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May Flowers! Apparently this seems to be a “love it or hate it” tea, but I am most definitely in the “love it” category, and it has remained a permanent staple in my cupboard ever since I tasted my first cup at local coffee haunt Twin Beans on a cold winter day when I was in an herbal mood. The leaf has an aroma that reminds me of root beer, and the tea is such a relaxing warm brew! I pick up a minty flavor that is a bit like a cross between spearmint and wintergreen, and as the mint closes there is this honeyed sweetness and slight anise note, and those flavors combined taste like root beer on my palate. There is a minty sweetness that lingers on the tongue and is just wonderful!

This tea includes chamomile and lavender, and I can make out a very subtle chamomile flavor, but thankfully for me it is so well blended into the mix of herbals that I hardly even notice it (I have a particular dislike for the flavor of chamomile), and though I love lavender, I don’t notice its flavor at all in this blend. However, I still get a very relaxed sensation whenever I sip on this tea. I love to drink this before bed; it’s sweet, yet very soothing.

Since this tea has such a strong “root beer” flavor note for me, I decided to try it as an iced tea for the first time. I was surprised how well it still holds up! Honestly, I think I still prefer it warm, because there is just a really relaxing feeling to the hot aroma and feel of the warm tea and the way the particular flavors sort of linger on the tongue, but the iced tea still has a very nice, refreshing flavor. It still has a very minty taste with that sweetness that tastes similar to root beer, but I think it comes across just a little more subdued, like certain notes have gotten lost in the chill. I think I may add some honey to my iced pitcher and see if that doesn’t spruce it up; I don’t normally sweeten my teas, even my iced ones, but I have found in the past that sometimes helps my chilled brew. I certainly won’t have any troubles finishing the quart, regardless.

Flavors: Anise, Honey, Mint, Root Beer, Spearmint, Sweet

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Lexie Aleah

Hopefully they don’t discontinue it. It sounds delightful I love how well licorice and spearmint type flavors pair together.

Mastress Alita

It won their “Customer Favorite” award in 2016, so I’m hoping that will mean this one will be saved from their purging practices. I’m pretty bummed to discover they are getting rid of their Strawberry Oolong. * sad face *

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Lexie Aleah

Hopefully they don’t discontinue it. It sounds delightful I love how well licorice and spearmint type flavors pair together.

Mastress Alita

It won their “Customer Favorite” award in 2016, so I’m hoping that will mean this one will be saved from their purging practices. I’m pretty bummed to discover they are getting rid of their Strawberry Oolong. * sad face *

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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