Herbal Infusions

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Recent Tasting Notes

73
drank Spiked Eggnog by Herbal Infusions
681 tasting notes

This tea came from a mystery box from MissB an embarrassingly long time ago, and (I really hope) is the oldest in my cupboard by far. That being said, it still smells incredible and has a good amount of flavour. The black tea base is nondescript but not astringent, it has a slightly nutmeg-spiced vanilla creaminess which is delicious. It was sweet enough already, but I added a pinch of brown sugar and it really brought the creaminess out more. I chose this as my ‘tea which reminds me of an alcoholic beverage’ from Mastress Alita’s scavenger hunt prompt, but I don’t taste anything alcoholic. I don’t think that’s a result of age, since looking at the notes it seems like others felt the same way when it was fresh. It’s a lovely tea, and I think some rum flavouring would have tipped it over the edge into ‘great tea’ territory. I do wish it was more ‘spiked eggnog’-y, but a tasty tea all the same!

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
tea-sipper

I also still have some treasured teas from MissB that are probably just as old. I even have a teaspoon of this that is treasured because of the tiny gingerbread men sprinkles. :D

Nattie

Thank you for making me feel better about my tea-hoarding problem! And yes, the gingerbread men in this are adorable!

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62
drank Nordic Almond by Herbal Infusions
681 tasting notes

Thank you MissB for sending me this tea!

This is a confusing tea. The name says ‘almond green’ but it’s actually quite fruity and contains a mixture of green and black tea, with more black than green. The dry leaf contains a lot of pieces of orange rind, and smells strongly of citrus – no almond in sight. When steeping, the almond scent takes over and it does become intoxicatingly marzipan-like, and it remains present in the sip though not as strongly as it is in the scent. In flavour, the almond note comes through at the end with a touch of astringency, but the sip is dominated by fruity notes, of which I was able to pick out orange and cherry. The combination of cherry and almond gives the impression of a Bakewell tart, but I think Bird and Blend’s version of that is better than this, and I would choose it over this one without a second thought. It’s a good thing, I suppose, because this was limited edition, and B&B is a lot more accessible to me in the UK. I am enjoying this, but won’t miss it when it’s gone.

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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89

This is another old favourite I’ve been hoarding the last of for way longer than I should, but luckily it still tastes great, though the marshmallow sweetness has faded a little. This was the tea that first got me interested in creamy EGs, so it gets bonus points for that. Though the base is a little astringent, it’s not so noticeable I have to add milk (but I distinctly remember this also being delicious with milk). The sweet, creamy marshmallow is actually more noticeable in the scent and in the initial sip than the bergamot, which can be overpowering in some blends, but here it’s a nice background which cuts through the sweetness towards the end of the sip and rounds the whole thing out beautifully. It’s a shame this is only offered seasonally, but since Herbal Infusions ships to the UK I might be tempted to place an order to try their EG creme and see how it compares… I have a job interview in a couple of days (telephone, because of Covid), so let’s all hope I get it because the list of companies I want to place orders with is getting longer than I can keep track of!

Thanks for sharing go again to the ever-generous VariaTEA. Sipdown 186/397.

Preparation
205 °F / 96 °C 3 min, 15 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
AJRimmer

Good luck!!!

Nattie

Thank you!! :D

tea-sipper

Oh man, another old favorite tea I haven’t seen anyone mention in a while! Good luck on the interview. :D

Nattie

Haha, I’m working through some pretty old teas right now! Thank you! (:

Nattie

Thanks! (:

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70
drank Sweet Almond by Herbal Infusions
6105 tasting notes

What the…. how do I not have a note for this? I’m really surprised/confused, as I swear I’ve had it a few times, at least one of those while I was regularly reviewing…

Anyhow. Not as good as the creme brûlée tea, but not bad. Decent base and some nuttiness, though not a ton of flavour. I was expecting a faceful of marzipan, but it’s not that.

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77

I had this tea at a local tea house and loved it. It had just the right amount of cinnamon to taste delicious and not too overpowering. The apple flavor was also refreshing and delicate. It’s a great tea for autumn.

Flavors: Apple, Cinnamon

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41

Sipdown! (89/395)

MissB sent me this a long time ago and it lingered around way longer than I thought it would. From the name I fully expected to love this tea, but each time I drank it I was disappointed. Over the last couple of days I finished this off I drank it a few times, using different parameters each time and couldn’t settle on one which made the flavours pop like I wanted. The base tea is not the greatest – it’s not the worst, either, but it’s fairly astringent and needs milk, even brewed at lower temperatures and for less time than a lot of blacks can stand. It’s also pretty flat, and I like a base tea with nuances, or at least one good solid note which I can hold on to and this didn’t have that for me. The lime flavour, especially when shorter brewed, actually is present and pretty nice. It has a sharpness but also a jammy quality and is brought out with a little sugar, but the coconut is nowhere to be found (and I love me some coconut, so this kinda disappointed me a lot). What’s more, the absolute killer for me is that the astringency means I can’t drink this without milk, and when milk is added the lime flavour is almost completely drowned out, and it doesn’t even help add more coconuttiness so unless you like your tea bitter there is zero point in even having this. I really like the idea of this tea, but the execution is poor. Ah well, on to better teas.

