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Wow, I definitely suck at picking out teas for myself based on the notes and the way they smell in the store. Just to set the record straight though, this tea doesn’t smell at all of actual orange blossoms, but I imagine that isn’t exactly news.
Definitely getting the bubble gum thing others have mentioned, and there really isn’t any vanilla to speak of. I’m still on the hunt for my perfect creamcicle tea though!
I’ve tried this tea with milk and sugar, plain, and also with a touch of vanilla agave. It’s a lose lose situation for me. So disheartening to see the entire remainder of yet another package that I’m going to have to force myself to finish. Or maybe I can donate it LOL.
At least I know that tomorrow morning’s tea (vanilla orchid or maybe jasmine pearls) won’t let me down!

I think I’ve given this tea a fair shake, and yet I’m willing to try it one last time before I make up my mind for sure.
I’ve tried it plain, and despite it’s very strong blueberry aroma, it tasted like subtly flavoured hot water. For a black tea, that’s already a bit of a disappointment.
Then, I tried it with a bit of milk and sugar, and steeped it for more than eight minutes. It was barely stronger, and, i don’t know. It sort of tasted as though I was trying to taste it while suffering from a cold. Like I tried really hard to find more flavour than was there. I’m still willing to play around with it a bit though—perhaps I’ll double up on the recommended amount of tea or something.
I’m kind of sad because in an attempt to get through my samples, I’ve discovered a few teas I’m not that fond of lately, but I’ve also found a few gems (most notably my vanilla orchid), so I should focus on that the most. ah well, such is the journey of experimenting, right?

So i screwed up this tea again, this time it was because I was in a frantic hurry this morning, was running on like three hours’ sleep, and was generally a bit disgruntled (and of course I arrived at my doctor’s office without my health card, because I’m just irresponsible like that). Anyway, as I tilted the carton of cream over the mug (it was David’s perfect tea mug, actually!), a whole stream of it kind of came gushing out. I just swore and tossed in some sugar and let the tea steep as I paced about the kitchen, cursing at the fact that I would have to chug my tea in a hurry (I’ve always thought that tea evokes calmness and a sense of serenity an peace, whereas coffee is a bit more harried and frantic in its reputation), so it bothered me that I had to chug my tea at all—that’s not how tea is supposed to be enjoyed!
So yes, because my cream of earl grey was like three quarters cream this morning, it was far too creamy (even for me), but it did temper the sharpness of the bergamot down a fair bit, which was nice. A bit more tinkering and I may even want more at some point. It still seems like a cold or rainy weather tee, though.

Oh, and while i’m here writing, can I just say that it makes me a bit sad to read the discussions where people “diss” various tea companies because “they can find better tea elsewhere/this tea is just for newbies/true tea can only be acquired by personally going to the mountains and foraging around with your nose, etc”. Of course people have preferences; that’s a good thing. But we also like what we like, beginner, connoisseur or otherwise, and, I don’t know—I often think that if something exists, there’s probably a place for it somewhere in this world. It kind of reminds me of some hardcore perfumistas who downright refuse to even sniff the latest offerings at major department stores, because “only niche fragrance will do” and it’s just unfortunate, I think, to limit yourself arbitrarily like that, or to judge people who embark on a different journey of discovery from your own. Wow, that was deep. I’ll stop talking now haha.

I am a lover of chai.
This chai failed epically, and I’m really quite sad. It smells divine, and as it steeps, you feel completely justified in wandering off in your mind to a pure chai heaven, where the chai is full-bodied and has presence. Sadly, this tea—regardless of whether or not you add anything—just seems to fall flat. Drinking it sort of reminded me of those times when you unscrew the cap on an old bottle of pop, hear a satisfying loud hiss, hope it’s still full of fizz, and realize that you’ve been lied to all along: the pop is flat, and that hiss only raised your hopes before that inevitable downward plunge.
Brewing, this smells great; the taste, however, is thin, fleeting, and watery. I’m sad to say I won’t be repurchasing this one. It may be akin to blasphemy to admit this on here, but I actually prefer the k-cup chai by Timothy’s, and that’s just a fact. We like what we like, right?

When I smelled this tea at the store, I knew instantly that I would love it. I’m a sucker for anything vanilla, and it also really did smell suspiciously of birthday cake. Alas, I like it, and will certainly finish up the 100 G I (rather hastily and impulsively) purchased, but I don’t think I’ll necessarily be restocking. although I don’t know—if you’d asked me if I’d be restocking this a few nights ago, i would have said yes. Perhaps I didn’t let it steep long enough today, or maybe I need to tinker around more with the quantities of milk and sugar. There’s also something…a bit artificial about the flavour (I know I know, there isn’t exactly a “natural” birthday cake taste to really rival this and put it to shame) but I think I was perhaps hoping for…well, something else, though I’m not sure what, exactly. Expect more tasting notes on this one!

