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Dexter3657 sent me an amazing package of teas! I appreciate it so so much! I can’t even say! thank you! This will be the first to try of many. All of the fruity teas smelled so lovely! I wasn’t sure how to steep Formosa oolong, so I did a search and the teas that actually had steep instructions said boiling at 3-4 minutes. That seemed too high, but I thought I’d try it anyway. As dry leaves, this one had such a lovely sweet citrusy aroma and the flavor is the same. The flavor of the oolong itself is tough to find behind the equal parts grapefruit and lemon… so bright, fresh, sweet, fruity, crisp. Just a punch of citrus. Love this flavor. Very thirst quenching! This is the grapefruit I can manage and not those cups of juice they would hand out in elementary school. The lemon reminds me of bergamot. I don’t think I had any Formosa oolongs in my collection, so now I have a bit of this one left. This is very good! The second steep tasted just as good.

I wanted Darjeeling and pumpkin and remembered I had a sample of this one! I tried to use Butiki’s instructions – two teaspoons, 4 min, and I let the water cool for a half hour. I’m not sure how many Darjeelings are oolongs, but this one is. It seemed odd! The flavor is slightly pumpkin and slightly creamy (I still wish Butiki’s pumpkin blends would use more pumpkin). I don’t think I’m a fan of the base though. I’m not sure if waiting a half hour still had the water too hot, but the main flavor profile of this just seems to be tangy and like a fuzzy white tea. It didn’t have the flavor of a Darjeeling or an oolong. Ah well, not for me. Maybe that is why Pumpkin Milkshake 2.0 exists. I’m very glad Pumpkin Brulee does though!

…Just quick posting a couple tasting notes: I’m still avoiding reading tasting notes since I haven’t received my Amoda box yet! I miss Steepster!

Here is one that Terri Harplady included in the Here’s Hoping teabox, I’m just now trying. I’m starting to think that many of Verdant’s black teas are similar – like Laoshan Black…but I’m not sure why I’m comparing it to that one, since it’s my least favorite. This one is much better, while still having a similar flavor profile. Maybe I’m oversteeping the Laoshan, since they suggest four minutes. I used two teaspoons of these lovely leaves.

Steep #1 // 2 min // around 15 minutes after boiling
Already, I can notice the difference. With Laoshan, I used just boiled water and steeped for four minutes. This tea has a comparable flavor with half the time and 15 minutes after boiling. The flavor is that dark without being dark sort of thing. Sweet potato, honey, a bit of chocolate. Very nice. It seems to be closer in flavor to the Zhu Rong than the Laoshan black… but of course steeping times/temps would affect that.

Steep #2 // 3 min // just after boiling
This cup is much like the first. By now my cup of Laoshan Black was terrible… just had that oaky oversteeped leaves flavor. But this one is very nice. It’s almost chewy/bakey… fuller than the Laoshan Black. There are hints of the oakiness in the aftertaste. But these leaves also have something different to them that is hard to describe.. maybe what Yezi described their one tea as scotch-like. A very nice cup but I’m beginning to be surprised that so many of Verdant’s teas are the same. I just don’t see anyone who has tried a few of Verdant’s black teas thinking that Laoshan is the best one. But this tea is lovely on a snowy winter morning with my breakfast of yogurt with blueberries and a hideously decorated Christmas cookie I made. :D (Side note: Anyone else notice the club on the show Arrow’s name is Verdant? Of course I can’t help but think of the teas.)

Thank you Michelle for sending some of these for your sale a while back! I’m not sure what a “serene” chai is. No such thing! SO I used two tea bags to make it less serene. It isn’t overpowering with two bags.. just right! The flavor does seem different than a typical chai. I’m surprised the black tea isn’t stronger… so I guess that is what makes it serene, even after a few minutes steeping. The ingredients aren’t particularly flavorful… and there is a flavor here that reminds me of cantaloupe. Different! I’m not tasting vanilla or much cinnamon… mainly ginger. Why are half of the same ingredients organic? hmm. Not a terrible chai but there are others I love more.

A sample of this from Janelle’s sale! thanks so much! I thought this was swanky because it was themed (and I do not follow chess at all). Black tea/ white tea. The ingredients sounded nice too. I waited around 15 minutes for the water to cool because of the white tea. The cup color isn’t very dark… but the flavor is SO good! I love this mix. I seem to really like white teas if they have coconut or caramel with them. This one happens to have a really lovely sweet/creamy coconut. The light base tea really lets the coconut run with it. I also love the addition of roman chamomile which I love for some weird reason or another. One of my favorite blends has roman chamomile (SpecialTeas Vienna Winter Green) and since that blend doesn’t have any of the other ingredients here, the shared flavor must be what roman chamomile tastes like. It’s hard to describe anyway! The second steep was right after boiling and just as nice anyway. I really love this though – one of my favorite David’s blends. (I seem to be trying so many of them lately!) It’s light enough to be a desert tea. Sweet & creamy!

