Honey Bee

My favorite goalie just scored a goal so I figure I can get off my lazy behind and catch up on my tea notes.

Honey is one of my favorite things in the world. I have 5 or more varieties in my cupboard at all times. I also love caffeine. I depend on it for survival. And that, my friends, is why I bought Honey Bee. I bought it on a whim as most of my Davids purchases are. But I find that I really really like it a lot.

Dry this tea smelt so lovely. A bit grassy but with an intense honey scent. Brewed the honey was intense both in the flavor and scent. It was like being kicked in the face by one of those clover honey bears you see in supermarkets. It was almost floral and naturally sweet. I also got a nice lemony note from the zest and the lemon myrtle that worked well with the honey. The rooibos rounded out the flavor quite nicely as well with a bit of roasty woodiness.

this blend gave me more than just an energy boost… it also gave me information and insight!

this is another of the blends i snagged for a return swap to Ysaurella in paris. it reminded me vaguely of a tea she sent me and i thought she might enjoy variations on a theme.

i had concerns actually trying it though…. i don’t tolerate the high levels of mateine in mate well and i am fairly certain i have the start of an allergy to rooiboos. HOWEVER there are exceptions to every rule. apparently i can handle the mate if it’s diluted and it appears i can tolerate rooiboos if it has a stimulant paired with it!

the tea, the tea: absolutely a bumble bee tea! warm, orange notes that aren’t bitter or overpowering. there is a fuzzy honey bee representation, and yet i do not feel as though i am drinking pureed bee, lol. it seems, somehow, to tap into my bee memory engrams. very cool!

thank you again to Ysaurella for giving me the excuse, and keychange for giving me the shove!

The smell of this one I’m not loving. It might not be a bad smell if it wasn’t so strong. Also it smells like something from Lush. I can’t remember which product…I’ll have to keep thinking.

This has a sweetness that i’m not liking. I can’t really nail down what it is. Not a normal “it’s just too sweet”. It’s sweet in a roundabout way. Hmm. Not the mate for me.

Oh my goodness! I though I would not like this tea because the dry leaf smell really throws me off. I bought it for my sister because she does adore this tea, and I asked her if i could try some because I was sort of curious. Wow! This is a goooood tea. Oh man it tastes like an upgraded version of grocery store honey lemon tea. This will definately stay in the cupboards. I bought this tea for my sister but I have a feeling I will be drinking it all myself…

umm………i don’t like it. mostly the smell. but i’m glad i have it. cuz i think other people will like it and i can offer it to them when they visit. and my boyfriend is the mate guy and he drinks it. so it’s all cool.

This tea tastes like honey mixed with vinegar. I’m pretty sure I’ve had mate before and it didn’t taste like this. I’m not sure what this flavor is from but I don’t think I can bring myself to drinking this tea ever again. The honey flavor IS really good, and I wish that was the only flavor because then I would love this tea. Maybe something bad happened to this poor tea? I don’t see anyone else mentioning this flavor.

I have a bit left, so if anyone else is interested in it, please let me know. Even though I haven’t exactly made it sound delicious! :P

Well I will not be drinking as much tea today as I had hoped thanks to my late start but I shall do a Sunday sipdown tomorrow like never before. I decided to cook spinach and ricotta ravioli with home made chestnut mushroom and garlic bechamel sauce, garlic and rosemary focaccia for dinner and I have yet to find a tea that sits well with pasta. For that reason I had a naughty glass of red wine with it. To make up for my traitorous mistake and since I’m missing that something sweet after such a wonderful meal I chose this tea to get back on track with. I don’t think there is anything sweeter than honey. That made me smile because I have a cat called Honey and she really is sweet…to me anyway. She doesn’t like my husband so much though he has never done anything to her.

………………………………………………………………….

Not such a fan of mate but I do believe there must be a delicious blend of it out there somewhere so I hope I have one of them here in front of me. The tea itself actually smells really nice. It’s honey sweet but fresh and the smell of lemon is unmistakable. It sounds weird honey and lemon but it smells nice all the same.

Once steeped the tea is well..dark honey in colour with the same honey and lemon scent as it’s raw form. Delicious!

Flavour wise it’s light, sweet and honeyed with a touch of citrus lemon that is fresh and also light. It tastes as it smells and that is a treat. It compliments my dinner very well. :)

Side Note – I just popped the last of this into an airtight pitcher to make iced tea and see how that turns out. Will check it tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Additional side note – I poured my iced tea to drink before bed as a sweet treat after being cold steeped for almost 24 hours. It turned out amazingly! So sweet and very honeyed with the lemon and rooibos being extremely subtle. Cold steeping really has brought out more honey and I think if I had more I would cold steep it all the way.

Thank you CrowKettle for a bit of this to try! I love yerba mates but it’s odd that this is paired with rooibos. The fragrance of the leaves is very sweet. I think they add something to make it honey-like. The taste of it kind of reminds me of 52Teas cheesecake flavor but that doesn’t really make any sense either. haha. It has the same creamy silkiness I guess. But I really love this one! Not too much of a lemon flavor, but I do like the sweet flavor that is here and the earthiness from the yerba mate. I think I’ve liked most of the DavidsTeas I’ve tried so far, when I kind of thought they’d be gimmicky for some reason!

Hmmm so I have had this one for a while but unfortunately I have not written a note about it. So getting back into the swing after the break has been a challenge. The baby had a fever so being up numerous times last night I needed a good kick in the butt. The mate is always good for that. Though sad that my enjoyment of this tea has come to an end…I’m still glad I got to sample it. The dry leaf smells like halls honey lemon cough drops. Which I like so that is not a bad thing. Anytime I’ve brewed this one my wife says that it smells weird but I find this one quite tasty. I have not had the pleasure of tasting mead, but this is what I would envision it to be like. Smooth and sweet and really can’t taste the mate. Every time I’ve had this one I just think of Blake Shelton’s song :) http://youtu.be/xZjosn2u1gA

Yum.
$1 today!
First of all, I love that this tea has an energy boost. I can hardly taste the mate aftertaste (the only reason I can taste it is because I know it’s in there I think!)

I am baffled as to how it tastes like honey. I was going to sweeten this one actually but I totally forgot, and it didn’t need it! (Man am I on repeat? haha)
The lemon is very nice too. Not overpowering, just there, like a squeeze of lemon with no harshness or acidity.

It DOES smell like Lush’s Honey soap, which might make this a tea I stock up on. It’s delicious iced. Very unique flavour in my opinion.