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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86

Oh, wow. I didn’t expect to like this as much as I do.

First off, thanks to Superstarling! for sending me this sample a while back and also to my son for picking this tea out for me this morning. I asked him what kind of tea I should have and he said herbal so I grabbed this one out.

You definitely get a chocolate strawberry smell from the dry cacao nibs. Not knowing the parameters for which to brew this, I decided to go with about 4 minutes and 30 seconds and boiling water.

I think I nailed it. The tea that I poured off brings wafts of strawberry cocoa cream up to my nose. The flavor of the liquor has a slight bitterness that fades a bit as the liquid cools. But mostly, there is a creamy strawberry and a light, almost powdered chocolate taste to it. I let my (5 year old) son try it and he exclaimed, “I love it!”

So yeah, I would totally order more of this. It is pretty delicious. Would make a perfect dessert tea.

Flavors: Cacao, Cream, Strawberry

Preparation
Boiling 4 min, 30 sec 6 g 6 OZ / 177 ML
Super Starling!

Yaaaay, I’m glad you like it! I tried to send you another box this morning, but HA. It’s Martin Luther King day. So you’re going to have to work your way through some other samples in the meantime.

mtchyg

Oh awesome! Perhaps I will have to send you another care package as well. I liked this so much that I went to their website and put in an order of their chocolate/cacao nibs teas.

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80

Sipdown! Coldbrew 2 tsp, 500 mL cold water, about 1 hour

Smooth black base, vanilla, creamy, sweet. I didn’t get gergamot, but it was quite tasty regardless.

Flavors: Creamy, Smooth, Sweet

Preparation
Iced 8 min or more 2 tsp 500 OZ / 14786 ML

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80

I have to say, this is a great festive winter blend.

Prominant notes include bergamot, sweet/sprinkles, and a very thick creamy flavour. I didn’t like how tannic the base was, but overall this was lovely to try. I’m getting a strong “English Breakfast” tannic black tea vibe from the base.

Flavors: Bergamot, Cream, Creamy, Sugar, Tannic, Tannin

Preparation
195 °F / 90 °C 5 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 27 OZ / 800 ML
VariaTEA

Glad you liked this one. It is a bit old so I wasn’t sure how you would find it but this is definitely a favorite of mine.

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80

Yeah, I had about eight cups of this yesterday—straight up with no additions— and really enjoyed each one. Hurray for marshmallow, vanilla, and gentle Earl Grey!

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80

This one really needs steeping at a lower temperature to allow those pillows of vanilla marshmallow to fluff up. The bergamot is gentle, but this is perhaps due to age. Reminds me of a good Earl Grey Cream, but nicer. No imitation flavours detected.

VariaTEA

This is the only reason I’d consider buying from Herbal Infusions. It is a delightful tea :)

Evol Ving Ness

The tea itself deserves a higher rating, but given the sleazeball shenanigans of the company and appalling customer service, I feel that I am extending the utmost generosity with this rating already.

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80

Yum. This reminds me of Zen’s Earl Grey Cream. Delicious for two whole steeps, but with the exception of the snowflakes in Herbal Infusions in the dry leaf and the fact that this Canadian company, in my city yet, charged me in American dollars, I don’t notice a difference. Snowflakes, yay! Charging Canadians in Canada in American dollars, wtf, boo! BOO!

Perhaps I need to do a side by side taste test. One day. Won’t change my mind about a repurchase though.

Flavors: Bergamot, Cream, Marshmallow

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 0 sec 1 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML
Daddyselephant

I was all set to try and get some of this for my Earl Grey loving wife, but a Canadian company charging Canadians USD? Nope!

Mookit

Huh, I wonder what the logic behind that is.

VariaTEA

We have been on the same wavelength lately when it comes to tea. First Pineapple Mimosa and now this :P

VariaTEA

Also, I love this tea but Herbal Infusions is a terrible company so when my bag of this is gone, that will be the end of it which makes me sad as this is the one earl grey I actually enjoy. Alas, shitty customer service in addition to the whole American dollars thing while in Canada is just not worth it :(

Evol Ving Ness

The logic is apparently something to do with the online business, not just this brand name, is running something or other in the States and the registration blahblahblan. It’s been a while since I asked, but truly, I wasn’t all that convinced with the answer.

Not Pineapple Mimosa, perhaps another one. Hive mind?

Now that the physical store is gone, they are pretty much doing what they want. The vendors are unreliable, ie. flakey, at markets too.

