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I am sick.

Correction: The husband got me sick.

I need mint.

This is mint.

I feel better. But I am still sick.

This tea seems to have quickly become the ‘go-to’ tea for when my honey feels sinus-y unpleasantness. It’s a great mint tea that has a warm depth and sweetness to it that makes it very friendly on unhappy nasal passages. Very refreshing and comforting, all rolled into one.

This smells nice. A true caramel scent but not overly sweet. Which makes sense since it is supposed to be bittersweet. I really like the smell. It’s somewhat like salt water taffy, but in a caramel flavor.

It smells more caramel than it tastes though. It’s more of a burnt caramel – there is definitely some bitter but not bitter like it’s been brewed too long since the bitter comes at the front of the taste, not the end and it is much too smooth of a bitter to be from overbrewing. It doesn’t cause me to make a funny face or anything. It’s a controlled bitter that would pair wonderfully with sweet… if there were more sweet that followed it up. Instead the taste transitions smoothly into an almost cocoa powder taste, then a nice (but still) default tea taste.

Contrary to my previously stated desire to have more sweet in this, I decided to add a splash of milk to the second half of my cup. I blame the cocoa-like notes. With the milk in it, the transition of tastes turns into a melding and this turns into a pretty nice post-dessert tea. Not a dessert tea – it’s not sweet enough for that – but something good to end a rich meal on in lieu of coffee. It makes me think of tiramisu actually, which always struck me as having too much bitter with the cocoa powder to be a proper dessert (I prefer things that are so sweet and rich you will go into sugar shock by the end of the dish).

That being said, I do enjoy this but it isn’t the sweet caramel I was hoping for. I can definitely see it as an after dinner coffee-like drink to wash down that super-rich dessert I’d pick. I might try this with sugar but I might not. It almost seems a shame to make the mild bitter go away.

And now I’m out of this one too. I’m pretty sad about that. This isn’t the best Irish Breakfast ever or anything. There is a little something missing that would push it over the edge and into that category for me, if I could just figure out what it is. But until I find the ultimate Irish Breakfast, I’ll probably do my best to have this one on hand because it is pretty darn good.

I’m out of this now. And I’m okay with that.

This is nice. Very light, bordering a bit on perfume-y but not crossing over and I’m not getting a ton of tea taste from it, but it is still nice. No nasty aftertaste or obnoxiousness, just a soft jasmine. Not too complex, not a big depth of flavor and more jasmine than tea, but sometimes the tea taste in a jasmine can turn me off so this avoids that problem.

Overall, it’s pretty inoffensive. Just a jasmine tea. I know I keep saying it’s nice, but it is. I can’t really go farther than that, though. Nothing bad is going on in it, but there’s nothing stupendous either. It’s just nice. I feel like I’m damning it with faint praise but I just can’t get all that excited about this tea. But I it doesn’t make me think icky thoughts either so that’s gotta count for something, right?

I so love this tea.
But now I am out of it.
I must order more.

Much thanks to teaplz for the chance to try this tea! Honestly, since it is rooibos and banana, I never would taken the risk of buying this on my own. But is has ‘monkey’ in the name, so I really wanted to.

Right off the bat I’m a little nervous. The leaves smell like it has gone off. I don’t think it has actually gone bad. I think that’s the rooibos. And the fright grows once I pour the tea into my cup. I was hoping for some chocolate or even some monkey. But instead it looks like I get full on rooibos. I’m scared. Hold me.

Sipping it’s not quite as horrible as the smell. There is… taste… before the rooibos hits. The problem is, when the rooibos hits, it hits hard. And it doesn’t blend with or accentuate the other flavors that pop up at the beginning of the sip. It battles against them and kicks their collective butt. The initial smell is now banana and rooibos and then the sip is banana and then rooibos and then ROOIBOS. Where’s my chocolate? And I can’t pick out the apple (though maybe that’s some of the sweetness at the beginning with the quick banana taste) or the pink peppercorns (and they are pink! I wanted to pick them out!)

Ultimately this is too much rooibos for me. The other tastes in the tea are too mild to make the rooibos step back so it just ends up being too much for me to deal with well. I’ll be able to finish the cup but I don’t think I’m going to be crying out for more rooibos monkey.

Our washer is leaking. From somewhere. Don’t know exactly what’s going on. It’s not fun. I need tea to deal. This one looks like a Jade Oolong, which I tend to enjoy, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Though my tea? Looks nothing like the picture here. What’s up with that?

Initially there is a funky almost plastic smell to it but that’s gone now that the tea is no longer quite as hot. I’m starting to think that my slightly stuffy nose is heavily (and detrimentally) impacting my tea-tasting abilities because I’m not tasting a whole lot. Sweetness in a fruity way… and that’s about it. And then a few seconds after I swallow there is a really sweet aftertaste. Almost like… strawberries? I have no clue. It’s really sweet and really there but it’s also really brief.

The body is pretty thin and light. But it’s nice, too. And seems to be getting more taste the cooler it gets. Now that I’ve said strawberry, that’s pretty much all I’m able to taste. And I taste it a lot. With a quick dash of Splenda taste at the end. Eventually a little bit of the typical Jade oolong green taste comes in, too. This tea really seems to benefit from cooling down. I’m actually kind of groovin’ on it. It’s weird, but I like it.

I like the tiny little pellets of leaves that make up this tea. It’s cute.

This certainly smells smokey but it smells cigarette smokey to me, not the more attractive and sweet cigar smokey. I think teaplz once described a smokey tea as smelling like wet ash and I think that is the prefect description of this tea’s smell. Not all that appetizing for me.

Thankfully it doesn’t taste like wet ash. The smokey taste is actually pretty mild. There’s also not the salty taste I associate with so many Chinese greens. It doesn’t have the same sweetness but otherwise makes me think of a much more delicate and green version of lapsang souchong. Actually, maybe a little too delicate. I think I might want a little more depth in the flavor. I get a nice taste when I first sip, but it pretty much disappears when I swallow and then a sort of post-fire feel of smokiness coats my mouth. I want a little more oomph in the taste as I swallow – an increase in flavor instead of a decrease. On the other hand though, I feel that if there were more oomph in the flavor, I might end up with a too-strong taste of brine or wet ash. So maybe more delicate is good in this.

As it cools I start to get a little more flavor but it is a little flatter than the taste when hot and there is a little astringency that is starting up at the very back of my mouth. But it’s still pretty good. Better than I was expecting. I think this might be a good beginner’s gunpowder. And I would include myself in that ‘beginner’ category. But it’s got the gunpowder characteristics but not so overpowering that they are offensive. Not something I’m going to have to buy but I’ve got one more cup left of leaves and it won’t be hard for me to finish it off.