Madeline Alyce Send Message

First, THANK YOU to Epi Tea for this sample. This is my second pyramid, but I didn’t rate the first (BAD MADI) so let’s give it a try this go round.

Now, I am very glad this tea was on the TOP of my sample box because I couldn’t stand being in my tea pantry any longer smelling teas. I may or may not have consumed one too many margaritas at dinner last night so I may or may not be feeling like I’m going to collapse and die any second. I should stick to tea in the future.

Anyway, because of my lack of being a proper human being this morning, I made this tea in a fashion that will make you all gasp and cringe. I put one cup in the microwave for 2 minutes, and when the water was boiling, I dumped it over the tea bag waiting in another cup. Hey, I could have just stuck the whole cup, teabag and all in the microwave, so don’t judge me, ok?

When I poured the water onto the tea bag, however, I SWEAR it screamed. No, I’m still not drunk. I heard this hiiiigggghhhh pitch wailing coming from my cup. I looked to my dogs to make sure it wasn’t them whining, but they were looking at me so I knew it wasn’t them. Then they started barking, though, so I couldn’t hear the wailing… I put a lid on the cup, just in case.

Ohh, 4 minutes has passed now, time to remove my teabag! I mean sachet! And add a little soymilk… (Again, I know you’re going to cringe at my tea drinking habits)

First sip, the lavender hits you right away. It’s a perfectly soothing, calming lavender… Just what I need right now… The more I drink it’s as if I’m getting used to the lavender and the earl grey is peeking through more. It’s not a 100% in your face bergamont flavor, but that’s nice because I don’t want the flavors competing; I like the lavender taking charge and the earl grey just supporting it. I would definitely recommend this tea, even if you’re not a huge earl grey fan but are a lavender fan. Definitely want to enjoy lavender for this tea.

Mmmm off to enjoy the rest of this cup. It’s just what I needed this morning! :)

At first sip, I thought, oh I can only taste mate, not chocolate, but even before that sip was over BAM chocolate appeared (guess I just gotta be patient!) Now, with every sip I am enjoying the intertwining flavors of mate and chocolate. I got this as a sample from Amy oh (THANK YOU!) so it was just labeled chocomate. I knew there was something different about the chocolate flavor but it wasn’t until I looked it up on here that the malt part clicked.

I also love that this is a mate because I’m hoping for good caffeine out of it! Now that I love it, with my luck, it’s never going to exist again!

Thank you, Frank, for making my morning after a night of bad sleep a million times better, and thank you amy for giving me enough for another pot sometime :)

I tasted the Orange Vanilla Cream Black tea from Caraway and it was DELICIOUS, so I had high hopes for this tea. I was hoping for a light, creamy, vanilla-ish tea that would soothe me while simultaneously remind me of those orange creamsicle pops for which it was named…

Unfortunately, no such luck. While this tea wasn’t BAD, it definitely does not live up to its name. Even with some vanilla soymilk helping it along, it was flat and really had no depth of flavor. I will drink it, but I won’t crave it, that’s for sure!

Second steeping and the smokiness smooths out even more and the citrus shows through more obviously. Still very dark even on second use of leaves.

Good morning Steepster! I am tasting another tea from my sampler from Emilie this morning and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised at this one. Being more of a dessert tea fan, “smoke-flavored” tea didn’t really sound all that “ME”. But, I was a member of the “two bite” club in pre-school, so I’ll just transform that into the “two-sip” club as an adult.

Well, I’ve made it past two sips already! :) The smoke flavor isn’t as overwhelming as I was afraid it was going to be, and I think my small addition of soy milk smooths it out even more. The description also says it has “citrus-bits” which I don’t know if I would have guessed otherwise. I can tell there’s a hint of something with the smoke, but I don’t know if my mind would have gone to citrus.

Overall, not a tea I would probably BUY for myself, but I definitely will drink the rest of what I have :) Thanks Emilie!

Another tea that I got in my box from Emilie :)

I don’t know if it is because this tea is from 2010, or what, but the flavors just didn’t shine through for me… and there were a lot of them that could have shined through!!! I iced this tea, and all that I could taste was the green tea base. I could SEE some fruit chunks in the tea itself, so that’s why I’m thinking it might have just not been completely fresh. For this reason, I’m not going to rate it since I don’t know the cause of it’s flavorlessness!

Edit: Perhaps this tea came from last year’s reblend… not so certain!

I got this tea as a sample from Emilie and I couldn’t be happier that I did! I am always weary of chais because they always come out super spicy or super cinnamon-y and I am just not a big fan of either of those being overpowering. I do like chai in general, though, so I wanted to give this chai a shot. This chai is AMAZING! The vanilla is super smooth and while the cinnamon and spice flavors are there, they are not overpowering, just complementary to the vanilla and the tea itself. I prepared this chai with a little bit of vanilla soymilk, heated first, and it reminds me perfectly of the chai lattes I used to get working at Barnes and Noble in college. Perfect.

Okay, I’m trying to be a better little steepster reviewer, so here goes my THIRD review in THREE days! (Thank you, thank you, hold your applause!)

After trying Bananas Foster which I was less than satisfied with (sorry Frank!) I was digging through my sample box and found a sample of Hot Buttered Banana Bread. Since I was still looking for that banana satisfaction, I gave it a go.

This is WAY better than the Bananas Foster, but still only a tiny bit of banana… I think you can definitely pick up the other flavors in this one, though, which makes it a satisfying cup. A little bit of walnut, a smooth butter, and then the banana underneath it all.

As usual, I made this with soymilk, which I’m sure changes the taste just slightly. I have a feeling that as this cup cools off, the flavors are just going to get stronger and more delicious. Yep, just took another sip and the banana is coming out more and more.

Glad this one doesn’t have cinnamon in it because that’s what killed the hot cup of bananas foster. Yum yum!

I got this as a sample from the original blender TeaEqualsBliss (thanks!) and I iced it sugar-free after a 5 minute steep. I have one word for this blend. Delicious! All the flavors blend together so wonderfully that you can taste them all but can’t necessarily pick the individual flavors out. I keep sipping it to see if there is more apricot or orange or vanilla, but really they are equally present and delicious in this blend! I saved just enough for a hot cup and now I wish I’d saved more because I bet this one is delicious with some vanilla soy milk. I’ll brew that tonight and let you all know. If it holds up hot AND iced I just might have to buy some! YUM! :)

I just wanted to update my tasting and say that the other reviewers were right… this tea is much better iced! The banana flavor comes through much better and the cinnamon falls away. Much smoother and doesn’t have that gritty cinnamon aftertaste like it had hot. Which is nice because I like iced tea when it’s so warm out, but disappointing because nothing beats a great warm cup of tea :-/