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Today I went through my “cupboard” to see what I had at work that I hadn’t logged yet, and settled on this one.

(taken with Splenda)

This tea is a dark gorgeous ruby red. The taste is mostly of the tart hibiscus, so I do have to be in the right mood for this tea. It’s dark and mysterious and hard to describe the back notes… I’m not sure what rose hips and cassius taste like, so that may be why I’m struggling to seperate the flavors out.

But, overall, when I’m in the right mood for it, it’s a fantastic tea.

So my husband gave me the look that means “Friday is video game night… quit goofing off in the kitchen!” I knew I had to make something to take with me upstairs and those GM samplers are just too small.

I mixed up a mug that was half Teavana’s Mate Lemon Blast and half Teavana’s Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate.

I believe next time I try this I’ll decrease the amount of Lemon Blast, since the smoky mate flavor is still coming through (it’s present in the LB but not in the Raspberry Riot, that I’ve noticed).

The blend does tone down the tartness of the RR, which is a nice change. Sometimes I like the tart, but some days I’m just not up for it.

So my husband gave me the look that means “Friday is video game night… quit goofing off in the kitchen!” I knew I had to make something to take with me upstairs and those GM samplers are just too small.

I mixed up a mug that was half Teavana’s Mate Lemon Blast and half Teavana’s Raspberry Riot Lemon Mate.

I believe next time I try this I’ll decrease the amount of Lemon Blast, since the smoky mate flavor is still coming through (it’s present in the LB but not in the Raspberry Riot, that I’ve noticed).

The blend does tone down the tartness of the RR, which is a nice change. Sometimes I like the tart, but some days I’m just not up for it.

Taken with rock sugar.

I don’t taste any jasmine (Nathaniel says I put too much sugar in and overpowered it… then he said the vanilla masks it…. I’m not sure if it’s my fault or GM’s fault).

An okay vanilla tea, but I’m not terribly fond of vanilla teas.

Taken unsweetened.

My husband is a fan of all things caramel, so I gave this sample to him. I’m snagging sips now as he’s on the phone.

I taste a bit of the oolong, but mostly burnt sugar caramel taste. It’s interesting, but I’m not so much of a fan of it that I would buy it. We’ll see what he thinks of it.

I might like it better if it was sweetened, but it’s his cup, and he doesn’t sweeten. :-(

Here are his words (until I can get him to get his own account):
It’s a very mellow oolong. The sweetness of the caramel is present but there’s not a lot of burnt sugar. It’s subtle and pleasant.

I’d drink it again, but am not impressed enough with it to buy it. It’s probably a good afternoon home from work, relax tea. Due to the caffeine content it would have to be early, though.

(sweetened with rock sugar)

So I wanted a tea to drink tonight, and I started digging through my Golden Moon sampler…. but everything had caffeine! Troublesome.

I had picked up this one as a sampler from Adagio, but had been ignoring my Adagio samplers after a series of disappointments. Well, you’ll never know if you don’t try!

It certainly smells like apples when dry, and the teas that I didn’t like from Adagio were flavored blacks, and this actually has apple CHUNKS in it. That’s a promising sign!

The taste is surprisingly well balanced. WOW. It’s not too sweet or too tart, it’s just right. I know some folks don’t like hibiscus, and it’s there, but just as a background note. The melody is certainly the apple and cranberry (pretty equally).

I think the apple is one of the milder apple varieties and not the super tart Granny Smith, but it’s a good compliment to the cranberry and hibiscus. It’s a very good blend!

I’m definitely going to reorder this one!

Second steep.

Still desperate for more caffiene.

The spices are more mild on the second steep.

It’s a TRAGEDY! I always start my morning with 2 cups of coffee, but there’s no creamer here at work! So I went straight to tea, but there’s just not enough caffiene. whimpers

Anyway… I consoled myself with this tea, which is one of my favorite blacks. I’m tasting the oranges strongly this morning.

I dunno, a pretty standard black, in my mind. Perhaps the water isn’t hot enough to get all of the flavor out (I try not to drink blacks at work, since I brew out of a water cooler and the water is only 190°).

backlogging from the weekend…

I’m thinking that perhaps I need to ask the hubby to cut back on the sugar a touch (gasp!). I know we’re from South Carolina, but it was just Too Sweet. I think I’ve been living in Maryland too long.

Still loving this blend, though. It’s awesome.