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Overboard Traveling tea box

I love banana flavored things and Frank uses a banana flavor that is so good; I was hoping it would be similar in this blend. I also tend to like his honey bush blends, so I had high hopes for this and I am pretty darned happy with the results! Even unsweetened, I taste the banana and a hint of something sweet, likely the caramel. I think I’ll be keeping the rest of this which is probably a good thing as I have been loading up the box with wishlist items of the next participants all evening.

(On a side note, I’ve seriously had 4 cups of the Pomegranate Oolong and its still going strong, but I figured I needed a break to try some other things since I have another traveling tea box on its way to me right now!)

Overboard Traveling tea box

I love me some green oolong, so I was quite excited to try this one. The leaves get so big that they take up the entire space of the poor sachet! I kind of want to “set them free” and let them expand to their likely enormous capacity. I tried to eat some cheese as a “palate cleanser”, but I don’t think it worked since now I can only taste cheese and creamy oolong… mmmm. Buttery green oolong might be one of my favorite things ever. I can taste a little bit of pomegranate even with the cheese (and unsweetened, win!), so I think I’ll be keeping these babies.

Overboard Traveling tea box

Can I claim it as a sipdown since it was the last sachet in the box? No? Maybe?

Anyway, I steeped this per the instructions and unsweetened I’m getting a bland black/green tea combo and maybe something trying to come through as fruit, but it’s barely detectable. Also, it’s a little sour. This is a shame since the sachet smelled so good and I had high hopes.

Sweetened, it’s a bit better. I’m getting some tropical fruit flavors… maybe pineapple and guava or maybe mango, but it’s not bursting and since it hardly came through without sweetener, I’m not considering this one all that successful. There are far better tropical greens out there; ones that don’t need sweetener to taste the fruit flavors and then if you do, pow! This one just isn’t quite there.

(backlog review)

I had a cute 1/2 ounce bag of this from one of the Davidstea sample sets. It’s been a couple days since I had this, so brief tasting note, especially since I recall it being rather unremarkable. There are a lot of chocolate mint teas on the market, especially rooibos blends, so I didn’t find this special and it definitely needed sweetener to taste any bit of chocolate that was included. Ho hum. I followed the general steeping instructions. I might add some cacao the next time I have it, but I wouldn’t buy it and am glad I only wound up with what amounted to a sample.

Overboard Traveling tea box

I think this is one of the very few times I haven’t had to sweeten my black tea. I can still taste fruit even with it unsweetened. I’m getting mostly berry (I think raspberry and maybe a bit of a stone fruit – apricot?). The black tea isn’t bitter, even with the 4 minute steep and it’s quite light in color. I used exactly 1 tsp in my mug (which is about 12oz – though I didn’t fill it all the way). Pleasantly unexpected.

I did a 2nd steep, with the same parameters as above, but I added sweetener. You can definitely taste the fruit more and it almost takes on a jammy effect. I am really enjoying this prepared both ways. I’m not sure I’d keep it around, since I don’t tend to drink a lot of black tea (it can aggravate my GERD and I have to be careful with my caffeine intake), but this doesn’t seem bitter or sour or too dry. I would consider it for a future order in a small quantity perhaps. Off the rest of the sample goes though. If you “don’t like black tea” try this.

Glad I had the opportunity to try it!

Sipdown!

(as you can see, I’m on a mission)

This got more ho-hum the more I drank it; in fact, I started adding some Tiesta Tea Nutty Almond Cream to the 2nd steep since it just wasn’t getting to the carrot cake for me, at least I gave the cream an oomph with the add in. Won’t be missing this but glad I was able to try before placing a S&V order!

(sample came from the 2nd herbal traveling tea box)

I like the coconut one better. This one has a fairly nondescript creamy taste, but I’m not getting carrot cake. It’s not bad by any means and if I was placing an order, I might throw a bit in my basket to reach the free ship minimum, but it’s definitely not a must-have in my opinion. Also, I greatly prefer the Della Terra version, even though it’s seasonal and/or discontinued. Either way, nice and creamy, a vague bready flavor, I added sweetener, so it’s sweet, but other than that I’m not getting carrot cake.

sipdown!

Finished up the last bit of the sample I had tonight. I have quite enjoyed this tea. Eventually I’ll make a Simpson and Vail order, but until then, it’ll be on the wishlist.

I found that I still had a few packs of this floating around when I did a bit of a clean up in preparation for the traveling tea boxes. This I did my version of cold brewing. Used the “hot” amount of “leaf” and boiling water, though I don’t think I’d enjoy this one warm. Let it steep for awhile and then stuck it in the fridge for a day or so. It was the perfect drink while I was cooking dinner this evening, since while hot tea is usually my drink of choice this time of year, when you’re dealing with a hot stove, a cold drink is a bit more refreshing.

Way too expensive for what it is, but if it pops up on the sale page again, I’d totally consider it. No sweetener needed, even if it is heavy and thus expensive.

sipdown!

I took quite a bit of this from one of the herbal traveling tea boxes (I think it was the 2nd iteration). Surprisingly, I hadn’t heard of this previously, as it is quite similar to the Della Terra chiffons. As I said in my initial tasting note, this is similar, though maybe a bit more rooibos-y; though I really can’t tell that much of a difference after I sweeten it. Would pick this up in a future order… but that won’t be for awhile yet.