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Having had a few really lovely white teas lately, I can tell you: this is white tea beaten into submission by artificial flavor. It is white tea only in that it is tea and it is not black or green; the tea base doesn’t have its own personality at all. That having been said, for something artificially flavored, this isn’t bad. I don’t agree that it tastes like cough drops or codeine syrup. The smell in the bag and in the cup is of a pleasant artificial cherry flavor. I overbrewed and had to throw the first cup out (the old bitterness problem—my fault for not setting the timer correctly), but the second cup is still very cherry-flavored , flowery, and rather pleasant with some rock sugar. The color of both brews was a nice medium golden yellow/brown, only a bit less bright in the second cup. I am not tasting the sourness others did—maybe it was hiding behind the bitterness of the first cup so I missed it, then went away by the second? Or maybe there just didn’t happen to be any sour cherry in the spoonfuls of tea I used!

I’m not saying I’m a HUGE fan (and it is admittedly overpriced, but when I walk into Teavana I’m not bargain-hunting). Just that this is drinkable and pleasant, and pushes my “fruity” button. I would really like to try this iced—that’s the next plan.

Tried this in bag form at a Starbucks-supplied bookstore cafe downtown. I was on my way elsewhere, but luckily the campus has lots of structures/seats/trash cans scattered around this particular area, so I was able to stop after two minutes or so of walking and dispose of the tea bag without too much problem. (I didn’t want this to get bitter!) As it turns out, it does have some bitterness on first taste, which I’m attributing to the too-hot water. It was “too hot for your hands even with the java jacket on the cup” hot. The smell as it’s brewing is classic fresh grassy green, with a curious sweet honey-like note. On tasting (once it cooled off sufficiently), no honey is in evidence, but the aforementioned bitterness clears off quickly and the rest is full-bodied and vegetal. Perhaps a little bit of a roasted taste, but not much. Other people have mentioned a spinach flavor; I can totally taste that now that I read it. If this is Chinese green tea, then that’s what I like, not Japanese, though there seem to be many more kinds of Japanese green tea than Chinese, and I’ve only tried a few.

If I were up to having caffeine every day, I might buy a box (or a tin—others seem to prefer it in loose form), but my low caffeine tolerance won’t let me adopt this one for my daily tea ritual. So I’ll save my box-sized purchases for low- or no-caffeine items, and I’ll savor this one occasionally at Starbucks. (Or maybe I’ll just buy a tea bag from them and bring it home so I can control the water temperature!)

I got this as a sample from The Tea Table and am overall pleased: this is a very minty tisane, with a slightly warm aftertaste in the back of the mouth (I’m assuming this is from the ginger). The color in the cup is medium greenish-brown, and a smell kind of like plain peppermint tea (which I love) but with deeper notes that are hard to pinpoint: a little spice, a little almond, a little flower. You can’t taste the apple or rooibos at all; this is not a fruity tea. I always worry that tisanes with hibiscus or rosehips, which have lots of vitamin C, will have that really off-putting sour taste that you get in some of the “zinger” teas from Celestial Seasonings. But no trace of that here—maybe there just isn’t enough of either to produce the sourness. I like this, as I’m very fond of peppermint + anything, and this one really lets the mint shine. I bet this would be great iced!

Trying this iced (one tea bag, approx. 30 oz. water, steeped in fridge for ~22 hours). The fruitiness (peach/berry) is apparent on pouring, from the smell and taste. What is also apparent is the tannins—this is NOT a touch of tannin, this is bitterness. I’m surprised. Cold, it’s drinkable and even pleasant (I like the peach/berry thing!), but not something I would even try hot, now that I know about the bitterness. (I got this in a Mighty Leaf green/white sampler box, and this is the only white in the box. I don’t think I’ll be buying a whole box of it.)

Ooops—I think three minutes was oversteeping. The green tea got just a little bitter. Otherwise, though, this is not bad. The brewed tea is a pretty light brown color with a touch of greenishness. Good solid green taste with balanced vegetal-ness, maybe a note of brine as mentioned by someone else, but not much. This is not an overwhelming jasmine tea in terms of floweriness—in fact, for this jasmine lover, it’s not enough jasmine, period—but it’s a nice jasmine flavor, not a perfume-y one. It would be a good tea for those who know they like green tea, but are not sure about jasmine.

I got this as part of a Green & White sampler from Mighty Leaf, with a handful of bags of each of four varieties. This is the first one from the box that I’ve tried. I probably would not buy this variety separately, as I prefer white jasmines if I’m going for jasmine, but it was nice to try.

I got this as a free sample with a Tea Table order, and I’m glad I didn’t pay for it. It’s rather nondescript as black teas go; I’ve had better black decaf at restaurants where all they have to offer me is a generic brand bag in a tea box they haven’t restocked in years. Brews up darkish brown but still translucent. Brewed smell is of run-of-the-mill black tea, slightly malty. Taste is lightly astringent, with the bitterness disappearing off the tongue quickly, and leaving…nothing. I’m smacking my lips trying to detect any other flavor left in my mouth after swallowing, but it literally tastes as though I just sipped plain hot water. Disappointing for someone like me, who likes the taste of actual camellia sinensis in its various colors, but can’t tolerate much caffeine. Guess I’ll go back to herbals for now.

OMG so good iced! I let it steep in the fridge for a long time (~20 hours) but the result is just the right amount of tea flavor for me, plus a pronounced floweriness, with no bitterness or darkness. The tea is a lovely light yellow. The jasmine has crossed over almost into orange-flower territory, it’s so sweet. This would be sooo good with dessert, or with a middle eastern or Thai dinner. I think I’m going to be making this a lot!

I like this particular herbal blend, but now that I’m partly through the box, I realize I really bought it for the mint flavor, and I would prefer it to be 100% peppermint. That’s okay though, I will just keep using it until it’s gone, then go back to an 100% peppermint.

WOW does this tea smell good in the bag. Summertime is right: fruit and a little flower scent. In the cup it’s a nice dark gold, and smells the same only slightly less fruit and more flower/tea. I am a little disappointed in the flavor though. Maybe I understeeped? (I hate to push my luck with greens; you get that bitter astringency if you oversteep.) It’s just kind of plain grassy green tea flavor, with a hint of the lemon and flower from before. Just a hint. I’m going to put some sugar in the next cup and see if that brings out the flavors. This is pretty drinkable as-is, but nothing special.