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AuraTeas sent me 4 free Oolong samples (an offer on their facebook page). This is the first one. This oolong is a little grassy and is chewy. It has floral and fruity (peach) notes at the end of the sip and in the aftertaste. The beginning of the sip is grassy. It brewed up to a beautiful golden yellow color. I like it. I don’t love it. But, I don’t personally like teas on the grassy end of the spectrum.

Oh man! I was all ready to love this tea. But I don’t. I want to scrub my tongue with a rough towel. I got it because it was a green rooibos, which I’ve been wanting to try… and I figured berry was pretty safe. I’ve been saving this sample for a long time and just totally expected it to be lovely.

The tea leaves are green leafy with beautiful pinkish and blue flowers. It’s a beautiful golden/orangy color when brewed. The taste it kind of like a mango tea with roses and the scent is potpourri. bleah. So floral. No berry. H8.

I’m not sure why I’ve waited so long to taste this one because it’s pretty good. The smell of the leaves is grape jelly. Once brewed, the smell is of black tea with a little berry fruitiness. The taste is yummy… a nice mellow black tea followed by the grape jelly flavor and then… wait for it… ah, there… the blackberry. You’ll definitely want a little sweetener in here, but of course you’d sweeten your blackberries too, right?

I think this will make a great iced tea and I’ve got a glass of it cold brewing in the fridge (with bottled water this time – in case you didn’t see it the other day, our water is contaminated due to local flooding and lots of cows).

iced. I think I definitely like this better hot, although it does make an ok iced tea. I didn’t have much of my sample left so I made a very small glass of iced tea. I taste mostly mint. I’d love to taste the black in this a little more when made into iced tea. Not lowering my rating on this, because I did find it to be really tasty when hot. I think I like all teas better hot. :)

I got this tea as a free sample from Chicago Tea Garden. I am drinking the second steeping of this tea because I gave my husband the first steeping and according to the directions I don’t have enough tea for more than 1.5 cups (I have just enough left for a tiny mug). So I used the amount suggested and made 2 steepings saving the small amount of tea left for another day.

The leaves are really pretty: golden in color and rolled up into little curly-q balls. The tea has no bitterness and very little astringency. It is nice and malty. I’m trying really hard to come up with something that makes this tea special and I am only finding the smoothness of the tea to be special. Otherwise, it tastes like a black tea.

5g to 11 oz.

Well, I have to say that this one is not my favorite. I don’t drink almost any green tea ever because it gives me migraines (wanted to at least give this a tasting though since Daniel at Georgia Tea Co sent me a sample of it) and I don’t really like mango and papaya all that much… so it might actually be impossible for me to like it.

The smell before brewing was overwhelming in the fruitiness. Once brewed, the fruitiness is still pretty strong but not overwhelming. The Mango takes center stage here. I can taste the green tea in this, but it’s almost lost. Not my cup of tea, but someone who really likes mango & tropical fruit will surely love it.

It’s a nice day here and I’m sitting on the front porch working and drinking tea. The cottonwoods are blowing, so its a challenge to keep the fluff out of the tea. If you have never seen cottonwoods (a cottonwood is a tree) in the spring, imagine that someone took cottonballs and shredded them and then threw them in the air. It looks like it’s lightly snowing, but it’s not. It’s 70 degrees.

On to the tea…
The leaves unbrewed in the bag have a peachy smell. I don’t know if that is just that some other sample leached some scent or not. The leaves had some large pieces of vanilla bean mixed in. Brewed, the tea smells earthy with a hint of vanilla. The taste is a nice black tea without bitterness with a touch of vanilla. I’d personally love more vanilla in this tea but I like my vanilla teas to have a big punch (just my personal preference).

2.5 tsp to a giant mug.

I’ve been burned by so many fruit teas that I was hesitant to try this one. I put it in a drawer when I got it and I’ve been giving it the evil eye every time I open the drawer. But not to fear, this one is good! Thanks to Daniel from Georgia Tea Company for sending me a sample of this.

I’m not sure what’s in it and I can’t find it on the website. Looks like pomegranate, carrots (?), pineapple, blue blossoms… and maybe apple? It interestingly tastes like it has vanilla too. The flavor is raspberry vanilla orange (in that order)… with a creamsicle flavor at the end. I’m guessing the raspberry is actually the pomegranate since I think those flavors are similar.

The more I drink it, the more I like it. Sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be sharing the rest of this sample. :P

Sweetened with a touch of agave nectar.
2 heaping tsp to 11 oz.

I like this tea. The black base seems to be of high quality. It’s not bitter at all and it has some earthiness in the smell. The flavoring is nice, but tastes more like peaches than currants… it’s almost like a mix of peaches and raisins. I like it more and more as it cools.

I think this would make an excellent iced tea and will try that sometime later this week.