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Not bad, tastes like a less-weird version of Swampwater in my opinion! I was apparently one of the lucky ones that got 4 jellybeans in a 16g bag, so I made sure to steep one in my cup this evening.

The dry tea smells vanilla-y and fruity, but with less guava scent than Swampwater. And taste-wise it is very much the same; I don’t think the jellybean added much. Perhaps it also depends on which flavour you get – it was a red one in this cup. The bag contains two more red ones and a pear one (which I just ate… heehee :D)

So nothing objectionable, but in the dessert rooibos department I still lean towards Alpine Punch :)

Ok, here goes my second shot at Hot Lips. Steeping parameters pretty much exactly what is recommended, so I shouldn’t have done anything wrong there.

The smell is still nearly exactly like cinnamon hearts. SO delicious.

And… yay! Much better this time around! Sweet and cinnamony with a bit of heat at the end. No cardboard taste this time. I still prefer Glitter & Gold, but am no longer dreading finishing off the 20g of this I purchased.

So I guess I deserve this for brewing five cups of tea simultaneously…. set the timer for 3 minutes, and took out a tea ball right when it went off….. but it was not the right cup. I took out the re-steeping banana oolong teaball, not this one. I should mention that the only reason I’m brewing so much is because my boyfriend is visiting and since I’m trying to get him to drink tea, letting him sample whatever he wants from my cupboard is the way to go :) So tonight it’s re-steeps of Banana Oolong (#3), Alpine Punch (#3), Pom Power (#2), and first steepings of Daydreamer and Paradise Found. Plus something else later, most likely.

Anyhow, I digress. In spite of the MASSIVE oversteeping, I think I may not have ruined this tea! The brewed liquid smells fruity and tasty, and I am actually concerned that the tea tastes too weak, instead of oversteeped, and there’s no bitterness. I find this odd, given that it’s a sencha??? Sencha Pear oversteeped for me in a heartbeat.

Anyways, I’ll definitely have to try this one again done properly, but for now I’m kind of excited :)

Wow, everyone who talks about the hibiscus completely taking over is right. And it’s so unfortunate, because beneath the hibiscus I can taste some lovely floral notes… the same ones you can smell in the dry tea. As a consequence of the hibiscus, the tea is incredibly tart. I might try either removing some hibiscus before brewing this again. Icing it would maybe also positively change the flavour?

Boo, I’m really sad about the overwhelming hibiscus. Now I get why other people curse its inclusion into so many teas, if it takes everything over like this.

This one’s not too bad today. Still too weak for my liking even though I probably used 2+ tsp of “leaf”, aka sticky pomegranate aril-ness with tea leaves. A bit of tartness shines through, and it does make me think pomegranate, but it won’t be making a reappearance in my cupboard once it’s gone. Other fruity ones are better.

Ahhh, brewed this one perfectly today. First cup was amazing, sweet and cinnamon-y. Second cup pretty good, just less sweet. The last time I made it I was worried that I didn’t actually like it as much as I thought…. Nope, turns out I just sometimes suck at making it properly (even though it’s a black…)