liquor was a murky red-brown. Very murky, I could hardly make out where the spoon touched the bottom of the tea cup and I use a small cup.

First sip…WOW! Now THAT is CHOCOLATE! Milky smooth but with a slight dark coco bitterness. It actually tastes a lot like the jasmine-infused chocolates that I have. I’ll have to try blending this with some jasmine tea at some point.

With all the loose leaf teas I have I sometimes forget to use my bagged teas. This is one of my favorites from back when I was just starting to get into tea four years ago. I decided I needed some extra strong spice today so I grabbed two bags of this and plopped them into my tetsubin.

Before the milk and sugar the liquor was lovely bright honey-gold. The first sip was a tad bitter so I added more sugar. Mmmmmmmmmmm! Silky. Smooth. Sweet. Spicy. A touch of almond. So smooth. A little biscuity. A slight dryness but not unpleasantly so. Did I mention smooth?

Why oh why didst I forsake thee oh lovely tea!? You may reside in a little baggy but you are my perfection in a cup!

I was enjoying this tea so much in fact that I nearly forgot about the banana bread I was also having at the time!

When my package from Design a Tea arrived last week I could smell this before I even opened the package. Not the bag with the tea, the PACKAGE that all of the teas came IN. Ever since I have been smelling it whenever I open my tea cabinet. Today was the day, I vowed

So, after steeping this tea is a very dark, murky amber. The murkiness being from sediment due to the chocolate chips. I tried without sugar first and was saddened to find that the liquor did not taste nearly as chocolaty as the dry leaf had smelled. With sugar there was definitely an improvement on the level of chocolate on my tastebuds. So I tried adding milk. The chocolate level was the same but there was a smoother finish and the liquor felt almost silky.

I think next time I drink this I will try doubling the leaf amount. Definitely better than the Chocolate Raspberry blend though.

I must figure out what kind of cinnamon these companies use. The look and aroma is completely different from what you can get at the supermarket.

The liquor on this is a deep red. It tastes a bit thin but the flavor fills out if you roll it around in your mouth…kind of like eating freeze-dried apple bits. There’s a little bit of a tang that saves this from being too light and sweet, definitely a good just-before-bed tea.

Edit As I get farther down in the mug it turns out the liquor is more of a deep rose color.

I designed this one for one of my free samples from Design A Tea. I opened up the baggie and was treated to the aroma of chocolate. Delicious delicious chocolate. The same aroma was blasted back at me with the steam when I poured the water over the leaves in my pot. And again when I poured the bright amber liquor into the cup.

The first sip I tried without sugar. Whoa raspberry! Not tart, juicy raspberry, but definitely raspberry. Now where did the chocolate go? So I put my usual sugar in and tried again. Still raspberry…and something undefinable, slightly bitter. I could smell the chocolate in the steam coming off the cup but my taste buds couldn’t find a trace of it. I was being teased. Ok, try adding milk. The raspberry retreated, as if to sulk, and what was left was a weak, milky coco flavor.

Determined to have chocolate one way or another I used a teaspoon of hot chocolate mix instead of sugar for my second cup. The result was a tad bitter so I added a tiny bit of sugar…Perfection! At least if what you wanted was raspberry hot chocolate.

My last cup I took another try with the sugar, putting enough in for a full 6oz of liquid and forgetting the pot doesn’t hold enough for three cups full. There! A tantalizing wisp of chocolate on the back of my tongue.

So, chocolate is off the list of flavorings I’ll be picking with my next order. The raspberry has some potential though.

I lost track of how long I steeped this, having a three year old and a five month old can do that to a person. You turn around and suddenly it’s later than you thought and you’ve got to leave NOW but the kids still aren’t ready and neither are you and – and – well, that’s another story. Anyway, steeping time was somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes.

The dry leaf definitely smelled winey and…chocolate? I think that was just due to the other tea it was shipped with though. The smell of the steeped liquor reminded me of an old country or antique shop redolent with potpourri. It was dark amber in color, lovely and clear.

Even without sugar I could taste the wine note. With sugar it was more pronounced and smoother though I think it might have been a bit thin (will definitely try with more leaf next time). After swallowing there was a slight dryness in my mouth, nearly imperceptible until I breathed in.

I tried my second cup with honey and nearly poured the stuff down the drain. Do NOT drink this with honey! Ick! I am curious as to what it would taste like with agave nectar though, too bad I haven’t been able to find any more in the area since I finished the last bottle.

My last cup full ended up cooling due to having to deal with fussy kids and it actually tasted better lukewarm than hot which makes me wonder how it would work as an iced tea.

Overall a very nice blend.

I have no idea what the water temp was but it was definitely cooler. I poured boiling water into a glass measuring cup, then into my (cold) tetsubin, and then into the cup with the strainer and tea leaves. I also used twice the amount of leaves as last time.

1st infusion:
Steeped for 9 minutes. The liquor still wasn’t purple, I’m very disappointed with this fact, it was more of a dark brown and slightly murky. The taste however absolutely wowed me with how much it had improved. It was rather malty and earthy with a slight metallic aftertaste. Holding a bit in my mouth there seemed to be a clearness on the center of my tongue compared to the rest…like a gemstone surrounded by mud.

2nd infusion:
Steeped for 10 minutes, the liquor was a brown-tinted amber. The metallic aftertaste was gone and the flavor clearer and smooth, still earthy but not as malty. There was also a slight taste of honey.

3rd infusion:
Steeped for 10 minutes the liquor was the same brown-amber color as the last infusion. the taste was the same but a bit lighter in body.

Definitely a better experience with this tea this time around. Sill disappointed by the lack of purple but I’ll get over it.

Edit
4th infusion:
Steeped for 10 minutes again for the same brown-amber color. This infusion seemed a bit sweeter and lighter. Not quite as earthy. A faint tartness to the aftertaste.

5th infusion:
10.5 minutes steep and the color is more amber, less brown. The flavor is lighter too.

6th infusion:
The color definitely looks weaker. And after one sip I can tell this tea has hit it’s limit.

I started this steeping and then totally forgot about it in all the evening bustle. I’m not sure how long it actually steeped for but it was probably between 10-15 minutes. Didn’t seem to effect it the taste at all. I also put less sugar in this time. Wish I had put more in though, the creaminess didn’t come through very well without it.