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You know, this doesn’t really do much for me in the chocolate department. I mostly get rooibos from it. Not even really great rooibos. I’ve tried steeping it for many different lengths of time, and the spices of the chai don’t even come through very strongly. There might be a faint sort of gingery tang, but I’m really trying to perceive this. Mostly I’d say the flavoring is quite weak.

Pausing to sip and think some more ****

Maybe a touch of sweetness in addition to the rooibos? But I’m definitely trying to taste it. Maybe this tea has gotten a bit stale, but I wasn’t very impressed with it when I first opened the tin either.

I received this one as part of a kit that my parents brought back from the UK- and it’s actually become one of my favorites among the mostly black teas that the kit contained. While the green tea falls to the background, and I really only taste bright orange, it’s a nice afternoon cup. I’ve been digging citrusy teas lately, as we’re having a warm spell in the southern U.S. This tea, in addition to also being great iced, seems to lift my mood in general. It’s a milder version of the Tazo Orange tea.

One of my favorite things on the planet is the combination of orange and pu-ehr. Alas, the blood orange pu-ehr is being discontinued on David’s (I think?) so I decided to try this blend. Chocolate could only increase the deliciousness, I assumed.

Actually, the problem I’m having is that the chocolate seems to be “pooing” all over the pu-ehr, so I can barely taste the delicious tea. I’m definitely getting orange and chocolate flavor when I sip, but there might as well be almost no tea in the mix. It’s a good orange and chocolate– definitely a nice dessert tea– but I think I’ll go back to my simpler pu-ehr blends after I finish this bag. I’ll also try doing a shorter steep and see if that helps.

In first-world tragedies, I was making this tea for the first time, and I reached over my sink with the open packet when…oh… no… it fell from my hands into a bowl filled with water that was soaking in the sink. I fished it out right away and somehow convinced myself that the inside of the packet hadn’t gotten wet. But when I went to scoop some tea out, I learned the horrible truth.

So I made all of the tea.

I’ll be drinking this all day.

The dry tea (the packet was open because I was sniffing it) smelled like the Rose Petal Ice Cream that was served at my old high-school employer’s shop. That, in turn smelled like the rose pastilles in a mock-Victorian tin, sold at the General Store next door to the ice cream shop. My Northeastern Town liked to fancy itself quaint in the mid-90s, you see. Now it has a Dunkin Donuts and a Starbucks on the main street.

Anyway, I like this tea! If I were having a tea party, I’d definitely serve it. I’d make lemon frosted scones and serve them alongside, and invite all the nice ladies I know. We’d drink this outside (hmmm I have no patio furniture) and gossip and whatnot. Yeaaah that’s what I’d do.
The green tea really fades to the back; this is is sweet rose candy. It’s the rose counterpart to jasmine tea. Raising pinky

Wow, I made Indian food for dinner tonight, but it’s this tea that has filled my house with a delicious aroma. The sprinkles that were in the dry blend melted away in my cup, as did the freeze dried ice cream. This really does smell like birthday cake, and if tasting is so much about our sense of smell, it’s no wonder I feel like I am drinking a not-too-sweet version of birthday cake.

Totally impressed.

On my first steeping of this I went for a full 7 minutes to get the strongest flavor, and I’m drinking it with no additions to get the best sense of how cake-y it really is.

The only down side is that it leaves a sort of cloying feeling in my mouth. Shmeck. Shmeck.

I’m trying David’s teas for the first time this week, and I am already irritated that I live in stupid Houston, and we have no David’s stores here. This is probably my new favorite dessert tea.

Got this as a free sample from David’s, who are clearly trying to suck me in… and it’s working. This is a really pleasant black tea. And when I am done drinking it, I think I am going to go drive to a coffee shop to get some work done. Sheesh, that was unrelated, me.

Anyway, this really is a great winter holiday blend, or a great autumnal blend. My phone says it’s 26 degrees C here, but it actually feels cool somehow. So I broke out this sample right away to take advantage of the weird autumnal sense I had of the air.

I tasted the apple right away, and was worried that this was going to be a potpourri-tasting autumn tea. But with each sip the apple receded more, and the cloves/cinnamon came forward. I can actually envision this tea being good at a longer steep time; 5 minutes didn’t make it at all bitter, and the packet recommends 4-7.
I’m digging this one. I might even order it. I don’t tend to sweeten my tea, but I’d consider it with this one.

Not really sure why I am taking the time to review this, as it’s the kind of tea most people know whether they like or not. Honestly, I’d never buy it either, but someone left a box in my house and I’ve been having a bag daily before I turn to a loose-leaf black tea I like better.

So, now that my snobbery is out of the way, it’s actually not a bad black tea. I have been alternating between drinking it black, and with a touch of vanilla soy milk. This is a good mid-afternoon tea for me (evidence, it’s 2:45PM). I usually start to drag after lunch, and if I want to get a bit of work done in the early afternoon, a cup of black tea definitely helps.

Sometime in late June I became infatuated with plain black tea. I’m normally a bit of a gimmicky-flavored tea drinker, but it suddenly became my favorite thing to drink after I was served it with shortbread cookies one day, and left to drink it slowly on a comfortable sofa.

I’m also Irish-American, so, um, maybe I’m genetically biased towards this tea. Going to try an English breakfast tea next to see if I can tell the difference.

Anyway, I’m careful not to steep this one too long. At 3 minutes it’s a bit peppery, almost like a very lightly scented earl grey.

I’ve been drinking this a lot lately. It actually has quite a rootbeery/chicory kick to it; I get some of the same notes from this that I do the 52Teas’ Butterbeer tea. It definitely has just a bit of a tart berry backdrop, but for me that’s not the dominant note. And in my cups of this stuff I haven’t tasted much mint either.

I live in the American south, and I love me a minty cocktail… I’m just not sure this tastes like one. That said, I am enjoying it. It reminds me a bit of a champagney themed tea 52Teas made a while back, in addition to the rootbeery thing it’s got going on.

Not a re-order one for me, but it’s a decent tea.