iHeartTeas

Thank you to Rachel from iHeartTeas for a lovely sample packet of this tea!!
It’s wonderful, truly! The spices mix superbly with the pumpkin, and the vanilla is just fine! (yes, this tea drinker was worried about that part upon reading the ingredients)
The black base is a little soft, but has that certain mallow note which works well in a chai. I wish the base was a touch stronger.
No matter, this is very much like pumpkin pie filling. Very decadent, making me feel as if I’ve had a dessert when really it was a pinch of sugar and some milk! Hmmmm, you know I think it is closer to pumpkin icecream than pie, atleast in the aftertaste.
And something else, other pumpkin teas I’ve tried had a certain “uncooked” feel to them, and to be honest, that is why I stopped looking for a version I enjoyed. Well, this was in the sampler I got, so I didn’t really look for it… but oh yeah am I ever glad it was in there.
Btw, I tried this with milk, but also greatly enjoyed the sip I took when it was sans dairy.
Sighs Ya know you are in love with a tea when you are pouting because the cup is empty! THAT hasn’t happened to me for ages.
When my buying ban is over, I’ll be getting more of this for sure!!!!

Fruity non hibiscus green tea! something I’ve been craving for ages. So I was supa’ glad I got this in the sampler pack from ihearteas.
Peach is definitely more present than raspberry, though I kinda wish it was. Either way, it hits the spot so yay :)

Thanks Kittenna for this sample! this is tasty. Not my fave flavoured green, but purty durn good. First steep was great, sans sugar. Raspberry and apricot actually came through which was a nice change from the average fruity green. Second steep wasn’t that great though, it came out all floral like, a little too perfumey for my preference.
Rating: 80

Guess what arrived in my mailbox the other day?!? Surprise! :P
Anyhow. What a deelish tea!
I’m not big on dark oolongs these days, for some reason. Red robe was my fave for a long time… I kinda miss loving it. Sighs.
No matter, I’m really liking my cup! It’s creamy and I can definitely taste the strawberry and rhubarb influence, though I do wish it was a tad stronger.
Second infusion brought out more creaminess. Mmmmm. What a treat :)

This is just what I wanted this morning.
One of those days where I woke up thinking “THIS is the tea I need today”. I love days like that. And oh man did it ever hit the spot. Mmmmmm.

Thanks to Kittenna for this sample!
I enjoyed this cuppa. Personally, I’m not huge on vanilla flavouring but every once in awhile it really hits the spot.
This tea was pretty smooth and creamy with a touch of something extra that I can’t quite identify, something that seemed to bring everything together, and iron out the vanilla/black tea wrinkles for me. That must be why… If I was going to reach for a vanilla tea again, this would be it. That said, I don’t plan on keeping any in my cupboard. It’s just nice to have once in awhile :)

I will echo TC by singing this teas praises. I love strawberry teas, I love flavored oolongs, so this one was love at first sight! I only did one steep yesterday (will try to resteep this afternoon) but the strawberry flavor was so fresh, and the smoothness of the oolong still comes through. I didn’t get much rhubarb but I think the tartness was there. Yum!

Arggahahahaagggfffppphh! So I spent all day standing at the social security office. Blasted place needs more chairs, heck more people working the place.
Worse, I hurt my shoulder bad at jiujitsu last night – it got cranked one too many times so now I can’t lift my arm without eye watering pain. Joy.

I made a huge iced tea pitcher of this yesterday – thankfully! I need tea NOW! Candy raspberry with a little floral white. Pretty good iced, especially with some lemon slices. I’m gonna sit back, guzzle iced tea listening to Ziltoid radio with an ice pack on my arm.

I snagged this tea as part of the last iheartteas sale on etsy! WHoooooo! Is this one discontinued?

This is really good cold steeped! Really bright raspberry flavor! Overnight was a bit much though, it got a little too strong of a white tea taste/ going bitter verses last night deliciousness. Hot or iced? I don’t like as much – the raspberry tastes not as good – too much like raspberry juice powder in a way, but coldsteep the flavor is much better!

