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The fellas at Andrews & Dunham seemed so damn sure of their product at the 2013 NY Coffee & Tea Festival that I felt compelled to purchase a canister of their Tiger Assam. When I brew a pot at home, this sassy cuppa can’t be contained to a single serving. Bold as the stripes of its namesake, it’s the “Kick-Ass” in “Assam”. Enjoy it straight, without creamer or sweetener. The only thing that would enhance its awesomeness is if you play “Eye of the Tiger” while you’re steeping it.

This is a review for the Spinach Chive. I received it as a sample at the Coffee and Tea Festival. It has a variety of dried organic vegetables and decaffinated green tea. The instructions recommend you steep the tea bag in boiling water (covered with a lid) for about 10 minutes, then for ultimate flavor, gently squeeze the bag to extract more liquid. As for the taste, it was…interesting. Of course, you went into it thinking that it would taste strange, due to the spinach, chive, garlic, and the other vegetable-based ingredients. But it wasn’t bad! I like to think of this as a vegetable-based tisane. Even though there is green tea in this blend, it’s not a predominant note. Dry, it smells like spinach and a blend of Italian spices. In the cup, you can smell the spinach and chives. And taste—well, spinach water with a hint of garlic on the finish. I wouldn’t write this off entirely. I can totally see the benefits of a savory tea as a cooking mechanism. Feeling sick but can’t be arsed to get veggies into your system? Want to cook some veggie broth but you don’t want purchase a carton of vegetable stock or buy bullion? Then get this! This would be a good enhancement to any savory dishes you are cooking in your kitchen.

Predominant notes of lavender, sweet honey, and a hint of coconut. I was surprised to find myself nodding off after drinking a mug of this tea.

I just finished a bag of Ginger & Tumeric. A bit of a lingering sweetness on the finish, but I did enjoy this tea for its stomach soothing properties.

I go to Bliss Spa in DC frequently and they serve Tea Forte in their relaxation lounge. I have tried the company’s fancier-packaged teas, however, this one is a plain paper tea bag. I agree with a previous reviewer; this tea is a good introduction to green teas if you typically dislike them. You can taste the sencha, but the lemon is more prominent. It doesn’t clash with the tea. I felt like it tasted like green tea with a squeeze of lemon juice, versus citrus zest. I probably would not purchase this for myself.

Tried this the other day as recommended by the description: Viet-style, with condensed milk. I didn’t have it iced, though. Interesting blend of flavors. It doesn’t pack a sugar-rush whammy like Vietnamese iced coffee with milk (ca phe sua da) but it wasn’t bad, either. It was the last of my stash, so unfortunately, I won’t be able to continue my experiment further.

This is a review for the iced tea version. At $0.99/bottle on sale, how could I resist? Honest Tea is the company that turned me to lightly sweetened ice teas, so they have a soft place in my heart. This one tastes a bit odd, like you can almost taste the blackberry and raspberry powder. If you are looking for a loose-leaf tea, I would recommend DavidsTEA’s “Bear Trap” over this one.

You know what makes this tea awesome? The fact that there’s a picture of an over-caffeinated lemur on the package. That in itself is almost worth the purchase. As far as tea goes, this falls along the same vein as Celestial Seasonings. Not the best quality but it has its place. This is especially good if you doctor it up with milk and sugar. I have also used it to make vanilla tea-infused granola multiple times, so it gets extra points for that. It’s finely milled, so you don’t have to put it through the spice grinder.