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Day 7 of the Easter Advent calendar (5 and 6 are coming eventually…I opened the doors to know what they were, but haven’t had a chance to consume them yet).

I bought this tea for a friend (not much; only about 25 g or so) thinking it sounded good in theory, but might be terrible. And what better way to find out if a tea is good than to buy some for a friend and see if they like it? :) She thought it was good, but something was “weird” about the taste that she couldn’t put her finger on. So with that in mind, I tried it.

And I agree. There’s something “weird” about this tea that I can’t quite place. The mango and pineapple in it reminded me of Mango Madness (white tea base) but the oolong gave it a bit of a different flavour. Maybe the weird taste of the tea is the kombucha? I have no idea what kombucha tea tastes like, so that might be it. The after-taste was especially strange. I dunno how much I like it.

Verdict: this tea tastes so similar to Mango Madness, which I already have in my cupboard and really like, that I can’t see myself buying it. Plus that “weirdness” to it. Puts me off. I don’t know if I’d recommend it, so I’ll refrain from that until I try it again.

Day 4 of the Easter Advent calendar

So far, all but 1 of these teas I already have in my cupboard (that will change soon, I think). This is perfectly fine by me, since I’ve also rated all of these 90+ :) I lurves me some yerba mate.

Every time I have this tea I tell myself it doesn’t actually contain any honey and my mind is constantly blown. It tastes so “true to taste” that this seems impossible. I guess flavour combinations can do a lot to the brain and make you think there are flavours present that actually aren’t. It’s like…magic.

Verdict: have 100g of this in my desk drawer already.

Day 3 of my backwards Easter Advent calendar!

Again, I think we already know how I feel about this tea. Yuuuuuuuummmmmmmmm. It’s fruity, very tart, and has a creamy taste (and almost feeling) in my mouth from the yogurt bits. I can’t believe it took me so long to try this tea, but glad I’m making up for it now. Yum! I know a lot of people don’t like hibiscus, but to me this is a “different kind of tart”. It really does remind me of my grandma’s strawberry rhubarb pie. I should ask for the ingredients for the filling, since she doesn’t make pies anymore…

Verdict: already restocked this one; will restock until it’s discontinued.

Day 2 of my “I like to do things backwards” Easter Advent calendar.

…I think we all know how I feel about this tea. It is THA BOMB.

VIA Rail has now started giving away new “thanks for traveling” chocolates if you go first class (which my dad does…often). They’re 70% organic, fair-trade dark chocolate, and made by a chocolate company called Theobroma. Reason why this chocolate company is THE BEST: Theobroma is the Latin genus name for the chocolate plant. I love “botany-smart” companies. It makes me happy. Aside from the plain dark chocolate pieces, they also have chocolate pieces with chunks of raspberries in them. I drool thinking about it.

ANYWAY. Back to tea. Chocolate, raspberry, a bit almond-y, and a WHA-BAM of roasted caffeine. Yum! I could drink this all day.

Verdict: will constantly have some in my cupboard at home and drawer at work.

I received 3 bags of this tea as an “overflow tea” from my friend Sandra. She received a boxed set of 3 types of tea as a gift, tried them all, and liked this one the least. And since it’s apparently well-known that I like tea it ended up wandering my way. I tried 2 bags before reviewing the tea because I was surprised with the first one.

This blend is a plain green-black blend. I figured there would be some sort of “flavour” added in, but nope. Just plain black tea mixed with plain green tea. When I found that out I instantly assumed: “yuck”. I’m not a fan of straight black teas. I find them boring, they make my tummy feel yucky, and they leave a wacky after-taste. I’m just not a fan. I think the green tea in this balanced out the astringency of the black tea because I (shockingly) actually liked this. After looking at the website I don’t like it enough to actually buy it, but I like it. A bit floral-ish, a bit smoky, a bit yum. I will definitely enjoy the last bag, and at the same time be sad when the last bag is gone. If you like green-black blends, you’ll likely like this tea. If you like straight teas, this one’s a pretty good one (saying a lot that I actually like it!).

Verdict: wouldn’t buy only because it’s pretty darn expensive for a plain black-green blend, and I like others much more that are cheaper than this one.

Day 1 of the Easter Advent Calendar! At least…I think it’s Day 1. There are no numbers printed on the doors, so you kinda pick a spot on the “path” printed on the box and start there. I decided top of the path instead of bottom of the path. Maybe I’m doing things backwards. Don’t care.

I had purchased this tea for someone else once upon a time, but I’ve never tried it myself. The dry leaf smell is definitely “Earl Grey and Something”, and the steeped smell is “Fruity Earl Grey”. I don’t know if I can pick out any one fruit flavour, but it smells delish.

