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Preparation: Western
Tasting Notes:
Smells light blueberry flavoring and vanilla out of the bag. There is a slight sweetness and cream from the blueberry flavors and honeybush had a slight toastiness. All notes were pretty faint though. I say good enough but not good enough to purchase again. Hopefully, I can find a better blueberry herbal somewhere else.

Note: I may have oversteeped/made a strong cuppa, thought it instructed a 5 min steep but was actually a 3 min.

Preparation: Western

Tasting notes:
Smells strongly sweet toffee and caramel fresh out of the bag. Probably means the ingredients are still pretty fresh which is nice. :)

The tea base has a maltiness to it like the Irish Stout I had the other day. The Toffee was a burnt caramel taste and there was some sweetness to the tea.

I ended up adding full fat oatly to the tea and it is really great now. (Hopeful next time I can have a lighter version to get a better tasting note without additions.) The bittersweetness of this tea is able to withstand the oat milk and the dark caramel notes really shine. It reminds me of a latte (coffee) with caramel sauce.

Started bringing my husband into the evening steeps. Today I got the Hella tea happy mail. So that means I have to try one of the teas today.

Tea preparation: Western

Dry smell: Definitely Banana Nut Bread. Yum!

Tasting notes: When at really hot temps mostly tastes like rooibos. When it cools down a bit the flavors blend better the banana is more forward and the cinnamon and cocoa nibs are warming. Overall, really delicious lightly flavored unsweetened tea.

At this point, I have tasted 5 different chrysanthemum teas out of the 7 total straight Chrysanthemum flower teas I own. Not an expert and still need to try Yunnan Sourcing’s two chrysanthemums but Hugo’s is almost tying for second place with another tea. I think based on the fact this tea company is in the US might help me in the longer run.

Preparation: Western (Tea pot)
Tasting Notes:
First Brew (about 4 mins): Lingering soft sweetness, and honey notes. No light hay-like qualities in this infusion. It has a freshness like spring water. It is a very soothing, relaxing blend. I may not get past this brew since I made a whole pot but we will see.

Just a comment about the Cultivate tea: I had a lot of really good experiences with Cultivate tea in the 6 to 8 orders I have had with them this year as an online customer. 1) They let you know if they don’t have the full quantity in stock or if the leaves are from the last bit of their stock and they are broken and ask if that is want you still want and sometimes adjust the price depending on how much they have left. 2) If you ask them about a tea that is out of stock or you are interested in (especially on Instagram), they will let you know when it restocks personally, and maybe send some recommendations your way.

Preparation: Gong fu

First steep (20 fast counted secs): more rosy-plum sweetness, black tea was smooth and zero astringency. It had such a pretty amber color from the rose petals.

Second step (15 fast counted secs): Black tea came out more this infusion, richer and deeper.

Third steep: (25-30 sec): Faint rose, black tea still has caramel note, but is more refreshing. Pairing this with sakura themed Desserts so this steep is a little harder to detect all the nuance.

I have been preparing this blend western style. I taste orange, light sweetness, and the slightest hint of cranberry. This is blend reminds me more of a white wine or of a light juice (not quite white grape because it doesn’t have that muscat flavor but texture wise).

I specifically had a punchy sweet tart frosting sort of flavor in mind before when I bought this but this is much lighter and brighter and refined. Not bad just not what I was expecting. I think I would’ve liked a little more cranberry to show through on this.

First tea of the day. This is a smooth earl grey. Like the website description, I am getting a grapefruit pith sort of taste from the bergamot. This tea doesn’t not have that angry earl grey bite, or astrigency. It is grapefruit pithy and what I assume is peatiness. I haven’t had a whole lot of scotch but it is smooth. The pithiness does dry the mouth after awhile but that doesn’t bother me too much.

Overall, a really nice tea. Probably something I would restock for my family of whiskey-scotch drinkers and earl grey drinkers for something nice in the morning. Don’t think it is something I would drink everyday though so probably I wouldn’t buy the 500g bulk size.

Got this during St Pattys day with a purchase. I added a full fat oatmilk to it immediately since it had a cream flavoring added to it. It was good! The maltiness and the chocolate notes were strong enough to stay present through the oatmilk. I don’t have a like for like comparison, but it was desserty and comforting. I didn’t add any more sweetness to it other than what sugars are in full fat oatly. It was a balanced tea and nice chocolate flavors.

First Tasting note on Steepster:

I had about 2-3 Dessert by Deb teas before trying this one and think that this is one of the stronger ones. I started out having this one straight and the puffed rice note- toasty and sweet- was the first thing I got. I looked on Deb’s website and she recommended having it as a latte and I agree that this is much better that way. I added a tiny bit of honey and a tiny bit of brown sugar to the tea before adding warmed full fat oatly. I think that now it tastes like caramel covered popcorn, which is absolutely ok with me.