Winter Spice

This is nice – it tastes like a cider actually. It really is a great Winter tea – wonderful to curl up with. Not at all bitter or astringent, not sweet either, just super wonderfully pleasant and fruity with great apple elements. After I brewed it up there were big pieces of orange peel in the strainer :)

Thanks Amanda for this one, too!

Sort of reminds me of a Tea Forte Mix of flavors (but at least it doesn’t have Hibiscus!)

Smells like cinnamon, roasted almonds, a bit of soy sauce…
tastes like roasted almonds with a bit of soy sauce, a bit of spice but not over the top or enough to identify as cinnamon (maybe a little bit in the aftertaste), and cocoa powder, but I can barely taste the “zest”. Having said that – this isn’t too shabby! I can see myself drinking it once in a blue moon…why not.

E for Effort!

I’m always intrigued by herbal blends that don’t lead with lemon and chamomile. The cocoa and almond in this one is a nice touch.

I am enjoying a hot cuppa in my winter china tea cup. It’s just fun. It’s warming me heart and body. I went home for the weekend and had very little tea. It’s always good to go home, but it’s nice to be home. Now, if only the cleaning fairy had come whilst I was away.

Oh, yea, the tea. Besides the fact that I think it’s about time for a new steeper as I continue to get far more leaves in my cup than I prefer. The smell of both the dry leaves and the steeped cup is well, wintery spicy. The smell and taste that is the strongest is cinnamon, which I love and the tea’s taste is mild. It’s a nice way to finish off the day.

As we head toward winter in the great southern land I am finally letting myself crack out the trio of wintry tea samplers I picked up from Argo Tea in the Flatiron building in NYC.

Looking at the trio closely, this one is the one I was most drawn to. It has a lot of similar ingredients/flavour indicators as one of my favourite tisanes ever, T2’s Cinnamon Somersault.

I am getting slightly bitter notes from the amount of cinnamon in this, but though I’m not getting a lot of orange, the almond is just nice without being "essence"y. Not bad. It’s no Cinnamon Somersault, but it’s not bad. I might try splicing it with some Cocoa Loco Orange and see if that’s closer to my sweet spot.