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Holiday tea #1 An unintentional back log of three holiday teas starts now!

Momo sent this a while back for a sale – thank you! I’ve had some before this cup, I’m just making a tasting note for it now. I love this one! It’s a sturdy black tea base with enough mint to be nice (though it doesn’t look like there is much mint in the mix.) I love the tiny candy cane sprinkles! I’m not sure if the candy canes are actually mint. I thought that was the reason for a slight creamy flavor, but looking in the infuser it doesn’t seem like they melt very much. The creamy flavor is my favorite part of this tea! I seem to like this black base more than some others from David’s. It also says “spices” on the bag but there only seems to be mint… I wish I knew what kind of spices were supposed to be here, since it doesn’t taste it.

Additional notes: Sample sipdown! Many teaspoons went into this cup, after I picked out the hibiscus (not much here actually), and a bit of sugar. I’m not sure WHICH berries these are, since there are a few in the ingredients list.. the tiny dark ones, but this cup is like a berry juice. The cup color is VERY dark. So good and the perfect amount of tart! This sample was old but tasted just as good as I remembered. This is just the perfect fruit blend. I wish I had ordered a couple more fruit samples with my order. The rating stands. I shall miss it!

Additional notes: Note to self: Waiting over a half hour for the water to cool on this one is too long, but just boiled is not the way to go either. I’m finding that though Teavivre’s teas rarely are astringent, they require exact teaspoons/time/temp to taste PERFECT, and Teavivre’s steeping instructions usually know what they are talking about.

Additional notes: It’s around Christmas and I have a headache.. I need a mint tea, so time for Christmas mint! Not that this tea needs improvement, but this description promises candy cane and I don’t see many pieces, if any. So I had the awesome idea of adding a candy cane right in the mug after steeping! It is amazing!! One second I look in the cup and the candy cane is all spindly. The next second the candy cane is GONE! I felt like I was in an M. Night Shamalan (spelling?) movie. Hopefully they aren’t THAT bad yet ‘The Case of the Disappearing Candy Cane’. It’s so sugary, creamy, minty though.. perfect with this tea blend!! The only improvement would have been using a candy cane that wasn’t so old. :D

Additional notes: I was thinking of buying some of this one (which I really shouldn’t!) but luckily Dexter3657 sent me a few extra teaspoons in that awesome package so it will prevent me from buying some at the moment. :D thanks so much! This time around it doesn’t taste like Yunnan, though at the time I thought I was projecting what I wanted it to taste like anyway. It is tough to describe how this DOES taste other then Kenyan tea. Kenyan tea actually has its own flavor profile, especially if it isn’t processed in the CTC way and you can actually taste anything through all that astringency. But this is unique & nice.

Additional notes: Sip down! Yes, I overleafed (I don’t even know how many teaspoons). But I have to sip down some of these things. I’m still amazed with the ingredients in this lovely. I just could have done without the hibiscus. I even tried to pull most of it out before going in the infuser. Sadly, the flavor is still mostly hibiscus. I miss the creamsicle flavor I noticed last time, and the dry leaf fragrance. It has so much here… why does it still need the hibiscus? It would be such a nice herbal without it.

Also! I looked up the actual winter solstice and it is December 21st! (I guess I do not normally need to know when it is, but it means longer days and I am wishing for a vacation that will never happen… at least the sun will stay up longer… not necessarily ever out from behind the clouds though.)

Two tasting notes for WINTER teas today!

Thanks so much again, Dexter3657! This is my perfect apple tea! Everything is on the lighter side here. Even though the black tea was steeped just after boiling for a few minutes, it is very subtle. The apple and cinnamon are definitely present, but also subtle. But it works very well anyway, in its lightness and subtlety. The apple is perfect – very sweet! I’m intrigued by this tea shop… I’m sorry I don’t have much more to say on this one.

Another one from Dexter3657 – thanks so much again! Another chai to try, I say in glee. :D I looked up more info on the site for this one, and there is a wonderful list of ingredients but to me this mostly looks like black tea leaves mixed with CTC black tea leaves. Even after a few minutes, this tea is surprisingly smooth for a CTC. There are hints of ginger and not much else. The picture looks exactly like the blend I have, actually, so I guess this is an accurate batch of this blend. But I love how smooth this is and it has a bready flavor.. not astringent at all! I really wish there were a billion more spices here, but as a black tea it’s good stuff anyway.

I’m not avoiding Steepster notes any more… apparently my Amoda box went missing in the mail. :/ I guess I will just ruin the surprise if it just happens to happen.

Another from Dexter3657. thank you! I KNEW there was something wrong with the bit I tried from this blend! It was an off blend, because this one actually has any flavor to it. Sweet candy cranberry and not much almond, but it is definitely better than the other blend. It reminds me of Harney’s other fruit blends. BUT it also was reminding me of the Frankenberry cereal. Yum. Still not my favorite from Harney’s but I’m glad it was proved that there was something wrong with my batch after all. Raising the rating a bit.

Just posting this note…still not reading tasting notes. My Amoda box BEST be in my mailbox today… I miss Steepster!

I just acquired two teas named Cinnamon Roll. This one and a free sample with my Della Terra order. I will try the other soon! This one is EXACLTY how I wanted it to taste… an unassuming black tea that doesn’t detract from the lovely sweet and spicy cinnamon (plenty of pieces of cinnamon in the blend!), while also having a flavor here that IS like a cinnamon roll. The only thing is, I would have wanted a black tea base that is very bready like… it can be done! Maybe I’ll mix some of this with a bready tea I have. If I did a blind taste test and had to name this one myself, I would have also called it Cinnamon Roll! When the cup cools, it has even more of that flavor. I’m so glad it tastes like I wanted it to! Not the best tea ever, but that it met my expectations, it gets a higher rating.