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Grabbed this as my next packet of old holiday tea to sip down. The dry leaf has a raspberry cream aroma.

Steeped 2.5g in 350ml 175F water for 2 minutes. I’m still getting a raspberry cream aroma from the cup, though it is quite delicate, and I can small the sharpness of the grassy green beneath it. The green tea base has a nice fresh, grassy taste, with just a hint of a vegetal pea note, rather than the musty-funk I get from older green tea. The fruitiness I’m getting is more of a soft/sweet berry flavor and is lacking the sort of tang that would define that closer to raspberry for me. There is also a soft vanilla/cream note. Overall, the flavoring is quite gentle here, but this is also an older tea for me. I can sort of get a “raspberry cupcake with vanilla frosting” vibe, I just wish it was sharper/more pronounced.

Still a satisfying afternoon cuppa.

Finally got through some very much needed house cleaning today, in which I guzzled through the last of a coldbrew mason jar I had in the fridge. Thankfully I had set up another mason jar of coldbrew last night — this tea! — and just needed to strain it to continue getting much-needed chug-style hydration.

This blend is a 2018 reblend. The dry leaf has a lovely lemon cream aroma… reminds me of Tazo Lemon Loaf on the nose. Coldbrewed, I’m getting a very refreshing wet rock minerality and fresh damp grassiness from the green tea, with a somewhat sweet/creamy lemon flavor that retains a citrus sharpness toward the end of the sip. There is also a mellow herbaceous/hay quality in the background, which I’m guessing is from the lemon grass.

Bright, refreshing, and very thirst-quenching! Exactly what I needed to recharge after cleaning-cardio.

Happy National Pear Day! Today the prompt is to drink a tea with pear flavor notes.

Found this old (yet still sealed) bag that I purchased from a cupboard sale by Ost, back in 2018. Thank you, Ost!

Normally I won’t drink caffeinated tea after 6 p.m., but the dry leaf of this looked far more like a chunky fruit herbal blend than a flavored white tea blend, so I’m expecting anything from the tea leaves to be minimal enough to not effect my sleep (and if I’m wrong, at least tomorrow is Sunday).

I decided to steep this like I normally steep herbals as well… just a big, haphazard scoop into a fillable teabag that is left in the cup while I drink. The tea does have a nice, very pear forward aroma while steeping. On the tongue, I am getting a sort of mixed pear/apple fruity flavor, and, oddly enough, an unplaced floral note. Midsip and lingering after the swallow is a nice ginger flavor, certainly present, warming, and lingering, but not spicy-hot/burny. I’m tasting cinnamon as well, and I think the sweetness of the cinnamon is probably taking some of the edge off the ginger being spicy.

I like the flavor combo. I’m a big ginger fan but find ginger-forward teas tend to be too hot for me, and this is just the right balance of warming spice and sweet fruit.

Not long ago, I decided I really needed to stock up the pantry with some quick-and-easy teabag herbals, as I’ve been quickly using up my non-caffeinated loose leaf due to my “no caffeine after 6 pm” rule. I remember hearing about the limited “Forager’s Edition” teas exclusive to Target (four blends, each “inspired by” a different region of the US). When I went, Target was sold out of the Midwest blend, Wild Apple Sarsaparilla, so I went home with a box each of the other three.

Then, gmathis was kind enough to offer me a sample so I could try all of them! Today I (finally) got out to the mailbox and was surprised with a beautiful card, kind note, and two teabags. So I am now steeping it up as my nightly cuppa today!

The aroma from my steeped cup is giving me sort of a caramel apple vibe… I smell apple, but there is a sweet vanilla/caramel sort of note as well. On the sip, I taste green apples, and it actually has more of a bite to it than the syrupy sweetness that plays on the nose. Sort of an herbaceous peppery flavor… which, looking at the ingredients on the package, I’m going to guess is coming from the cardamom. After the swallow, a sweetness plays out on my tongue… I do taste licorice root, but mildly, without the long, coating-sensation sweetness. I’m actually having a hard time making out the sarsaparilla, which is what interested me the most in the blend (I’m a big fan of it!) I had been initially worried about the chamomile (a flavor I’m not keen on) but the flavors/spices in this tea completely cover up that weird “soapy” taste I get with chamomile.

This is really pleasant! A nice blend to unwind after what felt like a very long work week. Thank you so much, gmathis!

I think with perhaps the exception of tea-sipper, I may be the only person on the site not doing an advent. I’d rather sipdown the gobs of old-and-getting-older tea in my cupboard… many of which are old holiday teas. Likely from advents past.

So this is the first packet I’ve pulled out. Only had enough time to steep for about 3 minutes rather than the recommended 5 as I was running late for work and needed to get it in the thermos and out the door.

