365 Days of Tea - Day 36: Steeped Tea's Organic Strawberry Fields.

So I should be getting more tea in the mail next week - which is great! I'm going to compose a list of things I'm going to spend paypal donation money on. Though I haven't received any financial donations, I'm still going to create the list so others have a concept of what I'm spending it on. I'm not looking to make money off this blog - I only want to use money to improve this blog.

I am doing Steeped Tea's Organic Strawberry Fields, which I completely forgot to get a base photo of, but its right in that image - somewhere. 

As you can see, we have some green tea leaves, as well as some papaya pieces. Although I don't directly see any strawberry pieces, Its very leafy, but it doesn't appear to be whole leaves, it looks like leaf pieces. Which is actually why tea bags have such a bad rep, they often use pieces instead of whole leaf.  Whole leaf usually offers a fully bodies tea, but in some cases that isn't such a big deal. There is also good tea bag teas, too.

Yep - I totally put my loose leaf brewer into a smaller cup. I do what I want.  I brewed it for 2 minutes, as stated in the packaging.

Upon farther inspection of the tea leaves after they've opened, and been steeped. I discovered that they are more whole leafy then I originally suspected. So that is some pretty good news there. It's quite green, too. Now for the taste!

The scent of strawberry very lightly tickles your nose, with some papaya slowly following behind. While inhaling you can also smell an overall "leafyness" which is proven to be from the tea leaves. It isn't too perfumery or artificial. Its comes off as a very clean scent, I don't feel like I just sniffed carpet cleaner, so thats good.

To my surprise, the strawberry flavor is really in the back seat here. You can kind of tell that they leaves were out as full-bodied as they could have been, the green tea flavor itself isn't quite as strong as I would have liked. It does retain some earthiness, though. The strawberry flavor rather lingers in the background, but this is how I'd prefer it. As you sip the tea, at first you just taste the green tea leaves, then towards the back of your mouth you kind of get a hint of strawberry, and a hint of sugar. Might sound strange, but I can tell that the dried papaya had sugar on it. Its a very very faint taste, but its too artificial tasting to be from the actual fruit. You probably won't even notice it.

So far my experiences with Steeped Tea hasn't been fantastic, but I think its getting better. I sort of get the feeling that they care more about the amount of tea vs how good the tea is. I'm not saying Steeped Tea is a bad company, I'm just saying that so far they don't really stand out. That being said though, this was still a pretty decent tea and I'd drink it again.

Can be found @ http://www.amazingteaparty.com/

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365 Days of Tea - Day 35: Infusion Friday 4 - Jasmine Dragon Pearls + Citrus Kiss.

So I reached out to Xing tea, and not only are they sending me tea to review, but also a tshirt. Which is totally awesome in my book. I'm also getting a graze box which is a healthy box of snacks. You can get a box free here. Click on it, you know you want to.

I decided to mix a loose leaf and a tea bag this time. I want to see what the outcome would be, if it were unique in any way. I'm mixing Jasmine Dragon Pearls, which you can see in the bottom half, and Citrus Kiss in the top half. I'm hoping that it adds some green tea flavor, since citrus kiss doesn't contain a lot of it to being with.

It carries a very similar aroma as the citrus kiss, but with some jasmine. The jasmine itself, is very subtle, sorta like it barely brushes against your nose. There isn't much else to say that hasn't already been said at this point. Its very citrusy, lemon, oranges, all of it kind of tickles your nose.

Its very citrusy flavor. You can taste the lemon grass, and the added sweetness from the stevia. The jasmine is there, but not very strong. Its the last taste on your palate. Sadly though, it didn't add anymore green tea flavor, but I think its pretty good anyways. I think that it could have been better if I just used regular green tea,  but sadly, I don't have any!

I think its a decent infusion but its not something I'd do again. I feel like its a waste of the jasmine, basically because it gets so muddled. The citrus kiss is just a very strong tea, as opposed to the not so strong jasmine, so it was easily over powered. (TEA WARS!)

Citrus Kiss can be found here & Jasmine Dragon Pearls can be found here.

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365 Days of Tea - Day 34: Good Earth's Citrus Kiss.

So today my box from Good Earth finally came. I was pretty excited because Good Earth is a company I've had no experience with, and they've been extremely nice to me so far. They offer some pretty interesting flavors as well.

I was actually expecting samples, but they sent me full boxes. I am REALLY thankful for this actually, because sometimes the sample isn't enough for me to really judge a tea. Some teas require a few cups before I decide on an opinion. This also means that I can share with my friends. Perhaps a mini give away?  We'll see!

I decided to try another citrus flavor, hoping it would taste better than the last one. Good Earth prides itself on not using artificial crap in there products, also kosher and gluten free. 

Typical packaging for a tea bag. Fancy colors, nice tones.

Typical tea bag. Very bag like, much tea inside. Smells great.

There is tea in there, somewhere. I like orange, this mug is pretty cool. (Only the college it came from, sucks). This tea contains the following: Green tea, lemongrass, natural lemongrass flavor with other natural flavors, rose petals, chamomile, citric acid, sweet blackberry leaf, lemon myrtle, steviol glycosides (stevia), natural flavor. So I'm not sure what to expect but, it might be a little sweet from the stevia.

The first thing I ever noticed about this tea, and how strong it's aroma is. I'm honestly surprised, I could smell it just from opening the box. Its very fruity in scent, sorta like a mixture of lime, lemongrass, and maybe a hint of orange. It actually smells sweet. As the aroma rolls down your nose, you can very faintly pick up a hint of green tea. This makes me suspect that; the flavor will mostly be the other components instead of the green tea.

