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Another sample from AJRimmer, thank you! Prepared hot and plain in my trusty work thermos.

The base is rich and malty, but this cup turned out a bit astringent for me and is leaving some drying on my tongue after the sip. I can taste the raspberry and a bit of cream, but they are being overshadowed a bit by the heavy malty/woody base notes. I think in retrospect this would’ve worked out better as a latte, since that would’ve smoothed the rougher breakfast tea-esque edges and added a bit of sweetness to perhaps bring out the raspberry more.

It’s fine, just leaning more toward “fruity breakfast tea” than “desserty tea” like the name suggests. I do appreciate the omph I’m getting off the black base this morning, though. I daresay I feel like doing something productive for a change!

I received a sample of this from AJRimmer, thank you! I only have three flavors of Teeccino available to me locally (French Vanilla, Hazelnut, and Mocha) so I’m happy to get to try some others!

I brewed this hot this morning, and just left the fillable teabag in the cup as I sipped, letting the cup get very dark and rich. It had that same roasted coffee flavor and aroma as the French Vanilla Teeccino I’ve tried, with a bit more of a super dark, bittersweet chocolate note and a hint of raspberry toward the end of the sip and in the aftertaste. I imagine adding sweetener might amplify that note a bit, but I enjoyed the cup as is, strong, dark, and coffee-bitter.

What I really like about the Teeccino I’ve tried thus far is that while actual coffee gives me terrible GI problems (which is why I stopped drinking it) I haven’t had any of those same issues with these herbal alternatives, and I still get to scratch the itch for the coffee flavor.

In the bag, this smells strongly like coconut to me, even though that isn’t an ingredient. Steeped, I don’t get that particular aroma, and the tea has more of a marshmallow/vanilla cream scent, with a mingling of spice.

In the flavor, I am not getting “Sweet Potato” but I am definitely getting “Sweet”! Perhaps the base tea is of the yammy variety, but if so, I certainly can’t tell against the total domination of the rock sugar. The base notes are getting washed out for me, becoming more of a muted maltiness beneath a very sweet sip. Marshmallow is one of those flavors I don’t really ever taste in tea, but I think I can kind of see it here… there is definitely a sort of vanilla creaminess that, mixed with the level of sweetness, is tripping my head into marshmallow flavor territory. Toward the end of the sip I get a lot of cinnamon and nutmeg which is quite pleasant.

I’ve prepared this hot and plain as well as a latte, and the latte works a bit better for me since the thickness and creaminess of the added vanilla almond milk combined with the sweetness of the tea feel like a more indulgent coffee house guilty drink. I feel like plain, this is the sort of tea I’d crave most in the evenings, but since it has a black base I have to drink it during the day.

It’s unique. I think I personally would like the black base to pop a bit more, but I do enjoy a good indulgent latte when the mood strikes.

A few teabags of this tea ended up on my desk from a coworker because it gave her heartburn.

It does have more of a pumpkiny taste rather than just pumpkin spices, but at the trade-off of tasting really artificial…. like an exaggerated sweet pumpkin pie flavor. The spices, too, are really strong and taste of flavorings rather than actual spices, which really slap in the face… especially the clove note. It leaves a sort of pepperiness on the tongue, so I can see why this could give my coworker heartburn.

That said, I don’t hate it… for a quick bagged tea that I’m going to mindlessly sip from my work thermos, it’s fine. But it doesn’t hold a candle to the multitude of loose leaf pumpkin spice offerings I’ve tried.

For a while everyone on here was on the Teeccino train and I was admittedly curious, because I actually like coffee, but the acidity of it gives me GI troubles so I rarely drink it these days. I really love mugicha (roasted barley) tea because it tastes like coffee to me, so I figured these would be up my alley. Sadly, this is not a widely available brand in my area; there were no teabags at my local grocery, but I did find three different flavors in a coffee grounds style bag over in the coffee section, and I grabbed the French Vanilla one. It really does look like coffee grounds inside the bag, too.

I made one hot cup and was very surprised how much it did remind me of coffee. It was dark and roasty and had a very coating mouthfeel. The French Vanilla flavor reads as coconut to me, though; thankfully I like coconut, so I’m not particularly bothered by that.

