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This is by far the strangest herbal tea I have ever tried. I bought it because it has whole flower heads in it, and I figured why not? I half understood the ingredient list (my German is improving) and the name seemed happy so I gave it a try!

Huge flower heads and leafs make this one a challenge to steep in my little travel tea ball, but are kind of awesome!

It tastes like…well… flowers. I guess that shouldn’t be surprising since its mostly flowers! Its neither good nor bad, just very earthy and herbal.

So to explain my long long absence, I have been on exchange in Europe! Still am actually, loving life in the beautiful city of Vienna, Austria!

Anyway, Europe has been an amazing adventure, but sadly lacking in the tea department. Cappucinos abound and Vienna has a huge cafe culture (although fresh ginger and mint tea has become my go-to!). Where I have found tea is Vienna’s Naschmarkt, but most of the labels are all in German and the translation not exact and from companies that I have never heard of, so I decided against doing reviews.

And then I stumbled across a Sonnentor tea store in Salzburg- definitely a happy coincidence :) There I found mate, which I had been craving but unable to find. This mate is a pure green mate that tastes amazing and stands up to multiple steeps. Plus, with one ingredient, I didn’t have any specialty ingredients to attempt to translate, so finally a tea worth getting back on Steepster for!

As a verifiable DAVIDs addict, the Spring collection newsletter killed me, since they don’t ship to Europe and all. That is the one thing I can say I am looking forward to at the end of my exchange term in June- a DAVIDs shopping spree of epic proportions (the fact that I will have spent all of my money travelling is besides the point right?).

Free sample fro Teavivre! Haven’t gotten around to reviewing many teas recently, have just been enjoying old favourites on the run.
This tea tasted very gingery to me, an interesting flavour but pleasing none the less. My first steep was very sweet, the leave barely unfurled. After that the colour got darker and the earthy flavour became more dominant over the sweet notes. A very yummy brew, definitely unique!

A long rainy day of studying and anxiously preparing for a job interview deserves an oolong. This was an excellent choice! Thank you to Teavivre for the sample!

I can basically describe this tea in one word: sweet. It was extremely sweet, almost like honey. I didn’t really get a milky flavour on the first steep, but it started to come out stronger with every steep. The smell was like raspberries mixed with honey, and the smell alone was quite the treat.

Overall, delicious and its going to keep on going (4 steeps and counting)!

Back to school, which also means back to tea because I have way more free time on my hands to brew and review. My housemate and I had a mini tea party with this one today. She loves black tea whereas I am picky so I figured that way I’d be able to give a more complete review.

This was my first black pearl tea so I don’t have anything to compare it to, but it was fun to watch steep! I decided it was a worthy tea to christen my cast iron pot (which didn’t make watching the unfurling all that easy in hindsight).

For a pure black, by my taste, it was good. I am usually turned off by the astringency of black tea, but this one was smooth and not at all bitter! To me it tastes like a combination of hay and chocolate, which sounds weird but tastes decent. I think that I may have let it steep for too long (3 minutes or so) and that could be where the earthy hay taste came from. Overall, for a black tea, I did enjoy it, but it won’t be a tea that I crave.

My housemate found it too earthy for her taste, compared to other dragon pearls that she’s tried.

Upon second steep, I have to up the rating! The second steep was much more sweet and chocolate-y and less earthy. I think I got the brewing time right this time!

Thank you to Angel at Teavivre for the latest round of samples! I cannot wait to try them all in the next few days!

Probably redundant to write a review for a tea that you can no longer buy, but I thought I’d do it anyway! Bought this tin at 75% off during their closing sale, rather happy that I did. My parents back to school present to me was that both of them had contagious colds. So, I am basing the rating of this tea on two things: how did it taste and did it actually prevent me from getting sick.

So far so good on the second criteria :) Being sick would be the last thing that I would want for frosh week/ career week! So it gets super bonus marks for managing to get me this far without some nasty cold!

On the first criteria, taste, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought that since it was first and foremost and immunity booster, it might not taste very good, but I was wrong. It has a very pleasant and smooth peppermint flavour. You don’t really taste all of the other ingredients!

This was the tea of the day that they were featuring iced. I’ve never had iced mate before, but it turns out well evidently. I have been searching for a chocolate mate to replace my beloved chocolate rocket. I am starting to find that the raspberries are overwhelming the chocolaty-almond goodness :(
Anyways, I think I may just have found it! Chocolate and cinnamon and roasted mate make an excellent combination. Hot, I think it will taste just like cinnamon hot chocolate!

I happened to be in the area of a DAVIDs today with some time to blow, which I qualify as a very happy coincidence. Had read about this one in the newsletter and I was excited to try it. I always need an energy boost so I gave it a shot.
Anyway, it was quite tasty. I can’t really describe the flavour of the Guayusa, its somewhat similar to a green mate… But the chai was good! A nice blend of spices that wasn’t too spicy, and the guayusa complemented it well.
And, what i was really looking for, the beloved energy boost, did happen!
I was told be the store girl to let it brew for a quite a while and so I did. The resulting colour was almost black, but the flavour was great!

So I agree with TeaEqualsBliss that the personality description is clever and hilarious. My thanks to Peony Tea S for the free samples, the sample bags they send me were huge! :)

Anyway, white tea isn’t among my favourites, and I haven’t had many, but I do indeed like Bai Mu Dan every once in a while. Its light, almost like drinking feathers in comparison to books that are black tea. I also found this tea to be incredibly smooth and definitely floral. The leaves are huge and fuzzy which throws me everytime, but definitely an enjoyable cup!

Thanks to Peony Tea S for the free samples from their shipping tests. Much appreciated and enjoyed!
This is my first Dong Ding (if any of you find this review familiar, I got my dong ding’s mixed up and accidentally reviewed this one first under Fong Mong tea and then realized it was actually Peony Tea’s dong ding that I had tried and reviewed…)
Dry notes: Smell is like dry grass or straw… Not my favourite dry smell but intriguing all the same. The picture is exactly what the dry leaves looked like, and I used half the sample package and a cup and a half or so of 90 degree water for 45-60 seconds (didn’t time exactly).

Steep 1: Smells like straw, pale green colour. The taste is very earthy, slightly bitter (like fresh grass) with a delicious mineral aftertaste, almost salty, like soy nuts or something I can’t quite put my finger on.I finished the cup and then immediately put water on for more!

Steep 2: Cloying sweet smell. Taste- there’s the sweetness I missed in the first cup. This tastes like the first steep, only a good deal sweeter, and therefore (in my opinion) better.

Steep 3: So smooth, like a third steep oolong should be

Steep 4: smooth, but the bitterness from the first steep is creeping back in

My work day ended before I had an opportunity to do the last two steeps that its probably more than capable of standing up to…