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I got this one in August, when I was wallowing in the depths of an unfortunate mental low, so I never got around to trying it. Oh well, never too late.

It’s been a while since I had the sarsparilla tieguanyin, but I think this is like that, but better. The orange and vanilla (and the sarsparilla too, I guess) seem very subtle, but I think all of it comes together in a rather pleasant tea, and one of the better acquisitions from the blends club.

People in the reviews were mentioning how the straight tieguanyin was better, but I haven’t tried the traditional tieguanyin, only the spring and autumn harvest, so this tastes totally different and I have no standard of comparison. >.< More tieguanyin will be on the list once I’ve whittled down my cupboard and lifted the tea ban.

So, I’m not sure why I thought I would enjoy it, because cotton candy without the sugar is literally just sugar and food coloring… This is too sweet for me, and I can’t really get past that to appreciate anything about the taste. Maybe it would have been better iced? Oh well, it was a sample, so it’s all gone now… (sipdown! 97)

So, last fall I bought some pumpkin chai. And I really liked it, so I went back to get one of the fancy orange tins. But it was early November, so they’d already run out. So I just got a regular tin, thinking I’d better stock up, ‘cause it’s seasonal, after all. Then I went home for Christmas, and the one in SF had the orange tins. So I got one.

And then shortly afterwards, I overdosed on pumpkin everything, and had no desire to eat pumpkin anything ever again.

So now it’s midway through pumpkin season, I’m easing slowly back into the pumpkin everything, and I may or may not have enough pumpkin chai to last me the next few years…

But, y’know, it’s still tasty. :)

Wow, this smells really sweet! The instant I poured water over it, it started smelling like candy, and the candy-scent didn’t stop wafting over at me from two feet away the whole time it was brewing. It’s also floral and lightly fruity… maybe lychee? (Not that I remember what lychee tastes outside of gummy candies anyway.)

I’ll do a second steep tomorrow. Hopefully.

(Wow, it’s been a while?)

I finally got around to trying this one yesterday, and of course I forgot to log it properly, but it was nice. Kinda like a black tea, but oolongier. I should try more of these.

I was skeptical of this one, because Cask Strength was supposed to be bourbon-inspired as well, and I found that one super icky. But this one didn’t have any suspicious ingredients in it, so I allowed myself to hope. I’ve only barely tried it so far (I’m steeping it in my tiny 2 oz teacups), but it’s definitely not icky and actually pretty good!

Update: as predicted, it goes great with chocolate. (72% with cacao nibs. :)

I’m not usually a huge fan of white teas (although maybe that’s changing recently?) but I love this one. I like the cedar tips and the juniper, and everything else kinda blurs together pleasantly in the background. I think I got through about four steeps before I switched to something else, but I maybe could have gone for a couple more. I’ll have to see how far I can stretch it out, and what more interesting flavors might emerge. :)

Tried this one with the nepal black, too. Don’t remember all the details, but it was good. The flavors didn’t go together as well as with the kenyan tinderet, so I might see if I like the nepal black straight, better. :)

So I proceeded with my plan, went to davidstea and got little samples of some straight black teas. I made it this morning with the recommended 1 1/4 teaspoons + about 1/2 a teaspoon of the kenyan tinderet.

… and proceeded to clumsily spill most of it as soon as it was done. >.< (I was so proud of myself, too, for getting up early enough to have tea and breakfast before work…)

Fortunately, there was just enough left to wash down my breakfast, and to tell that it was delicious. Experiment successful! Next I’ll try the nepal black or the darjeeling…

I had a free cup of tea for joining the frequent steeper program, so I tried this one iced today. It was pretty much what I expected, except with an unexpectedly chocolatey aftertaste. I think next time I go I’ll get a bit to try hot.

(People talk about mate being, like, super caffeinated all the time, but I haven’t ever noticed any particularly different effect after drinking it. Maybe I’m just not paying enough attention?)