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These instant Thai tea packets are such a guilty pleasure. I know, I know… (Instant tea? That’s like, a step lower than bagged tea! Burn the witch!) Hey, even I was skeptical! I am a huge fan of iced Thai tea when I go to Thai restaurants, and an online friend who enjoys these gave me one last year to review on my blog. I was certain it would be pretty subpar, but despite being essentially like an instant cocoa packet of “just add hot water and stir” to get a drink that tastes like Thai tea… I really liked it! I had never even tried the drink warm before, and found it so rich, sweet, and creamy!

When this winter rolled around, I kept thinking back to this stuff. I actually missed it. I live in an area that doesn’t have much cultural diversity, so something like this is hard to come by locally. So I finally broke down and ordered some of these packets online. Now I’m sitting down with my first cuppa of this instant Thai tea since last April. It is a really relaxing thick, warm, creamy drink, and I’m really enjoying this before bed. It really reminds me of a vanilla cocoa; it has such a sweet, creamy vanilla flavor, with a hot cocoa mouthfeel.

Does it hold up to actual Thai tea? Of course not (I still plan to try to get some Thai tea leaf and learn to prepare that with some fresh condensed milk on top at some point!). It doesn’t really taste of the actual tea in Thai tea, but rather has taken the flavorings, sweeteners, and condensed milk elements from the drink to make a delectable hot indulgent cocoa-like dessert drink that would appeal to sweet-tooths (and I unabashedly fit in that category). I find it entirely enjoyable for what it is, and will likely keep guiltily enjoying these packets for some time to come!

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/04/25/tea17/

I received a free eco-pyramid sachet teabag of this tea in an Art of Tea order. I enjoyed this spin on a lemon ginger tea; I’ve never had one using a rooibos/honeybush base, and the sweet flavor of those teas gives the whole tea a much sweeter profile than I’m used to with lemon ginger teas, which I found very pleasant. The citrusy lemon flavor was still quite noticeable, but the ginger had become much more subdued thanks to the sweeter rooibos/honeybush flavor of the tea (and I’m more of a fan of ginger in moderation, so as far as I’m concerned, this was an improvement). If you don’t like the taste of rooibos and honeybush it is quite prominent in this blend and you’ll probably be better off with a traditional lemon ginger herbal, but otherwise, if you like lemon ginger teas and want to try one with a sweeter edge to it, I’d highly recommend giving this a try!

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/04/18/tea16/

This is one of my favorite peach teas. It has a rich peach flavor, with a lot of fruity flavor notes. There is a bit of a subtle citrus-orange flavor beneath the peach in the aftertaste. I prefer to drink the tea sans sweetener as the tea has a lot of natural sweetness, but do find that adding just a touch tends to bring out some very subtle berry notes in the tea, which I didn’t really notice otherwise. The green rooibos is a nice base which is very light and takes the fruit flavors well; there are no lingering grassy or vegetative flavors like you might find in a similar green tea fruit blend. This is a great caffeine-free option for a strong peach-flavored sweet tea. It also makes a great iced tea! I find I can’t stand red rooibos iced (I love it warm, but something about icing it brings out a certain flavor to my palate that is cough syrupy to me!) but I have no problem at all with green rooibos as an iced drink, and this blend is very refreshing as an iced tea!

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/08/08/tea32/

Dinner is finished, it’s time to switch to dessert, and since my kettle was already set to “keep warm” at the temperature for green tea, I decided to try this one out, which I got as an extra sampler from tea-sipper inside a treasure trove cupboard sale of discontinued Bluebird teas! Thanks tea-sipper! I /think/ this may be my first dessert blend using a green tea base… My green tea blends tend to be fruity, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one go the “sweet and decadent” route, which makes me extremely curious!

As an American, I have never had this British dessert… I don’t even know what it looks like. So my brain has nothing to connect what flavors or aromas should be associated with the treat, so this should prove to be an interesting experience! To me the dry leaf smells a bit sweet, and I get some hints of caramel and vanilla in the aroma. Brewed up, the aroma is much more pronounced and /very/ pleasant! The tea has a very creamy mouthfeel, and I’m surprised the base is sencha because it reminds me more of a buttery Jin Xuan oolong! It has a very rich, sweet, caramel flavor, but the tea is very light and silky from the green tea base. This tea is delicious and a great dessert tea nightcap!

I wanted a light and simple tea to accompany my dinner tonight, so I decided to sipdown another of the T2 samplers I got from my massive T2 sampler sale haul. This is their genmaicha. I’ve actually only had one other genmaicha to date, so I haven’t exactly had a lot of tasting experience with them yet. I will say that when I tasted my first genmaicha (which I picked up at American Tea House in San Diego, which I’m going to guess is an average quality genmaicha at best), I really fell in love with that tea. It is probably one of my favorite kinds of green tea, and I find myself craving it often. I’m fairly certain that the genmaicha I’m used to is a standard blend using bancha leaf, so I was curious to try this one out, which uses sencha.

I guess I was expecting something different about the flavor, but I couldn’t really discern anything different in the taste from my other blend (perhaps it is using sencha leaf as well, or the difference is just too subtle for my under-developed palate to pick up on). The tea is tasty though, with the toasty, nutty, crisped rice flavors that made me such a fan of genmaicha tea. The green tea is very smooth and vegetal. The sampler had enough for two cups, and my first cup I made with my typical lighter steep (2 min) which was more subtle on the vegetal notes, which I enjoyed better than a darker steep (3 min) which I felt brought out some slight astringent qualities in the leaf, but also emphasized the vegetal flavors more. The tea held up to resteeping very well, and I managed to have several nice relaxing cups off only a two-serving sampler.

