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Thanks to Zen Tea for a sample of this.

I have to admit that Genmaicha’s are growing on me. They’re not bad, and nice and hearty for a green tea. This is definitely one of the better ones that I’ve had. You can taste the toasted rice but also the green tea, which is a nice surprise. This is a yummy tea, and while it’s not necessarily something I would drink everyday – it is something that holds up nice to two or three resteeps and is still full of flavor.

Also, this tea is SUPER green. I recommend drinking this out of a white or clear cup so you can really enjoy this color.

Not really a tasting note, per se, but I just notice that all the info on this tea has been deleted. It used to be “Green Apple Tea”.

Even though it’s no longer available on their website, I wish they wouldn’t have completely deleted all the information. It’s good to have it as a reference :(

Another sample from momo.

Eh, I’m not a huge fan of Earl grey, but I was hoping for more with this tea. I mean, it’s not bad. Hot it’s not very good. I just tasted bergamot, and didn’t get any cheesecake. Chilled it’s better, and I’m starting to get those desert notes. Actually, it’s really not that bad chilled. I’m probably just being too hard on this tea. I really wanna like Earl Grey, but it’s so hard. This tea is definitely not as and as a straight Earl Grey, though.

I think I’m going to do a cold brew next time and see how I feel after that. Not like I can order more or anything …

This came in my big package from momo.

This is yummy! Hot it wasn’t bad, but it did have this odd weird taste (probably from the bamboo). I put it in fridge overnight and I’m enjoying it today. This is MUCH better cold and it’s very refreshing. Nice pinapple flavor, although other fruits come through as well. No sweetener needed.

Thanks to Rachel Sincere for a sample of this tea.

This may or may not be my first Keemun, I’m not sure. I definitely don’t have much experience with them. Teavivre said to use 7g of tea for an 8oz cup, but that seems a bit much. That’s almost 3 teaspoons, is that right? I just used 1 and a half, and steeped it for a minute. It tastes fine to me.

There’s some interesting notes in this tea. I’m getting some chocolate, malt, and some heartiness, too. As it cools I find that it’s still enjoyable and doesn’t get too bitter too quickly. There’s definitely fruity tones to it that pop more, as it cools.

Also, according to the description this tea has lots of flouride. No need to brush my teeth now (haha – just kidding).

Thanks to JasonCT for a sample of this tea.

I don’t have too much experience with straight blacks, but this one isn’t bad. It’s definitely got some nice mouthfeel and it’s not too heavy. I put some soy milk in it, but I think I actually prefer it plain.

Got this in a swap from Rachel Sincere.

I love Root Beer. I am a Root Beer fiend. But, it’s full of sugar and I can’t have it all too often. So, what better way than to find a tea to help satisfy my cravings?

I tried DavidTea’s Root Beer Float, and that was pretty good, but pricey. I was hoping to find a suitable and cheaper alternative. Unfortunately, this tea is not it. I tried REALLY hard to like it, too. I cold brewed it several times, but no dice. I tried to hot brew it and then let it cool (because drinking hot root beer is just weird). But I think I’ve just been spoiled by “Root Beer Float”. This does not satisfy my cravings whatsoever. It has a hint of root beer, but I think the base just isn’t right for me. The tea smells lovely, though.

I really want this tea to find a home since I have a bunch. Would anyone be interested in it? I’ll ship it free of charge, although you can swap if you want to. The tea has quite the strong scent though, so I’d hesitate to send it with anything else for fear the scent would “rub off”.

So I had a little left of the following two samples way-back-when from Azzrian: Buttered Cranberry Orange Scone Honeybush (that’s a mouthful) and Custard-Filled Maple Long John Honeybush (also a mouthful) – both from 52Teas. I decided to combine them to create one super powerful honeybush concoction. I call it … Buttered Custard-Filled Cranberry Orange Maple Long John Scone Honeybush TM .

And you know what? It’s not half bad. I’ve been letting this steep since forever and all the flavors work together. I’m definitely getting orange most of all, but there’s sort of this creamy undertone with it as well. I can dig it.

And the best part is, I’ve cleared not one but TWO samples out of the way to make room for other teas. Now I have to tackle the 500 other samples I have.

~~TMI Alert *~~*~

The past week or so, I’ve been having digestive issues. Nothing too awful, but I’ve been constipated and my stomach hasn’t been in tip top shape. I’m worried I might have IBS, although I don’t know for sure, so I’m following the symptoms of an IBS diet. I really don’t have much of an appetite either, which I guess is a good thing, in some ways.

I normally eat fairly well, but I’m trying to even further refine my eating habits to see if that helps matters. So for the past couple days, I’ve been eating a vegan, high-fiber, high-probiotic diet. I’ve read a lot of conflicting info about what you’re supposed to eat/drink with IBS, but several things have suggested laying off caffeine, so I’m going to give that a try even though it means giving up my green tea and matcha for a little bit. Thankfully I don’t have to give up ALL tea, though. In its place, I’ve been drinking herbal blends of mint, ginger, and/or both. I’m also trying to drink at least one bottle of Kombucha a day. I used to not be able to stand the stuff, but now I can at least tolerate it. It’s not that bad.

I had this tea last night when I went out to a vegan restaurant. I had some pecan-crusted eggplant, which is read is very good since it’s high in fiber. We were only there for an hour, but I drank a LOT of tea. So much so, that I had to go to the bathroom 3 times, LOL. The tea was nice. I mean, it’s peppermint. Nothing too offending.

Anyway, I don’t know what’s going on with my body. Like I said, it’s not major issues, but it is uncomfortable, and the constant feeling of being “bloated” is really messing with my appetite. But on the plus side, I always wanted to try out a vegan diet, so this is my chance I suppose ;) .. Of course, with thanksgiving right around the corner I’m not sure if I’ll be able to maintain, but I will do my best. If my lack of appetite persists, I probably won’t be tempted to eat too much meat.

As a side note, if anyone has any advice on what’s worked for them, feel free to comment below or PM me. I’m definitely open at this point to anything that could help with relief :)

Let’s play good news, bad news.

Good news: I ordered something from Teavana recently and saw that it included 1 oz. sample of this blend. That’s a lot of tea. Thanks, Teavana, you are so generous.

Bad news: 85% of the 1 oz sample is German Rock Sugar, which is waaaaaaay too much sugar for me. So it’s not really a 1 oz. sample of pure tea. It’s really only for 2 cups of tea.

Good news: That’s okay. I can just open the bag and pick out the pieces of rock sugar. This should be easy, right? They’re just really large pieces, and I can tell the difference between tea leaves and chunks of crystal.

Bad news: Yeah… no. There’s way too much stuff in these tea to even tell what’s rock sugar and what’s a candied fruit.

Good news: I pick out whatever I can to best of my ability. I’m getting a good chunk of sugar out, I’m sure.

Bad news: I steep it, go to drink it… and it’s still deathly sweet. All I taste is sweetener and cinnamon. Is there anything else in this tea, because I sure can’t taste it. I can’t even taste the ginger, which is supposedly one of the main ingredients.

Teavana, I get that you love your German Rock Sugar but PLEASE think about us folks that maybe don’t want our tea sweetened to death. Would it have been THAT hard to include just the tea? And if people really needed to, you could include the rock sugar in a separate package for people to add in with the tea. That way both parties are happy and everybody wins.