Uggg, really dragging my butt today to do my RushFit for the morning. I’m working out so much, but I need to drop all that winter weight! Plus that rich dinner last night, and I snacked on a few polvoron filipino shortbread cookies over the weekend (very good with tea btw)

I was thinking of skipping it, but I HORRIBLY rigged it on my HabitRPG to make doing Rushfit count or I lose lots of HP (or do it and gain lots of EXP and Gold!) https://habitrpg.com

Argg, must work out! Once I finish this cup, I’m gonna do it! Noo, I’m out! /cry

This is the first of a few tealogs I owe the lovely Rachel (who is currently and bravely without tea, keep up the spirit!) for the beautiful .5 oz samples she sent me after I won her blog give away last month.

I reached for this one this morning for my first latte of the day. Brewed it up with a bit of aguave and some frothed milk on top. And all I can say is, yum! Such a great idea mixing cinnamon with mint. I made sure not to oversteep so I can’t say how astringent the base was, but this is such a great Christmas tea. It reminded me of the flavors I like in the winter, and I can see the bite of this one being the perfect thing to enjoy on a cold day. I’m glad I tried this now when I still have an appetite for these flavors. Yum :)

I LOVE this tea. Part of my winning contest prize pack from Rachel.
I was a bit leery as I’m not a rhubarb fan, but the strawberry is awesome and the rhubarb is mellow in the background. I loved the oolong as well. I did a quick rense of this then just 180 for 2.5 minutes (pretty fast and low) and it worked great. Good stuff!

I’m so very tired and I need to be up early in the morning as I’m awaiting a parcel redelivery (and postal delivery starts at 7am) plus my food shopping is coming early. My husband has a day off tomorrow too and it’s always nice to share our days off together. We plan on cleaning all day (as if I’m not sad enough already.

My final sample of the night to be used in my new green teapot. In loose form this tea has an interesting appearance, with lavender, rose petals, green tea, black tea and what looks like vanilla pod all being noticeable. That seems to be all of the ingredients, it’s not often that I can so easily spot and separate them. As a whole the blend has a sweet floral aroma.

Once steeped the tea has a rich lavender scent and is mahogany in colour. The lavender is quite strong in taste but it’s not as thick and heavy as other lavender based teas that I have tried. The black tea gives it a deep richness but the green tea helps to keep it lighter with a little more freshness. The rose brings a little sweetness but is lost in comparison to the lavenders unique medicinal taste.

This is just really a lavender tea that has been blended to be on the lighter side but with a good amount of flavour. It’s very nice all in all and I usually don’t like lavender teas because of their heaviness and strong bitter taste. It also leaves a nice floral after taste. The lavender does thicken the more I drink but that bitter astringency that it has is minimal in this tea. It’s even a hit with my husband :)

Yawn looks like the tea is doing it’s job. Goodnight all.

This tea was delish, like comfort food in a cup. The caramel, cream and vanilla were all there but not overdone or artificial tasting.

I was so happy to see that iHeartTeas had this for sale! I was wanting more after my sample from Granville Island Tea but it was a little cost prohibitive after shipping from GIT.

It’s looking like Sourenee, Sungma & Mim are becoming my favorite Darjeelings. This one is smooth and quite strong on the muscatel notes. I steeped it a bit too long so these first couple of cups are a little on the bitter side. Not an entirely bad thing but I’ll be more careful next time.

What a tiring day, a cup of tea and then I’m off to bed. :)

This was from a large sampler I bought from iHeartTeas a few months ago. It sounded sort of Winter/Christmas like so I kept it for such a day like today to try it.

Firstly the tea itself is brown with leaves that look tightly rolled and cut into small pieces that smell earthy yet sweet. Once brewed it leaves a dark brown tea with a fruity and creamy vanilla fragrance.

(Please note I have not added any sugar or creamer). The first few sips reveal sweet smoothness with a vanilla and caramel sort of taste. I can understand the fog part from it’s name, the blend is not strong nor weak and it has a slightly smokey/misty flavour which I believe to be the black tea base. A nice evening drink.

It could be enhanced with sugar to create a stronger caramel mix but it’s sweet enough for me.

I have been saving my sample of this for December time, particularly when I wanted to feel more Christmassy. Now is the time, I did some cleaning yesterday and wrapped some presents and I can begin to feel it drawing closer but the only thing that can get me into the festive mood is candy canes. I love candy canes! This one says it contains candy cane which is beyond amazing!

This blend is a mixture of finely chopped black tea leaves with some sort of finely chopped green/brown leaf and red candy looking pieces. It smells sweet and creamy :)

Once brewed this tea forms a dark brown liquid that smells sweetly of cinnamon.

