Raven Send Message

The smell of the leaves on this one reminds me especially of coconut rum. But on tasting it – much more toasty and pie-like. The rooibos is definitely apparent (and does remind me of graham crackers), but the added creaminess in this softens it well. The taste begins with a very sweet toastiness, then melts into a light coconut flavor with a slightly cool feeling. The coconut lingers for a while after each sip, which is really pleasant! As it cools, the rooibos seems to assert itself more and it begins to take on a vanilla-y smell.

This is probably my favorite blend with rooibos in it yet. It’s so lemony and creamy, with a really nice and cooling aftertaste. The lemon taste is a sweeter kind of lemon, not sour at all. I think it may be the honeybush in it that I’m liking – there’s just something about all the tastes that are blending together really well. It even seems to have a bit of toastiness to it, like a lemon-filled pastry. It’s smooth (and creamy) and very sweet on its own.

I’m really glad I was sent this as a free sample with one of my orders, since I’m not sure I’d have picked it on my own. But it’s quite delicious!

My first normal tea in a while!

The smell is smokey, sweet, kind of like chocolate. I initially get a muskiness as I drink, but it turns into something mineral and juicy, then a pleasant sweet smokiness in the back of my throat. The astringency seems to hit kind of randomly for me – I think this may actually be my first tea that has it/that I’ve tasted it in. I had no idea it was more of a physical sensation than a taste, but I looked it up just now to account for the sourness I kept feeling. It goes pretty well with the flavors in this!

On the second steep, it’s started to get the floralness to it that I saw mentioned in other reviews, and has much less bite. Definitely smoothing out by the third and fourth cups.

My last cup! For now, at least, as I’m absolutely ordering more soon.

I ended up with none of those pretty Helichrysum flowers left in the final cup, since I’d been purposefully putting lots in previous cups. Regardless, this cup smelled just as overwhelmingly delicious as all the others. The cantaloupe tastes so real and sweet (as a note, I still haven’t had this one with sugar), the creaminess is perfect and complimentary, it even feels /filling/ to me. I guess that may be the dessert/ice-creamness to it – it reminds me of something edible and, as someone else mentioned, very thirst-quenching. This is definitely my favorite melon-related tea!

Now that I’m on my next to last cup of this from the Try Me Pack, I may as well make a tasting note!

The smell on this one is absolutely luscious, in the way Mellow Mango Peach is – floral, fruity, sweet, but not cloying or artificial. And this one has the added smokey/woodsiness (and a slight fishiness) to it from the pu-erh! The feeling left in my mouth after having a sip of it is always cooling – like an all over floral sweetness. It’s also very beautiful, with the rose petals, fruit pieces and cute pearl candies. I’ve had it iced with a little sugar and it’s exceptionally lovely and refreshing that way, though having it hot seems to let me appreciate the pu-erh bits more. And as this was my first taste of pu-erh in any form, it makes me excited to explore more!

I love the mood on this one – introspective, scholarly. As I’m staying up all night awaiting the announcement of a literature prize, I do feel a little of both.

The smell of the dry leaves for this one was very sugary/sweet, but when brewed it mellowed out considerably. And became extremely delicious. It’s a really smooth caramel flavor, with both a light sweetness and creaminess to it. From the described flavors, I think I’m mostly getting the cedar and orange blossoms notes – the more crisp, autumnal side of it. I do notice it gets fairly bitter after it cools a bit.

The wet leaves after the first steeping started to smell more oolong-y – steeped this one the max of four times.

Whenever I get a new hobby or interest, my dad always likes to support me in it. Usually it comes in the form of things he digs out of the trash (destroyed books, moldy hats, broken antiques, etc), but he does do it out of love, and he’s pretty much my only family member who ever takes an interest in my interests. And this time, he bought me something! A fruit tea sampler pack from Celestial Seasonings, in honor of my newfound interest in tea.

The smell of this one immediately reminded me of blueberry pancakes. I wanted to try it most, because blueberries are my most favorite of berries and berry flavoring. I made this first cup hot, added a little sugar, let the teabags sit in for a bit over the suggested time. It ended up tasting quite a bit like a blueberry syrup or jam – really thick kind of flavor, with not much tartness to it (though it increases as it sits, it seems). I think it’s probably going to make a pretty decent iced tea.

EDIT: Went ahead and added ice to the half cup that was left, as the thickness of it was getting a bit too much. Fairly refreshing that way! Though the tartness that came in near the end is now more pronounced.

The smell of the dry leaves on this one wasn’t as strong as that on the Flowery Pineapple Oolong, so I was expecting a very subdued kind of flavored oolong. I was wrong though! The strawberry was there and immediate at the first sip – my first thought was calling it “robust.” The taste on it is a natural sort of strawberry, and the sweetness is ideal. I may be mistaking some of the oolong flavor with strawberry though (I haven’t yet had it unflavored), as the description of it mentions honeysuckle and natural sweetness! Absolutely going to be resteeping this one.

I think I’ll definitely be exploring the world of flavored oolongs through Butiki Teas – the flavors have never felt “fake” or overpowering, and they’ve been consistently delicious.

The taste for this one is exactly what I would expect from the title! A calmer kind of fruit taste and comfortably sweet, even creamy. It’s very juicy (I’d say luscious even!), and I only had a slight hint of the tangier part of pineapple taste. It reminds me of the best pineapple smoothies, but with so many additional layers of flavor (I’m guessing from the oolong!) that it’s even more delicious.

I never took myself for too much of a pineapple fan (usually it’s a bit too tangy for me), but I really love this tea!

Ahh! All the chocolate bits in mine melted on their voyage through the mail. Still managed to get the melted bits into the teapot though.

I’m still feeling sick, so I wanted to try this one first of my newest try-me pack from Della Terra. The smell was really alluring – like a perfect balance of minty and chocolate – and the dry tea itself is very pretty (I love green and black together). Tasting it, it’s definitely a sweeter tea – the initial taste is more of a lightly chocolate-flavored black tea, but then the aftercool from the mint hits at the same time as the richer chocolate taste does, and it’s perfect. Definitely a refreshing sort of tea.