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I am slowly losing any motivation to have a productive day. It has been pouring rain all day and I went to class, so I feel like that’s enough productivity for the day. I’m going to make a cup of this tea and have lunch and see where the day goes. . . either a nap with the pups and some reading or starting an essay for english, blah.

I had been wanting to find a good kiwi flavored black tea for awhile when I stumbled across this one at Angelina’s. I eat a kiwi almost every day for breakfast. I had a kiwi black tea before from a swap, but it wasn’t labeled, so unfortunately I wasn’t able to find the source. I like that most of Angelina’s teas that I’ve tried so far seem to be pretty good quality considering the reasonable pricing ($2.14/ounce). This tea smells very mildly of tart fruit. The flavor is more sweet than tart, and although it is a little artificial tasting it isn’t bad overall. It would probably be good iced as a summertime tea. I will probably keep searching for my perfect kiwi tea, but this one will be good to have on hand in the meantime. :)

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves and twigs with light green pieces of flower.
-Dry leaves smell mildly of tart fruit. Tea liquor aroma is of sweet kiwi.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium golden brown color.
-Slightly tart kiwi flavor with a sweet finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Sweet juicy kiwi flavor.

Sadly, this is a sipdown. When I first got into loose leaf teas I order a lot of the sample packs from Adagio since there were so many different flavors to try. This was one of my most favorites, and I turned to it time and again. I don’t really drink Adagio teas a lot anymore, but I do still have a cupboard full that I want to rate. I am hoping that this one isn’t bitter and is just as heavenly as I remember it being! The dry leaves smell milky, like a whipped cream. Ahhh, this one is just as good as I remember. It is very creamy even before any milk is added and has the perfect whipped cream flavor. I think this is one that I will definitely be ordering more of. Just what I needed to start my day before venturing out into all of this rain!

-Medium size black tea leaves.
-Dry leaves smell of dairy, like whipped cream. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and cream.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Robust malty flavor with a sweet milky finish. Smooth and creamy mouthfeel.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Smooth whipped cream flavor.

Ugh, another Monday morning. . .This is one of those teas that has been in my cupboard for awhile, and I’ll make a cup of it every once in awhile. The smell reminds me of dried apricots, very sweet and fruity smelling. The flavor is malty (you can taste a strong black tea) and has a light pineapple finish. There is a really strong dried apricot aftertaste. This is a nice tea that is very nicely blended, but not one that I couldn’t live without, especially since there are oh so many other TRT teas that I love so much more. :)

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and small blue petals.
-Dry leaves smell sweetly of apricot. Tea liquor aroma is of black tea and dried fruits.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Malty apricot flavor with a light pineapple finish. Strong aftertaste of dried apricots.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Flavor is reminiscent of dried apricots.

My fiancee noticed this tea one time when we met for lunch at The Secret Tea Room. We decided to go with a black tea instead, since it was such a snowy winter day, but I purchased some of this to surprise him with at home. Not being much of a rooibos lover myself, I never actually made a cup of it. My mom came over for lunch one day and made a cup, and I took a sip. It has a wonderful flavor, so I decided to make a cup before bed tonight. The dry blend is very pretty, with large yellow and orange petals and large sliced almond pieces. I can detect a little of the tobacco leaf smell in the dry leaves, and the tea liquor smells like warm vanilla. The flavor of this tea is a very soft vanilla, which is very nice with a little milk and sweetener. There is almost no rooibos flavor noticeable, which I appreciate, and it may be because all of the flavors balance so well. All in all, a very nice caffeine-free tea. I’m glad the fiancee picked out this one!

-Dry blend has red rooibos leaves, yellow and orange petals and sliced almonds.
-Dry leaves smell of rooibos with creamy vanilla and a hint of tobacco leaf. Tea liquor aroma is of warm vanilla.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium reddish brown color.
-Soft vanilla flavor and finish. Little rooibos aftertaste.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Creamy vanilla cup.

I was excited to see this included in the samples that Kashyap sent, since I like pears and pear flavored teas. This one smells very gingery, and there is a lot of dried ginger in the dry leaves. There is also a smell of chocolate. I don’t know if it’s just the way the black tea base smells against the ginger, but I kept smelling it over and over again trying to figure it out, maybe I am crazy and just wanting chocolate?! The flavor is mostly of ginger, but a warm ginger taste, not the spicy taste sometimes associated with it. There isn’t a lot of pear flavor noticeable, but a tiny amount of it comes out more as it cools, but not a lot. I am getting some hints of chocolate though, mainly in the aftertaste. Typically I am not a fan of ginger teas, but I like this one in spite of the absence of the pear. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a ginger chocolate tea before, but this combination is actually surprisingly good. It’s definitely just the cup that I needed tonight! Thank you, Kashyap, for the sample!

-Dry blend has medium black tea leaves and twigs with yellow petals, a lot of dried ginger and a few pieces of dried pear.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of ginger and black tea with a hint of chocolate. Tea liquor aroma is of warm ginger.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium brown color.
-Slightly bitter black tea flavor with a strong ginger finish. Very little pear flavor. Chocolate notes in aftertaste.
-Best with the smallest amount of milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Mellow ginger flavor with hints of chocolate. Little pear flavor.

We woke up to cold rain and ice this morning. I am keeping my fingers crossed that my class will be cancelled so I can stay home and cuddle with the pups/kitties but it does’t look promising.