It carries a very very subtle sourness to it, but its mostly kept in check by the sweetness. Its surprising, but nice. The base flavor is definitely the citrus flavor, I can't really detect any green tea at all. Green tea itself isn't very strong though, so its easily overpowered. Its very fruity, you can taste the lemongrass really well, and it sorta tastes like there is a hint of orange in there, too. Its lightly sweet, which is nice.

This is one of the better teas in a tea bag I've had yet. It carries some depth, as well as being slight sweet. Its not loaded with tons of garbage either. Although I do wish the green tea would stand out a bit more, but I think its a pretty decent tea overall.

Can be found @ 

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365 Days of Tea - Day 33: Lipton's Citrus Green Tea.

So another moment when blogspot screws up and doesn't let me post anything last night. I figured out that it gets worst during certain times of the day. So, that being said, I should have more stable posts from now on. Also; I'm looking to transfer to a full domain and wordpress, as soon as I can magically make money.

This is called Citrus Green Tea, and it comes in various sizes, but I bought a jug because jugs are cool.  (And I could totally reuse a jug, its harder to reuse smaller 20oz bottles.) It was also pretty cheap at my local tradewinds, I think it was like $2.49.

Generally speaking I've never been a huge fan of Lipton tea. I feel like its the worst possible mainstream brand you can find. All my experiences with their tea bag teas, have been sub-par. That being said though, I will always give a tea a chance. I also hope that over the years, they've improved the product quality and I hope they prove me wrong.

It mostly smells like a leafy green tea, with a general citrus aroma. Nothing specifically shines through, however. You can kind of tell its pretty chemically, and not a natural scent. This is what I expected though, and it'll probably be way too sweet.

Its kind of hard to explain the flavor of this. It has the bitterness of over-brewed tea, but it's also very sweet. It tastes citrus-y, but I can't pin point which citrus fruits it might be. It does carry a very light green tea-like flavor, but its very lost by the citrus flavor, and sweetness. Its not bad, but its just very "typical american" product.

Generally speaking this tea doesn't taste all that bad, but it's loaded with so much artificial crap. I mean the second ingredient is corn syrup, so that being said, I would never assume that this is a healthy drink. In fact, after I drink this jug (as I don't want to waste it) I will probably never buy it again.

Can be found @ 

365 Days of Tea - Day 32: Celestial Seasonings's Sleepytime® Herbal Tea K-Cup.

Blog spot, yet again failed, and wouldn't let me post at all. Good Earth gave me a tracking number, and it should be here Thursday! So thats good! (This might be kind of short because I have to rewrite it because I'm derp)

(Yep, its a stock image, sorry I messed up here bad.)

Its a herbal mix, containing; Chamomile flowers, spearmint leaves, lemon grass, tilia flowers, blackberry leaves, orange blossoms, hawthorn berries, and rosebuds. It kind of surprised me that it didn't contain any flavorings, or extracts. 

It smells very herbally, and fresh. Which isn't what I'd typically suspect from something that might appear to be really processed like similar k-cup products. The scent mostly comes from the mint, with a very faint chamomile under tone that lightly tickles your nose.

Its mostly a spearmint taste which is to be expected. At least from my experience most things with tea in the carry that as a base flavor, whether they meant to or not. It isn't bad though. The chamomile does come through, but it isn't very strong. It does add a second layer of depth though. The other flavors are kind of muted by the mint however.

Now I an't find any actual details on what size you're suppose to brew at with the k-cups, but I tried all 3 that my machine produces, and  I would only recommend the smallest one your machine can handle. Anything larger than that, and it gets watered out. Its a pretty decent overall tea, especially since its from a k-cup.

Can be found here.

365 Days of Tea - Day 31: Tea At Sea's Mountain Organic Indonesian Green Tea.

It seems like Good Earth Tea has been having issues trying to send me tea, but today they were fixed and I should get my tea by Friday. So that's cool.

Tea At Sea's Mountain Organic Indonesian Green Tea, looks like green tea. You can tell its whole leaf, too because it also contains the stems. This is usually a good sign, and often means fuller-bodied and better flavor. Tea At Sea's teas are usually slightly different in flavor profile because they are grown at higher altitudes. Believe it or not, they usually taste more earthy, and sometimes slightly salty.

Green tea doesn't require a long time to steep, and it doesn't carry a lot of magical wizard color-changing either. Thats okay though, because green tea is generally pretty awesome. What I like about this tea though; its organic, and its just tea leaves. No fruit, sugar, or junk added.

It doesn't smell like much, which is actually a good thing. It tells me what I already knew; it isn't loaded with junk. It's pure, tea. It carries a very faint leaf aroma, with a slight hint of earthiness. Its what I expect a green tea to smell like.

Tea At Sea can really surprise me sometimes, this isn't a typical green tea at all. It carries very different, and vastly complex flavor. Its almost like it was partial made from seaweed. Sounds a bit strange in text, but its quite fantastic. Its kind of like sipping a airy breeze from the ocean, with hints of roasted leaves, and earthiness tones. You can almost taste new depth each sip.

This is some really good stuff. If you like green tea, but want a bit more depth, this is for you then. Tea At Sea really produces some great products, and it shows in this tea. They don't carry a lot on their website, and that's perfectly okay because what they do carry is good enough to stand on it's own. They don't have any flashy gimmicks, just pure good tea.

Can be found @

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