Love & Joy Blend (Amoda)

Unusual tea, this one. I get mostly chamomile with hints of cocoa, something floral, and a sweet berry-ish flavor – I’m thinking this is the huge pieces of goji in the mix. I doubt I’d ever go out of my way to buy this, however it’s pleasant enough this afternoon as I prepare to go grocery shopping.

Um….this one tastes better than it smells, I think. But I’m honestly not big on frankincense smell, so that has a lot to do with it.

The cup tastes like a high quality chamomile, with lots of strong honey and apple notes, and a delicate floral quality. Behind that though, there’s a more robust herbaceous quality, which is ever so slightly earthy.

Samples Only TTB
Back log
This was a very, uh, interesting tea. My mouth couldn’t really understand what was going on, there was cocoa notes with flowery, fruity notes with with minty. Too much contrasting going on for my taste. Love the name though.

Samples Only TTB

Well third tea from the TTB today.
This one is… interesting. It tastes like I’m drinking a flower garden.
I’m not sure I like it. I think the chamomile used in this is probably German chamomile which I’m decidedly less fond of than Egyptian. The aroma is strongly buttery flowers. The tastes are buttery chamomile, sweet floral notes and a lingering sweet, tangy flower that’s probably rosehips.

I am enjoying this cup well enough, but won’t seek out this tea for stocking. If someone were serving it, I’d say “Sure.” But I’m not overly impressed. :)

Umm.

Normally I enjoy the smell of chamomile, and I absolutely adore frankincense. This, however, does not inspire those reactions. This. Smells. Nasty.

Steeping 1.5 tsp in 14 oz water for 3 min. Let’s see how this goes…

Steeped, thank GOODNESS, this smells like a high quality honey’d chamomile. It tastes like chamomile too, but there’s more lurking back there. I think it needs to cool a bit.

Hmm. Yeah. Spicy chamomile. Flavourful spicy, not hot spicy. Really interesting. Definitely like it a lot better than I thought I would, although I likely wouldn’t go out of my way to get more.

Caffeine Free Tea Box

Tulsi strikes again! I thought that I just didn’t like the Tulsi Rose tea, but know I think I just don’t like Tulsi. I liked everything about the tea, but the tulsi flavor ruined it for me.

Backlog:

I was really quite happy with this tisane. I’m not usually all excited about a chamomile blend, but all the components in this very busy blend work together quite nicely. I like the way the minty/basil-y notes of the tulsi unite with the apple-y notes of the chamomile and the sweet floral notes.

There is a distinct lime note to this as well, and I liked that tangy contrast, and I like how the lime-y flavor brightens the overall flavor. Sweet, warm, tangy, crisp … all these words come to mind when describing this tisane. I do wish there was a bit more from the cacao, but that should come as no big surprise, right? More chocolate always equals better!

That said, I liked this one.
Here’s my full-length review: http://sororiteasisters.com/2014/03/09/love-joy-tisane-verdant-tea/

I had this one yesterday evening. Whoa, is this one different.

I tasted almost a honey flavor, a floral flavor (probably the chamomile), and a berry something, it was also mildly spicy. Definitely different. I did a second infusion and it wasn’t as honey or chamomile, but it was still different and delicious. I like this. I don’t know that I would drink it often, but I’m glad I have enough for a few more mugs.

backlog

I really hated this one the first time around. The second time, I made the first steep at four minutes instead of two, which made it much more bearable to drink. The first taste is apple, followed quickly by sweet chamomile and honeysuckle. Then there’s the lingering flavor of goji berries on the back end. It’s really well blended, actually. The smell is strange and off-putting though. Like something you’d baste a turkey with. Maybe that’s the frankincense? I have absolutely no idea what frankincense smells like. But the weird savory note actually comes out in the flavor and gets stronger as the tea cools. It’s just not working for me. Happily, I am sending the rest of this off to someone who can enjoy it.

I received my first ever swap in the mail today from Kaylee, consisting of more of this lovely little tea, some flowering teas from Taiwan and a tea charm bookmark! And the cutest card! Thank you so much!! :)

So receiving the swap totally made my day, and now that I have more of this tea, I made myself a cup of it this evening to relax after another busy day of work. It looks like it might rain here (hoping!) so this tea combined with the rain will make for a very relaxing evening. Soft, sweet, soothing. Quite tasty! See previous notes on this tea :)