365 Days of Tea - Day 8.

I was suppose to get one of my review tea boxes today at least according to the 3 days shipping and what the tracking said, but it hasn't move an inch since it was "sent". Oh well, hopefully I'll get it on Monday. I'll do an unboxing as soon as I get it though.

(Man, what a bad photograph - sorry!)

It seems like I have a lot of sweeter, less "pure tea" teas. Which is true, but it isn't entirely my fault. My girl friend more or less picked most of them when we were at teavana last. With this tea and a lot of the other teas that contain cinnamon - I would usually assume the cinnamon would be the strongest flavor and scent. I would also expect this to taste like apple pie. Hopefully not the kind from that one movie.

It looks like bark mulch. You can see a lot dried apple skins and cinnamon bits. I also realized it contains dried oranges as well. The rooibos tea itself is rather hidden in the rough, but its still there. It also feels very mulchy to the touch, but not sticky. You can see larger apple pieces in the back, too. That will probably add some natural sugar. I have high hopes for this tea.

 It brews a really deep red - it actually started to change colors right when I put the tea in. It really had a "apple red" glow. Its like a thin apple cider beer color. Typical 6 minute steeping time.

Smell - If you could take all those spices from your mom's most amazing apple pie, that is exactly the smell you'd get. You can smell cinnamon, but it isn't nearly as strong as the regular teas with cinnamon in it. Its quite a light cinnamon smell. It also mixes with a slight orange smell, and it all gently graces your nose. None of it is overwhelming at all, and its actually quite warming to the heart. Hop on the nostalgia train with this tea.

Taste - It is almost strange to me when a taste tastes sweet, but doesn't contain any unnatural sugar. This tea is unexpectedly sweet. It comes from the apple pieces so it isn't too overwhelming or teeth-hurttingly-sweet. Its a delightfully sweet. The cinnamon is actually a back note, to my surprise. Its a very subtle cinnamon flavor that you don't really notice right away. The base favor is definitely apple, with a tiny bit of sourness from the orange, but the sourness is complimented by the apple's natural sweetness.

Overall - If you miss mom's apple pie and for whatever reason have a desire to drink it instead of eating, I would highly recommend this tea. I can imagine myself drinking this tea on a cold night in the winter, and it would constantly remind me of the holidays. Its a good heart-warming tea, for even non-tea lovers to enjoy.

(3 out of 5 tea leaves.)

It's a seasonal tea - at this time it is not sold online.

365 Days of Tea - Day 5.

So The Tea Spot reached out to me and is sending me some teas for review. This is pretty exciting that people are interesting in being on-board with me. I'm hoping this will create more opportunities in the future. The tea spot carries an interest steeping mug that I'd love to get my hands on.

This next tea came in a sort of paper-y container and wasn't interesting enough to photograph. I bought it in a gift set a while back so it didn't have any special tins. I think all teas should have special tins, its what makes tea special. This tea is called Orange Chocolate Sweet Spice Herbal Tea. Its a mouthful.

(The lighting wasn't working for me so it isn't a fantastic photo)

You can see the huge orange piece. It also looks like they might have used both cocoa nibs, and milk chocolate. The red little stems are probably chili pieces. Oh, and I see cinnamon as well. It seems like herbal teas, LOVE cinnamon, though I can't entirely blame then because cinnamon is yummy. (I realize now that I have a lot of herbal teas, but a lot of what I'm getting in the mail isn't herbal). 

I'm using a different mug this time. Its a glass mug with it's own infuser (you can buy it here.) The color is very red, with an orange hue. It looks a little like there is grease in it, but I think its just from the milk chocolate melting. It doesn't make it thick or give it a weird texture so I think its okay.

Smell - Its smells exactly like a chocolate orange. You can't pick up any cinnamon notes, or chili. It mostly smells like chocolate with an orange-y background. Its pretty nice and makes you hungry. You would expect the tea itself to taste like chocolate milk with orange in it. Its the kind of smell that could lift anyone's mood.

Taste - I would have assumed that the chocolate would be the base favor and everything else would resonate from that. I was very wrong though, to my surprise it tasted very orange-y. It also carries a slight bitterness, but its not a bad bitter taste and the chocolate notes really come through right after the bitterness goes away. It is a lot less sweeter than I would have originally thought but I actually prefer it this way. Its also pretty strong, but I don't think it would make very good ice tea.

Overall - If you looking for a great gift tea, or dessert, this would be fantastic for that. I personally love oranges, so I really enjoyed this tea. I imagine if you have a sweet tooth, this might also help. Its a good way to enjoy both oranges and chocolate. However, a lot of the other bits in the tea go rather over-shadowed by its strong orange taste. It seems like you might be able to just use orange and chocolate and take the rest out and I'd never know the difference.

(3 out of 5 tea leaves. Recommended.)

Can be found here.

365 Days of Tea - Day 4.

I've had an interesting morning. On day 1 I contacted teavana and told them I've reviewed one of their teas, and I didn't really think much of it at the time. I just assumed it would go ignored, but I actually got a reply.

So this is pretty exciting. I wonder what they will send. I'm a huge fan of teavana teas.. I will post photos of what I get as soon as it gets here!

I can't really find out what tree nuts it contains, but I'm also going to label that it contains tree nuts, so that people don't get sick or anything. Even with a bit of googling I can't seem to pin-point what. From my research; mate is an infused caffeine-rich drink. So basically herbal tea with caffeine. Sounds fantastic. I just hope it doesn't not contain real samurai. That might be sharp. 

For whatever reason you can't see any fruit bits in the photo, but it does contain pineapple, orange, and papaya. You can see however, bits of green stuff, which looks very much like rooibus (And according to the website, it is.) you can also clearly see some lemon grass, and cinnamon. All of it kind of feels paper-y to the touch.

It almost looks like there some strange bug infestation going on in adventuremug, but I didn't remove the filter when I poured it. I actually prefer tea this way. Its a mild brown gold-ish color. Another one with a long steep time of 6 minutes. Lets get down to business. To defeat the huns.

Smell - At first the smell is a mild cinnamon smell. Surprisingly it changes into a more sweet almost apricot scent on the back of your nose, and grows stronger as the cinnamon smell disappears. Its really nice and makes me think that the tea will taste complex.

Taste - I was seriously expecting basically a cinnamon tea, something similar to another one. To my surprise though, the cinnamon flavor was more "spice" then favor. It was a pleasant tone. It carries a very sweet, but complex favor. I can't exactly pin point each thing because they overlap in such a perfect way that, but you can tell there is a bit of citrus and cardamom. Its less of a tea favor and more of an herbal favor, and that is okay.

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Overall - If you're looking for a really good, naturally sweet dessert tea, then I'd recommend this. It carries a surprising complexity, which is noted by it's aroma. I would also recommend completely filtering out the bits, it seems that I chewed on a cardamon seed a few times, which didn't bother me, but might bother others. It could also translate well into an ice tea. Its very soothing, and definitely gives a mild energy boost. It's one of those teas that just puts you in a good mood. Really cold day in the winter, make a huge piping hot pot of this.

(4 out of 5 tea leaves. Highly-Recommended.)

Can be found here.