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Many thanks to Bonnie for sending this my way forever ago!

I left the leaves in for a little too long because (like always) I got sidetracked, only this time I didn’t hear the buzzer go off. It didn’t really do this tea justice. As a result, it got kind of soapy and there’ s a lot of uncomfortable astringency. I’m not going to put a number rating on this one because I don’t want it to be judged on my bad habits. However, I am going to try again because this tea sounds like it could be pretty tasty! Thank you Bonnie for the sample!

Backlog, thanks Emilie! Just as comforting and homely as before! I really like this one!

In other news, my first “post” is up over on TeaTrade (it’s been a while I know :P). It’s a nice and relaxing playlist to drink to relax so go check it out! I’ll post the link in the comments!

SPOILER ALERT FOR THE STEEPSTER SELECT BOX READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

After finishing that last tea I thought, “What the heck! Let’s try another!” I’m saving the guayusa for tomorrow morning (getting up at 5:45 five times a week really kicks your butt) so I decided to make this.

I’m going to maybe be the first to actually come out and say it (or at least the first that I’ve met here on Steepster): I Like Honeybush A Lot
I don’t think it tastes like honey like you would think, but I actually really do like the taste.

This is no exception to that! It’s pretty much just a generic honeybush. There’s a nice…… “dampness?!?!?!” to it and it has a good woody flavor, with a nice and natural sweet flavor that remains in your mouth. This is very nice and a good late night tea!

Exciting tea world news for Ian: I made my Verdant Tea order today and I’m super excited AND to top it off the Steepster Select box that I won came in the mail today! So, if you’re looking forward to trying the teas and you haven’t gotten your package yet or haven’t tried them don’t read this because THERE ARE SPOILERS

So, this is weird-the steeping instructions say boiling water even though it’s a green and the one other review on here said the same. So, naturally I went with boiling water and did a 2 minute steep time. The dry and wet leaf smell……….. not good. Kind of like cigarette smoke, which may possibly be my least favorite smell in the world. The tea itself smells slightly better, though there is a slight cigarette hint in the smell.

This is actually okay, despite the smell. It has a toasty taste, but not in the way that you would think. When I thought of toasty I thought of sort of a genmaicha-esque flavor, but this is not like that. It’s very hard for me to describe the taste but the only way I can put it is like a non-disgusting ashtray. Not that gross ashtray taste that you get from burnt gas station coffees, but reminiscent of that. I know that probably sounds absolutely repulsive to most of you but it is somewhat palatable.

Overall this is okay. Not something I love but I don’t really hate it either. I look forward to trying the other teas in my box!

Happy Easter to those Steepsterites that celebrate it!

I went with my family to the church service and I’m now enjoying a nice lazy day before we go to dinner with my family this evening! I have some nice time to relax and I’ve finished most of my homework, so I decided to brew up this little number from the box LiberTEAS sent me!

This has brewed up into a very bright yellow that tastes really nice! This has a nice creamy feel (not as much as a milk oolong but it does leave a nice heavy feeling in the mouth). It’s sweet with a very slight spinach note to it, and it’s very buttery. There’s a nice floral tone that skips around on top of everything else. As this cools, it’s becoming sweeter and lighter. A nice apple flavor has come out that is crisp and sweet and oh so delicious!

In other news, the Easter Bunny (due to a lack of idea for other gifts) brought me some money and I’m making an order tomorrow from Verdant Tea that I’m very excited for! I contacted David and he is allowing me to make a custom sampler pack with some teas I’ve been wanting to try and I super excited to try them!

I would like to apologize for my lack of reviews in the past couple of days/weeks. I’ve been super busy but come the end of April I’ll have more time to write on here. Trust me, I’ve still been drinking tea. Lots of it. But, I’m not going to kill your feeds with my backlogs as that wouldn’t be that fun now, would it?

Anyways, I got a generous amount of this tea from Emilie in our swap. I’ve been reallllllllly wanting to try the Sherlock and Hunger Games blends from Adagio as I’m a fan of both series and I think that not only are the blends a fun way to celebrate your fandom, but they also look super tasty!

