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A few people at work have been sick this week and I woke up this morning with the sniffles so this tea seemed like a good fit. The dry mix is very fragrant, really in-your-face. I actually got some dried apple in my cup today but unfortunately I’m not really tasting it. I really wish I tasted the sage too but this is all citrus to me. There was a bit of sediment in the bottom of my cup that was pretty unpleasant so I think this may need a finer sieve.

This mix has large flakes of coconut mixed with ginger and lemongrass. It’s fragrant with cinnamon and smells especially like cinnamon gum. I read through a few of the reviews here and decided to steep in a small amount of water then add 1/3 cup steamed milk and honey. I may try more water and less milk next time because it was more like a flavored milk than a milky tea, but overall it was good – lightly spiced and sweet.

I can smell more mint this time. In fact, it smells and tastes like a straight mint tea. I added a bit of cream and the combination of that with the mint is nice.

Second Steep
8 ounces water + 200 degrees + 1 minute and 15 seconds

This second cup brewed up darker than the first in less than half the time. I did catch a whiff of fishiness while it was steeping (it was more like fish food really which is kind of strange), but now I don’t really smell that. There’s not so much mint this time around, but the tea is still incredibly dark.

Third Steep
8 ounces water + 200 degrees + 5 minutes

I cannot believe how prolific this tea has been! This is my third cup (I’ve been drinking on the same teaspoon of leaves all day) and it’s still brewing up dark almost as soon as I add the water. I let this one steep longer even though the cup was dark from the beginning. The flavor isn’t strong but still tastes like a decent cup of tea.

Backlog from February 1st:

We spent the day visiting my dad and brothers so I made sure to have my tumbler filled with tea before we hit the road. I haven’t had this one in a while and it’s a favorite so I thought it would be the best choice to sustain me for the day. My tumbler keeps everything super hot so I wasn’t really able to drink it until we got there (my dad lives a little over an hour from here) and I was still drinking it hours later when we finally started making lunch. I had it with honey and a bit of cream, and it was nearly perfect for the cold, rainy Sunday we were having.

Today’s cup is sweet and milky and spiced with ginger. I steeped the tea in 4 ounces of water, then added 4 ounces of steaming milk that I had warmed with a spoon of honey. It’s a luxurious treat this Saturday morning.

This is a good tea, one that smells of ginger snaps and coconut. The deep, dark tea and the spices – it’s a welcome departure from the fruity hibiscus herbals I’ve been drinking this week. Having teas like this one reminds me of why I keep coming back to tea.

This tea really does smell like chocolate and strawberries. It especially reminds me of Harry and David chocolate-covered dried strawberries. Has anyone had those? So good. There are chocolate chunks in here along with a single large piece of strawberry. All of this is mixed in with small and mostly broken pieces of black tea.

I wasn’t paying attention as this was steeping so I’m pretty sure I botched this cup. I’m not tasting the chocolate here, but I do get a sense of the strawberry. There’s a bit of an artificial flavor too, but it may be due to over steeping.

This smells simply like strong, black tea. From what I can tell, the tea leaves are small and broken in the bag, but now powdery. It reminds me of the Lipton I normally use to make sweet iced tea.

I got distracted (again!) and let the tea steep too long but it’s still good. It has a slight artificial taste after adding honey and cream, but I think it may be due to over-steeping. It’s even good after cooling off.

I can’t remember if I’ve had this tea before. I think I might have tried it a while back but I don’t recall how it tasted. The dry mix is mostly lemongrass but there are also small pieces of ginger and orange peel. The fragrance is light and just a little spicy, and the liquid is a golden yellow. There’s a little spice here – I mostly taste ginger. It kind of tastes like a lemon cough drop. It reminds me somewhat of Twinings Lemon Ginger tea but with a touch more ginger.

I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting this to taste good. After my other attempts with this tea, I thought this would be the one to officially determine that this chai is no good. I’m so happy to say that I was wrong – this was a wonderful way to have this tea. I say “was” because since I’ve started writing I’ve already finished the cup.

I steeped one teabag in four ounces of water for seven minutes. I then boiled four ounces milk with a spoonful of honey and a splash of cream and poured it over the steeped tea. I admit, this isn’t spicy and the tea isn’t bold. It’s really more flavored milk than anything else. But it tastes exactly like a coffee shop latte, specifically the chai or vanilla lattes I used to crave.

This doesn’t necessarily change my opinion of this tea – it’s still bland and unexciting on its own – but it will help me as I drink through the rest of this box. I may try brewing some of my other chai this way. It might be even better with a really good chai.

This tea smells incredible. It’s all coconut and smells fresh and tropical. The dry mix is mostly tea – small, long, twisted black leaves. There are also small pieces of ginger and cinnamon bark. The aroma kind of reminds me of ginger snap cookies (the good, chewy kind), but I wouldn’t necessarily say that it smells strongly of ginger. The fragrance is sweeter.

The tea leaves must have soaked up quite a bit of water because I don’t have nearly as much in my cup now as I put in. The liquid is dark and a little murky. I smell more ginger now but still the coconut. The taste is mostly ginger, again like those ginger snaps. There is also a bit of tartness there, like the slight acidity of lemon. It doesn’t taste like lemon, but it does have some zip. I don’t taste the cardamom or the cinnamon really, but it’s nice to be able to experience a spice other than cinnamon every now and then. I’m having this cup with a banana muffin and the two are getting along together quite nicely.

Second Steep
8 ounces water + 200 degrees + 10 minutes

I smell more cinnamon this time around. This cup is light in color but still a little cloudy. It still has the sweet perfume. I’m not sure it’s worth the re-steep, but it does taste more spiced with the second cup.