I saw this the last time I was at Angelina’s Teas and I thought I would try it since I usually enjoy the grand marnier flavor in desserts. The dry leaves smell a lot less strong than I expected, just a light citrusy aroma. The flavor reminds me more of grapefruit than orange, it has that slight tartness to it that makes your mouth pucker. Adding sweetener brings out more of the fresh, juicy orange notes. I think that adding a little milk really makes this tea just perfect, but it would probably be good iced also.

-Dry blend has large greenish-black tea leaves with yellow petals and pieces of orange peel.
-Dry leaves smell lightly of citrus. Tea liquor aroma is of malty sweet orange.
-Tea liquor is a clear reddish brown color.
-Slightly tart orange flavor with a juicy citrus finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Good tea. Tart and juicy orange flavor.

This is my last sample from Nina’s to try, and based on the reviews I’ve seen so far I’m in for a treat. It’s also my first Genmaicha – woohoo! The smell of the dry leaves is wonderful – fresh green tea and sweet kettle corn. Wow, this is really good! There’s a fresh, toasty flavor and with a little sweetener the caramel and vanilla notes come out very nicely. I love the popcornish aftertaste too! Are all Genmaichas this delicious? I’ve not found a ’can’t live without you’ green tea yet, but this one may just be in the running! Thanks Nina’s Paris for the sample!

-Dry blend has green and black tea leaves with pieces of crispy rice.
-Dry leaves smell like green tea and kettle corn. Tea liquor aroma is of buttery popcorn.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark yellow color.
-Fresh toasty flavor with a vanilla caramel finish. Nice popcorn aftertaste.
-Best with sweetener.
-Very good tea. Wonderful light caramel popcorn flavor.

I am finally getting a chance to try this sample that Kashyap sent me. This blend is interesting – the leaves are very shiny and look like they are wet. The smells is very spicy of cinnamon and it differs from your average orange spice tea in that it is really sugary sweet smelling, rather than just a natural orange flavor. Oh my goodness! This tea is really sweet. I think this is the first tea I’ve ever had that I’ve not been like, oh I’ll just add a little sweetener. I’ve been sitting here since I first smelled it thinking and thinking what the smell and the taste reminds me of and I finally got it! It’s exactly like those little cinnamon Red Hot candies. I am not really sensing a ton of orange flavor, mainly just a really spicy, burning cinnamon flavor. I’m not really sure what to even compare this to, as I haven’t had any other teas like it. It tastes more like some other type of drink rather than tea, since you really can’t taste any tea in the flavor. This tea really leaves a burning feeling all the way down your throat, eh. It does get a little more drinkable as it cools. I’m not really loving this but if you’re really into spicy cinnamon tastes this may be just for you. Thanks Kashyap for the sample!

-Dry blend has shiny wet-looking black tea leaves with pieces of orange peel.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of spicy cinnamon and sweet citrus. Tea liquor aroma is of spicy cinnamon.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium orange brown color with an oily sheen on top.
-Overwhelmingly sweet orange flavor with a strong cinnamon finish. Lingering cinnamon aftertaste that is slightly numbing.
-Best with milk only.
-Fair tea. Overpowering spiciness with no trace of tea flavor. Reminiscent of Red Hot cinnamon candies.

Another sip down! I woke up this morning very excited for tea, any tea, and this was the first one that I came across. Our indoor cat got outside late on Monday night, so we spent all day yesterday in the cold rain searching for her and putting fliers on every door/business in our area. Luckily our Greyhound found her last night just up the road from our house. Yesterday was a day with no tea and it was a sad day indeed. So this morning we decided to celebrate the return of our prodigal cat with some Lime Jello Salad.

The dry tea smells really sweet, just like a packet of dry jello mix. I didn’t see any dried pineapples in my pack, but there was a lot of white, fluffy marshmallow root. The flavor is exactly like lime jello, and adding a little sweetener brings out a small hint of the marshmallow. To me, the lime flavor is a little artificial, but lime jello tastes artificial also, so it really does live up to its name. My mom would always make me jello when I was sick as a child and she would let me drink a little of the warm jello before putting it in the fridge to set. This tea reminds me of that warm jello flavor!

-Dry blend has green tea leaves and fluffy marshmallow root.
-Dry leaves smell sugary sweet of lime jello. Tea liquor aroma is strongly of lemon-lime.
-Tea liquor is a clear medium green color.
-Citrusy lime flavor with a marshmallow lime jello finish.
-Best with sweetener.
-Good tea. Flavor is exactly like lime jello.

This tea is nicely comforting, especially on a cold winters day. It smells strongly of maple syrup, and I was worried that the blueberry flavor would be overshadowed, but it is surprisingly strong. There is a nice, lingering true blueberry taste. It reminds me of blueberry pancakes with warm maple syrup, yummy!

-Dry blend has large black tea leaves with small blue, white and yellow petals.
-Dry leaves smell strongly of sugary maple syrup and sweet blueberries. Tea liquor aroma is of malty black tea and blueberry pancakes with maple syrup.
-Tea liquor is a clear dark brown color.
-Slightly bitter maple flavor with a sweet lingering blueberry finish.
-Best with milk and sweetener.
-Very good tea. Strong blueberry flavor. Reminiscent of blueberry pancakes with warm maple syrup.