VariaTEA

Lol I think in my sleepy state I confused your note with another person’s note about Pineapple Mimosa. Oops.

And the really just do as they please which has led to many customers being dissatisfied. Maybe not the best sales plan I have ever seen tbh.

Indigobloom

Hmmm I’m not an EG girl at all but even I wanna try this one. Not badly enough to pay in USD though.

Evol Ving Ness

Honestly, it is not wow enough to go out of your way for though the leaf is pretty. Zen’s Earl Grey Cream is the way to go, imho. I can send you a bit of both to try if you like.

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70

This tastes like melted Neapolitan Ice Cream. It hits you in the face with aggressive, cloying sweetness. Which is normally what I live for.

Am I growing up? That can’t possibly be it. I hope.

Oh god. What if I start putting kale in my smoothies? Filing my own taxes? Remembering to put the registration sticker on my car in a timely fashion? Being interested in material possessions or the stock market? Watching Oscar-worthy heavy films?

Is this the end?

Flavors: Chocolate, Strawberry

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91

(flips a table) How did I not know about cacao tea before? SERIOUSLY? This is so tasty. It’s like eating a candy bar. One of those Hersheys Cookies’n’Creme ones, specifically. And, according to Herbal Infusions’ site… it’s… caffeine free? I can have this at NIGHT?

I am holding every one of you personally responsible for not telling me about this sooner.

Flavors: Chocolate, Cream, Oreo Cookie, White Chocolate

rosebudmelissa

Isn’t is great! I’ve found that adding a little bit of roasted barley really amps up the flavor of chocolate teas.

Evol Ving Ness

Hmm, roasted barley? Where do you get roasted barley?

Mookit

Oh man, this stuff is great! I had the genius idea to blend it with some straight Assam tea one time, and I would highly recommend it!

rosebudmelissa

I bought mine on amazon. Lupicia also sells it.

Evol Ving Ness

Thank you. I am on it. Just loose, right? Without additives?

rosebudmelissa

The stuff I have now was prepackaged for iced tea, which is how it’s usually served in asia, but amazon has expanded thier selecton and sells it loose as well now. I actually prefer it hot, so I’ve been opening the packages and using it loose. I drink it plain, or blend it with brewing cocoa, or chai spices.

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68

This tea tastes just like a fruitier version of what one gets at Chinese food restaurants. It’s a good, fun combination, if a little lackluster. Plus, there’s a strong aftertaste that’s kind of… tart? Vegetal? What’s going on here?

I’m not besotted.

But — as today is going to be The Day I Mostly Wander Off To Give Other Thoughts — I tried the new Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos (purple bag), as well as the Southern Biscuits & Gravy Lays, and liked them both, even though I thought I wouldn’t. My coworker gave them both to me. (You might have noticed, via careful reading, that people are constantly handing me food. I am a human garbage disposal.) They sound hideous, but they’re each delicious in their own way. I also loved the brief-lived Reuben Sandwich chips.

I feel trashy adoring these lowbrow chips. But I am basically Oscar the Grouch, rubbish monster extraordinaire, and I should embrace it.

Flavors: Flowers, Fruity, Vegetal

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73

A nice malty, vanilla-y black tea. It smells like a graham cracker, but doesn’t taste like it.

Kind of like when you’re chasing an elusive Pokemon in Pokemon Go, and you think you’re really going to find it, but when you get to its location, it disappears. (This happens to me a lot. Stop being a jagoff, Pikachu. I want to evolve you.)

That said, it’s still a nice tea. I enjoy it. Just don’t go in there expecting graham cracker, per se, and you’ll be good.

Flavors: Cream, Malt, Vanilla

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85

A sample from Miss B I’m almost through the box of samples she sent me now – there was so much in it I thought I’d never find the bottom! I didn’t read any reviews or the description before I brewed this one up, and surprisingly I came out pretty close to the mark with my initial thoughts. In the tsp I used, I could see coconut shreds, slivers of almond, and a coffee bean amongst the black tea base. I gave it approximately 3.5 minutes in boiling water, and added a splash of milk.

To taste, I’m getting coffee and chocolate in the initial sip – very reminiscent of a mocha, although not as intense. There’s a nuttiness in the mid-sip, and a rich smoothness that could just about be caramel. The base is fairly robust and deliciously malty, so even though the coffee flavour is fairly prominent, you never forget that you’re actually drinking tea. When it comes to coffee-flavoured tea, that’s the way I like it.

I’m enjoying this one. It’s definitely different, and it’s making for a good wake-up cup. I’ve tried maybe one or two coffee-flavoured teas before, but this is definitely my favourite so far. It’s not too overpowering, it’s still decidedly tea, and the nutty-chocolate flavours work really well. I’d buy more of this one.

