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I’m having this tonight since I’m having a bit of acid reflux flare up lately and while I’m on meds it’s usually best to avoid caffeine. I hope it isn’t tannins + caffeine. :( This is my first black tea in days and it’s been killing me. I’ve had Honeysuckle White from Shang and Strawberry Green from Kusmi – both fine but they sure aren’t my beloved Yunnans or Bi Luo Chun blacks.

Luckily this is one tasty decaf black. :) I forgot I just got some more or I would have been drinking it for several days now!

To those who have sent me teas or swapped with me lately, I promise I’ll get to your teas in a couple of weeks. :)

I like this one. It’s got a good, solid vanilla but it doesn’t taste chemical or fake and the Golden Monkey comes through quite nicely. I think this and Minted Monkey are the only non-straight GMs I’ve had. While overall I still prefer them straight, these two from Tippy’s are really solid offerings. I think this tea also settles for me that I like Madagascar vanilla but not Bourbon vanilla.

I do like this hot. It tastes… sumptuous and decadent. But I made some before I got distracted today. Went off to my hair appointment and it sat on the counter for an hour or so. Completely cold when I returned. Not luxurious so much now but seriously floral and heavily bergamot. It’s official. I like this one hot and really like it cold. :)

Ost was nice enough to share this. I really did drink this some time ago. I just now ran across my tasting note that I jotted down while at work! :)

I may have oversteeped but this isn’t going to be my thing. I like my GM smooth and sweet. This was very harsh with a smoky smell and an ashy taste. Glad to have tried it but it’s another Teavana that I don’t need to worry about getting any of!

This smells great. The wet leaves – ah, I can sniff and dream of pie. A sweet lime scent. The taste is definitely that dry key lime taste. I’m going to use my samples, but I won’t get more. It’s perfectly fine, but I think I prefer my key limes mixed with cream cheese or in a pie rather than in my tea. :)

When I had this one tonight it honestly came across as more sweet than floral. Almost in a bubble gummy kind of way. It was seriously tasty. Still jasmine but not the perfumey jasmine that I also love. This might be a jasmine for people who want to like jasmine but can’t stand floral teas. :) I get a few small bitter notes as the cup becomes completely cold. But I used a lower water temp than I think I have before and steeped for less time. Might also have contributed to the surprising sweetness. Upping rating based on this steep.

My goodness, this is good. Sweet, malt, bread, honey… This is one of those teas that leaves what looks like oily film on the cup. I believe those are the oils in the tannins, right? My empty cup is all polka dotty when empty. :)

Man this is good.

Very light peach flavor, deeper peach & apricot scent. The flavor reminds me of peaches that aren’t really ripe. Not fully peach flavored but the idea of peach is there. :)
Overall it’s not a bad cup but nothing I have to keep around after it’s gone. Might try overleafing next time.

This is definitely tasty. Sweet, moderate to strong malt, smooth even after a looooong steep time. No mineral notes showing up at the longer times. I am glad to have gotten in on Marzipan’s group order with Tao. Also glad to find that while I like this one, I don’t have to replace it as I have other GMs I like that don’t involve Canadian shipping. :)

Interesting. This has more butter notes initially than other GMs I’ve tried. They add a nice rich smoothness. It smells moderately of smoke but that flavor doesn’t show up until about 6 minutes of steep. The longer the steep, the more minerally it gets and the more the smoke comes to the fore. Sweet spot for this one with me is about 1.5-2 minutes. Before the butter gets overwhelmed by minerals. The buttery notes make this one stand out. Take those away and it’s a good GM but not distinguishable from others.