Sipping on it now, as its been a few hours and cool enough in my thermos for easy drinking. I have never had eggnog, and thus don’t know what it should taste like (this year, I’m going to get some and finally scratch that itch). So maybe it is my lack of flavor experience, but all I’m really tasting is mate. Very good mate, less on the hay/herbaceous side and coming out more nutty/coffee-like. It has a sort of spicy scent on the nose, but it isn’t coming out that strongly on the tongue… perhaps slightly nutmegish?

It’s warming and the roasty/nutty flavor is hitting the spot on a cold, under-slept morning.

Steeped up a cup of this tonight. I get a strong cinnamon aroma from the cup, but also, oddly enough, apples. I wonder if the caramel/cinnamon is just creating an apple association? But it is a strong cinnamon apple cider sort of aroma, while the cup is really hot.

In flavor, I mostly just taste a sweet cinnamon rooibos… a little bready, a little nutty, a little woody, lots of cinnamon. I don’t taste caramel, but am picking up a sweetness to the tea.

It isn’t really reminding me of caramel monkey bread, but it is a pleasant nightly cuppa.

Cold brewed. I enjoy the taste, but I honestly don’t notice any difference, flavor-wise, between this and Murchie’s “Pink Lemonade” tea, which I sipped down rather recently. The Murchie’s blend is all herbal, while this tea is on a white tea base, but I’m not really getting anything from either the flavor or body of the tea where the white tea is making any difference. Tastes like a hibiscus fruit tea, with a tangy and pithy/juicy citrus flavor, overlaying the tart hibiscus fruit punch base.

Between the two, I think I do prefer the fully-herbal Murchie’s blend, which was a bit punchier/authentic with the citrus. This blend has some lovely, huge hibiscus flowers (rather than just the cut/sifted petals) but was lacking the citrus chunks/peels and instead used strong flavoring on a weak white base. They do taste strikingly similar, but other than the increased weight from the ingredients, I think I prefer the chunkier and more natural herbal/fruit tea.

Happy National French Toast Day! Today the prompt is to drink a tea with flavor notes of a French Toast topping! I just decided to go with this tea that has “French Toast” in the title, which has been in my stash since 2018. I bought it on vacation to the Bay Area in California, which, back then, had several physical DAVIDsTEA locations. Now, all the physical DAVIDsTEAs in the US are closed. So… old tea, as per usual!

Still smells nice in the bag, though… like sweet lemon, and definitely cardamom. Brewed, it smells even sweeter, giving off a sort of honey graham cracker sort of aroma, as well as the citrus and cardamom.

Base has a malty/baked bread quality. The sip has a sweet cinnamon-sugar flavor, with a strong pop of cardamom that takes hold mid-sip and lingers on the tongue, but not in a spicy-hot way. There is a lemony note to the tea, which is amplified a bit by the citrusy taste of the cardamom.

It’s nice. The spice of the cardamom is smoothed by the sweetness leaving a nice cardamom flavor that doesn’t burn. I still enjoy the elusive 52Teas’ “Coconut French Toast with Cardamom Maple Syrup” more, though.

Happy (American) Thanksgiving! Today the prompt is to drink a tea with flavor notes of a favorite Thanksgiving dish!

Sooooooooo… I know what you’re thinking. Instant Thai tea packets?! I live alone, without any friends or family for states. I have a sister that lives in-state, and is only a 2 hour drive away, but she has worked management in retail for over a decade now, which means she can’t be seen, period, during the holidays. So this cultural idea of a big meal at a family get-together just doesn’t exist for me.

Being in this situation, I have to create my own traditions, and my Thanksgiving tradition is to buy GOBS of Thai food the day before when restaurants are still open, and just work my way through all the leftovers on Thanksgiving. Ergo, Thai tea is the perfect fit for my “favorite Thanksgiving dish”!

These have long been a guilty pleasure of mine. I shouldn’t enjoy instant tea as much as I enjoy these things. A combination of instant powdered black tea, sugar, and cream, this brews that classic, guady, 70s orange of Thai tea, and tastes really thick and creamy… like hot chocolate, only vanilla-flavored instead of chocolate. So indulgent!

I pulled this 2018 acquisition as my next caffeine-free nightly tea to work through. I’m surprised I haven’t tried this yet, as I love lavender-forward teas!

This is a very sweet tea! Not the puckeringly-sweet licorice root bomb that their “Spa Day” was, but enough that I question why they felt the need to add licorice root and stevia leaf to this one. I’m not getting a distinct flavor of either of those things, but the sweetness of the tea is pushing the vanilla flavor into a sort of “over-the-top” vanilla frosting note, and the rooibos base tastes like pure, golden honey. The lavender is absolutely lovely, giving the cup a lovely fragrance and plenty of lavender flavor (I find a lot of lavender teas are quite light-handed with it, moreso than I personally would prefer, and this is definitely in the camp of generous lavender). Sometimes I get a vegetal-bitter quality from lavender that is too strong or brewed too long, but thanks to the sweetness of this tea, I can leave the fillable teabag in the cup indefinitely and it nevers goes bitter.

It could do with a little less sweetness, but I’m happy with the flavor overall.