Tea Fiori (Sips by)

From the iced tea box.

I do like this, but I don’t think it has nearly enough lemon to be called “limoncello”. It mostly tastes like lemongrass with subtle lavender notes and a hint of dry-grassy green tea in the background. And I love lemongrass, so I’m finding it very enjoyable, but it definitely seems more like an herbal tisane that one would drink before bed than a limoncello green tea.

Oh well, still enjoying my cuppa he he. Just seems like a bit of a miss on the name for me.

Sipdown! (9 | 356)

From my November Sips by, also known as my last one.

When I saw the name and packaging (blue floral print) for this one, I groaned because I assumed it was going to be pea flower-based. Happily, it is not. It’s actually a blueberry black tea.

It’s nice enough, with a strong and sweet blueberry flavor. It verges on candylike, but reminds me more of blueberry jam or pie filling. The black tea doesn’t have much flavor to speak of though. Odd that they call it a “floral blueberry black tea” when the only flowers included are ones that don’t really have much of a flavor.

Anyway, it’s a decent blueberry black tea, but nothing special.

It’s been bananas at work—as school ends, even the most levelheaded staff members start losing their minds—compounded by a horribly tense weather day; severe threats all around and torrential rains causing flash floods on main thoroughfares….I had trouble ungripping my hands from the steering wheel after crawling home in the deluge. Turkey Creek is in the across-the-street neighbors’ backyards.

So bring on the herbal tension taming compounds! I grabbed this little packet from our friend Nichole because it looked like a happy little envelope of confetti. After a full 7 minute steep as prescribed, I hoped that the fruity elements would take the lead. Instead, it’s just a gently generic herbal potpourri that’s more floral than fruit. Still, it’s warm, the mug is comfortingly solid in my hand, and the lavender and lemon balm is helping un-kink the knots in my neck.

Backlogged… drank yesterday.

I had high hopes for this one… It’s just OK. The flavor is overall kind of nondescript. It’s a refreshing change of pace to see an herbal/ bedtime blend that doesn’t have chamomile. But the lavender is so overpowering that I think I prefer chamomile, honestly. There’s some slight but lovely perfume-y floral complexity in the finishing note with the fruits and linden flowers, but it mostly tastes of herbaceous medicinal soapy lavender.

The dry leaf looks pretty, but once it steeps, it turns into a mushy, slimy, beige lump of yuck. I understand that that’s kind of a silly complaint, and it’s not a dealbreaker, but it doesn’t add anything to the overall experience, either.

Just… meh.

I normally love florals, and this tea was a little heavy-handed on the perfumey flavors even for me. That being said, it’s still a fairly pleasant herbal blend/

I’ve been drinking this tea as part of my nighttime routine to wind down before bed and I love it. It is so hard to add lavender to tea without it tasting soapy and they got the balance just right.

Another SipsBy sample. I am not a fan of this one. Very rose forward, so if you are into that will like this. It’s quite bland as well. Just a miss for me!

This is from my February Sips by box. A rose tea for Valentine’s Day. I’m a bit late, but that’s life.

There are lots of rose petals mixed with this white tea. It’s very pretty. I’m also seeing not rose hips, but the naked bud before it becomes a rose hip. I’m not sure what that’s called. A rose butt? Dry, the tea smells rosy and peppery, with faint notes from the bai mu dan if you really feel for them.

Flavor wise, this is of course very mild. I am tasting something like mint that I didn’t expect. Rose is probably the strongest flavor, but I use the word “strong” generously. The peppery smell is in the taste as well. All around, I’m not really liking this. It’s very light and very boring. The bai mu dan notes are green and nice, but not really enough for me to be interested in making this again. Meh. This is a miss.