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I cracked this bag open on the tail end of my sipdown of Coconut French Toast w Cardamon Syrup which is currently impossible to review on Steepster because it opens to a weird page on which reviews are not accepted.

Anyway, the Coconut French Toast was just stellar—why so especially? Because the coconut was coming through loud and clear—on top of the maple syrup—which I don’t think has ever happened. Anyway, a big big win, so much so that I would suggest the same blend with triple the coconut. Just sayin’.

So after I sipped down my sample pouch of that because it was so good that I drank it from beginning to end with milk until it was gone, I started in on this. And even though this is not Coconut French Toast with Cardamon Syrup, this is stellar too. Ayup. On my fourth cup of the day, also with milk, and show no signs of slowing down any time soon. It’s kind of like Chocolate Eclair Black, but with buttery maple instead. Another winner.

After a very long stretch of green and oolong, I seem to be rapidly slipping into black blends again. All good.

The third of the very so-so in-store samples I tried today. Citrusy and nothing special.

Another red in-store sample.

Meh, whatever. Yet another one that tastes like crappy generic red corner store candies.

In-store sample

You know, it doesn’t seem to matter what the ingredients are in DT’s generic red teas. This is one of them and it tastes like some sort of crappy red gummy candy. Sorry, not impressed.

Angel was kind enough to include this in the last batch of samples she sent me in Spring 2018. And wow. This is lovely. The dry leaf is bright green curly dry moss. Pretty to watch as it unfurls and tints the added water. The liquor is nutty sweet roast chestnut and green pea. And possibly a bit asparagus. Delicious.

If I might add a suggestion for TeaVivre in terms of packaging of samples. The packaging itself is great. However, the font in the English text is far too small to read for an English speaker and further, the letters all run in and blur together. Add to that, that the names of the teas are in Pinyin and mostly unknown. aside from the names of the most famous teas, this can make for a most frustrating experience.

This tea, for example, with my glasses on, looks like it could be La Shun You Wu or Lo Shan You Wa or Lu Shan Tou Wu and so on and so on. I tried to type this many times in steepster before I gave up and went to search for this tea on TeaVivre’s site and eventually found it. It needn’t be so frustrating. Make the font larger.

Thank you, Angel, for the sample. I really enjoyed it, aside from the challenge with the name of the tea.

Very so-so, generic even.

Yes, yes, ’tis moi!

Oh, how I have missed you all and our steepster world!
(I must say, however, that it has been far easier to temporarily not buy more teas without hanging out with all you enablers though. :)

My wifi has been out for 6 weeks or more now . The first three days I was panicking and I was on the phone with my internet provider who then had to push through a ticket to the phone company. Long story. Is it the electricity? Is it the modem/ router? Buy a new over the top expensive one. Same issue. Essentially no signal. But because I don’t buy the telephone company’s wifi service—but my internet provider buzzes my connection through the phone line—the phone company does not care because the land line is fine. Yes, yes, I know no one else on the planet has a landline.

Anyway, the thing is that one needs a sizeable chunk of time to deal with these people —a four hour window or more wait for their phone calls. And then, another day and another four hour window for the phone company to come look see.

Seven phone calls and my health and I ran out of time and out of patience. For now.

For the next few days, I am house and kitty sitting for a friend, so I am hooked up with wifi, anyway. But I am using her computer, hence, a new account. Because passwords, oh hello. (Likely, if and when my wifi at home gets sorted, I’ll be back to my original account.)

Anyway, today I cracked this tea open for the first time and just yay! Vanilla loveliness gliding over the bergamot and frisky black base. The coconut softens all the edges. Beautiful.

This is just the second black tea I am drinking after a long long stretch of green and oolong. Smooth and lovely.