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Wow. This is so minty, the kind of burn-your-throat-going-down minty. I really can’t taste anything else, and I’m not sure I would say it tastes like a candy cane. It’s definitely a sweet sort of mint, but wow. Even on the second and third steeping it is strong!

Pretty robust for an herbal tea. It smells of cinnamon and fruity berries/hibiscus with a hint of popcorn. The color is a bright fuschia, which made me laugh when I saw it. The taste is mostly hibiscus, but it is balanced by the other flavors (other fruits and spice). You can’t pick out the papaya or fruits lower down on the list, but it’s nice to see pieces of them in the loose leaf tea. A basic fruity holiday tea, but not one I will be sad to see gone when the season passes.

This is only the second jasmine tea I’ve ever tasted, and I’m beginning to realize I don’t think I like them very much. The confusion between the floral scent and the green tea taste is too much for my brain, it does not understand. This tea smells strongly of jasmine in the bag, and a little less strong after steeping. The taste is all green tea, and a mediocre one at that. This tea isn’t calling out to me to try again, and will probably be passed on to someone else. It can be steeped again, and tastes similar on the second and third steeping, which is interesting for a green tea.

Oh pu’er, what am I to do with you? Hold my nose and drink, apparently.

One whiff of this tea in my cup and I’m reminded of why I don’t like pu’ers. I smell the notorious earthy scent of the pu’er, along with a decent amount of sweetness. I can almost smell the chocolate, but not quite, and I don’t think I can get any strawberry or fruitiness at all. It all mixes to a generic sweet attempting to balance out the pu’er. But the taste, the taste is all strawberry! chocolate covered strawberries! in a heavy, earthy base. Pu’er tea never really tastes as bad as it smells (in my opinion, obviously). In fact, this tastes quite good. I like the strawberry and chocolate, and I like the way the flavor lingers in your mouth after you take a sip. The strawberry isn’t the candied sweet variety, it’s a slightly tart real strawberry flavor, which I really like. That in itself might having me reaching for this tea more often.

Thanks go to Crystal for this sample! ETA: The undertones come out a lot more on the second and third steeping, changing the flavor quite a bit. It’s less fruity, more earthy.

This smells amazing. Sweet and fruity, though if you didn’t mention it was supposed to be peach I probably wouldn’t have known. I think I’ll simply sniff the teabags the next time I need a pick-me-up.

In the cup this tea is very light and not as sweet as it smells (probably a good thing). The scent is still there, and it does remind me of the peach gummies someone else mentioned. The tea itself tastes slightly sweet, but other than that it doesn’t taste like much of anything at all, except for a slight bitterness at the end (and I swear I didn’t oversteep it!). Most of the “taste” comes from the scent of the tea. All in all a good one for spring.

Thanks go to Toi Toi for sending me a sample to try!

This loose leaf tea smells amazing, a sort of fruity tropical blend with a heavy base and perhaps even a faint fizzyness (or maybe that’s just my imagination, thinking of kombucha). Unfortunately my cup of tea doesn’t have all these flavors. All I get is a bit of pineapple in a very light oolong base. It has a sort of heavy thickness to it, it’s definitely not a thin fruit tea, and it has a little bit of the kombucha aftertaste. I’d really like more of an oolong flavor and less fruit, maybe I should steep it longer next time. It’s not bad, and I suppose it might be good iced, but it’s not as amazing as it smells in the bag.

Hmmm, I’m surprised by all the mentions of heavy cinnamon as I get more of a cardamom/ginger/pepper flavor from this. Also mine looks nothing like the picture – it’s all green cardamom pods with bright red peppercorns and long leaves. Interesting.

This is actually one of my favorite chais, I really like the flavor of it. Somehow the peppery cardamom blend just really pushes my buttons. It does taste better if you steep it a bit (maybe 3-4 minutes?), and it tastes great on the second steeping as well.

I love Earl Grey tea and most assorted variations of it. Something about the citrusy bergamot serves to wake me up in the morning and soothe me in the evening after a day of work. This is the first green tea Earl Grey that I have tried, and I have to say I like it!

The scent of this tea from the bag is very strong and it’s all ORANGE orange ORANGE. You can smell the orange peel and orange fruit and maybe a slight hint of muskiness from the green tea leaves. After brewing the scent tones down a bit, making it more similar to typical Earl Greys. The color from this tea is not very strong, it looks like any old green tea (pardon me while green tea enthusiasts cough and beg to differ). The taste of the tea is amazingly like Earl Grey. If someone handed me a cup blind, I would proclaim it delicious and request they steep it slightly longer because it is missing the black tea undertones. The green tea leaves act as a carrier for all the orangey bergamot, you cannot taste the green tea at all – and yet the taste is different than if one had simply stuck a couple orange peels or drops of bergamot oil into a teapot of water. The green tea gives it body, but goes completely undetected. The ingredient list mentions cornflowers, which you can kind of see in the loose tea, but I don’t taste them at all. Granted, I don’t really know what they’re supposed to taste like.

The second steeping was just as good as the first, but by the third it started to lose flavor. All in all, delicious! It won’t replace my staple black tea Earl Greys, but it’s a nice addition to my collection. I believe it has less caffeine than my black teas, which could come in handy.

I really like this one! Much more than I expected. I received a sample from Davids Tea with my order, and I’m so glad I did. When I first opened it, I thought all the nuts and blue leaves were strange, and there was no way the sliced almonds could give flavor to a tea by just hanging out in the water as it steeped. The tea smells faintly of chocolate and not much else – definitely a hint as to how light this tea is. It’s a white tea, and feels perfect for spring or any time you need a tea that’s not too loud or bold. This tea tastes like chocolate hazelnut wafer sandwiches I used to eat as a kid (kind of like Kit Kat bars, but not covered in chocolate), and the aroma of the tea is stronger than the tea itself. Brings back good memories and tastes great. Oh, and I think you definitely need to steep this one for the recommended 4-5 minutes to get the full flavor.

Looking at the ingredients I can’t taste berries or licorice or orange peel, but I don’t mind. As for magical immunity increasing powers, I think I’d need to drink more than three cups to see any effect ;)

The scent of this tea is woodsy, in a smokey campfire kind of way. I expected the coffee and maybe the almonds to be stronger, but the whole roots and bark thing comes off very strong instead. The mate and coffee perked me up a bit, but not enough to get me to jumping monkey status – just a little more energy. It’s not a substitute for your morning cup of joe if that’s what you need to get started. Taste-wise, the woodsy base complements the almonds and mate quite well. It’s a pretty good balance of flavors, but not necessarily something I’ll crave or reach for. I can’t taste the coffee at all, but I can smell it in the tea leaves, so I assume it’s in there. Definitely steep this one the full 4-5 minutes, otherwise you’ll end up with weak, watery tea. Works for a second steep, but you’ll need 5-7 minutes.