MarieBelle

This is the tea I bought from QueenOfTart’s stash sale. Boy was this ever a good choice! It’s a light, sweet black tea with noticeable chocolate and rose flavors. Each flavor complements the others and it tastes very natural. This is just perfect. I’m definitely going to savor this.

I finally tackled the Basket of Neglected Herbal Tea Gimmes and Scraps, and boy, do I need to drink up some rooibos! I’ve got dibs and dabs in a dozen different flavors that haven’t had proper attention over the past summer(s).

So this was on deck last night. It is several years old, but the orange peel was still OK. The first time I reviewed it, I compared to good old Constant Comment orange/cinnamon/spice. Can’t improve on that comparison. It was still tasty, and fitting for early fall.

This was in a happy box from ashmanra, a lovely antidote to a gray and grim, grizzly day. Bits of orange peel and other goodies with this spiced rooibos make it taste like the red tea version of good ol’ Constant Comment. Warming and sweet-smelling!

I received this tea as a Christmas present this year. On opening the tin, you smell the chocolate. Taking a sip, the rose asserts itself and blends with the chocolate. The black tea base is good and plays well with the other flavors. I think it works best as a stand alone tea or instead of dessert. I prefer to drink my tea unsweetened and this one isn’t the best for drinking that way. A bit of sugar and the flavors really pop. Either way I enjoy it.

I don’t know how this wasn’t listed in my cupboard. I am on my second tin! It was so good that I asked for it on my Christmas list last year (or was it the year before?) but I have been hoarding it because it is too good to have any old time. I have ancold but I can still taste my tea, so I treated myself to this at breakfast today.

This is the most genuinely chocolate tea I think I have ever had, with real chocolate aroma, rich and decadent. This is a real treat, and as I start to whittle down my flavored teas, this one makes the cut and will be re-ordered when it gets low again.

What a fabulous tea. I am sorry to say that we finished the tin today. My youngest daughter doesn’t know it is all gone, and she will be sad when she finds out because this was a favorite of hers.

The chocolate is so rich. It really is one of the most decadent tasting cups of tea I have ever had. The rose is sweet but not so floral that it will turn off the people who don’t go for floral teas, in my opinion. The chocolate really reigns in this tea.

I had no idea it was International Tea Day until this evening, but it just so happened that today was tea party day for us. We had a chocolate chip and pecan Dutch baby, cherry chiparoon cookies, and sugar cookies. The first tea served was Kenilworth Ceylon from Tin Roof Teas, which was okay but not as good as the Harney Kenilworth I had a while back. Then this tea, then Fetes de Versailles from Nina’s. So it was a good tea day!

So rich, and thick, and chocolate….and rose. This is excellent dessert tea, served second at tea party yesterday to carry on the chocolate flavor from the French Silk Pie we had served. Luxuriant. Decadent. Delicious.

This was the second tea of tea party today. Our food leaned heavily on the chocolate side so this was served second after our plain black tea and after we ate. Magnificent! It is smooth and rich and doesn’t need milk or sugar. The chocolate aroma is so enticing, not fake-y and oily. The rose adds sweetness. This is one I may have to restock when it is gone, even though I am trying to get my cupboard more reasonable.

I was sure I had reviewed this before….

This was the final tea of tea party today, and the one with the heaviest flavoring is usually served last for several reasons, but mainly so we can experience the food without it being upstaged and to add interest to the final cup after we have eaten.

This smells so rich and chocolate-y, like a cup of cocoa. The flavor is strongly chocolate with a bit of rose sweetening the cup. The chocolate flavor is of the unsweetened cocoa sort, so there is a little bit of dry mouthfeel that seems to be coming from the chocolate rather than from the tea. This has a rich aroma.

I liked it very much, my guest preferred the other two teas that we had today. Youngest hasn’t tried it yet but perhaps I can add her opinion when she does.

I went to the grocery store and bought some roasted barley (Kasha)—tastes the same! :) Every time I drink this, I compare it to something else, but I realized this tastes A LOT like Celestial Seasonings Sugar Cookie Sleigh ride, and the man ingredient for that tea is ROASTED BARLEY. Go figure. Looks like I’ll be picking up some barley when I run out of those tea bags :P

Still loving this tea. Very very comforting. I remembered what flavor it reminds me of: honey nut cheerios!

