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This one smells exactly like spearmint gum — minty and sweet! It’s the last of the untried Spring Collection and I was excited for it this morning.

Steeped, it retains the sweet mint smell. Tastewise, it’s got a vegetal note from the cucumber, especially as it cools down. I like this much better lukewarm than hot. One of my friends had this mixed with Pom Tango as an iced tea and says it was mindblowingly incredible. Maybe that’s how I’ll use up the remainder of these teas.

I made this two ways — hot for myself, iced with German rock sugar for my fiance. I think my mug of this was overleafed because it was fruity with a lot of astringency. Iced and sweetened, I get more fruit, but the bitter edge lingers. Hmm.

Dug this one out of the back of the tea cupboard tonight. I really want to order more tea, but feel bad doing so when I still have so much stuff in the cupboard! I opened the tin of this one, expecting quite a lot to be left, but I only have about 3-4 cups worth of leaf.

Why is it that the ones you really enjoy always run out quickly whereas the ones you are kind of “meh” about hang around forever?

Anyway. This is still fruity and lemony as always. I don’t get a lot of pineapple from this one, but it’s a solid fruity tea.

Back from the future in-laws! I went prepared this time, with my Timolino and some tea, but I didn’t have any the entire time I was there. I’m thinking of getting an electric kettle for my fiance’s mom so that she can make tea more easily and I will be able to make tea when I go over. (I swear, my own selfish desire to feed my tea addiction did not play into the formation of this idea at all …)

Anyway, I was desperate for tea when I got home. In keeping with my goal of trying the whole spring collection before I place another DAVIDs order, I made some Grape Expectations. (Insert pun-filled joke about this tea’s name and my hopes for its taste here.)

Dry and brewed, this tea smells like grape Tootsie Pops. Hooray! I like those! That’s the flavor I usually pick if I have to eat one! The taste of the tea, however, is sadly lacking. It’s edging on bitter and floral. It sweetens as it cools, but the bitter edge becomes more pronounced as well. Ick. I’m going to sweeten the second steep and see if that helps any.

So far, I’ve been mostly disappointed with the spring collection, which is just depressing. I was really hoping I’d find at least one tea that I absolutely loved. Maybe I’ll have better luck with Cool Cucumber. :-/

(Edit: Second steep with sugar is all bitter nastiness. Yuck.)

Traveling tea, made in the Timolino for the ride down to my fiance’s parents’ house.

I used to love this tea. It’s one of the few non-Lipton teas my mom ever purchased and I loved the cinnamon flavor. I needed something easy this morning and found a bag of this in my cupboard.

It’s still cinnamon, but it’s not as strong as I remember it being. The aftertaste of apple that I remember is relegated to the end of the cup when the tea has cooled.

I’m really glad I have Hot Cinnamon Spice as a replacement for this.

Backlog from yesterday.

This is the tea I was most excited about from the Spring Collection. It has BLUEBERRIES, how could I not be excited about that?

Dry, this smells chemically bordering on medicinal — not exactly what I’d expect from a fruity tea. Steeped, this tastes much more like lemongrass than blueberries. I like it and especially appreciate that it’s not oily like Exotica was … but I’m not really impressed by this one. Which stinks because I wanted so much to be blown away by it.

Backlog from yesterday.

Dry, this smells amazing — fruity and light. I love the little chunks of pineapple! Steeped, this is a generic, almost-fruity tea. It has a sharpness to it that makes me think “chemical”, but not in a bad way, if that’s possible.

Overall, it’s not bad. I’m just not sure that this is something I would go out and purchase once I’ve used up my sample.

This used to be my go to work tea. I loved how fruity and sweet it was and I loved that it was a no-sugar-needed tea (this was before I got used to drinking my tea without sweetener).

One of my coworkers offered me some of this yesterday, and I had it as an afternoon tea today. It still steeps up fine with almost-boiling water. It’s still sweet and berry-full. I still like it, but it no longer satisfies my “I want blueberry tea!” cravings. Hmm.

Holy strawberry!

Like Sakura Allure, this one brews up barely-pink. In the tin, it smells like strawberries sprinkled with sugar; brewed, it’s all sweet strawberry with a pop of sour at the end. Delicious. THIS is strawberry well done, Strawberry Cream, take some notes.

Part of my tea buying binge this weekend; justified with a $10 off coupon to Teavana.

This isn’t a tea I was planning on getting. I have heard of it before and cherries in tea just doesn’t appeal to me. I could see it happening: I would expect maraschino cherries and get barely ripe cherries — the same thing that happens to me with “cake teas” where I expect it to taste like dessert and it tastes like barely-flavored water. I’m trying to avoid disappointing myself.

However, while in Teavana the other day, I smelled this tea. The salesgirl suggested it after I requested some of the Strawberry Grapefruit Xue Long and explained that I enjoy fruity teas. And, oh my, it smells like sweet, fresh cherries.

It brews up to a barely-pink color and the aroma is very floral — definitely not my favorite. It tastes vaguely fruity in a good way — just enough to be enjoyable and not need any sugar. Not my favorite tea, but not one I regret buying. Yay!