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I got this in last month’s Tea Sparrow box, and to be honest, I wasn’t expecting to like it at all. Rooibos with lavender, sage, bergamot, and purple carrot? Weird. It smells floral and herbal and I was feeling pretty skeptical. But I actually really like it! It is very well-named – the strongest and best descriptor I have for this tea is “earthy”. The rooibos is there as a base, and the lavender is identifiable, but everything else just blends together into “herbal” and a sense memory of walking through a shaded forest. Very calming and grounding.

Holy crap. So, I’ve always felt like the tea bag version of this was decent, so I impulse-bought a bag of the loose-leaf kind a while ago, and didn’t actually open it until now. Smelling the open bag is kind of like being punched in the face with spice, and not in a good way. There’s definitely clove oil, but my little bottle of clove essential oil smells mild by comparison, so I’m guessing the rest of the face-punching is cardamom oil and “natural flavour of cinnamon”. I brewed 1tsp in 8oz of water for 4min and immediately added some sugar and milk, but it was still overpoweringly spicy and I could barely taste the black tea. I initially tried a 3min 2nd steep, but that just created slightly spicy hot water. Now the leaves are back in the hot water and they’re over in the corner of my kitchen having a time out and thinking about what they’ve done. I can’t win with this tea. I’m considering blending a little with a sturdy black tea to see if that balances it out, maybe simmer the whole thing in milk on the stove and add plenty of sugar. If all else fails, I think I could put a little in my essential oil diffuser and use it as a home fragrance. WTF Stash, I think of you as one of the better grocery store brands, how is this so bad?

I like this tea. It tastes like bright ginger on a smooth, earthy base. I find it strangely soothing. I’ll be buying more of this.

I think I bought this just because it smelled sooo good in the store. It smells just like it sounds – lots of lychee and jasmine. I decided to use this to test out the iced tea infusion pitcher my mom bought me. I brewed the tea hot, added a couple tablespoons of honey, and then put the pitcher in the fridge to cool. This made a really delicious iced tea! The sweetness from the honey really complements the lychee flavour, and it balances well with the jasmine. I suspect it’s also relatively high in caffeine, because it definitely perks me up!

This one has been sitting in my cupboard for a while. I remember it having a bit of bitterness, but I was probably steeping it with boiling water back in the day! Oops. So this time I steeped it for 3min with 80 degree water and it’s actually really smooth and mellow. I think I’ll try slightly hotter water next time to see if I can get the mint to pop a bit more.

My second chamomile citrus tea for the night! I’m going to have to stop telling people I don’t like chamomile at this rate. The scent of the dry tea is intense lemon! and orange! and then some faint chamomile in the background. Brewed, the scent mellows out considerably to a more generic citrus, and I can detect the lemongrass and maybe a hint of the mint. The taste is also quite citrusy, a bit tart (but in a good way – maybe that’s the hibiscus but if so it’s quite subtle) and an interesting blend with orange peel, lemongrass, and lemon myrtle all contributing. I can barely detect the chamomile, which works pretty well for me, but might not be a plus for you chamomile fans out there. :)

I got this as part of a sampler set from amodatea.com – full disclosure, I’m not a big fan of chamomile on its own. Having said that, this tisane is lovely. The dry tea is just gorgeous: chamomile blossoms, pink and blue petals, lemongrass, lots of colours. The scent both dried and brewed is a pleasing blend of chamomile and citrus with a background of floral/tangy/sweet. To taste, it’s very smooth and pleasant to drink, with the same complex blend of flavours. The predominant flavours are definitely chamomile and citrus, but they’re very well-balanced. Lovely bedtime tea.

Mmmm, the smell of this dry tea is amazing, kind of like a really cinnamony oatmeal cookie. With almonds. Brewed, more of the apple comes out, and it starts to smell like apple pie in a cup. If you add milk and sugar, it actually tastes like apple pie in a cup. :) Without, it’s just a really lovely apple and cinnamon tisane with a smooth nutty/creamy finish.

Looking at the dry tea, I was surprised that the black tea was in the form of little nuggets, rather than rolled leaves like I’m used to. Upon further reading, I think this is probably due to CTC processing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush,Tear,Curl).

The scent of the dry tea is VERY spicy and rich. I think the most prominent note is cloves? Once brewed, the scent mellows out quite a bit. I don’t appreciate any chocolatey scents either dry or brewed, it’s all just spicy to me. Also, for a chai tea, the spice blend really says “Christmas!” to me, not “India!”.

The taste is enjoyable – I had this cup without any sweetener or milk and it was entirely drinkable that way. The black tea base is smooth with just a bit of astringency. I could swear there’s some sort of orange flavour in this tea, blending with cinnamon and cloves. I don’t really appreciate any of the chocolate or the chili, unfortunately.

I like this tea, but to me it tastes more like a “Christmas Blend” than a “Chocolate Chilli Chai”. Your mileage may vary. :)