I didn’t write any tasting notes about resteeping this tea, and I just wanted to say that contrary to my initial suspicions, this tea is actually quite re-steepable and I’m enjoying my second cup. I wouldn’t give it a third infusion, however, but that might also be because I think I’d probably get bored and switch to another tea by then, but that’s not necessarily the “fault” of this tea. Still creamy (well, thanks to the added sugar/cream, perhaps? LOL), and still strong and delicious.

Here’s the thing. I’m conflicted about this tea as well, so it’s probably a good thing that I don’t actually do any numerical rating (that, and it’s inaccessible with my software anyway, so that’s that haha). When I inhaled the scent of this tea at the store, I was instantly drawn to it: it smelled warm and inviting, and not at all unlike comfort food in a canister. My sister was the one who actually asked for it, and purchased a tin of it write on the spot (she is also now obsessed with tea!).
This tea definitely has presence in your cup—that much is for sure. It isn’t a subtle flavour (unless you steep it for like five seconds), so it’s a tea you’ll likely be able to have an opinion on either way.
Here’s the conversation that took place in my head as I drank my first cup…and yes, I may be unstable!
“Oh wow! It almost has a popcorn taste to it.”
“Popcorn? well yes, if popcorn were a drink.”
“Well, it can be a drink now. It’s like comfort food.”
“Except it isn’t food. It’s a drink. And tea isn’t supposed to taste…salty, or soupy, or…savoury. or something.”
“You obviously don’t understand the intricacies of tea, then, because real tea drinkers know that not all tea need be laden with sugary sweetness in order to taste good. Do you know how amazing this would be paired with some food?”
..and so there you have it. I like it, but some part of me instinctively feels as though the concept of tea somehow precludes warm saltiness/popcornness/butteriness, but the more I drink it, the more I’m resisting that type of shoehorning. It tastes very comforting, not overly earthy, and has a perfectly soothing quality to it when not over-steeped. I will most certainly at least be getting myself a sample pack of this, and will likely be adding more tasting notes as I tinker around with it.

Another odd review. I can’t really decide if I don’t like earl grey, or if it’s just that I don’t like this particular rendition of it, or if it’s just that I’m “drinking it wrong” or am having it at the wrong time in my life (I thought that perhaps this might be a tea that’s better suited for much cooler weather).
I actually went out on a limb (for me) and did two steeps of this.
First steep: I added some cream and two sugar cubes, steeped for about five minutes. To me, it just tasted like a straight forward earl grey, although I’m perhaps not qualified to say this, as I haven’t had too many of them in my lifetime. Something in it is quite strong, and I suspect this might be the bergamot, but if that’s what makes earl grey an earl grey, then perhaps this criticism isn’t really justified.
The second cup had a bit less of that “strong” (bergamonty?) taste, and I had it with only sugar and no cream. Although this is definitely a tea that can be steeped twice, I don’t know that I’d actually go out and purchase more. I haven’t closed the door on earl greys, however, and will continue to experiment with different ones. Perhaps a gentler incarnation of this will be exactly what I need.

So it’s the middle of the night, and I can’t sleep. What could be a better time to take a second stab at this tea that I had spoiled with two needless sugar cubes earlier?
It’s odd, because it’s the first cup of tea I’ve had where I really just couldn’t make up my mind. The dialogue in my head went something like this:
“Oh, it’s better without the sugar; good call!”
“Really? You think so? It tastes kind of..flat…or something.”
“Flat? no. I was actually thinking that this would be a good tea to have when you’re ill, because it sort of slips effortlessly down your throat without too much flavour or fuss, but enough flavour to make you want another sip.”
“Really? You think a tea that you don’t have to be forced to drink is a good tea? That’s your standard?”
“It smells wonderful! but I admit it doesn’t really taste strongly of mango.”
“No, more like an assortment of random fruit.”
In all seriousness, I think my biggest issue with the tea was simply that the flavour danced for a brief second on your tongue before disappearing, never really to be found again. And it wasn’t even a flavour I would particularly even want to conjure up, come to think of it.
My bottom line: I’ll likely finish out the sample package, but certainly won’t be purchasing any more. It served a nice, calming purpose for an otherwise anxious night, but was otherwise remarkably unremarkable. It most certainly did not taste like a ripe piece of mango.

Oh my! So I’m fairly certain I screwed this one up myself, because I couldn’t even bring myself to finish the cup. I read several reviews on here saying that the tea was a bit too tart, and given that I tend to find things tart even when they aren’t, I figured I’d preemptively add in two cubes of sugar to make sure I liked it once I actually sipped. Bad mistake. It was like very sugary mango water—so sugary in fact that I couldn’t even focus on any other flavours in the tea (and I couldn’t taste much tea at all, but perhaps that’s because white teas are more subtle?).
Anyway, I will definitely write another tasting note for this one!