Lavender Earl Greys are yet another of those tea categories I’m not quite comfortable with (I’ll probably need a good rest at a spa or something after this swap box sampling round.) but want to make some kind of final decision on. I decided to go with the steeping suggestion from a Steepster review of …
tea reviews
Peppermint Cream – Bird & Blend Tea Co
My profile says, ‘No peppermint.’ so obviously it’s time to give peppermint another chance. It’s 2014! The year of tea bravery! Besides, I would really like to learn to enjoy minty teas. In the bag, this smells very fresh and light; it’s all crisp, cool peppermint. In the cup, the scent seems much thicker, a …
Coconut Almond Green – Blowing Rock Tea Co
I’d already committed to this one before realizing it was one of those nightmare samples. 1. It’s not in the Steepster database.2. It’s barely googlable and not available to purchase online.3. It turns out it’s an in-house (but possibly sourced) blend at this three-locations-in-the-entire-US coffee chain.4. If I love it, there’s no way in hell …
Sri Lankan Lemongrass – Canton Tea Co
This is the second lemongrass I’m trying from the box. This one is a herbal, and as such (I never drink herbals! I have no idea why. It might be the lack of actual tea. Is that elitist? Eli-tea-st? Are we even doing puns this month? I’m so out of touch.) I had no idea …
LongJing Green Tea 2013 – Wan Ling Tea House
One of my tea goals for 2014, in addition to Not Buying Any Teas in January (check) and Trying All The Peach Teas (working on it) is to try more unflavored greens. This tea fits the bill. My aggressive lack of knowledge about various tea regions and leaf types really puts a hamper on things, …
Lembranca-Lembrança – Theodor
As you can tell, I’m box-sampling way outside of my comfort zone this time around. Next up, lemongrass! There were two lemongrasses (uh) in the box, so I figured I’d compare, even if one is a yerba maté (this one) and the other a straight-up herbal. I was surprised that I liked the scent of …
Thé des Alizés – Palais des Thés
On paper, this seems right up my alley. I remember smelling it in the Tel Aviv Palais des Thés last summer, too, and I liked it a lot. I know Palais get a lot of flak in terms of quality and pricing, but there’s something about their flavored teas that really does it for me. …
Green Peach Leaf Tea – Whittard of Chelsea
I’m so caffeinated now the selection process for this one went something like… oh, peach green peach green peach, huh? are there even green peaches? or is it because the tea is green? green peach what a pretty fruit all green but peach like yeah …and then imagine that really pinball-staccato and jittery. I have a …
Nepal – Shangri-Lâ Temple – Theodor
So I continue to venture outside my tea comfort zone with this one. On the sample bag, as you EU-swappers will note, it says, ‘not a black tea’, but as has been pointed out, it is actually black, but should be treated as a green. Now, I’m someone who tends to slap her greens and …
Queen Catherine – Harney & Sons
Today is quite the daunting tasting note day – first I take on Tribute, and now this? In this case, however, we can just go ahead and blame my complete lack of interest in plain blacks. There is exactly one such previous review by me, namely this one: http://gluttonette.com/?p=293h So I suppose I could have just left this …