Caffeine Free Tea Box

This looked disgusting, and I was prepared to hate it but….plot twist, I love it! It’s so nutty, when I drank it I was thinking this tastes like….breakfast. Like warm toast in a cup. Sounds gross, but it’s good! Must. Have. More.

From the Caffeine-Free/Decaf Traveling Tea Box.

I was excited to try this one. I’ve never had buckwheat tea before! There isn’t much to say other than it tasted like buckwheat… It’s also slightly sweet. And the liquor is a lovely gold. Overall, this a cozy tea.

I drank it while watching the first Hobbit film, and now, I think, each time I’ll watch it in the future, I’ll get the taste of buckwheat in my mouth.

I don’t drink much rooibos as I mostly taste Robitussin when I drink it. This was a Christmas gift from my daughter and I am trying to drink less caffeine late at night so it was high time to try it.

The smell is really wonderful. I thought of orange creamsicle, but oddly enough the description says nothing about orange being in here. The dry mix looks like it has orange peel, though. There were flat, light colored pieces of something in there! Also there were pretty red flower petals…poppy? Hibiscus?

I was disappointed that when the water hit the leaves the powerful rooibos aroma rose immediately. As I drink this, the cinnamon and clove are becoming stronger with each sip, building more and more as I get to the bottom of the cup.

It is reminding of African Autumn by Harney and Sons, which does have orange and a touch of cranberry, as well as hibiscus, though I don’t taste hibiscus in either of these. COULD they be the same tea? It has been a very long time since I have had African Autumn so I really don’t know. African Autumn also mentions no spices, so maybe not.

If you like rooibos you would probably enjoy this. I will drink it as a caffeine free nighttime cuppa.

While not an inexpensive earl grey, the white silver tips provide the cup with a majesty that is well worth savoring and paying up for. I have yet to find a comparable earl grey product that provides the satisfaction provided by this near perfected blended tea. The aroma of the leaves is just ‘that’ much better than other EG’s.

It is not necessary to steep for an extended time, so about 3.5 minutes in ~boiling does the trick. Given the sweetspot of MarieBelle it seems as though this tea was made to eat with tea cookies. Sublime.

While it’s good enough weak and with no tweaking in small cups, I prefer it lightly honey sweetened and served piping. Yes, at $7 for a 2oz tin it can be a bit on the expensive side, but fear not. It is worth the investment. Pick some up in SoHo if you’re in New York and try the hot chocolate while you’re at the store.

i know health benefit from dattan soba cha and I was so happy when i found this tea. it is so relaxing and it will help to build stronger veins. In japan it cost me $15 for only 100g.
but at Mariebelle, more than 200g for only $16. It is a good deal. I am drinking every day and i put sobacha in the soup and salad.

One of the best dessert teas of all time: sweet and full-bodied with just a touch of rosy floral in the background, and with cream and sweetener it is perfection. This is the sort of rosy/sugary/fabulous tea that Marie Antoinette might have enjoyed — before she realized that the populace tends to get a little peeved when they can’t eat on a regular basis, of course.

The chocolate flavor here tastes exactly like dark chocolate, too, without the overbrewed flavor that some chocolate ceylons can aquire without careful attention to steeping time. The rose flavor is far more delicate (read: less evident) than the chocolate flavor, but that’s appropriate, after all, unless you are a honeybee with an agenda.

Chocolate tea seems like something of an art. Like chocolate itself, some are full and rich, some are light, some are better when blended, some are … bright.

I like rhymes with my rococo-inspired chocolate tea. Sue me.

This flavored black tea has a nice balance of tanginess and sweetness. Thankfully, it avoids the usual traps: it is neither syrupy sweet nor annoyingly fruity. It is a tea that could be enjoyed all day.

My favorite English Breakfast tea. Full of flavor and the toasty notes make it feel filling, almost as if you’d had it with a pastry.