I have no doubt there are fancier genmaicha out there, but I found this tasty and enjoyable.

This is one of my favorite yerba mate blends that I’ve tried and a staple for me on mornings when I need an extra caffeine boost! I love anything and everything pumpkin, so I was very interested to try this one out, and while it didn’t have much of a pumpkin flavor, the pumpkin spices were so strong and flavorful and the tea so robust that after I finished off my sampler I restocked this one in my cupboard. The tea is best to me when a little heavy on the leaf, but it’s really economical so I don’t particularly feel bad about making a really strong cup; I usually use two teaspoons for a standard size 10 oz. mug or a tablespoon for one of my extra large size 12 oz. mugs. The base of the tea is this really nice blend of toasty roasted mate and sweetness from the rooibos and honeybush, and each sip is filled with a lot of tasty spices, namely cinnamon, clove, and mace (which tastes like a more robust nutmeg). I find that I don’t need to add sweetener, as the natural sweetness of the base and the stevia in the blend balances the spices well. The blend has a very rich, toasty, pumpkin spice feel, and I find it gives a very warm and toasty appeal. This is an excellent autumn blend that can be enjoyed any time, and it works well as a latte as well.

Full Review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/10/10/tea41/

This is one of my favorite teas! I’ve had very hit-or-miss experiences with flavored oolongs, but I really enjoy this one! The pouchong base has a very creamy and smooth mouthfeel, and the flavor of the tea is sweet and decadent, reminding me of lemon chiffon cake. It has a lot of sweet vanilla notes, with some subtle citrus in the finish. The tea resteeps well, and I find that often on my second steep I’ll get much stronger lemon notes in my cup. This tea is great both warm and iced, and I’ve even made tasty frozen pops out of it sweetened with honey! My mom didn’t care for this one (she didn’t like the vanilla flavor), but I can’t get enough of the silky vanilla citrus flavor.

Full review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2017/06/13/tea24/

Since I have chronic migraine, a nausea tea blend is a staple around my house. I picked up this one when I was on vacation at Steepers, a tea shop in Campbell, California, and the nice British lady that runs the shop said it was her personal blend. It includes peppermint, ginger, orange peel, and cinnamon, and it hasn’t done me wrong yet!

The tea tastes really, really minty! It is hard to tell there is anything else in the tea at all. If you savor it really slowly, you might just be able to pick out some subtle gingery notes beneath the mint, but you’d really have to be looking for it to notice it. As far as herbal health brews go, if you can handle mint teas, this is a pretty easy one to get down; I actually have a hard time with heavily-ginger-flavored teas, because of the heat it packs (especially when my stomach is feeling upset!), so while I’m not the biggest fan of a plain mint tea, I certainly prefer that over a tea with a more gingery-flavor when my stomach is nauseous. It’s like the mint creates a nice cooling shield for the ginger I know I need, which I actually appreciate. It’s a very settling tea and a good choice for an upset tummy, if perhaps not the most exciting in the taste department.

Full Review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/tea57/

This tea is my go-to brew for sore throats. It got me through a nasty bought of Viral Pharyngitis, and is my most gifted tea whenever I have a friend or coworker that has the sniffles or a cough. The peppermint/licorice root/clove combination is a winner for throat maladies, and not only that, it tastes great, too! It has a brisk, minty flavor, but there is this refreshing burst of sweetness from the licorice root in the finish that keeps the menthol from getting too overwhelming, a problem I have with a lot of mint teas. I can also pick up just a hint of this clove flavor on the back of my tongue, but it isn’t a spiciness, just a taste added to the overall profile, since the tea is so naturally sweet. I /really/ like that, since normally clove is only present in really spicy teas. It compliments the mint flavor in such a fascinating way! The tea blend is quite simple, with very few ingredients, but each are used in just the right way. Everything feels balanced and meant to be there, when so many blends feel filled with superfluous ingredients that often times can’t be tasted or seem puzzling why they are present. This is not only an excellent tea if you’re stuck with a winter cold, but an excellent tea, period.

Full Review: https://teatimetuesdayreviews.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/tea57/

Oh man. I realize that there are teas that taste bad but are worth drinking for their health benefits but… no. Just no. I don’t care how bad I need “hormonal balance” for migraines or what other women’s health shenanigans this raspberry leaf will probably help me with, this stuff tastes Nasty. Yes, with a capital N.

Now, to be fair, I can actually swallow it, which is more than I can say for another women’s tea blend I had in the past that had alfalfa in it, which was so bad that I gagged on it and had to promptly throw it in the garbage. There is a slight sweetness to this, and even some very subtle berry-like notes, but the dominant flavor is this really unpleasant grassy taste. Not a nice, vegetative, green tea sort of grassiness, but like I’ve actually just steeped a cup of lawn clippings. Blech.

I could certainly finish this cup if I felt inclined, and if I really did want to get the benefits of raspberry leaf for women’s health, there are certainly worse options out there (PTSD flashbacks to that alfalfa tea…) But I have this lovely blend, Raspberry Limeade by Nil Organic Tea, that uses whole loose raspberry leaf where it is mixed with lime extract, raspberry flavor, and hibiscus, among other things, and they’ve masked most of that unpleasant leafy taste and turned it into a refreshing summer punch flavor. Now that is the sort of way I’d rather take my raspberry leaf! Give me the whole “spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down” approach.

…Does it count as a sipdown if I toss the box of this I was gifted into the trash? (shifty eyes)