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This is actual a travel staple for me. The strong vanilla and cinnamon notes tame bad water taste on the road. So for vanilla tea week I broke out a box with the happy lemur looking at me while drinking his tea I just had to cheer up. Its foggy out and I can feel the warm cinnamon opening my eyes and lifting the fog. The black on this tea is a bit harsh something I like in a wake up morning tea. The vanilla is strong in the scent and mixes on the tongue with the cinnamon. Adding some honey enhances the vanilla sweetness. I think its great for a bagged tea and for the price! Also you can’t really over steep, I’ve accidentally left it over 10 minutes with no additional bitterness.

Its vanilla tea week (and its only Monday I guess). I had a sample from Just Organic waiting patiently for me to try it (thank you again for the generous sample package). Somehow it had gotten scented with one of the other spice teas in the sample and I really wanted that to settle down so I repackaged it but that still didn’t help much. So today I went through 3 vanilla teas, one new from another vendor, my current staple and this one. This helped reduce the spice scent but still the dry leaves had that issue. I like my vanilla tea to be a well rounded but not too strong tea base with that vanilla essence. This tea delivers in a big way. The tea base is nice well rounded really a medium bodied tea that sits quietly under the carob and vanilla. I drank a lot of “hot carob” as a young teen, We had it at camp and took it backpacking. After brewing @ 5 minutes the carob notes really come out the first sips are an unsweetened carob with a very light breath of vanilla to lighten it up. Carob alone is dense and too dark for me, the carob + tea + vanilla are delightful. As the tea cooled the vanilla came more to the fore with the carob buoying up the taste. Its a light and somewhat generic vanilla so I’m glad the other flavors are there. I also smell pine and wood just a hint, I think that’s the tea base and carob but I really like it. I think this would be a perfect mid-morning pick me up that transports me away to the woods for a little while and I’ll be ordering more. I do admit as “Vanilla” it disappoints its not the sweet dessertyness of the other 2 teas. As a morning tea its perfect. I added some honey about mid-way through and with the sweetness added it reminds me of a blonde brownie that Carmel and brown butter taste lingering on after I was done. Now I want MORE!

I bought this tea when I was working at someone else’s office. I loved the first cups I had but then I found things I liked better. I like a nice flavored tea in the afternoon. Although ginger leads in the name its always tasted like peach to me. This can is pretty old so its now light beach and stronger just tea, perfect for breakfast with some avocado honey adding its own flavor. I will finish off the can this way, probably as my first of the day drink and I use the tea bags when I travel but otherwise I prefer many of my other loose leafs. The bags still smell of peach and some sort of generic lighter black tea (Ceylon perhaps), the liquor is a dark brown and theres some astringency that increases as it cools. I do enjoy it cold brewed and since its hot out, perhaps I should brew up a jar!

I love most jasmines but this one doesn’t quite work for me. After trying a short brew which was too floral and a long brew which was too harsh I tired a medium brew but it seems to me the green tea is a harsh tea at war with a heaping dose of floral notes in this particular jasmine. It looks nice but just the dry leaves smell more like perfume than tea. I finally poured it over ice which tames some of the harshness. If I use a cooler water I get perfume, hotter harsh and acidic tea. Drat, I suppose I’ll keep trying or perhaps a cold brew is the way to go.

I still love this tea. I received my shipment and it tormented me open me drink me. So I did used 2 tsp in a small tea pot with a long soak and once again it did not disappoint. The liquid is quite pale a very light yellow but the scent and taste are such a deep mix of honey and butter and corn and some fruit, more fruit in subsequent steeping’s. This one is taking me thorugh a logn day of head bashing!

I drank all my just a trio of tulsi sample. Today I’m feeling hot and tired so I wished I had more tulsi and here is this mix. Its got a delightful pepper and ginger tingle on the tounge. I was worried about the mint because I don’t’ usually like it but this one is subtle. The mint, Tulsi and myrtle all mix together leaving a soothing coolness to the back of the throat with that hot tingle in the front. I poured the last of it over ice and that gives more lemon and tulsi taste. I like it but I liked the trio better! Thanks for letting me try this!

I’m trying to clear out my tea cupboard, its not so impressive as most of the steepster’s tea stashes and I have to share it with my SO who loves twining’s packaged tea bags. So this tea is still kicking around. Brewed it traditionally in the am but doubled the leaf and surprise it has a bit of a malty almost assam like flavor. I also sunbrewed a batch and its not bad it loses some of the too floral and sweet notes that troubled me the first few times around. I am hot because I am outside applying shellac to a chair for that very same SO (a rocking chair) resteeping tea and applying shellac seem similar to me. you keep going one more and one more wondering how it will come out and should just do one more coat than that will it still be worthwhile or have I tapped out this portion? Perhaps I’m just dizzy from the alcohol fumes?

Always a cheering tea. I had 3 steeps to help me recover from another long talky day. I needed a boost and it provided. Lovely jasmine scent but not that strong floral almost begonia scent of some and then a strong green tea taste behind it. The jasmine backs off after the first steep but still a fine and gently scented green!

I can write it up but sadly the company is gone. The day ahs been that way everyone losing their jobs or otherwise things not available. I brewed a big pot to share and now I am sipping it cold on a hot grey afternoon. I love the mineral and floral qualities of this tea. The lovely light gold liquid. Its not enough to cheer me through a tough day but it will see me through! I always think of this as a summer tea.