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec 1 tsp
rosebudmelissa

I liked this one, and I don’t even like coffee! I had a bad experience with the company though, so I don’t think I’ll be buying from them again.

Evol Ving Ness

I do not like that this Canadian company, that physically used to be just down the street from my world, charges orders in American dollars. I too will not order from them again.

Scheherazade

Having had no personal negative experience with the company, I can’t comment. My note was based purely on my experience with the tea, which I enjoyed.

Evol Ving Ness

Apologies about my mini-rant. This tea indeed does sound great.

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74
drank Graham Slam by Herbal Infusions
117 tasting notes

Not too shabby. A pleasant, slightly nutty black. There was a lighter black base which provided a solid footing for the nuts in this tea. There may have been a hint of smoke but it was so very light that I don’t even want to put it in my flavour list. Sadly though, I felt it did not reflect the taste of graham at all. Perhaps I should have added some almond milk to this, maybe that could have made it into a more “graham-like” flavour. As it was though it was an okay tea, just not a graham tea in my book.
Thanks MissB for the sample!

Sipdown!

Flavors: Malt, Nuts

Preparation
Boiling 3 min, 30 sec 2 tsp 12 OZ / 354 ML

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70

It’s still summertime (although just barely) so the combination of strawberry, vanilla, and cacao really hit the spot. The vanilla gave the tea some of the creaminess I that was missing from the original cacao tea that I sampled and mixing it with equal parts of whole milk only made it that much better. The sweetness from the strawberry was just enough that I didn’t find myself missing the sugar I opted to leave out, although I did try several cups of it sweetened. I will say that unlike the photo on the website, there were no chunks of strawberry in my sample and the strawberry flavor was rather light, but I felt like it was just enough so that it was present, but didn’t overshadow the cacao. Overall, it’s an interesting blend and it makes an especially tasty latte, but isn’t something I’d drink every day.

You can read the full review on my blog:
http://www.notstarvingyet.com/index/2015/9/8/tuesday-tea-strawberry-cream-cacao-tea-herbal-infusions

Preparation
Boiling 5 min, 0 sec 2 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML

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94

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2024 Tea #7 – January 20 – National Coffee Break Day

Saddest of sipdowns here today.  Uh, these flavors are still melding together so so well.  It’s like a syrupy, almondy, hazelnutty, coconutty, chocolatey, sweet coffee dream.  The coconut is still amazing!  Because of its longevity I will raise the rating from 90.  I will really miss this one.  I think it is most like a tea I had from adagio, but I forget which… maybe Reichenbach Recovery.  I see that has caramel and hazelnut but it also has bergamot.  So this tea seems like the adagio if it didn’t have the bergamot.  Probably if I mix the above adagio flavors from this blend it will remind me of this tea, especially as the base black teas also taste the same/have similar depth.   The Herbal Infusions website it still up!  This tea is still on there!  All is not lost!  Hopefully I will get to have this tea again one day.
2024 sipdowns: 10

Courtney

Wow, a company I haven’t seen for a while!

tea-sipper

And somehow they are still around! I would love to place an order right now, but I won’t.

tea-sipper

OH and this could also remind me of Simpson & Vail’s St. Nick’s blend… so if I’m craving this one, I’ll just steep that up.

AJRimmer

Ha tea-sipper, you are now responsible for my first tea purchase of the year! They had too many fun blends I had to try!

tea-sipper

AjRimmer – At least they are a small business! I hope you like all the blends you bought anyway. :D

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94

Ashmanra’s sipdown challenge – January 2023 Tea #8 -Jan 20 – coffee flavored tea

additional notes:  Hate coffee but love a great coffee tea. So I will have two coffee teas today!  Somehow this is still fantastic tasting, even with old coconut and old coffee beans.  It was always a great mix of flavors.  Next time a sipdown!

ashmanra

Ooooh, and it is herbal?!?

tea-sipper

Nope, uses black tea, Herbal Infusions is just the name of the tea shop!

ashmanra

Ah, okay!

gmathis

Love the idea of added coconut!

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94

Awesome to see this one in MissB’s sale box! Thank you so much! Coffee, hazelnut, chocolate, coconut, almonds. I love those teas with coffee beans in them. Davidstea has a couple. Bluebird has one. They’re all good. The brew of this one ends up being a dark red, not super dark like those others (of course, that’s the tea and not the coffee beans). The base kind of reminds me of Butiki’s Premium Taiwanese Assam but the leaves don’t look the same. It’s hard to tell under all these flavors though. It tastes like coffee, malty, nutty. Yum. But I love the super darkness of those other blends. The pu-erh or the black tea that looks like coffee seem to suit these flavors but this is certainly a good cup. I don’t think coconut needed to be here though since I’m worried it will eventually ruin the blend. Not yet though!
Steep #1 // heaping tsp // few minutes after boiling // 3 minutes
Steep #2 // couple min a.b. // 4 min

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