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Waaaaaay backlogging on this one. I completely forgot about it. Oops.

I am not a huge chai fan. I had an Oregon Chai “Dreamscape” blend at one point that was a rooibos base with chai spices, and I couldn’t wait to get rid of it.

This is the only chai-like blend that I like. It’s sweet enough on its own that I don’t need to add any sugar, which is a plus for me. (I usually like my teas with as few additives as possible.) Also, it’s completely herbal and therefore caffeine-free. Which makes it perfect bedtime tea.

Mostly, I taste the cinnamon. Which is totally fine with me, because I adore cinnamon. Overall, its characteristics are warm, dark, and loud! It smells very strongly of chai spice, even dry- I can smell the teabags even when the box is shut. Once steeped, it makes the whole room smell delicious. It’s hard to ignore this blend!

This is a good tea to drink during late fall and all throughout winter, when you’re bundled up in your flannels with your hands wrapped around the mug for warmth and dreaming of summer.

Had to be a raging cow to my disgusting slobby housemates who never do their dishes or clean up their kitchen messes. It’s just two of them, and the rest of us all know that these two are the perps, but of course I can’t single just the two of them out, because then I’m conspiring against them or something. So I had to send a nasty message to all of them.

I’m sick of this crap. Keeping the house clean should be common sense/ courtesy. It’s amazing to me how magnificently some people fail to grasp that.

I’m also too tired and lazy to wait for boiling water, even though today is miserably cold. So I’m drinking a week-old cold brew of this stuff with honey that has been chilling in my fridge. Surprisingly, it’s not bad. I’m kind of weird in that I like my tea to be a little bitter, so the fact that I overleafed and probably oversteeped this pot of tea when I made it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. In fact, I really kind of love it. Blackberry is my favorite fruit, and it’s naturally tart. Some honey or sugar takes the edge off, but still allows it to shine in its natural state of take-me-or-leave-me flavor.

I really wasn’t that enthused about this tea when I first bought it, but I think I’ve grown to love having it around as an iced tea to grab when I’m having a day/ week/ month like this one. hahahaha.

Oooooo, this is nice! I can taste peach, but not like the kind of peach you’d expect to find in a flavoring. It tastes like actual fresh peach. Impressive! I can also taste the honey notes.

This tea is a little more subtle than the Taiwanese Wild Mountain Black, but I still really, really enjoyed it.

The box says that this tea is best with milk in it. Usually, I’m not one to obey the box- You companies aren’t the bossa me! But I had this one again this morning, and this time I decided to add skim milk to it, just to give Taylors of Harrogate the benefit of the doubt.

Conclusion: Obey the box. The milk takes the bitter edge off of the flavor, without drowning out the nutty flavor or the richness of the tea, which surprised me.

Oh. My. God. This is the best black tea I have ever had!

The flavor is so light, yet it has so many layers to it. I taste honey and cinnamon, and something almost fruity lingers in the aftertaste.

There’s no astringency to it, either. I think I may have oversteeped it a little bit, because there’s a slight smoky-bitter taste, too, but it doesn’t hinder my enjoyment of this cup! Every sip is a total sensory delight!

Nooooooo! I woke up with a sore throat and congestion this morning! UGHHHH.

This was the first thing I reached for. (Along with a Tylenol caplet, of course.) I swear it works. I love this echinacea blend best because you can steep it for however long you need to, and it never gets bitter. And Vitamin C is always a good thing when battling a cold.

Not looking forward to November this year. Something tells me it’s gonna be a doozy.

I’ve had a dry, tickly cough since last night. I am determined not to get sick! It’s not happening!

I swear by echinacea teas- I have three different blends of it. However, I only haul out the big guns (this pharmaceutical-grade Traditional Medicinal blend) when I feel that illness is eminent.

There’s a certain quality to echinacea that I love. It’s not floral, and it’s not nutty. I would say that it’s… earthy. It tastes like a really pleasant, natural medicine. This blend also tastes warm and buttery. It goes down really smoothly. I can’t say that I’m experiencing a tingling feeling on my tongue, like the box says, but I have no doubt that I’m drinking tea made with quality ingredients.

Traditional Medicinals has a way of perfectly balancing really really good taste and also honestly making you feel better. Hard to do with blends that are supposed to be medicinal. Celestial Seasonings has had to change the flavors of their Wellness Teas several times because of that.

Anyway, props to you, Traditional Medicinals. I hope this works, because I loathe being sick.

Brrrrr! It’s freezing outside lately. Plus, I managed to piss off the guy behind me TWICE on the way back from picking up my groceries, so much so that he honked at me both times. Plus, I had already been honked at by someone else. So my nerves are a little frazzled at the moment, and I feel like an idiot. I need a mug of hot tea.

I bought a box of these sachets because:
1. I love black tea.
2. I can never not buy tea while grocery shopping.
3. I’ve heard of English breakfast and Irish breakfast, but not Scottish breakfast, and I am of Scottish descent and very proud of it, so therefore it automatically appealed to me.

So into the basket they went.

Steeping- it smells like it’s going to be a delicious black tea, and the color is a beautiful deep red.

Sipping- Mmmmm! It’s nutty and stout. It leaves a slightly bitter taste in my mouth, but I LOVE it. This is better than English breakfast for sure. Soooo much more earthy and flavorful. And I can tell already that it packs a punch in the caffeine department. Wow. Perfect pick-me-up tea on a blustery, overcast fall day like today.

And it’s also lifting my spirits, which can only give it more merit.

I seem to be having a lot of trouble lately getting my ass out of bed in time to make a hot cup of tea in the mornings. I think my bio-clock is setting itself into Winter Mode. So to compensate for this, I have been brewing pots of tea at night, and then allowing them to cool and refrigerating them so that I can just grab my Tervis-ful of cold tea and high-tail it to whatever I’m late for.

So I brewed the last of my supply of this tea and mixed it with honey.

It’s delicious! I made it too strong, but that only helps bring the floral, sage side of it out. And the honey makes the blackberry sweet. The black tea base is there but not dominant.

I really enjoyed this today.

I realize what a novice I am- I’m only just getting ‘round to the idea of making my own iced tea from loose leaves. But whatever. This is a huge thing for me right now, so I’m going to shut up and enjoy it.