Now I just use this for cold brew, which I like even better because instead of having that coating mouthfeel that makes me feel like I need an accompanying glass of water with my tea, it goes down really slick and smooth and refreshing. I can also get a lot of use out of the “grounds” as well; two full teaspoons in a fillable teabag left in a liter of cold water overnight creates a strong dark roast sort of brew, and I usually reuse the bag for another liter, which creates a light roast style brew.

I will likely try out the other two flavors available to me next time I’m at the store and need a restock.

A box of these teabags were gifted to me from a coworker because she said it gave her heartburn. I love hibiscus, so needless to say, I’ve already almost used up the remaining teabags.

I drop three teabags in one liter of water and let it coldbrew overnight, no sweeteners. Makes an incredibly thirst-quenching brew that I go through quickly. Tastes like hibiscus, haters need not apply. The lemongrass is also quite distinct in flavor, though, adding a citrus sharpness that goes well with the fruity notes of the hibiscus. Definitely leans strongly into the herbaceous nature of lemongrass than a really pithy or bright lemon flavor. I don’t taste the licorice root at all, and suppose it is only there to provide some sweetness since few people can handle hibiscus at the levels I drink it. It definitely doesn’t have that particular “sticky-sweet” note of licorice root, though.

I have been enjoying working through my pouch of this. The steeped tea has a lovely aroma of sweet spices and vanilla. The medium-bodied black tea has notes of malt, wood, and autumn leaves, which go with the pumpkin spices nicely. The spices come forward in a nice medley… a sweet and somewhat woody cinnamon, clove, and nutmeg in particular. The whole cup has a sweet vanilla undertone.

It’s very good and I’ve been enjoying my bag, but I like Tea Chai Te’s Pumpkin Spice tea a bit better, which is very similar in body and flavor profile but a whole lot easier for me to get being in the States, so I’d likely restock that one instead.

I slipped on the floor at PetSmart today on a catfood run and managed to sprain both my right ankle and right wrist. Not recommended.

Only now realized I hadn’t written a note for this yet, and I’m on the last teabag. I have been looking for a good black licorice tasting herbal, but this isn’t that. That said, I do really like it… It’s strongly sweet licorice root which I know is a polarizing flavor, but I enjoy it. The spice is gentle and the sweetness is nice for an evening sweet fix. I’ll likely grab this again sometime as I like quick and easy herbal teabags in the evening.

I pulled this out the other day when I was having some bad digestive trouble, since a ginger/pu-erh combo seemed good for that. I like ginger, but I’m also a bit spice sensitive, and the level of ginger in this blend was waaaaaaaaaaay too strong for me. The ginger burned the whole way down, I couldn’t even taste the pu’erh. I dumped a bunch of honey into the cup and it still was too strong for me.

I’ve managed to finish off the package by making liter pitchers of iced tea, using about half the amount of leaf that I would normally use for that amount of brew, a few ample teaspoons of honey, and adding carbonation to give it more of a fizzy ginger soda feel.

The ginger here is just too strong for me and I won’t be getting this again. But I do think the strong ginger and pu’erh is a good choice for digestive troubles for those that can handle the heat of lots of ginger.

Woke up to snow falling like crazy. I’d blame the marmot, but traditionally my neck of the woods has always felt the brunt of winter toward the tail end of the season…

Brewed two pearls to 500ml water, steeped for three minutes. The pearls had only partially unraveled, so I’ll probably make another steep today at some point (which is highly unusual for me, I’m a one-and-done tea leaf user… sacriledge, I know).

The smell wafting off my cup strongly of cinnamon bark, a bit sweet-spice and a bit woody, with an undertone of maple syrup, butter, and brown sugar…. all wonderful things.

The tea is smooth, a bit malty/bready, with a touch of sweetness and a strong hit of cinnamon bark. There is almost a sort of fresh, pine wood sort of note that hits me during the sip, that is brisk and slightly citrusy… it’s a bit strange, but also quite enjoyable. The desserty flavors of cinnamon, maple, and butter linger on my tongue in the aftertaste, and I imagine they will start to pop more during the sip when I’ve finally had the patience to let my tea cool properly. I rarely have that kind of self-discipline and drink my cup at piping hot temperatures that normal people can’t tolerate.