The dry leaf smells oddly like Captain Crunch. That’s not actually bad, because I really like Captain Crunch! In fact, it smells quite enticing! One thing I don’t like about Adagio’s custom blends is that they don’t include any brewing instructions, so it’s up to you to kind of guess what to do. I knew that this was an all black blend, and those are more forgiving, but I also know that Adagio’s blacks are easily embittered, so I decided to go with a safe 195 (next time I will do 185 to 190 as this still did have just a hint of bitterness) for 4 minutes.

The result is amazing. I added milk and sugar (it seemed fitting as it is British, afterall :P) and it’s very good and I really hope all the blends by this “author” are as good! The earl grey is definitely the forefront flavor and the hazelnut and caramel add a nice extra creamy sweetness in the background! I really like this one a lot.

Thanks again Emilie for this and your other sample, they will both be enjoyed! Also, I know that you stated that you were having problems with this tea and I would recommend going with a lower temp for 4 minutes-it really creates a nice flavor.

In an attempt to finish (or at least try) all of the 4872876548 samples that I have, I decided that I would make a goal to finish all of the ones that the wonderful Bonnie sent me forever and a half ago (thanks again, Bonnie!).

I decided that since it’s still early (well, early-ish), I decided to pick this first out of my remaining selection as it’s coffee and it fits the theme. I did a quick (15 seconds?) rinse of this to get rid of the the fishy smell and then I brewed at 200 degrees for 5 minutes. This is good! I wouldn’t say I like it as much as the chocolate orange pu-erh, but I like this one a lot! It has a nice and smooth coffee flavor (like when you get iced coffee and it tastes like coffee but without the harsh bitter edge to it) and it also has a nice caramel flavor to it. This is good! Actually, the more I drink it, the more I like it! This will definitely be going in the basket with my next DAVIDsTEA purchase! I plan on steeping this one again and making a latte (as par Bonnie’s directions). I think that will be heaven on earth!

Thanks again Bonnie!

Backlog from last night.

I loved this tea. Like, a lot. But, reading the description here, and reading other’s reviews, I realize that my cuppa tasted waaaaaay different from the others. I guess this tea was supposed to have chocolate and hazelnut tones, but I didn’t really get that. What I got was really fruity. Like, I swear to god this tasted exactly like blueberries to me, and I asked my mom and she said the same. I don’t know what’s up with that, but I do know that I really liked the blueberry taste. It’s been sealed this whole time (thanks to LiberTEAS for sending this to me) and I’ve kept it away from all flavored teas, so I don’t know why it tasted like blueberries. I guess I kind of got another note, kind of woodsy in a way with a nice depth, but the main taste was fruity.

Weird. I’ll have to try again, maybe my tastebuds were just off!

I decided to try again this morning with the same combination of teas I used yesterday

This time I modified it to 1 teaspoon of the sencha, 1 teaspoon of the orange grapefruit, and then half a teaspoon of the mate. Oh. My. God. This was heaven. I just can’t even contain myself adklfjdklzxjfkljs. If this was a blend that was actually made-I would buy 5 pounds of it, not kidding. It was pretty fruity and a little tart (but not excessively) and then there was that sweet grassy flavor of the sencha that peaked through just to say hello. I couldn’t taste the mate, but it did its job in a slight caffeine rush. Oh my goodness. This was so good, and I really want to try it iced now. I will be making more of this, and I think I might just devote whatever I have left of each of these teas/tisanes and just mix them together in one big tin. This was heaven.

I was in the mood for a fruity green tea this morning and so I decided to try my hand at custom blending!

This was made up of 1.5 teaspoons of Sencha Jade Reserve by Teavana, .5 teaspoons of Orange Grapefruit Fruit Tisane by Fusion Tea Room (thanks for the sample!), and .5 teaspoons of Fresh Green Mate by Mate Factor (to help wake me up). I figured the mate would be best mixed with a green tea because it’s unroasted, and I knew that I had a lot of Sencha left to brew up, and I wanted to try to do something with the tisanes that I got from Fusion Tea Room. So, this monster was created!

The verdict: eh. Just eh. I know the reason is that there wasn’t enough orange grapefruit and too much sencha. Next time I do this combo, I’m going to do 1 teaspoon of sencha and 1 teaspoon of the tisane, and the same amount of mate to provide just a little kickstart. I think that that will elevate the flavors.