My first few sips reveal earthy cinnamon with a sweet vanilla flourish followed by a breeze of refreshing mint. It’s a rather subtle blend overall but the ingredients compliment each other well.

If I was to say anything negative about this blend it would be that there is not enough candy cane in there for me and I was hoping it would be a little mintier.

Not sure if I feel more Christmassy but I’m certainly more happy at any rate. :)

I received a sample of this blend a while back from Rachel and I thought I had logged it soon after I got it, but clearly I was mistaken (see guys, this is what happens when you’ve got too many teas!).

I wasn’t so thrilled about it when I drank it plain, but when I added milk it really made the flavours pop. The caramel flavours are especially apparent with smooth, sweet vanilla topping it off. It’s definitely not a tea that needs extra sweetening and it has a decadent feel to it that makes every cup a treat.

I don’t know about you but if I was going to be stranded on an island I would love for it to be a place called Strawberry Island.

Whilst raw this consists of lovely small cut black twisted leaves with green chopped up parts (that look like a leaf and after reading the ingredients must be the raspberry leaf) and some sort of dark brown stick (maybe vanilla). All of this blend of ingredients smells like sweet strawberry gummy sweets (so it’s somewhat artificial smelling).

Once brewed this is a dark reddy brown colour (similar to an assam but a little redder…maybe the exact colour to describe this would be red honey). The boiling water has brought out more of a berry smell rather then focusing just on the strawberry but it’s still as sweet.

First few sips bring out a fair bit of berry sweetness and a touch of earthiness and a slight bitterness in the after taste. A sugar/sweetener would take the edge nicely off this tea and may bring out the berry/fruit flavours but for me this is sweet enough. I’m still finding that the sweetness tastes a little artificial and usually I am not a fan but this is balanced nicely.

The fruity flavour comes out once the tea has cooled slightly so I would recommend drinking this one around 70-80 degrees (if you opt for a hot tea and not iced that is). Perhaps reduce the steeping time slightly as well to remove the subtle touch of bitterness in the back.

A very good effort and a nice sweet fruity tea, this is definitely something that I could drink happily. :)

I received a sample of this tisane with the last order that I placed with iHeartTeas (thanks Rachel!) – the label ingredients does not list rooibos, but I could see the rooibos in there and the website lists rooibos.

This is tasty. The strawberry flavor sweet and tart – with the tartness further emphasized by the lemon notes. It is more tart than sweet … and tart is not my favorite kind of flavor, but, I’m still enjoying this.

Not bad … not my favorite lemonade type tisane, but, it’s agreeable.

Thanks to Kittena for a sample!

I get to look at my wedding venue today, 2 weeks before the wedding, lol! Yeah, last minute and totally laid back. More excited about eating beef tongue burritos afterward! Heheh! I’m not a wedding person and rather save the cash for a fun honeymoon… once I get my greencard and can leave the country.

I wanted to start my day with a nice black tea and Sweet Velvet Fog appealed to me.

STEEPED: Dark brown colour, malty caramel smell

TASTE: Smooth black tea and surprisingly sweet. Hit of caramel and vanilla. Not getting any astringency or bitterness. I can totally get the caramel and creamy creeping up on me.
Sweetened (not that it needed it, but I already presweetened a batch) the creamyness comes out more. Personally, I think the sweetness in the tea is perfect and does not need further sweetening.

COMMENTS: Very good! I think I might try more of iHeartTeas stuff! Overall, a good dessert tea for peeps who like black teas that are nice and smooth.

I think I’m in love. I’m a milk oolong addict and this blend was perfect. It was creamy and sweet with a really nice vegetal aftertaste. The coconut was present but not overpowering. The coconut flavor starts to fade after the first infusion but the tea leaves themselves can definitely keep going for more.

Sipdown! 836 (and still counting tea inventory… oyyyy… That 800 goal is a long ways off.)

Anyhow, this tea has lost some flavour since the first time I had it, and so I’m still not a huge fan – I’ve since discovered that Butiki’s pumpkin tea is quite good when it’s not in a sample packet, and I think this tea was similar, although to be honest, if I’m going to have a pumpkiny tea, I want it spiced like pumpkin pie, so the Della Terra ones are still my favourites in that regard.