Oh WOW. I don’t know if it’s because it is winter with the lack of sunshine or because I haven’t had an Earl in a while but WOW. This stuff is amazingly delicious. Upon opening my sample, the bergamot fragrance is divine! Bright, fresh, lemony… almost like there is some lemon myrtle here. There is some yellow powder, but I think that’s just the tea itself. I definitely thought “sunshine”. I brewed a heaping teaspoon for exactly three minutes after waiting for the water to cool for about ten minutes. I don’t think it could get more perfect than this. I’m not sure if JustTea uses the Kenyan black base for this one, since I didn’t seem to find any of the notes there that I did here. This one doesn’t seem malty, chocolate or Yunnan. Maybe the bergamot is so strong it is overpowering those flavors but if I’m drinking Earl Grey, I want my bergamot to be tough stuff. Maybe I was just wishing for the last cup to taste that way. But this is amazing. This would be in strong competition with Teajo’s Earl Grey in the Battle of the Earl Greys. (I don’t recall if it was in the Battle, but if not, I demand a rematch! :D) I really hope JusTea will create more blends because the three they have are EXCELLENT. I’m very tempted to buy these for their Christmas sale!!
www.JusTea.com

I was craving a tea that was grassy today. I thought of this one and it was perfect even though I’ve never had it before. It was actually a free sample in my smallish Fusion order (sale!) and it’s the first I tried. Go figure. The dry leaves certainly smell like dry hay! I’d say the teaspoon and a half and five minutes is way too much though. I went with a teaspoon and 1/3 and around four minutes steeping and it was a bit too astringent. I needed the briskness anyway! It has that grassy slightly malty taste… full flavor! The cup is a deep red color. This was nice to try but I feel like it is too similar to the Ovation black teas I have a ton of. I adore Fusion’s blends though. Just beware of Fusion’s recommended steep time. Perfect for my craving though!

And sorry Steepster, but I think I’ll avoid you until my Butiki Amoda box shows up! (I don’t want to know the surprise until they are in my hands and I promise I won’t talk about the specifics until way after everyone else has been talking about them.) I couldn’t resist special Butiki holiday teas so I just got the Amoda box for this month. Can’t wait!

Additional notes: Oh no! I threw about a cup of ice cream, a banana and milk in the magic bullet with some of this and it was so so good! This is bad because I will want to make it like this every time. I even had it with whipped cream on top like the Red Leaf picture shows. So so so good! I used up the last of one of the big bags of this, though most of it went into trades and teaboxes. Luckily, I have one big bag (30 servings) and two smaller bags (10 servings each) remaining. Creamy banana caramel goodness!

Here is another one I’m just now trying from TastyBrew’s awesome package. thanks again! I almost had the NecessiTeas chai that TastyBrew also sent me, but I remembered I didn’t try this one yet. I used two teaspoons since looking at the dry leaves, it’s mostly spices (sounds good to me!) After a few minute steep, the flavor is unique somehow. I guess many chai blends don’t have peppercorn, which to me seems to add a sweet flavor. Not so much here though, unless I’m confusing the cinnamon for the super sweet type (think Harney’s Hot Cinnamon Sunset!) There is also some ginger, cloves and cardamom. The black tea listed in the description seems to be assam, but it didn’t taste like an assam to me. A bit mild. But since the spices are so nice, I don’t mind that the black tea isn’t fantastic. The second steep didn’t taste the same, even with a seven minute steep time.. it seemed to lose everything that made the first cup unique. Overall, a unique flavored chai somehow, so I’m happy to have a few more teaspoons in my collection!

This is a blend I always wanted to try and thanks to TastyBrew, I can! It sounds very unique! The blend itself doesn’t look to have much black tea in it, but I was thrilled it had some roasted green tea in it. I think I see some hazelnuts?! (I don’t know though… the package says it does contain nuts). The marshmallows alone can sell me on this though. I was distracted with sandwich making so this actually brewed for 14 minutes and it was definitely over a teaspoon since there wasn’t really black tea. There were SO many marshmallows though! Unlike the Della Terra marshmallow tea I had yesterday, these didn’t really melt, even in 14 minutes. I’m not going for a second steep seeing as how it already steeped for 14 minutes and doesn’t look very dark in steep color. The flavor is definitely weird. Not terrible… weird. Sweet yet spicy… not much like black tea but it kind of tastes medicinal. Reminds me of the Cocoa Canela they have. Nothing I’d add the name ‘Toasted Marshmallow’ to. Happy to have tried it though!