The taste? Also quite good. I’m not generally a fan of Earl Grey tea, so I never would have thought to try this on my own initiative (the friend I bought this for LOVES Earl Grey, so I bought her a custom pack of all of the Earl Grey and derivatives that David’s has). I’m glad it was part of the calendar. I still have about 2 cups left (used my little tea cup for it, since it’s caffeinated and I was having it before bed…not usually a good idea), so if I still feel the same way after the other 2 cups I’ll be a happy camper.

Verdict: might buy. I’ll have to see how the other 2 steepings go. But if you like Earl Grey tea, you’ll likely be a fan of this version.

Well, I’ve got to admit. Whenever I have a “tropical” green tea, I’m always disappointed. I bought this box of tea a looooong time ago, before I really got into tea. It’s been sitting in the pantry ever since because I was obviously unimpressed with it years ago, too.

Now I’m just trying to get through it without throwing the rest of the box out. The tropical flavour is…I can’t figure out what. Certainly not tropical. Maybe a bit like orange? I don’t taste pineapple (clearly illustrated on the box) at all. Lemon flavour is also a stretch. It also has a really wicked aftertaste…and I don’t mean “wicked” in the good sense. I mean it in the “what the hell is that taste in my mouth” sense.

Verdict: will not buy again.

Another one of those “hey! I bought this tea 5 years ago and forgot it in my cupboard!” teas. I think I might have paid $2 for this box of 100 tea bags. I didn’t have high expectations (and, other than the outer wrapping being open, I’d be surprised if I had even had one of these tea bags…but I guess I must have sometime). Good tea for $0.02 a cup? Give me a break.

I opened the box, and each set of 25 tea bags is wrapped in its own little baggie, but the tea bags are loose inside those baggies. A let-down…now not only do I have to prepare myself for terrible $2 tea, I have to prepare myself for terrible, $2 STALE tea. Lovely.

Opened the baggie. KAPOW. Jasmine. This is jasmine GREEN TEA? For real? Smells like flowers. Like if I was going to sprinkle lavender in hot water, add a single leaf of green tea, and then call that “Lavender Green Tea”. AND I DON’T LIKE OVERLY FLOWERY TEAS. This cup just can’t get better. It has officially lost all of its redeeming qualities. Expectations: rock bottom.

Only steeped for about 3 minutes, because watery jasmine tea would be better than full-strength jasmine tea. Error in assumption: this tea only has full-flavour or “water has not hit the tea bag yet”. Now I have to drink an overly flowery “green tea” that is probably shitty quality AND is stale. Siiiiiiiigh.

First sip: OHMYGODTHISISHOT. (note to self: let tea cool)

Second sip: OHMYGODTHISISGOOD. That’s right. I said it. It was good. Very, very good. Didn’t taste stale at all, didn’t taste overly flowery (despite smelling like a garden of jasmine flowers in liquid form), the tea base (it’s in the list of ingredients so it must be there) didn’t get bitter at all…I’m officially floored. I don’t think a tea has actually floored me before. But I guess there’s a first for everything.

Made myself a second cup thinking the first was just some kind of crazy mistake, forgot about it in the cup so I probably steeped it about 5 minutes the second time. Yes, a change in flavour. But not an unpleasant change in flavour. I think I’ll try (keyword: try) to stick to a 3-minute steep because I like that better.

I’m not going to say this is THE BEST jasmine green tea I’ve ever had, because I bought a ridiculously expensive jasmine green tea when I was in Japan and it tasted like unicorns and rainbows, but this comes really, really close.

Verdict: BUY ALL THE BOXES!

I LOVE this green tea. The steeping instructions say to only leave it in the water for 30 seconds, I say “screw that. I’ll steep as long as I want.” I usually go for 2-3 minutes, and I don’t get any hint of bitterness. I do like my green tea strong; strong and bitter, however, is not pleasant.

The tea definitely has a matcha-taste, despite much of it appearing to stay in the plastic packet the tea bag comes in. Sometimes I dump the dust into my cup, other times I don’t. Depends on how I feel that day! Speaking of the plastic packet…I love that each bag is packaged in plastic that is fully-sealed. I actually got this box of tea at Costco about 4 years ago. Still as fresh today as it was when I first opened the box. Expiry, schmexpiry. Best before dates translate to “more interesting after dates” to me. :) Except milk. Yuck expired milk.

Verdict: would definitely buy this again; in fact, will be going to Costco to pick up another box this weekend.

We bought this one as an afterthought since everyone in the house had tried Bellini and Mojito before and liked both (we won’t be purchasing Pina Colada since I can’t tolerate coconut, and I’m the primary tea drinker in the house). In hindsight, I have no idea what would possess us to buy this since no one is a fan of cranberry juice, cranberry tea, or even cosmos. Ugh.

And…this tea lives up to its name. Artificial orange flavour like orange candies, and the grossness that is “cranberry” (also presuming an artificial flavour). The two together? Not pleasant. Like I said, don’t know what possessed us to buy it. No one likes it in the house; it will be a struggle to finish it.

Verdict: will definitely not re-buy.