Lisbet Send Message

This one tastes mostly of licorice to me…. it tastes just like the free tea they used to give out in Aveda shops. There’s definitely a ginger note to it, but I’m not sure where the lemongrass is. Maybe whomever made my teabag liked licorice better. Man, I wish this tasted like ginger-lemongrass though.

I must admit, the cuteness of these little tea bags tends to make me forgive a lot of the faults of the actual tea. I want to love it- which means that the design is paying off for them. Not surprising- the company was created by a RISD grad.

Free sample from the Whole Foods :) I actually like this earl grey- and I’m not shocked because earl grey is fine in tea bags for me; I don’t need anything fancy or expensive. The point of the bergamot is to mask the sins of the tea, and so double-bergamot means I could nearly be drinking sawdust rather than black tea and probably still like it.

I was a bit worried by how strong the brew smelled, but the taste is a little less aggressive while still a nice, sharp, bergamoty earl grey. This is perfect on a rainy day with a splash of vanilla soy milk.

I must say I’ve never really bought stash teas, but the last two freebie bags I’ve had have been …. dare I say… enjoyable?

Gee, I just don’t think this is as bad as most folks seem to. It’s even decent for a rooibos dessert tea. The tea itself smelled really strong, like delicious vanilla and cocoa. In the water both were more muted compared to the rooibos itself, but they didn’t vanish as happens with so many rooibos tea blends. This isn’t an amazing flavored tea, but it seems like a decent dessert substitute to me.

Someone left a bag of this in my department lounge, so I thought I’d try it. What the heck, thought I. And actually… I am kind of, well, pleasantly surprised. Maybe I’ve had too much bad chai lately, but this is tasting not so bad to me. The vanilla definitely takes a backdrop to the chai spices, but that’s a good thing. I’m also really sick of overly fake vanilla.

Am nursing a really sore throat, probably because I’m catching my husband’s cold. This is hitting me just right and hey, decaf.

This tea tastes for all the world to me like someone made tea out of nori (the stuff sushi is wrapped in)- it’s kind of vegetal and kind of oceanic in a way that manages not to turn me off despite my loathing of all things seafood. In some ways it’s a really typical green tea, and the most reminiscent of Japanese greens among the Teavivre varieties that I’ve tried.

I have loved saying “Pi Lo Chun” for years. I overheard it in a tea shop, and my husband used to drink it a fair bit, so it stuck in my head as something to mumble absentmindedly to myself. Oh, Pi Lo Chun…..

Anyway, giving this a try using a few rapid steeps as per the husband’s technique. It’s quite a light tea, very grassy. It’s kind of the tea equivalent of rolling in a fresh haystack on a sunny day. (I’ve done this! Girl scouts!)

Relaxing, yes. Perhaps not standoutish to me enough as a genre that I will reach for it over other teas though.

Whenever I see dragon pearls tea I marvel at the labor that goes into hand rolling tea leaves into little balls in such quantity. It makes me appreciate my cupful even more.
I actually was so surprised by the pale tan color of this tea that I thought I’d not followed the directions correctly. The 1-2 minute recommended steep time could be extended a wee bit more without creating a bitter cup of tea, I think- but I’ve been mostly conservative about brewing this.

I find myself reaching for cups of this one more than any of the other Teavivre ones, much to my surprise. The jasmine taste is really pleasant and mellow. The tea feels surprisingly refreshing, and might be good iced when it’s not so cool out. I keep thinking of great food pairings for this one, but again I associate jasmine tea with particular Chinese restaurants in my area… mmm salt baked tofu, cold glass noodles with sesame.

I need to back off- it’s not time for lunch :)
Anyway, a relaxing, mellow cup of jasmine tea. Yum.

Edited to add that I am just learning about multiple steepings and I tried the technique on this one. The second steeping was actually the best because the pearls opened up fully. So give that a try!

Also, if you think you hate jasmine teas this one might win you over. It’s really mild and almost pretty.

This is a very pleasant, pale sort of jasmine. I think I could actually use more than a teaspoon of leaves per small cup with this one and not have it taste too strong or bitter. It’s funny, at this point I associate jasmine tea with the Chinatown neighborhood of Houston, as we tend to get served it by default every time we go to dim sum or out to any restaurant. Drinking it makes me think that I’m about to eat delicious vegetable bao. Mmmm…

Anyway, if you’re in the mood for jasmine, you cannot go wrong with this one. The aroma is really full, and the taste doesn’t disappoint. It’s a much better jasmine than I’ve had in a while. Definitely more pronounced than the average fare, without being cloyingly floral. Yum!

I got this for occasional stomach upsets, and it definitely does the trick in that regard. This tastes to me both peppery and gingery at the same time. I made the mistake of sniffing the teabag, and it got right up my nose and make me shnuff!

This isn’t the kind of tea that I tend to drink for the sheer enjoyment of it, but for the function. The fluctuation in temperatures here in Houston have led to me feeling like I’ve been fighting off a cold. My Japanese tutor recommended ginger, as she herself combats feeling ill with warming herbs. So, I nabbed this one and am feeling good after drinking it.

Get this one for after meals and to stave off the blorgie, not because it tastes better than any other ginger tea, per se. About the same to me, but the addition of turmeric, etc. helps enhance the medicinal effects. Actually, as a last minute note I’ll add that this is really biting on the tongue- so perhaps it is a bit stronger than most ginger teas.

I nabbed this as a freebie (sense a trend lately?) and I kinda assumed I’d hate it. Sweet cinnamon tea? Blegh. Yeah, I know, I do have a habit of trying teas I think I’m going to hate. However…

With some vanilla soymilk this is good. It’s cinnamony, but not overly sweet, and the vanilla is present but again, not in an overly saccharine way. I’m really enjoying this as an afternoon tea despite my negative expectations. I like it enough that I could even see buying a tin.

You know how some flavored rooibos’ taste 85% like rooibos? This doesn’t…. I can hardly taste the rooibos component. I’m digging it. (I do like rooibos, but it can be disappointing when it overshadows the alleged flavor gimmick of a tea.)