Twinings

I prefer the loose leaf so I can make a stronger cup.

Sipdown! (70 | 274)

Another swap teabag down!

This sounds good to me in theory, but there’s something odd about it… I think maybe it’s the lime blossom part? It’s coming off a little perfumey, yet also limey, which is a strange combination. And it kind of tastes like Windex in the same way that lime Skittles always did to me. Luckily they replaced those with green apple.

Anyway, the chamomile and orange parts are fine, but the lime blossom is weird. Now I might need to seek out an orange chamomile tisane, because that sounds yummy…

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Another swap teabag!

This is actually quite pleasant. It has a nice sweet and tart orange flavor, augmented by just a little hibiscus tartness. The ginger adds a nice touch of spiciness. And I actually like the honey flavoring as well, it’s subtle enough that it doesn’t taste cloying.

Not something I would buy for myself, but I’m enjoying it this evening on the couch!

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I got a single wrapped teabag of this in my recent swap. Perfect for a late-night sipdown! :D

The chamomile is the strongest flavor here, which I don’t mind as I love chamomile. It’s soft and mellow with a nice honeyed note. The spearmint makes a nice accent and adds a refreshing cleanness to the blend. Apparently there’s lemongrass and linden in this as well. It’s been a while since I’ve had linden in a tisane, but I think I can taste it here? Especially at the end of the sip.

Obviously this doesn’t taste overly fresh or anything, but it’s perfectly lovely for a low-maintenance bedtime brew and I’m happy to be sipping on it. :)

Big bags tea bag and well, either this one haven’t aged well, or it is plain boring. I had to search what loganberry is, and well I know the vice versa berry — a raspberryblackberry (dunno correct name) but it seems it is different plant to loganberry. We have that one in our garden and I love them.

But this tea is unfortunately hibiscus forward than berries, and while it wasn’t bad, it was nothing remarkable than generic berry fruit tea. It had some tartness, but it was quite mellow and as I said, nothing to write much about, unfortunately. To be honest, disappointed about this cup.

Another foilwrapped tea from my big bags. There are still many hidden to drink and try. Sadly, this tea is discontinued already, which is shame because it’s not that bad even being that old.

It’s a bit on the rough side of spectrum of white teas, but aged whites are delish and I noticed quite similar flavours here among common hay in old teas. It was a bit stonefruity and a little of autumn leaf pile. Of course, none of those were strong as a loose leaf (even when it was a dragonball). But they were somehow noticeable.

And the fruit line? It was truly a hint of Pomegranate. It was there. Some fruity undertone was there. Probably the flavouring was a bit flat than fresh, but it was there. I can imagine it being made in loose leaf. But as a tea bag, it wasn’t bad either.

From the tea box. This is a nice rooibos! Good depth, sweet, no distracting weirdness. Not much to say since it’s plain, but I like it! I grabbed a few bags to make some pitchers for the fridge. I tried a long resteep, and it ended up tasting exactly like the paper tea bag, so I won’t be doing that again! This is one of the better plain rooibos teas I’ve come across lately.

I like brewing this for 3 minutes. But I also like keeping the tea bag in my cup for 15 minutes. The bergamot flavor in this is perfect. Earl Grey version comes off a bit strong.

What can I say about this classic, an eponymous favorite? It helped get me through highschool. I wrote to Twinings as a kid when I noticed that the ingredient changed from OIL of bergamot to bergamot FLAVORING. They tried to assure me that it was still a high quality tea, which may be true, but I’m still a curmudgeon! I drink this from teabags now. The string tag advises “steep 3 minutes” and the pouch warns “do not microwave”. But, why?

I got a box of this a while back because I finished my vanilla Comoro and, uhh, with the borders closed I can’t exactly visit my friend in Chicago and restock my teas…

It’s ok. I feel bad saying that as I used to drink this tea all the time. It’s not a strong tea, and the bergamot is just there. Idk. Am I just having trouble with earl grey teas these days? I’ve been slowly looking for a new one but I haven’t settled on anything yet.

Late-night chai. This one’s a bit expired. If there were any French vanilla notes, I can no longer taste them.

I found a box I still hadn’t unloaded from moving in a year and a half ago, and I found some tea bags I got as wedding favors, from a wedding two and a half years ago. It included this, a Harney & Sons earl grey bag, and some Celestial Seasonings: Raspberry Zinger and True Blueberry, in 3-teabag plastic pouches.

The main flavor here is the bergamot, but I don’t find it overpowering. The citrus note from the bergamot lingers on my tongue. I don’t know how old the tea is, at least three years old, but it’s held up well. And it outlasted that marriage.

A tea bag from Izzy, thank you — I guess this is a tea for today morning, a simple tea, a caffeine boost, but not trying to find some flavours and such. As I have received it recenly, I guess it’s new blend.

This tea exactly delivers that what they say: rich and full bodied. It’s indeed full bodied tea; pretty much rich flavour and almost 3 minutes steeping was quite a lot.

I didn’t add any milk, even it is suggested for longer steeps. It was nicely astringent and a bit bitter, but I have been expecting that. Niko said it reminds him Lipton Yellow Label and I have to disagree. The Lipton tea is way more rough, their tea essence is my nightmare in pure blacks, while this was typical black tea flavour. It’s not though autumn leaf pile or some other “good” flavours. It’s a bit tannic, and “tea-ish” Don’t expect you will find anything else.

Not a tea I would drink daily, but better than Czech Pigi čaj (a bestseller here (rolls eyes) ).

Our annual Mother Daughter Tea with National Charity League was held virtually this year so we received a little package which included this tea, a honey stick and a few other goodies. The theme of the Tea ceremony this year was “Enchanted Forest” so I can see why this tea made sense. I went in with very low expectations, figuring that if we hated it we could enjoy a second cup along the same theme with Dammann Freres’ 3 Fruits Noirs or 4 Fruits Rouges. But I was wrong! I enjoyed this tea. We both did! We joined the zoom call, tea at the ready and it went down soooo easily that it was gone 15 minutes in. It didn’t resteep well, but it was very good the first time around. The berries came through and I didn’t find it too chemical tasting. The creamy vanilla rounded the flavor nicely. It was like the inside of a raspberry tart you can get in france: fruit forward and a little vanilla from the creme patissieres afterwards.