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I received this as a birthday gift last year, as part of a bigger kit of other samples. This was one of my favourites of the other kinds.

At first sniff: Blueberries, smells yummy. Takes over your room/kitchen.

At first steep: Brews up a dark purple red. The blueberry comes out and I taste the hibiscus as well (probably what’s making it so tart.) I don’t get much of the sage, but that’s okay. Sage requires a light hand and so can be quite off-putting if you over use this spice. I like this tea, but probably won’t buy it again.

Day 15 of the 24 Days of Tea

At first sniff: What does English Breakfast actually smell like. Not a whole lot. It smells like tea.

At first steep: I was actually really excited to try a humble blend from DT. I haven’t before and I don’t normally buy humble blends in loose. It brewed up nice, with a deep rich red brown colour. I added cream and sugar to it, as standard. The first 5 mins of it was good, then it got horrible bad. It was dry, astringent, made me scrunch my face and pucker my mouth. I even tried warming it up in the microwave in hopes that hotter meant better. The damage had been done though and there wasn’t anything that was going to save it. I dumped it down the sink. SO disappointing. I’ve had other breakfast blends that didn’t do this, so I will stick with them. It’s a shame really because the flavour was good, I didn’t over leaf it, I didn’t over steep it. I will try again and we will see. Until then, my rating is low.

Meh meh meh meh meh.

I had this last night to start off my love’s Christmas party. I need two tea bags to really get a good steep in. It always amazes me how restaurants think that 1 tea bag for their pots of tea is enough to brew a decent steep. Not to mention, the water is never hot enough either.

It seems like a lot of restaurants use this brand, even the Keg (which is surprising.) It always makes me wince to pay for tea like this, but last night the bill was on my love’s boss, so I wasn’t concerned.

My sweetheart brought me this on Friday evening and it was much appreciated. Very sweet, very creamy. Yum

Not only has Steepster been gobbling up my likes on everyone’s teas, but I have lost tea logs and on Friday my dashboard was stalled.

Had this one on Saturday morning, needed a robust blend, a wake me up blend. I chose this. I’m thinking I need to stock up on some simple blends. I’ve been eying up Harney and Sons.

I didn’t end up drinking my Day 14 tea yet, but will review both Day 14 and 15 when I do.

Day 13 of the 24 Days of Tea

I’ve been wanting to try this tea for a while.

At first sniff: It smells like cinnamon hearts. I love the way it smells. And it’s very pretty with all the gems in it.

At first steep: This tea reminds me of Noel from MF. It’s very similar, although doesn’t brew up as strong. I underleafed this by accident, so I think my next brew I will have to use the remaining amount of the sample. I had it with some cream and stevia. Very delicious and I needed it after the other disappointment this morning.

I would definitely consider stocking this. That and it makes me think of “Silver and Gold” from Rudolf… and the classic Christmas song. Now that I have successfully stuck a song in your head, I bid you adieu.

Day 12 of the 24 Days of Tea

Hmmm… DavidsTea Are you sure about the brewing instructions???? High 90s and 5-7 mins? I’m sorry but that doesn’t seem right to me… SO I disregarded it and did it for 80 for 3 mins.

At first sniff: This does smell very tropical-like… with a hint of fake smelling hand lotion or Glade room smellers (whatever you call them.) I liked it and didn’t. It had me worried and not.

At first steep: So this brewed up rather weak, but I’d rather it weak than bitter and gross. I have enough to give this another try, so there might be a re-review in the future. The smell brewed smells… faintly aersol-y, cleaner like… like those wipes you can use for your kitchen… really hard to put my thumb on it. It’s OK, but not great. Taste is… yeah…. again… kind of like a cleaner?

Very weird after taste. I’m wondering if it’s because of the rose petals, or other flower petals. It might just be too much other “Green” rather than the green tea. I am not a fan of this tea. I will try the remainder of the sample, but this is on the “no” list.

Day 11 of the 24 Days of Tea

The Universe really wanted me to try this again. I am feeling congested from allergies or something today, so it felt appropriate to brew this. I haven’t been in the mood to try it again which is why I am so backlogged on the advent calendar. But today I pulled an exciting one and my OCD is not allowing me to do things out of order, so now the pressure is on to consume the teas so I can try the one I got today.

I still don’t like chamomile, but today I am finding this tea a lot nicer. It brewed up a nice pink, which the other sample didn’t do and has a bit more depth to it that it didn’t have before. I still don’t think I would stock it, but I do like it better.

Bumping the rating up a bit on it.

The more I drink this tea, the more I like it. It’s robust, it’s a marriage of Earl Grey and Breakfast teas, to make a stronger, bolder Earl Grey. The bergamont, however does not overpower.

I’ve been in a simple kind of mood for teas these days. I’m surprising myself that I reclining back to simple flavours. I think I am attributing this to wanting comfort and consistency. Tea can sometimes be inconsistent and downright disappointing, depending on what you’re trying. And with the holidays near, comfort is of essence. I am two days behind on the advent calendar, but I am feeling somewhat uninspired by it.

Bumped up the rating on this one, as I think it deserves it.